Just some facebook status updates.

Read the transcript of a recent interview of Noam Chomsky. It was so clear, brutal and disconcerting that I went a little beserk......felt like abusing things left right and center,....the following status updates ensued:

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Enough sweet talk: India is one of the dumbest and the most useless democracies in the world. Its a shame when we're told to be proud of a system as useless for the people as ours. The very idea of democracy anyways seems to be based on the assumption of people's inability to think critically en-masse, it seems.

Game theory, anyone ?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is just that if you have a good education, you would have instilled into you that there are certain things that it just wouldn't do to say. -- Think about it if you will.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Art, it seems is mankind's only standing refuge from its own demons

Ideas

Does an idea have physical existence ? Is it merely an energy ? Okay maybe Ideas are energy, but how about information......can it have form ? Does it have an existence independent of time or do ideas and information also experience time as mass and energy do.

One theory which suggests that information may not have mass/energy is that information may be sent across at a speed potentially greater than the speed of light. Any mass/energy attached to the particle would imply that an infinite amount of energy is needed to accelerate anything to c.

Besides, one question is that all the information in the world is "created" out of thin air. In fact does information have an existence or not is a question that is probably as fundamental as is that about the existence of mass, length, time and the spacial dimensions. It does logically seem to be so that information could be an outcome of life. Maybe information is life....maybe emotions, feelings and beliefs make us alive.

Maybe "soul" is life.... I actually was wondering about the existence of soul for quite some time now, then an interesting thought hit me.........if information is something, if memories are things, then may well exist beyond the physical. For the brain can only store charge which may in some way imply information.

So, the idea is that if information can exist without actually existing, even the idea of soul is strong enough to itself be called soul.

It would also explain the phrases "selling your soul" , "I have no soul", "soulmate" and what not.

Nations, human pursuits and the death of art.

I was just watching a debate on atheism, and out of the blue, it struck me that humans tend to try to get closer to their true self only when confronted with pain (Mostly in case of loss of a loved one). That is obviously the reason that love and loss thereof has been the topic of innumerable works of art. When faced with the pain of loss and the helplessness associated with it, the initial reaction can often be that of shock and irrational behavior. Men turn to kids and can do things they would not even dream of, however; the kid inside every man/woman also has a certain freeness to him/her. There is an appreciation of simplicity and the small things in life. This is a mysterious but definite connection that one tends to establish with oneself. A strange kind of strength tends of emanate from within, albeit slowly at times. This strength comes with revelations about the world, people, and most of all, oneself.

All forms of art are an expression of the understanding and appreciation of the beauty in the world and the sentiments that the artist associates to it. This is what has me a little concerned. We are a species which is producing more thoughtless and emotionless individuals than ever before. The crony-capitalist school of thought believes that the more consumerist the population, the greater the consumption and hence greater the growth. In the pursuit of perpetual growth, men are being programmed (through constant suggestions and implant of values through childhood) into a state where they are losing their ability to appreciate the beauty in the world. The pursuit of material goals is a necessary part of life, but too many of us see it as all that there is to life. We may pretend to care about others and show a lot of empathy to people around us, but the statements are hollow a little too often. It is almost as if men as a species are forgetting to love fellow human beings. It is almost as if a typical urban male/female is supposed to do the following in his/her life:

1. Be born (Okay that was my way of being funny)

2. Have around 3 years of freedom while you can't talk, can't walk and can't appreciate the world anyways.

3. As you begin to make sense of things, you are loaded with books, and a strict schedule is what you are supposed to follow. The conditioning of the mind however normally begins before this (since the parents use all kinds of psychological pressure to get things done and even develop and exploit a sense of guilt in the child) .

4. Then comes a barrage of "standards", or "values" that the child is told that he/she is supposed to follow. I am grateful that most kids that are born today are smart enough to not give these values a shit; however some of the less witty ones might fall for the false ideals that are shoved up their throats. I for one, used to believe in every single thing that I was told as a kid.

