2026: The Good, The ..

2026 not only ushers in a new year, it is a portal to things only imagined and dreamt by those who lived in the not too distant past; however, it is also fraught with dreadful anticipation. Indeed we will be witnessing what was the future of those who lived generations past and anticipated by those  from a decade ago or less who marveled at what more humanity can and will have after 2025.  2026 is like no other year for two main reasons.  (1) Artificial Intelligence (AI) will  really begin to throw its weight around but it will be a very powerful and almost unstoppable double edged sword with unpredictable ramifications. (2) The potential for world conflicts is gathering momentum that may have reached a point of inevitability although it might not be for at least another decade or so, a conflagration not yet lit but there is enough kindling in likely places. 2026 could be a sign post from which such a trajectory may begin.

And so we look at "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" in 2026

The Good

There will be a lot of progress in technology.  Businesses and commerce will  obviously benefit from more AI.  The world of medicine will see AI applications in diagnosing diseases (already it does a better job of reading radiology reports and detecting cancer) it will speed up the development and testing of new drugs. Spread of diseases, including global pandemics, can be detected sooner and managed with more effective responses.  

Manufacturing and quality control will be enhanced several fold. Weather forecasts will have better than 50-50 prediction results and range.  These are merely tips of the iceberg on the scope and reach of AI.

Communication technology, travel, crop management, food distribution will rely more on AI.  However, there is too the possibility of an AI bubble going too fast and too big it could burst from its own weight and over promises.

More fantastic science fiction predictions are coming.  We've seen  past predictions from Jules Vern's submarine in "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" and from "The Earth To The Moon" that became realities and now Star Trek's instant language translations and Isaac Asimov's robots, etc.  There will be more from science fiction writers' imaginations that are yet to become realities. 2026 will draw the curtains even wider.

There will be a lot of other good news but AI will predominate.  One great news is that, hopefully, the wake up call will be loud and clear on the issues of human conflict and will be heeded in time.  That's one good news the world can hope and pray for.

The Bad

The other side of AI's double edge blade will also manifest itself. We can only hope that it will not be in the same equal dosage as the good that will come out of AI's pre-eminent influence.  Will AI make people dumber? Not. if managed properly.  After all, the same was predicted when computers first came around.  Many psychologists, however, warn about the pernicious reach and scope of the deleterious effects AI may have on young minds.  Already teenagers and young adults fall into emotional, even psychological relationships with AI entities. High school students may no longer read entire books or write their own papers.  Social media addiction will seem to grow unabated.

We hope not but this could be the first time that technology may have potential to leach into the human psyche to permanently have an enduring but dangerous ill effects. We already see AI's reach into the criminal mind. Fraud and still unrealized scope of criminality that could come from AI will increase.

Politics' bad image and influence will be far flung and thoroughly pervasive in unprecedented levels as to be irretrievably beyond repair.  We might see erosion in political discourse to a level unparalleled in history.

The Ugly

Beginning this year, projections for population growth from 2026 to 2100 indicate the apex to reach 10 billion people.

Population growth will be one of the top concerns beginning in 2026.  It will affect food production and availability that will not just be a concern for third world countries but a direct pressure on the developed nations that will include a huge immigration burden. Famine and a far more serious possibility of pandemic will shape geopolitics. 

AI in military armaments and the pervasive use of more sophisticated drone technology will make war making decisions by political and military leaders a lot less personal. The slippery slope is going to be a lot steeper and almost impossible to stop once it starts.

2026 will become a stage for many plots and drama of many acts that will make the proverbial theater of war far wider than it had ever been. There is a stage play around Asia where the lead actor is China. Japan, India and other Pacific countries comprise the other players that will extend the area of instability.  Australia and the U.S. will be drawn into the widening theater, reluctantly at first and by necessity later.

Friction between western and eastern Europe  will heat up even more if the Russian/Ukraine conflict is not resolved. So much blood has already been spilled while bad blood could be near the boiling point between the two European divide.  Lest we forget both major world wars I & II ravaged the entire continent that spread in many parts around the world.

Let us not forget the tension building up in the American continent.

The (Intriguingly) Beautiful

As far as geopolitical strategies are concerned and depending on which side of the international intrigue one is aligned with, the latest breaking news in Venezuela is either a beautifully maneuvered move by the U.S. government or blatant military adventurism and regime change in the eyes of the other world leaders and domestic politicians.

Let's just examine the side from the U.S. perspective because that is the only view that we can see clearly.  It is not just so much as drug trafficking elevated to narco-terrorism that the Venezuelan dictatorship is accused of but that a host of other tethered group of player-nations could conceivably unravel as a result of events that just transpired.

The U.S. action may have the equivalence of "casting one stone to get multiple birds". That is perhaps what it hopes to achieve. If successful, it will be one intriguingly beautiful strategy. But it is also one fraught with many ill defined scenarios.

1) Venezuela - The IMF's estimated inflation rate for Venezuela this year is 270%. How can a country of just under 30 million people with oil reserve that rivals if not exceeds Saudi Arabia's suffer economically. It is a failed socialist state with very little hope of recovery.  Only a major change in how it manages itself will reverse the downward trajectory. 

2) Cuba - will be the first and most directly  affected Caribbean country as a result of Venezuela's predicament.  Cuba is solely dependent on oil coming from Venezuela. Once that spigot is shut Cuba's already depressed socialist economy will plummet even more.  Besides, it is likely due for a correction reversal to undo the ill effects of the 1952-55 revolution.

