I meant to link to this earlier this week. (Kudos to Paul at GeekPress for reminding me.)

CHILDHOOD IS A SPECIAL TIME INDEED. If only we could maintain our body functions as they are at age 10, we could expect to live about 5000 years on average. Unfortunately, from age 11 on, it's all downhill!

The problem is that our bodies deteriorate with age. For most of our lives, the risk of death is increasing exponentially, doubling every eight years. So, why do we fall apart, and what can we do about it?

According to the article, what we can do is look to the field of reliability engineering for an eventual solution. Reliability engineering is the study of why systems fall apart and what can be done to keep them working longer. From the engineer's perspective, the human body is a defective system from the start, and it only gets worse. However, understanding what's wrong with a system is the beginning of understanding how to fix it.

Those who are pursuing strategies for engineered negligible senescence understand this very well.