 
Eye Doctor "Out of the box"

Dr. Ittyerah P. Tholath

Copyright 2013 by Dr. Ittyerah P. Tholath

Published at Smashwords

## Preface

Geriatric diseases constitute the major medical and surgical problems in ophthalmology. Senile cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and age related macular degeneration are a few of the blinding diseases of old age. Qualified and skilled eye surgeons can treat these diseases with considerable amount of success with the help of advanced technologies. The best method to prevent these diseases is elimination of old age. Today old age population is rapidly increasing in the world. Longevity is increasing and centurions are becoming common. According to certain studies the projected life expectancy of one hundred and fifty years can be reached soon. It is possible that the first person to celebrate their thousandth birthday would be born within the next twenty years (Aubrey de Grey)! As the life extends like this the quality of life is not improving correspondingly. The old age segment of human life cycle is mainly extending. In this background I had a dream and I am trying to realize this dream. This book is the written form of my dream and my unconventional thoughts.

This book might contain some unacceptable statements to certain sections of the society. They are not intended to hurt their feelings, but to highlight the need and urgency of doing research to eliminate old age sufferings. Please pardon me if the words are hurting anybody's faith and feelings.

Dr. Ittyerah P. Tholath

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## 1

I TOO HAVE A DREAM - A youth forever dream

"You see things, and say, why?

### I dream things that never were, and say, Why not?"

### George Bernard Shaw

On a warm South Indian Sunday after noon, precisely in the second week of May in summer, 1976 during our return trip from an eye camp*, I was enjoying the Tamil folk music of our van driver Mani. Mani, a jovial middle aged former Indian army driver, enjoyed giving directions to the blind patients and their relatives in the eye camp wearing an old army uniform. He not only drove our vehicle efficiently but also did public relations work at the eye camps. He used to travel along with our cook Michael to the market, and collected local news while the cook was very active in buying the vegetables, poultry and spices. He shared the local news with his own spicy additions and explanations during our lunch time and the trip back home.

This surgical eye camp was conducted in a local hospital in the village Koiloor, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and there were more surgeries than what we had anticipated. The team, consisting of eye surgeons, nurses, optometrist, cook, managers, and many students and trainees, had left the base hospital on the Saturday afternoon immediately after the lunch sacrificing the week end for community service. All the staff in the camp had to work fast and hard to finish the eye surgeries by lunch time so that they could reach home before dinner time to enjoy the last few hours of the weekend with family and friends at home. The swinging of the old blue Dodge van on the uneven road complimented the folk music, along with the clapping of hands by the young and beautiful nursing students who were trying to enjoy themselves after a day's hard work in a warm climate. The late lunch after a complimentary appetizer _(Shaw's night cap_ ) from the medical superintendent's quarters was enough to generate sufficient sleep signals in the brain. Besides this the mood and atmosphere inside the vehicle were so sleep inducing, that I had a late post lunch nap.

My sleep was suddenly disturbed by the blaring of horn and an unusual forward jerk due to braking of the vehicle. One of the standing passengers, a frail and tired junior nursing student was thrown on to my lap when the van stopped suddenly with a jerk. As she hurriedly got up I could recognize her pale frightened face. It was Selvy, a hard working first year nursing student. The van had just hit a buffalo on the center of the road at a turning. The driver got down from the van and assessed the damages to the van and the buffalo. He was convinced that it was only a mild hit without serious damage either to the van or to the animal. He jokingly asked the buffalo to give a fitness certificate of the brakes of the van and continued the journey as if nothing has happened. I too went back to the sleep mode.

After some time when I was awakened by my fellow passengers I was half way through a dream. The van was slowly moving under the good old Banyan tree which was considered as the eldest member of the community in the Indian Medical College Hospital campus. This tree had witnessed every activity of the campus for several years and is continuing to, like a great grandfather in a joint family. There were a lot of singing birds on the tree, often sprinkling their droppings on the neatly dressed staff and students who ran under the tree in an attempt to avoid a hit. The unlucky ones hit by the evening droppings of these birds rushed back to the hostel to clean it up and restarted for their evening engagement. The students believed that a second hit could be avoided if they prayed to the grandfather tree in the morning after sprinkling clean drinking water three times on the trunk of the tree. The innocent birds never knew that they were devastating the hopes and expectations of the young couples who had managed to make plans during their busy hospital schedules to meet each other either in the cinema theatre or in a restaurant. When I got down from the van after the nap, I could still see the unfinished dream, like a positive after image.

In the dream I was wandering through a beautiful garden full of fragrant flowers of different colors, sizes and shapes. There was a small stream flowing gently through the middle of the garden. One bank of the stream appeared as if decorated with golden pebbles, partly submerged in the shallow water, while the other bank had short green bushes with violet flowers in multiple rows. As the stream flowed rolling the pebbles, a gentle musical note emerged. I could sense the dance of small golden yellow pebbles to the tunes of the stream with flashes of silver lights reflected from the tiny fishes swimming between the pebbles. There were many varieties of ripe fruits on the trees and the elegant Peacocks and many other colorful birds were feeding on the fruits .The smart monkeys tasted them to find out the sweetest one for their consumption and threw away the unripe ones. There were a lot of energetic beautiful young women and handsome men with shining eyes enjoying themselves on the meadow off the stream. A few young couples were seated on the low lying branches of the trees while a few others were swinging gracefully to the tunes of a soft exotic music, on swings decorated with fresh Jasmine flowers. I continued to experience the fragrance of the jasmine flowers while getting down from the van. Interestingly there was not a single old person or baby visible anywhere in the garden or outside. It was a pleasant happy world exclusively of young men and women.

When I shared the dream with my friends, one of them, Mr. Suryanarayanan, a young orthodox aristocratic Brahmin gentleman with a lot of faith in Astrology, told that it was a very unusual dream and I should consult an astrologer for a proper interpretation. Next day both of us consulted one of the popular astrologers of the locality Mr.Murukasamy. After listening to me, the elderly astrologer with a partially balding grey sunflower shaped bald head conducted a few astrological tests, calculations and prayers. With half open eyes under the sandal wood painted forehead, he declared emphatically, "You are fortunate to come at the right time to the right person. Within two days when the full moon appears on the eastern sky all the evil young spirits shall come out of their hiding locations and dance before you, because one of your young enemies has performed witch craft on you. The young ghosts shall suck your blood and grow younger, more powerful and energetic. The ghosts and evil spirits of all the young people who had unnatural and untimely deaths at the I.M.C. Hospital had migrated to the branches of the tree on the campus". He cautioned us further, "if you immediately do preventive measures with an animal sacrifice and special prayers, most of the bad effects could be eliminated and your life could be saved from the blood sucking ghosts". Horrified by the astrologer's words we agreed to the preventive measures to neutralize the bad effects of the witch craft carried out by my unknown enemy. When I casually mentioned that there was a half dried jasmine flower in my shirt pocket on reaching the hostel after the eye camp, he stared at me with retracted upper eye lids like a patient with Graves ' disease. He wanted me to bring the flower immediately. I rushed to the hostel and took it out from the pocket of the shirt kept for washing. When I handed over the flower he counted the petals of the flower and nodded his head like a detective getting an important clue from a murder site. The astrological procedure and puja (special Hindu worship for pleasing the God) including the animal sacrifice he would perform to save my life from the ghosts, should cost us Rs.1001. Besides this we had to spend half a day participating in the puja and a cock fowl sacrifice in front of an aggressive looking idol of a goddess kept in the poorly ventilated semi dark room with a lot of fumes from the burning incense. The half-naked black granite idol became more frightening in appearance when the astrologer directed the stream of blood spouting from the carotids of the cock fowl towards the idol's face. I later came to know that only the fresh blood was given to the goddess, and the flesh went to the kitchen of Mr. Murukasamy .With a sense of relief and satisfaction we left the astrologer's exclusive puja room.

On reaching the hospital residential quarters after the ceremony, we were ridiculed by many fellow doctors for such a foolish act. Our friend's cousin Rajah, who just finished his MBA from an American University, told that, trying to interpret a dream was a foolish and centuries old concept. He added that in this 20th century no sensible person should try to find explanations to what they had seen in a dream. He told that, in America people dream it and do it (realize it), that is what I should do. He added that it would be possible to realize any dream if we had the will power and willing ness to work hard to achieve the goal. Impressed by the budding management guru's advice I shifted my thoughts in that direction, but could not find a way out to realize or do the dream.

Two of my friends, Dr. Thomas and Dr. Ramankutty thought that the smart and intelligent army personnel who effectively defend our borders against our enemies should have some solution to help realize the dream. So we approached our common friend - retired Major Venugopal. This middle aged silver haired well-disciplined healthy soldier had been leading a section of the Indian army during the latest Indo Pakistan war. He happily welcomed us to his house and offered us a drink. We first listened to his often repeated battle field adventures for half an hour. He described in detail the process of the invasion, occupation and finally the liberation of Bangladesh, a bloody caesarian delivery of the new nation.

When we got a chance to speak; we gradually introduced our subject. By this time we had consumed a couple of drinks and were in a euphoric mood. He agreed to the concept that dreams should be realized, but on listening to the actual dream he became angry and told us that it was impossible. When we insisted on a bold and wise solution, he jokingly whispered in my ears, "to shoot down all the old, invalid and ugly men and women and go to hell". Obviously it was not an acceptable answer and we left his house with un- steady steps and heavy hearts.

On our way back from Major.Venugopal's house we met our politician friend and our elected representative in the city council, Mr. Palaniappan. He offered us all the help and advised us to approach his mentor, a powerful politician in the government, Mr.Kuppusamy. He accompanied us to meet his mentor and political adviser. We were well received in his official residence. After a welcome cup of tea, the receptionist, a smart young lady in pink silk sari started the conversation in Tamil mixed with English. She told us that since we had come to get a beautiful dream realized, it would be nice to start with a donation for a good cause. She gave us a booklet on a charitable society rehabilitating mentally retarded children, with photo graphs of a happily smiling Kuppusamy with the mentally challenged children. The minimum donation she was expecting was Rs.10000.She explained that the donor would get an income tax benefit under section 80G. We neither had that much money with us nor did we need any income tax relief since we did not have any taxable income. We politely expressed our in ability to pay. Immediately she replied with a smile, 'you need not pay now; you only need to promise. We shall collect it later when you have the money'. When we had hardly nodded the head in reply to it, she gave us an advance receipt for the donation of Rs. 10000.While receiving the unexpected receipt I looked at the name plate hanging from her neck. She was Ms. Rita Arumukan, a familiar name among the local party workers. She took us to the office room of the mentor. It was a large air conditioned room with wall to wall carpeting and comfortable cushioned chairs. There was a specially decorated chair for the minister with a garlanded statue of the chief minister behind it. The party newspaper and several magazines were kept in one corner. After about half an hour, the minister, a middle aged gentle man in pure white dothy and shirt, entered the room through another door with two assistants and an armed body guard in police uniform. He politely greeted us to his office and thanked us for our generosity and interest in the welfare of mentally retarded children! When we narrated the dream and expressed our desire to do the dream, he kept silent for a moment and wrinkled his forehead decorated with saffron and sandal wood cream. He told us that he would be making arrangements to realize my dream with the help of government. When we left the house after listening to a vague promise and an advance receipt for Rs. 10000 compulsorily issued to us, I expressed my unhappiness over the incident to our councilor Palaniappan. He reassured that his mentor would never cheat and once you made your payment, he would solve all our problems. We knew that since we have accepted the advance receipt we were trapped and had no other choice but to pay (or else face the consequence of a political vengeance). After the payment was made, the mentor called us to explain his method of realizing the dream. He told us that the date of birth of all people above 25 could be corrected to be made below 25 and if it gets detected it can be regularized by an executive order of the cabinet. He added that once this was done everybody should be below 25 years as per government records. I was not at all astonished at these political tricks to make people young, since our politicians were capable of doing anything.

I decided to remain silent and inactive about the dream, because it had cost me a lot of money, time and energy, and nothing positive had materialized. After several years of busy practice, when I got some leisure time to think, this old dream regurgitated itself from the store house of my mind mocking at me for my inability to realize it.

Persons of Indian Administrative Service (IAS, the symbol of Indian bureaucracy) were considered to be the top intelligent and efficient group of people governing this complex multicultural, multi linguistic, multi religious and democratic country. I happened to treat a patient from this category, Mr.G.V. Menon. Mr.Menon was a brilliant young secretary with excellent academic performance as a student. This gentleman with a frontal baldness typically seen in the intellectuals was an outstanding student who scored very high marks and grades in all the university or board examinations throughout his student career, many a times with first or second rank. At this time he was the secretary to a popular minister who in spite of repeated attempts could not pass the secondary school leaving examination due to his busy political engagements in 'serving' the people of Kerala, especially the student community. When my acquaintance with Mr. Menon progressed beyond a patient doctor relationship to a good friendship, we discussed various personal issues. When I asked him how he was able to work under a relatively uneducated person, his answer was very practical. He told that in a democracy this situation was very common. He cited the examples in USA where a school dropout could become a multibillionaire. In India a school dropout does not just become a multibillionaire but the founder & chancellor of a university as well. Besides this in certain situations he/she might be worshiped as God. In democracy it is assumed that the majority is always right and they make all the decisions, and minority is always wrong and cannot make any decision. In the past, in the 'cradle of civilization & democracy', when the majority believed that the earth was flat, a citizen claimed that it was spherical; he was promptly put in the prison to prevent the brains of the majority getting poisoned by his eccentric teachings and foolish thoughts! He concluded that, hence in our democratic India, his working and executing the orders of a conventionally uneducated people's representative was historically, politically, legally, socially, and ethically correct and acceptable. He also added that learning was not exclusively within the four walls of big institutions and neither was examination the exclusive method to assess the knowledge. We had several examples of underperforming university rank holders and over performing 3rd class students in various professions. It is essential to accept the views of the democratically elected people's representatives for the smooth functioning of democracy and an obedient government servant is duty bound to do it. He slightly modified the conventional definition of democracy as 'Functional democracy is majority rule for and by the members and leaders of majority party!' Being such a down to earth practical man, I sought his help to make my dream a reality. He readily agreed to help me realize my dream without knowing what it was. But later, after I explained my dream, there was no contact between us for several months. Then over the phone he told me that, if dreams had unwanted consequences one should not attempt to realize them. He pointed out that this dream had the unwanted consequence of creating a child less, and grandparents less society, with full of emotionally immature young people only. He cautioned "it is dangerous to have a society without the innocent smiles of infants and the wisdom and care of grandparents. They are the two ends of the colorful life spectrum. Do not attempt to create a rainbow without the colors violet and red. Already the Chinese had a society without uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, and cousins when the one child norm was implemented. They were experiencing a lot of emotional problems and loneliness." He argued that all men/women should take the role of a son/daughter, brother/sister, and brother in law/sister in-law, uncle/aunt, father/mother, grandfather/grandmother and if possible great grandparents with the passage of time.