3) Iran - is another country about to suffer a reversal of the 1979 upheaval. One other oil-producing state that failed to reach the level of economic comfort enjoyed by other oil producers like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Brunei, etc. Recently, demonstrations are approaching the levels of the 1979 uprising that brought the Ayatollah to power.  Iran is linked to Venezuela because it has provided the means to cut Venezuela's highly viscous but high quality crude oil with its lighter material.

4) China - It has been slowly but methodically making successful economic and ideological incursions into S. America with cash loans and purchases of raw material, not the least of which is Venezuelan oil.

"A Venezuela-Iran-China energy axis in the viewfinder as Venezuelan oil has become a strategic point of convergence between China and Iran". 

5) Russia - It is, of course, the other oil producing player that needed to be added to the mix. However, it too must be concerned with its own domestic pressures as it continues to be mired in the war with Ukraine where its mounting casualties and internal economy both conspire to its instability.  It must be concerned at the potential for unrest as its population could be encouraged or inspired by movements from abroad. A kind of revolution not too dissimilar to that which occurred in 1917 cannot be ruled out.  Today's oligarchy that is rampant today only mirrors the Romanov dynasty.

Debatable conjectures perhaps but not outlandishly improbable.  We'll see as the year progresses.

     

The Immigration Conundrums

Today - domestically and globally - and for years to come, immigration is and will continue to be the top "geopolitical hot potato" in search of a justifiable solution or dispassionate relief. It will not be easy.

An immigration phenomenon, if we must describe it with just two words or two major components, is dictated by geography and population.  These two go together regardless of how we define them in the context of discussing immigration.  Geography is territory, population is made up of people.  We cannot have one without the other if we were to discuss immigration and the conditions that explain what ails or helps it. 

There are many conditions for any country to have an immigration crisis. If we were to get to the point right away, we must accept one clear, indisputable reality.  Geography is fixed.  Population moves increasingly in number. While we  can no longer create new geography, the  population increases everyday and, to a certain extent, will do it exponentially.

From ancient times geography was like an empty canvas, population was a dripping can of paint - slowly but surely spreading over every empty unoccupied area. Since geography is fixed while population is a growing entity and no two entities may occupy the same space, established territories set a limit to how far the paint may spread.

 

That is how the immigration conundrum can be summed up. Let us not rehash, because we can't within the confines of one blog, how territories were established from the beginning but suffice it to say that we presently have them  as they are.  Each territory is a country with codified rules and laws and let's assume now that territorial boundaries have been set to where it is today.  

These conditions of territorial boundaries with rules and laws that govern them have many ways of being managed.  Of course, "managed" is innocently enough the crux of the issues the world faces today.

Before the word immigration was invented the engine that propelled population movement everywhere in the world was naturally driven.  Migration was very much in humanity's DNA to move from place to place for many reasons that included the seasons, food availability, shelter, etc. Later, as settlements were established and grew into large concentrations of people, labor became a factor when the hunter/gatherer ratio among the people switched lopsidedly to the development of agriculture. Agriculture became labor intensive as food production increased in priority to support a settled population.

Along with agriculture came the building of living structures. Later to be followed by larger edifices like palaces, fortifications, places of worship and monuments. Labor intensity went far beyond what the existing population can sustain when industries for producing food and other goods became common. Importing workers, either by invitation or force by means of enslavement were the beginnings of immigration.  Coerced, forced or induced by whatever means created the earliest form of human trafficking. Human trafficking is not a phenomenon brought on by the U.S. border crisis.  There were human traffickers from ancient times and throughout the development of the west, the Caribbean and South American plantation boom for sugar, coffee and other crops.

Slave labor was not solely an American phenomenon that began in the early 1500's but was widespread in all of South America, the Caribbean and as far as Barbados. The Portuguese brought them to Brazil, the Spaniards to places from Columbia to Cuba and a few others, the Dutch to places like Aruba, Curacao, Suriname and others, the British to Barbados, Jamaica, Belize and several more in between.  Human traffickers profited from the same conditions then as they had during the unparalleled border crossing that occurred in the U.S. during the period between 2020 to 2024.

To be clear, going back again to an earlier era, slavery in the U.S. gained notoriety for the size and scope of the newly created nation that was becoming and did become a wealthy and powerful nation. Then a civil war broke out that pushed the issue of slavery to the forefront. But it should be well noted that it was America's collective social conscience that pushed for the pivotal reforms that later put into law the Civil Rights Act in 1964.  Lest we forget, long before 1964 black Americans like Wilma Rudolph, Jesse Owens, Nat King Cole already gained general public acclaim, just to name a few, as great examples of America's social trajectory towards equal treatment of talent and abilities beyond skin color.  

History is what it is. The future now requires that immigration must be managed. Not just in the U.S. but in places like Europe. 

Everywhere there is an immigration crisis anthropologists and political scientists recognize what ails and helps both the host country and immigrants.

As first generation immigrants my family and I have a story to share that hopefully will give credence to what I have to say about immigration.

We came to the U.S. forty six years ago. Our two sons were five and six years old, neither spoke English and only the eldest had a kindergarten education before we immigrated. We enrolled them straight into  public elementary education. In less time than we expected they were able to keep up with school work and spoke fluent English by the end of the school year.

Both went to college to earn engineering degrees; the eldest graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served in a nuclear submarine after graduation. It was by no means an isolated feat because there were many first generation immigrant children who attained similar levels of achievement under similar circumstances.  All went through the same immediate academic immersions without the benefit of bi-lingual education.

