This would be a better thought process to have had in university

[startredder]

Particularly back when I was taking a science fiction class and had a professor who was much better read in Golden Age than me.

Perhaps it is just a combination of consumed media and real life concerns merging to make me /think/ there is some sort of trend in modern speculative fiction and it's associates for the great horror to be loss of mind.
It'

Comments

[tigersong]

Hey, wasn't that what your last Nano was about?

[tigersong]

I think that same fear kind of haunts my father a lot; he saw his father progress through Alzheimer's, and is now watching both of his aunts do the same. It's not a great sign when all three siblings from whom you are immediately descended have the same form of dementia.

I suppose it worries me, too, because I think that's not a very nice way to go.

I've often wondered if there is such a thing as a soul, if it's somehow "trapped" inside a person with dementia. I think when I used to be more inclined to believe in the existence of a soul that I was somewhat afraid of that. Now, however, as I come think of the soul more as the awareness of Self, I've actually wondered if dementia is kind of like your soul withering away. I think the second theory is actually somewhat more terrifying.

The issue is also of course highlighted by such cases as the unfortunately infamous Terri Schiavo case.