I used to despise lying, I used to love my nation, I thought that India was the most lovely nation in the world and I was proud of it. Hell I even loved the army men and fantasized fighting for the nation and even being a martyr. I revered the "great leaders" of our nation. "Mahatma" Gandhi, "Chacha" Nehru and others were the people that I wished I could be like one day.

Schoolkids are told to take a pledge everyday in the morning at school. As I look back at it, it was the most cruel form of intellectual tyranny that the system inflicts on young kids. While they hardly have a world view, they are told to believe and make a commitment to thoughts which would stay in their psyche for ever. Here is the pledge that I am talking about.

"India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters.

I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage.

I shall always strive to be worthy of it.

I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect and treat everyone with courtesy.

To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion.

In their well being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.

Jai Hind!"

What I am not okay is not the theme of the message, the first objection that I have is that a pledge has to be voluntary and I was never told that I had an option. Secondly, which school kid is expected to know about the rich and varied heritage of our nation ? What heritage are we talking about anyways? The caste tussles or is it the religious riots ? Where is the richness ? All I tend to see is disillusioned people trying to imitate the west. Had the heritage been so "rich", people would hardly have any reason to do so. While it can be accepted that the rot has been mostly due to Arab invaders in the past, we have only ourselves to blame for losing the battles to them.

Anyways, talking about striving to be "worthy" of it ..... I completely feel like swearing now, but for the sake of the standards of decency that I've been indoctrinated with, I shall not. I would however state that the whole statement is such a farce. When 40% of the population is striving for existence with incomes below the poverty line, what right does the system have to demand such pledges ?

The only saving grace is that the government has not yet come up with the idea of granting a certificate of "worthiness" to the "worthy" Indians. Who knows what standards they might come up with. One things is for sure though: Being relatives of influential politicians or diplomats would definitely be pretty high up amongst the things to watch out for in the unwritten manual of practices.

I have no problem with treating everyone with courtesy and this one would have gone without a bashing but for the fact that anyone who treats me with disdain does not deserve courtesy. I may still decide to be courteous with him/her but that is an option and not an obligation. The Gandhian ideal of "ahinsa" has been blown out of proportions and it has dumbed down the national psyche into accepting cowardice under the garb. Courtesy is not the same as timidness and aggression, if needed, aggression must be resorted to.

Towards the end however, comes the worst part:

To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion.

In their well being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.

Jai Hind!"

Why does the nation seek one's pledge of devotion ? Why does the nation not have faith that living in the nation would make one love it enough to automatically develop love and devotion towards it ? To top it up, they also tell us where our happiness lies. Well excuse me...... would you buzz off please ? A nation that wants to tell me where my happiness lies is trying to tell me what I am and what I should think like and why should I live. The nation is trying to steal my individuality away to develop a collective paranoia around a false idea that nationality is something worth dying for.

Lets face it: Nations exist only and only because human beings are too scared to love each other. We fear people whom we do not see as similar. Even the slightest differences (color, language, thoughts, social status or even looks) can make us dislike people . In some cases this can go on to hatred and ultimately, conflict. The inability of human beings to appreciate differences amongst ourselves and to love unconditionally has created the problem called nations. The pledge discussed above is simply trying to keep the young kids of our nation slaves to the same thought process which keeps feeding the false national ego while making people see the nation as bigger than themselves and the basic human values. Nations are all about politics, diplomacy and lying. There is nothing glorious about them. The India (or for that matter any other nation) that we exists is the outcome of countless human deaths and suffering for the sake of following orders. Be proud of that fact if you can be. Die for India if you want to. I would rather have nations dissolved altogether.

Anyways, getting back to the original discussion,

5. After the indoctrination with these standards and values that one must follow and seek, next step is to keep the mind occupied with useless clutter, to keep the little kids from developing their own thought process and thus realizing the farce that is being dished out to them. This is done through:

(a) Keeping the kids occupied in studies through inclusion of countless useless subjects in the school curriculum. Little room is left for independent thinking and questioning and what indoctrination goes on unquestioned.

