Am I the same person as I was at the age of twenty? To make my meaning a little clearer, am I the same person as when I started this blog some 12 years ago? Has my character changed? Has my way of looking at the world changed?
These are questions to which I have no answer, but of one thing I can be sure: the quality of my brain has not changed, only its stamina. As evidence, I would like to cite Yuval Noah Harari (I had to check three times to make sure I had got his name right) and his exceedingly brilliant Home Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. I could never in a million years match the extraordinary clarity and focus of the Daktari brain. My brain is just not hard-wired in the same way, but the good news is that perhaps one day, thanks to advances in biochemistry, it could be. Indeed, there is no more urgent challenge to the world than to improve the quality of the Capel-Dunn brain.
As to the stamina of my brain, dazzled as I am by the lucidity of Jokari's exposition, I have to admit to a feeling of exhaustion after reading a page or two. I am assuming that biochemistry can do something about that as well.
My delayed response is mostly because your post demanded quite some thought, but also because of increasing lethargy. And THAT I am sure, is mostly what makes me a different person to Me at Twenty. Presumably/hopefully I am a little wiser, or at any rate in possession with more knowledge, but I have definitely now reached the stage of no longer feeling I am an eighteen year old in the wrong body. Though catching those fleeting glances into mirrors is a shock as lately I have been seeing a combination of my mother and eldest sister. They, you and I both know, were full of intelligence but there is no indication I have acquired this too!
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention lethargy as I have always felt that the lack of energy was one of the things standing in the way of a distinguished career in the Home and Colonial Service. Rather late in the day, I have discovered that my lethargic state is due to a deficiency in Vitamin B12. Now they tell me!
DeleteI need to look up what Vitamin B12 or lack of is. Will you have to have injections for this?
DeleteIf there is no discernible improvement in my "condition" after one month - yes!
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