Interestingly, the trend in 1940s SF was for humans to always be superior to aliens; John W. Campbell, the editor for Astounding, particularly liked this view. Asimov hated this trend, so that’s why the Foundation series has no aliens in it; as a result he could sell the stories to Campbell without having to write about the inferiority of aliens. It’s also why Asimov wrote a lot of three-law robot stories at this time, as he didn’t mind writing humans to be superior to robots.
I stopped drinking alcohol some years ago. Before that I hardly consumed any alcohol at all for many years, but in my college years and maybe some years after that, I drank socially like “everybody else”. But I gradually kind of got tired of dealing with the bad feelings (physical and emotional), so I drank less and less....
The exact same thing has happened to me. I still have a beer every now and then (like once every two months or so). I pretty much can honestly say that if I drank any less, I wouldn’t drink at all.
I’ve never been that much of a drinker, but once I reached my forties, having a beer or two would invariably mean that I would need to take a nap a few hours later, and I just don’t need that interfering with my day. And I am cognizant of the recent studies have shown that there is no health benefits, only detriments, to any amount of alcohol at all. And add that I would pretty much always prefer the taste of a diet soda to a beer on almost any occasion, I’ve pretty much almost completely phased out alcohol in my life.
It helps a lot when most of your friends don’t drink much, either. That said, does any one else really care whether you drink or not?
Both my younger brother and I got diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I was diagnosed 19 years ago. I modified my diet, started getting a lot more exercise, and religiously took my oral meds when I started having to take them after a few years. I check my blood sugar often. My diabetes is still well-controlled. I had a bout of frozen shoulder a few years ago (that got corrected with surgery) but other than that I’m fine at age 51.
My younger brother got diagnosed about ten years ago. He did nothing to change his diet (which remained awful) and stayed obese. He continued to smoke heavily and made no attempt to quit. He never even tried to get any kind of exercise. He was prescribed diabetes meds but I don’t know how good he was at taking them. Eventually he lost a big toe, and then slowly lost kidney function which eventually required him to get dialysis. He suffered two heart attacks on two separate occasions (interestingly, both attacks occurred during dialysis sessions). The second heart attack killed him. He was 47 years old.
So, that’s what can happen if you don’t get treatment.
Any sci-fi with aliens where humans are not the less advanced race?
What the title says, I’m tired of the trope where humans are the least advanced in the universe....
Anyone else gradually stopped drinking alcohol?
I stopped drinking alcohol some years ago. Before that I hardly consumed any alcohol at all for many years, but in my college years and maybe some years after that, I drank socially like “everybody else”. But I gradually kind of got tired of dealing with the bad feelings (physical and emotional), so I drank less and less....
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