Well what keeps us ticking? Why do we continue being, i mean of course we all have our own reasons... whether it be family... or another sense of contribution that we feel we bring to this earth, but all of these things are just another way to say we have goals.
Again, whether it family or what, we need small goals throughout our lives to keep us going, to keep us attentive. I mean when are you really done? When you're retired? Does that mean you just go die? is that why people move to Florida? because its a comfortable place to lay your head down forever? We as people need a reason to get out of bed in the morning, we need an overall accomplishment to look forward to and to work for if we want to accomplish anything. Those stupid lines like "reach for the stars" are simply perfect to describe this, because even if its completely unimaginable to accomplish, at least "you'll fall in the cloud", that is your humanity.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Control; life-line to a beating heart
In the quote from Catch-22, we see the character feel that he did things that were boring, i.e. seemed to take more time, it would make his life last longer in some idiocratic way. I guess this is true, because time is merely a thought in our minds and if something lasts all day, and has you stuck in your own mind all day, i guess in turn you can trick yourself into thinking everything is going bye slower and trick yourself into thinking its a longer life. But as the other character said, he did not think this was worth it, that life is not in fact life without fun and entertainment, but i guess it leads me to my next point of perspective.
In an article written by Harriet McBryde Johnson titled "When is life worth living?", we see that all about the way you see your struggles, and learn to control them, is how you can make the best out of a situation. The article was about the conditions of paralyzed people who were either put into an institution or had personal home care, the institutionized people had the mindset of being prisoners while the home care had them, though still helped and unable to do things for themselves, in a mindset of being in control, thus making them want to continue in their lives.
So i guess perspective, along with the feeling of control and of self worth is what gives us faith that life is worth living, not a way to trick the mind into thinking it is longer or being locked up and not having your own fate in your hands.
In an article written by Harriet McBryde Johnson titled "When is life worth living?", we see that all about the way you see your struggles, and learn to control them, is how you can make the best out of a situation. The article was about the conditions of paralyzed people who were either put into an institution or had personal home care, the institutionized people had the mindset of being prisoners while the home care had them, though still helped and unable to do things for themselves, in a mindset of being in control, thus making them want to continue in their lives.
So i guess perspective, along with the feeling of control and of self worth is what gives us faith that life is worth living, not a way to trick the mind into thinking it is longer or being locked up and not having your own fate in your hands.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
22 is the Catch
"Well, maybe it is true," Clevinger conceded unwillingly in a subdued tone. "Maybe a long life does have to be filled with many unpleasant conditions if it's to seem long. But in that event, who wants one?"
If you ever read into the last post from "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
If you ever read into the last post with the exert from "Ode on a Grecian Urn", Keats was trying to portray how we live through the art we create, or cherish forever.
In recent developments in the US Government, we see ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) putting a lock down on p2p file sharing. No matter who you are, or what your association is to this sort of sharing, you can obviously see no harm is meant from this, that we are all just trying to associate ourselves with the wholesome things in life that make it that much more bearable.
But on the other hand you can also see why this is illegal, but why has it been left to go on for so long if its such a horrible thing? Being an 18 year old, i have never known a time where this sort of thing was completely taboo in society, i have always seen it widespread, and though this does not make it right, it still makes justifiable.
I'm not here to change the hearts of anyone reading it, I'm just here to explain why we, as people, do it.
In recent developments in the US Government, we see ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) putting a lock down on p2p file sharing. No matter who you are, or what your association is to this sort of sharing, you can obviously see no harm is meant from this, that we are all just trying to associate ourselves with the wholesome things in life that make it that much more bearable.
But on the other hand you can also see why this is illegal, but why has it been left to go on for so long if its such a horrible thing? Being an 18 year old, i have never known a time where this sort of thing was completely taboo in society, i have always seen it widespread, and though this does not make it right, it still makes justifiable.
I'm not here to change the hearts of anyone reading it, I'm just here to explain why we, as people, do it.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats
| O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede | |
| Of marble men and maidens overwrought, | |
| With forest branches and the trodden weed; | |
| Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thought | |
| As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! | 45 |
| When old age shall this generation waste, | |
| Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe | |
| Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st, | |
| 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all | |
| Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.' | 50 |
Science course part IV: Humans
Why do we die?
Can genetics find a 'cure' for ageing and, therefore, dying, or will humans, like other organisms, always be at the mercy of nature? By Tim Radford
Organisms grow old because nature doesn't need them any more. If the purpose of life is to procreate and replicate successfully - this is the logic of the so-called selfish gene theory - then it helps to stay healthy long enough to generate children and provide them with food. Immortality arrives with your offspring, and is only guaranteed when all your children also have children.
Different species place their bets on life's roulette wheel in different ways. If you're an oyster or a salmon or a fruit fly, the process is over quickly enough: lay a huge number of eggs somewhere safely and die. If you're a tigress or a dolphin, the process isn't so simple: you have to bear the young, rear them, provide food on a daily basis and guide them to maturity. If you are a human, you get a little bit of extra grace: you can be useful to your grandchildren, so there is some evolutionary pressure to stay alive that little bit longer. And then there's the bonus: being human, you have all the resources of society and technology to keep you safe from predators and healthy and active for just a bit longer.
