Monday, January 08, 2007

The invention that I would like to be created is... Philippines


You guys might think I"m either crazy or backward, but I've been thinking, and really, I don't suppose we do need any more inventions.

Most of us are too technically-wired as it is (including you and me, and the rest of the blogging community), and even then, our highly technological society is stressed enough and overloaded enough trying to juggle all these new inventions that pop out a- hundred new ones-a minute.

I was thinking of an excerpt from Antoine de Saint Exupery's "The Little Prince" and the Little Prince was being offered a pill that allowed you not to drink water for a day or so. It saved you a certain number of minutes in a whole year, just by not going to a well/a ref/a water dispenser to drink water to quench your thirst.

The Little Prince was curious about this "new" pill. But then he asked, what will I do with the minutes I'm saving by not drinking water?

The man selling the non-thirsty pill answered that eh could do so many things...

The Little Prince replied that if he had a few minutes to spare in his lifetime, he would use it to slowly walk to a well/a ref, a water dispenser, and slowly drink in that cool, refreshing glass of pure water.

With that analogy, I too personally think that "the drink of cool refreshing water" is what we all really need. Not the "pill" but the water.

6 Comments:

Blogger Mo said...

I don't think you're backward or crazy. I've been trying wracking my brains to come up with something too but haven't thought of any invention I'd really like. Of course, I'd love there to be a cure for my illness but technology is not going to cure it.

9:02 AM  
Blogger shing said...

hello mo! :) I shared this little thought with a close friend, and as a sort-of-joke, she suggested a pair of shoes that transformed from high heels to low heels. hehehehe.

May I ask what your illness is?

10:39 AM  
Blogger D Naruka said...

Hi Mo, I am going to second Shing to enquire re your illness - if you want to share at all that it.

Best.

12:46 PM  
Blogger Mo said...

Hi Shing and Deep Sea, for 15 years I have been affected by a very controversial illness which has several names - in Britain we call it ME but doctors like to call it Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). In the US it's called Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome. We find the term CFS very insulting because fatigue is only a very minor part. Most doctors in the UK just think we need a good shake and that we're suffering from depression. Like AIDS, ME has a stigma attached to it and people often judge me by my illness - I often get comments along the lines of I need to get a life, pull myself together etc. The truth, as the rest of the world has found, is that it's a profoundly debilitating neurological illness. Excuse the long winded explanation but it's not a simple answer!!

2:04 PM  
Blogger shing said...

hi again Mo! thank you for sharing that with us (and probably half the world). We do need to get educated about these things...and it's good that you're so open about it...I don't know much about your illness (other than what you have just shared), but I do know that we all need to help keep each other up and just talking is the beginning. :)

10:10 AM  
Blogger Rebelde said...

I'm sorry to hear about Mo's illness, that ignorance is around many serious diseases. About the post... I think somewhere along the line we became so lazy that we need buttons for everything... since when do we need a remote control for a car stereo? is it really that difficult to reach out and push the radio buttons? Do we really need a razor with shaving cream in it? I personally don't waste too much time puting shaving cream in my face, so i don't think I'd find a good use for the 5 extra seconds that would save me. I find lots of examples of inventions we don't really need just looking around my house and office, maybe we should spend more time thinking how do we find a cure for ME or AIDS instead of saving 3 secs at the time

6:18 PM  

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