Just a repost from 2006-ish. This thing needs an update anyway.
Apparently I have a thing for philosophy. I decided to repost these year old ramblings since I've recently thought about making a few more and kind of enjoy the mind workout that this kind of writing brings. If I get some kind of feedback or critique, maybe it will happen. Noone seems to be big readers of this type of literature, so it feels like I may just be wasting my time with them:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Thought 1: A Worldly Horizon
I'm weird, and thus ponder abstract and often meaningless impossible existances that boggle my mind. Todays thought came from the saying "as far as the eye can see". I thought about the limit of ones vision, and how though we see the daytime sky as being blue, there is so much more behind it that our eyes cant actually conceive. At nighttime, we can see past the blue veil that shrouds the seemingly infinite beyond, and yet the majority of the sky we see is still black. With such an infinite abyss and countless amount of stars and planetary possibilities, if our eyes had a limitless range, then surely not a single line of sight into the great beyond would be black. The sky would be nothing but a bright glow of cosmic colors given off by the undiscovered galaxies, colorful planets, and brightly burning stars that blanket the sky.
Another thought brought up by the same relative concept is that while we look out to a horizon such as an ocean and see an end, it is only because the world is round and thus there is no true ending. Try to imagine the existence of a world sloped upwards and downwards for a billion or so miles. What would a horizon look like then? Looking up at half of the world while looking down on the rest. In no dimension is such an abstract existence likely to be conceived considering all current known proof and knowledge. Without a round mass, there would be no stable rotation and centrifugal force to generate gravity and thus keep any being on the ground. A flat, linear world would only succeed in sending any existing being to be slung into the vast reaches of space as nothing more than lost debris. Nonetheless, an interesting thing to have thought about.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Thought 2: BRAAAAINS
One way of knowing that I've got too much time on my hands is when I get those nifty random thoughts that make my brain hurt.
Speaking of brain, that happens to be the subject of todays random thought. The human brain seems to be a very intriguing topic, indeed. Though research on my part is very minimal making my ramble quite uninformative and possibly misleading to those who take it too seriously, I still find it satisfying to ponder.
I'm no expert on the human anatomy or the inner workings of a persons body, but I do know that the human brain is the source in control of it all. That being said, a true death is the state of being braindead, and not merely flatlining. People who have flatlined claimed to have been able to hear, feel, smell, taste, and see what is going on for a brief time until they've been defribbrilized back into a pulse. It is to my understanding from what I've read/heard that the brain requires a certain amount of oxygen to operate at its full potential. A stopping heart stops blood flow, which in turn leaves blood stranded and unable to deliver the oxygen that the lungs produce, ceasing oxygenation to the body and brain.
I suppose I could use a little story about my grandfather who passed away last year. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong or what happened to him, but by the time I came around and saw him, he was already in the dreaded gaping maw, head back, sunken face state, in which I've known noone to bounce back in good health from. His lungs weren't distributing enough oxygen and his heartbeat was quite low. They claimed that there wasn't enough oxygen going to his brain for him to be alert and aware of his surroundings, yet apparently it was enough to keep his vital organs running. A few days later he was taken to hospice for his final night, where all of our family gathered. Ultimately, it ended up being me who held his hand in his final moments. His slow heartbeat seemed to pick up, supposedly due to the compensation of other organs failing, and started falling back down slower and slower. There were no monitors or wires connected to his body, I witnessed and felt his pulse only through his hand. His pulse diminished and finally vanished, and he then quickly showed a very unpleasant look of an apparent pain, and then reverted back to his former expression, and that was it. So, it seems that in the end, with hardly enough oxygen to be aware of surroundings, a brain can allow it's host to feel the pain of the last moments of a seemingly calm death.
Brains obviously aren't all bodily function related, as personalities and memories are harbored there as well. Some of them about as fucked up as mine, and some way, way worse and bizarre. Brains have a fuckton of potential in my opinion, since we only use a fraction of our brains. I can't remember the exact statistic, but I'm sure it was definitely at or below 20% that was actually used, while the other remaining amount was dormant. What kind of potential can a brain hold? Psychokinesis, telekinesis, being able to repair your own body and those of others by merely touching or thinking about it? More importantly, just how can someone acquire such techniques and knowledge? It's obviously something that noone has ever been taught, or perhaps it is something that is impossible to simply teach. If I had to make any kind of guess, it would be that the key might lie in other senses and other undiscovered skills. Perhaps we will evolve further in time and be able to feel and sense other matter apart from our own physical bodies and manipulate them. I suppose only time will tell, if our species lives to see the day.
