Stay Alive Quote by Geoffrey West
““To maintain order and structure in an evolving system requires the continual supply and use of energy whose by-product is disorder. That’s why to stay alive we need to continually eat so as to combat the inevitable, destructive forces of entropy production. Entropy kills. Ultimately, we are all subject to the forces of “wear and tear” in its multiple forms. The battle to combat entropy by continually having to supply more energy for growth, innovation, maintenance, and repair, which becomes increasingly more challenging as the system ages, underlies any serious discussion of aging, mortality, resilience, and sustainability, whether for organisms, companies, or societies.””
About This Quote
Source Lecture: Complexity and Aging, Geoffrey West, 2018
Systems need constant energy to counter entropy; aging is the increasing difficulty of supplying that energy.
In simple terms: Energy fights decay; aging makes it harder.
Key Takeaway
Invest in sustainable energy and resilience.
Themes
entropy
aging
energy
systems
resilience
Mood
analytical
thought‑provoking
Type
academic
inspirational
When to use this quote
- corporate strategy
- personal health
- urban planning
- environmental policy
Key Concepts
thermodynamics
complex systems
sustainability
biological aging
Questions to Reflect On
- How can organizations design for long‑term energy efficiency?
- What personal habits reduce entropy in daily life?
A Different Perspective
Entropy cannot be fully eliminated, only managed.
![“[A living organism] ... feeds upon negative entropy ... Thus the device by which an organism maintains itself stationary at a fairly high level of orderliness (= fairly low level of entropy) really consists in continually sucking orderliness from its environment.” quote by Erwin Schrodinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1e6/erwin-schrodinger-8450_biology_a-living-organism-feeds-upon-negative-en_1038869.jpg)
