so i was going to the library today. i wasnt a library person earlier, but i like the desk space and the natural light it throws in the basement, which brings me back day and day after to it. i digressed. anyway so i was on my way to the library and as i was walking towards it, a girl walked upto me asking me if i had time. if she could wrap it up in 5 mins., then i am all ears, said i.
which is when she started talking about jesus as the savior so on and so forth. what was amazing was she came from korea ( dunno which one), just for this! i wanted to start a discussion about the veracity of His existence, but I could see it would go nowhere due to 1. lack of time and couple of other reasons, which is why i post it here.
i have a different perspective here.
religion for me is an idea, a powerful idea, with God as the central figure. its a notion perpetuated since time imemorial.
religion was and is used as a medium to bring people together. now nobody wants to willingly go to hell, everybody wants to go to heaven (because the notion of heaven and hell is perpetuated as a good place to be and bad place to be). and if the idea is permeated that only by doing certain activities would you be granted a place in heaven, more often than not, people will do those activities. and what happens when like minded people come in contact? they live in harmony and peace.
and even though one doesnt subscribe to the above idea, here is another way to look at it. it is a fair assumption to make that at most 3 people among 10 are intelligent. the rest are sheeple ( herds) who like to be directed. so one of these "people" figured to get the "sheeple" to be productive by uniting them with a cause. and thus by introducting the notion of a super natural entity, they were more or less directed in their activities.
hence in my opinion religion and God are the most powerful ideas that man has ever come up with that has gained an unanimous acceptance in every era.
to further this argument, its the belief that characterizes God. say for example, there is a magic teapot somewhere in the universe. now some one says there is a magic teapot and its cosmic rays will benefit mankind so on and so forth. if just one guy or a small group believes in it, they are tagged as lunatics. BUT if the whole town (say) believes in the magic teapot, then it is suddenly God like, magical etc. (even though there is no such magic teapot).
devouts say if you dont accept God, you are a sinner and you go to hell. they also say that if one does good things, then one will go to heaven. so does a man, who doesnt accept God (atheist) , but does one's exemplary work for the benefit of mankind, have no chance in heaven?
i guess God exists for those who see Him as a source of hope, saviour etc, and doesnt for those who have their own sources of hope ( which may make them their Gods ;according to the reasoning above; albeit having them to accept it). so does that mean everyone needs hope to continue, to which i say a resounding, YES! after all that was only one of the positive things that came out of Pandora's box. :)
for some this post is tantamount to blasphemy and heresy but i hope it was thought provoking at least.
cheers,
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
lights and camera
i have taken to photography lately. i dont think its a fad that is soon going to wane. i started with absolutely no idea on photography and whatever i have learnt is through experimentation. i have also been using a loaner camera but i have got acquainted with it. personally i love canon. i havent tried nikon but have heard its great to use. the camera i use nowadays is panasonic dmz fz 18. now dont go about wondering about panasonic being a camera company. its lens is from leica which is amazing!
so this post is dedicated to photography. my views on it ( which necessarily dont have to be true :P ).
3 components make up a photograph (assuming is auto focus).
1. amount of light on the subject.
2. amount of time that amount of light is exposed on the subject.
3. color.
4. the subject itself.
in my opinion the subject doesn't have to be majestic to make the photo spectacular. even an apple or a bottle of drinking water can be a really good subject. what matters is your perspective on the subject. people who are born with such perspectives, to capture a subject that garners most attention, go on to become professional photographers.
if you view enough photographs, you tend to form your own perspective (which although highly is dependent on the kind of photographs you have seen), but you get there eventually and with time, like wine, become better.
lets assume that you are a beginner and dont have any perspective at all. thats a reasonable assumption. but that doesnt stop from taking breath taking photographs.
what you need then is the proper values of light and amount of exposure. from here on, i will refer to amount of light as apertue, amount of exposure as shutter speed and the color value as ISO.
aperture - lower - more light is going to fall on the lens and hence the photo is going to be brighter
shutter speed - higher it is ( 1/n is more than n because we are talking about speed in time here)
iso - higher it is, more will be the noise or dirtier the picture.
