oliviatamccue

Stephen Hawkings recently suggested ‘the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race’.   Come to think of it – the lengthy human reproduction cycle; the short time for computer chips to double its speed; “to err is human”; or even our aging process.  The movie ‘The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ suggests human has the trait of destroying ourselves as well.

I got reminded what aging means in hospital and nursing home visits. Illness visits us more as we gain years.  Many people talk about peak at some years, and from then onwards, it is all downhill.  There is that gradual loss of abilities, physical or mental or both; there is that reduction of learning; there is that reaching quota on things that used to grasp our interests.  For those who remember the green monitor about thirty years ago, the computer aging process feels different.  It becomes slower, left alone, and then is being replaced. Its deterioration is not as unpleasant as human aging amidst illness or suffering or the burden of loved ones.

Visiting nursing home for elderly is a fast forward on what life would become in decades ahead, similar to taking an early retirement before 50 years old.  Those facilities are not only housed with old people above eighty, but it comes with that sour smell of aging.  If living is for happiness or purpose, I don’t see that at this stage for those who have lost cognition and abilities to take care of daily activities. It is survival and endurance, sometimes for others.   It is unpleasant.   How would I want (others) to be if the time comes?  With a present mind thinking about future state, I want my loved ones to spend time doing things meaningful (to them).  Yet, how I would think about it in future is most likely different from how I think about it now.  Someone in Switzerland said of facilities to trade all the money with the life-long service to take care of you.  When the day comes, the physical body and the financial asset go together.

Until then, the mind and body can stay alive with learning new things, reading, writing, music, gym-biking, jogging, tennis, volunteering, working, eating… and the list still goes on and on; and it is beautiful to know.

Posted in Dear Diary