> At 5:35 PM +0000 5/21/99, Simon Marsh wrote:
> >Some neuroscientests estimate that during an average lifespan, a person uses
> >only 1/100 of 1% (.0001) of his potentional brain capacity. - Why do we
> >have a brain with so much capacity that we hardly test a fraction of it in a
> >normal life time?
Why, indeed!!? Look at the cells which comprise the human body. I think that
ALL (~100%) of the cells are replaced by 'new' cells roughly, every 4 months.
There is something I have heard about concerning the reason WHY this process
doesn't continue indefinitely (I'll get back to your question very shortly. I
just think this is somewhat related and if not, it's interesting). I've heard
that the ends of chromosomes (called 'trellacurs', or something, I think?)
apparently are SHORTER with age. This is a hot topic in the breakthrough field
of cloning technology. The question is whether the cloned organism will have a
shortened life expectancy because the chromosomes that are the base cell
(conception) have this shorter characteristic. -
Now back to your query...sorry for digressing, Simon
Considering the pretext for such a question (the scientifically determined
capacity (or estimation of) of the brain) as well as the information in above
paragraph how cells continuously replace themselves it seems as though humans
should live to an indefinite period of time. And that is the case. Humans were
never meant to die. Why death? In the Bible, it tells us why we die --
Romans 5:12 "That is why, just a through one man sin entered into the world
(Adam) and death through sin (that was the stated penalty for disobeying, in
Genesis), and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned--.
So it was as if a perfect mold was damaged so all the offspring of the original
'model', Adam (and Eve), could not produce a perfect model. And thus ...we die.
In the Bible book of Genesis, humans used to live much longer 700, 800, even 900
years old! And then there is the famous Methuselah (969 years of age) who was
the oldest mentioned in the first book of the Bible. By the time of the Flood,
God set a limit for the years of man (120 years). Elsewhere in the Bible, it
says that man lives 70 years, 80 years due to special mightiness.
(Genesis 5:27) So all the days of Me·thu'se·lah amounted to nine hundred and
sixty-nine years and he died.
(Genesis 6:3) After that Jehovah said: "My spirit shall not act toward man
indefinitely in that he is also flesh. Accordingly his days shall amount to a
hundred and twenty years."
(Psalm 90:10) In themselves the days of our years are seventy years; And if
because of special mightiness they are eighty years, Yet their insistence is on
trouble and hurtful things; For it must quickly pass by, and away we fly.
Peter