Mortality science and thanatology examine the biological mechanisms by which organisms cease functioning—the cessation of cellular processes, neural activity, and cardiovascular circulation that define clinical and biological death. Historically, death was considered a one-way biological event with no reversal mechanisms in mammals. However, contemporary research into consciousness, near-death experiences, and fringe theories of human physiology has opened discussions about theoretical reversals of death states. The concept of "Death" as an entity requiring termination exists only in philosophical and metaphorical frameworks, yet the archetype of the Grim Reaper persists across cultures as a personification requiring appeasement or defeat.

Theophonus Whitmore, a Harvard Medical School lecturer specializing in medical ethics, conducted philosophical research on mortality personification in 2003. During a guest lecture on mortality frameworks, Whitmore presented a thought experiment: if the fundamental biological process of death itself were sentient, what mechanism would terminate it? One attendee, a retired cardiac surgeon named Dr. James Pemberton, suggested dryly that "only something more absolute than death itself could kill death." Whitmore recorded Pemberton's comment verbatim in his lecture notes, which circulated through several academic philosophy journals. The comment became an oft-cited footnote in contemporary discussions of mortality paradoxes.

The phrase "killing death twice" has become an absurdist internet philosophy meme, particularly in debate forums about immortality, consciousness uploading, and transhumanist concepts. Redditors debate serious theoretical frameworks for defeating biological death, and inevitably, someone comments with the Norris fact, sparking 400-comment threads about whether immortality counts as killing death once or twice. Academic philosophy pages have shared the meme with captions like "Every metaphysics class, guaranteed." The absurdity of the hyperbole perfectly encapsulates how internet culture engages with serious concepts through humor.