modern day cameras have a metering mode that tell you how bright or dark the photograph is actually going to be depending upon the settings of the aperture and shutter speed. the metering mode is between the range of -2 to 2 in steps of 1/3.
at this point you check if the subject can do with a bright / normal / dark photograph. if you are unsure take one in -1 0 1 and then decide after the viewing the result. eventually you will understand how you want your photograph to be.
one of the challenges is to take snaps at night. an aid for you is a tripod. it helps a lot in night photography. the challenge here is that there is a dearth of light. to counter you decrease the shutter speed ( take it couple of seconds) and increase the aperture (allow more light in). decreasing the shutter speed means that more time is spent on capturing the subject and hence more color is absorbed. increasing the aperture will increase the light coming on your lens. you will be surprised to see the results of this.
one other thing that will help you in night photography is to drop your ISO. the more you drop the less picky the camera will be about the color. i have captured star constellations this way, using the normal lens and they turned out to be great.
i dont prefer to use flash, unless really really necessary, simply because it doesnt have any range but to your surroundings.
i think this about covers the basics of it. there is a whole world out there to discover.
cheers,
so this post is dedicated to photography. my views on it ( which necessarily dont have to be true :P ).
3 components make up a photograph (assuming is auto focus).
1. amount of light on the subject.
2. amount of time that amount of light is exposed on the subject.
3. color.
4. the subject itself.
in my opinion the subject doesn't have to be majestic to make the photo spectacular. even an apple or a bottle of drinking water can be a really good subject. what matters is your perspective on the subject. people who are born with such perspectives, to capture a subject that garners most attention, go on to become professional photographers.
if you view enough photographs, you tend to form your own perspective (which although highly is dependent on the kind of photographs you have seen), but you get there eventually and with time, like wine, become better.
lets assume that you are a beginner and dont have any perspective at all. thats a reasonable assumption. but that doesnt stop from taking breath taking photographs.
what you need then is the proper values of light and amount of exposure. from here on, i will refer to amount of light as apertue, amount of exposure as shutter speed and the color value as ISO.
aperture - lower - more light is going to fall on the lens and hence the photo is going to be brighter
shutter speed - higher it is ( 1/n is more than n because we are talking about speed in time here)
iso - higher it is, more will be the noise or dirtier the picture.
modern day cameras have a metering mode that tell you how bright or dark the photograph is actually going to be depending upon the settings of the aperture and shutter speed. the metering mode is between the range of -2 to 2 in steps of 1/3.
at this point you check if the subject can do with a bright / normal / dark photograph. if you are unsure take one in -1 0 1 and then decide after the viewing the result. eventually you will understand how you want your photograph to be.
one of the challenges is to take snaps at night. an aid for you is a tripod. it helps a lot in night photography. the challenge here is that there is a dearth of light. to counter you decrease the shutter speed ( take it couple of seconds) and increase the aperture (allow more light in). decreasing the shutter speed means that more time is spent on capturing the subject and hence more color is absorbed. increasing the aperture will increase the light coming on your lens. you will be surprised to see the results of this.
one other thing that will help you in night photography is to drop your ISO. the more you drop the less picky the camera will be about the color. i have captured star constellations this way, using the normal lens and they turned out to be great.
i dont prefer to use flash, unless really really necessary, simply because it doesnt have any range but to your surroundings.
i think this about covers the basics of it. there is a whole world out there to discover.
cheers,
Friday, March 20, 2009
cigarette and the flame
Driving on the freeway, Fred had an urge for a light. Perusing his pockets, he managed to find a crumpled cigarette. He reached for the lighter on the dashboard and went ahead to light the cigarette, now perched on his mouth.
Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick, Flick, Flick,Flick Flick...... not a flame, only sparks. Annoyed, he took out the car lighter and put it in front of the cigarette. But it wasn't meant to be. The car lighter was as cold as cold turkey. Cussing his rotten luck, he tried to feel the objects in the back seat of the car, hoping to find something that would light his cigarette. His eyes lit up when he felt a small rectangular box. He shook the box and sure enough he heard the rustling of matchsticks.
