Dying Wishes

Switching universes? Hawking's idea of time travel.

I spoke with a friend recently whose husband has died of cancer.

His dying wishes were very clear. He was very open about them. Here is what they were:

1. Please always have music in the room - here is what I like...
2. Please always have food available - here is what I like... (Actually, in the last month, he lost his appetite - wh ch is a sign that hospice carers look for to indicate that someone is ready, or likely, to die.)
3. I want my pain medicated even if my life is shortened. Please have someone available always for this.
4. Before I am unable to cope, please get all my financial affairs in order.
5. Please keep some of my ashes with you and scatter the rest - here is where...

He was an organized and thoughtful person. What he did in making his wishes clear was, I am sure, helpful for his wife, now his widow.

* * *
During the course of the conversation, I was educated about hospice care. I always thought that one went into a hospice, a place, i.e., an upscale nursing home. But hospice care apparently can be provided in one's own home. The hospice program seeks to do four things:
1. Never leave the patient alone.
2. Minimize pain.
3. Bring peace to the patient.
4. At the end, try to have the patient's death occur during sleep.

* * *

If the implication of Einstein's formulas is that the way we get to time-travel is to reduce our weight to zero (so we can travel at the speed of light), then what we are getting ready for is some trip! Same with going through a wormhole such as Hawking suggests in the diagram above.

So it is worth being organized for the transition. It's our last chance. After that we may not have any control.