But sooner or later, the biological clock begins to run down. Cells that had faithfully renewed themselves begin to fail. A heart that pounded away in perfect synchrony begins to run down after a couple of billion beats. Joints that withstood rugby, football, rock'n'roll and the gymnasium treadmill start to creak. Skin that bloomed in the spring sunshine begins to weather and flake in life's autumn. Brains shrink, spines curve, eyes begin to fail, hearing goes, organs become cancerous, bones begin to crumble and memory perishes.
Ageing seems inevitable but, for some scientists, it isn't obvious why this process is inexorable. Human chromosomes seem to arrive with their own lifespan timing devices called telomeres, but precisely why and how telomeres are linked to ageing is still not understood. There are genes that seem to to dictate survival rates in fruit flies, nematode worms and mice, and these genes almost certainly exist in humans, but what works in an insect or even another mammal may not be much help to a human anxious to hang around a bit longer. Even so, in the last half of the 20th century, life expectancies were increasing everywhere in the developed and developing world, wherever there was appropriate sanitation, nutrition, education and medical care; and small groups of scientists had begun to ask whether life could be extended indefinitely.
Clues to survival
A much larger group was prepared to ask a simpler question: could a healthy, active, enjoyable life be extended a bit longer? Quite how this can be done - in the individuals or in society as a whole - is not so easily answered, but epidemiological and biochemical research has begun to produce some clues to survival. These are, in no particular order:
Be at the top. Research in Japan, the US and Britain has confirmed that social status is linked to health and lifespan. Top civil servants outlive their deputies. Oscar-winning film stars on average live four years longer than ordinary Hollywood actors. The same is true for queen bees, which live 10 times longer than worker bees.
Be British. Better still, be Japanese. British people in the more comfortable echelons of society tend to have lower rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, lung disease and cancer than their American counterparts, even though they spend less on healthcare. The Japanese, of course, do even better.
Choose your ancestors carefully: There are genes that control ageing. Nobody knows exactly what they are or how they work, but you stand a much better chance of being a centenarian if you have a sibling who has made it to 100. Exceptional longevity runs in families. So it is part of inheritance.
Eat wisely: Forget about superfoods, but watch what you eat. Rats, mice and other creatures with restricted calorie intakes survive longer than their sated siblings. What works for mice may not work for humans, but there is no doubt that overeating multiplies health hazards.
Different species place their bets on life's roulette wheel in different ways. If you're an oyster or a salmon or a fruit fly, the process is over quickly enough: lay a huge number of eggs somewhere safely and die. If you're a tigress or a dolphin, the process isn't so simple: you have to bear the young, rear them, provide food on a daily basis and guide them to maturity. If you are a human, you get a little bit of extra grace: you can be useful to your grandchildren, so there is some evolutionary pressure to stay alive that little bit longer. And then there's the bonus: being human, you have all the resources of society and technology to keep you safe from predators and healthy and active for just a bit longer.
But sooner or later, the biological clock begins to run down. Cells that had faithfully renewed themselves begin to fail. A heart that pounded away in perfect synchrony begins to run down after a couple of billion beats. Joints that withstood rugby, football, rock'n'roll and the gymnasium treadmill start to creak. Skin that bloomed in the spring sunshine begins to weather and flake in life's autumn. Brains shrink, spines curve, eyes begin to fail, hearing goes, organs become cancerous, bones begin to crumble and memory perishes.
Ageing seems inevitable but, for some scientists, it isn't obvious why this process is inexorable. Human chromosomes seem to arrive with their own lifespan timing devices called telomeres, but precisely why and how telomeres are linked to ageing is still not understood. There are genes that seem to to dictate survival rates in fruit flies, nematode worms and mice, and these genes almost certainly exist in humans, but what works in an insect or even another mammal may not be much help to a human anxious to hang around a bit longer. Even so, in the last half of the 20th century, life expectancies were increasing everywhere in the developed and developing world, wherever there was appropriate sanitation, nutrition, education and medical care; and small groups of scientists had begun to ask whether life could be extended indefinitely.
Clues to survival
A much larger group was prepared to ask a simpler question: could a healthy, active, enjoyable life be extended a bit longer? Quite how this can be done - in the individuals or in society as a whole - is not so easily answered, but epidemiological and biochemical research has begun to produce some clues to survival. These are, in no particular order:
Be at the top. Research in Japan, the US and Britain has confirmed that social status is linked to health and lifespan. Top civil servants outlive their deputies. Oscar-winning film stars on average live four years longer than ordinary Hollywood actors. The same is true for queen bees, which live 10 times longer than worker bees.
Be British. Better still, be Japanese. British people in the more comfortable echelons of society tend to have lower rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, lung disease and cancer than their American counterparts, even though they spend less on healthcare. The Japanese, of course, do even better.
Choose your ancestors carefully: There are genes that control ageing. Nobody knows exactly what they are or how they work, but you stand a much better chance of being a centenarian if you have a sibling who has made it to 100. Exceptional longevity runs in families. So it is part of inheritance.
Eat wisely: Forget about superfoods, but watch what you eat. Rats, mice and other creatures with restricted calorie intakes survive longer than their sated siblings. What works for mice may not work for humans, but there is no doubt that overeating multiplies health hazards.
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