In fact, death seems to have been a rather late invention in evolution. One can go a long way in evolution before encountering an authentic corpse.
George WaldRead
I think if a physician wrote on a death certificate that old age was the cause of death, he'd be thrown out of the union. There is always some final event, some failure of an organ, some last attack of pneumonia, that finishes off a life. No one dies of old age.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that aging is not the direct cause of death; rather, it is specific health failures that ultimately lead to death.
George Wald's quote reflects on the nature of mortality, emphasizing that while aging is a natural process, it is not the sole reason for death. He argues that when we pass away, it is due to specific medical conditions or failures in our body, challenging the simplistic notion that one can die merely from being old. This perspective invites deeper contemplation of life, health, and the biological factors that contribute to our end.
Themes
AgingDeathMortalityHealthLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the misconceptions surrounding aging and death at a health seminar.
More from George Wald
All quotes →I have lived much of my life among molecules. They are good company. I tell my students to try to know molecules, so well that when they have some question involving molecules, they can ask themselves, What would I do if I were that molecule? I tell them, Try to feel like a molecule; and if you work hard, who knows? Some day you may get to feel like a big molecule!
George WaldRead
Our challenge is to give what account we can of what becomes of life in the solar system, this corner of the universe that is our home; and, most of all, what becomes of men-all men, of all nations, colors, and creeds. This has become one world, a world for all men. It is only such a world that can now offer us life, and the chance to go on.
George WaldRead
Evolution advances, not by a priori design, but by the selection of what works best out of whatever choices offer. We are the products of editing, rather than of authorship.
George WaldRead
Nuclear weapons offer us nothing but a balance of terror, and a balance of terror is still terror.
George WaldRead
Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.
George WaldRead
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