I appreciated his views, and was impressed by his arguments against my proposals; but as a person dealing with diseases and sufferings of old age, I could not accept all his arguments at their face value. In spite of few bad effects I felt that elimination of old age was good for the society. We continue to use cars, aero planes, mobile phones, atomic energy, etc. and appreciate the benefits of these inventions. We upgrade and modify them according to our requirements. In spite of a few bad effects including several deaths from the use of these modern products, we use them in our day to day life. Many safety features were added later to reduce the harmful effects. For example, ABS, seat belt and air bags were added to automobiles after the successful use of automobiles for hundreds of years and yet, several thousands of people get killed or seriously injured in automobile accidents. Similarly, in medical science we save many lives with the use of antibiotics and corticosteroids in spite of their side effects. We do surgeries and use radioactive rays for examination and treatment of patients in spite of their occasional fatal outcome.

I decided to pursue my dream and sought the help of one of our senior colleagues in medical profession; Padmasree Dr.Ashok Raja ('Padmasree' is the lowest Padma decoration given by the government for outstanding Indian citizens with great achievements and Dr.Ashok Raja was decorated with the Padmasree by the president of India for performing more than 1000 organ transplantations!). He was a middle aged, average built, partially grey haired, well dressed and smiling brilliant cardiac surgeon performing frequent heart transplants in our hospital. He told that by repeated multi organ transplant one can remain young and energetic. He recommended multiple organ transplants for every old person. He invited me to join him in his efforts for developing a 'multi organ farm' where stem cell cultured organs, including eyes shall be grown. He added that when this organ farm starts functioning he shall be able to supply to transplant surgeons different types of tailor made organs matched to each and every patient. Once sufficient number of matched organs were made freely available by using own stem cell culture technique the main hindrances in organ transplantation could be eliminated. I was impressed by the words of my colleague, basically a thoracic surgeon doing heart transplantation. There were certain delicate issues in heart transplantation. Often patients think that the soul is lodged in the heart of each person and nobody wants soul transplantation along with heart! I asked him how he handled this issue. He smiled and told "the physiologically dead donor's soul had already left the heart so his/her soul could not accompany the heart to the recipient. The recipient's soul hides in the blood passing through the heart the moment human hand touches the heart. Hence when I remove the diseased heart with my hands the soul shall not accompany the diseased heart. The soul returns to the heart from the blood only after ensuring that human hands are no more in contact with the heart". After narrating his explanation of tackling the soul problem of his patient he winked his eye. He added "it is dangerous to change centuries old concepts and faith while a man is seriously ill and praying for divine help to save himself from the clutches of death. There are occasions in life when the vocal music has to be tuned to the existing back ground tunes." Later I came to know that this was how he briefed and convinced the anxious recipients and their relatives for heart transplantation. When my brother had his severely diseased heart replaced by an eighteen years old ladies heart his wife had many doubts. But all such silly doubts disappeared when he had good marital relationship with the ladies' heart deep in his chest.

Dr. Ashok Raj's multiple organ transplant technique to prevent old age was also not as per my desire and concept of realizing my dream, primarily because it was a procedure to cure the old age diseases in part by part rather than to prevent the old age. Hence it shall be extremely expensive, time consuming and will need highly skilled manpower. Besides this, tackling the aged brain by transplantation can lead to several new problems. Since this multiple organs transplant method of Dr. Ashok Raj also was not an effective and practical solution to create a society of only young people, I turned to the spiritual ways to fulfill the dream.

When I attended the church service on the following Sunday, after the service, I had the opportunity to interact with the young priest Rev. Fr. George Perumal. Fr. George was a very handsome, tall, young priest popular with devotees and was instrumental in popularizing the church and the local saint taking eternal rest in the church. He invited me to his room in the church and we discussed the dream. It was a large cool room in the first floor of the church office building. A large grey sealing fan was hanging from the center of the wooden roof and many old wooden chairs were arranged close to the four walls decorated with the biblical paintings and photographs of the patron saint. The room was well ventilated with large windows on all the four sides. The horizontal steel bars of the windows were welded and fortified with steel crosses, a physical and spiritual protection from thieves and intruders. There were several book shelves and two steel almirahs. Since there were no other people in that large room we could discuss the dream privately. He described in detail several instances of God answering prayers of believing members of his parish. He told that several patients with incurable diseases like cancer were cured by prayers in the church. He added that many childless couples were blessed with children after kneeling and praying with tears at the tomb of the saint in the church. He described in detail several instances of the believers getting lucrative employment abroad following prayers in front of the patron saint's tomb. He ascertained that due to the divine presence of the saint in the church all these difficult prayers were answered to the satisfaction of the devotees. The benefactors were contributing in cash and kind and their donations were utilized for construction and maintenance of two old age homes and an orphanage, besides routine development works in the church parish hall. When I described my dream and wishes he smiled and assured me that God Almighty should help me if I whole heartedly prayed in this church. He advised me to abstain from all non-vegetarian food for 3 days continuously, and pray 5 times daily to God Almighty kneeling in front of the tomb of the patron saint in the church to shower blessings and assistance to realize the dream. I did it religiously for 3 days with a lighted candle in my left hand as per his advice, but nothing happened. When I told this to the priest on next Sunday, he explained "God's will is that, man should work hard, have children, help the weak and poor, grow old gracefully giving guidance and advice to the young and die with dignity and faith in God so that his soul might enter the heaven for eternal peace and happiness". He added that it was very unlikely that my prayer to eliminate old age would be granted because old age was essential in one's life and he pitied those who could not reach a ripe old age. He advised me not to waste my valuable time and money on such eccentric ideas. While stepping down from the church, I thought that perhaps the church and the priest wanted their old age homes and orphanages to continue to serve and influence the people of the locality. The priest shall continue to conduct Mass services for the souls of the dead, on behalf of the faithful relatives of the dead.

Thoroughly disappointed but not depressed, I turned to nature to realize the dream. The most practical way to see nature without going to the rain forest is by watching the National Geographic and Discovery Channels on the television. They often show hunts by the big cats and crocodiles in the tropical forests and on marshy land, respectively to catch preys. I noticed that in the forest only the healthy and young can survive; others are either eaten up or die due to starvation. Often a failure to run fast enough means death. Only pet domestic animals and caged animals in the zoo become old. Recently one lion in our state capital zoo developed senile cataract and became blind. My friend Dr. Anantha Swamy performed cataract surgery successfully on the lion's eye after a sincere prayer to Lord Ananthapadmanabha that the lion should not wake up during the procedure and he should be able to complete the surgery with in the stipulated time. We know that the lions in the forest never become blind due to senile cataract, neither have they undergone cataract surgery. Nature wants only the young and healthy to survive, while man has distorted and skewed this nature's principle. A partially sighted lion due to early cataract in the forest shall die due to starvation because of its inability to recognize its prey from a distance and capture it. Hence we would not see a blind lion with cataract in the forest, where as a lion in the zoo or in the circus tent could become old with all the diseases of the old age.

Having got a clue from nature regarding avoidance of old age I decided to proceed further in that direction. I thought that the local naturopathy institute shall help me to evolve an environment friendly method to realize my dream. I went to the Trinity institute of naturopathy and met the director Rev. Fr. Kuriakose Kuruvikootil. Fr. Kuruvikootil was a short dark complexioned middle aged priest with a silver lined black beard. He wore a Christian priest's white robe, a black cap and a silver chain around his neck with a prominent wooden cross hanging from the chain. He was very happy to receive me and thought that I had come to get some naturopathy treatment for my disease. He gave me a welcome drink made out of medicinal herbs and banana plant stem juice. He put forward several criticisms against the allopathic medicine and surgery. He accused that allopathic doctors inject unwanted chemicals to the body and exposes the body to dangerous radiation. He also expressed his unhappiness in doing unwanted surgeries on the body for removal and destruction of many vital organs. He alleged that this was the cause for the weak and unhealthy population in our country. Unfortunately the government supports all these nonsense by allopathic doctors. He assured me that he shall cure all my diseases if I abstain from the unnatural inorganic food and all unnatural activities. Then I told him that I had come not for treatment of any disease but for guidance on doing my dream. I described my dream and sought his help to realize it. After thinking for some time he told that it is an unnatural dream and one should not bother even if one could not do such dreams. When I told him that in the thick tropical forest, the most natural place, everything is young, he explained 'it is because there is nobody to treat the diseased and injured animals in the forest and they die early without treatment of their diseases'. He added 'naturopathy is neither aiming to follow the rules of forest nor to achieve immortality'. He entrusted his secretary Mr. Varghese, a young enthusiastic employee to show the naturopathy institute so that I shall have a better understanding of Naturopathy in the institute.

His institute is an eleven acres plot at different levels in the slope of a beautiful small hill with boundary walls constructed from granite stone. There is paddy cultivation on the lowest level of the plot and a few coconut, mango and jack fruit trees at the other areas. There were various other fruit trees and a good vegetable garden around the main building. Mr. Varghese took me first to the garden of herbal medicinal plants and described the medicinal value of each plant. He added that none of the medicines had any side effects unlike allopathic medicines. He also added that they are using only organic manure and organic pesticides in this institute. I realized that there was no medicinal plant which could keep men and women at a young age as years pass on. I was shown some plants which the imamates consume regularly to reduce the bad effects of ageing and prolong life expectancy possibly up to one hundred years. He added that the inmates use only food and medicines grown by organic farming in the institute. They also practice yoga regularly.

Mr. Varghese took me to the dairy farm section of the institute where several cows and buffalos were lodged. There was a compost pit to make organic manure out of the urine and droppings of the animals for the farm. They also make cooking gas from the cow dung. After listening to the secretary I too started feeling that anything organic was good and any inorganic chemical was bad. He said that the cows and buffalos were fed with grass and organic cattle feed processed in the campus so that the milk will be organic. He said that they sell milk after their internal consumption to outside clients at 50% premium to the market value of ordinary milk. He also took me to the fish culture ponds and the vegetable garden. All were organic cultivations. He also told that people were well conscious about the benefits of organic cultivated food and paid good premium to the products when ever sold out side.

When I finished the guided tour of the institute with the organic champion Mr. Varghese I came back to the office of the director. He told me that I can rejuvenate myself if I cover the body with the medicinal quality clay in the specific area of the institute. He added "Man was made of mud and he has to go back to mud today or tomorrow. Hence immortality is out of question. You can certainly extend your youthful period by proper use of appropriate mud cover of the body on a regular basis". I tried his organic clay cover of the body for few hours. I could not find any method other than a combination of organic low calorie diet, exercise and mud bath to remain young in the naturopathy institute. While on the clay cover treatment at his naturopathy farm, my thoughts explored the organic substances we use at home namely tea and coffee which were prohibited here. Other organic intoxicating substances like fermented alcoholic drinks, tobacco, ganja, poppy seeds, etc. were also banned in the institute. So I understood that all organic materials were not acceptable to the institute. I also found that they use sodium chloride an inorganic salt in the kitchen as well as on the dining table. I was little bit confused about the organic farming and the concept of organic diet. There seems to be a different meaning for 'organic' in this institute. I spent one whole day listening to the priest cum physician and discussing various naturopathic possibilities of achieving my goal. I was careful not to do anything unnatural and inorganic which offended the priest in charge. I closed my session with the naturopathy priests in the afternoon with a prayer to God almighty in the chapel to bless me with a good solution to do my dream.

Before leaving I asked the priest "which Christian denomination you belong to?" He was a bit annoyed to the question and told "The denomination of Jesus Christ; there is no bishop, no cardinal, no patriarch and no pope between me and the Christ" Later I came to know that this was a rebel Christian priest who left the original Christian apostolic church and does his naturopathy business on a religious make up.

The next day; while working in the lab, I had a peep at the organisms under the microscope. It was a fascinating world of unicellular organisms. The life cycle and living condition were found to be interestingly identical as in the forest! When the bacteria and amoeba matured they divided into two young bacteria or amoebas. There were no senile bacteria or very old amoeba anywhere!

My thoughts started flowing "out of the box". As per the theory of biological evolution man had evolved from unicellular organism like amoeba. If we could follow the reproductive process of amoeba (binary fission) in humans, we could also remain young, healthy and energetic without the pains of death and the old age. I realized that the right way for realizing my dream was lying under the microscope. If one observed carefully, the foot prints of amoebic genes could be seen in humans. In the uterus when identical twins were formed binary fission was occurring! Mitosis and binary fission are similar biological processes and as humans grow up and mature the control on mitosis is reduced as evidenced by the rogue cell formation. This leads to the occurrence of various types of cancers. Is this reduction on control of mitosis on advancing age due to the inheritance of some of the binary fission genes from amoeba? It may be considered, that cancers are aborted attempts of binary fission in a matured human, due to the amoebic heritage. (1)

Today gene therapy is not at all an unknown therapeutic method to medical science. Many genetic diseases are being treated by gene therapy. Scientists are creating transgenic animals. Even transgenic marmosets (non-human primate animal) were created by germ line transfer of genes (2). When we can create a multi cellular organism with binary fission genes, that day will be the beginning of a new era of creating a world of young men and women only! A world without any geriatric disease! When this is achieved I shall be able to see the dream being realized. Let us hope that my mission 'youth for ever' will be within our reach. I invite everybody concerned about old age sufferings to join me in my effort to realize my dream (3).I feel that the time is ripe now to dream about youth forever, and ask why not immortality in a binary fission way?

N.B.

*An eye camp is a temporary eye treatment facility provided at the remote villages in India. It is often arranged in a school, a community hall or in a primary health center in the village. The eye camps are conducted by doctors and staff from nearby eye hospitals during weekends in collaboration with local organizers. Most of the eye camps are with surgical facilities for cataract removal and some of them with facilities only for non-surgical treatment of eye diseases. Recently the number of surgical eye camps has been reduced and patients are brought to the base hospital for surgery using surgical microscopes in the regular hospital operating room to avoid many surgical complications. Often all medical treatment, surgical treatment and spectacles are given free of cost to the old poor helpless villagers. Those who get admitted in the make shift hospital for surgery get the food also free of cost. The whole process is financed by the government and non-governmental voluntary organizations from India and abroad. The services of eye doctors and nurses are often voluntary and not paid for.

# Rebel Christian priests are not uncommon in Kerala with different types of Christian churches. Some of the apostolic churches claim to be fairly old and believed to be started by St. Thomas himself and maintain a Syrian identity. Besides this there are churches established by the invading European Christians. Almost 30% of the population of this small strip of land between the western mountains and the Arabian Sea in the south west corner of the peninsular India is Christians. Rebellion occurs among priests in groups or in isolation because the people have independent thinking and often question the authority. When the rebellion is in groups they form another church organization. When it is in isolation some of them throw away the priestly robe and become a part of the general population of Christians while another group continues as a priest with their own private set up of prayer and other socio religious activities.

References:

  1. Ittyerah Tholath Peter. Is there an alternative process to aging and death? .J.Am.Geriatr.Soc.2010.vol.58.no.1 p187

  2. Sasaki.F, Suemizu.H, Shimada.A. et al. Generation of transgenic nonhuman primates with germ line transmission.Nature.2009.Vol.459.p523-525.

  3. Ittyerah, T.P. International society for eternal youthful life; Kerala journal of ophthalmology.2009, March .p113to114.