I feel that I have a good basis for what I am going to say:

1. Bi-lingual Versus Monolingual Education

Bi-lingual education deters rapid and effective assimilation that only accomplishes prolonged racial disconnection and social maladjustment. The pain and difficulty of immediate immersion in language is more than made up for by the benefits of developing   effective social and commercial communication coping skills quickly .  Anything that hinders the rapid development in communication with a single language only creates delaying assimilation.

2. Assimilation versus Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is a liberally misguided attempt at helping immigrants to cope more easily into the host society.  In reality it accomplishes the opposite.  Assimilation is the key to a cohesive and united society while multiculturalism achieves perpetuating the isolation created for the immigrants.  Hyphenated designations as in Chinese-Americans, Somali-Americans, etc. do not lead to assimilation; instead, leads to prolonging racial division. The host country, any host country, is best served when immigrants who decide to settle in the new land voluntarily adopt the existing culture and social norms.  Otherwise, what is the point of living in the same land together but living separately. Assimilation promotes unity and cohesion; multiculturalism slows adaptation and unity of purpose.

3. Woke-ism is Incongruent with Immigration

Fueled by one component of woke-ism that is identity politics in the name of diversity encourages racial division. While diversity cannot and should not be diminished or even denied because culture and language that someone grew up with should be maintained, even cherished, but when someone chooses citizenship of the new adopted country  allegiance becomes a priority. That is because allegiance is a unifying condition that defines a country. DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), as prescribed by woke-ism does not unify.  It is divisive when decisions are partly, if not wholly, made based on race and gender, guaranteeing equal results to everyone instead of disbursing rewards based on merit.  Inclusion is not forced but rather made automatic based on equal opportunity to anyone willing to work and make the proper sacrifices for better results.

All three above are synopsis of what ails and what helps immigration.

We often hear of a country that is host to so many diverse races as a "melting pot".  There is a much stronger analogy on cohesion that is characterized in the quality of forging a "Damascus Knife".

It is a process done by hammering together two types of steel with differing carbon content. Two different pieces of steel, one harder than the other, are hammered together, 'folded and re-folded' over as many as sixty four times or more until it is completely fused as one under repeated high heat and pressure from repeated pounding.  Once tempered and shaped the blade's hardness and ability to keep its edge is unequaled although the swirls created by the two metals are evidently visible.  However, it is now one solid blade with a far superior cutting edge.

A successfully assimilated country is made strong from a combination of many people and different races fused and tempered together by countless trials, hardship and sacrifices in meeting diverse challenges, until it is one and yet still able to show evidence of the beautiful swirls created not in a melting pot but as in a Damascus knife.  

 2026 Happy New Year!

  Bonne Année!    ¡Feliz Año Nuevo!   La mulți ani!                Frohes Neues Jahr     (新年快乐)   Chúc Mừng Năm Mới    Kullu   Aam wa Antum Bi-khair          Manigong Bagong Taon

(I can't list all the countries where my blog is read but my greetings extend to all of you)

The River's Parable

The river's purpose is not to reach the ocean or lake. And for it to die there. That is because its work is done along its journey as it travels downward but it is not about reaching  a destination.  

I paraphrased that from somewhere I read a while back but didn't quite get what context it was trying to convey. Indeed, is the river's aim then  not on where it will end but what it does along the way? I see the parable of the river of life upon which all of us are a part of.

So we begin with, "Why do we have rivers in the first place?"

Unless one lives along a river bank, or on a river cruise along the Danube, the Mississippi or the Yellow river or the Mekong, or watching the news on flood disasters, rivers do not pre-occupy one's thoughts.  Let's for a moment focus on it.

Let's see. We have rivers because we have mountains and hills. And  we ask, "Why do we have mountains in the first place?"

It took a lot of energy over eons of time to create mountains and hills alongside them. Undersea volcanic eruptions gave rise to islands, plate tectonic collisions caused lands to rise up and it is still going on today. The Himalayan mountain range, where Mt. Everest is a part of, is one great example of two tectonic plates pushing against each other to create the peaks we see today. Mt. Everest is still growing at 2 millimeters per year. Major rivers that include the Indus and Ganges and the Yangtse are fed by the Himalayan mountains from both sides that provide water to China and India and several other countries.

The forces that build up a mountain are stored as potential energy in every drop of water on top and along the mountainside for every foot that it is  above sea level.  Water will always flow to the lowest level so it is the difference between where it is coming from to the lowest possible level it can go to that defines its potential energy. It is from that where a river converts it to kinetic energy as it surges downward. We see that energy in action in waterfalls, the rapids, and the devastation caused by floods.

The other amazing thing is that the river's kinetic energy can be stored  by damming it, thus effectively converting it to potential energy contained in a dam until water is released to run turbines to produce electricity via hydroelectric generators as in the Hoover Dam and the three Gorges Dam in China.

Rivers, history tells us, were instrumental in the development of early civilization. 

Mesopotamia, from Greek which means between two rivers - the Tigris and Euphrates - is known as the cradle of civilization. Everywhere we look around the globe human settlements grew at the mouth of rivers before emptying to the open sea or lakes. Note that from the left corner of the map below, we see another pivotal location in ancient history - the Nile Delta that is the area before the river empties into the Mediterranean.  The region called the Fertile Crescent is bound by the three rivers of the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates.