The box revealed to have just one matchstick. Placing his hands on the steering wheel, he took the matchbox in one hand and the stick in the other. Several tries and curses later, he managed to light the stick. As he drew the flame closer, it burnt out, leaving him in a state of distraught that he was in earlier.
Determined, Fred went off of the freeway to a store to buy a lighter. As he was getting off the freeway, he was still looking around for something that could light the still unlit cigarette. THUD !!! And in that neglect for the road, his car hit a man. Annoyed, not for hitting the person, but for one another hurdle in his quest for lighting the cigarette, he got out of the car.
The man was in shorts, running shoes and sweat bands. As Fred stood there pondering on the next course of actions, there came another THUD!!! This time, it was on the bonnet of the car. And there lay the magnificent object, that brought tears to his eyes. It was as though God had heard his prayers. The Olympic torch in all its glory was on his car, with its majestic flame, dancing with the wind. With that, he drew the flame closer and lit the cigarette. He felt elated and as with any matchstick, he blew the eternal flame OUT.
cheers,
Flick. Flick. Flick. Flick, Flick, Flick,Flick Flick...... not a flame, only sparks. Annoyed, he took out the car lighter and put it in front of the cigarette. But it wasn't meant to be. The car lighter was as cold as cold turkey. Cussing his rotten luck, he tried to feel the objects in the back seat of the car, hoping to find something that would light his cigarette. His eyes lit up when he felt a small rectangular box. He shook the box and sure enough he heard the rustling of matchsticks.
The box revealed to have just one matchstick. Placing his hands on the steering wheel, he took the matchbox in one hand and the stick in the other. Several tries and curses later, he managed to light the stick. As he drew the flame closer, it burnt out, leaving him in a state of distraught that he was in earlier.
Determined, Fred went off of the freeway to a store to buy a lighter. As he was getting off the freeway, he was still looking around for something that could light the still unlit cigarette. THUD !!! And in that neglect for the road, his car hit a man. Annoyed, not for hitting the person, but for one another hurdle in his quest for lighting the cigarette, he got out of the car.
The man was in shorts, running shoes and sweat bands. As Fred stood there pondering on the next course of actions, there came another THUD!!! This time, it was on the bonnet of the car. And there lay the magnificent object, that brought tears to his eyes. It was as though God had heard his prayers. The Olympic torch in all its glory was on his car, with its majestic flame, dancing with the wind. With that, he drew the flame closer and lit the cigarette. He felt elated and as with any matchstick, he blew the eternal flame OUT.
cheers,
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
must have on the road songs
the following are the songs but not limited to , worth having on ur iPod or whatever, when you go for a drive:
Highway Star - Deep Purple
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Sing - Travis
Let me entertain you - Robbie Williams
Road to mandalay - Robbie Williams
Sabse peeche hum khade - Silk Route
Duur - Strings
Anjane - Strings
Khudi - Junoon
Behind blue eyes - Limp Bizkit
Om shanti om - Karz
Punjab - Karunesh
Gill te guitar - Rabbi Shergill
Tere bin - Rabbi Shergill
Pyaar humein kis mod - Satte pe satta
Desert rose - Sting
Lift - Poets of the fall
I will possess your heart - Death cab for a cutie
Sorrow - Pink Floyd
O re piya - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Roobaroo - Naresh Iyer (Rang de basanti)
Yellow - Coldplay
The scientist - Coldplay
Clocks - Coldplay
Return to innocence - Enigma
Principles of lust - Enigma
Sadness - Engima
Dooba Dooba - Silk Route
Dhoom pichak dhoom - Euphoria
I get knocked down - Chumbawumba
Numb - Linkin Park
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Garaj baras - Junoon
Sar kiyae - Strings
Dum maro dum - Hare krishna hare ram
Sing - Blur
Scotty doesnt know - Eurotrip
Soul meets body - Death cab for a cutie
Open skies - Parikrama
Anjani rahoon mein - Lucky Ali
Bring me to life - Evanescence
Top gun anthem - Top Gun
Jahaan char yaar - Sharabi
i'll update as i remember the songs.
