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Sunday, October 19, 2008

WHAT IF THIS REALLY HAPPENS?

I am a fan of Jules Verne, the famous writer of science fiction. If you read his books (written about 100 years ago), you will be spooked at how close his imagination was to the way things have turned out to be. So this week, I decided to let my imagination soar into the realm of what looks impossible, today!

I would be happy to receive inputs from all of you about many implications of these wild thoughts - if they were to really come true, some day. Don't think logically - let the dreamer inside you take over.

What if men could become pregnant?

  • It would be a boon to working couples. They could take turns at getting pregnant so that their careers did not suffer.
  • This could be the magical breakthrough to achieve genuine gender equality.
  • Men would also be afraid of getting raped by a woman. They will be back home before it is too dark.
  • Will fathers become as loving (as todays mothers are) towards their offsprings?

What if we had "thought controlled" devices?

  • Imagine, you just have to look at your cellphone and remember your friend's telephone number and presto... it reads your mind and starts dialling.
  • Doctors have been telling us that our brain works on minute electrical impulses so we require some genius to amplify those micro voltages and then make normal electronic devices (like the cell phone) work.
  • Indian Airforce would love it. In modern dogfights between two sophisticated "fighter planes" it is really a question of which pilot presses the button and releases the missile first - "technology" decides everything thereafter. The missile could now be released, the moment the thought of doing so gets formed in the pilot's brain.
  • I could connect a LCD projector to my brain and project on screen, the view of river Thames which I can clearly recall from my last visit to London.

What if "memory" could be transplanted from one brain to another?

  • We routinely transfer data from one CD to another so what's the difference here? We could now produce thousands of "CV Ramans" and "Einsteins".
  • Colleges and entrance examinations would no longer be necessary. Imagine downloading, say the entire MBBS syllabus, into the brain of the person interested in becoming a doctor. Spending years to study for a degree would be a thing of the past. Colleges would only have Ph.D. students doing research on hitherto unknown aspects of a subject.

What if doctors could remove the brain and keep it functional, even after a persons' death?The brain of a Nobel laureate in say Physics could continue grappling and solving complicated problems in Physics, long after the person has passed away. I remember having read somewhere that this is really being researched.

What if politicians start behaving honestly?

I think I am now really letting my imagination get the better of me. This has neither happened in the past nor will happen in the future (न भूतो न भविष्यति )

4 comments:

Sonal said...

This article indeed opened the other part of my brain..(imagination). I especially liked the topic if men became pregnant.. That will be the real time when there will be equality. Also a man will realise the pain it takes to deliver the baby and the previous nine months of pregnancy.But in the second topic if we see whether the gadgets will read minds i think a man will no longer be human and will become a machine..It will add to his laziness which i personally feel is not good. But ya the idea is unique and i guess the LIE DETECTORS are the beginning of invention of such a gadget which would read mind n could be connected to a PC. Reminds me of the famous JETSONS family.. Personally i really wish i could Scan my syllabus and study material in my brain just in one reading and put it on paper without any effort of retaining it..

Chaitra's mom said...

The best part of the imagination for me personally is "I could connect a LCD projector to my brain and project on screen, the view of river Thames which I can clearly recall from my last visit to London".WOW!!! how nice it would be..See again what u like in ur past..Live it again in the present..But if one is so obesessed abt it and always prefers to do so..he will end up doing nothing in present and lives the same life of past..

Anonymous said...

Fantastic. But there is a problem. If for example, I keep thinking of my girl friend and consequently her cell number, will my mobile keep dialling that number though I really do not require it to dial it at that time. I enjoyed your piece but we may not be alive to see all this.

Anonymous said...

Sir, I think there is a end to all the begginings. We as a human race have come a long way. In my opinion we have reached a saturation point of discovery and invention. It is just making an improvement to the earlier discoveries and inventions is what is going on today. pick up any recent invention and the same would be a by-product of an earlier one.
Considering this fact however, i would like to see something in time travel and in future maybe i can visit your blog through the past and edit this article.