Medicine is such a weird phenomenon. Do you ever stop and just go, wow, how is this a thing? Maybe it’s just me, but surely it’s worth taking the time to appreciate just how improbable it is that we meat sacks in space have managed to piece together how to… well, piece our bodies back together when they come apart.
It’s not like I know a great deal about it. In fact, I know virtually nothing about the ins and outs of medical practice. If anything, though, that just makes it all the more magical. I mean, there are people out there developing life-saving treatments and devices, and here’s me just sailing on through as an investment banker. It’s not a matter of being a better or worse person; it just blows me away that this is a thing that we, as a species, can do. I sort of feel like it’s fair for me to take credit vicariously for the achievement of medicine.
Hey, calm down. I’m just musing here. It’s not like I’m saying that I personally, literally developed a specific application of medical technology – say, devices for the at-home administration of hyperbaric therapy. Melbourne types seem to love taking credit for the city’s reputation for great food and coffee purely by virtue of living here, and no one complains about that. But if someone came out and falsely claimed to have made a specific coffee that was carefully crafted by someone else, that’d probably be frowned upon. Do you follow?
I don’t know; maybe that’s not the best metaphor. Comparing the invention of portable hyperbaric chambers to making a coffee doesn’t quite seem right. I mean, innovations in medical technology are generally built on a whole field of research and practice. They don’t just pop out of thin air and into one person’s imagination. But then, the same could be said for making a coffee. The art of the barista isn’t the sole property of any one individual; it’s built on a long, cross-disciplinary history. Just like hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and medicine in general.