cheers,
Highway Star - Deep Purple
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Sing - Travis
Let me entertain you - Robbie Williams
Road to mandalay - Robbie Williams
Sabse peeche hum khade - Silk Route
Duur - Strings
Anjane - Strings
Khudi - Junoon
Behind blue eyes - Limp Bizkit
Om shanti om - Karz
Punjab - Karunesh
Gill te guitar - Rabbi Shergill
Tere bin - Rabbi Shergill
Pyaar humein kis mod - Satte pe satta
Desert rose - Sting
Lift - Poets of the fall
I will possess your heart - Death cab for a cutie
Sorrow - Pink Floyd
O re piya - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Roobaroo - Naresh Iyer (Rang de basanti)
Yellow - Coldplay
The scientist - Coldplay
Clocks - Coldplay
Return to innocence - Enigma
Principles of lust - Enigma
Sadness - Engima
Dooba Dooba - Silk Route
Dhoom pichak dhoom - Euphoria
I get knocked down - Chumbawumba
Numb - Linkin Park
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Garaj baras - Junoon
Sar kiyae - Strings
Dum maro dum - Hare krishna hare ram
Sing - Blur
Scotty doesnt know - Eurotrip
Soul meets body - Death cab for a cutie
Open skies - Parikrama
Anjani rahoon mein - Lucky Ali
Bring me to life - Evanescence
Top gun anthem - Top Gun
Jahaan char yaar - Sharabi
i'll update as i remember the songs.
cheers,
Monday, March 16, 2009
a short story
Jumping and wading across refuse and garbage, he ran towards the railway station. He knew he was late but he had a fighting chance to catch the train. Mahesh was a mill worker and lived couple of stations away from the mill. He had just got the job. The money wasn't big but enough to make ends meet. The announcement at the railway station told him that the Howrah Express had departed without him. As he was catching his breath, he realized that he could take another train leaving momentarily, change one another; which would then take him to his destination. Without hesitating, he ran towards Platform 3. Securing a seat, he ordered tea from the tea stall in front of him.
The steam effusing from the tea made it look inviting and the aroma made it irresistible. Carrying in a holder of 6 glasses brimming with tea was Raj, a typical child worker. One couldn't tell through his eyes, if he had lost his innocence. The deal with the owner was simple, the more he sells, the more he gets paid. He was new and still learning the ropes of the job. Walking across the tracks to reach other platforms is faster and a common sight in India. Raj's day had begun just fine, with nothing exciting seeming to happen.
Howrah Express had just reached the station and Raj made his way across the platforms to reach the newly arriving train. He was sold out momentarily and rushed to get more. This time in two holders, he decided. A shiny object in the middle of the tracks caught his eye. It was a coin, but not a regular coin. And not a currency but looked costly. He looked at it with utmost attention whilst waiting for the train on the other track to go by. Mesmerized by it and he was thinking of ways he could put it to his use.
The fresh breeze relaxed Mahesh. He was consoled by the fact that the train was doing good time and he could catch Howrah at the next stop. As the station drew nearer, he saw the Howrah at the other platform and got ready to disembark, although his train didn't show any signs of stopping. Panic set in.
Raj's gaze was broken by the rushing train towards him. Fear sank in and he froze like a deer in front of bright lights. The engine driver was a slob, barely competent to become the driver. He didn't care much for his job. He was the exact opposite of an epitome. Noticing the boy in midst of the tracks he reached for the brakes. He was slow, too slow for the job.
Having decided to board the Howrah Express, Mahesh reached for the emergency brake and pulled it hard. And to the drivers surprise, the train began to stop without him doing anything. Screeching and screaming the train came to a halt meters before the boy. Mahesh disembarked and ran towards the Howrah Express.
A crowd gathered near the engine. Beads of sweat made their way to the cheeks of the driver. Stream of tears ran down Raj's face. The driver heaved a sigh of relief. Raj scampered climbed up the platform and scampered in the midst of the crowd.
