Smithsonian

Realizing your dreams

Affirmative action, dreams

While I was growing up and during the time I was doing my engineering, I used to be enamored by the space shuttle. I used and still marvel at the amazing piece of human engineering to take people into space and get them back.

While there have been engineering lapses, which led to accidents and the program had to be stopped eventually, you cannot doubt the conceptualization of this whole program.

I used to wonder if I will ever be able to see a space shuttle up and close. It was a dream for me.

In 2019, I had the opportunity to visit Washington DC. We landed at the Dulles International Airport . Very close to the airport there’s a museum where they have now housed the retired space shuttle Discovery.

When I used to see the launch, I would think that the shuttle would be a massive structure. But when I saw it from so close, it didn’t appear to be so huge. Which makes the reusability an even bigger feat.

When I had planned my trip to DC I had not envisaged that I would get an opportunity to see the space shuttle. While researching the Smithsonian and other museums in the DC area, I came to know about this museum which was a little distance from Dulles.

Since we were coming from an international flight, I was wondering where we could place our luggage. That’s when one of my friend and her husband pitched in. They picked us up from the airport, dropped us at the museum and took our luggage in the car to do their work and came and picked us up after two hours.

The point is that if you dream and take action then the universe also conspires to help you achieve a lot of your dreams. Never stop dreaming….you never know what all you may achieve.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Human Evolution

Brain size, Evolution, Human Brain

If you want to see the evolution of humans, one of the best places to observe that is in Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh is a state in Central India. It is a less publicised state with a lot of unique places to visit. One of relatives was in Madhya Pradesh Tourism and he asked me to invest time to visit places since he knew my interest in seeing nature and historical places.

So I visited Madhya Pradesh 3 times and he used to make my itinerary such that I got a good view of both nature and history. The best time I found to visit the state was from October to March, but if you intend to visit the state its best to visit the website of Madhya Pradesh Tourism.

Now in Madhya Pradesh, near the capital Bhopal, there is a set of caves call the Bhim Betka caves. The uniqueness of these caves is that you can see carvings/paintings made by humans who lived 100000 years ago …yes that’s not a typo, some of these caves were inhabited then. And then there are caves which were also inhabited 10000 years ago. Its a large area, I think its a UNESCO site one of the few where you can see the actual evolution of human beings who lived in India.

If you see the carvings/paintings of the different time maps you can actually make out how the humans evolved in this part of the world. In the carvings which are about 10000 years old, you can see in the carvings that they are using tools. Which means they had learnt by then how to use tools. You also get to see horses and other animals meaning, they had domesticated these animals by then.

The other thing to note is that even a hundred thousand years ago, the humans who lived in those caves had a thought process of trying to depict something on rock even if it was just line figures.

In hundred thousand years, humans have changed so much. The evolution of the species is so amazing.

Which brings me to why have zebras or tigers or sharks or lizards not evolved so much. They still hunt for food and their daily routine is still based on instinct flight or fight responses. This is something which I tried to see even in the Smithsonian museums and other museums around the world.

Two things which I have been able to figure out and my search is still on, is that the motor functions in the fingers of the hand and the space that our brain has to expand in our head has been the two main causes of the rapid evolution of the human race. The space for the brain in animals is virtually non-existent.

Now as per Steven Kotler, the space that exists for our brain to expand has given us humans the ability to keep learning and keep growing further. Now the pertinent question that I keep having is, why did the apes and monkeys not have the space when supposedly we have evolved from the same common platform. I will keep you posted as I learn more because knowing where we came from can help us to know how to go forward.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!