NOTE: The names of individuals, places, institutions and dates are imaginary, and there is no Indian medical college. Any similarity if observed to somebody or to some institution, it is only accidental & unintentional. Please pardon me.

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## 2

IMPACT OF REALIZING THE DREAM

### "The typical eye sees the ten percent bad of an idea and overlooks the ninety percent good."

### Charles F Kettering

Health systems

When a matured human starts to divide into two young individuals (binary fission) instead of growing old, perhaps the greatest impact shall be felt in the health system. If people stop practicing conventional sexual reproduction and indulge in sex only for pleasure there is no child birth. Many diseases will disappear from the text books of medicine because the bulk of the diseases are due to old age and child birth. The sub specialties like geriatrics, neonatology, obstetrics etc. shall have little relevance in the changed situation. Even in other specialties of medicine many diseases get eliminated. Senile cataract, presbyopia, and age related macular degeneration are the few in Ophthalmology that get eliminated. In Plastic surgery the bulk of cosmetic surgeries are performed for correction of age related deformities and to make people look younger. The face lift, brow lift, breast modification surgeries etc. shall be reduced very much. In General medicine strokes, heart attacks, hypertension, diabetes etc. shall be reduced to one tenth of the present number. In Rheumatology many rheumatic problems are age related and elderly patients seeking medical care for Osteo arthritis, muscular and facial pains etc. should be reduced considerably. In Urology the benign enlargement of prostate & prostate cancers shall reduce to almost nil. In Psychiatry senile dementia and Alzimer's disease shall disappear. In Orthopedics Osteoporosis related to age and fractures due to Osteoporosis shall be eliminated. Joint diseases due to wear and tear shall be reducing considerably. At the same time accidents and fractures shall increase due to a highly active young population. In Otorhinolaryngology the deafness due to old age shall be eliminated. In neurology all age related degenerations of nervous tissue causing diseases like Parkinsonism can be eliminated. In General surgery the number of hernias and piles shall reduce because they are seen more in elderly population. In dentistry there will be less number of artificial dentures, because of fewer older people. Since the young generation is more beauty conscious, cosmetic dentistry work shall increase

In Oncology number of patients shall be reduced to less than ten percent because most of the cancers are seen in elderly persons. The reasons for cancer development are vague and ill understood. Anything which irritates and damages tissues can lead to cancer formation, like the use of tobacco, alcohol, ingestion of harmful dyes, virus infection, chronic non healing ulcers, radiation etc. This shows that cancer development occurs when there is a threat to the human cells and tissue and ultimately to life itself. It is a nature's unsuccessful attempt to reduce sufferings and save life from the toxic threat and wear and tear of the body by doing binary fission (In cancer excessive uncontrolled mitosis starts occurring in the affected tissue).But unfortunately the net result of the failed binary fission is just the opposite of the nature's intention. Many a times in nature failure means death. This is a biological error leading to disaster; like an abnormally large very healthy infant in the womb leading to the death of mother and child during the process of delivery if the pelvis is small. If we help nature by doing a timely caesarian section and deliver the child, both the mother and child are saved. Similarly once we help nature for a perfect binary fission by genetic interference, instead of the occurrence of cancer, binary fission shall occur. The binary fission genes may be replacing the cancer genes. The dreaded disease cancer shall be completely eliminated!

Indirect effect on health is also very significant. The prescription and consumption of medicines shall be reduced more than fifty percent. The medical manufacturers output of medicines will have to be reduced by almost half with several products losing their relevance in the changed situation- a world with healthy young adults. Since many surgeries are either eliminated or postponed, the need for surgical equipment will reduce as well as the need for prosthesis, implants and suture materials of various types. The use of Intra ocular lens implant for cataract surgery, and knee implants for damaged knee joints shall reduce to less than ten percent. In the department of Physical medicine also elderly patients are much more than the young ones. There shall be excess manpower in the medical profession and the drug industry. It is possible that many hospital beds may lie vacant as many of the occupants are elderly persons today. The health expenses of the country and state shall be reduced by more than half.

Production and use of cosmetics, medicines for rejuvenation and other accessories to improve appearance and to appear young shall also reduce.

The other side of the coin is also interesting. When binary fission is introduced artificially by genetic manipulation there could be many defects in the process especially in the early period. These teething troubles may take several years to get corrected. There could be identical defects in both the products of binary fission or it could be only in one of the products of binary fission. It is also possible that the binary fission process may be incomplete giving rise to unusual medical problems like un-separated twins. It may be assumed that the binary fission process may be preceded by a gestational or an incubation period of no external activity, but full of internal activity, like a worm in the pupa before transformation to a butterfly. Unlike in unicellular organisms, in multi cellular organisms the process involves different types of tissues in hundreds of small and large organs with trillions of cells. All the energy stored in the fat stored prior to the event shall be used for the transformation process. We know that by middle age the middle part of body gets a lot of fat accumulated. Perhaps this is intended for utilization during the externally inactive and internally active binary fission period. We know that obesity is one of the risk factor for cancer, the aborted binary fission. This is perhaps the nature's way of handling middle age obesity! If the process of binary fission is disturbed externally or internally, one can expect serious defects in the binary fission products. To tackle all these new medical problems, new methodologies will have to be developed. We may need a specialized group of physicians and surgeons to prevent and rectify the unwanted binary fission defects and errors. Besides this the psychological impact of dividing a matured human to two remains beyond imagination. A new sub specialty of medicine to deal with binary fission defects and problems shall evolve simultaneously.

With the bulk of the population consisting of young emotionally immature persons there is a lot of chance for quarrels, and unhealthy competitions leading to fights and injuries. When the heads of the states or countries are young and inexperienced there is a smaller chance for diplomatic solution to the international problems and more chance for big & small bloody conflicts and battles. Each battle front shall have many dead and many more injured needing the attention of medical persons. Besides this, the adventurous young people often get engaged in risky activities. This could lead to a lot of accidents in day to day life. In other words patients with injuries and trauma shall dominate the hospital attendance. The number of patients with acute health problems shall occupy majority of beds since now most of the chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and various types of cancers are predominantly seen in elderly persons. Since the population is young, and sexually very active, venereal diseases may increase especially with the less fear of sins and God. The occupancy pattern in the hospitals shall change. The old age patients with chronic geriatric diseases shall gradually get replaced by young persons with acute diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, injuries, and complications of trauma. Organ transplantation patients like kidney transplant & liver transplant shall have better chance of survival, because of easy availability of very closely matched identical twins like donors. We may be able to eliminate the prolonged use of immunosuppressive medicines in the post-operative period following organ transplant. It might be possible to transplant organs and transfuse blood without cross matching if the donor is an identical person like an identical twin.

Religion

Gods and religions evolved in the prehistoric time, out of fear, ignorance, illusions, hallucinations and imaginations regarding the important events in nature like, lightning, rain, floods, cyclones, earth quakes, eruption of volcanoes, eclipses, etc. Similarly, events in the family or clan influenced the religious thoughts, teachings and rituals. Among such events birth, death, marriage, serious diseases, epidemics, wild animal attacks were the prominent events and many prayers, customs and rituals were linked to them.

Most of the refined religions (both single God faith and multiple Gods faith) existing today promise great life to the soul in heaven after death to faithful followers of the religion. In another words death and life after death are two essential components on which the faiths of religions are built.

Any attempt to by-pass death, by way of binary fission, shall be severely criticized by the priest; because once a man escapes from death many cardinal principles of religion shall be questioned. Besides this, birth and death are believed to be the domain of God. The church objects not only the practice of different birth control techniques to avoid unwanted pregnancy but also the practice of modern fertility techniques by childless couples for creation of test tube babies. Similarly artificial insemination also was objected to by priests because it was considered to be interference in divine activity. The priests of most of the religions often say that a child was a gift of God. But when the priest's unmarried daughter or sister gets a 'divine gift' the whole family becomes unhappy and would like to get rid of the gift of God to avoid disgrace to the family due to the stringent social norms! As and when more and more people understand the physiological reality of life and death the priestly strategy also shall change. As it stands today we can see that the objections from priests have faded away when members of the community started ignoring the advice of priests and practiced birth control measures in the privacy of their bed rooms.

There are several religious groups objecting even to medical therapy for diseases of humans in total, because disease development is considered to be as a part of God's will. Similarly according to Bible, women are punished by God to deliver infant with labor pain throughout their lifetime, because of the sin committed by Eve in Aden garden. These religious groups prayed to God Almighty, and believed firmly that nothing else was needed to cure the diseases or a safe delivery of infant by a pregnant woman. They refused to accept any form of medical help. Certain other groups objected to only some of the specific therapy like blood transfusion, organ transplantation, anti-venom administration for snake bite etc. It is interesting that while one religious group worship snake other religious group wants to smash the head of snakes. But all these religious objections to medical help and unwanted restrictions and regulations gradually faded off when people started enjoying the benefits of modern developments in medical science and accepted the medical and surgical procedures for their physical well-being and relief of pain and sufferings. They also accepted different treatment methods for postponement of death by adopting all forms of medical and surgical treatment available, including transplantation of heart, the traditional dwelling place of soul! Sick persons in distress happily accept the transplantation of the healthy young organs of even hard core criminals hanged in the jail. Similarly, as and when this new proposed medical technique (binary fission) to avoid old age miseries is appreciated and practiced by the large number of people, the religious objections shall fade off gradually and necessary modifications shall be made in the religious principles. Once binary fission of humans is accomplished and accepted by faithful followers , perhaps the religions shall give more emphasis on divine principles like, 'loving one's enemy, to do one's duty, practice a moral code of conduct', etc. There shall be more enthusiasm to do social work, to develop service institutions for education, health care etc. The religious heads shall understand that such institutions can exert more influence on the society than the fear of hell after death. Over all there could be less talk about soul, heaven, hell, re birth and life after death. More and more people shall recognize soul as a part of the mysterious human mind guiding the thoughts and deeds through an ethical frame work, and not a winged invisible entity flying away from the dead person. They shall also understand that soul and mind cannot exist without the brain (the hard ware in the human computer). But old concepts might continue to exist in many pockets in India because of the deep seated Hindu philosophy in the minds of majority people, attaching much more importance to soul and considering body only as a dress of the soul. Most of the believing Hindus remember the mythological story of Thrisanku. He loved his body very much and his soul tried to enter heaven with the body. But the Gods were willing to take only the soul of Thrisanku to the heaven and he was pushed down from the entrance of heaven. Hence no soul shall attempt to enter heaven with the body to avoid what has happened to Thrisanku. Religious people might find it difficult to accept the fact that soul has no independent existence without the mind and body. More than 75% of Indians shall continue to have faith in God and believe that soul, ghost, devil, and demons exist even after achieving binary fission of humans.

One of the major tragedies of present time is religious terrorism. Many religious terrorists do terrorist activity and happily accept suicide missions hoping to send their soul to heaven after accomplishing their mission of religious murders religiously. This dangerous concept may not be easily accepted by the new trainees in terrorism after the successful introduction of binary fission in humans to bypass death. Perhaps fundamentalism in religion can be reduced to a great extend once people understand that by adopting scientific methods they can bypass death and their souls can escape from the hell rewarded for refusing to dance to the tunes of fanatic religious leaders and priests!

We know that the young generation has less faith in God and religion than the elderly persons. By eliminating old age persons, (the strong blind believing groups), the attendance in churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, etc. shall come down. Besides this, if a binary fission capable priest becomes the head of the religious organization, there could be lot of confusion regarding inheritance of money and power in the religious group. It is possible that the juniors may never get a chance to go up in the ladder. This may result in unhappiness leading to quarrels often leading to split of the autocratic organization due to the power politics.

The elimination of natural death and transformation of one individual into two might raise many questions about faith not only in God but also in devil and ghosts. Hence devil worshiping antichrist groups also shall reduce once people start enjoying the benefits of binary fission and death control. The concept of souls becoming ghost or entering another body for rebirth or going to hell or heaven shall be no more acceptable to a good number of intelligent and independently thinking persons.

More and more people shall understand that God and devil are with in every person. They will also realize that God and devil are the pet names given to an individual's good thoughts and deeds as well as bad thoughts and deeds respectively by the theology teachers. When somebody is full of good thoughts he/she shall be called son/daughter of God and when somebody harbor bad and criminal thoughts he/she shall be called son/daughter of devil.

Society

Nuclear family is the basic unit of the present day society. It consists of father, mother, and children. Nuclear family system evolved due to the defects in joint family system and bad effects of polygamy and polyandry. The increasing number of divorces in nuclear families, even in conservative societies in India, exposes the weakness in nuclear family system. The unhappy partners want separation after few months of family life. Many divorces are unhappy even after divorce and commit suicides. Besides this the increasing number of single parent families and gay marriages are also occurring even in conservative societies in India. These are indications of the fatigue of nuclear family system. In another words the society is ripe to experiment on a new social order.

When binary fission becomes possible in humans the father and mother concept shall disappear. There will be only identical persons of similar appearance, with equal importance in the group. Seniors and juniors are possible. A senior on binary fission becomes junior and a junior on maturity becomes senior. It is possible that parallel sexual reproduction may also continue and there shall be a few conventional family units, mixed with the binary fission and identical members of the family.

Even though Jesus Christ taught us to love our enemies humans including Christians continue to love only their blood relatives, like children, parents, and siblings. This is because they have 50% of ones DNA. When binary fission occurs there will be persons with 100% of ones DNA. Hence one can expect that there could be intense love between these binary fission products. But in reality it may not exist because there may be many such binary fission products with identical DNA. New terminologies corresponding to the new types of relations and relatives have to evolve, like binary fission twins, binary fission products of father or mother, husband etc. New social norms shall evolve and fresh regulations shall be created. Important social events like marriage, child birth, baptism etc. shall reduce and even disappear from the society.

A father less mother less family of identical humans shall prevail. Already the one child norm in China has resulted in a society which had lost, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, cousin etc. The new binary fission society shall loose father and mother also, but identical twin brothers and sisters shall be abundantly present. So long as there is pleasure in sex, and opposite sexes attract husband and wife shall be there, but often without children. When either the husband or the wife under goes binary fission the relationship stops. The physical and emotional maturity of the products of binary fission may be too less to live as husband and wife. The emotional relationship between members of the family could be quite different from the present day nuclear families. It shall have more similarity to a joint family system of India; the Hindu undivided family. Perhaps one of the senior members shall be the head of the family. When he or she undergoes binary fission the next senior person shall take the charge. Often there could be two equally senior persons. This shall lead to a sort of rotation of the head of the family position. The influence of religion on the society shall reduce considerably. Since the fear of God and fear of life after death in the hell will reduce, the criminal tendencies shall increase. The number of murders & other crimes shall shoot up unless there is a very effective state machinery to tackle the situation and perhaps more severe or more scientific forms of punishments may be required to effectively control the criminality of the young society.

Humans have an in built emotion of compassion and a tendency to share wealth and fortunes not only with the less fortunate ones in society but also with animals and pets. It is being done at individual levels and in groups with the formation of special purpose charitable societies. Most of the charitable societies are functioning in order to help the unhealthy, blind or physically handicapped persons. Some of the popular charitable societies are to help the aged persons exclusively. When the aged persons totally disappear as a result of binary fission there is no relevance for the existence of many such charitable societies. Similarly charitable society for conducting orphanages also disappear because binary fission leads to father less and mother less society. In that sense when all are 'orphans' there is no need for a special purpose society to take care of the orphans.