Mahesh caught the Howrah Express and was unaware of the result of his deed. Raj still crosses the tracks, he can't let that one incident stop him, but is more cautious now. As for the driver, he got awarded by the Railway Department with a raise in his salary, for his quick thinking.
cheers,
The steam effusing from the tea made it look inviting and the aroma made it irresistible. Carrying in a holder of 6 glasses brimming with tea was Raj, a typical child worker. One couldn't tell through his eyes, if he had lost his innocence. The deal with the owner was simple, the more he sells, the more he gets paid. He was new and still learning the ropes of the job. Walking across the tracks to reach other platforms is faster and a common sight in India. Raj's day had begun just fine, with nothing exciting seeming to happen.
Howrah Express had just reached the station and Raj made his way across the platforms to reach the newly arriving train. He was sold out momentarily and rushed to get more. This time in two holders, he decided. A shiny object in the middle of the tracks caught his eye. It was a coin, but not a regular coin. And not a currency but looked costly. He looked at it with utmost attention whilst waiting for the train on the other track to go by. Mesmerized by it and he was thinking of ways he could put it to his use.
The fresh breeze relaxed Mahesh. He was consoled by the fact that the train was doing good time and he could catch Howrah at the next stop. As the station drew nearer, he saw the Howrah at the other platform and got ready to disembark, although his train didn't show any signs of stopping. Panic set in.
Raj's gaze was broken by the rushing train towards him. Fear sank in and he froze like a deer in front of bright lights. The engine driver was a slob, barely competent to become the driver. He didn't care much for his job. He was the exact opposite of an epitome. Noticing the boy in midst of the tracks he reached for the brakes. He was slow, too slow for the job.
Having decided to board the Howrah Express, Mahesh reached for the emergency brake and pulled it hard. And to the drivers surprise, the train began to stop without him doing anything. Screeching and screaming the train came to a halt meters before the boy. Mahesh disembarked and ran towards the Howrah Express.
A crowd gathered near the engine. Beads of sweat made their way to the cheeks of the driver. Stream of tears ran down Raj's face. The driver heaved a sigh of relief. Raj scampered climbed up the platform and scampered in the midst of the crowd.
Mahesh caught the Howrah Express and was unaware of the result of his deed. Raj still crosses the tracks, he can't let that one incident stop him, but is more cautious now. As for the driver, he got awarded by the Railway Department with a raise in his salary, for his quick thinking.
cheers,
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
answers
the answers are all there. its just that we aren't looking hard enough for them. :)
a philosophical epiphany
cheers,
a philosophical epiphany
cheers,
Monday, March 09, 2009
the way we are about sex and the way it is
i was pondering over our approach to the concept of sex, while the animals otherwise do it so freely and without any inhibitions. but then i found why, here is eddie izzard's perspective on it and its rather amusing.
and Mother Nature revealed itself to the world one day. She said, “Creatures of the world! Gather ‘round,I shall give you your methods of procreation.” All the creatures going, “Oh, cheers, Mother Nature! I’ve been dying for a shag, me!” “All right, gather round…Here’s a big clipboard here, big flipchart! Now… what’s this…?
........
Here we go. Dogs! How you doing, dogs?” “Okay, now dogs…we have got you down, dogs…your method of procreation will be doggy fashion! How about that?”
“Yeah, we invented it!” “I know you did! And it’s caught on big time! Okay, off you go…Be careful with the air lock! "
Now, cats… Cats, good to meet you. Now, we’ve got you down for doggy fashion! How about that? What about catty fashion? No, sorry, dogs got in there first; it’s a ‘patent pending’ situation… Anyway, you’ve got cat flaps, so what the fuck are you arguing about?”
“Next we have… sheep! We’ve got you down for doggy fashion! If you get hot, just take your coats off, right?Okay… You wearing Blakeys?
Off you go… Now giraffes! Good to see you. We’ve got you down for doggy fashion, but it’s whatever you can work out, basically. Hang off a lamppost, lean over a tree, you know… just swing about a bit; I mean, sorry, we were gonna make you like a Spaniel kind of size, but someone brought me a coffee and vooom! when I was doing design work, and there you go… Anyway, chin up!