Rivers are not just carriers of energy from the highest mountain peaks to the sea but the first conduit for mass transport of goods and people.  Even more important is that rivers actually move nutrients from the foot of mountains to the river banks. Early agriculture and human development flourished on the plains near and along rivers. Flooding is actually a river's chore as an annual clean up event at the same time  to replenish the nutrients along the river banks.  "The annual flooding of the Nile River dates back to ancient times when civilizations used its waters to nourish their crops. This flooding is of great importance to the livelihood and ecology of the region. It is known as the Nile flood and is an integral part of the historical legacy of Egypt and Sudan". The annual inundation is a celebrated event to this day.

The Parable of the River

It is the river from which we may extract moral and spiritual guideposts in our journey through our own personal river of life where indeed it is not where we end up but what we've accomplished along the way.

Anyone of us had the same potential energy at birth as in every droplet of water from the mountain top, allegorically speaking that is.  Our life's journey proceeds with the arrow of time that only goes  forward in the same way that the river flows only in one direction.  It is therefore what we do and how we navigate ourselves along the way that makes up the story of our lives. It is not  merely about striving to arrive at a destination but it is about how we spend every moment along the way.

Every river at its origin begins from tiny droplets that converge to make a thin rivulet. Rivulets converge to form narrow tributaries that soon join to make a stream.  Streams join up to make a river. That also describes our lives from the moment of conception, to our birth, growing up and making our way through life.

Both the river and each of our lives would  seem to be hostages of the arrow of time but time is also the enabler of growth and the facilitator of our journey. Time means we have to look forward and like the river there is no going back. Like the river we go through life rushing to grow up from childhood to the teenage years in a hurry to adulthood.  Along the way, we went through the rough rapids, then the calm serene flow of a widening river, then to rush again through the narrows  but that is how it is to be alive, to feel alive. Some of us may have gone through a waterfall - an illness, a breakup, a failed business - and survive it. The river continues. Along its way, the river carries with it nutrients from the soil above to be dropped off to the river banks. 

That is the parable of the river. We go on that journey from where ever it was we came from, from whenever it was, but in our journey we've affected others along the way as we had been affected by those ahead of us - parents, teachers, our elders, etc., but always mindful that the arrow of time only goes one way. We "drop off" what we can along the way - helping a friend, a neighbor, a loved one who had fallen on hard times and every ounce of kindness to the less fortunate among us, even to strangers - because, as with the river, it is not about reaching the open sea but what it does along the way.

And you know what, even the open sea or lake may not be the end for the river after all. Some of the water evaporates to become clouds that soon come down as rain over the mountains, some freeze to become snow caps. Then the droplets including those from the snow melt will begin the new season and thus  the cycle starts all over again. So even as much of the water remains at sea or lake, a good part of it goes up into the clouds and comes down again. That is the river's parable.

 

Net Worth

Net worth 

Noun:

".. the total wealth of an individual, company, or household, taking account of all financial assets and liabilities..."

Stripped of everything one owns, at that one moment, that final moment when all tangible assets no longer matter, defined by the expression, "you can't take it with you", how much is one really worth.  We can come up with at least one set of double meanings. We'll get into that.

First, we have this one clinical definition of net worth - efficient and unemotional, coldly detached - of the average human body.

Bill Bryson wrote in "The Body - A Guide For Occupants", his recollection while in high school in the 60s of what his biology teacher said the human body was worth based on the chemical elements that it was made from. His memory was hazy but he thought it was $13.50.  Perhaps, the teacher calculated that the human body is mostly water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, about 99 % in all and the rest of other unknown (at that time) elements that can be had from the local hardware store. Skin, tissue and bones were worth $13.50 in 1960's dollars that are now worth about $140, due to inflation over all the past decades, which is about 3,682,280 VND (Vietnamese Dong) or 11,156 Russian Rubles.

But wait, the Royal Society of Chemistry in London, using only the purest form of elements, such as about 30 pounds of really pure carbon, and additional amounts hydrogen and oxygen (water being H2O), iron and rare elements of thorium, etc., puts the the value of the human body at "precisely $151,578.46 plus sales tax".

However, in a PBS 2012 broadcast of NOVA, a science program, the value of the elements to make an average human body was only $168.

It just goes to show how imprecise it can be to put values on anything. (Let me acknowledge Bill Bryson's incisive attempt at coming up with something based on inexact estimates).

Anyhow, that's about what the average human body is worth. Dare we mix financial net worth with that?  Just for grins, let's do that.  Let's pick on Ariana Grande.  She could tiptoe to 5'-1" and perhaps tip the scales at 100 pounds.  Financially, her net worth is estimated at $250 million plus several Guinness World records. However, her widely gossiped weight loss put her physical net worth at the bottom rung of the ladder, quite well below the average run-of-the-mill sumo wrestler at between 250 to 450 pounds. But then top ranked sumo wrestlers could only earn $100 grand annually, while most will barely get $30 K a year. Grand champions can earn more but they won't cover Ariana's jet flights and limo service alone between concerts and shows.

That's what I meant by a set of double meanings for net worth. Which is, "neither here nor there", some of you might say.

Let's segue to something else. You are reading this because your DNA, which is the most durable and enduring part of your existence, managed to survive countless and uninterrupted cell divisions over eons. Had there been just a single break, you would not be here.  Think about that. Before your parents met to conceive you also means that each of their parents had to have met to go through the same process as did all the generations earlier who started the "ball rolling", so to speak, that kept on rolling that hopefully is still rolling because you gave it another push through your own child or children.

DNA is not only a road map that leads backwards in time and towards the future, but it is also a blueprint for making generations of inheritors yet to come. 

