By Keith
McDowell
The first few
drops of rain pelted our sweat-soaked clothing and cooled down our exposed skin
as my sons and I trudged along the Colorado Trail toward the Wagon Loop Trail
junction that was visible just ahead of us. Having hiked nearly 8.5 miles up
and down over a number of ridges at altitudes approaching 10,000 feet in a
little less than three hours from the Angle of Shavano Trailhead had not been
our first choice. The three of us were in great shape and looking to summit
several of the Colorado fourteeners during
our vacation, but the weather gods had dictated otherwise keeping the invisible
peaks enshrouded in ugly black clouds from first light to darkness.
Reaching the
trail junction, we turned right along the top of a ridgeline in a sparsely
populated lodgepole forest and headed eastward for the 1.3-mile descent to the
Brown’s Creek Trailhead where my wife would be waiting to pick us up. Ahead of
schedule, we were in no hurry as the light drizzle continued and the distant
rumble of thunder and occasional flash of lightning signaled a thunderstorm on
the high peaks to our West. Veteran mountaineers, we took the weather
conditions in stride and once again tuned out our surroundings as we walked
along the relatively flat ridge.
Suddenly, it
happened! There was a blinding flash of light coupled to an explosion of sound
that nearly popped our eardrums. It was the dreaded “flash-bang”
of a lightning strike right on top of us. Instinctively ducking down as a
massive surge of adrenaline shot through my body, I watched as my son Andrew in
front of me did the same, followed by a bent-over leap into the air and
explosive sprint into a dead run as gravity took over and his boots made
contact again with the trail. My reflexive move wasn’t quite so spectacular, but
I was just as panicked by the seeming lack of trees in our immediate area.
For an old man
like me, running at an altitude of 9,600 feet down a sandy horse trail filled
with rocks and tree roots wasn’t the best thing to be doing. My sons quickly
left me behind as several more lightning strikes occurred behind us providing
additional incentive to keep up the pace. Mercifully, we rapidly came off the
ridge into thicker woods and slowed to a dogtrot. We soon stopped to gather
ourselves and our breaths and to ponder why the hairs on our body had not stood
on end before the lightning strike.
A few unprintable curse words mixed with a sardonic laugh or two were
also part of the menu.
In such moments
as these – and I’ve had a few in my mountaineering career, it is easy to
reflect on life and to appreciate the simple act of survival. Such moments also
often lead me after the fact to a deeper consideration of the meaning of life
and to puzzle over the following question: what do I value – other than life
itself?
But life itself
is no longer a simple concept as we accelerate the innovation race and move
increasingly faster toward a new definition of human existence on Planet Earth.
Take, for example, the recent
news that a baby’s DNA can be constructed before birth leading to a
“possible diagnosis for genetic disorders in certain circumstances.” Gads! We
are only a step away from using genetic drugs and gene manipulation in a fetus
to achieve “cures” for such disorders – a worthy endeavor.
But that means
we are also only a step away from using chemical, physical, and biological
means to manipulate a fetus to produce a human with enhanced performance
characteristics. Steroids, doping, and blood transfusions will no longer be
needed to produce the next great athletic performance in the Tour de France and
the accompanying dollars and rewards that go with such success. Will parents
succumb to such manipulation of a fetus? Of course they will!
And what about
the world of wireless information technology? I envision a world in a decade or
two where people shave their heads and cover them with a “hair piece” that
looks like a scalp covered by hair but is actually a very sophisticated
flexible device that monitors brain activity and interrogates our thoughts. We
will literally be able to send commands to an electronic device by thinking
about it. Surprisingly, we are already in the first stages of doing so as monkeys
manipulate mechanical arms by merely thinking about it.
Of course, real
progress will ultimately occur when we learn how to send signals back into the
brain to be interpreted by our brain as “thoughts.” Yep, that will happen
sooner than later! Goodbye iPod, iBook, iPad, and iPhone and hello to iBrain!
And the good
news is that our advanced iBrain device will be both wireless and powered by a
sophisticated coupling to our body’s physical and chemical systems. It’s the
wireless part that’s really cool, to use an old-fashioned “nerdy” term. We will
be able to connect instantly to the Internet of the future and thereby to all
facets of social media by merely thinking about it. My God! Talk about hacking
or the ultimate in texting. But who really wants to know what an old man like
me thinks about the babe in the revealing outfit? And was that last thought
really mine?
“Reading
people’s minds” and participating with them in the midst of all sorts of
physical endeavors will become the ultimate experience for the couch potato.
Jeez, I could hyperlink to someone climbing Mt. Everest and experience what they
feel as they slowly approach their final moments in the “death zone.” We won’t
mention the pornographic aspect to such technology.
And what about
our educational system and the effect of instant access to all knowledge? How
will we measure progress? Will it be done solely by one’s ability to use and
access the new iBrain technology – a sort of IQ test of the future? Will
manipulation of a fetus to achieve the best and brightest iBrain performers be
considered cheating?
My 92-year old
father has seen it all during his lifetime including his own personal
participation in the Normandy invasion in 1944 as well as the invention of the
radio, the television, the computer, air travel, and now wireless communication
and the social media. He doesn’t understand why anyone would want to text about
their intimate or even their silly moments and Facebook exists on another
planet for him. As he would say, it’s all about our values.
So what do we
value as modern society heads for a real confrontation with itself in a world
of interconnected and engineered human beings? And yes that will happen faster
than anyone imagines. Just ask my father if you don’t believe me!
And even more
disconcerting, will it matter what we value?
I don’t have a
clear answer to such questions, but believe that we must consider them as a
society. Unfortunately, I suspect that we will drift into this future connected
world driven by the usual motives of selfishness, avarice, and greed serving as
replacements or substitutes for the evolutionary mandate to adapt and survive.
But do we really want to accelerate innovation to achieve that end, even if
success in global competition requires that we do so? Some, and perhaps many,
would answer with an emphatic NO!
I never made it
to the summit of a fourteener during that summer vacation in Colorado. A
painful bone bruise on my ankle caused by running away from the lightning kept
me from joining my sons a week later as they ascended to the summit of Mt.
Massive, the third tallest mountain in the 48 states. For them, it was a very
long and exhausting day on a mountain worthy of its name. But I did talk to
them using our portable radios as they slogged to the summit. My! Isn’t modern
technology wonderful!
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