All right…“Human beings… Well, doggy fashion, catty fashion, giraffe fashion, sheep fashion; whatever the hell you want, basically…Hang upside down like a bat, play the banjo, do it on a golf course! As long as you get guilt in there somewhere, we really don’t mind…"
“Now finally, salmon! Good… Got a bit of a surprise for you, people…What you’re gonna do is to swim upstream against a...down-flowing river until you come to a huge waterfall……and you’re going to leap, and leap, and leap, and leap up this waterfall, and you swim along, and you leap,and leap, and leap, and leap; then you get along,and you lay eggs, and you fertilize the eggs, and then you drop down dead! Ha!”
“We’re quite happy with doggy fashion…”
“No… You piss me off, you salmon!
You’re too expensive
in restaurants, that’s your trouble…”
cheers,
and Mother Nature revealed itself to the world one day. She said, “Creatures of the world! Gather ‘round,I shall give you your methods of procreation.” All the creatures going, “Oh, cheers, Mother Nature! I’ve been dying for a shag, me!” “All right, gather round…Here’s a big clipboard here, big flipchart! Now… what’s this…?
........
Here we go. Dogs! How you doing, dogs?” “Okay, now dogs…we have got you down, dogs…your method of procreation will be doggy fashion! How about that?”
“Yeah, we invented it!” “I know you did! And it’s caught on big time! Okay, off you go…Be careful with the air lock! "
Now, cats… Cats, good to meet you. Now, we’ve got you down for doggy fashion! How about that? What about catty fashion? No, sorry, dogs got in there first; it’s a ‘patent pending’ situation… Anyway, you’ve got cat flaps, so what the fuck are you arguing about?”
“Next we have… sheep! We’ve got you down for doggy fashion! If you get hot, just take your coats off, right?Okay… You wearing Blakeys?
Off you go… Now giraffes! Good to see you. We’ve got you down for doggy fashion, but it’s whatever you can work out, basically. Hang off a lamppost, lean over a tree, you know… just swing about a bit; I mean, sorry, we were gonna make you like a Spaniel kind of size, but someone brought me a coffee and vooom! when I was doing design work, and there you go… Anyway, chin up!
All right…“Human beings… Well, doggy fashion, catty fashion, giraffe fashion, sheep fashion; whatever the hell you want, basically…Hang upside down like a bat, play the banjo, do it on a golf course! As long as you get guilt in there somewhere, we really don’t mind…"
“Now finally, salmon! Good… Got a bit of a surprise for you, people…What you’re gonna do is to swim upstream against a...down-flowing river until you come to a huge waterfall……and you’re going to leap, and leap, and leap, and leap up this waterfall, and you swim along, and you leap,and leap, and leap, and leap; then you get along,and you lay eggs, and you fertilize the eggs, and then you drop down dead! Ha!”
“We’re quite happy with doggy fashion…”
“No… You piss me off, you salmon!
You’re too expensive
in restaurants, that’s your trouble…”
cheers,
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
of fatalism and free will
this has been bogging me all along lately. this is an unending battle. here are some of the thoughts on free will, which is an on going process till i reach to a firm decision on the existence of either:
read this post before proceeding.
some definitions:
free will - the ability to make your own choices under no coercion.
fatalism - everything is written and we follow a script.
determinism - the ability to predict something will occur - fatalism
non determinism - the inability to predict something will occur - free will
i always thought that free will is a part of fatalism. my understanding was that because we see things random enough, we have the notion of non determinism. but what if events weren't as random as they seem to be. what if behind the fog of non determinism lay determinism, so elegant and graceful, that even though if we discovered it, it would be beyond our comprehension.
we all are a product of influences. hence we always react to events after taking the reference from the influences. and so, we have built a causally dependent chain. now this in my earlier post associates with determinism. but here i would like to interject.
i think there is free will here. influences do affect our decisions, but it is we who decide how much we want it to affect us. for e.g. : parents beat up a kid, so 1.) either the kid decides never to lift a hand on his children 2.) or the kid beats his children as well owing to his childhood experience. so it is up to the kid here on how he would react to this beating. he is not forced on to behave in some way.
