Molecular versus systemic theories on the genesis of ageing

Abstract

This is the test of a talk in which the author presents his views about the dialectical interplay between the molecular and the systemic views in contemporary biology, especially as they relate to the pogress of research of ageing. The molecular approach is now in the intellectual ascendent, and has a magnificent record of accomplishment in some areas, yet it does not seem able to generate logically consistent theories of ageing. The systematic position has a much more slender record of accomplishment, yet it can point to the demonstration that the marked differences in rate of ageing between mammalian species are accounted for almost entirely by consititutional differences between the species. These factors can at present be specified in global terms, specifically as the rate of energy metabolims and the size of the brain. It is indisputable that the material basis of ageing is molecular degradation, but the differences in rate can how be seen to arise from the organizational properties of the various phenomes. A research strategy based on implications of this interaction will lead to a more convergence on the solution to the problem of ageing.