Sometimes a writer just gets in the groove. This was such a morning
I was looking over some past posts and came across this one. I consider it one of my best. If you recall reading it that is good. Otherwise I hope you enjoy it.
The World Within; Our World; The Great Beyond
Let's take a moment since we now have lots of them, to put #COVID-19 into perspective. Those of you who tune out from anything that is purely academic can go back to your muffins and morning TV shows. I have no idea where this is going and no, there is no stimulant in my coffee! It is early; I just got up; and a virus is still out there ravaging humans. That is my starting point or launch pad. Amateur philosophy 101 perhaps.
There have always been attempts to categorize "things" or "existence" generally driven by our human limited powers of perception. In high school we heard the term "matter" in physics. Reaction? What is "matter"? Apparently this is anything that has "mass" and a volume that takes up space. Now ask "what is mass" and you will see a reference to "matter" at which point many tune out from physics. The definition references something that "accelerates" under the influence of "gravity". Gravity itself is something we experience here on Earth. On and on it goes. I enjoy it, especially when the moon landing verified theories of gravitational pull being less on the moon.
One can also divide things into animal, vegetable, or mineral; perhaps also animate and inanimate.
Here is another I am making up as I write! I am not a scientist:
1) The inner makeup of all that our eyes alone can not see in species and other items
2) Those things we can and do see every day including fellow humans
3) The cosmos or universe and everything in it. Some we can see and some not.
1) Some time ago at a book sale I purchased a publication called "The Human Body Close-up" by John Clancy, Firefly Books. The pictures alone are worth the purchase price. They are all taken with an electron microscope, thus being in category 1) above. What we can now see was not possible with human eyes or conventional microscopes. Herein lies COVID-19.
2) In this category I mainly include ourselves and all animate and inanimate things we can sense using sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. We have made huge strides here with the help of technology, but we are still guessing when it comes to really understanding ourselves and our fellow beings. This is where psychology was born.
3) The universe is so vast we need telescopes and spacecraft to enhance our limited perception. There are lots of theories about what is out there including ET and his relatives and how it all came to be . We have not scratched the surface. None of us know for sure.
So let's return to 1). A single human cell and all its content uncover a whole new world. The components of a cell are amazing and the technical terms beyond my limited intelligence. You have to remember that for most the "cell" - trillions of them in our body - is defined as the smallest unit capable of performing the body's basic needs (from the above book, page 18).
Within it there are a lot more things than the "nucleus", and even more within that. The cell picture (page 19) looks more complex than a jet engine. Many items are defined and they each have a role to play in our bodies. Somehow they are programmed to fulfill it. How? They have no "brain" as we know it. They are just tiny molecules of protein and other substances but they can either sustain our life or, if they go rogue, can snuff it out. In this book as well are references to genes and chromosomes and the infamous DNA. It is fascinating.
This virus and so many others are the types of "rogues" I mentioned. They are themselves "programmed" to destroy some of our intricate makeup, starting with our cells.
How do you develop a vaccine against such an enemy? We can't really "see" it, touch it, or get inside it. How can that microscopic little thing we picture as a sponge ball with red golf tee like structures attached, get into our cells - our own building blocks - and what drives it?
We are at war. A little inconvenience in your daily routines is not much to ask. The enemy is invisible. Scientists are facing an immense task. It took centuries to be able to identify and define a "virus". It might take as many to overpower them.
Cut our leaders some slack folks and try helping however you can. Ignoring stay at home advice falls into category 2) above - solving our own human problems. Stop being so selfish. Don't hoard and don't go out when you don't have to.
Just hope that when we get the huge surprise from category 3) - and we will - we can survive it as well. Will it be living; energy; collision with another heavenly body? The list goes on. Focus on 2) and leave 1) and 3) to the best brains on the planet.
Thanks if you got this far.
#thebrewsterblock
