Another day of decent weather. Came across this sign which is apparently an accommodation for larger people on the Trail I guess…
I found a Tennessee version of Dogtown’s Whale’s Jaw…
I hit the 300 mile mark today. There were many people stopping to take a break at this little stone number. I stopped with them and we all had a nice chat and a lunch break here…
I’ve been thinking about longevity…there is at least one 70-year-old out here who is hiking this Trail and I’ve no doubt after meeting him that he’ll complete in respectable fashion. Remarkable.
Western medicine is on a roll- perhaps even out over it’s skis at the moment.
(When I went to Afghanistan in 07/08, I learned that the average male life expectancy there was 47: yet, I was deploying there at age 48–and expecting to come home and live another 30 years. So—an astonishing health disparity on the globe which is no doubt related to the wealth disparity.)
The poor will die on schedule as their inferior diet, hygiene, and access to medicine will dictate.
But what does this mean for the wealthy nations that extend life?
It appears that the quality of life lags behind the actual extension of life as we can see in the disturbing frailty of very old people, and the even more disturbing cognitive loss which is increasingly attending old age in the form of various dementias. I worked very briefly recently as a hospice care volunteer and I saw how sad this situation can be.
Yet medical research marches on as we devolve to wrinkled bags of skin in wheelchairs who can’t remember who our own children are.
I hope brain research yields relief to cognitive loss and, who knows?, maybe we can also find ways to strengthen and support skin, bones and organs into deep old age…I am more hopeful about the former than the latter. If I’m right, then the case might be made for us to evolve to ‘brains in a bath’ and the 1960’s science fiction movies will have the last laugh. We are already in an interim step—that of us turning more and more robotic as parts get supported /replaced and our systems get adjusted with all manner of medicine, regulators, and supplements. But eventually, I think our tissues will die, even brain tissue, despite the best diet, hygiene and medicine and we must be approaching the upper limits now: is it 110? 120? 130? And we do want to live forever, don’t we…?
The pace of this evolution is staggering. My great-great-grandchildren will probably look and live very differently from me. They could be greatly improved humans, or manifestations of avatar, or even straight-up robots.
I’m going with robots.
Penultimate 
300 miles. well done
such a thoughtful and thought provoking post. trudging up mountains has many merits. thank you again for taking me along.
lynn
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