Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Jan 15, 2007, at 11:13 PM, Peter Klein wrote: > Adam, I'm not sure it's a "Luddite" attitude. It goes deeper. > Medical technology has always evoked both wonder and revulsion in > people. Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" struck a chord, and > continues to affect us over two centuries because of that > ambivalent feeling. Sticking things into the body, and putting > things in or drawing things out has always seemed icky to most > humans. I'm sure there's an evolutionary reason for this. > > We want to hug a sick child. That's instinct. Tubes and meters > EKGs and IV bags seem cold, impersonal, almost inhuman. Of course, > our hugs will do little good for many sick children--it's those > cold, clinical machines--hopefully run by knowledgeable and > compassionate doctors like our Steve who will save them. Still, > the attitude persists. Knowledge can override instinct, but it > can't eliminate it entirely. > > I look at these pictures of Steve's and I see both of those > realities. The pitifully small child dwarfed by these > Frankensteinian machines, and the miracle that those machines might > just give the child back his or her health. so very well said Peter... I thank you very much for such a thoughtful, and right/on understanding... I want to think some more about this, perhaps respond a little further later on...but you have said what I feel... Steve > > --Peter > > Re. Steve Barbour's photo, > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/barbour/PAW2007/icu+care+2.jpg.html > > At 10:59 PM 1/14/2007 -0800, Adam Bridge wrote: >> I'm glad you captured it, Steve. >> >> I'm bothered by the almost Luddite tendency of Western society. >> There's a lack of understanding of science - perpetuated by the media >> who confuse science and engineering so badly that you'd never know >> they were different disciplines. > > [snip] > >> Medicine seems a prime target for this neo-Luddite point of view. The >> idea that technology might help physicians and nurses be better >> care-givers somehow gets chomped by the role of the bean-counters. >> >> On 1/14/07, Steve Barbour <kididdoc@cox.net> wrote: >> >> > when I saw this image I was doing my rounds, and had no camera with >> > me at the hospital... >> > but the scene expressed to me exactly what you said above... >> > >> > so hours later I returned to the hospital, just to get the shot... >> > if the image has conveyed this feeling, >> > I guess it was worth it... >> > >> > thank you, Steve > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information