The process of binary fission in unicellular organism occurs very quickly within few hours since there is only one cell involved. In humans, when binary fission occurs, millions of cells are involved in a more complex way with duplication of different sophisticated organs. Naturally the process of binary fission shall take more time; perhaps as much time as required to transform a zygote to an infant in the uterus. During this processing time, the human could be in a hibernation stage like a worm in pupa before the formation of a butterfly. The fat accumulated before binary fission could supply with the required energy during hibernation in a 'pupa'. Humans have to make special arrangement for pupa formation just like the husband and mother of a pregnant woman make arrangements or the pregnancy and delivery of the infant. A binary fission or gestational period leave, identical to the maternity leave of ladies shall be in practice as soon as the early the signs of binary fission appear in both the sexes!

Education

The school education starts traditionally at the age of 3 with kinder garden. This is only possible if there are three year old children. The age of the binary fission product remains unknown. Since we speculate, as there is a division to equal halves, we assume the physical mass will be just half. Does that mean the age will be half? Does that mean that the product of binary fission shall have half the knowledge of the undivided person? If this is true will the binary fission products of a highly educated person start the studies from the high school or college level? In that case the knowledge can be built up fast from a higher level and building up can go up further high since the starting point is much higher. Same may be true regarding skills also. If the pre binary fission human knows cycling the two divided products of binary fission also may be able to cycle down the streets, perhaps in a smaller cycle? Even if this is not possible they may be able to learn the skill with less effort.

These changes in the capabilities of the new generation students shall lead to appropriate changes in the teachers and teaching process. Perhaps the capacity of human brain may be enhanced in this process of binary fission. It is well known that the changes in the organism before binary fission are transmitted to the binary fission products. If a bacterium develops drug (antibiotic) resistance the binary fission products of the bacterium also shall have the capacity for drug resistance. So it can be speculated that any acquired capability (with genetic modification) of the human can be passed on to the products of binary fission. It means that the knowledge and skills of human race can be built up very fast. It is possible that when a scientist under goes binary fission, the products of binary fission can build over the knowledge already existing in their brains.

Population

When we say that humans multiply like bacteria or amoeba it shall create a false impression that population shall explode and soon it shall be more than what the earth can support. This is because the time taken for maturity in bacteria and amoeba may be few hours to one or two days and the cycle of binary fission is repeated every day. Whereas the time taken for humans to be matured enough is 20 to 40 years or more. We really do not know when the triggers for binary fission get stimulated. Cancer (the aborted attempt for binary fission) appears usually after sixties. The binary fission triggering time can be genetically tuned to get a control over the population. Hence binary fission gets repeated only after about fifty or sixty years. Perhaps we can manipulate the age of commencement of binary fission! So we can assume that population can double only after 60 years or more, provided there are no premature deaths due to incurable virus diseases, accidents, and natural or man-made calamities. The possibilities of the natural and unnatural calamities are increasing day by day. Besides this the uneven population distribution makes them more vulnerable to heavy loss of life. If a large epidemic of disease, a tsunami or a nuclear war occurs the numbers of deaths are unimaginable especially if it occurs in overcrowded areas. In fact more than fifty percentage of the population is living in the crowded cities of the world. If a contagious viral, bacterial or protozoa epidemic occurs, the spread of the disease shall be fast and loss of life shall be more than half of the city population depending upon the type of microorganism and the efficiency of the public health department in these crowded cities. The huge floating population and frequent long distance travelers enhance the spread of epidemics. Most of our crowded cities are at seashores and if the water level rises due to one of the several possibilities like tsunami, global warming, atomic explosion etc. millions of people shall be drowned and washed away with in few minutes. One can expect periodic elimination of a huge section of population in the near future due to various reasons.

The population being young and adventurous, taking risks with life shall be in their blood. The young population takes more risk in their work and life style; consequently accidental deaths shall be frequent. It is interesting to note that a young person takes more risk with life than an elderly person, even though the loss of 'life years' from life risk is more to the young than the old. This also shall affect the population growth and counter the effect of binary fission on population. Besides this every zygote may not undergo binary fission capability treatment (germ line transmission of binary fission genes) during their formative stage. It can be selectively and exclusively performed on zygotes with good genes only.

In conventional multiplication a couple (two persons) produce one to ten or more children; whereas in binary fission one cannot become more than two at maturity. In other words one can divide only to two at maturity; whereas sexual reproduction can start at teens and a couple can produce many children depending on their capability and attitude. Hence the fear of population explosion in binary fission is unwarranted. Besides this, one can expect that new population control methods shall evolve as and when binary fission is established on a regular basis in humans. When this primitive reproductive technique is tried in humans several unexpected situations may arise. Experts can analyze the effect of these diverse factors on population and take necessary action accordingly. We should realize that the birth control methods we now practice for population stabilization were evolved after thousands of years of uncontrolled sexual reproduction!

The population shall be mainly consisting of young persons, most of them capable of working in fields or factories. An economically productive population shall never be a burden to a nation if there is proper and effective management strategy and planning. There may not be any infants needing the attention of the mother or baby sitter. Same is also true about elderly persons. Old people above the age of sixty shall be very few; hence adults need not spend time to look after the old people at home, or to build and maintain old age homes.

In other words the binary fission mode of multiplication drastically reduces the dependent old age population and marginally increases the healthy young population. As per experts, advanced countries like Japan, Norway, Sweden etc. show negative population growth and they had calculated that if present trend continues the ageing Japanese population shall become extinct in one thousand years theoretically. This shall never occur when binary fission is achieved in humans.

Legal system

It is very difficult to visualize and predict the rights and responsibilities of the two identical persons evolved from one man or woman as a result of binary fission. Since they are the mirror images they may claim for his/her wealth and rewards; but shall not accept the liabilities and punishments of their precursor. It is essential to modify the criminal and civil law suitably to avoid confusion and fix responsibilities of binary fission products, perhaps treating them as single parent children. Similarly even though binary fission is not death, it is the end of a person's existence legally. Sufficient modifications have to be made in the constitution and criminal code of the country to deal with the changed situation. If binary fission date is considered the date of birth of the products of binary fission the age of maturity may be different from that of the children born out of sexual reproduction. One cannot speculate about the maturity, skills and capabilities of the binary fission products now. This has to be really experienced and analyzed before creating law regarding major status, voting rights etc. for the binary fission products.

Personal law has to be modified to deal with the situation of binary fission in one of the spouses. New identification methods has to be developed because there will be a lot of people looking like mirror images in appearance. Even the conventional identification marks like DNA, finger prints etc. may look alike. Identifying individuals shall be a real problem and will need very urgent and effective method for personal identification.

The pattern of inheritance of the wealth after binary fission has to be charted out .There could be new problems in dividing assets of persons undergoing binary fission since that particular person ceases to exist after binary fission. Will the two products (siblings) of binary fission get it or will the marriage partner get it? What are the rights of children of sexual reproduction which can occur simultaneously? New law and regulations have to be made to avoid confusion in dividing wealth of persons under going binary fission.

There could be violent crimes because of the young population. Criminal tendency shall increase due to lack of fear of God and stringent criminal laws should be effectively implemented. Prisons should not be a place with lot of comforts. It should be a hell on the earth especially for repeat and habitual criminals. Whenever necessary the Judges should not be reluctant to award capital punishment. There should be provisions for genetic study of criminals and if criminality genes are found they should not be allowed to reproduce children, or undergo binary fission. The execution of criminal law should be fast and efficient.

Economy

One of the important factors influencing the economy of the nation is the proportion of old and invalid persons to the young persons. The greying of the population affects the economy in many ways and any measure to prevent it successfully can do wonders for the economy. Pension payment is a very huge expense not only to a welfare state government but also to big industrial corporations. The paradox is that as the health system of the country improves, the total pension payments also increase because of longevity without increase in the retirement age (There are a lot of objections for increasing retirement age in democratic government administration). It is a situation where the government spends for improving the health and longevity and spends much more in the form of pension to sustain the elderly population. Once the humans start on binary fission when the physiological growth is completed, the pension payments will vanish as there is nobody eligible for pension

The very strong economy of Japan became weak when their old age and invalid population increased. Countries like Australia and Canada tide over this problem of greying population by encouraging migration of young healthy adults with good skills from the developing world. Once binary fission is achieved the percentage of old population shall be very low and young adults will be more. It will be a great boost to the economy of the country which could achieve binary fission.

Whatever natural resources a country may have, if there is not sufficient healthy young persons, utilization of the resources for economic development will be difficult. Middle East countries like UAE, Kuwait, and Oman etc. manage their economic progress by employing young and healthy citizens of other countries to do their work in the factories, oil fields, hospitals and even at home. The increased number of old and invalid persons will drain the economy. Their impact on economy is not only due to their inability to work but also due to their dependence on healthy persons for daily routines and survival. Due to the efforts of medical profession the life expectancy has increased, but the quality of life has not increased sufficiently because the increase in life expectancy is in the old age segment of life. It means that every day the dependent population is increasing affecting the economy. Even in India the dependency ratio of old age has reached 7.4.and the old age population has increased to 62 million today. In Japan due to the successful efforts for longevity and birth control the sales of adult diapers have already surpassed the sales of baby diapers! Since euthanasia is still a debated and controversial procedure, the only ethically acceptable remedy for an economic negative growth is to eliminate the dependent old age population, by binary fission. Binary fission is effective in eliminating dependent babies also. We shall neither need adult diapers nor baby diapers with binary fission. Hence good economic growth can be expected when binary fission of humans is achieved.

Besides this for a country to sustain economic development, it needs protection from external attacks. A good healthy young army is essential for maintaining economic development & enjoying the fruits of economic development. With a rapidly greying population it is not possible to have a young and healthy army. With binary fission there shall be enough young and healthy persons available for recruitment to the defense forces. Hence binary fission capability is essential not only for economic development but also for protecting the citizens from external attacks.

One possible bad effect on economy is that many profit making factories producing baby food, baby clothes, diapers, toys and baby medicines have to be closed down. This shall lead to loss of jobs and revenue for the state with adverse effect on economy. Same is true about factories producing products for elderly persons. Since the number of deaths shall reduce considerably the business related to death also shall reduce. There are small businesses like coffin makers and large businesses like life insurance. They also may be affected when binary fission occurs instead of death in matured humans. But these bad effects are negligible when compared to the beneficial effects for the economy.

Politics

In a democratic country political processes and elections to decide the rulers of the state or the country are very important activities. The right to vote in an election is often based on the age of the person. Only grown up persons with sufficient intelligence to understand the implication of casting vote are allowed to exercise their franchise. Usually the voting age is fixed above eighteen. It is difficult to assess the age and maturity of the products of binary fission. It may not be correct to consider the date of binary fission as date of birth. The binary fission products are likely to be more mature than an infant. It is difficult to predict the amount of maturity the binary fission products shall have at the time of binary fission. The voting age of these products of binary fission can be calculated only after coming to an agreement in the scientific forum regarding the chronological age for the binary fission products at the time of their formation.

Another problem in the elections process shall be the difficulty in identifying the persons going to cast the vote as well as the candidate themselves. There shall be many identical persons as a result of binary fission. Some sort of markings to identify a person, either physical or at the DNA level has to be perfected for proper conduction of elections.

The basic nature of politicians or political processes shall not have any change due to binary fission.

Games and Sports

When binary fission is achieved in our society, the bulk of the population shall be young adults. It means that there shall be maximum sports and games activity by the young population. These healthy young individuals with good coaching shall perform better in competitions and tournaments. Many new records might be created by the young and enthusiastic sports persons. They might get many medals also in Olympics & similar meets.

All these achievements shall be in adult games, like cricket, Basketball, football, Tennis, Hockey etc. and sports recognized internationally. But, the real innocent children's games like 'hide and seek'; the police and thief , making & serving meals made out of sand and mud etc. shall disappear because of the drastic reduction in the number of babies.

Outer Space Research

Space missions are increasing day by day. The distance covered as well as the duration of the journey is increasing. Soon it will become necessary for humans to reach other galaxies, several light years away. With the present speed of space ships the traveling time shall be much more than one's life expectancy. In such situation a binary fission capable human can undergo binary fission avoiding death in the space ship and continue the journey for more than a life time to reach far of places of interest in the space. It is difficult to assume that humans can travel at the speed of light in the near future. This defect can be partly overcome by binary fission .Binary fission capable humans can make it by undergoing binary fission in the space ship and travel for hundreds of years for exploration of space to find suitable areas for tapping resources or settlements in other galaxies.

There could be many more changes in the various activities of humans once binary fission becomes a reality, bypassing death. It is difficult to imagine each and every possible change. Many adjustments in life style shall be needed as the new biological systems (Not really new, but only a modified primitive reproductive system) start functioning. We know that humans have the capability to alter the rules and laws; and change systems and customs. They can adapt themselves according to the physiological needs in any changed situations and shall enjoy the benefits of binary fission.

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## 3

I AM 'OUT OF THE BOX', ARE YOU?

### "There is a natural opposition among men to anything they have not thought of themselves"

### Barnes Wallis

Ladies and Gentlemen in medical profession,

It is the dream and desire of all persons maturing to old age that they should remain in the young and youthful age eternally. Whenever we hear the sad news of the demise of our near and dear, we feel sorry and helpless over the unwelcome physiological end point, the death. The unaccomplished desire of man for perpetual life is to some extend accomplished by believing that an individual is made of two components, namely the 'body and the soul'. We also blindly and religiously believe that the souls are living after our death in the heaven if we do good deeds. Death is considered to be the beginning of second life in heaven. This strong belief has given sufficient emotional strength to an individual to face natural calamities and death boldly (sometimes even happily). It also persuades one to maintain some ethical principles in life and avoid sins for the sake of the ever living soul. The strong belief in God as the ultimate omnipotent power controlling the universe and punishing wicked and bad guys of this universe helped us a lot to develop moral values in the society. Fear of God prevented many wicked actions by the criminals as well as made the good people more kind and generous to the poor. The God fearing persons were always respected in the society because of their good deeds. A loving and caring God is the main hope for the poor, sick, oppressed and weak persons of the society; and faith in God prevents their total psychological break down.

But the love for God and blind faith in soul occasionally leads to an emotional attraction to suicide in difficult and desperate situations, assuming that only the body (body is often compared as the dress of the soul according to Hindu philosophy) is perished during death, while all the more important soul shall be doing everything he or she wanted to do while living. The poets frequently write that though lovers die, love survives along with the souls. Innocent teen age couples in blind love, when cornered by social and religious watch dogs, often tried to make their love eternal. Even in this 21st century we have several incidence of suicide by young couples in love, when the orthodox parents and or social/religious leaders vehemently object to their marriage, due to social, religious, cast and economic reasons. The strong belief of rebirth of soul after death has also probably discouraged all research in the direction of elimination of death, because without death soul cannot escape from body and enter another body for rebirth or enter to the heaven.

