[electricwallaby]

My guess is that the shortening of telomeres—and the presumed aging effects—is evolutionarily beneficial because it sets an expiration date on your life. If people could live forever they may prohibit other younger and genetically different people from reproducing and introducing variety in the gene pool.

Certainly having wealthier people live forever now would be bad from a social perspective. Time is really the biggest factor in acquiring wealth and influence. If that goes unchecked then that power can become out of control. Realistically I dont think it was that different thousands of years ago.

[sempron64]

What may be a good mechanism for simple single-cellular, multi-cellular organisms, or even complex animals, is not necessarily a good mechanism for humans. If you’d like to argue that the omniscient deity intends humanity to die then perhaps that can be an acceptable philosophical argument. But evolution as a non-omniscient mechanism is not guaranteed to be an optimally benevolent process. There is no reason in that context to say that mortality is necessary for humanity other than negative emotions.

[joejerryronnie]

With biomedical and technological advancements, this scenario is highly likely. At some point in the future, I can envision almost a divergence in human species - those who age naturally and live similar to how we do today, and those who’s wealth has afforded them medical and technical enhancements prolonging their lives, enhancing their abilities, and allowing them to control vast amounts of resources. Perhaps they will at least keep us as beloved family pets.

[sempron64]

The Netflix series Altered Carbon explores the idea of an immortal class. However, I can’t imagine that an advancement so compelling as immortality will not trickle down in some aspect. The majority of the developed world’s middle class benefits from initially complex and expensive technologies such as air travel, cancer treatment, and advanced computing — differences for the ultra-rich are marginal, not absolute.

[xwdv]

Telomeres aren’t longer because people aren’t choosing to reproduce exclusively with people who produce long telomeres.