Ugh, my brain hurts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random thought 3: Universal Language
Wouldn't it be pleasant if there was a universal language that everyone could understand? The language barriers between countries and cultures are an unpleasant obstacle to tackle, in that you have to actually be taught how to comprehend them.
In my case, if someone came up to me and started speaking Japanese, I would have no fucking idea what the hell they just said to me unless I have learned that language through books, tutoring, or some other method of study. One thing that I would be able to understand however, is body language, expression, and say... illustration, if they happened to have pen and paper. If they had come up to me saying something in their own language with a confused look on their face and shruging their shoulders, it would lead me to believe that they had just asked a question. If they tried to tell me about something like a duck, I probably wouldn't understand their language, but had they drawn it out, it would immediately be recognized. Even if we were to follow a universal written/verbal language, it would not prove useful to someone who lost their sight and hearing.The only way through that is braille, which would be useful unless someone lost their fingers or sense of touch completely. Communication can be interpreted through the 5 senses, and even with the loss of some, there are still forms that can be used for comprehension in one way or another.
How can we communicate with those in a coma? What about those stuck in a critical irreversible health complex making responsiveness impossible? How do you know that the words you're telling your loved ones as they're fading away actually reaches them before they pass on? We only hope they do, but I wondered these same thoughts as my grandfather passed away. What are you thinking? Can you actually hear us? Are you in a lot of pain? There is no way of knowing, as once someone passes away, there can be no feedback on knowing what may have been their answers. In this case, all forms of communication that we know are obsolete, and utterly useless.
Mindreading would definitely be the easiest solution for mutual comprehension, but as of this day and age, there is no proof that such a technique exists, or ever will. There is only theory. A universal language can only exist by KNOWING what the subject is relaying. Such an existence would prove to be better left undiscovered, as there would be absolutely no security in the world and would most likely end up in chaos.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Thought 1: A Worldly Horizon
I'm weird, and thus ponder abstract and often meaningless impossible existances that boggle my mind. Todays thought came from the saying "as far as the eye can see". I thought about the limit of ones vision, and how though we see the daytime sky as being blue, there is so much more behind it that our eyes cant actually conceive. At nighttime, we can see past the blue veil that shrouds the seemingly infinite beyond, and yet the majority of the sky we see is still black. With such an infinite abyss and countless amount of stars and planetary possibilities, if our eyes had a limitless range, then surely not a single line of sight into the great beyond would be black. The sky would be nothing but a bright glow of cosmic colors given off by the undiscovered galaxies, colorful planets, and brightly burning stars that blanket the sky.
Another thought brought up by the same relative concept is that while we look out to a horizon such as an ocean and see an end, it is only because the world is round and thus there is no true ending. Try to imagine the existence of a world sloped upwards and downwards for a billion or so miles. What would a horizon look like then? Looking up at half of the world while looking down on the rest. In no dimension is such an abstract existence likely to be conceived considering all current known proof and knowledge. Without a round mass, there would be no stable rotation and centrifugal force to generate gravity and thus keep any being on the ground. A flat, linear world would only succeed in sending any existing being to be slung into the vast reaches of space as nothing more than lost debris. Nonetheless, an interesting thing to have thought about.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Thought 2: BRAAAAINS
One way of knowing that I've got too much time on my hands is when I get those nifty random thoughts that make my brain hurt.
Speaking of brain, that happens to be the subject of todays random thought. The human brain seems to be a very intriguing topic, indeed. Though research on my part is very minimal making my ramble quite uninformative and possibly misleading to those who take it too seriously, I still find it satisfying to ponder.
