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by wycs 2667 days ago
One supposes a man such as him would be able to accept death with equanimity. This is backwards. As he was losing much more in death than most of us will; he was far more alive than most anyone has ever been.
2 comments

I don't think we can't say anything about his state of mind.

Kurt Gödel starved to death because of fear of dying poisoned.

In bad times, intelligence by itself is probably not enough to save us of our emotions.

TIL he stopped eating because his wife was sick and couldn't cook for him, and he didn't trust anyone else with his food... not even himself?!
On the other hand, both Feynman and Bertrand Russell are said to have faced death with impressive stoicism, even boredom in the case of the former.
Russell was 97. Feynman was 69 and was in treatment the last decade of his life. von Neumann went from diagnosis to dead in a little over a year. He was 53.
> even boredom in the case of the former.

Just to add that Feynman's last words are reported to be "I'd hate to die twice — it's so boring".