Emily: Dream Flight Deferred
Time to Arrival: 3 hours and 36 minutes. The countdown continues–made even easier by Delta Airlines with a handy, dandy Flight Tracker. It’s incredible how technology has advanced. Carl Sagan once said, “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology. In which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.” And yes, I happen to remember this quote off the top of my head. It won’t happen very often, but this especially stuck with me. It’s so easy to take science for granted because with each new advancement and change, we are so quick to adapt. At 6, I had no idea what an iPhone was (nor did it even exist). And now, at 16, I can’t imagine my life without one. I can’t envision its nonexistence because I have been taking it for granted for such a long time.
With each milestone (10 hours, 5 hours…), time is beginning to blend together. I keep feeling the need to know exactly what time it is in both America and China. The biological clock, perhaps? A human’s inner need to be on a specific schedule?
I am in quite a questioning mood, as you can probably tell. This is not only stimulated by the fact that I actually have no idea what time it is and am probably awake way past my bed time, but also by the fact that I just finished a life-changing book. Alec let me borrow his copy of Leonard Mlodinow’s The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives. Mlodinow basically displays this argument that everything in life is entirely due to chance and that none of it really matters in the end because it’s out of our control. MINDBLOWING! I would suggest it to anyone.
Now, unfortunately, Alec isn’t here to discuss all my questions right now. Alec, Anne Blythe, and the other travelers from Raleigh had a flight cancellation. So Maggie and I didn’t get my dream plane trip (referred to in Blog Post #1) with the other “Scientific Genius-Strangers” that I was looking forward to. But getting to know Maggie, Mr. Horn, Dr. Nolen, and Robin has definitely been a very special experience. Mr. Horn had so many inspiring things to say to Maggie and me on our flight from Charlotte to Detroit. I don’t think I have ever met anyone so wise.