(b) The media is used brilliantly by the government. Without a shred of doubt, the biggest driver of mankind is our sex drive. The conventional media has been exploiting this weakness as a distraction from the real issues facing the people. We’re showered with suggestive messages in our face left right and center. It is so pervasive that it is impossible to rid our psyche from being obsessed with this urge, which naturally is pretty strong without the catalysts anyways. The collective obsession towards sex, love and the need of approval from the opposite sex is converted into a sort of “purpose” for the young. It is the young amongst humans who have the ability to bring any meaningful change, for they have the new thoughts and are not bogged down with social pressures as well. In that case, the system has beautifully “managed” us into being lost within our own pursuits of approval and sensual pleasure.

(c) The continuous pursuit for more and more. We’re told to always seek growth. Sustainability is a word that is used only in conjunction with growth. The rush towards success is so blind that it leads to an emotional void in our life, simply for lack of human interactions. People hardly have time to spare for their loved ones, and this creates a longing for belonging to someone. Sometimes we find “love” in our life. A someone who we feel will complete us. It could well be a spiritual longing that we tend to try to fulfill through the person whom we see as our love. However, this emptiness of our life is simply temporarily replaced with illusions of completeness. Often people decide to enter relationships which are based on mere sexual attractiveness and find it hard to gel with the so called “loved” one later. This creates greater slaves to the system as people seek refuge in running away from troubles, often falling prey to alcoholism or drugs. The society is therefore mostly busy in problems which are never going to allow them to question the social status quo. The elite are secure in their high-towers, and boy do they not deserve to be secure ? They have done a mighty brilliant job of cowing down 6 Billion human beings through exploitation of their differences, urges, emotions, opinions and manipulating them into slaves without any chains.

And you thought slavery has been abolished. It is staring you in your face. You ARE a slave to the system.

What this has also done however is that people have disconnected themselves to their true inner self. The artificiality is too pervasive, so much so that anyone who takes things at face value is dubbed as a fool. In a world where honesty is often talked about as being the “best” policy, one can hardly expect the practice of the same. The most tragic outcome of the same is the slow death of art. People who can’t feel themselves can hardly be expected to produce any workd of eminence in the field of art. Thus we have in India, “artists” like Anu Malik who call themselves “music directors” without ever having composed a decent musical composition in their lives. They copy music balatantly, and the worst part is that the originals themselves are pretty lame. It is so funny that suddenly its not funny anymore. It makes me cringe to see art die, to see music die. To see the masses listen to superficial songs like “Tu paisa paisa karti hai “…..and albums of true artistic value like “Classically mild” (Sonu Nigam) going largely unnoticed.

While art dies, the only positive that one can take out of this is that people without emotions would probably be better logical thinkers and be better at scientific thought. But when one is preoccupied with expectations from the “world” and his own “urges” , one is hardly likely to pursue any discipline with zeal and perseverance.

We are faced with a situation, maybe I am being to negative, and I woul again look at the counterargument in some post later. I was being critical and a little negative on purpose, and any disagreeing views are most welcome.

Besides, I am a little tired of typing, am a little hungry and have to go out to eat. So although the post is still a little half-baked, I would conclude it here, hopefully to edit it later to touch it up a bit.

To eradicate poverty: Eradicate the poor ?

Mumbai has been kind on and for many of the 1.3 Crore people that live here. However, one can't help but feel that somehow people are just living out their lives, blissfully ignoring the fact that they need a purpose in life. Looking for purpose in money, in objects, in satisfying their cravings and what not. There is however a section of people for whom the purpose seems to be mere existence. Dharavi has the largest section of people who have a very short term purpose in life: "Making sure they survive the day" . The plight of the people makes me wonder about their need to exist. Even if they do survive the battle for life today, they do so only to fight the next day. Would it not be prudent then for them to be executed like Adolf Hitler did to the Jews ? It is not that I am a barbarian, just that to me; an existence for the sake of existence is the most painful thing in life. I have been through a phase recently where I felt the same pain of being purposeless. It made me want to die. Albeit briefly, I did contemplate how death would rid me of all misery. However, My case was a bit different. I had a life, a good job, a family to die for and A vision for the world that I wish to contribute towards. I might have not managed some battles well but the war was still on. The blur of loss did fade eventually, and although memories still linger and sting often, there is hope for the future on all fronts.

