One of my degrees is in ABE ... it's still something that interests me ... and yet, the thing that I still find amazing about the field is how little of our training was really focused developing engineering from the science of on biological and botanical organisms, biochemistry, molecular genetics or genomics ... ok, genomics and bioinformatics weren't exactly disciplines 30 years ago -- but I don't remember getting any significant background in genetics, biochemistry, biophysics or bioelectricity ... certainly nothing compared to all of those engineering mechanics classes that we took -- the heavy dose of EM classes did make the EIT test pretty damned simple, but I more concerned with what I missed by packing my brain cells with free body diagrams ...
I realized the deficit in my understanding of biology, biochemistry and bioelectricity as my sister and mother struggled with health issues and ultimately passed away. My father's struggle with Parkinson's Disease has just drove the point home even further. Engineers don't know squat about biology and bioelectricity. Farmers might know even less about biology than engineers -- farming is mostly about managing risk and finances by mastering government programs, following markets, managing change [due to weather, problems, etc] and machinery management. The thing is that even doctors and nurses really don't enough about biology -- a lot of their knowledge is about medical procedures, drugs and medical information systems -- but their knowledge is not necessarily all that deep when it comes to biology, biochemistry and bioelectricity.
If we don't spend enough time thinking about biology, we tend not to develop and perfect good habits and we mindlessly engage in behaviors that predispose us to dying early (i.e. before we reach our potential of several hundred years of age) ... not thinking DEEPLY about biology, means that we waste too much time thinking about the mechanics of other systems that we don't really need as much as we need better health of our biological systems ... this is why, in the last 6 months or so [AFTER I TURNED 50!!!], I have FINALLY realized the importance of being a more serious martial artist. The connection between human health, everything about biology and the martial arts were not obvious to me before, but the martial arts are about power and focusing energy -- in order to really understand the energy of the body, it is necessary to PRACTICE different positions, holds, routines, etc and to think deeply about what is going on as one practices ... the more advanced martial arts theorists are even thinking about the requirements of other bioproducts to provide power and extend life ... this includes things such as advanced nutritional supplements, customized herbal treatments for specific needs or genetic hormone therapies that might improve one's "original essence" ... bioengineers can think what requirements are necessary (e.g. what do need to do to manage soil environment for producing certain crops) for developing the next generation of agricultural products that can complement medicine by provide individuals with an even stronger foundation for managing their health more aggressively by looking at bioelectricity, power and detailed aspects of fitness ... it's not enough to feed people, we need to think about how we can help them to optimize their health over a much longer lifespan.
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