This microscopic double helix strand of material is so plentiful in the average human body that if connected end-to-end into a single strand will extend to 10 billion miles, way past the orbit of Pluto, Bill Bryson wrote.

In a sense, there  should never be a question about your net worth, despite what your bank account says.

Let's talk about the other net worth. There are, for example, intangible net worth of a person's accomplishments and contributions for societies' benefit. What value should we put on Abraham Lincoln's and Martin Luther King's moral and social net worth?

What is the net worth of a physician who chose to practice in the poorest rural communities of Bangladesh, Bhutan, or the mountainous regions of Mindanao in the Philippines or Quitman or Tallahatchie in the Mississippi Delta in the wealthy USA? 

How do we compare the net worth of a Masai herder in Tanzania who owns a handful of cattle with  a Texas rancher?

 

We can't. And, should we? No.

In the end, it is really what net worth anyone has accumulated that he or she will be remembered for.  In other words, what intangible net worth we leave behind is what counts. Of course, both intangible and physical assets are governed by the same rule, "you can't take it with you". Or, can you? With intangibles, that is. Perhaps, there is that kind of non-material DNA that is also passed on from generation to generation with  a far wider and far longer reach than material goods. That, I suspect, is why civilization is able to transcend beyond moral inequities.  And so we must hope.

Hospital, Nurses, Doctors, Medicine

Hospital, nurses, doctors and medicine. Ordinarily we may say that it is a place where we would rather not be; and those are folks we'd prefer to know only socially; it is something we'd rather not take. But, there will come  a time when it is the place where we want to be, those are the people we want to tend to us, and yes it is something we willingly want to take into or apply to our bodies. 

Continuing on from the last musing in "Longevity Medicine?", this also takes us back to "Through The Eyes See You", (July 11, 2023 post).

But first, a little humor:

"A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the motor of a car when he spotted a well-known cardiologist in his shop.

The cardiologist was there waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his car when the mechanic shouted across the garage, “Hey doc, want to take a look at this?”

The cardiologist, a bit surprised, walked over to where the mechanic was working. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked,

“So doc, look at this engine. I opened its heart, took the valves out, repaired or replaced anything damaged, and then put everything back in, and when I finished, it worked just like new. So how is it that I make $48,000 a year and you make $1.7 million when you and I are doing basically the same work?”

The cardiologist paused, leaned over and whispered to the mechanic…

“Try doing it with the engine running”.

It was in the early morning hours of Wednesday (before Thanksgiving) when I took my wife to the ER at the nearby hospital. She complained about severe pain on the left side of her  neck, just below the jaw line. Two days earlier, she was seen by a primary care doctor for the same pain. The doctor didn't really find anything wrong based on physically examining her neck. My wife's body temperature was not elevated to indicate an infection. Tylenol seemed to be the only appropriate medication.

She was fine until that Wednesday morning when the pain became unbearable. 

Again, there was little the medical staff were able to do for much of the early morning.  The ER doctor, in consultation with an off-site EENT doctor via phone, told us that my wife needed an MRI. All of these activities, of course, seem to be in slow motion that took up the rest of the morning. Then it was all about waiting for somebody somewhere to read the results, submit to the off-site EENT specialist, and wait for her recommendation.  As can be imagined it was all painstakingly glacial.

MRI indicated a mass of tissue right about where the pain was, between the base of her tonsils and part of the neck muscle.  It could be a tumor or some kind of an anomaly (hints of malignancy, reading between the lines). By late afternoon, it was decided that there was a pocket of infected tissue that needed to be drained. The procedure though not a full blown surgery was still going to be partly invasive and required the facilities and expertise of specialists at the  main hospital at the Texas Medical Center. This was almost a repeat scenario that I described in "Through The Eyes See You", just over two years ago.

It was nightfall by the time the ambulance transfer occurred.  I drove to the hospital shortly afterwards after a quick stop at our home to get her medication and other things she might need while confined. 

She was admitted to the ER (again). It was shortly after nine p.m. when I got there. Just about then two young EENT doctors came.  (Remember, this was the eve of Thanksgiving). Young as in almost fresh out of a four year college but first impressions vanished when they started talking and examining her.  Apparently, one was the senior doctor who was doing much of the talking.  They left momentarily, then came back with some science fiction apparatus consisting of a potable gizmo with a video screen and a thin flexible black "snake" (as best as I can describe it) with bright eyes at its "head". He explained that it was going to be uncomfortable as the other doctor inserted the snake into my wife's nostril.  As they were doing it, the lead doctor had his camera ready while instructing the other doctor where to go with the probe. He took a series of still pictures as the probe changed locations.  I watched the screen and as far as I can tell the probe was taking different views all around what I assumed was the tissue or growth in question.  My wife didn't complain about the discomfort.

At about that time the nurse came with a clipboard, pen and some documents for me to sign in preparation for the planned procedure. 

The senior doctor told the nurse to hold off on the documentation. He had sent the pictures to the head EENT who I assumed was off-site, probably at home (it was already 10 p.m.).  He told me that they will discuss it among themselves (meaning the doctors).  He was going to recommend against  the procedure to drain and they left.  Shortly after, they came back.  It was agreed that they go with massive antibiotics through IV which will be done upstairs where my wife was to be confined. 

I went home and came back the following morning. All through the night antibiotics flowed through her vein via the IV at 6-hour intervals. She was feeling better.  We spent Thanksgiving at the hospital.  But, you know what, nurses worked around the clock and doctors came by.  They too were spending their Thanksgiving there and at work.  I found out later that these doctors, nurses, and staff will have days off around Christmas Day. For these folks it was simply a choice between which holidays they'd be at work.