But what about these poor people? These are looked at as mere vote banks by the politicians and are pampered before every election.They would be served with desi daaru and Kebabs and be expected to vote for the corresponding leader. That Is democracy for you. All emotions of happiness, sadness, joy, sorrow, anger pain etc. loose their existence when it comes to the basic need to feed and exist. Its the amygdala that responds and turns our animal instincts on. What is the use of existence without emotions and dignity ? An emotionless individual, to me is anything but human. Would it thus not be fair to simply kill these people in order to eradicate poverty ?

I am probably not being very honest in my approach since I have been a little pissed off lately so I would revisit the blog with the other side of the argument. And that would be a large post. Till then, I would keep wondering if I have arrived at the ultimate solution for poverty: And I am not kidding.

Does god play nice ?

Well to start off, I was thinking of writing of something light, something funny, something that would probably be a little more spicy, but as a part of the build up to this blog, (probably because I really wanted to write something meaningful) I decided to ask some questions to myself… So as an experiment, I just typed out all the questions that I could come up with at that point in time. The last question that I managed to write was: “Does god play dice?”. Since I did not exactly want to copy the FAQ, I decided to modify the question a little and write.

The first and the “yet-to-be-convincingly-debunked” theory of everything postulated by mankind was “God” . If for once we decide to accept the hypothesis that a wise guy from the sky is responsible for everything that happens, it explains pretty much everything. The only sad part however is that the proponents are too often found wanting for lack of evidence. I do not intend to go into an argument into the existence of the almighty (although I am mightily tempted to do the same). All I intend to contemplate (and probably insinuate) is that for the creator of the alpha and the omega (if it exists); there may not really have any standards of good or bad. For that “I-know-it-all” guy, Existence of human emotions may not be anything beyond a few strings of genetic codes and chemical sequences which cause specific activities in specific parts of the human body.

It is our perceptions; essentially our thought processes that make us make judgments of good and evil, right and wrong, good and bad. But what if the “God” perspective is large enough to appreciate that pain is identical to pleasure, joy to sorrow, happiness to sadness, love to hatred and so on??

That would imply that “God”, (given it exists) would have no reason to interfere with the universe, let alone playing favorites in favor of the good guys. To extend the argument, a “God” which would not even interfere with the universe, would have no reason to create the universe. (Since of all entities, why would the creator create the universe in the first place when the very act of creation means setting up a sequence of events, which according to the philosophy of determinism, essentially makes the universe completely predictable and hence “controlled” and not “random”.) The premise is therefore violated and it suggests that the universe should not have had an intelligent creator.

Now since the above suggests the non existence of an actively involved “God”, It still leaves the possibility of a passive one. How about calling that god as something that truly exists everywhere ? Something that tends to emerge out of nothing and without any effort . Well for those who’re still wondering, how about calling that thing “Chaos” ? If we decide to attribute everything to chaos, we would subtly be appreciating the fact that chaos itself leads to order, although in a transitory manner. The flashes of brilliant organization and order that we see in the universe are actually events outside the mean (+/-) 3 sigma range of probabilities.

One of the Masonic 33rd degree mottos states: “Ordo ab chao”, showing the appreciation that the society has had of chaos as the precursor of order. So if I am trying to look at chaos as the supreme force in the universe, I guess it should be okay.

