My journey through the annals of Life continues apace.  The magazine that is.  I’ve now reached August 1955, the month and year of my birth.  What keeps it interesting I suppose is finding tidbits of long forgotten stories and then trying to discern what happened next.  Okay, so I’m easily entertained.  But let me share a sad tale from the August 15 issue.

Life did a short feature on a group of American airmen who were shot down over China during the Korean war and had been imprisoned as spies ever since.  They were finally released after years of negotiations between two hostile governments .  One of these was Airman 2/c Daniel Schmidt.

An unlucky flyer, but things could be always be worse. And then they were.

While sad sack Schmidt was enduring years of Chinese torture, his lovely redheaded bride Una, who was also the mother of the child Schmidt had never seen, had remarried to a local lumberjack by the name of Alford Fine.  Schmidt was understandably distraught to learn this news upon his return to the U.S. and promptly filed for divorce.

Things then got rather messy as local news accounts of the time portrayed.  Una moved out of Alford’s trailer home and desperately sought reconciliation with Schmidt.  Schmidt, however, was not in a forgiving mood.  Meanwhile, the local sheriff pursued an investigation into whether Una was guilty of bigamy.  The Air Force insisted it had notified Una that her husband was still alive in China prior to her remarriage, but Una denied it.  It appeared the woman with two husbands might soon wind up with none.

Finally, Schmidt’s mother intervened and arranged a meeting between the two star crossed lovers.   And when Schmidt saw Una, he fell in love all over again. 

The newly reunited family makes an appearance on the Art Linkletter show.

It was a tale worthy of Hollywood, except for the happy ending part.  As this outstanding blog post recounts, Una and Schmidt divorced in 1960 and Daniel died in 1962 of a broken heart.  Well, during open heart surgery anyway.  He was 31.

Came across this mind boggling and thought provoking article that claims we are moving closer to having the capability to map a human brain to the extent that a person could live on in a “virtual” world after the mortal body has turned to dust.

Imagine a future in which your mind never dies. When your body begins to fail, a machine scans your brain in enough detail to capture its unique wiring. A computer system uses that data to simulate your brain. It won’t need to replicate every last detail. Like the phonograph, it will strip away the irrelevant physical structures, leaving only the essence of the patterns. And then there is a second you, with your memories, your emotions, your way of thinking and making decisions, translated onto computer hardware as easily as we copy a text file these days.

 

That second version of you could live in a simulated world and hardly know the difference. You could walk around a simulated city street, feel a cool breeze, eat at a café, talk to other simulated people, play games, watch movies, enjoy yourself. Pain and disease would be programmed out of existence. If you’re still interested in the world outside your simulated playground, you could Skype yourself into board meetings or family Christmas dinners.

The author goes on to make the case that actual creation of this technology is not necessarily a good thing, noting that the moral and societal implications of implementation will “transform humanity in ways that are more disturbing than helpful.”  I guess I can see the downsides, but given my lack of faith in any form of afterlife, I’d probably be inclined to accept immortality wherever I might find it.  Of course, that might be it’s own kind of hell.   I’m reminded of a story I read back in the 1970s entitled “I have eternal life and it’s killing me”.

Speaking of virtual worlds, of late I’ve been crafting a rather detailed fantasy life in my mind.  Yeah, I’ve got too much time on my hands I suppose.  But really, I just use these fantasies as a sleep aid.  A detailed version of counting sheep if you will.   I won’t bore you with the details of that world, although I’m young, handsome, and have the benefit of 20-20 hindsight.  So yeah, I avoid all the mistakes I’ve made along the way in my real life and do things like invest in start-up companies with odd names like Microsoft and Apple.  Anyway, I imagine novelists go through similar exercises as they craft their stories and create fictional characters to populate those worlds.  Which is to say I don’t think I’ve gone totally off the rails.

So that’s how I kind of imagine what a virtual afterlife might look like.  What do you think?  Do you prefer the great unknown of death or would you rather have a computerized version of yourself live on through infinity?

The midpoint of my life’s journey leads to this bridge in Saratoga, WY.

Well, I guess gravity has nothing to do with it.  But finding your geographic center is pretty cool and fun to do (linked fixed, sorry!). Turns out the midpoint of everywhere I lived is tiny Saratoga, Wyoming.  Population 1,690 proud souls and home of the annual Steinly Cup microbrew competition.  Gonna have to pay those punny folks a visit one of these days I suppose.

Westminster, CA (23 years), Prescott, AZ (5 years), Fort Smith, AR (3 years), Columbia, SC (12 years and counting), Stafford, VA (8 years) and Seoul, ROK (6 years) winds up looking like this.

And where pray tell is your center?

UPDATE: I changed the headline for this post after a commenter graciously pointed out that I had invented a new word for stupid…