This article has been translated from its original Japanese version using GPT-4. Should you find any errors, please leave a comment to notify me.
In a recent blog post, I mused about the allure of having been born in the primitive era or just after the Age of Discovery, yet I also acknowledge the undeniable appeal of the present day.
We are fortunate to inhabit the 21st century, an epoch profoundly shaped by scientific advancement. To live in an era witnessing such exponential growth in science is indeed a stroke of luck.
If I were to indulge my desires, I would have preferred to be born around the year 2020. I’m convinced that in time, with the progression of regenerative medicine and biotechnology, the cessation of death or a redefinition of ‘death’ itself might become realities.
In an ideal world, I would opt to avoid death in youth rather than in middle or old age. This wish might one day be fulfilled by the strides made in anti-ageing technology.
Naturally, this area is fraught with ethical complexities, but in theory, by creating one’s clone and exchanging organs, one could maintain a body that is eternally youthful and in prime health, thus securing immortal life.
However, this raises the conundrum that if brain cells were to be replaced, the continuity of memory might be lost, leading to profound questions about the preservation of one’s identity.
The following tome was particularly engaging, compiling such scientific deliberations.
Thus, while I might have wished to be born in an era of immortality, being born in the millennial generation has its own blessings, I believe. When conversing with individuals from Generation Z, I do sense that their perceptions and sensibilities differ considerably from my own.
Of course, even within the millennial or Generation Z cohorts, the country of birth and the education one receives can foster entirely different sensibilities and values.
I am currently reading a book on the history of physics, tracing the paradigm shifts brought about by geniuses from Aristotle to Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein.
However, post-Einstein, my current knowledge falls short. A rigorous study would be required for a thorough understanding.
Having chosen biology and chemistry in secondary school, I find myself at a loss with Maxwell’s equations.
Maxwell was born in 1831 and passed away in 1879. Since Einstein’s ‘Annus Mirabilis’ was in 1905, the cutting-edge science of the late 19th century, which predates Einstein, is as far as I can comfortably venture. In fact, I feel I haven’t fully grasped it.
In the modern era, university education has become accessible to many, allowing geniuses to fully express their capabilities. Science has become so specialized that even within the same scientific community, discoveries of the century may go unrecognized if they occur in different fields. It’s a remarkable and fascinating time.
Maxwell, Newton, and Darwin were all British, as were Faraday and Crick, and in more recent times, Hawking as well.
Living in the UK, a country that has contributed so much to the pursuit of science, I feel privileged and am keen to seize more opportunities to study.
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