Talking about chaos, one might want to consider watching the movie “The butterfly effect” starring Eric Lively, Erica Durance & Dustin Milligan (for that would help relate better to the following). The point that I am trying to make is that in a chaos system (e.g. the universe) , even an apparently insignificant change in just one of the systemic variables can cause dramatic events in time. The term “butterfly effect” was probably chosen to suggest the awe inspiring idea that something as seemingly little as the flap of a butterfly’s wings can initiate a chain of events to ultimately cause a hurricane of the order of Katrina on the other side of the globe (or for that matter, on the same side. ;) )

The butterfly effect has serious implications on the entire projections business. Be it climate science, financial analytics (our very thing :P ) or hardcore engineering models (not to mention the astrological predictions :P ) they all suffer from this inherent weakness where a variable considered to be insignificant and thus ignored can cause the real world results to be totally out of sync with the projections.

We all love simplifications, our mind loves to believe in simple and smart sounding arguments. Add to it the human arrogance of not accepting our limits, and we try to come up with models to project every damn thing in the world. We try to go way beyond what we are capable of….and then in the process, we expand our horizons. That is a good thing, but the questions to be asked are :

"To what extent should our decision making be based on such projections ?"
"Do the models of probability, or to simplify it, does the past hold enough information to predict the future …..?"
And even if it does, can we really hope to incorporate it all into our projection ? Why then do we try to make long term projections like India having a GDP of USD 37,668 Billion in 2050?
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRIC#.282003.29_Dreaming_with_BRICs:_The_Path_to_2050)
The "butterfly effect" also has implications related to our personal lives. For example, something like a mosquito that bit you today may impact your mood to take a decision that could change the course of your life. A little glass full of “stuff” can definitely make you take a decision that alters everything in your life. A few milliliters of hormones can make you desperate enough to decide to marry and regret the decision for the rest of your life. And how can I forget? An idea, can change your life…… (Or the little B might be a little unhappy :P ) talking about the ideas, Is it not true that ideas and beliefs matter most in life….and yes, so do convictions.
Talking about convictions, I would just like to state one of my own: I look at myself as an Objectivist, and believe in pursuing my own happiness and rational self interest. I believe that a certain “reality” exists, though it may not exactly correspond to the reality that we perceive in the world.

Perceptions are all that we can be certain of….it is amazing to understand from an academic standpoint that everything, (including space and time) is relative and may be different to a different observer. I cannot really afford go into the intricacies, but the implications are profound. I have always dreamt of the day when mankind would at least come close to the speed barrier. Of the day when we would have inter galactic travel and inhabit planets across the universe. It is obvious that we need to do it. As the Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky said, “The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever.” Sooner or later, we as a species have to face the challenge of moving on beyond the earth, if not because of an external threat (like a comet, asteroid etc.), it would probably be our own virus-like growth that would make it unavoidable that we pick other planets in suitable solar systems to inhabit. Talking about our growth reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite movies of all time: “The matrix”.

Agent Smith (An Artificially intelligent entity says this to the human protagonist (Neo) and I quote ) : “I'd like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species, and I realized that humans are not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment; but you humans do not. Instead you multiply, and multiply, until every resource is consumed. The only way for you to survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern... a virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer on this planet, you are a plague, and we... are the cure.”

Interestingly, as a species; we seem to have found the ultimate motivation in growth and not in sustainability. The rush is so blind that all that the only thing that media talks and talks about sustaining is growth itself. I recently read in Alan Greenspan’s “The age of turbulence” that on an average, human productivity grows at something around 2 to 3 percent every year. Why then do we seek to create artificial growth of the order of 7, 8 , 9 , 10 and above (percentages) ? Besides, growth has been reduced mostly to mere numbers. Whatever happened to development? The policy of monetary expansion (read: debasement of the currency) is the new mantra for growth for several economies. The currency is already a major tool for protectionism (which I do not have a problem with though). We find economies like the USA with their sovereign debt rated at the highest possible level while the nation keeps printing greenbacks and borrowing more and more even as municipal and state government bonds yields begin to rise due to rising fears of defaults left right and center.

