It’s not totally off base though. Wait until you hear about reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. Oxygen does cause damage to our bodies. Our bodies have protective measures against that and we need oxygen to live, but our utilization of it does cause damage.
Aerobic respiration - the evolutionary moment where our ancestors traded immortality for complexity
That was the phrasing used in a biology of death class I took many years ago. It lives rent free in my mind because ruminating on it so perfectly summarizes the “choices” made by natural selection and the way they echo throughout the history of life on Earth.
It’s not totally off base though. Wait until you hear about reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. Oxygen does cause damage to our bodies. Our bodies have protective measures against that and we need oxygen to live, but our utilization of it does cause damage.
That was the phrasing used in a biology of death class I took many years ago. It lives rent free in my mind because ruminating on it so perfectly summarizes the “choices” made by natural selection and the way they echo throughout the history of life on Earth.