The Adjusting Hotel Tower and Pool Table

Heredity provides for the modification of its own machinery.

So said James Mark Baldwin, an experimental biologist and writer.

I am intrigued not so much by how things change in general, but more by how things adjust in particular to their surroundings. We know, for example, that life on earth adapts to survive, in response to changes in climate and terrain, food and water, and threats and disasters. Baldwin’s contention is right-on, and is the underpinning of the evolution of life.

What about non-living things? I’ve consulted quite a bit in the Middle East, and had the pleasure of staying at the best hotels. A few times I was on the Skybridge at the very top of the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh, and could feel the swaying of its walkway, as if slow dancing with the wind high above the glittering Saudi Arabian capital.

Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh

I understand that architects and engineers have to build-in that sway. Otherwise their towering buildings and monuments risk breaking off, or toppling altogether, against stiff winds high above the ground. In this case, adaptation is a technological marvel and, if nothing else, a safety necessity.

Here is another, cool technology:

I traveled on a cruise ship with my family, and it was easily our best vacation. Something relaxing about being at sea, and everything luxurious with all the food, shops and amenities at our disposal. The large Royal Caribbean ship was steady as she went in the Central American waters. Still we felt minute undulations of the waves, which we quickly adapted to and hardly ever noticed throughout our cruise.

A conventional pool table, however, does not adjust. In fact it relies not only on a stable grounding, but also on a level playing surface. On a cruise ship, then, the solution is this gyroscopic self-adjusting pool table.

The seminal notion of evolution, thanks to Charles Darwin, is survival of the fittest. It has two critical implications: One, what defines fit is this innate ability to adjust and adapt. Two, without this innate ability, a species has little chance of survival over time.

There is no question, then, that besides life, the Four Seasons Hotel and the gyroscopic pool table are fit!

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD