Content Topics | Death

If we can speak of cancer having an intention, it is not to kill, but to avoid being killed. Period. A death-free horizon, a death-free future. As such, cells infested with cancer are, in a sense, smitten with immortality aspirations, however rudimentary. In obvious parallel with this is contemporary culture’s denial of death and accompanying dreams of unlimited growth. Normal cells are programmed, literally and precisely programmed, to die when they become dysfunctional or unnecessary. The term for this is apoptosis. Once it is activated in a cell, the internal networks of the cell are shut down and a series of enzymatic reactions are catalyzed, leading to a full internal breakdown that occurs without any significant fuss — no disturbance of other cells, no leakage of intracellular components into the extracellular environment. No mess, no inflammation, no dumping of toxins. No poisonous spill zones or pollution, no ecological disaster. A clean death. Some call apoptosis cell suicide, but regardless of the anthropomorphic leaning and dramatic connotations of such a label, apoptosis is an elegantly efficient, ecologically extremely sound process. Recycling plus. Cells undergoing apoptosis — over 100,000 every second in every one of us — » Read more: Cellular Immortality Ambitions: Cancer & Death