ED's blog

 If Biology 103 has taught me anything this semester, it is that nothing and everything matters. Everything matters in the sense that there is no such thing as a real closed system and everything is related; the progression of everything affects everything else, in some complex way. Nothing matters in the amazing sense that, to our current knowledge, only humans consciously care about life on Earth and in the Universe on a long time scale… things do not “matter” objectively outside of human perception. The course has taught me quite a bit about the faultiness of human perception in that we believe our perceptions hold truth. We so easily forget other animals do not see, smell, hear, taste, touch, or sense the world the same way humans do.

            Considering myself to be a fairly cognizant, observant person, I always notice when my heart goes aflutter, or sinks, or starts beating faster. There are several events that make my heart react this way: when I hope for eye contact with someone and then they meet my stare, when someone I like looks me in the eye, when I think of something scary that could happen or something very important that is impending or a deadline that is approaching, when I witness something so nice or so cute that my heart melts in approval. I understand that these reactions are due to the hormonal responses my body has to what my senses perceive in the environment around me.