I’m a traveller, and as an Indian, I find travelling beyond India quite challenging due to Visa restrictions. This is a symptom of a larger problem. Till the time there are boundaries, there are going to be conflicts. The direction of history has been towards unification, we have far less independent political sovereignities today in the world than ever in history, but world unification still seems elusive. Is it going to happen anytime soon?
The concept of light years, billions of stars in our galaxy and then billions of galaxies outside of the Milky Way is just too big to get a grip on. Maybe there is another concept of distance in a physical law that we haven’t discovered yet, and that will make more sense of these distances and scale? Maybe the micro-world is as big relatively to the universe, that is, the relative distances between individual components of atoms and molecules is just as vast as the universe is big? How can there be an end to the universe – where is it located if it is confined in some way? We know so much – why don’t we know this?
I am adopted which is a life sentence of separation from my family and medical history and I find this situation very difficult as I age and face the fact I will never know the truth. Others should care about this because IVF technicians are making babies without recorded histories and we can expect they will fill the mental health system in the same way adoptees have due to unknown heritage and separation from mothers at birth.
I have many relatives and friends who have died from tobacco related illnesses. We should all care about this. Tobacco is different even from other ‘vices’ (including alcohol) in that it has no health benefit even at low doses. Selling tobacco with its known problems is a ‘dangerous act that knowingly puts the health of others at risk’. These are two important manslaughter criteria. Is the absence of ‘intent to kill’ enough to exclude it?