Vu Nguyen

"Ars moriendi is the ars vivendi: The art of dying is the art of living."

Ai cũng phải chết. 

Nhưng mỗi khi nghĩ đến cái chết, trong mình luôn có một cảm giác tiếc nuối, bất lực trước số phận, và thoáng qua cái mong ước "khoa học sẽ tìm ra phương pháp để kéo dài tuổi thọ lên 120, thậm chí 150 tuổi trong thời gian mình còn sống..."

Được sống, là một điều kỳ diệu.

Phải mất đi điều kỳ diệu ấy, thật không cam tâm.

Nhưng đọc How We Die của Sherwin B. Nuland, mình không còn cảm giác tiếc nuối nữa, ý nghĩ về cái chết cũng nhẹ nhàng hơn, nhất là khi đọc xong những dòng cuối của sách.

Suy cho cùng, ta chết đi, là ta mang lại sự sống mới, như cách ta đã được sinh ra...

"There is a ripeness of time for death, regarding others as well as ourselves, when it is reasonable we should drop off, and make room for another growth. When we have lived our generation out, we should not wish to encroach on another."

"Give place to others, as others have given place to you."

"Mankind, for all its unique gifts, is just as much a part of the ecosystem as is any other zoologic or botanical form, and nature does not distinguish. We die so that the world may continue to live. We have been given the miracle of life because trillions upon trillions of living things have prepared the way for us and then have died—in a sense, for us. We die, in ture, so that others may live. The tragedy of a single individual becomes, in the balance of natural things, the triumph of onging life."

"All of this makes more precious each hour of those we have been given; it demands that life must be useful and rewarding."

"The dignity that we seek in dying must be found in the dignity with which we have lived our lives. Ars moriendi is the ars vivendi: The art of dying is the art of living. The honesty and grace of the years of life that are ending is the real measure of how we die. It is not in the last weeks or days that we compose the message that will be remembered, but in all the decades that preceded them. Who has lived in dignity, dies in dignity."

(Excerpts from an Elsevier post written by Lesley Thompson, Ph.D

Full post: https://www.elsevier.com/connect/when-being-wrong-is-a-good-thing-for-science)

"We often think of science as a fixed truth or a guaranteed fact. But it’s not.

... Science is and always has been an iterative process. Facts held true today — such as the Earth being round or just another planet at the edge of a quite ordinary galaxy in a small part of the universe — would have once been thought of as ridiculous, so accepted was the scientific view back then.

... the answer is not to hide away from the fact that science and scientists can be fallible but to celebrate it — and explain why."

“Science can never solve one problem without raising ten more.” - George Bernard Shaw.

... When finding faults or questioning research, we often find new areas to explore and new reasons to keep looking. With so many truths across disciplines yet to be unlocked, we cannot hope to unearth these mysteries without making mistakes or reaching unintended outcomes."

My takeaway: 

Be bold, and don't be afraid of being wrong!

The quote that I am obsessed with

“Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.”

Advice to "How to be a good scientist"

“The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working.”

“The only source of knowledge is experience.”

“Imagination is the highest form of research.”

“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.”

Advice to "How to be a good human"

“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

“Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it.”