Name: 我們是否註定要死？衰老的真正科學 (Are We Programmed to Die? The Real Science of Aging)
Uploaded: 2025-08-21T21:01:30.000Z
Duration: 7 min 30 s

So so I heard long ago and I checked it out and I think it's true that all mammals live for about the same number of heartbeats, except for humans who live two or three times that

我很早以前就聽說過，我查了一下，我覺得這是真的，所有哺乳動物的心跳次數都差不多，除了人類，他們的壽命是人類的兩三倍，但如果你追溯到足夠久遠的年代，當我們還住在洞穴裡的時候，我們和其他哺乳動物的心跳次數是一樣的。

程度副詞

Except, if you go back far enough in time when we were just living in caves, we were right with all the rest of the mammals.

So first, is that true? Second, there are animals, not mammals, that live much longer than we do. I'm thinking of the Galapagos tortoise, for example.

Yeah, so do you guys study other animals to get insight?

是啊，你們研究其他動物是為了獲得洞察力嗎？

So there is a whole field devoted to looking at lifespan of different species.

你說得沒錯，至少在哺乳動物中，傑弗裡-韋斯特（Jeffrey West）寫了一本書，叫《尺度》（scale），書中顯示心跳次數大致相同，這與較小的動物新陳代謝率較高有關。

And you are right that at least among mammals, a Jeffrey West, who's written a book called Scale, shows that the number of heartbeats is roughly the same.

That has to do with the fact that smaller animals have a higher metabolic rate. They have a faster metabolism and and they almost need to because their surface-to-volume ratio is larger.

We did a whole explainer on surface-to-volume ratio.

是以，他們需要保持較高的新陳代謝率，這是他們心率較高的原因之一，但這並不是他們早死的原因。

And so they they they need to maintain a higher metabolic rate. That's one of the reasons that's only one of the reasons why they have higher heart rate That's not a reason why they should die sooner.

Ah, the why we should die die sooner is has an evolutionary Explanation and that is Evolution doesn't care how long you live.

啊，為什麼我們應該早點死，這有一個進化論的解釋，那就是進化論不在乎你能活多久。

It only cares about fitness fitness in the biological sense is the likelihood that you're going to be able to Successfully pass on your genes and people always misinterpret that as being physically fit or stronger or whatever I will love the fittest.

它只關心生物意義上的 "健壯"，即你能夠成功地將你的基因遺傳下去的可能性，而人們總是將其誤解為體格健壯或更強壯或其他什麼的，我會愛最健壯的人。

Yeah, George should have found a different word So evolution cares about fitness now at the same time for most of our history and Certainly the history of all other species resources are limiting and so You have to select do you put more of your resources into maintenance and repair of the individual?

是的，喬治應該找一個不同的詞 所以進化關心的是適存性，在我們的大部分歷史上，當然還有所有其他物種的歷史上，資源都是有限的，所以你必須選擇是否將更多的資源投入到個體的維護和修復上？

Animal or do you put it into growth and reproduction?

還是將其用於動物的生長和繁殖？

There's always a balance if you if you have limited energy So in the case of a mouse, which lives about two years in the wild There's no sense in having a mouse live for 40 years because long before that it's going to be eaten.

如果你的精力有限，就必須保持平衡，就拿老鼠來說，它在野外能活兩年左右。

Yep, exactly Or it'll die of starvation or a drought or something And so in the case of a mouse evolution has favored selection of a species that grows very quickly and reproduces prolifically That's a mouse if you get to a large animal like a bowhead whale Let's take an even even bigger than an elephant They can live for two three hundred years and they have a very relatively slow metabolism Wow, and even slower metabolism is not a mammal, but it's still a vertebrate called the Greenland shark 700 years Yeah a vertebrate living for 700 years very slow metabolism How do you know that?

是的，沒錯，不然它就會餓死 或者死於乾旱什麼的 所以在老鼠的例子中 進化傾向於選擇生長速度快 繁殖力強的物種，這就是老鼠新陳代謝更慢的不是哺乳動物 但仍然是一種脊椎動物 叫格陵蘭鯊，活了700年 對，脊椎動物活了700年 新陳代謝非常慢 你怎麼知道的？

We didn't even have marine biology 700 years ago They can do things like carbon dating and they cut one open it was a 700 rings So you've got the mayfly lives a day mayfly lives a day right and then between that you've gone from there to a Greenland shark And you're Galapagos and there are actually other animals that are thought not to even age Biologically, what's the emote like a hydra and the immortal jellyfish these things have an actual animal called the hydra.