All throughout, the nurse assigned to my wife came and went at precise intervals, always bubbly in her demeanor and each time explaining what medications she was giving, including administering medicines through syringes into the IV to keep her body's chemical balances appropriately maintained on  potassium, sodium, insulin and glucose, etc. 

By Friday afternoon, the day after Thanksgiving, the nurse came with the release paperwork signed by the doctor (from somewhere in the hospital because we never did see her or him) and we headed for home. 

Hospital, Nurses, Doctors, Medicine.

Today, these are the modern-day dispensers of  miracles.  We are deeply grateful for  the services of all four, including all the hospital staff.  But we are particularly grateful for the petite young nurse, barely  five feet tall in her thick-soled sneakers, who came and went in and out of the hospital room with her cheerful spirits for the two days that my wife was confined.

 

It is our greatest wish for this Season that soon, that in the not so distant future, everyone, everywhere will have access to health care, modern health care that is.  And is it too frivolous to wishfully imagine for the wealth of rich nations to also flow towards the health of the inhabitants of the entire world?  Someday perhaps.

Longevity Medicine?

What Is Longevity Medicine?

"Longevity Medicine encompasses several interconnected approaches that work to promote optimal aging".

It is not exactly a new branch of medicine as in pediatrics, internal medicine, OB/GYN, ophthalmology, etc., at least not yet, but is gaining interest both in the medical field and from among those of a certain age.  Namely, the seniors among us, me included. The quote below explains it best:

"As modern medicine evolves, a new and exciting frontier is taking shape—Longevity Medicine. Unlike traditional healthcare models focused primarily on disease management, longevity medicine aims to extend both lifespan and healthspan—the number of years a person lives in good health, free from chronic disease and disability. This emerging specialty blends cutting-edge science with personalized care to slow biological aging, restore cellular health, and extend one’s quality of life".

From the time of the pharaohs, and perhaps even much earlier, humanity grappled with ways to living longer.  Actually, in the case of the pharaohs, it was about crossing the threshold from one physical existence into another. What was puzzling, of course, was the idea of mummification. If the belief was about continuing into the afterlife of a non-physical soul, why preserve the old body devoid of internal organs and fluids? Then what? A skeptic might  ask. I included this merely as an aside with a trifle connection to what modern longevity is all about.

What is worth noting is that early on in the history of our species twenty years was an average lifespan.  By the time of the pharaohs up to the Roman empire, to be thirty to forty years old was likely terminal. 

Today we are at a place and time where the average lifespan has more than doubled from where it was many centuries ago. It is deemed a natural progression brought on by better healthcare, nutrition and environment. In developed countries, that is, but even in so-called third world nations lifespan has gone up a lot better than what was during the Roman Empire's model of modern life during that era. 

This can lead us to conclude that perhaps  generations from now people could be looking at a lifespan of 150 years?  We can't know what outlook and attitude those accorded that kind of opportunity - to live for that long -  because we can't know what life is going to be like one or two centuries into the future. That is assuming, of course, that humanity will somehow manage itself into a couple or more centuries into the future.  If humans get to that point we can only imagine what it would be like for anyone to be alive and see his or her great, great grandchildren. Imagine being alive for three generations of offspring past one's 75th birthday! 

Recently, a research doctor named Peter Attia who specializes in longevity medicine was featured on "60 Minutes".  "Attia’s philosophy centers on prevention, precision, and personalized health management. His mission is not merely to extend life expectancy, but to enhance the quality of those extra years". 

Apparently, according to Attia,  seventy years of age (+/- ten) is generally considered that point  when things begin to break down physiologically.  In other words if our body were an engine, parts would begin to wear out. Now, while an engine can be overhauled with new parts, only so much is attainable with human physiology.  And just like engines, human bodies are subject to normal wear and tear, abuse, varying responses to stresses or the occasional good fortune of the "luck of the draw" among centenarians. 

There is really not much new to learn  more than what we know already beyond the baselines of genetics, nutrition, environment, sociocultural influences, physical activities including regular exercise, and advances in both preventive and maintenance medicine (including physiological interventions, such as surgeries and skeletal replacements, i.e. knee, hips, etc.) and organ transplants.

Meanwhile, researchers and medical scientists have come up with the Longevity Pyramid.  If you can't read the fine print, they are from the bottom up: Diagnostics; Lifestyle interventions and non-physical aspects; Dietary supplements; Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions; Experimental strategies.

Like I said, there is little that we don't already know, given what little or plenty of reading we've done or what more we can learn in the future.  Meanwhile, those of us of a certain age may not only  learn or benefit from today's advances in medicine but also from a "holistic approach that focuses on treating and preventing disease by addressing many aspects of a person's life, including mental, physical, spiritual, and social health". 

The latter is perhaps something we really need to focus on. I would like to think that it is an option we may need to give more thoughts into.  More on this at the bottom.

It can be daunting according to  Bill Bryson, an international best selling author, who wrote   in, "A Brief History of Nearly Everything": 

"It is a curious feature of our existence that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it".

We can extract multiple meanings from that statement - from mass extinction of species to man's proclivity to make war and exact violence against each other that accounts for a large number of extinguished lives. And there are natural calamities too that do the same thing. We can also look at it from that perspective or from the limits imposed by nature or the Creator on our lifespan, for lack of a better way to express it. Setting all of these aside there is actually one thing that is worth thinking about.

