To prep for this blog it would be helpful if your journey has encountered the comedy TV series “3rd Rock From The Sun” which aired from 1996 to 2001. Quick summary: 4 extraterrestrials attempt to live as a normal family outside of Cleveland. They remember their mission to explore the human culture and life, yet are bound inside human bodies. They engage in remarkable humor at every step trying to work and live as ‘natives’.
Let’s prepare for a trip. The destination is a warm tropical beach. Yes, we have to get there somehow; equally important is what we might need to bring with us to enjoy the sun and surf. We will call these ‘prep items’ for the trip.
Another trip plan: let’s go to the moon. A few details involved in planning might be how to survive in a completely different environment. Even the simplest of items such as air to breathe and food to eat, protection from the lack of air pressure, extreme light and dark, and many 1000’s of other details quickly emerge, some of which are known and many are yet to discover. Without the basic ‘prep items’ it is a no go for sure and a no go for return to our earthly home. The modern spacesuit quickly emerges as a necessary medium for survival and inter-planetary travel.
So, with that aside let’s look at our own earth-suit and its journey. Our suit has a biological beginning and end. We begin as a helpless mammal in need of food and protection for many years, during which, if at any time left uncared for, the end of life would be certain. There is energy (life) as demonstrated by motion and sound, the thrashing of arms and the seemingly painful vocal sounds that accompany our newborns. It would appear that the infant is not even aware that it exists. Language is yet to occur. Repetitive surroundings of mother, milk, and warmth grow the child along amongst random sleep cycles. Growth continues during our life.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the brain tissue is full of neurons at birth but the interconnections are few. Pathways don’t exist, yet. The brain is an open book awaiting life’s interaction and subsequent programming with the environment. Learning a language is easy when you are young and can create new connections. The body, not the brain, is provided with an abundance of sensors surrounding the surface of the skin that continuously sends environmental input. Eyes, ears, nose, and mouth add to the various instructional sources of our ‘home’ on this planet. Pathways do develop, over time, as trillions of inputs are sent to this ‘blob’ of watery tissue. Habits, language, perceptions, beliefs, identity grow.
An analogy to this kind of growth might be useful. Let’s take a toy that needs a battery for its awakening. This toy learns about its surroundings like a self-programming vacuum clearer. The width and breadth of this toy’s learning depends on feedback from its experiences and its design potential. Is there a purpose to the toy? How does this toy interact with other similar self programming toys? One thing we do know for certain: if the battery is removed, the toy comes to a halt.
That’s it. Nothing more or less. Humans are self-programming, ever evolving from culture, language, experience, behavior and interaction with all the other inhabitants of this ‘3rd rock from the sun’.
Oh, and one more thing. A few introspective thoughts…
==================
Could the ‘we’ in the above toy analogy actually be the energy source for the human?
Is it ‘we’ that have been placed in an earth-suit?
When the ‘earth-suit’ no longer exists what happens to the ‘we’?
Let’s prepare for a trip. The destination is a warm tropical beach. Yes, we have to get there somehow; equally important is what we might need to bring with us to enjoy the sun and surf. We will call these ‘prep items’ for the trip.
Another trip plan: let’s go to the moon. A few details involved in planning might be how to survive in a completely different environment. Even the simplest of items such as air to breathe and food to eat, protection from the lack of air pressure, extreme light and dark, and many 1000’s of other details quickly emerge, some of which are known and many are yet to discover. Without the basic ‘prep items’ it is a no go for sure and a no go for return to our earthly home. The modern spacesuit quickly emerges as a necessary medium for survival and inter-planetary travel.
So, with that aside let’s look at our own earth-suit and its journey. Our suit has a biological beginning and end. We begin as a helpless mammal in need of food and protection for many years, during which, if at any time left uncared for, the end of life would be certain. There is energy (life) as demonstrated by motion and sound, the thrashing of arms and the seemingly painful vocal sounds that accompany our newborns. It would appear that the infant is not even aware that it exists. Language is yet to occur. Repetitive surroundings of mother, milk, and warmth grow the child along amongst random sleep cycles. Growth continues during our life.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the brain tissue is full of neurons at birth but the interconnections are few. Pathways don’t exist, yet. The brain is an open book awaiting life’s interaction and subsequent programming with the environment. Learning a language is easy when you are young and can create new connections. The body, not the brain, is provided with an abundance of sensors surrounding the surface of the skin that continuously sends environmental input. Eyes, ears, nose, and mouth add to the various instructional sources of our ‘home’ on this planet. Pathways do develop, over time, as trillions of inputs are sent to this ‘blob’ of watery tissue. Habits, language, perceptions, beliefs, identity grow.
An analogy to this kind of growth might be useful. Let’s take a toy that needs a battery for its awakening. This toy learns about its surroundings like a self-programming vacuum clearer. The width and breadth of this toy’s learning depends on feedback from its experiences and its design potential. Is there a purpose to the toy? How does this toy interact with other similar self programming toys? One thing we do know for certain: if the battery is removed, the toy comes to a halt.
That’s it. Nothing more or less. Humans are self-programming, ever evolving from culture, language, experience, behavior and interaction with all the other inhabitants of this ‘3rd rock from the sun’.
Oh, and one more thing. A few introspective thoughts…
==================
Could the ‘we’ in the above toy analogy actually be the energy source for the human?
Is it ‘we’ that have been placed in an earth-suit?
When the ‘earth-suit’ no longer exists what happens to the ‘we’?
Jaques (in Act II, Scene VII, of William Shakespeare’s “As you like it” ) once commented
“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.
Too simple to be true?
A podcast accompanies this blog post. Click here to listen, or click Podcast Icon at the left. This podcast discusses and introduces Inner Space and its importance on our Journey