influences just restrict your ways to behave, they don't decide actions for you. ones decision will always be in his favor. he will not do anything against it and so because we kind of know how he is going to behave, we attribute it to fatalism (fate). for e.g. your friend knows you for quiet sometime and so he will be able to predict with decent accuracy of your decisions. that said you still aren't coercing him to arrive at a decision, you are just commenting on it. and thus he is exhibiting free will.
as said in the earlier post, this may be because we are participants in the system. for someone who is unaffected by it, outside the system, and for that someone who knows everything, it is fatalism. fatalism for him, free will to us because we still do not know. and if he is just an observer, not an all knowing personality, it then is free will to both of us. because he doesnt know how we are going to act, despite that he has all the information of our behaviour.
i guess it is all a matter of attitude. how you look at things. if you just have given up and let the nature of events make the decisions for you, despite you exhibiting free will by showing lack of concern, you will associate it to fate.
from a scientific standpoint, everything follows an equation, everything is ordered. and there are concepts that we havent understood so far. but whenever we did so, we found it to obey an equation (for e.g.: the distribution of prime numbers, reinmann -zeta function)
so is it fair to say that because we have not understood the system enough to formulate rules and which is why we have a notion of free will when everything could be actually ordered?
till i have something more to say, i will leave you with this question, do you believe in free will or fatalism?
cheers,
read this post before proceeding.
some definitions:
free will - the ability to make your own choices under no coercion.
fatalism - everything is written and we follow a script.
determinism - the ability to predict something will occur - fatalism
non determinism - the inability to predict something will occur - free will
i always thought that free will is a part of fatalism. my understanding was that because we see things random enough, we have the notion of non determinism. but what if events weren't as random as they seem to be. what if behind the fog of non determinism lay determinism, so elegant and graceful, that even though if we discovered it, it would be beyond our comprehension.
we all are a product of influences. hence we always react to events after taking the reference from the influences. and so, we have built a causally dependent chain. now this in my earlier post associates with determinism. but here i would like to interject.
i think there is free will here. influences do affect our decisions, but it is we who decide how much we want it to affect us. for e.g. : parents beat up a kid, so 1.) either the kid decides never to lift a hand on his children 2.) or the kid beats his children as well owing to his childhood experience. so it is up to the kid here on how he would react to this beating. he is not forced on to behave in some way.
influences just restrict your ways to behave, they don't decide actions for you. ones decision will always be in his favor. he will not do anything against it and so because we kind of know how he is going to behave, we attribute it to fatalism (fate). for e.g. your friend knows you for quiet sometime and so he will be able to predict with decent accuracy of your decisions. that said you still aren't coercing him to arrive at a decision, you are just commenting on it. and thus he is exhibiting free will.
as said in the earlier post, this may be because we are participants in the system. for someone who is unaffected by it, outside the system, and for that someone who knows everything, it is fatalism. fatalism for him, free will to us because we still do not know. and if he is just an observer, not an all knowing personality, it then is free will to both of us. because he doesnt know how we are going to act, despite that he has all the information of our behaviour.
i guess it is all a matter of attitude. how you look at things. if you just have given up and let the nature of events make the decisions for you, despite you exhibiting free will by showing lack of concern, you will associate it to fate.
from a scientific standpoint, everything follows an equation, everything is ordered. and there are concepts that we havent understood so far. but whenever we did so, we found it to obey an equation (for e.g.: the distribution of prime numbers, reinmann -zeta function)
so is it fair to say that because we have not understood the system enough to formulate rules and which is why we have a notion of free will when everything could be actually ordered?
till i have something more to say, i will leave you with this question, do you believe in free will or fatalism?
cheers,
Monday, February 16, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
of goodwill and extremism
goodwill and extremism. lexicographically, there are antithetical to each other. and on prima facie as well it looks so too. but then is it really? in my opinion in a certain state goodwill borderlines extremism. that state is achieved when somebody has power and is defiant.
for e.g.:
let us assume that there are 10 people who are a hindrance to a community. the problem here is that the word hindrance is purely subjective. hence, a certain set of that community view it as a hindrance and others don't. violence is the easiest way to rid something off and we are animals at core, so the group uses violence and rids the community of the bad blood.
