urr.

[Vell]

well, its confusing, no matter how I think about it, I can't figure it out using logic.

whats the scientific way to describe dying? i mean, what causes people to be incapable of doing anything? i mean, it seems to stand to reason that if all cells can provide their own life processes, then it'd simply be a matter of keeping enough cells alive to replace the ones that died, and that doesn't seem to either be too difficult - we know what cells need. what causes the cells to stop reproducing, stop replacing, stop fixing? i can't get it.

so, I ask for an explanation cuz its been bugging me, and i need to reduce the number of thigns bugging me - someone told me my headache may well be stress-induced.

and i am sorta agreeing with them, upon analyzing the every-little thing.

[Aqua]

(Here's what I remember; someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

Well, as you get older, so do the cells.  So when the cells reproduce, they are reproducing new old-in-age cells.  Thus, the cells will just keep on aging.

Also, each time a cell reproduces, a tiiiiiiny part of it's DNA is gotten rid of.  So cells that reproduce very frequently will lose more and more DNA, which will result in baaaad things...

The new aged cells and loss of DNA could result in diminished natural body functions, resulting in eventual death.

Also, health conditions such as high fat content in arteries can totally stop providing the necessary things that the cells need like oxygen.

I hope I helped make this a little clearer.

[Starrodkirby86]

That should sound fairly right, Aqua. If not, then there's always something called Wikipedia at people's disposal.

Death is the termination of the biological functions that define living organisms. It refers both to a specific event and to a condition, the true nature of which it has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and philosophers to penetrate; in particular, the possibility or otherwise of what is known as life after death.[1]

Numerous factors can cause death: predation, disease, habitat destruction, senescence, suicide, conflict, malnutrition, or mere accidents resulting in terminal physical injury. The principal cause of death in people in developed countries is disease precipitated by aging. The chief concern of medical science has been to postpone and avert death. Precise medical definition of death, however, becomes more problematic, paradoxically, as scientific knowledge and technology advance.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Death can be caused by disease, suffocation/asphyxiation or prolonged lack of oxygen to the brain, or physical trauma as a result of an accident ("unintentional circumstance"), homicide ("intentional act by someone else"), or suicide ("intentional act against one's self").[9] The leading cause of death in developing countries is infectious disease. The leading causes of death in developed countries are atherosclerosis (heart disease and stroke), cancer, and other diseases related to obesity and aging. These conditions cause loss of homeostasis, leading to cardiac arrest, causing loss of oxygen and nutrient supply, causing irreversible deterioration of the brain and other tissues. With improved medical capability, dying has become a condition to be managed. Home deaths, once normal, are now rare in the developed world.

In developing nations, inferior sanitary conditions and lack of access to modern medical technology makes death from infectious diseases more common than in developed countries. One such disease is tuberculosis, a bacterial disease which killed 1.7 million people in 2004.[10] Malaria causes about 400-900 million cases of fever and approximately one to three million deaths annually.[11] AIDS death toll in Africa may reach 90-100 million by 2025.[12][13]

According to Jean Ziegler, who was the United Nations Special reporter on the Right to Food from 2000 to March 2008; mortality due to malnutrition accounted for 58% of the total mortality rate in 2006. Ziegler says worldwide approximately 62 million people died from all causes and of those deaths more than 36 million died of hunger or diseases due to deficiencies in micronutrients."[14]

Tobacco smoking killed 100 million people worldwide in the 20th century and could kill 1 billion people around the world in the 21st century, the WHO Report warned.[15][16]

Many leading developed world causes of death can be postponed by diet and physical activity, but the accelerating incidence of disease with age still imposes limits on human longevity. The evolutionary cause of aging is, at best, only just beginning to be understood. It has been suggested that direct intervention in the aging process may now be the most effective intervention against major causes of death.[17]

[Blizzard]

It's not the entire DNA. There is a chromosome (or set?) which gets cut off during each dividing of the cell. When there is no more piece of chromosome left (god, what a word phrasing...), the cell can't divide anymore and dies definitely. Some scientists assume that if they are able to replenish that chromosome, it would grant eternal youth.

Also, big organisms die because there are not enough cell to support the entire system in working properly which means that the support of the system with oxygen fails and the cells die off due to suffication. An organism is simply a self-sustaining system consisting out of many small units which have a task. The more cells can't accomplish their task, the harder is it for other cells to work. There is a limit where the system is damaged too much to be able to repair itself so the condition gets gradually (I assume exponentially) worse until death.
It's basically what SRK posted at the beginning in the second quote just rephrased and simplified.

[legacyblade]

On the loss of DNA thing. OMG, it sounds like the computer crashed too many times, and eventually the system files lost so much data, it didn't work anymore O_O

[Blizzard]

It's probably just some division data. A counter of some kind. o.o

[Starrodkirby86]

On the loss of DNA thing. OMG, it sounds like the computer crashed too many times, and eventually the system files lost so much data, it didn't work anymore O_O

You know though, the computer doesn't really work like someone's life though...It may do, but not as much...

Well, I suppose it does except it's inanimate, but who knows. Since the computer's battery, if that dies out, the computer dies out, or the hard drive, anything that's essential for its life. if one mechanism dies out, then the whole computer can die out, except for the arms and legs of the computer, which can be considered the keyboard and the mouse...or maybe even the monitor.

Now I just think I made myself think computers are like life systems. DX

[Blizzard]

But the difference is that the computer's memories stay intact when it dies. You can awaken it to life again and restore its former "life" anytime.