Progress of Science Is Not

¶ … progress of science is not always necessarily a wonderful thing, and even some good and useful applications of science in daily life can perhaps be taken too far. It is a good thing, for example, that people with poor vision can have their sight corrected with glasses, contact lenses, and now surgery as well, as this gives people with a congenital disadvantage the ability to live life normally and competitively with others. It is not necessarily good, however, for individuals to be able to improve their senses to supernatural degrees, as this could give them unfair advantages in certain arenas, such as sports. Just as certain "performance enhancing" substances are banned or at least frowned upon my professional sports organizations, sensory enhancements should be viewed in the same way. Naturally occurring "super senses," however, are simply the flip-side of the disadvantages nature hands out to some individuals, and provide a competitive edge in things such as marksmanship, etc.

There are many ways to approach the question of which of my senses is the most developed, but in terms of the subtlety and accuracy of my senses I would have to say that my sense of smell is more developed than my other senses. I am able to discern separate odors fairly easily, even when only minute traces are present, and I have also been the first to notice gas leaks on several occasions due to my sense of smell. If I could choose a sense to be ore developed, though, it would be my sense of hearing. I love listening to music, but I cannot always pick out the intricacies of a harmony as much as I would like, and having a more discerning ear would help with this.

Chapter 5

I have a semi-recurring dream in which I am being chased through a large house. The house itself is physically different in each dream, but it is recognized by me as the same house. Sometimes I know who or what is chasing me, sometimes I don't. Regardless, I always end up in an upstairs part of the house, and the entire middle of the house is completely open all the way to the ground. There is basically a walkway around the inside perimeter of the house with doors leading off, and nothing in the central cavity. As whatever is chasing me closes in, I leap from the walkway to the bottom of the house, waking up as I land jarringly. I do not have this dream regularly, but I have had it off and on for years.