Asgard clones= eventual death. How?

[Aer'ki]

Operating under the assumption that the Asgards' demise was the result of genetic tampering rather than an accident...how would one(say an ascended) tamper with their DNA to cause the slow genetic degredation that also prevented them from ascending?

Any thoughts as to how the biology of it would work?

[Jeffala]

My thought was that the bodies they were creating had ever-decreasing longetivy.

Say Thor's latest body lasted 6 months. His next body lasts only 5 months, and so on. Eventually, the body-swapping is unsustainable--especially on a civilization-wide scale.

They could continue on in their computer systems, but what kind of life is that?

[ggf31416]

If their DNA work like ours, a mutation that causes shortening of the telomeres would reduce their life expectancy a lot.

[Jack_Bauer]

also, the lack of gentic diversity leaves the Asgard susceptible to disease

[Splitsecond]

Any number of small mutations could impair our ability to live or cause infertility. compare the latest Asgard and the 30,000 year old Asgard and you see that there has been a lot of mutation. Because a clone is made from the DNA of an organism that has lived for some time, the DNA used has some mutations in it. It would be like slowly changing parts of your computer to parts that didn't work the same until it was no longer your computer and could no longer be used the same way. It could be argued that the Asgard were no longer Asgard by the time they died.

[s09119]

My thought was that the bodies they were creating had ever-decreasing longetivy.

Say Thor's latest body lasted 6 months. His next body lasts only 5 months, and so on. Eventually, the body-swapping is unsustainable--especially on a civilization-wide scale.

They could continue on in their computer systems, but what kind of life is that?

I always thought of it like making a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy... every time you do it, the copy gets less and less like the original, and more and more useless.

[ggf31416]

Any number of small mutations could impair our ability to live or cause infertility. compare the latest Asgard and the 30,000 year old Asgard and you see that there has been a lot of mutation. Because a clone is made from the DNA of an organism that has lived for some time, the DNA used has some mutations in it. It would be like slowly changing parts of your computer to parts that didn't work the same until it was no longer your computer and could no longer be used the same way.

If every cell of their body contains the same DNA like us, it's quite simple to detect which is the original gene and which is the mutated one. Just take 1000 cells, sequence their DNA and compare their genes. The most common variation of each gene is the original one.

[Splitsecond]

If every cell of their body contains the same DNA like us, it's quite simple to detect which is the original gene and which is the mutated one. Just take 1000 cells, sequence their DNA and compare their genes. The most common variation of each gene is the original one.

That's not true, sickle cell anemia is a common genetic mutation in Africa. It is a mutation and causes health problems but decreases the chances of dieing from another disease. Since the Asgard decided to stop having children and started genetic engineering, they would have included genetic abnormalities that increased the longevity of life or increased intelligence without worrying about fertility. As their medical technology increased and the cloning capability increased, they would switch to improving their genetic ability to perform scientific studies. This may have degraded their life-span, immune system, fertility and physical stature. If these changes were considered popular or were made mandatory, then they never would have thought about making the whole thing reversible. They evolved themselves to death.

[Awtus]

Degeneration

[thekillman]

which is ridiculous

[kymeric]

For an advanced race they kinda sucked at cloning. Baal never had any problems with it. Are we really supposed to believe the asgard lacked the ability to record the exact dna of their original bodies they were born to? The clone degeneration would only matter if they used dna from each body in sequence of use to make the next. Every scientist knows that you always keep a control sample.

I think something else was going on with the asgard and it was related to the Pegasus asgard. I smell a conspiracy. In the real world myths the aesir and vanir were the enemies of the frost giants, maybe whoever these frost giants are in the sgverse are responsible for the Asgards genetic problems?

[Jeffala]

Degeneration

Obviously, what with it being a "degenerative" disease.

[janus 510]

Baal never had any problems with it.

but baal was'nt doing it for thousands of years so eventully he could get the same problems.

[Splitsecond]

Well whatever genetic engineering they did to themselves took place sometime between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago, because the old Asgard bodies were 30,000 years old and the Pegasus Asgard have been there for at least 10,000 years and look like modern Asgard. It also means that the degenerative disease came about in the last 10,000 years. They only needed their original DNA samples recorded in the computer for historical studies, maybe they lost the data at some point in the last 10,000 years and had to use newer samples. Also remember that a physical sample of DNA will degrade over time and computer data can be lost or overwritten.

[kymeric]

All im saying is if im cloning myself ad infinitum im gonna make sure the dna that makes my nards is a priority XD The asgard seem to have been all MEH we dont need sexual reproduction anyways and shrugged and went on with life.