This week, chapters 9 and 10. Next week, read the rest of Natural Causes by Barbara Ehrenreich. The following week we’ll talk about the book as a whole, and in three weeks we’ll kick off The Weather Machine, so try to get your hands on a copy.
Chapter 9 gets into the concept of “agency,” which is a little step down from full-on consciousness and free will, and something that lots of cells and to an extent even electrons have. This was pretty heady stuff, what did you think of the chapter?
Chapter 10 is all about aging, and the diseases of aging, particularly inflammation and how macrophages “betray” the organisms they inhabit later in life. Ehrenreich compares the immune system to a symbiant, a shadow organism within an organism whose priorities often but not always coincide with the host. What’s your read on this?
We have a Gwenyth Paltrow shoutout, I repeat, we have a Goop shoutout.
This book the last four chapters for me is dying of unnatural causes caused by Barbara Ehrenreich, so I"ll instead celebrate the Goop shoutout with my favorite 5 Gwenyth Paltrow Non-Marvel films. 1. The Royal Tenenbaums 2. Hard Eight 3. Shakespeare in Love 4. Shallow Hal 5. Se7en and Duets is her most underrated movie.
Just started Chapter 9. I'm going to start with disclosure that I have physically disabled child, and I get HULK-STYLE ANGRY when people equate physical disability with being useless and near death. Even if it was just one line ("No doubt immortality would be a more alluring goal if we could imagine surviving without disability, but hardly anyone, outside of the narrow demographic slice represnted by Silicon Valley billionaires, is interested in an extended life of being fed and toileted.")
My kid is friggin' awesome not in spite of her disability, but in part, because of it.
That said, the thing that moves me most in this chapter so far is the amount of money and investment on crap products that are meant to prevent rich people from becoming old/disabled, when, we could actually be investing that money into products that can make the years of disability we may encounter better.
My favorite chapters so far! This is wild stuff and it just reinforces an idea that I've had stuck on my mind given all of the current events: in our current format (and relative to so many others) we are an incredibly young species that really hasn't been around very long and there's no guarantee we'll make it long term.
This book the last four chapters for me is dying of unnatural causes caused by Barbara Ehrenreich, so I"ll instead celebrate the Goop shoutout with my favorite 5 Gwenyth Paltrow Non-Marvel films. 1. The Royal Tenenbaums 2. Hard Eight 3. Shakespeare in Love 4. Shallow Hal 5. Se7en and Duets is her most underrated movie.
Also, I'm still behind, but WHERE IS THE GOOP SHOUT OUT! I MUST FIND IT. SHE'S NOT IN THE INDEX.
Just started Chapter 9. I'm going to start with disclosure that I have physically disabled child, and I get HULK-STYLE ANGRY when people equate physical disability with being useless and near death. Even if it was just one line ("No doubt immortality would be a more alluring goal if we could imagine surviving without disability, but hardly anyone, outside of the narrow demographic slice represnted by Silicon Valley billionaires, is interested in an extended life of being fed and toileted.")
My kid is friggin' awesome not in spite of her disability, but in part, because of it.
That said, the thing that moves me most in this chapter so far is the amount of money and investment on crap products that are meant to prevent rich people from becoming old/disabled, when, we could actually be investing that money into products that can make the years of disability we may encounter better.
My favorite chapters so far! This is wild stuff and it just reinforces an idea that I've had stuck on my mind given all of the current events: in our current format (and relative to so many others) we are an incredibly young species that really hasn't been around very long and there's no guarantee we'll make it long term.