All Things Must Pass

All Things Must Pass

    Recently, I finished (quite belatedly, I might add) the book titled above, a rather thin semi-autobiographical book about George Harrison (I say "semi" because the book is filled with quips and quotes from many others besides Harrison).  Known primarily as one of the Beatles, he wrote in his book: ...you hear them talking about Paul McCartney and John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison but you just read it as if it's somebody else.  And I think that for me has been a good point throughout all this madness.  I see it as somebody else.  You know Beatles are something else quite apart from me, and this thing of being Beatle George--I'm not really Beatle George.  I'm sorry to disappoint you but that is just a little part that got played through in this life, I mean there is much more to me than Beatle George.  You flip through the pages and there he is a baby being held by his sister, then he's not quite 17 and playing in the Cavern Club; by 23 he was recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  A few more pages and he's in India, then doing a concert for Bangladesh, then having a son, then...gone (Harrison died of lung cancer at the age of 58; the remaining 2 Beatles are now in their 70s).  Still, he must have known something was up, writing the lyrics to the song above some 30 years before passing: All things must pass; none of life's strings can last.  So I must be on my way and face another day...now darkness only stays at night time, in the morning it will fade away.

    We all have that in some form, that looking back and maybe recalling having a tiny bit of fame;  maybe it's not Warhol's famous "15 minutes of fame," but perhaps it was something as simple as winning a school tournament or picking up a trophy or standing at the altar.  At some point, we all likely had that moment where we could say, this is the best day of my life.  Only...time moves on.  And just as with Harrison, those pictures of us zoom by and we're looking at them quite differently.  And as with Harrison, we're likely even telling our friends (or fans, if we're truly like Harrison), that that view they have of us was us...back then.  But back then is gone.  And we've all likely moved on.  Our lives have evolved and are still evolving.  After all, nothing can go on forever...or can it?

    This was the question posed in a recent issue of Popular Science which asked on its cover, "Want to Live Forever?"  Bats living past 40, bowhead whales past 200, rats to age 30?  Now comes clams (with beating hearts) living past 500 years.  And, says the article: The freshwater hydra seems, under ideal conditions, to be immortal.  It also has a seemingly endless supply of stem cells.  German researchers have linked a longevity gene, also found in humans, to stem-cell production.  Says the author, Brooke Borel: Scientists have identified several processes that all play a role in how cells break down...The end of each chromosome is capped with a protective bit of DNA called a telomere.  As a cell ages, the telomere shortens; once it reaches a critical length, the cell stops dividing...Some cells enter a state called senescence—they stop dividing but resist death, producing inflammatory signals that harm healthy tissues...Cells normally perform autophagy, eating up damaged proteins and other debris.  But eventually this process jams up and trash overwhelms them...In order to delete damaged DNA, cells go through apoptosis: programmed death.  But some older cells don’t actually die, possibly one cause of cancer...Many organs contain adult stem cells that help regenerate and repair damaged tissues.  But as we age, they can cease functioning or dwindle...DNA constantly faces damage, both from internal glitches and external influences.  Over time genetic casualties pile up, and our cells can’t repair them.

    So, are we back to simply throwing up our hands...all things must pass?  And even if we could, would we want to live longer?  Thinking back, is there a point in your life that you would want to go back to or to stay frozen in, say, a certain age?  There'd be a catch of course, for the rest of the world (which would include your friends and such) would continue to grow older.  Such was the curse of the 12-year old bitten by a vampire and cursed to be immortal but stuck at that age (from Ann Rice's original Interview With A Vampire).  But such immortality might not be such a pipe dream as efforts to digitize "consciousness" continue at a frightening pace (while the article highlights Martine Rothblatt of United Therapeutics, a better explanation of such efforts comes from a segment from Dr. David Eagleman's series, The Brain; still, Martine Rothblatt explained it this way in her TED Talk: ...what we're working on is creating a situation where people can create a mind file, and a mind file is the collection of their mannerisms, personality, recollection, feelings, beliefs, attitudes and values, everything that we've poured today into Google, into Amazon, into Facebook, and all of this information stored there will be able, in the next couple decades, once software is able to recapitulate consciousness, be able to revive the consciousness which is imminent in our mind file...You know, it costs us virtually nothing to store our mind files on Facebook, Instagram, what-have-you. Social media is I think one of the most extraordinary inventions of our time, and as apps become available that will allow us to out-Siri Siri, better and better, and develop consciousness operating systems, everybody in the world, billions of people, will be able to develop mind clones of themselves that will have their own life on the web.

     Their own life...a new life?  But what do we or would we miss by simply staying in stasis?  It would be personal, something for each person to decide if and when the possibility for such arrives.  But going back to an earlier point in life might be an even more distant dream...and if we could go back (sort of like picking a "restore point" for your new computerized life), would all of our gained knowledge and wisdom be erased ?  Perhaps the best response to all of this came from a brief interview of Pauline Angleman (when she talked with reporter Jennifer Bogo): People just need to use their common sense and don’t overdo on everything.  As my grandma used to say, be like the woodpecker and use your head.  Don’t overeat.  And lay off all these doggone carbonated drinks.  I eat two meals a day and snack a little in the middle.  I drink lots of water—it keeps your innards lubricated—and I don’t have many wrinkles on my face...I think it is so important to enjoy what you have.  You can kill yourself worrying or being envious or just plain ungrateful.  And worry is what brings on illnesses like cancer and heart problems...Every age has been my favorite.  I’ve had my picture taken so many times, you could paper the White House with it.  I have a few aches and pains, but not enough to stop me yet.  I have a red Chevrolet Malibu Maxx and my driver’s license is good until 2018.  Neighbors tell me I’m going to wear out my garage door.  In case you're wondering, Pauline is now 107.