Reading Isaac Asimov’s Science Past-Science Future this past weekend, I noted two interesting points he made.
1) “Every tool we have represents an improved body part. The stone is an improved fist, and the stone knife is an improved fingernail. The armor of a medieval knight was an improved skin, and gunpowder is an improved biceps for throwing missiles.” This struck me. I thought of all the things I “use” throughout my day as an “improved body part”. Screwdriver – stronger fingers, wrench – stronger wrists, hammer – stronger biceps, cups – better than hands, silverware – better than fingers, pen – more exact than a finger dipped in ink, fan – better than blowing on myself, air conditioner – far better than a fan or blowing on myself, Post-Its – additional memory tools, and vehicles –seven league boots straight from the fairytale.
2) “… the brain dies. You are born with 100 billion or so brain cells, and that is your total lifetime supply. Some of them will die; in fact, some of them are constantly dying, but no new ones will be formed.” So this basically means that the longer you live, the less brain cells you have. And we wonder why there is such a surge in Alzheimer’s, senile dementia, and general senility today. When the human race used to die in their 30s and 40s it wasn’t much of an issue. It still wasn’t when the life expectancy was in the 60’s. Now of course, being 60 is the new 40. And a lot of the 80 and 90 year old senior citizens are showing the result of dying brain cells that do NOT EVER get replaced. How fun. I am so looking forward to the time that I will forget I was ever looking forward to.
1) “Every tool we have represents an improved body part. The stone is an improved fist, and the stone knife is an improved fingernail. The armor of a medieval knight was an improved skin, and gunpowder is an improved biceps for throwing missiles.” This struck me. I thought of all the things I “use” throughout my day as an “improved body part”. Screwdriver – stronger fingers, wrench – stronger wrists, hammer – stronger biceps, cups – better than hands, silverware – better than fingers, pen – more exact than a finger dipped in ink, fan – better than blowing on myself, air conditioner – far better than a fan or blowing on myself, Post-Its – additional memory tools, and vehicles –seven league boots straight from the fairytale.
2) “… the brain dies. You are born with 100 billion or so brain cells, and that is your total lifetime supply. Some of them will die; in fact, some of them are constantly dying, but no new ones will be formed.” So this basically means that the longer you live, the less brain cells you have. And we wonder why there is such a surge in Alzheimer’s, senile dementia, and general senility today. When the human race used to die in their 30s and 40s it wasn’t much of an issue. It still wasn’t when the life expectancy was in the 60’s. Now of course, being 60 is the new 40. And a lot of the 80 and 90 year old senior citizens are showing the result of dying brain cells that do NOT EVER get replaced. How fun. I am so looking forward to the time that I will forget I was ever looking forward to.
1 comment:
I prefer to think that the brain cells that die are the weak ones, and that the strong ones are the ones that will carry me into old age.
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