The ramblings of a madman

Anyone who read my previous post would be forgiven for believing that I don’t believe there’s a purpose to life. This is not the case. Okay, when I say purpose, I’m not referring to a poetic, meaning-of-life, deity-imbued purpose. But we are here for a reason, and that reason is at once simple and incredibly complicated: procreation.
There is a good reason we enjoy sex. It’s evolution’s way of encouraging us to breed. The adrenaline pumps. Those endorphins hit. Sex is a cacophony of chemical delights for our nervous system. Because human psychology is a complex beast, the stimuli that get us going can be anything, and occasionally that can lead to inappropriate, unseemly and even immoral sexual desires and activity, but happily most people have a fairly healthy sexual appetite. Sex is much like food in this respect.
I’ve been lucky enough over the past couple of years, both from a personal and a scientific perspective, to have the chance to watch a child grow up. I’ve known my godson Reuben since he was but a twinkle in his father’s eye, and I’ve watched him (somewhat indirectly for the first 9 months, obviously) grow from a single cell into a happy, giggling little boy of 2 and a bit years. To say that it is a miracle to behold would be both insulting to the process of multicellular development and a gross misunderstanding of what constitutes a miracle, but it does seem an oddly apt word to use.
Take the human eye. Well, any creature’s eye really, but seeing as I’m talking about watching Reuben develop, and I assume we’re taking it as read that he’s human, take the human eye. It is a very complicated piece of kit. Its very existence is fantastic (there’s a book called Life Assending by Nick Lane that describes the process of its evolution far more eloquently than I could hope to) but to have the chance to watch a human eye gain focus and control is an honour all in and of itself. But this is just one little part of the parcel of watching children grow up.
Until the day I die I will always be astonished with the ease with which a child’s brain learns. The speed with which they can absorb, process, assimilate and interpret data they’ve never come across before is truly incredible. The other day a 4 year old schooled me on the subject of 3D shapes. I was very impressed. I don’t remember doing 3D shapes in school until I was 7 or 8.
It is difficult to not be amazed and perplexed by children growing up. It is a privilege to behold. Maybe miracle is the right term after all. Just, not including the God bit…