Category: Philosophy

Till the day we meet again…

In my heart is where I’ll keep you, friend.

I am glad that I have great friends whom I can rely on, trust, have fun with, and pour my heart out to. You know who you are. Over the years I have met many people and have made many friends in the process, especially during my travels. I have also lost many friends over the years because I do not see them anymore and I gradually talked less to them as time passed. All I am left with are memories of the times we spent together, and that’s really all I can ask for and need. I know that real friendship can endure distance and time but one has to work at it, just like love. Perfect relationships do not simply exist without effort, period. Falling in love is easy; I fall in love all the time. Maintaining and keeping the relationship and love going is hard. The concept of soul mates is utopian, I don’t care how much you think s/he is “the one,” how much you are alike, how good you/he/she is in bed, or how you can finish each others’ sentences: Only with time and effort will a relationship last. And, I stick by that. If the relationship does not work, do not blame yourself or your “significant other”: Live, Laugh, Love, Learn, Let go, and MOVE ON.

We have to start somewhere, right?

Oscar Wilde once said: Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. Before jumping to conclusions, we must first ask ourselves: what exactly is worth knowing? Knowledge encompasses everything we learn through experience and education, and depending upon our philosophical bent, we may have different opinions about what constitutes experience and education. Education is, in and of itself, an experience. Our lives are made up of experiences and our experiences shape who we are and influence what we do and how we act, which in turn affect our choices in life. The choices we make are based on the knowledge we acquire whether through education or experience. This knowledge ultimately provides the basis for our thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Consequently, the more knowledge we possess, the better we will be at expressing these thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

Now, think back on your education and your experiences: Are there things that are not worth knowing? The following video is an RSA Animate of the talk by Sir Ken Robinson on “Changing Education Paradigms”.

Think about it.

There’s no gene for fate…

Or is there? That was one of the memorable quotes in the movie Gattaca that I loved (and still do). It was one of many that kept me on my toes.

Anywho, the reason I bring up that quote is because of this article. Basically, a Bio-Computer has been created and tested inside a living cell which allows the manipulation of molecules. Engineered RNA (Ribonucleic acid, different from DNA, RNA is single-stranded) Bio-Computer can ultimately be “commanded” to change genes. Read the article for details.

The thought of altering genes took me right back to the movie. Genetically engineered human beings (eventually). This brings up controversial issues like stem-cell research and human ethics (mostly). The thought of having the power to play God is scary because admit it, ambitions drive us to the edge sometimes, and people make bad choices. The ones who have power want more power. This desire is our most basic human instinct. It gave us the development of new technologies, it gave us new knowledge of our world, it took us to the Moon (There’s no conspiracy here people, we did go to the moon), it gave us so many of the conveniences we enjoy every day without even thinking about it.

Nature vs Nurture is also another issue that consists of so many variables that it’s simply impossible to determine a trait. When we think about it, altering genes is really against nature, it doesn’t occur naturally. We manipulate and ultimately control it. I’m sure we’ve all seen it in TV shows and movies: aliens, robots, robots that are biologically based, AI, etc. I mean, sure, it’s fictional, but it can happen given this exponential growth of scientific knowledge and advances.

In the end, how do we determine the limits of these advances? What’s good? What’s evil? Yes, these are all philosophical questions and there’s no definite answer, these are all clichés, important, nonetheless. So, if you can alter a gene for fate, would you do it?

Cheers for a headache!

Mind over matter

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy – commonly known as ‘broken heart syndrome’ is a weakening of the heart muscle due to severe emotional stress. Our mind controls everything and our brain gives off magnitudes of electromagnetic waves triggered by the constant firing of neurons. All these signals are received and interpreted by the brain and the appropriate response occurs, from blinking our eyes to breathing to playing sports. I’m sure everyone knows this. What intrigues me is not the physical aspect of our body but the mental aspect. The physical can be seen, has been proven and there are certain natural laws and rules to it. The mental or emotional, however, does not follow any kind of rules.

True, there are studies and statistics but these only apply to that set of subjects and should not be used to generalize and make the same assumptions on others. Two patients have the same sickness, one has a reason to live, and the other does not. Both are given the same treatment, but more than likely, the one who doesn’t want to live will die. We’ve seen and heard about these instances from news to TV shows to our friends. Ultimately, it comes down to a person’s will to live, to survive, to persevere. Hence, ‘Mind over matter’.

Science is based on theories proven by evidence over and over. Whether we choose to believe it or not, everything is made out of atoms, The Moon rotates around the Earth, the Earth rotates around the Sun, and everything that we feel or think are chemical reactions within our cells tissues, and veins. Many people would beg to differ. Many people want to believe that there is something more, something more than just plain old scientific facts. Einstein said it best: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

I read this book a few years ago titled The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes by Dean H. Hamer. It was very interesting because Hamer hypothesized that religion and faith have a genetic component to it which we human beings inherit from our predecessors. Faith is a tricky concept that has different meanings to different people. Some put their faith in the government (insert sarcasm here), some in science, some in themselves, but others put their faith in ‘God’. I put that in quotation marks because I don’t believe there’s some sort of supreme being out there guiding us (no offense), but what I do believe is that this ‘God’ is more of an abstract concept that’s universal even though it’s interpreted differently in every religion (Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, etc). It represents an idea; it gives people hope; it lends us an invisible shoulder to lean on if you may, and believe me, many of us need that comfort.

So, after all that, what’s the point? I mean, there’s probably an answer out there but it will most likely be something that’s beyond our capacity of understanding. In the end, the only thing we do know is to believe in whatever we choose to believe and stick with it. Despite the myriad amount of clichés, there are of what I’m about to say, I’m still gonna say it: Just be yourself and everything will fall into place.

Good day.