On Mon, 12 May 1997, Mike Noakes wrote:

	I think this topics been taken up multiple times before, but...
	Well, my take would be that it would age.  Damage carried over 
from body to body, right?  Well, heck, aging is just a very, very slow 
form of physical harming of the body, so why wouldn't it carry over, too?

	-Mike

	I'm not entirely sure of this, Mike... recent research has
indicated that the aging process isn't as much a form of injury or harm,
as it is a self destruct mechanism deliberately evolved by nature.

	This has been argued by sci-fi writers and gerontologists for
ages, but the theory, currently gaining in acceptance, is that ageing (as
in the downhill slide that results in death) is produced by a gene that is
_programmed_ to disrupt the body's healing factors. The theroy views this
as nature's way of removing a useless person from the gene pool. Useless,
you hear me say? Well, yes. Once you have reproduced (or refused to
reproduce, either way), nature has little use for you. Look at the natural
life span of a human. At 30-40 years, unaided, it's just long enough to
_have_ a child, then have enough time left to raise it to the point where
it can care for itself and no longer needs it's parents. At that point,
the parent becomes redundant. It can even be argued that the parent
becomes a drag, by comsuming resources that the child could use instead. 
And should you choose NOT to reproduce.. Well, then. You are most
_definitely_ in the way, evolutionarily speaking. The sooner you're
removed, the better. Long life interferes with rapid evolution. 
Immortality interferes even more. Planned obsolesence, on the other hand,
is _ideal_ for speeding up the process.

	A harsh way of doing things, perhaps... but whoever said that
natural processes were supposed to be kind? Who was it that said `nature,
red in tooth and claw'?

	I'd be happy to hear any thoughts on this, but as it does form a
tangent, perhaps it would be best discussed in private email, no?

	Hope I've sparked a few ideas that might turn into fics, here.

	Ed Becerra

	Fortuna bless and keep you...

	"Dreamers may die, but the dream is eternal..."