Understanding death is very important for eliminating death, and avoiding old age problems; the ever growing health problem of the developed world. Perhaps apoptosis and death start as early as the time growth stops. (When the net number of new cells formed in the body is less than the net number of cells disappearing from the body)

There are several efforts to maintain the appearance and vigor of young age by the use of medicines, cosmetics, and by plastic surgeries. There are several procedures for elimination of old age disabilities and diseases, like cataract surgery, prostate surgery, knee transplantation, etc. We do a lot of research on longevity, and on modalities to reduce the miseries of old age, but none to eliminate old age and death!

It is every body's desire to avoid old age and death, but the time and resources spend on this is relatively meager when compared to the huge money and time spend for a better life after death for the soul in the heaven or for attaining 'moksha'. Many doctors practicing evidence based medicine shut their eyes and are silent when important questions are raised regarding evidence of soul and its role in the process of death. The geriatric problems are very common and vast, but we have learned to live with them and refuse to see old age and death as a problem.( we are not at all worried because of the fact that one day we have to die; but the moment we know that we have to die within a couple of days we start worrying about it) In fact Old age and death are the two unsolved problems of both rich and poor; scholars and illiterate; strong and the weak. Why there is no sufficient effort on the part of human beings to avoid this problem? I feel that this is because people think that, it is impossible to achieve an old age free world. Many people firmly believe that death is inevitable and old age is part of life. Historically, great men had attempted to understand death and meaning of life in their own ways. They had miserably failed in avoiding the physiological phenomenon of death and the associated pains.

The ancient Egyptians thought that if they preserve the body by mummification the dead man can live in the pyramids happily along with the slaves and the materials buried with the dead body. The Europeans thought that if they keep a couple of coins in the coffin to give the boat man, the dead man can cross the river to reach another world. The Indians thought that the dead man shall be reborn as another man or animal depending upon his deeds during the life time. In spite of these believes even great men were afraid of death. About five hundred years before Christ, Gautama Buddha had experienced his own version of death despair and thought going on life is pointless. He came out with his noble eight fold path essential for noble existence and attainment of Pariniruvana (Final death less state). Jesus Christ prayed in vain to his father in the heaven to avoid the death and sufferings on the cross. Finally he sacrificed his life on the cross, as per the wish of his father in the heaven, for the sins of humanity and gave the message of love and sacrifice as the meaning of life. Leo Tolstoy in 1869 got frightened about his own death when he finished 'War and Peace'. In his 'Diary of Madman' his panicky against power of death was exposed. Death was, is and shall remain as an unavoidable mystery if we do not change our mind set and make scientific attempts to avoid it. Unlike many apparently impossible things (Landing man on the moon, curing leprosy and cataract blindness, Elimination of smallpox, Heart transplantation etc.) man has achieved by intense research, there is no sufficient organized effort to achieve old age prevention and avoidance of death.

It is a common practice in medical profession to give spiritual dimensions to medical events beyond our understanding and control. We knew in the past when medical persons did not have a remedy for an epidemic bubonic plague, it was considered as the punishment by God for human sins, by sending evil spirits. Many people continuously prayed and stayed isolated with in the four walls of churches with doors and windows closed to prevent the entry of evil spirit. They had miraculous escape from the disease and this 'confirmed' the theory of evil spirit and God's punishment. After hundreds of years now we can logically assume that the group in the church escaped from plague not by keeping the evil spirit out, but by keeping the plague bacteria (bacillus Pestis) out probably because of cleanliness in the church, fumigation with incenses (keeping rats and rat flies out of holy church) and isolation of the faithful worshipers in the church from rest of the people and patients. Similarly the great Indian surgeon of Vedic period Sri Susurutha reduced the post-operative infection and death of his surgical patients by praying to God before surgery with washed and cleaned instruments placed before the idol of God in the operation theatre. Susurutha was a very intelligent surgeon who found a great opportunity in developing the world's first plastic surgery repair of nose to several persons who had lost their nose as a result of the 'nose chopping' punishment awarded for committing adultery in India. Adultery was perhaps common in India and Susurutha had enough patients for nose repair. He conducted 'puja' as per the Hindu customs by burning incenses after a purification bath of the self. The operation theatre was full of fumes of incenses. He believed that God is preventing the pus formation in the wound and subsequent death of his patients because of his ritualistic prayers. This fumigation of the operation room and a pre-operative clean bath and wash of hands along with cleaning of surgical instruments by the surgeon Susurutha, without understanding its medical significance (Obviously the event is much before man was aware of microorganisms) was probably responsible for the decreased incidence of infections following surgery and better surgical outcome. Whereas his European counter parts used dirty unclean instruments and were wearing aprons stained with blood and pus of previous surgeries while performing surgeries. This way the surgeons (often barbers in Europe) thought that they could impress the patient and their relatives, of their experience in surgical work. But these surgeons had poor surgical out come due to infection spreading from their unclean hands and the pus stained dirty aprons. We can have different types of interpretation of same events at different times depending upon the knowledge available at that point in time. Now we know that the fatal disease producing invisible evil spirits of olden days could be the microscopic organisms like bacteria, protozoa or virus traveling from one body to the other unnoticed by naked eye.

Even today certain groups of religious people believe that HIV is an incurable disease (a curse) send by God to punish the immoral people of the world. If this is true, is the God blind to the innocent infants suffering from the disease? Why should an innocent wife suffer for the sexual immorality of the husband? Should we try to find a remedy to the disease against the wish of God? Natural calamities are described as acts of God by insurance companies. Are they really act of God to harm the humans? The interpreters of great religious books shall have their own explanations. Whatever it is I feel that we, the medical persons, should apply all available knowledge to find remedies to difficult medical problems, including senility and death and need not be satisfied with the centuries old concepts about death.

To get a cure for death, one should first recognize death as a terminal disorder or disease due to evolutionary aberration; and not a spiritual event. When mental diseases were recognized as a disease, and not the invasion of body with evil spirit, we could develop medicines to cure them. When smallpox and chicken pox were recognized as virus diseases, and not the play or tricks of Tamil goddess of smallpox & Chickenpox; 'Mariamma', we could treat them and prevent them. Similarly, when we recognize death as a disease, not just the process of separating soul from the body, we will have remedial medicines for death. I feel that death should be considered the "Mother" of all geriatric diseases! Death and old age problems are so interlinked; and have to be tackled simultaneously. Like any other disease, prevention of death is much better than postponement of death. In longevity research we only try to postpone death and in that process increases the old age segment of our life span along with the sufferings.

Another possible reason for the lack of enthusiasm in the research for prevention of death could be that, it may topple the whole concept of religion in the present form. Without death, and life after death it is difficult for religion to function and flourish .The religious beliefs are very strong in a vast majority of the population, right from their childhood days. These religious teachings and concepts helped us to develop an ethical and compassionate society over a period of time due to the fear of God's punishment of the soul after death. Hence any attempt to prevent natural death shall be discouraged and mocked at by a big and powerful group of believers in religion and exploiters of the biological phenomenon of death. It may be described as madness, eccentricity, impractical and even as an unethical venture. There could be an accusation that, by eliminating natural death we create new problems. But all good ideas evolving on 'out of the box thinking' were impractical at a particular point in time, and often severely criticized. There were several occasions the propagator of a new idea was severally punished by the authorities. If the scientific community remains afraid of criticism nothing will move. When we achieve what we wanted to achieve, by organized intelligent efforts of medical persons and biological scientists, to reduce human sufferings the religious leaders and others who criticized us shall interpret the religion and the great religious books to accommodate the discovery or invention into it so that the community shall be benefited. I believe that so long as religion is for man, any discovery or invention aimed at reducing human sufferings shall be acceptable to the priests and religious heads.

Since it was not possible to find a medical remedy to death we had conveniently dumped death into a spiritual domain and tried to find answer to this medical problem through spiritual routes. When the physician could not find a scientific solution to this biological tragedy of old age and death; the priests, philosophers, and poets came out with their explanations and remedies for removing the pains of death, and happily the public accepted them. To shift death from spiritual domain to medical domain and find a remedy for it, I solicit the whole hearted support of the scientific community especially medical persons. To begin with, an international society can be started with likeminded persons to help research on elimination of death and achieving eternal youthful life (1)

There was a concept that birth and death are in God's domain, and man should not interfere with them. There was severe criticism by priests when birth control was introduced. In spite of the objections now birth control is a widely accepted as part of a family welfare program and practiced in the privacy of the bed rooms without the fear of out casting from the religious group by priests, the God's representatives. Having understood the reality, religious leaders had either dropped their strong opposition or closed their eyes to the secrets in the bed room. But the unpleasant fact is that birth control alone is an incomplete family welfare program without genetic quality control of the infant, for elimination of genetic diseases. It is equally important to have a proper death control also for complete family welfare. We should realize that the whole family is going to suffer if one member is suffering from a genetic disease like Retinitis Pigmentosa or Hemophilia. Similarly a hundred years old person with total senile dementia and lack of controls in basic physiological activities shall spoil all the happiness in the family. Hence there should be simultaneous efforts to modify the genome of the zygote to prevent or eliminate the birth of infants with serious genetic disorders for an effective family welfare planning.

In this rapidly changing world, death control and old age elimination shall have more impact on the society than birth control and some of the bad effects of birth control can be rectified by death control. The new generations of couples have less interest, time and resources to produce children and bring them up (2). Many developed worlds are on negative population growth because of one child or no child norm. Soon even India and China also can come under negative population growth due to aggressive birth control measures. Within one or two decades half the population of the developed world can become a group of in valid and unwanted centurions or nearly centurions as in Japan. In such a situation to have enough working force, and reduce the huge burden of care for the elderly persons, the only possible solution is old age prevention and death control. It is time to recognize that the real problem we are facing is not just increased population; but increased old age population. What we need is an effective method to eliminate the old age population so that more than 50% of health problems can be eliminated. Japanese were successful at increasing longevity, but the quality of that longevity could not be improved proportionately (3).Now a days Japan consumes more adult diapers than baby diapers! If the present trend continues, one day the overcrowded, invalid and mentally unstable centurions of Japan may wish, (if they had the ability to wish) to end their life quickly by another atom bomb! Even without an atom bomb, if the present negative birth rate continues without migration the Japanese population shall get extinguished in thousand years' time.

There is some thinking and teaching that every organism on earth has to die one day or other. But this is not very true. The prokaryotic unicellular organisms (bacteria) and eukaryotic organisms (protozoa) divide (binary or prokaryotic fission) into two when they mature and do not grow old and die. This means majority of organisms living on earth do not have natural (old age) death (4). Man on biological evolution from unicellular organism has lost this capability for binary fission. Can't we recover it by intense genetic research? Human genome has been identified recently with intense research. We know that it is not a static pool of genes but a dynamic pool where genes are added, deleted and modified by the evolutionary process over a period of time. This natural process can be modified according to the need of humans. Gene transmission is being practiced in many labs and hospitals. We already have enough knowledge and the know how to create transgenic animals including primates (5), and this could be an extension of the process further. Interestingly the mitosis occurring in humans are very much similar to binary fission. We have seen that as age advances the control on mitosis becomes weak and cancerous growths occur in different organs. Can we logically speculate that cancers are disorders of evolution and reproduction due to an aborted attempt for binary fission on maturation of the multi cellular organism? The random replication error occurring in cancer formation could be due to a dormant binary fission gene in humans inherited from amoeba, during the process of biological evolution. The formation of cancer might be due to a natural but incomplete and inefficient binary fission response to the warning signal generated from damaged cells (possibly from the telomeres) of failing vital organs due to toxins, age or disease. We can make an effort to fully and effectively transfer the binary fission genes of amoeba or any other unicellular organism, and achieve the complete and a perfect process of binary fission. (It is possible that the formation of monozygotic twins, by binary fission in uterus could be the expression of the amoebic heritage of humans. It is a well-known fact that, just like cancer the tendency for identical twin formation also has a genetic linkage.). We can initiate research in multiplication of unicellular organisms and organisms in transitional stage (social amoeba). We can also support research by other organizations in the study of the gene responsible for binary fission of these unicellular organisms. Already binary fission genes have been identified in malaria parasite, Plasmodium Falciparum, (6). Once all these genes are completely identified and isolated, suitable binary fission genes could be transferred to very small multi cellular organisms for induction of division (binary fission) of all cells simultaneously to produce two young organisms of half the size and age. When it succeeds it can be repeated in Arthropods like worms and butterflies. (Perhaps a worm can transform to two younger worms from the pupa instead of a transformation to butterfly!) .Finally a germ line transmission of the transgenes can be successfully performed in human embryos. It means that in one stroke we can get rid of not only the pains of death but also the labor pains for women!( binary fission is possible for both men and women) There will not be any elderly persons and old age diseases shall be wiped out. At the same time death due to starvation, serious infectious & non infectious diseases, accidents, assaults, war, and natural calamities like earth quakes, tsunamis, floods, fire and cyclone shall prevail. Besides this there is a combined natural and manmade calamity like man made atomic reactor exploding due to the natural calamity of Tsunami, or a manmade dam bursting due to natural calamity of heavy rain or earth quake. All these events shall prevent the hypothetical population explosion due to binary fission as there is no population explosion in unicellular organisms. The binary fission in humans can be expected to occur only after growth has stopped. That means the reproduction by binary fission starts only several years after teens (perhaps as late as the time of full maturity and or cancer formation period), unlike sexual reproduction which often starts in teens itself. The biological division of a small multi cellular mature organism into two young organisms will have a more far reaching consequence than the division of an atom! A binary fission capable human is healthier and can skip not only old age and death but also cancer. The occurrence of cancer is eliminated by converting the process of cancer formation to binary fission.

There may be some resistance from the social organizations against this type of multiplication of humans. This process shall disturb the basic concept of a nuclear family, believed to be the most important unit of present social order. But nuclear family has an ugly face also and this can be seen in the form of increasing number of old age homes where many grandfathers and grandmothers live in miserable conditions (with tube feeding and diapers) without receiving the care of their beloved children. Even though we have father less and mother less children in our orphanages, the sociologist may not accept a fatherless motherless society We have observed that when one child norm was introduced in China, there was a brother less, sister less, brother in law less, sister in law less, uncle less, aunt less and cousin less society existing in China. Fatherless motherless society is only an extension of the Chinese model! You and I may not be there to see the results of this research. But I am sure our great grandchildren shall be able to see the result, if we start sincerely working for it in an organized way by forming a society of likeminded persons. It can be speculated that within a century binary fission capable humans shall be undertaking prolonged journey in space ships to far off galaxies. When the space journey duration is more than the life expectancy of humans perhaps a binary fission capable human can reach the destination safely in multiples! Will you spare (invest) little bit of your time and money for your grandchildren and future generations to escape from the miseries and sufferings of old age?

