The Double Code Hypothesis of Ageing

Many different theories have been proposed to explain ageing, but none has yet achieved eithertheoretical consensus on its nature or sufficient empirical support to convince proponents ofcompeting theories to abandon their own in favour of a more predictive alternative. In thispaper, I present a testable proposal that may or may not achieve such a milestone oncerigorously evaluated. Most current approaches to ageing focus on identifying factors that affectits rate by observing their impact on lifespan. While this yields useful information, it does notprovide Popperian knowledge about what ageing is—only about what modifies it. Manyprevailing perspectives remain rooted in outdated paradigms such as damage accumulation orare shaped by teleologically biased reasoning that seeks purpose behind the ageing process. Incontrast, this paper offers a non-teleological explanation, grounded in a conception of life as afundamentally information-based phenomenon. From this view, ageing is understood as apurely information-processing problem. Specifically, I propose that ageing, properly speaking,emerged when eukaryotic cells began transmitting to their descendants two semi-independentcodes of biological information: the genetic code and the epigenetic code. This is not merely atheoretical concern for academic debate—our lack of a fundamental understanding of whatageing is, and how it emerged during evolution, continues to hinder the development ofinnovative biomedical strategies that could lead to more effective treatments. The frameworkdescribed here is amenable to experimental testing and thus holds the potential to generatescientifically valid Popperian knowledge—knowledge about the nature of ageing itself, notmerely about factors that influence its rate.