AGING, NOISE AND CHOICE.
Abstract
The thesis is developed that the basic cause of aging is the accumulation of uncorrected errors and sources of error in an organism acting as a combination of control systems. The effect of these errors is to restrict the range, adaptability and choice in the activities of the organism. It is indicated that this accumulation of errors ultimately causes the crossing of certain thresholds, described as noise-improvement thresholds and dynamic stability thresholds, in the operation of the control systems involved, at which point progressive deterioration sets in. This may be the way in which degenerative diseases arise. It is pointed out that a healthy living organism may be considered to be a group of interrelated control systems in a state of dynamic stability. The similarities in shape and apparent cause for the life expectancy curves of human beings and the survival curves of manufactured articles is indicated. There is discussion of why some slowing down of activity of an organism with age should be considered as part of the normal development of the organism rather than degeneration. The possibility that the relationship between life-span and size of different species of mammals may be explained in terms of noise theory is pointed out. It is also pointed out that disuse atrophy can mimic aging and that in this case the possibility of adaptive rejuvenation exists. Finally, testable experimental consequences of the theory developed are discussed. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 28, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0660382
Entities
People
- Stanford Goldman
Organizations
- Syracuse University