I believe that starting a society of likeminded persons of this concept shall be the modest beginning and the society shall continue to function till the "old age leading to death phenomenon" (the birth and death puzzle) yields to man's will power, intelligence and organized hard work. Acquiring new knowledge is very important for the survival and wellbeing of humanity. It is equally important to apply that hard earned knowledge to avoid sufferings and enjoy youthful life. I am sure, with determined effort of this generation, the next generation can bypass death and live in this world more than once, eliminating old age diseases and consequent death. If this newly developed technique( In reality only a modified primitive mode of reproduction) of multiplication is allowed selectively to persons with healthy genes only, the already damaged gene quality in humans, due to the progressively distorted and skewed natural selection process, can be to some extend rectified. Please remember that all other species except humans get the benefits of natural selection process, an important component of biological evolution. The price we pay for protecting and allowing the genetically unhealthy individuals to reproduce and multiply this genetic deformity is fairly high. The other species with better genomes shall overtake humans and we shall loose the supremacy on this globe. The long term effect of modifying the natural course of a genetic disease or a genetic deformity is disastrous for the human race. We treat patients and cure the disease. The patient and doctor are happy. But the happiness is often short lived and if it is a very gratifying experience it may last one's life time. If you look at it in a different time frame, the picture is different. Imagine the long term (say ten thousand, or a million years) effect of treating the feeble and genetically defective persons to prolong their life and prevent the childhood death. He/She shall pass on the defective gene to several generations resulting in a huge number of unhealthy populations on the surface of earth. We shall have the bulk of humans with diseases needing the attention and care of doctors throughout their life. Normal persons according to present day standard shall become a rare specimen. Many children shall require a doctor's care and medication to survive from day one in this world. We tend to overlook these long term bad effects while treating children with genetic diseases. Humans continue to have several disease genes and add new ones, because of our protective social system, which we do not want to change on moral and compassionate grounds. When this system is continued, the human genome shall have increasing number of defective disease producing genes. Once binary fission is achieved in humans and selectively applied in zygotes with only healthy genes, the growing number of unhealthy genes in the human species can be neutralized to some extent.

Any research in medical science needs a lot of skilled manpower and money; and often they come from the big multinational pharmaceutical companies. Unfortunately no pharmaceutical company is likely to finance this project for elimination of old age, because a good outcome (elimination of old age) means huge loss of business for them. Hence medical men interested in this research have to find their own resources; and cannot expect funds to come from pharmaceutical companies or business men.

The first hurdle any research program in this direction is likely to face is the objection from ethical committees, often dominated by religious leaders. Due to obvious reasons the ethical committee may not agree or allow a research project which aim for bypassing death of humans (One of the important pillar of religion is death and life after death).This hurdle can be overcome by changing the subject and changing the goal as binary fission of small (probably soul less!) useful multi cellular organism like earth worms or silk worms instead of human binary fission. Once this is perfected in small multi cellular organisms, doing it in humans is a formality only and perhaps an extension of the process.

" _I do not desire any kingdom, heaven, or rebirth. I desire only the power to remove the sufferings of living things" - B.Gheeta_

Please evaluate this chapter in particular and the book as a whole. You may mail your valuable opinion about the proposals. Few suggestions are given below.

  1. Madness...a lunatic hallucination.

  2. It is not only absurd and nonsense; but also undesirable and impossible.

  3. Against God and religion. God will punish.

  4. A dangerous virus idea; likely to damage the family concept and ethical codes. Drop it.

  5. Creates new social, legal, and health problems and should drop the proposal.

  6. This foolish idea will never work. If it works you could have got a Nobel Prize!

  7. Appreciate the imagination, but not possible for next 1000 years.

  8. A stimulus package for the lazy brain. ?

  9. An appeal to God from 'God's own country' (Kerala) to get relief from the blanket unreasonable death penalty awarded to all humans, for the sins of Adam and Eve.

  10. Hopeful and shall join the society for the success of the project.

  11. Interested to be part of the program without financial commitment.

  12. Interested and willing to partly finance the projects.

  13. Any other comment.

References

  1. Ittyerah, T.P.: International Society for eternal youthful life, Kerala Journal of Ophthalmology, 2009, March.P113-114.

  2. Lauren Sandler: One and done. Time. 2010. July, 19.vol.176.No.3, p.32.

  3. Naoki Maruyama, Tamao Endo, Kiichi Ishiwata etl. Preface, Geriatrics & Gerontology International supplement, vol.10, (July 2010) p 3.

  4. Ittyerah Tholath Peter: Is there an alternative to aging and death?

  5. J.Am.Geriatr.Soc.2010, Jan. vol. 58. p.197.

  6. Sasaki.F, Suemizu.H, Shimada.A.etal.Generation of transgenic nonhuman primates

  7. with germ line transmission.Nature.2009, vol.459, p.523-525.

  8. Malcolm J, Gardener, Neil Hall, Eula Fug etal.Genome sequence of human malaria

  9. Parasite Plasmodium falciparum; Nature. 2002, vol. 419, p. 498-511.

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## 4

THE WHY AND HOW OF CANCER

" _Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer cell"_

Edward Abbey

Cancer is known as one of the dangerous diseases of present time. Medical men call it as malignancy and have observed that it can occur anywhere in the body. There are different types of cancer occurring in different types of tissues of the body and accordingly they are named. Some of the cancers are more dangerous than others and accordingly they are graded. Many people know that smoking, drinking alcohol, virus infections, obesity, exposure to ultraviolet rays, radiation etc. are risk factors responsible for occurrence of this disease. These risk factors can be modified by intention. There is another important risk factor which cannot be modified by man so far. Age is an important risk factor for the occurrence of cancer. Since this could not be modified it is not at all mentioned in publications for the public. It is well known to medical men that except for a few pediatric cancers the bulk of the cancers occur in middle age and old age.

The actual mechanism of development of cancer is not well understood. We know that certain cells in the body start uncontrolled division all of a sudden and from this the cancer starts. Why one cell gets uncontrolled division at a particular time is not well answered so far. Chromosomal instability, gene changes, and altered DNA sequence are some of the events occurring before the formation of the abnormal cell. The abnormal cell, often known as the rogue cell is the triggering point of cancer. Naturally if it is detected at the time of occurrence one can effectively destroy it and prevent the multiplication of rogue cells and stop cancer. This is the basic concept in the early detection and modern management of cancer. There are new and modern techniques for early detection of cancer as well as for effectively destroying all the rogue cells with minimum damages to the healthy cells. We use surgical removal, medical destruction, or radiological ablation of the cancer cells to get cure from the disease. Combination of treatment is also recommended according to the type of cancer. For prevention of this disease we give publicity about risk factors and make people the aware of the dangers in smoking, drinking etc. It is interesting to note that in reality as and when people avoid these risk factors the cancer increases! This is because the risk factors described are common risk factors for other middle age killer diseases like COPD, diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, liver failure, kidney failure etc. So when people stop smoking, drinking alcohol, eating fatty food etc. death due to these diseases also reduces. Immunizations against tetanus, rabies, typhoid, cholera etc. have prevented many deaths due to devastating epidemics. Newer and powerful antibiotics have been invented to treat many resistant bacterial and viral diseases effectively. Many new surgical procedures for damaged heart, brain, liver and kidney have prevented death due to serious diseases of these vital organs. Similarly we have achieved the elimination of many killer diseases like small pox, polio etc. The improvement in economic condition and personal hygiene as well as elimination of malnutrition prevented many deaths related to poor socioeconomic condition. As a result old age disease like cancer becomes the biggest killer if man survives from fatal trauma and remaining few incurable serious diseases to reach old age. When man matures to old age the inevitable death occurs often due to cancer because age as the risk factor for cancer is prevailing. Different autopsy studies had shown that 80% of men over the age of 70 suffer from prostatic cancer. Perhaps in a group of hundred year's old men the incidence could be almost 100%. But the fact is that if a centurion with senile dementia dies due to cancer no body is bothered about it and often records the cause of death as old age. There could be many other conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure co existing with cancer during the old age. When the cause of death is recorded in persons with multiple diseases, often it is only one of the diseases of the reporting person's choice that is noted. Interestingly in these natural old age deaths very rarely an autopsy is performed to detect the real cause of death; and even if it is performed it is done for the name sake. In such a situation one can only presume that the biggest killer disease shall be cancer in spite of (and due to) modern developments in medical science.

All efforts by public health agencies to prevent cancer are really only efforts for longevity and to postpone cancer, because cancer cannot be prevented completely, especially in elderly persons. As age advances, in the absence of other diseases it is the cancer which kills the humans. This ultimate killer character of cancer is emerging slowly and steadily because other killer diseases are eliminated gradually. Recurrences of same type of cancer and/or occurrence of a different type of cancer in another organ can occur as age advances after the apparent cure of the primary disease. The message from this phenomenon is that cancer as a group is a totally different type of disease.

It is fairly accepted that cancer has a genetic predisposition. The key phenomenon in cancer is the uncontrolled division of cells (mitosis).In fact the pathologist diagnoses cancer by observing the uncontrolled mitosis under the microscope. Depending on the intensity of this division cancer is graded and its severity assessed. Why the cells divide very actively when a person is weak and aged with failing vital organs? Normally one should expect that since the metabolic activity is low, less multiplication of cells will occur in old age. Except for nails, hair, skin and fat, generally there is no growth in humans after the twenties. This genetically controlled abnormal behavior of certain cells in the old age is a mystery wrapped in riddle. It can be considered as a last minute attempt by the system to escape from the slow death. Human body has an inbuilt system to heal the wounds, kill the invading microorganisms and repair the defects. When the immune system reacts with a good intention of preventing the damages caused by the invading agents, occasionally we get diseases more severe than the one it wanted to prevent. Some of the allergic diseases are typical examples of a bad effect to the body when the system acted with good intention. The simple repeated sneezing when you are exposed to dust is an example of body trying to get rid of the dust gone to the nose and lungs. We get bronchial asthma when the body tries to prevent the entry to the lung of the harmful agents it has detected in the air. People vomit when the body realizes that the food or medicine they have taken has got harmful material. We have also seen that when we give medicines to patients with a good intention sometimes they vomit it out. Our intention is to save the patient from diseases but body could not recognize it and pushes the medicines out from the stomach. These types of paradoxes are observed on several occasions in medical practice.

Mitosis is a method by which the tissues multiply and often the size of an organ increase. It is very commonly seen in almost all organs during the growth period. But the mitosis occurring in cancer is often after the growth of the individual has stopped; because most of the cancers are occurring in elderly persons. When mitosis occurs in a particular type of tissue, we observe that only that type of tissue increases. Whereas when mitosis occurs in embryonic tissue all types of tissue are multiplying as in Teratomas. In fact Teratomas and dermoid cysts can contain all types of human tissue in a disorderly fashion and can be even considered as a naturally occurring tissue culture in the body! Mitosis and binary fission are very similar cellular activity to divide and form new cells. Binary fission occurs in unicellular organisms for multiplication whereas mitosis occurs in multicellular organisms for growth and repair. Both are cell division and after the process one old cell becomes two new cells. The core of activity in cancer is multiplication; and the problem is it is an undisciplined growth. If we can discipline the process instead of stopping it, great things can be achieved. I feel that this undisciplined growth, the cancer, is the outcome of an attempt for binary fission of the individual which has back fired.

Recently a friend of mine had a trip to an exotic beach during the summer vacation. He was swimming in the sea along with his young son. All of a sudden the sea became rough and the child got drifted far from the shore. My friend followed him in an attempt to save the child. During this daring attempt both of them drowned. The intention of the action was to save the child but the outcome was loss of two lives. Cancer is a situation like this. The patient dies in an attempt to create two young individuals. We know that similar situations often occur if one tries to pull a person out with naked hands to save from being electrocuted. If one uses wrong and faulty methods to achieve right things such disasters can occur. Anaphylactic shock and death occurring after penicillin injection is also another type of back fired defense mechanism of the body.

Mitosis and meiosis are two types of cell divisions occurring in the body normally. Binary fission, a similar cell division also occurs in the body during the formation of identical twins in women's womb. When the zygote, formed after fertilization of the egg with the sperm, undergoes binary fission identical twins are formed in the uterus. The tendency for identical twins formation is genetically determined like cancer. It is essential to establish the real genetic link between identical twin formation and cancer before trying to regulate and control the process of mitosis in cancer. As per the theory of biological evolution humans had evolved from unicellular organisms like amoeba. It is nothing but natural to expect some genetic remnants or markers of binary fission in humans. Because of this amoebic heritage the body makes an attempt for binary fission as age advances and the systems show tendency for failures. This benevolent attempt to save man from old age results in cancer formation. It is the clear cut example of a good intentional reaction of the body leading to disaster. We can consider that cancer is an evolutionary disease and is an aberrant or aborted response for binary fission. To prove it fool proof we may need further high quality evidence. Once that is obtained the whole management of the cancer shall take different direction.

Another way of looking at cancer is that it is like a disastrous flood when the river over flows due to heavy rain. Whatever objects are on the way of flood waters are washed off and destroyed. All the trees growing on the banks enjoying the good amount of water in the river during the summer are uprooted and washed away to the ocean by the flood. We blame the heavy rain for the disaster. If a dam is constructed at a higher level the water is stored and released in a controlled way for irrigation and electricity production. The heavy rain becomes a great blessing. Similarly if we try, we can convert the eccentric and uncontrolled mitosis of cancer to binary fission and we can escape from old age and death. We can convert a disaster to a blessing and a tragedy to a comedy!

Modern medical science has reached the present status by making constant changes in the concepts about the causation of diseases, about the management strategies of the diseases, and about the surgical techniques employed to cure the diseases or disabilities over a period of time by continuous research. When I started my medical career peptic ulcer of the stomach was considered to be due to excess hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Tons of antacids to neutralize the hydrochloric acid were consumed by millions of people with and without prescription throughout the world for treating the disease. The patients had good relief of symptoms with the antacids. Many surgeries were performed to reduce the acid secretions in the stomach when medical treatment was not effective. The stomach ulcers healed following surgery. Now we know that the ulcer is caused by the bacteria (Helicobacter pylori) and antibiotics can kill them and cure the disease. In fact it is common sense to think that an ulcer is caused by bacteria. Suppose a lazy, but intelligent classmate of mine during his final year examination had guessed and described that peptic ulcer of stomach was caused by bacteria, he was sure to fail because it was the truth unexposed. Unexposed truth is wrong or a lie and only when we extensively and meticulously explore, truth can be exposed. Same is true about cancer. Today many characters of cancer remain unexplored and unexplained. I am sure soon we shall know the whole truth about cancer. Once that is achieved we will be able to change the ideology of cancer cell as 'growth for binary fission and rejuvenation'.

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## 5

WHY IMAGINATION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN KNOWLEDGE?

" _Science without humanity is a sin."_

Mahatma Gandhi

Prof. Albert Einstein, the great nuclear scientist considered 'imagination is more important than knowledge'. We know that poets and artists are more imaginative with trivial knowledge of mathematics and science. We also know that great scientists who are matter of fact personalities and less imaginative are bubbling with knowledge in their own scientific specialties. Did Einstein mean that the poets and literary personalities could contribute many inventions to the society than scientists? Was he indirectly suggesting admission of students of fine arts colleges to science and engineering institutes? Or is it true that the students of institutes of technology should be send to Arts College after their course in science? Perhaps yes, because it is Einstein's thought. We know that his thoughts are often difficult to understand and interpret. Many a times it may take several decades to understand the real meaning. We have the commonsense now to understand that his thoughts are much ahead of his time.

