For all you scientific brains out there . . .
The bible claims lifespans of over 900 years. What does science say about this?
Did our ancestors really live for hundreds of years?
by pennycandy 43 Replies latest jw friends
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doogie
no
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AlmostAtheist
I surely agree with Doogie, but I'm not sure how you'd go about proving it. Is there any way to determine how long creatures that are now extinct lived? For instance, can we know the life span of a t-rex?
Dave
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JH
Yes, I think so. Adam could have lived eternally, which is WAY more than 900 little years.
Some animals live longer than us humans.... After Adam and Eve's sin, and after the flood, everthing changed...and humans lived only 70 to 80 years in average.
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under74
Soooo, why did everything suddenly change as far as life span goes JH? Some kind of curse on Noahs kin for following God's instruction to build an arc?
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drwtsn32
Yes, I think so.
Yeah but she asked what SCIENCE says. ;)
As usual I agree with AlmostAtheist! -
Abaddon
Well, science says "no", but Abaddon finds 'bollocks did they' far more satisfying a response. There is no reputable evidence for life spans over 125.
No, we don't know how long dinosaurs lived for;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs/dig_deeper/faq_general.shtml#six
How long could a dinosaur live?
One specimen of the now-extinct Black Seychelles Tortoise, which was an adult when captured, lived a record 152 years in captivity (1766-1918) and had an accidental death. These estimates, based on lifespans of cold-blooded animals, would be too long if dinosaurs had metabolisms more similar to modern birds and mammals.The red highlight is important, as it is quite likely dinosaur metabolisms WERE closer to birds or mammals..
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AlmostAtheist
Here's a little summary on natural selection and aging. It seems a bit off to me, but it is just a summary so maybe the lengthier discussion is clearer. The overall point seems to be that there is an advantage to a species for individuals not to live eternally or for an extended period, since it slows the evolution of the species as a whole. I'm not sure how that would work exactly, understanding that evolution doesn't work under the idea that any intelligence is making decisions about what is "best".
Dave
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Abaddon
Oh, I can make up a reason why lifespans dropped after the Flood!!
It'll even sound scientific;
After the Flood, with the absence of the cloud canopy, radiation reaching the Earth surface increased dramatically. This accelerated the process of life-span reduaction already taking place; the survivors of the Flood were the last generation to have really long life-spans, as they had developed in a low radiation environment; their decendants rapidly reached the 'three-score years and ten', as even in the womb they were bombarded with radiation.
Of course there are two problems with the pseudoscience;
- No evidence for Flood
- The cloud canopy is anidea that doesn't work, (no, not even in the thermosphere even if it is hot there)
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drwtsn32
I read (wish I remembered where) that the average human life expectancy 2000 years ago was believed to be only in the 20's... primarily due to disease, starvation, etc. Even in the 1700's here in the US it was still only in the 20's.
The 19th and 20th centuries brought about a huge increase in average life expectancy. 100 years ago it was in the 40's, I believe.