Defensive Degeneration Theory

This theory proposes that aging results from tumor suppressor mechanisms that evolved to prevent cancer. Unlike other aging theories that treat aging as an evolutionary byproduct, defensive degeneration suggests that many aging phenotypes are actively maintained cancer prevention systems.

The core argument

For billions of years, life consisted of single cells competing for resources. Multicellularity required suppressing this cellular competition to enable cooperation. The mechanisms that prevent cells from reverting to their ancestral competitive behavior necessarily constrain cellular function in ways that manifest as aging.

Cancer represents cellular reversion to the unicellular state - unlimited proliferation, resource competition, and genomic instability.