  Various features of the development of individual living species, including
individual humans, are programmed. Is death also programmed, and if yes, how is
it implemented and what can be the underlying mechanism providing the
inevitability of death? The hypothesis presented in this paper is based on the
similarity of the human evolution to the evolution of simple discrete nonlinear
fractional (with power-law memory) systems. Caputo fractional/fractional
difference logistic map is a simple discrete system with power-/asymptotically
power-law memory and quadratic nonlinearity. In the area of parameters where
the fixed point is unstable, its evolution starts as the evolution of a system
with a stable fixed point but then this fixed point becomes unstable, suddenly
breaks, and turns into a period two point. Considered under various types of
random perturbations, the time spans of the evolution as a fixed point before
the break (lifespans) obey the Gompertz-Makeham law, which is the observed
distribution of the lifespans of live species, including humans. The underlying
reason for modeling the evolution of humans by fractional systems are the
observed power law in human memory and the viscoelastic nature of organ tissues
of living species. Models with power-law memory may explain the observed
decrease at very large ages of the rate of increase of the force of mortality
and they imply limited lifespans.
