I came across a really profound and thought-provoking article on philosophy. All along, I have been a huge fan of philosophy. As people can see, I like to ask thoughtful questions. Not questions like why did the ball bounce, but more insightful kind of questions on our existence and why our hormones go raging the way they do.
But this article really throws everything out of place. On one hand, the guy makes a lot of sense, but on the other hand, he kind of inferred from the article that we should not take his word for things because after all, we are already no longer the same person as we were by the time we started reading the article. So most of our brain cells have a lifespan of seven years. Maybe that is the reason why I am “degenerating”. Maybe that is the reason why my perceptions have changed since a year back or so. And maybe, in another seven years, I will become an alien.
Maybe that is the reason why there is the “seven-year itch”. After all, one day you may just wake up and wonder why in the world you married this person seven years ago. :-p Maybe your old brain cells thought it would be the best thing in the world at that point in time, but seven years later, your new set of brain cells tell you otherwise.
So if my brain gets swopped with a man, and a dirty uncouth old man at that, will I then start salivating at every girl on the street, and sitting with my legs open wide, and massaging my crotch in public? That is the worst punishment for me! What have I done to deserve such treatment? But being able to swop brains with me will probably be the worst punishment for him! :-p
And is there really a computer screen in front of me? Why am I writing in a blog? Is it because I had been told it is a computer screen, and this thing I am writing in is called a blog? Who came up with all these names anyway? Why not call the computer screen a table for instance, and a blog a channel? Why is a spade called a spade, and a rose a rose?
Is it ethical to swerve a train to kill an innocent person, saving several others in the process, or is it ethical to kill a healthy living person just to get his good insides to help those who really need them? Between life and death, what is or is not ethical? Is euthanasia ethical? And it all boils down to the big question – why did we exist? Because of Darwin’s theory of evolution, that we evolved from apes, and likely to evolve from kangaroos since it is now found we share the same genes? Which sparks off another famous question – why are apes and kangaroos not evolving now?
Why do we need air, water, food and shelter to survive? We have always been told since young that living things need air, water, food and shelter. But why can we not just live in the wild and run around like that? Why do we need to wear clothes? Why is it an outrage of modesty if someone goes around stark naked, embarrassing everyone else in the process? Why not just go around nude and natural?
All these because it had been inculcated in us ever since we were born that certain things can be done and certain things cannot. So is there really any right or wrong? Does the universe say about right or wrong? Or is it what humans, by the time they started thinking, came up with their own rules of right and wrong? So does everything boil down to a science, or is it just another unanswered question by Mother Nature?
But this article really throws everything out of place. On one hand, the guy makes a lot of sense, but on the other hand, he kind of inferred from the article that we should not take his word for things because after all, we are already no longer the same person as we were by the time we started reading the article. So most of our brain cells have a lifespan of seven years. Maybe that is the reason why I am “degenerating”. Maybe that is the reason why my perceptions have changed since a year back or so. And maybe, in another seven years, I will become an alien.
Maybe that is the reason why there is the “seven-year itch”. After all, one day you may just wake up and wonder why in the world you married this person seven years ago. :-p Maybe your old brain cells thought it would be the best thing in the world at that point in time, but seven years later, your new set of brain cells tell you otherwise.
So if my brain gets swopped with a man, and a dirty uncouth old man at that, will I then start salivating at every girl on the street, and sitting with my legs open wide, and massaging my crotch in public? That is the worst punishment for me! What have I done to deserve such treatment? But being able to swop brains with me will probably be the worst punishment for him! :-p
And is there really a computer screen in front of me? Why am I writing in a blog? Is it because I had been told it is a computer screen, and this thing I am writing in is called a blog? Who came up with all these names anyway? Why not call the computer screen a table for instance, and a blog a channel? Why is a spade called a spade, and a rose a rose?
Is it ethical to swerve a train to kill an innocent person, saving several others in the process, or is it ethical to kill a healthy living person just to get his good insides to help those who really need them? Between life and death, what is or is not ethical? Is euthanasia ethical? And it all boils down to the big question – why did we exist? Because of Darwin’s theory of evolution, that we evolved from apes, and likely to evolve from kangaroos since it is now found we share the same genes? Which sparks off another famous question – why are apes and kangaroos not evolving now?
Why do we need air, water, food and shelter to survive? We have always been told since young that living things need air, water, food and shelter. But why can we not just live in the wild and run around like that? Why do we need to wear clothes? Why is it an outrage of modesty if someone goes around stark naked, embarrassing everyone else in the process? Why not just go around nude and natural?
All these because it had been inculcated in us ever since we were born that certain things can be done and certain things cannot. So is there really any right or wrong? Does the universe say about right or wrong? Or is it what humans, by the time they started thinking, came up with their own rules of right and wrong? So does everything boil down to a science, or is it just another unanswered question by Mother Nature?
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