DNA and Afterlife

We recently discussed the afterlife on this blog and I overlooked the important relationship that exists between DNA and eternal life, as an alternative to the concept of surviving one’s own mortality. 

This thought first hit me 37 years ago, at the death of my father. I realized then that we all lived forever through the DNA we pass on to our offspring. This idea of "forever life" through the genes we pass to our children is a biological perspective on immortality, rooted in the principles of genetics and evolution.

While it's true that our genes persist in our descendants, this is different from most traditional concepts of an afterlife, which typically involve some form of conscious existence beyond physical death. I will admit that through that process I cease to exist as a conscious individual, and that doesn’t get any better as my genes mix and dilute over generations, meaning that my future descendants will only carry minute fragments of my DNA. 

For those whose kids were adopted, or childless artists and others, this non-biological form of persistence still works perfectly as we "live on" through our ideas, influence, and cultural contributions. 

Sure, there are also all the religions and spiritual beliefs that offer an afterlife involving a form of reincarnation or some eternal consciousness—something beyond mere genetic transmission, but that doesn’t work too well for me as I am woefully unable to remember any previous lives of mine, yet alone events that occurred to me 50 or 60 years ago! 

In conclusion, for me, in a strictly biological sense, parts of my DNA will persist in future generations, even though I realize it will be under the form of diminishing returns and won’t be the same as my living forever in a conscious or spiritual sense, a concept that I must admit, tires me when I begin to imagine it, so the gene story will be plenty for me...