Essay: 'Why Do We Die?'

About a month ago, I wrote an article titled 'Why Do We Live?'

However, I thought that to consider 'Why do we live?', one must also consider 'Why do we die?'

Recently, I listened to a lecture by a biology professor at the University of Tokyo.
The biological explanation of 'why we die' resonated with me so strangely well that I would like to talk about it a little.

To explain it simply, the professor said that humans die in order to evolve.

There is no living thing in this world that does not die.
Every living thing lives in order to keep changing.

If living things did not die, evolution would stop.
Only old information would remain, and it would become impossible to adapt to new environments.

In other words, 'death' is not a defect biologically, but a system.

I found that very convincing.

Information gained since birth is etched into DNA and passed on to future generations.
Life is updated little by little, including not just strong genes, but also adaptation and changes to the environment.

However, while listening to this, I was thinking about something a little different.

I feel that philosophy looks at this problem from the opposite direction.

Biology looks at the 'species'.
Philosophy looks at the 'individual'.

Biology considers, 'Why does humanity die?'
Philosophy considers, 'Why do I die?'

This is where it gets interesting.

For example, biologically, a human is just a life activity.
Cells are born, age, and eventually stop.

But when it comes to philosophy, the conversation suddenly gets strange.

'What is death in the first place?'
'Does the ego disappear after death?'
'What is "I"?'
'Am I the same being when I am asleep as when I am awake?'

Suddenly, you enter a maze with no answers.

Nietzsche proposed the idea of 'eternal recurrence'.
It is the question: if this life were to repeat forever, could you still affirm the present?

Heidegger said that humans 'can truly live precisely because they are conscious of death'.

Conversely, Zhuangzi does not think of life and death as being so separate.
It is closer to the feeling that only the form changes.

I feel that Eastern thought often does not view death as an 'end'.

When I think about these things, it starts to seem like biology and philosophy are climbing the same mountain from opposite directions.

Biology explains death as a 'necessary function'.

Philosophy tries to turn death into 'meaning'.

I don't know which one is correct.

But both are very human.

Humans cannot be satisfied with just living.
They crave meaning.

Why do we love?
Why do we work?
Why do we suffer?
Why do we die?

We are always searching for reasons.

But perhaps the natural world doesn't think that deeply about it.

Cherry blossoms don't worry about 'why they fall'.
Cats don't search for the 'meaning of life'.
The wind doesn't debate its 'reason for existence'.

The act of constantly seeking meaning might be a characteristic of the human creature itself.

Thinking of it that way, philosophy might also be an evolution.

An evolution of 'ways of thinking', not of the body.

Even if you don't have children, you can leave your will behind by conveying your thoughts to others.

You are saved by someone's words.
You are influenced by someone's work.
A sentence from a book you read long ago might support you ten years later.

That is not DNA.
But something is certainly being passed on.

Humans are not evolving solely through genes.

Ideology.
Culture.
Art.
Religion.
Philosophy.

Such 'invisible genes' are also being passed from person to person.

Thinking of it that way, 'death' might be more of a handover than an end.

Of course, dying is scary.
I don't want to lose the people I love, either.

But if no one died, the world would be filled with completed information.

Old values would remain forever.
There would be no room for new ideas to enter.

That is why humans die.

To create a vacancy.

So that the next person can see a new world.

Life, too.
Emotions, too.
Words, too.
Worries, too.

Holding onto it all, we pass it on to the next person.

Biology might call that evolution.

Philosophy might call that life.