700年前我們甚至還沒有海洋生物學 他們可以做碳定年法 他們把一隻蜉蝣剖開 它有700個年輪 所以蜉蝣活了一天 蜉蝣活了一天 對 然後在這之間 你從那裡到了格陵蘭鯊魚 你到了加拉帕戈斯群島

No This is a freshwater small animal and okay, they're full of stem cells, so they're constantly regenerating themselves But if you followed an individual it would also age only very slowly.

不，這是一種淡水小動物，好吧，它們體內充滿了幹細胞，所以它們會不斷自我再生，但如果你跟蹤一個個體，它的衰老也會非常緩慢。

It's just in the wild It it dies for other reasons before Actually aging.

只是在野外，它在真正衰老之前就因其他原因死亡了。

所以，現在有了一個完整的系列。

Here's might be the only species That dies of natural causes in the world.

這裡可能是世界上唯一自然死亡的物種。

我是說有可能，你知道的，頂級掠食者。

所以，是的，我認為這可能是真的。

In fact, there's a book Written by Steven Ostad called Methuselah zoo Which way talks about all these animals in this book.

事實上，史蒂文-奧斯塔德寫過一本書，名叫《瑪蘇撒拉動物園》，書中談到了所有這些動物。

He he points out Methuselah zoo in Methuselah zoo he points out how all these species have such different lifespans and It's because of this evolutionary selection, but it's actually worse than that It's the fact is evolution will select for things that help you early in life Even if they cause a problem later in life So many of the things that cause aging are related to growth For example or to cancer prevention, you know prevention of or the or senescent cell These things all help us early in life and they're there a problem later in life But evolution doesn't care what happens to you when later we're not making babies.

他在瑪土撒拉動物園裡指出 這些物種的壽命為何如此不同 這都是因為進化的選擇 但事實上比這更糟糕的是 進化會選擇那些在生命早期對你有幫助的東西 即使它們在生命後期會造成問題這些東西在生命早期都對我們有幫助 而在生命晚期則會造成問題 但進化論並不關心當我們不再生育時 你會發生什麼事

Yeah, exactly Yeah, because that's the whole deal So what helps us survive in infancy and then go on to reproduction is the key component of our decline and demise not always not Okay, there are things that happen to us early in life that are selected for early in life that cause aging So the real deal is just keep having babies your entire life And then you you'll never age.

是的，沒錯，因為這就是問題所在，所以幫助我們在嬰幼兒時期存活下來，然後繼續繁衍後代，才是我們衰退和消亡的關鍵因素，並不總是這樣，好吧，有些事情在我們生命早期就發生了，而這些事情在生命早期就被選擇出來，導致了衰老，所以真正的問題是，只要你一生都在生孩子，你就永遠不會衰老。

However, you will eventually kill yourself because of these kids So we're we're an outlier we're an outlier we live about twice as long twice as we would Based on our size, but only post caveman life, right?

然而，你最終會因為這些孩子而自殺 所以我們是一個離群者 我們是一個離群者 我們的壽命是我們的兩倍 根據我們的體型，我們的壽命是我們的兩倍 但這只是穴居人後的生活，對嗎？

So only I mean half of everyone died by 30 Yeah, and so we're not 2x other mammals at our size Yeah, and one last thing is there's a group of animals mammals the bats They live much longer they're about the same size as a mouse in terms of mass Yeah, if leader mouse, they they they live about 10 or 20 times as long as a mouse Mm-hmm, and the reason is they can fly around So that means two things they can escape predators more easily Yeah, and they can also forage over a much wider area for food So and and when they roost their roost in the ceilings of caves, so they're not safe accessible They've been designed to survive longer And so there is worth it for evolution to make them live longer because they'll still keep producing more babies Yeah, so you got to be grandpa Munster.

所以只有一半的人在30歲之前就死了 是的，所以我們的體型不是其他哺乳動物的2倍 是的，最後一件事是有一類動物 哺乳動物，蝙蝠它們還可以在更廣闊的範圍內覓食 所以當它們在洞穴的天花板上築巢時 並不安全 它們被設計成可以存活得更久 所以進化讓它們活得更久是值得的 因為它們還能不斷生出更多的小老鼠