Imagination means the process or ability to form pictures or ideas in the mind of things that are new, exciting and not experienced ever. Imagination is very important to generate desire and desire build up to passion in a favorable atmosphere. Passion for achievement of what is imagined is the fuel for invention by a knowledge loaded brain. Knowledge means information and understanding about a subject. There could be knowledge about imagination and imagination prior to acquiring knowledge. We know that imagination and knowledge are interlinked. Einstein's thoughts were not only to theoretical physics but also to areas of fine arts. As a great theoretical physicist, his theories were often exciting and not experienced ever at that point in time. In another words the imagination component in his theories were more. Many of them were not experimented and proved in the labs but imagined and visualized in the air by the great genius brain. Later generations are now trying to prove and find applications for the theories.

It is interesting to know that Einstein, before postulating the theory of relativity, was an artist. In his teen ages he used to participate in instrumental music (violin) performance on the stage and his music teachers had appreciated his commitment to the Beethoven music he was doing. Now we know that a lot of brain activity is involved in imagination and writing poetry or composing music as in the case of creating theories in mathematics or physics. We can consider that art and science are complimentary intellectual activities, may be working at different levels and regions in the brain. It is accepted that one half of the frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for emotional activity and other half for intellectual activity.

In Indian mythology, written several thousands of years back, there is a description of an aero plane being used for abducting a goddess. This mythological story is so popular that even the illiterate of Indians know the story of Sree Raman and Sitha Devi from the Hindu sacred book Ramayana. In Ramayana, Ravana the demon king of the island Lanka landed in the thick forest of Bharath, the country ruled by Bharathan in an aero plane in a secret operation. His aim was to secretly take home the beautiful wife of the king's brother god Sree Raman. Ravana was helped by his agent Marijan in getting her to an isolated place in the forest near his plane to execute his plans. Sitha Devi, the beautiful wife of god Sree Raman, was abducted successfully to his island by the ten headed demon in the aero plane decorated (camouflaged) with flowers. It is believed to be that the ten heads of Ravana are symbolic of his tenfold intelligence and knowledge. He not only abducted the goddess in the plane but also fought from the aero plane and cut the wings of the huge bird which tried to block his plane. (Perhaps the first bird hit in flight history!) The same plane was again used by the god Sree Raman along with his brother Lakshmanen to bring back his wife goddess Sitha Devi after defeating the army of demons and killing their king Ravana. We can assume that it had a minimum carrying capacity of three passengers. There is no mention about the pilot of the plane or the power used to move the plain. The monkey army led by the god Hanuman returned home by land and sea route. There is no further mention of this fantastic flying vehicle brought to the country anywhere in the mythology or history. It is very unlikely that it was taken back to the devastated island nation of the demised Ravana. There is no clue about the existence of the aero plane in the country or its reuse. However, this imagination of an aero plane is very distinctive from the general pattern of flying characters in any mythology. Usually mythological characters fly on a large flying bird or on an animal with wings. Or else they themselves had large wings of their own. To use a flying machine is unheard of in any mythology and one has to appreciate the author's foresight and imagination. The type of mobility devices available on land at that time was only the carts pulled by men or animals, often horses. We can think of an imagination of a chariot drawn by huge eagles or winged horses to abduct the goddess. It is also possible that one can imagine about a powerful bow used to send the plane in the air as a large arrow (There are several imaginations in Indian mythology of arrows with tremendous magical powers).It was also possible that people were rowing the plane like a boat or using sails for catching the power of wind for mobility. If it was written by an author of Arabic origin in later years, perhaps the imagination could be a flying carpet. But this imagination of a flying machine is unusual and difficult to explain. We can assume that this description in the Indian mythology and the imagination of the author might have stimulated the desire of several generations to possess an aero plane to fly like a bird in the air. When the desire became intense people started working with passion day and night to realize their desire. The hard work of many people with passion could produce results provided there was sufficient knowledge embedded in their brain to achieve the desired objective. It took thousands of years after this imagination to acquire sufficient knowledge to realize the desire to fly like a bird in a flying machine. So a scientist should have sufficient imagination (own or others) and desire to apply and utilize the knowledge he/she had acquired to get a useful product for the society. Perhaps this is the reason why Professor Einstein said 'imagination is more important than knowledge'. If the imagination is arising from a brain bubbling with relevant scientific knowledge, the desired outcome is a strong possibility. If there is not sufficient knowledge to materialize the imagination, the imagination may float in the literary space. When the knowledge builds up it may transform to an invention.

As far as escaping from death or attaining eternity is concerned Hindu mythology has more than one imagination. One described the period of nonfunctioning of god of destruction and old invalid people living for hundreds of years with lot of old age diseases and sufferings. People on earth could not die because of an unpleasant event in the department of death and destruction in the heaven. Yemen, the messenger of death was burned to ashes by the angry god Siva himself due to a foolish action of the messenger. Very old men and women on earth could die only when the messenger of death reappeared after several years mounted on a buffalo with his noose to catch the souls and take them to heaven or hell. The sufferings of very old people who were unable to die during this period were described in detail in mythology and in poems written later on the subject. This imagination highlights the importance of god of death and destruction. If god of death takes a long leave the situation on earth shall be terrible. Perhaps that might be the reason for a lot of importance Hinduism has given to Lord Siva, the three eyed all powerful god. Interestingly almost identical situation is prevailing now in the developed world, when doctors attempt to prolong life with modern and advanced drugs, multiple implants and organ transplants beyond the sanity and sustainability of the individual. Since many people are covered by health insurance there is a lot of enthusiasm among medical men to prolong life of even invalid centurions with various types of synthetic organs and organ transplants. This imagination in mythology may be considered as a warning to doctors and scientists attempting for longevity without quality of life. There is no sense in extending the old age segment of our life with a lot of sufferings. One should attempt to increase the youthful segment of human life cycle.

Hindu mythology also describes the process of making the elixir of youth and the great divine battle between gods and demons to get the elixir of youth 'Amrith'. In spite of the consistent hard work of many gods and demons to extract the elixir from the milky oceans, using a mountain to stir the ocean, they could get just a single pot of 'amrith'. The gods cunningly managed to get the whole pot of 'amrith' and consumed it. The gods who consumed the 'amrith' remained young eternally. Those who have read this in the mythology can always get their imagination triggered and the desire built up to obtain 'amrith', the elixir of youth. There are similar descriptions of the elixir of life to remain young in other mythologies also because the agonies of old age were experienced by men of all civilizations and many people had dreamed to remain young eternally. Intense desire is essential to invent a scientific process for remaining young. Perhaps what the gods and demons together extracted from the milky ocean, the scientists can now extract from the genes of unicellular bacteria or amoeba! This imagination is possible only by somebody who knows about the amoeba, evolution of man and the gene. The scientific methodology for achieving immortality with quality of life is quite different from the extraction of 'amrith', but is equally or even more difficult than the process of extracting the mythological 'amrith' from the milky ocean as described in Indian mythology.

Age proof handsome characters are observed not only in very old mythology books but also in literature. In the nineteenth century novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wild there was an interesting character that remained young and became younger and younger as he committed sins. This imagination of linking remaining young by committing sins described by a novelist perhaps gives a message that attempting to remain young is bad to the society and may lead to committing crimes. We should analyze this in the background of witch craft practiced during the 19th century. Even today there are lots of wrong notions and false concepts in the society regarding remaining young and many crimes are committed hoping to remain young out of blind belief in the words of witches and wizards. Many did witchcraft to remain young and to get the vigor of youth. Oscar wild's imagination perhaps discouraged men from committing crimes for remaining young. All these writings in mythology and literature are different types of expressions of an intense desire floating in the society to remain young.

When Einstein said 'imagination is more important than knowledge', perhaps he meant the imagination of a scientific community.

We know that not only great scientists like Einstein but also engineers and great leaders of big business organizations of the 21st century emphasized the importance of imagination. The late Mr. Steve Jobs, the legendary CEO of Apple, considered that imagination and intuition are often more important than intelligence in leadership and decision making in business management. He noticed that many Indians were taking important decisions on intuitions. He also noticed that a good number of them turn out to be successful. The imagination of an individual is influenced by a lot of factors. Two important factors influencing the imagination are the knowledge already acquired by the brain and the child hood experience of the person. We know that these child hood experiences are impressions carved deep in the brain and difficult to modify or change. Even in old age dementia, the childhood memories are often undisturbed.

Imagination and intuition are related brain activities. Both may not have a definite known scientific basis or definite evidence to prove their credibility in an accepted scientific way. But still people of different professions depended on these imaginations and intuitions as if they were divine in origin and when acted on them, they had succeeded many a times. Intuitions are often described as the sixth sense or inner voice. One of my senior teachers, a very brilliant medicine professor, while making unexpected diagnosis used to tell that he had smelled the diagnosis, because he could not reason it out on the basis of guide lines in the text books. Interestingly often this diagnosis made on intuition, even though not rationale turned out to be right. We know that motor actions of brain are basically of two types. One is voluntary or intentional and second is involuntary or reflex types. If you close your eyes intentionally to avoid seeing something it is a voluntary closure and if your eyes are closed when something is going to hit your eyes it is an involuntary closure to protect the eye. Imagination and intuition can be compared to voluntary and involuntary motor actions of brain. Imagination has more of voluntary component in it, whereas intuition has more of involuntary component. Both are working at a higher level in the brain unlike the reflex closure of the eye. There could be hidden reasons for the brain to come out with such intuitions. It may be assumed that the previous experience and knowledge acquired in the brain are guiding and supporting both these voluntary action (imagination) and involuntary action (intuition).We do not remember the experience and the knowledge (data) we acquired from the time we were pushed out to this world till about five or six years. But these early data from zero age to six years even though not recallable are influencing the functioning of the brain. There are many similar data stored in the brain which we may not remember yet influences the decision making capacity of the brain. Hence some of the actions taken on the basis of intuition without any visible or palpable rationale may succeed. Often the credit for the success of a venture started on intuition or sixth sense goes to the favorite family deity or local saint's shrine. In India there is a practice of making a particular popular god as one of the business partners with the divine blessings as capital. Some of the businesses even use the name of the god and pay the royalty to the temple/church for using the name! When the profit is divided every year the god's share as one of the equal partner shall go promptly to the temple. This temple of god who is the 'intuition partner' of the business is now one of the richest temples in India. Not only Steve Job but also Einstein might have noticed this Indian trick of prospering business on divine intuitions and partnership! These success stories of decisions taken on the basis of intuitions, unexplained by existing knowledge, might have provoked Einstein to make statements highlighting the importance of imagination and intuition. At one occasion he had even thought that the only real valuable thing is intuition.

Over a period of time the functioning of brain is undergoing changes. The function of the brain of pre historic man is different from that of 21st century man. But the total capacity and basic nature of brain have remained almost the same. Brain stores information and process them. It makes conclusions and decisions depending on the information; some of them are simple structured decisions while others are sophisticated decisions. Information stored in the 20th century brain is different from the information stored in 21st century brain. With the invention of calculators and personal computers many information are stored in them and applied at lower level to take structured decisions. Hence today brain need not keep multiplication table for mathematical calculations or even the road maps while traveling through unfamiliar places. (As a primary school student in the 20th century I had mugged up the multiplication tables and store them even today in the brain.) There are several such data stored in computers and in the mobile telephones for application by the human brain. So at present often knowledge is built up in computers or even in mobile telephones and many applications are done by the brain according to its judgment. Of course the brain should have the knowledge to operate the sophisticated computers. Imagination based on the data stored in computer as well as in own brain, is occurring more frequently and efficiently nowadays. This is possible because the computer does part of the data storage, otherwise should have been done by the brain. The area of brain spared by use of computer can be used for imagination. This process is likely to increase when more and more routine functions of brain are taken over by the computer. The quality and quantity of imagination shall improve and increase further over a period of time. Computers have already taken up the function of storage of many sophisticated data for mathematical calculations. It is possible that the computer shall also take over many of the mathematical, scientific and managerial functions of brain; and shall perform them much more efficiently than the brain itself. The computer not only takes over scientific function but also takes over certain lower level literary functions too. The spell check and grammar checking are done by the computer. Hence poets also get that part of their brain used previously to store spellings and grammar liberated for other activities. This newly available part of the brain can be effectively used to augment the imagination capabilities as well. Emotional activities and imagination shall be exclusively done by our own brain and computer cannot take over this function effectively as it stands now. Imagination has no boundaries and can go anywhere like an army tank rolling out creating its own roads through areas never traveled before; whereas the knowledge is just stored in the brain like clay and water stored in a tank which is used for building and shaping imagination. Perhaps Einstein had visualized this changing role of brain even among scientists for emotion and imagination. Hence he made his statement highlighting the role of imagination, the precursor of invention.

Traditionally we believed that knowledge is stored in the brain and emotions and imaginations are in the heart. But now we know both are in the brain and are complimentary to one another. Heart is only a pump supplying oxygen and nutrients to the brain through the blood it pumps. It means that knowledge is essential for meaningful imagination by brain and imaginations are essential for further enhancement of knowledge. Unfortunately our educational system divides the art and science into two different water tight compartments for the convenience of educationist. It may be true that a detailed in depth study in a science subject is not possible during the limited academic course, if there is 'distraction' from apparently unrelated art subjects. But people should realize that art and science are not water tight compartments and one is complimentary to the other.

In short all students undergoing science education, even at doctorate level, should be sufficiently exposed to good poetry and drama to develop their imagination and literary skills as required for a good scientist. To develop science to further heights, useful for mankind the scientists should have kind heart and compassionate thoughts. His thoughts might be influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's writings. Prof. Einstein also thought 'science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind'. Perhaps his desire to use scientific knowledge only for the benefit of humanity could be another reason, why Dr. Einstein said that imagination was more important than pure knowledge of science.

It is possible that Einstein might have a guilty feeling after the atomic explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We know that these two atom bomb explosions were responsible for the end of the terrible Second World War. But that fact did not justify the damage these explosions had caused to the vast number of innocent civilian population of Japan and the genetic damages to humanity. If he had imagined the devastating trauma atom bombs are going to create in the world, perhaps he would not have divulged the secret of division of atom to the scientific community. His failure to imagine all the bad effects of the atom bomb explosion and the sufferings to humanity might have pained him. This could be still another reason why he said 'imagination is more important than knowledge'.

There is a concept that imagination is for poets, literary men and great painters only. But in reality it is not the monopoly of artists and literary men and women. The scientist's imagination may not be very sophisticated as artistic imagination. In algebra mathematical problems are solved by first imagining the answer as X and later we find out the value of X. Similarly a student of Geography, oceanography or a captain of ship imagines the equator, an imaginary line passing through the center of earth mainly along the oceans. The imaginary line equator is important for important calculations in space exploration also. An architectural engineer imagines the structure he is going to build and makes the drawings as well as makes the model. It is evident that many scientific activities may start from simple imaginations.

