The baby and the bathwater...

[fajrdrako]

If the temperature in the bathtub is raised only one degree every ten minutes, how does the bather know when to start screaming? - Marshall McLuhan, 1911 - 1980

When it starts to hurt, of course. This is one of those statements which - it seems to me - confuses the theory of an event with the experience of an event. We don't scream because water burns us at a certain temperature, we scream because it hurts. Doesn't matter what the temperature is. Pain is pain.

Reality does not depend on our knowledge or understanding of it.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

there was a news story out just this week that indicated a strong link between continued stress and increased risk of heart attacks.

I believe it. I've seen the strain of people under continuous pain. It's awful in so many ways - psychological as well as physical. And having one thing wrong tends to lead to having other things wrong.