Obstacles Abound

The human body presents obstacles to reverence. Numerous innate flaws interfere with our abilities to fully experience awe in its most spectacular forms. At best, our eyes only hint at what the visual world might offer if their acuity equaled or exceeded that of the eagle. When our eyesight degrades or fails, even that mediocre vision disappears. Human hearing, never as acute as many other creatures, decays with age or illness. We strain to process sounds, ultimately forced to guess at the meaning of noises we hear. Common afflictions like tinnitus rob us even of our ability to experience true silence. Our senses of taste and smell and touch, too, represent feeble attempts to help us process the world around us. The senses on which we depend to interpret the world around us are no comparison to the precision  of creatures whose senses eclipse our own. Technologies have enabled us to create devices that far exceed our own sensory capabilities. Only the brain, for now, seems to have an edge over technology in many functional areas—with the notable exceptions of certain computational capabilities and a few others.

These thoughts have led me to conclude that the functions of our eyes, tongues, noses, ears, and skin could be replaced by technologies that feed information directly to the brain. In today’s world, in which we regularly unleash machines’ more advanced capabilities, most of our bodies’ functions (and, therefore, most of our bodies) quickly are becoming extraneous. But achieving the ability to integrate the superior abilities of non-human technologies with the brain is a stumbling block…for now. Once seamless integration between the brain and those superior sensory replacements is achieved, humans’ understanding and appreciation of the world around us will be amplified exponentially. Imagine being able to read from the pages of a book a quarter of a mile away…or, when looking at a bee, seeing a super-high-definition image of the microscopic fibers protruding from its eyes…or hearing, at a distance, the rustling of grass as a snake slinks by in search of prey…or smelling the unmistakable aroma of freshly-cut cantaloupe from a roadside fruit and vegetable stand, long before you reach it. Obviously, the challenges of linking the brain to sensory receptors will require a better understanding of the nervous system and more advanced miniaturization capabilities and many other practical advances. Yet the difficulties of harnessing that information and those abilities will be worthwhile. The benefits will go beyond simply enhancing sensory abilities; by replacing the body with miniaturized machinery, humans’ nutritional requirements will decline radically…so, no need for mass agriculture on the scale necessary today. A question sure to arise about this concept is this: what about procreation…even if all we need is another brain, we need some way of ensuring the future of the species, right? No, in fact. Once we achieve the capacity to experience awe in every facet of our lives, we can comfortably accept extinction. Whether we will is, of course, an open question. And there’s the matter of unintended consequences, always an element of surprise that can derail even the best laid plans.

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I had every intention of going to church yesterday morning—until sometime in the wee hours of the morning. That is when I thought through the simple process of attendance—showering, getting dressed, going to the car, making my way into the church, engaging in conversations, and on and on—and determined the effort would be more than I was willing to make. The physical effort would not be difficult, but I was not prepared to exert the necessary mental energy. As it happens, I slept far more yesterday than I have slept in a long, long time. I hope that sleep helped adequately refuel me for another day; a day in which I can be more alert, more active, and more interested in life.

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Another weird dream. I was at a trade show, where I was supposed to represent my employer, which sold highly advanced audio-visual equipment. Three or four colleagues were with me. I took a break from setting up our booth and went outside into a dense, very busy downtown area. I bought a pack of cigarettes; even though they were my preferred brand, they looked and tasted different. Two of my colleagues brought their pets with them, a dog and a sheep; both had collars, but no leashes. I was asked to look out after the animals, but I could not keep up with them in the crowded streets because they lacked leashes. I went looking for them, wandering from street to street, to no avail. Finally, I decided to go back to the convention center, but I did not know where I was, nor did I know where the convention center was located. And I did not know what hotel I was staying in. Somehow, I managed to find the convention center, but I did not know where to look for my trade show. I did not know the name of the show, nor the name of the company I worked for. Finally, I found the entrance to the hall where my show was being set up. A large crowd lined the entryway, which was blocked by singers and dancers. I suppose that is when I awoke.

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So far, today seems like it will be a pretty good one. As well it should be; it’s Labor Day. Celebrate all the people who toil on behalf of others…the folks who try to keep the fabric of society from fraying beyond repair.

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Saturday was my sister-in-law’s birthday, a momentous one. Her daughters and granddaughter visited. If not for my iffy condition, I would have liked to have made the trip to Mexico to join in the celebrations. Such is life. Obstacles abound.