From an attractive imagination desire germinates. The unaccomplished desire is the driving force for invention. If we put these facts into a mathematical formula it may read as Desire minus Achievements is equal to the driving Force for invention. (D – A = F) We know that desire builds up only with some amount of imagination or dreams. When desire is completely accomplished there is no chance for invention. Hence desire should be replenished and build up as and when part of it is accomplished. Philosophers say if you control and abolish desire you can have peace of mind. It is true, but is this peace desirable for progress? Some amount of dissatisfaction should be there to invent new things. If the mind is resting at peace there is no invention, everything is still and stationery. Desire and necessity is the father and the mother respectively of invention required for this dynamic world. Perhaps the mathematical formula of force for invention might be in his mind; still another reason for Einstein to say imagination is more important than knowledge.

Errors and mistakes are committed by those who work in the areas of imagination as well as in knowledge. Only lazy people who do not do anything can avoid mistakes, but the society often does not tolerate mistakes and occasionally reacts to it very wildly. In an imagination of a voyage to the bottom of the ocean on the back of a tortoise one can see the beautiful ocean creatures and rub shoulders with the mermaids. He can visit the mermaid queen and even marry the princess. This imagination is acceptable without taking an oxygen cylinder on the back for breathing. But if there is a description of a scientist coming out of a submarine to explore the ocean bed he cannot do it without the oxygen cylinder and the accessories to breathe. It means that an apparent error in imagination goes without much of a problem and people accept the description because it is imagination. But if somebody tries to swim from a sub marine without an oxygen cylinder it is a grave error and this description is not accepted by people. In another words imagination has the license to commit errors and mistakes whereas knowledge cannot commit such errors and mistakes. If an error occurs in science or knowledge it can have serious consequences and scientific community shall not pardon it. This tolerance of errors is a real advantage for imagination and this great privilege of imagination over knowledge could be another reason for Einstein's comment.

We need sense organs like eyes to see something, ears to hear something, and sensitive skin to touch and feel something in real life. In imagination a blind can visualize events and a deaf can enjoy music and a handless person sense and feel. This capacity of man to imagine even in the absence of functioning sense organs is remarkable. This is possible because of the previous experience and information received from the sense organs that are registered and stored in the brain. This capability of brain to successfully perform the task of imagination even without the relevant sense organ is amazing. Perhaps this could be another reason for his comment about imagination.

Every person appreciates monetary benefits, recognition, honors, love and respect by fellow human beings. Did Einstein receive all these things sufficiently to match his inventions? I feel he did not get sufficient recognition from people when compared to an artist who work with imagination. Painters, poets, story writers, drama writers, actors, and even animal characters in dramas are more recognized and remembered in the society than great scientists. Many of them get attractive remuneration for acting, story writing or painting a good portrait on the canvas. There are people who even believe that Einstein was responsible for the explosion of atom bombs and the miseries in Japan. All these might have pained him and he was unhappy about the way his inventions are being utilized. In spite of his high intelligence and remarkable inventions he was not loved by people. A simple imaginary drama character is more respected and loved. This could be still another reason for his statement that imagination is more important than knowledge.

The society's neglect of scientists is evident in the case of many other great scientists also. People remember Shakespeare and Julius Caesar when they listen to Mark Antonym's speech. Tarzan, James Bond, Mickey Mouse, and Harry Potter are house hold names and well recognized entities loved by the masses. But how many people remember Thomas Edison when they see an electric bulb? Nobody thinks of Louie Pastor when they get a lifesaving vaccination against Rabies, the fatal incurable disease after a mad dog bite or Madam Curie when they get their body examined with X-ray or when they get radiation treatment for curing the cancer. Antibiotics are used very frequently in medical science for curing life threatening bacterial diseases. Neither the doctor who prescribes it nor the patient who gets the injection to cure his disease remembers Alexander Fleming. Hardly anybody remembers Wright brothers when they fly in an aero plane. In another words the neglect by the society is quiet visible not only of Einstein but also of other great scientists. People love to live in an imaginary world to forget the sufferings and grief of the real world. They remember the imaginary stories and honor the drama actors. In this process they forget the persons who had made this world a better place to live long comfortably. This neglect of the great scientist responsible for epoch making inventions and the over enthusiasm in honoring the leaders of imaginary world might be another cause for stating that imagination was more important than knowledge in this world.

Every profession has an element of imagination. An advocate imagines the story of the crime he is going to argue from the information available and fabricated. He also imagines that the judge shall believe his story and give a favorable verdict. The judge imagines the stories of both the advocates and imagines that his judgment of the case is correct and depending upon that imagination a verdict is given. A teacher imagines that his /her students have understood his teaching and imagines that all of them come out with flying colors in the examination. A doctor imagines that he has diagnosed the disease correctly and treats the patient imagining that he or she shall be cured of the disease. A politician imagines that his speeches are well understood by the citizens and shall cast the vote in his favor. A civil engineer imagines that his drawings and plans are correct and can build the dam/bridge strong enough to withstand any climatic or geological eventuality. Even in the oldest profession, a prostitute imagines that she shall get a good customer and satisfy his needs and get enough money. The police imagine how the crime has been committed with the available evidence while the criminal plans and imagines the crime as well as methods to be followed after the crime to avoid detection and conviction, much before committing the crime. A beggar needs good imagination about the technique he has to employ to elicit maximum sympathy and the location suitable for begging. So imagination is important even to the criminals and the police, the noble men and the wretched, the scholars and the illiterate. Some of their imaginations can become true others may not. This extensive use of imagination in the day to day life of different types of people could be still another reason for Einstein to say 'imagination is more important than knowledge'.

Imagination can produce real physical and physiological changes in the body. If one imagines about food the salivary secretions in the mouth and the acid secretions in the stomach increase. If an emotionally vulnerable student imagines about a failure in the examination his tension increases and he might develop head ache and hysterical symptoms. When a person watches a good tragedy cinema he/she cries even though it is well known to everybody that it is only an imaginary story. If a person imagines about sex with an attractive person the sexual secretions increase. People can have the pleasure of sex with any attractive partner in imagination. One can even imagine about having sex with the princess of a country without his head being chopped off by the king. Imagination even though not real can make real changes in the mind and body. Many of the sexual imaginations can give real pleasure to the person without any cost or effort. Fantasizing is a pleasant imagination without the strains and 'hazards' of reality. Einstein has understood this great potential of imagination and happiness derived out of imagination; hence he told 'imagination is more important than knowledge'.

In the day to day life of an average man there are lots of occasions he can experience imagination and speculation. The day begins with a prayer and he imagines that God shall protect him and provide him with all essentials. He goes to work hoping and imagining that he shall get good salary at the end of the month and promotions and prosperity as years pass on. In the afternoon he goes to the stock exchange and buys some shares imagining that the price of those shares shall go up. In the evening he goes to a movie for entertainment which is the imagination of a story writer and the acting of the professional actors. He may purchase a lottery ticket or go to a casino imagining that luck is with him. He gets married while he is employed imagining to have a good family and happy married life with healthy and intelligent children. He also imagines that his children shall look after him when he is old and sick. Many of these imaginations need not be realized; but still we continue with happy imaginations throughout the life. Even while dying we imagine to go to heaven accompanied by the angels. Not only adults but also children are living in a world of imaginations. They are introduced to fairy tales and other imaginary stories of talking utensils, machines, animals and characters with super human abilities even at a very young age. When they grow up they play computer games with imaginary characters and get addicted to an imaginary world of their own. As adults they have books, dramas, cinemas, and soap operas to satisfy their needs in imaginations. Besides this there are a lot of people living on imagination as a profession or business. The people employed in creative advertisements, in writing stories, songs, poetry, drama etc. live on their capacity for producing socially sensitive imaginations. The imagination business has a lot indirect employment also. They may not do imagination, but help to the success of the imagination institutions and business in different capacities like priests, actors, camera men, make up men, managers etc. Hence imagination is very important to everybody everywhere every day. This could be another valid reason for Einstein's comment.

Stress and strains are increasingly felt in the society as a result of economic progress. When people are more educated especially in science and management subjects their stress also increases. The stress level is fairly high among employees in the management cadre in big institutions. Often the remedy for these emotional strains comes from products of imagination. Reading drama, novel, cartoons etc. writing poetry and acting in cinemas or dramas give relief for tension. Same is true about participating in painting, drawing and music, all are products of imagination. Viewing cinema is the cheapest relaxation and stress relieving device for an average man. This great advantage of imagination to relive mental tension and strains, often produced by knowledge related activities, is another reason for considering imagination as more important than knowledge. Imagination is the remedy for some of the ills of the society produced by knowledge and related activities.

It is interesting to note that for many people natural imaginations of self and others are not sufficient and they want to experience new own imaginations and go for the artificial imagination and hallucination created by alcohol and psychotropic drugs. This habit of people to buy false imagination spending their true health and wealth might have influenced Dr. Einstein's thoughts. Unfortunately this craving for artificial imagination and use of psychotropic drugs are alarmingly increasing. It is damaging the society and is a threat to mankind. Is it out of frustration, on realizing the pathetic situation of the people, he has made his sarcastic comment about imagination? When imagination has so much of a good as well as a bad role in our day to day life how can a scientist of great caliber ignore it? Hence Einstein's comment 'imagination is more important than knowledge' to the people of this world could be a sarcastic expression due to his anguish and frustration on the rapidly increasing use of psychotropic substances especially by the youth for living in an imaginary world.

It is interesting to note that perhaps the greatest and oldest imagination of mankind is the imagination of God. There are thousands of gods imagined and worshiped by man from the prehistoric time onwards. New gods are evolving even today. The influences of these gods are tremendous on mankind. Men fight each other and sacrifice their own lives to safeguard the 'honor' of their gods. The olden day's gods were described as cruel and frightening characters who would like to drink blood of humans and animals when they are killed on the altar for the sake of God. These gods took revenge on humans whenever there was a lack of human or animal sacrifice in front of their idols. Over a period of time this type of imagination changed to loving and caring gods. The imagination of multiple gods also is changing to three and later to one all-powerful omnipotent omnipresent God. These imaginations soon transform to faith. Each follower of the particular faith and God firmly believes that his or her God is the only true God, and the groups of such followers form a religion to propagate their God. These religious groups are very powerful and influential in the society and in the administration of different countries in the world. The priests not only manipulate religious worships but also political processes. Their influence crosses boundaries of nations and continents. Today perhaps only the religion has an empire where the sun does not set like the British empire of last century. The religious imagination does not stop at the level of God. It extends to angels, devils, soul, spirits, heaven, hell, rebirth etc. Thousands of books are written on these imaginations and many lives were sacrificed to establish and protect the sacred books and the faith. Mortals who have been sacrificed perish whereas gods who have been imagined remain eternal. Real things perish while imagined things cannot perish; they are eternal. Many people believe that God and divine words are the only ultimate truth and permanent establishment in the world. How can anybody ignore these great imaginations and their extensive influence on human beings? If knowledge is like an endless deep blue ocean, imagination is the blue sky and space beyond the vision of naked eyes, reaching to distant galaxies, heaven and gods. Scientifically it means knowledge has an end point where as imagination ends only at infinity. When ninety percent of people of the world consider that the divine imaginations are true and are enjoying the religious worships and celebrations Einstein could not ignore them. The tremendous power of religion based on the simple imagination of God, unquestionable by knowledge was observed by Einstein and hence he said 'imagination is more important and influential to humans than knowledge'. Very often people inherit their parents' religion with all its assets and liabilities. Religion is a clearly visible instance of supremacy of imagination, illusion and emotion over reality, knowledge and reasoning.

Finally, the normal values in human anatomy, physiology and biochemistry are often a range not an absolute constant number as in mathematics or physics. A normal adult man's height may be between 4.5 feet to 6.5feet. Similarly weight could be from 50Kg.to 250Kg. His blood hemoglobin could be 10 mg% to 12mg%. Let us visualize what happens if the height is 7 feet, the weight is 350 Kg or the hemoglobin is 20mg% in certain individuals. They cannot comfortably live in the world of normal persons. The tall man gets his head hit at all the ordinary doors. He could not sit properly in an ordinary car; he cannot stand in a bus without bending. Please look at what happens to a 350kg man. The seats arranged in bus or flight could not hold him, the narrow corridors and ordinary entrance shall be smaller for him to enter. The ordinary cots might break if he lays on it. Similarly if the length of the eye ball is just 1mm. more than the normal range he or she shall have short sight of about three diopters and shall not be able to see far off objects clearly without correcting spectacles. Hemoglobin is the substance which carries oxygen from lung to tissues. It is a very essential and useful material in the red blood cells. Suppose there are more red blood cells in the blood more oxygen could be easily transported. But in reality increased blood cells mean the small arteries (blood passages) are clogged and blood shall not reach some of the important destinations. These organs or areas are deprived of oxygen and other nutrients leading to permanent damages to that part of the body. So we can observe that increased red blood cells in blood, contrary to our expectation leads to cutting off the blood supply itself to the organ. It means that increase in hemoglobin and red blood cells (Polycythemia Vera) are bad to health and blood donation is one of the treatments. One can envisage a similar situation occurring when IQ is abnormally high. These persons with abnormally high IQ may not efficiently perform normal intellectual activities where as they may do very complicated intellectual activities very quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately unlike blood donation, IQ donation is neither possible nor a remedy for this problem. This might be still another reason for Einstein, the great nuclear scientist to make perhaps a crazy comment about a very ordinary subject which is much below his domain of activity, the theoretical physics and mathematics. One plus one is two for a scientist while it could be a larger one for an artist (Malayalam writer Bashir). We can consider that Einstein was over intelligent and over qualified for the job!

There could be many more reasons for his statement regarding imagination. It may take several years to find all explanations for the interesting statement of a very highly intelligent (IQ.160) scientist. Persons like me with a much lower intelligence might not be able to unearth the full scope and real meaning of his statements. His statement is open for future generations to ponder on. Perhaps many new explanations shall follow as time passes on.

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## Acknowledgment

The idea for this book was conceived on discussion with many of my friends and relatives. They have given many suggestions and information during the process of writing the book. Many corrections were made before it is being published.

My friends Dr. Joy and Dr. Mathew, the anesthesiologists of Little Flower hospital, Angamaly were a source of encouragement for writing this book right from the beginning. Dr. Prakash, Ophthalmologist formaly of Medical trust hospital, Cochin and Dr. Ashok, Ophthalmologist of Dr. Tony's eye institute, Alwaye gave several important in puts regarding Hindu mythology. Dr. Jayadip Menon, Cardiologist formerly of Little Flower Hospital, Angamaly had given valuable suggestions and views on death and heart beats. He also encouraged me in writing the book. Prof. Dr. Mike Denton, genetic specialist Australia had given his views about the possibility of cell division and binary fission. I use this page to express my gratitude to these great friends of mine.

Prof. Shaji Pathrose & Prof. Bharathen have helped me a lot regarding corrections in the usage of English language. I sincerely thank both of them.

Finally my family members, Dr. Binu Raju George, Mr. Arun Kollamana and Susan for providing their time and resources, I am ever grateful to them.

My wife Leela has spared happily the time meant for her, for writing this book. I thank her for her sacrifice and encouragement.

Some of the persons who helped me in completing this book do not agree to some of the statements in the book. In spite of their difference in opinion they have helped me. I am extremely grateful to their gesture.

13th January, 2013. Dr. Ittyerah P. Tholath.