I'm no expert on the human anatomy or the inner workings of a persons body, but I do know that the human brain is the source in control of it all. That being said, a true death is the state of being braindead, and not merely flatlining. People who have flatlined claimed to have been able to hear, feel, smell, taste, and see what is going on for a brief time until they've been defribbrilized back into a pulse. It is to my understanding from what I've read/heard that the brain requires a certain amount of oxygen to operate at its full potential. A stopping heart stops blood flow, which in turn leaves blood stranded and unable to deliver the oxygen that the lungs produce, ceasing oxygenation to the body and brain.
I suppose I could use a little story about my grandfather who passed away last year. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong or what happened to him, but by the time I came around and saw him, he was already in the dreaded gaping maw, head back, sunken face state, in which I've known noone to bounce back in good health from. His lungs weren't distributing enough oxygen and his heartbeat was quite low. They claimed that there wasn't enough oxygen going to his brain for him to be alert and aware of his surroundings, yet apparently it was enough to keep his vital organs running. A few days later he was taken to hospice for his final night, where all of our family gathered. Ultimately, it ended up being me who held his hand in his final moments. His slow heartbeat seemed to pick up, supposedly due to the compensation of other organs failing, and started falling back down slower and slower. There were no monitors or wires connected to his body, I witnessed and felt his pulse only through his hand. His pulse diminished and finally vanished, and he then quickly showed a very unpleasant look of an apparent pain, and then reverted back to his former expression, and that was it. So, it seems that in the end, with hardly enough oxygen to be aware of surroundings, a brain can allow it's host to feel the pain of the last moments of a seemingly calm death.
Brains obviously aren't all bodily function related, as personalities and memories are harbored there as well. Some of them about as fucked up as mine, and some way, way worse and bizarre. Brains have a fuckton of potential in my opinion, since we only use a fraction of our brains. I can't remember the exact statistic, but I'm sure it was definitely at or below 20% that was actually used, while the other remaining amount was dormant. What kind of potential can a brain hold? Psychokinesis, telekinesis, being able to repair your own body and those of others by merely touching or thinking about it? More importantly, just how can someone acquire such techniques and knowledge? It's obviously something that noone has ever been taught, or perhaps it is something that is impossible to simply teach. If I had to make any kind of guess, it would be that the key might lie in other senses and other undiscovered skills. Perhaps we will evolve further in time and be able to feel and sense other matter apart from our own physical bodies and manipulate them. I suppose only time will tell, if our species lives to see the day.
Ugh, my brain hurts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random thought 3: Universal Language
Wouldn't it be pleasant if there was a universal language that everyone could understand? The language barriers between countries and cultures are an unpleasant obstacle to tackle, in that you have to actually be taught how to comprehend them.
In my case, if someone came up to me and started speaking Japanese, I would have no fucking idea what the hell they just said to me unless I have learned that language through books, tutoring, or some other method of study. One thing that I would be able to understand however, is body language, expression, and say... illustration, if they happened to have pen and paper. If they had come up to me saying something in their own language with a confused look on their face and shruging their shoulders, it would lead me to believe that they had just asked a question. If they tried to tell me about something like a duck, I probably wouldn't understand their language, but had they drawn it out, it would immediately be recognized. Even if we were to follow a universal written/verbal language, it would not prove useful to someone who lost their sight and hearing.The only way through that is braille, which would be useful unless someone lost their fingers or sense of touch completely. Communication can be interpreted through the 5 senses, and even with the loss of some, there are still forms that can be used for comprehension in one way or another.
How can we communicate with those in a coma? What about those stuck in a critical irreversible health complex making responsiveness impossible? How do you know that the words you're telling your loved ones as they're fading away actually reaches them before they pass on? We only hope they do, but I wondered these same thoughts as my grandfather passed away. What are you thinking? Can you actually hear us? Are you in a lot of pain? There is no way of knowing, as once someone passes away, there can be no feedback on knowing what may have been their answers. In this case, all forms of communication that we know are obsolete, and utterly useless.
Mindreading would definitely be the easiest solution for mutual comprehension, but as of this day and age, there is no proof that such a technique exists, or ever will. There is only theory. A universal language can only exist by KNOWING what the subject is relaying. Such an existence would prove to be better left undiscovered, as there would be absolutely no security in the world and would most likely end up in chaos.