You see, all things being equal, if we can for a minute assume that that is possible, doctors, clinicians and psychologists tell us that the power of positive thinking may indeed  have a far greater influence on the quality of life at whatever point, wherever and whenever we are along the way in our life's journey.  However, positive thinking is that catch-all phrase that is both easy and hard to define. Not only that but such a state of mind will vary from person to person.

Let's think about this for a minute. First, speaking of think, the greatest miracle in our existence is that of our ability of self awareness despite this one little fact - that every part of our body, singly and on their own, down to the single atom that makes up our entire physiology, such as our skin, liver, kidney, heart, including even the three pound mass that is encased inside our skull, every bone, etc. - is completely unaware of who we are. Yet, we have this thing called consciousness  that knows and think about who we are and where we are, yet it defies explanation.

Let's add another minute to think.  There again, we think but do we know how we just simply do it? Rene Descartes famously said, "I think therefore I am", perhaps one of the simpler yet intriguing explanations about being self aware. hence proving one's existence to oneself but clearly not defined as something that can be physically investigated.  Yes, surgeons during brain surgery can stimulate parts of the brain to trigger the body to respond but science is still unable to say exactly what consciousness is. 

This leads us back to thinking that leads to the question, "What is positive thinking"? 

I started writing this before Thanksgiving but did not quite finish it in time. It would have been most appropriate, really, had I finished it for the message that I wanted to convey.

I believe that to be grateful for not just one thing but for everything we can think of that is good prepares us to cultivate the plot upon which we plant, maintain, nourish and grow positive thinking.  Expressions of gratitude, vocally spoken to ourselves, to our loved ones and friends, and most of all in our prayers to God, for  all the good things we have, not for what we wish to have, is the best way to draw or invite positive thoughts into our minds.

Perhaps it is not so much our quest for long life but how well we live it and recognizing that the price of the ticket for living longer is to grow old. We, each one of us, were handed an open train ticket at the beginning of our journey with options to switch rails along the way, as often as we like, and that the final price for the ticket is not due till the end of our journey, wherever and whenever that may be.  Recognizing the ups and downs along the way is part of life's journey but it is by focusing on the "ups" for the most part that will make us grateful and it is by expressing our gratitude that invites positive thoughts. 

If positive thoughts are indeed part of longevity medicine, then gratitude is the best antidote to negative thoughts. There is no greater opportunity for gratitude than the coming holidays. If there is one thing to remember, gratitude and "speaking it loud" and shared with others will amount to heavy discounts on the final ticket price.  Let's all travel well with this longevity medicine.

P.S. I mentioned earlier about not finishing this before Thanksgiving. It was because I took my wife to the ER on Wednesday, then she was transferred to the Medical Center where we spent Thanksgiving Day. Thankfully, we were back home on Friday. And there was so much to be thankful for. We are  grateful for modern medicine, the doctors, nurses, hospital staff and the prayers and well wishes of loved ones and friends.  The entire experience is for another musing perhaps.

 

New York City Voted; Was It Murder or Suicide?

The second half of the lengthy title comes from part of a quote by Ayn Rand. Let's read the entire quote first and follow with a brief story of her early life that will help explain it. For those not familiar with Ayn Rand, she gained fame for writing the two critically acclaimed books, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged", both later made into movies and a TV series.

“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.”

― Ayn Rand

She was born Alissa Rosenbaum on Feb. 2, 1905, the eldest of three children of Zinovy Rosenbaum, a prosperous pharmacist in St. Petersburg, which was then the capital of Russia.  She was twelve years old going on thirteen when in 1918, after the Russian Revolution, her father's shop, hence his entire business and means of livelihood, was confiscated by the communists who took over running the new government. Through the eyes of a twelve year old girl who witnessed what happened to her family, resentment would have been the least of her emotional responses. Certainly, it must have been more than a temporary psychological trauma to a young girl.

She grew up under communist rule. Later, she studied history at the University of Leningrad, graduated in 1924, but went on to take up cinematography, hoping to become a screenwriter. It was in 1926  upon the invitation of her cousins living in Chicago, when she came to the U.S. She was allowed to leave the communist USSR on the "pretext of gaining expertise that she could apply in the Soviet film industry", according to Britannica.

She changed her name to Ayn Rand (Ayn, pronounced  as in fine). Then her life changed even more when she met the famous film director, Cecil B. de Mille (of Ten Commandments fame) that brought her to Hollywood to fulfill her dream of working in the film industry. She became an American citizen in 1931.  She went on to become a screenwriter which led  her to writing several books including the two mentioned earlier.

Melding her experiences of growing up in communist-ruled Soviet Union, her studies of history and philosophy, and the obvious differences presented by the fortuitous turn of events in her life and those of her relatives in America, became the foundation upon which her whole life's philosophy was based.

Like the thousands upon thousands of immigrants who came to America to seek refuge from the ills and misfortunes they suffered from oppressive regimes of either socialism or communism that prevailed in Eastern Europe and Russia  after the Bolshevik revolution and China after Mao's regime, and the aftermath of two world wars, Ayn Rand saw America as an intensely bright beacon for all people around the world.

As a result of her experiences with communist rule and the framework of socialism that it was based upon, Ayn Rand detested the idea of collectivism as a means to supplant the rights of the individual. Collectivism is essentially the engine that powers socialism. Collecting the wealth and resources of the state through central planning and re-distributing it to society as a means of control effectively erases the idea of individualism.

"The horrors of twentieth-century socialism—of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, and Pol Pot—were the offspring of 1917 (Russian Revolution). Seventy years earlier, Marx and Engels predicted the overthrow of bourgeois rule would require violence and “a dictatorship of the proletariat . . . to weed out remaining capitalist elements.” Lenin conducted this “weeding out” using indiscriminate terror, as Russian socialists before him had done and others would continue to do after his death".

"The late Rudolph Rummel, the demographer of government mass murder, estimated the human toll of twentieth-century socialism to be about 61 million in the Soviet Union, 78 million in China, and roughly 200 million worldwide. These victims perished during state-organized famines, collectivization, cultural revolutions, purges, campaigns against “unearned” income, and other devilish experiments in social engineering".

"In its monstrosity, this terror is unrivaled in the course of human history".

Lenin’s coup on November 7, 1917, the day Kerensky’s provisional government fell to Bolshevik forces, opened a new stage in human history: a regime of public slavery. Collectivist economic planning led to coercion, violence, and mass murder. Marx and Engels had defined socialism as “the abolition of private property. The most fundamental component of private property, self-ownership, was abolished first".

Ayn Rand saw how communism was responsible for the death of millions. She witnessed later in life the pivot to socialism where the same principle of communism was sold to the electorate in democratic systems through legitimate elections.  Thus, "It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.”

Socialism has no regard for individualism; neither for individual achievement that will put that person in a position of personal wealth by working harder.  Socialism is a world where people like Carnegie, Ford and Rockefeller, Bill Gates and Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos will not and cannot exist.  These men are examples of the few who in the beginning dreamt as individuals. They were in fact minorities, so to speak, in terms of their dreams and aspirations.  Socialism does not recognize the plight of the individual and neither their rights. Society is socialism's ultimate minority and individualism a non-entity.

Ayn Rand came up with and founded the idea of Objectivism - "the philosophy of rational individualism". 

Those dreamers all had and still have in them the quest to excel in whatever  ambitions that percolated personally to achieved goals far beyond expectations of many others.  Ayn Rand saw that  the country that adopted her provided the counter argument against communism where by consent of its people adapted capitalism. Thus capitalism became the engine that moved the train of industrialization. And in her eyes the locomotive moved with very little interference from the government.

She supported "Laissez-faire", that in French means "let it be", which called for as little intervention from the government in the conduct of business and commerce, "suggesting that economies thrive best when left alone".  She saw growing up what it was like when the government had its hands and signature in commerce and industry.

Capitalism which embraces the free market and open competition was and still is responsible for innovations, provides fuel for the engine that powers growth and development, along with promoting a responsive business environment for a better economic order. For two hundred fifty years capitalism had worked in this country.

So, what has this all got to do with the New York City election? And the one in Seattle? Both mayoral candidates who won are self described democratic socialists. What is a democratic socialist?  A socialist brought to the seat of government through a legitimate democratic process.  But if we listen carefully they want to change the very same system that gave them the opportunity to be elected.

There are copious amounts of quotes from these socialists that provide insights into their political and social philosophies thru their speeches and responses to questions from the media.

Asked directly whether billionaires should have a right to exist, Mamdani, the new mayor-elect in New York, who identifies himself as a democratic socialist, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” “I don’t think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality, and ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country.”

Both mayor-elects (New York and Seattle) and several others who aspire for election in other states/cities have a common agenda - change the system that had worked for two hundred years with something called socialism, as if this is a new thing.  Socialism has never worked anywhere it was tried and it will still not work even if dressed with a different set of clothing. It has not worked in the USSR, Cuba, Venezuela and everywhere it was implemented because it stifles individuals from innovating and striving for excellence.

Ayn Rand believes that:

"Objectivism holds that there is no greater moral goal than achieving one's happiness. But one cannot achieve happiness by wish or whim. It requires rational respect for the facts of reality, including the facts about our human nature and needs. It requires living by objective principles, including moral integrity and respect for the rights of others. Politically, Objectivists advocate laissez-faire capitalism".

"Objectivism is benevolent, holding that the universe is open to human achievement and happiness and that each person has within him the ability to live a rich, fulfilling, independent life."

Let's hear from another notable lady from recent history, Margaret Thatcher:

"In her famous quote, Margaret Thatcher succinctly captures the essence of socialism, highlighting a fundamental flaw in its economic structure. "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." These words capture the essence of an economically unsustainable system, where the reliance on redistributing wealth can lead to an inevitable depletion of resources. Thatcher's statement serves as a cautionary reminder that without a balanced approach to economic policies, societies may face severe consequences. The meaning behind Thatcher's quote is straightforward. Socialism, as an economic and political ideology, aims to create a more equitable society by redistributing wealth and resources. However, this approach neglects one crucial aspect: somebody has to generate the wealth in the first place. While sharing wealth and providing equal opportunities are admirable goals, they are dependent upon the investment, entrepreneurship, and innovation that come from individuals and businesses.

We hear it from these new politicians (new in the U.S., anyway) that there is a need to "tax the rich" in this country to achieve a proper distribution of wealth in the ultimate noble goal towards equity. 

Perhaps, the silver lining, if there is going to be one, is that New York City and Seattle will become shining examples to showcase once again the folly and ultimate failure of socialism. 

On the other hand, we might see dark clouds gathering  if for some reason the unthinkable does happen. That is a scenario I do not wish for this great land which I described four years ago in, 

"2050: The Ebb of the Tragic Trajectory of a Once Powerful Nation"

Link:  https://abreloth.blogspot.com/2021/10/2050-ebb-of-tragic-trajectory-of-once.html