Why do organisms re-produce?

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

OP is a fucking moron. :|

An appropriate comment considering the topic is reproduction

 

[zinfamous]

b/c it's really fun.

 

[AstroManLuca]

They reproduce because if they didn't, they would not be here today. Everything that is alive is here because their ancestors were able to reproduce.

It is the survival of the fittest, those that cannot reproduce are considered failures and their genes never get to see another generation.

Yeah, the OP question is kind of like asking, "why is the earth so perfectly suited to sustaining life?" Reproduction is the effect, not the cause.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Scientific Answer: This has been tested and there were no survivors.

 

[BurnItDwn]

There's on immortality, and even if there was some sort of species that didn't age and could theoretically live forever, they would still die due to predators or changes in the world.... Species need to be able to adapt to survive. To adapt over time requires evolution. This can only happen through many generations life and death of individuals.

 

[Leros]

I would say that they don't have to, but the ones that still exist did reproduce.

 

[IronWing]

There's on immortality, and even if there was some sort of species that didn't age and could theoretically live forever, they would still die due to predators or changes in the world.... Species need to be able to adapt to survive. To adapt over time requires evolution. This can only happen through many generations life and death of individuals.

Negatory. Death is the price we pay for sex. Cyanobacteria are effectively immortal. Some of the stromatolite forming bacteria of the Proterozoic eon are still alive today. Asexual reproduction allows this.

 

[busydude]

OP, watch this video in its entirety.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMFPe-DwULM

 

[McWatt]

It's sort of like the anthropic principle (the weak one, since the strong one is complete nonsense). Organisms that are still around for us to see are here because their predecessors reproduced. "Life" may arise in a vast number of isolated cases that do not lead to reproduction. Statistically, however, those dead-end organisms must be quite rare.

In short, 100% of the organisms we've seen were created through reproduction because otherwise we don't get to see them.

 

[Theb]

Because orgasms.

 

[IronWing]

It's sort of like the anthropic principle (the weak one, since the strong one is complete nonsense). Organisms that are still around for us to see are here because their predecessors reproduced. "Life" may arise in a vast number of isolated cases that do not lead to reproduction. Statistically, however, those dead-end organisms must be quite rare.

In short, 100% of the organisms we've seen were created through reproduction because otherwise we don't get to see them.

In addition, the organisms that did/do reproduce grab up all the good building blocks effectively precluding new start ups.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

beecuz teh sexeh is AWESOMSAUCE!