I think I am overextending myself into something which I am not exactly be an expert of yet, so let me come back to some things which really give value to life and which I am much more sure about. Off course, the big things in life really do matter, and must be pursued. Things like standing up for your beliefs and fighting the odds no matter what happens, that promotion and that dream of owning an island matter a lot as well, however, there are some very small things which we often tend to forget in the (often mad) rush to our goals in life. Its often that little kid smiling at you by the roadside, or that friend you did not talk to in a while. It is often just telling someone that you love them so much that nothing would matter more to you than having you by their side. It is often just going out there and getting soaked in the rain on the bike while speeding way beyond what you can think is within your range of control…it could be playing that awesome composition on your keypad (or for that matter any instrument, I chose keypad since that’s the only instrument that I can play as of now) …It could well be saying a “sorry” which could mean a lot to someone… whatever it is, if it makes you happy and content; by all means, do it. And do it now…. Now that is a conviction that I have.

I am just another guy with his own sets of aspirations, dreams, fears thoughts and beliefs, however I do tend to try sometimes to be myself…. To be “something original” as John Nash used to say (Off course in the movie, “A beautiful mind”: P) Again originality may be an illusion given every bit that one knows has been learnt from the interaction with the external world but it is an illusion that I still chose to pursue. I say this since I may have crossed the boundaries of objectivism in this post a few times, and I request you all to pardon me for any logical or moral inconsistencies, if any. I have a CCAP class to attend at 9 tomorrow morning so I’ve really got to rush homewards now that I’ve stayed till 10:49 PM just to write all this.

Thanks for reading.

Ab aeterno.

Welcome,
This blog is a simple attempt by a not-so-simple thinker to try to put his world view in words. This is an attempt to put across a few wonderful takeaways that I have had in nearly a quarter of a century of his existence. This is at the same time, also an effort to reflect on things that I would otherwise ignore, and to introspect.

This is also an endeavor to challenge the reader’s beliefs on matters that they might have prejudices on. This is an effort by myself to get a better sense of himself, and in the process; the world at large. It would be very satisfying if reading this would ever add any value to the life of anyone, although the posts are unlikely to be planned to produce that effect.

I have reasons to believe that I am the center of the universe. That I am so important that everything that he considers mundane is mundane. That value actually exists not in objects and people but in the minds that assign values to them. I feel at a logical level that the only one entitled to have an opinion that matters to him is himself. If you have a problem with that premise, congratulations! You are not brain dead yet. Please come out and post a comment with your views and I would be glad to incorporate them in the post itself. At the same time, the blogger does not contend that he does not care about other people's opinions. Quite the contrary in fact. He often tends to care more than required and ends up in messy situations. So, in case there is any misunderstanding, I am open to listening to disagreeing views from others and incorporating them in my own opinions if they appeal to my emotions and/or logic.

But wait! (I hope you have some sense of the working of our 5 senses). We actually create the world that we see around us. In fact, let me submit to you that you have never seen the world, or heard what someone said, or had any other worldly sense for what it might have been.

For the uninitiated, let me try to simplify it a bit:

You get to see something when light rays hit that object and scatter off of it. Some of the scattered light hits your retina and an image is formed. The retina and the eye mechanism converts that image into an electrical signal, this signal is then passed on to the brain, which interprets that signal. The world that we “see”, “hear”, “smell”, “touch”, and “taste” is actually just the combination of interpretation of different voltages and frequencies of electrical signals that are generated within our bodies.

It is therefore established that what the brain receives is just an internally generated piece of encrypted information. The carrier signal has no typical similarity with the external object whose information it carries. How can one then take it for granted that the world exists as it seems to?

While the above is a scientific discussion, this blog shall be mostly focused on the premise that everything that we believe in is just a perception and not the absolute truth. I would look to extend that idea to the more worldly issues, issues where the “truth” in a situation depends completely on perspectives.

Stay tuned for some weird thoughts.