A friend had always driven a full-size sedan so when the car rental agency told him they were reserving a full-size car for him, he naturally assumed it was going to be like the cars he had always owned. If it weren’t so pathetic, it would be funny. I watched him folding himself into the car and ducking so that his head didn’t hit the top while he was driving. Getting out was the reverse procedure. He opened the door …
My heart crept up to my throat when I saw a clip of a car driving itself on a highway. And not just any highway, but Germany’s famous Autobahn, where there are no federally mandated speed limits, except in certain urbanized areas, along its almost 8,000-mile network. But my heart felt like it stopped altogether when I saw the driver move from the front seat and climb over the back and get into the back seat, and you could see …
It always amazes me how some people can bury their head in the sand and not see what is right there in front of them to be seen. We’re not even talking about something that you would have to look closely at; we’re talking about something that you see over and over but refuse to acknowledge having seen, or if you do acknowledge having seen it repeatedly, you refuse to acknowledge that it could happen again. When someone keeps throwing …
When you’re young, it’s very difficult to hide out if you are married and have a family. It’s a lot easier when you’re older and don’t have the same types of responsibilities. But even when you’re young, the urge to hide, to bury your head in the sand and not deal with life can be overwhelming. And so, there is this mental and physical paralysis that often doesn’t let you get out of bed or let you get down to …
In most countries with a traditional culture, old people are respected and honored for their wisdom. In the United States, we tend to see them as old, doddering fools whose best years are behind them and who are just taking up time and space, waiting for the grim reaper to take them. But worst of all is that for so many people, their thinking gets fuzzy and they get mentally lazy. Doctors keep telling us that as we get older, …
Do you ever wonder about things that make no sense at the moment but the thoughts stay with you continuously through the years? Unfortunately, I’m one of those people who does just that. I look at the books on my library shelves and I know that I’ll never get around to reading all of them because I keep adding more of them than I can read, but I’d like to know what’s in each and every book that I have. …
Whenever I met someone who had a brilliant mind, be it for business or for having special abilities beyond the scope of ordinary people, I would fantasize that I would love to have that person’s mind. And I would think how wonderful it would be if I could have a brain transplant. During all these years, it’s never occurred to me that someday, such a thing might be possible. Until now. Dr. Sergio Canavero, an Italian neuroscientist of the Turin …