Wednesday, April 15, 2026

The three times in human aging

In human aging we can distinguish three 'times'. Physical time, biological time and intrinsic, lived time (ontochronology).  The biological time can be written as a smooth function $b(t)$ of physical time. Ontochronology - which is in a sense the real age and time for a human being - is measured by the length of the graph $b(t)$ starting from the moment of birth $(t_0, b(t_0))$. Thus

$o(t) = \int_{t_0}^t\sqrt{1 + b'(t)^2} dt$

If we consider the total chronological time of a person's life as fixed, then corresponding to this constraint there are a great varieties of smooth graphs for $b(t)$ (subject to further biological constraints). For instance $b(t)$ may to a substantial extent lie beneath the diagonal $\Delta(t) = t$ and thus that person will have a longer youth and have a biological age less than their chronological age.

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The three times in human aging

In human aging we can distinguish three 'times'. Physical time, biological time and intrinsic, lived time (ontochronology).  The bio...