# Why don’t some humans have the Fountain of Youth genes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480 "2010-11-12T21:02:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/21 "2010-11-13T21:57:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I was referring to heartbeat count, which IIRC would put a mid-20s human at the same point as an extreme geriatric mammal of any other species. And of course, 26 is extremely young for a professor. Really? Do chimps have heart beat rates significantly different from humans? They routinely live into their 30s in the wild. Similarly for gorillas. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/22 "2010-11-13T22:57:51Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > That would be successful only if those grants caused the recipients to have more children than average (thereby increasing the incidence of good genetics for old age in the human race at large) or if the recipients showed a strong bias for endogamy, or marriage within the group, eventually creating a subgroup of humans with particularly good genetics for old age. The Howard Foundation did indeed encourage endogamy among the beneficiaries of the Howard trust. By the 22nd century, the Families had a serious problem with reinforcement of bad recessives. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/23 "2010-11-13T23:40:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And as others have pointed out, even if some people remain relatively youthful into old age, their reproductive work is already done, so there’s no way to retroactively benefit from it. Not true; if the extended lifespan person does things that increase the likelihood of their genetic line continuing, they can still have an evolutionary effect. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/24 "2010-11-13T23:54:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Really? Do chimps have heart beat rates significantly different from humans? They routinely live into their 30s in the wild. Similarly for gorillas. I confess that I don’t know the answer to that one. I would expect that our closest relatives are themselves somewhat remarkable in their longevity, but they still aren’t even close to ours. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/25 "2010-11-13T23:59:49Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Not true; if the extended lifespan person does things that increase the likelihood of their genetic line continuing, they can still have an evolutionary effect. Yep, and this includes both raising offspring and continuing to reproduce, since the OP implies genes that don’t just increase lifespan, but minimize ageing. Men remain fertile for much of their lives, so (especially) if they have a youthful physique too, there’s nothing stopping them from continuing to reproduce. In the case of women it depends whether the hypothetical includes them having a greater supply of eggs. Nonetheless, without ageing, there would be a larger “window” in a woman’s life for producing children with low risk of miscarriage / birth defects. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/26 "2010-11-14T02:07:42Z")
In the famous story “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, Gilgamesh succeeds in his trip (to see the only human couple that were granted immortality by the Gods. To his chagrin, they appear to discourage Gilgamesh (from seeking his own immortality)-why was this? Were they in effect, saying “eternal life ain’t worth it”? Recall the Jewish story of the garden of Eden-immortality was forever lost (to humans), because Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge-presumably, God agreed with this destiny. again and again, the ancients were told: “do NOT seek immortality, if you do, you will anger me”-why does God discourage us from it? In the Oddysey, Achilles boasts:“the Gods eny us, because we are not immortal”. Does posessing eternal life lead to eternal unhappiness? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/27 "2010-11-14T03:02:59Z")
Your question is academic. Eternal life is impossible and so one cannot know if eternal life causes eternal unhappiness. The question under discussion is actually longevity and not immortality. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/28 "2010-11-14T03:52:46Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Does posessing eternal life lead to eternal unhappiness? [Moderator Note] I think this is getting out of GQ territory. If you want to discuss this, it would be better to do so in GD. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/29 "2010-11-14T17:18:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I confess that I don’t know the answer to that one. I would expect that our closest relatives are themselves somewhat remarkable in their longevity, but they still aren’t even close to ours. OK. But that’s a different statement than the one you originally made. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/30 "2010-11-14T18:16:24Z")
It’s a truism that “why not” questions about evolution are not answerable. “Why” questions are. That is, the only real answer to “how come evolution didn’t do this, that, or the other” is, “it just didn’t.” It is, at the bottom, based on random processes, and sometimes there are solutions to problems that seem obvious, but just never happened to pop up. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480/31 "2010-11-14T18:23:13Z")
> [@](#): > > OK. But that’s a different statement than the one you originally made. Yes, I should have said something like “most mammals”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-some-humans-have-the-fountain-of-youth-genes/560480.md?page=1)