Spent the whole day today driving from Maine to NYC, had some road time for reflection. No time for a full entry, but here are some thoughts on things that were discovered that they work before it was discovered how they work:
1) Sailing: it’s no doubt that the concept of high and low pressure was discovered long after sailors figured out that they could travel 90 degrees to the wind or closer with little problem.
2) General Anesthesia: certainly some early anesthetic agents and possibly some modern techniques are somewhat of a mystery when it comes to their affects on the brain.
Trial and error is definitely a great technique to solve problems, but what if we had been quicker to analyze how sailing worked? If we knew the secrets of high and low pressure would flying and airtravel been so hard to figure out?
What else do we have to learn about anesthesia and how the brain works? Is it possible that the brain may be hiding a secret that would lead to a breakthrough the magnitude of air travel?
Thoughts?