I was struck with an obvious but nonetheless diappointing truth today.
I will never see my own skull.
I'm not including X rays of computer simulations on this one. They don't count, obviously.
Nor peeling back the skin and looking in the mirror. I mean an entire disembodied skull with nothing inside or attached.
It is simply not possible for a human being to stare upon the box that contains his brain (and let's try not to imagine the unpleasant picture of someone achieving this... ooops, sorry we have already)
You might argue that it is possible to create some kind of false metal skull and then have some kind of operation which substitutes the cyber skull for the real one. After which you could have the doctors clean up your skull and have a look at it.
But that technology will never exist. For the simple reason that the expense would be prohibitive and there would be no point in developing it, as it would never be useful in any other circumstance than giving people an opportunity to view their own skull. And no-one's going to pay for that. It would be a waste of money.
I only thought this because it would be interesting to see how your own skull measured up to all the others and also what the alien archaeologists of the future would find if they dug up your remains.
Skulls are just kind of cool.
I know there was a bloke who was dying and donated his skull to the RSC or somewhere so he could get to play Yorrick after his death. That's an imaginative use of an important resource.
I wonder if it would be possible to have your skull made into a drinking vessel, so people could still enjoy you after you were gone. Perhaps all your friends and family could drink from your skull at your own funeral, as a kind of tribute. I'd like to make it known at this point that that is what I would like to happen in the event of my death. I know it might be a bit unpleasant for my friends and family. But hey, it's really what I would have wanted.
I think it is time for me to go home now. Don't you?
