Hey, Spike, Anders, other ExI pals -- come to the Alcor-40 conference and stay a few days extra. We'll take a trip to the Grand Canyon. I haven't been into it in well over 20 years.<div><br></div><div>--Max<br><div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 6:58 AM, spike <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net" target="_blank">spike66@att.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
<br>
>> the awesome feeling of climbing down into Grand Canyon...Anders<br>
<br>
This is a terrific example, for the comment brought back fond memories from<br>
11 years ago when my bride and I, along with another couple, hiked from the<br>
south rim to the north rim, with three nights on the trail. We became<br>
acquainted with two other couples doing the same thing down there and became<br>
friends, for it was a fairly unusual pair of groups: we were four engineers<br>
who went to school together, they were four doctors who went to school<br>
together. They were all around 30, we were all around 40. With the decade<br>
handicap, the oldster engineers were still able to hike their young socks<br>
off. Of course, they offered a perfectly logical explanation: we were<br>
spending our weekends hiking, they were spending theirs working at the<br>
hospital.<br>
<br>
The reason I wanted to hike the Grand Canyon was I wanted to examine the<br>
interface where the layers change. Look at this photo, and notice the<br>
transition a few hundred meters down from the rim of the canyon, especially<br>
visible toward the right of the photo where the color changes from tan to a<br>
reddish brown:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GRANDVIEWREVB.jpg" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GRANDVIEWREVB.jpg</a><br>
<br>
I had flown over the canyon a number of times on my way to and from Phoenix<br>
and had wondered what the heck that transition was. I wanted to see that up<br>
close. So I talked my bride and my friends into doing this three day hike,<br>
reasoning that the trail had to cross that transition somewhere, so I could<br>
look at it.<br>
<br>
A few hours into the hike, as we neared that transition, I marveled at how<br>
abrupt that layer changes, even as you get closer to it. It appeared just<br>
as sharp as when viewed from 10 km in a plane. Still closer, still appeared<br>
to be a sharp transition. Eventually I found a place on the trail where I<br>
could walk right up to that layer change. It is so sudden that you can find<br>
that transition and place your thumb on it. Half your thumb will be<br>
touching a tan material and half will be touching the reddish brown. The<br>
layer boundary is as sharp as if you drew it with a pencil.<br>
<br>
To this day, I find it completely astonishing that geological layers have a<br>
transition that abrupt.<br>
<br>
That is an example of something that cannot be experienced by virtual travel<br>
in any real sense. The feel of the air, the opportunity to meet the young<br>
doctors.<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
spike<br>
</font></span><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div>Max More, PhD</div><div>Strategic Philosopher</div><div>Co-editor, <em>The Transhumanist Reader</em></div><div>CEO, Alcor Life Extension Foundation</div>
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