We think that all organisms have to die. Every animal, including humans, will eventually die. Our cells stop reproducing, we die of old age, cancer takes us, we are killed by accidents... the list goes on. No organism in recorded history has been able to be immortal. If there was one found, we probably wouldn’t even consider it an organism because we know the definition of organism as an “organic, living system that functions as an individual entity” (Google).

Knowing this, what defines a living system? In saying something is living, doesn’t that imply that it will die? Can the concept of life exist without the concept of death?

Here I don’t want to talk about these philosophical questions and am going to ignore those for now. I want to talk about the practical question.

If a tree was under perfect conditions, could it live forever? If it had the perfect amount of water, nutrients in soil, sunlight, safety from animals/predators, could it live forever?

I say yes. Trees can live forever under perfect conditions.

Looking up the top causes of tree death, it says that trees mostly die due to diseases/pathogens, catastrophic events, injury, people cutting them down, and an adverse environment (drought). All of these factors are things that logically will kill a real tree out in the wild. But under a system of perfect conditions, all of these factors wouldn’t exist.

Since there is no clear reason for a tree to die under perfect conditions, it would just keep on living.

Trees are biologically different from humans in that they can sustain themselves without certain organs that will eventually be overused and die. They don’t have a heart that must continue pumping for them to live. Once our heart runs out of energy to pump or the muscles break down, we die. That’s it. Trees don’t have a brain to control motor functions and thoughts. Our neurons don’t undergo mitosis and replicate like our other cells do. Once our neurons die out, that’s it. They’re gone.

Because of the nature of trees and their inertness, they can live for much longer than we can, even reaching a point of immortality under perfect conditions, I believe.

This is similar to how stars die. Brighter stars are more active but die quicker. Dimmer stars are more inert but can last hundreds of lifespans of a brighter star. In this analogy, we are the brighter stars by our intellectual thinking and activity and trees are dimmer stars in their inertness. But the differences is that trees wouldn’t die.

It is very possible and maybe very likely that I am completely wrong and that under perfect conditions, a tree would find some way to die. I’m not the most knowledgeable on trees but I definitely want to learn more about them. Anyway, I don’t want to ramble so that’s it. Pretty much, trees are so so amazing. Maybe me thinking of them as capable of immortality is putting them on a pedestal because of my admiration to them but still. It is what it is.