The Knowledge Explosion! The Rapid Pace of Change.

Someone once remarked that there is such synergy in technological change that it feeds upon itself. One new advancement in science or technology makes five or ten more possible.  So instead of having a linear progression of new discoveries and new knowledge, we are actually experiencing an exponential growth in new discoveries and technologies. In my mind there are two key technologies which caused change to accelerate almost out of control. The first is the computer. Why? Because computers allows instant computation of problems which previously took weeks, months or years to do without them, and they are used in every branch of Science and Engineering. The second major technology is the internet and the invention of email and web sites which permit the rapid dissemination and sharing of knowledge by scientists and engineers. For anyone who makes an attempt to keep up, the exponential growth of knowledge sometimes feels like a knowledge explosion!  And of course, it is virtually impossible for anyone to know everything, although lots of us try hard by staying glued to our computer screens 24 x 7. We are growing as a technological species, and some, like Yuval Harari, think we will soon merge ourselves with our technologies.   Will we be man or machine?    Can you say "Cyborg"?   We may soon be replaced by them, whatever they are! What do YOU think? Leave me a comment! R. Allan Worrell Author: Father John's Gift

What is YOUR Legacy?

Did you ever have someone close to you die? When I say, close to you, I mean someone you knew really well and who knew you too. I mean someone, maybe not a mate, but maybe a parent or close friend whose death hit you really hard and made you ask yourself what the hell life is all about anyway?

I did.

Oddly enough it was not a parent, although that was bad enough when my own father died. He was a constant smoker and I always expected to get the call that he had dropped dead from a heart attack, or got lung cancer and was given six months to live. No, it was not my father. It was the mother of my girl friend at the time. Her name was Alice, and she died unexpectedly of an asthma attack at the age of 59. I had known her for about 15 years and we were friends enough that we would argue with each other all the time about all kinds of things.

I guess one of the reasons it hit me so hard was that her death was unexpected. I don't really know why the unexpected part should matter so much, or at all. But I guess an unexpected death is a terrible surprise, something like a terrible tragedy....because it is something that could hit any one of us at any time. That's the unexpected part.

We don't plan to have accidents. We don't plan to have illness. We can't control the economy or whether or not our country goes to war or that we might be nuked when we go to bed at night. So there it is. Death can just happen... to you, to me, to anybody young or old.

So you have to ask yourself. What are you doing with your life, while you are here to live it? What is it that matters so much that you would spend your last day on earth doing it, if you knew for fact that you would be dead tomorrow, or next week, or next year.

And what does anyone else's opinion of you matter? You have to live your life, your way. Because none of us knows when our lives might end.  What is the legacy you want to leave?


Leave a comment!

R. Allan Worrell

Live as Though You are Dying... Because You Are!

We should all live as though we are dying... Why?   Because, in fact, even if we are healthy, we all are dying in slow motion.  I'm not a geneticist, but it appears to me that we are programmed to die from the moment we are conceived. 

My medical doctor once told me that all of medicine just delays the inevitable.   Doctors put out one fire after another, until they encounter a fire they can't stop.... and then we die.  

I saw this happen to my father who died of leukemia about eleven years ago, at the age of 83.  The doctors were able to keep his leukemia at bay with one drug after another for over two years, until the disease mutated, and the docs ran out of new drugs to give him.  The disease won, as it often does.  Why does nature kill us this way?  (That’s the subject for another time.)

Our mortality gives urgency and meaning to our lives.  I am now 63 and I believe I have about 20-25 years left to live.  I need to remind myself of this fact each and every day.  Believe it or not, it helps me to remember to suck up life's hardships and enjoy the simple things in life. 

 I have always been a money saver, but my mother, who is now 90, once told me to spend more of my money.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed.   This is wise, but I think we should each plan for tomorrow, even if it doesn't come.  To do otherwise would be fool-hardy, IMHO.   Consider that we could all go to Vegas and end up destitute playing the slots, roulette or blackjack.  Still, there is something to be said for spending a little, and having some fun every day (whether it costs you money, or not).

I think the best thing to do, as often as we can, is to spend time with those we love.  Time is our greatest gift.  Let those you love... know it, by giving of yourself, your time, to be with them.  You may not get a chance to do it tomorrow.

What do YOU think?    Leave me a comment!


R. Allan Worrell
Author:  Father John's Gift

e-mail: alw3141@gmail.com