Saturday, February 17, 2007
The Most Expensive Machine? - Our body!
In an interesting discussion recently, Swami Suddhananda, a philosopher with a background in Hindu philosophy, pointed out that, while human beings keep building ever more sophisticated machines and continue wondering how much the most sophisticated machine built would cost, they appear to ignore that each and every one of us own the most expensive machine available on earth - the human body.
He cited a study done by Yale University which apparently tried to put a cost on how much it would cost to build a human body part by part, with its intricate network of blood vessels and neurons and the musculo-skeletal system. The answer - over a trillion dollars. Admittedly, such a study can only be a speculative guess-work, but no one will deny that it will cost an incredible lot of money and resources to build a human body from scratch - assuming one ever gets built.
Taking this comparison of man and machine further, in the discussion the Swami infers that, just as an input to a machine will determine its output, so will an input to the human body (and mind) determine the types of thoughts and actions the mind and body will ultimately undertake. Interesting comparison, once again emphasises how important it is to keep good company, read good books and breathe fresh air every day!
He cited a study done by Yale University which apparently tried to put a cost on how much it would cost to build a human body part by part, with its intricate network of blood vessels and neurons and the musculo-skeletal system. The answer - over a trillion dollars. Admittedly, such a study can only be a speculative guess-work, but no one will deny that it will cost an incredible lot of money and resources to build a human body from scratch - assuming one ever gets built.
Taking this comparison of man and machine further, in the discussion the Swami infers that, just as an input to a machine will determine its output, so will an input to the human body (and mind) determine the types of thoughts and actions the mind and body will ultimately undertake. Interesting comparison, once again emphasises how important it is to keep good company, read good books and breathe fresh air every day!
Labels: human-body
