Driven

My physiology professor, Dr. K, has strong opinions.  The first day of class he informed us that he had a parrot at home, a 3 year old daughter, so he would be getting his cussing out of his system during class.  And boy has he.  My favorite quote thus far is "Shit wrapped in vomit wrapped in shit."  That was said while describing a random fruit from Thailand that Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods can't eat because of the smell.  I am 99% convinced I will be tested on that bit of knowledge in our next quiz or possibly the first exam.  And here is another little factoid.... Another percentage (I am learning to love those among other math related objects) 40%.  That's the fail rate of said physiology class.

I love it.

Maybe I am too much of a philosopher, too much of a romantic, or maybe it was just the  endorphins from a good work out in the gym, but I can't look at this class from a purely scientific frame of mind.

N+/K+.  The sodium and potassium pump.  That is a form of primary active transport in our cells.  Three Sodium ions (N+) enter the trans-membrane protein and activate a conformational change of said pump  thanks to the hydrolysis of Adenosine Tri-phosphate, or ATP, the energy required by our cells.  The N+ escape into the extra-cellular fluid and 2 K+ slide in while the door is still open and make their way into the cell.

This is the mechanism which drives electrical currents around and around our bodies through the Central Nervous System and Peripheral Nervous System.  This causes our hearts to beat, our lungs to breath, our muscles to contract... our thoughts.

"Your personality is simply the exchange of K+ and N+.  You are a bunch of chemical reactions.  And I could prove it.  I could change your personality.  With a crayon.  I will shove that crayon up your nose through your skull into your frontal lobe and sever the connections and alter the chemical metabolic pathways, changing you."

OK, Doc... You'll have to get that close to me with a crayon, but let's say I accept your premise, which I have to in order to pass, right?

Me, you, my dog, we are all just chemical processes.

But, why, I must ask, does my dog eat it's own shit, while I am studying my self?  Imagine if you will a skeleton.  Imagine further, that skeleton holding up a skull, a human skull, under a light to get a better look at it, to examine it, to locate the foramen, the stapes, the lambdoid suture.  Why are we the only bunch of neurons studying our own neurons?  Ok, fine, evolution, selection, etc.  I can understand that.  But what makes individuals different?

Why do these chemical reactions and pumps drive some to achieve greatness and others simply crazy?
Why go out of our way to create art?  Why do we enjoy sunsets?  Why music?

Yeah, I don't know either.