Back again to one of my favourite places in Asia, Ao Nang Thailand, but I like all of Asia. It’s good to return to a place. In that way Ao Nang is not just a beach holiday but also a memory. There I go again with my defects from coma, but I am slowly getting better. I can even remember the last time we came here, Christmas. My memory is improving. Also I’m here without my stick, I leave it in my suitcase, still have it just in case. I have a shuffle but nonetheless slow progress. I remember close friends coming here, to Golden Beach resort and I even took them to Crazy Gringo for a drink. They liked it. I must thank my wife for coming again, this place holds so many memories for us. The photo is taken at the garlic mussels restaurant we often go and where D worked. She visited us there because she now works at another outlet and came to visit on our last night.
Warming
CNN reports that it reached 48 degrees in Spain and Portugal, has been in the 40s in London and Europe. It used to be unusual for London to reach 30 degrees. They say it will soon regularly reach into the 50s in the most populated country in the world, China. Not to mention reports on Japan and Korea. Soon all places will be too hot for human beings. The US has removed itself from the Paris accord on Climate Change and started burning coal again. According to the president there, global warming is a hoax by China. The effects of global warming won’t peak for about 100 years after we stop emitting the gases. We really should act now! If we use social media for anything perhaps we should collectively express the desire to save the planet and avoid extinction. Apparently social media can have an impact. Facebook may have recently influenced the US election they say.
Quotes from the internet:
On November 6, 2012, Donald Trump tweeted: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
On October 19, 2015, he then tweeted: “It’s really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!”
Democracy
Democracy could now make decisions directly by the people because of the internet and communications. If todays technology existed when politics emerged democracy would be very different, no elections. We don’t really need presidents or elected representatives to vote on our behalf anymore, through technology decisions could be made by the people. With devices such as hand phones, computers and fingerprint authentication, we could do this today. In the past the US was a symbol of democracy, ruled through elections by the people. The media, now called fake news, once checked the US government against fact and public opinion. Indeed Trump is changing democracy but the system of election was designed a long time ago, before technology, and should now be brought into the 21st century, we don’t need presidents. Collective rule through technology may save the species from extinction so serious is global warming.
Democratically we should take action against global warming with our vote and use the internet to keep it on people’s minds rather than accept the media focus us on things like Trump or sport… Go hawks. News on TV often has articles on what’s trending in social media, Twitter and Facebook etc. We have a voice if we want.
Brains
Dear fellow coma victims,
Given mine has been damaged by coma I began thinking about brains, the brain is an amazing organ. The human brain has created a machine brain, artificial intelligence, which has memory and can also derive meaning. Memory is a critical thing for intelligence. My memory is bad after coma. My RAM isn’t there yet and problems persist with my hard drive.
The organic brain created a machine brain which can access all organic brain knowledge via the internet. The organic brain has demonstrated it’s organic intelligence throughout history. One demonstration was the calendar. The organic brain perceived seasons in the world; summer, autumn, winter, spring, and days, months, years. It observed 365 days in a year and 366 in a leap year. It added a day for leaps and created the calendar. The organic brain also heard repetition in the sounds humans made and created language, the alphabet with consonants, vowels, writing, and eventually a dictionary. The organic brain then thought about meaning and created politics, science and religion. It even created philosophy. Quite amazing human evolution when you think about it.
I suspect coma has made me appreciate human evolution. Perhaps the organic brain is like a god having created in it’s own image, then again maybe god is also an invention of the organic brain. There are so many expressions about Him. It’s a fundamental question who or what created us. Where do we come from? Us coma victims often focus on the past given we lost it.
Brexit
Russia tried to influence the US election through cyber warfare. By using social media, Hillary’s emails, hacking etc, Russia tried getting into the minds of Americans voters. This is denied by Trump who also denigrates NATO even though these partner countries lost soldiers defending US interests. While denying Russia influenced his own election he attempts to influence UK voters by speaking to the Sun newspaper critical of Theresa May and her Brexit strategy. He calls Angela Merkel a puppet of Russia because Germany is building a pipeline to get some energy. Then there is North Korean, Iran, Global Warming etc. Like Russia he attempts to influence a country, the minds of the people, and probably uses the internet too. The US has also admitted trying to influence foreign election results. And according to the UN, the richest country in the world has human poverty issues. The UN reports that the wealth gap is big in the US, other issues are health, education, prison population, racism, immigration… It seems the ideals of democracy have now failed there, Trump?
Stick
Dear fellow coma victims,
Time to try walking without my stick again. I attempted that 2 years ago but wasn’t successful, maybe this time. I’m an old man now who might require a stick anyway. I’m not that old, 50. Perhaps the most troubling thing about no stick is that nobody is aware that I’m a cripple and I’m not offered a seat on the train anymore. My first expedition without stick was the gym yesterday, while a little awkward I survived and must try to make it permanent. After more than 6 years I’m getting closer I think. Life has become a thoughtful process for me. Every step I take or any movement at all I plan. It’s quite interesting the complexities nowadays, to find work and be a productive human being, I must focus. No longer a reactionary animal type existence for the man ape but also an intellectual one, a thoughtful existence. Coma might be easier for a giraffe once he’s aware of his neck again.
Wonderment
Dear fellow coma victims,
Considering the effects of coma I wonder, my brain has lost it’s relationship with the right hand side of my body, can I still feel emotion properly? I can’t walk so well, and much of my memory has gone, I wonder if empathy also lives in that part of the brain? About most things I wonder what I was like before coma. With measurable problems like walking I can see the obvious but also suspect subtle things were dramatically changed. For example empathy. Can I still truly feel love and hate? I think I was an emotionally aware person before but don’t know, and am I the same now? I am in a permanent state of wonder, my mind is constantly trying to assess my behaviour. Do all people always do that, assess their behaviour? I’m waiting to become a confident person again but confidence is derived from memory. It all seems pretty hopeless but I suppose all things are derived over time. Then again science suggests time is a human construct and we will soon be able to travel it. Perhaps a third dimensional thing. I do love my wife if feeling a dramatic and enduring connection with somebody is love…