what ensues is that, the group now has equivocally gained the trust of the community and to ensure the situation doesn't repeat itself, it starts policing and has its own laws and of course gets drunk with power. and since it has the power, it now tramples over the constitutional rights of an individual and enforces its then goodwill and now tyranny/extremism.
this goes on until another set finds it unbearable and then upsets the prevalent group and the whole cycle begins again.
what this effectively translates is that, the government should have an effective strategy for mob control. mob = junta, public at large.
people have tolerance factors. when everyone gets upset, it translates as a revolution and history says no governing body survived a revolution and hence in this case, there will a restoration of order. however, it only lasts for a short time, until the tolerance is not pushed and the whole cycle starts over again and again and again.
cheers
p.s.: i realise the flow breaks off somewhere.
for e.g.:
let us assume that there are 10 people who are a hindrance to a community. the problem here is that the word hindrance is purely subjective. hence, a certain set of that community view it as a hindrance and others don't. violence is the easiest way to rid something off and we are animals at core, so the group uses violence and rids the community of the bad blood.
what ensues is that, the group now has equivocally gained the trust of the community and to ensure the situation doesn't repeat itself, it starts policing and has its own laws and of course gets drunk with power. and since it has the power, it now tramples over the constitutional rights of an individual and enforces its then goodwill and now tyranny/extremism.
this goes on until another set finds it unbearable and then upsets the prevalent group and the whole cycle begins again.
what this effectively translates is that, the government should have an effective strategy for mob control. mob = junta, public at large.
people have tolerance factors. when everyone gets upset, it translates as a revolution and history says no governing body survived a revolution and hence in this case, there will a restoration of order. however, it only lasts for a short time, until the tolerance is not pushed and the whole cycle starts over again and again and again.
cheers
p.s.: i realise the flow breaks off somewhere.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
my life.....a soap opera II
so well, i thought a second part would come up.
recap (with the crazy camera angles and arresting(? is that the right word?) music):
i was to get a job offer / a decisive career changing opportunity as foretold by astrologers, whom my mother had consulted. i was also awaiting the final decision on the extension.
intro music (some crap music with images of past episodes)
adverts (close up, vip underwear, 501 detergent tikia, rupa's thermocot etc etc)
finally:
ep II:
as i eagerly awaited the final decision and was ready to pack my bags for a visit to india, i don't hear back from my supervisor. knowing that the week following was christmas, i lost hope of getting the offer letter that week.
on jan 2 /3, i shoot a mail again to my supervisor ( wishing him happy new year and sorts, kinda buttering him up) and then ask him about the status, for which he regretfully informs me that the evil financial controller had rejected the whole proposal. i had prepared myself for this, so it didn't come to me as a shock. only a little resentment, but couple of donuts made me got over it.
this severed my spending capacity (another blow to the american economy).
by the way, in the last month i made 3 trips to san jose! :P one with a visit to a haunted hotel (more on that later).
so i wondered, how is my life not going to be the same mundane routine, as i had nothing to do. surprise suprise i started giving interviews to the university paper on an application that i had made and a tv interview as well on the same topic.
this seemed a welcoming change.
so as i await any further development in my career, i sit on my bed ( which is nice and comfy), with thoughts about someone, guitar, music etc. lingering. they keep me active.
and i am blossoming into a fine cook (i am surprised as you are!)
until there is another episode,
cheers
recap (with the crazy camera angles and arresting(? is that the right word?) music):
i was to get a job offer / a decisive career changing opportunity as foretold by astrologers, whom my mother had consulted. i was also awaiting the final decision on the extension.
intro music (some crap music with images of past episodes)
adverts (close up, vip underwear, 501 detergent tikia, rupa's thermocot etc etc)
finally:
ep II:
as i eagerly awaited the final decision and was ready to pack my bags for a visit to india, i don't hear back from my supervisor. knowing that the week following was christmas, i lost hope of getting the offer letter that week.
on jan 2 /3, i shoot a mail again to my supervisor ( wishing him happy new year and sorts, kinda buttering him up) and then ask him about the status, for which he regretfully informs me that the evil financial controller had rejected the whole proposal. i had prepared myself for this, so it didn't come to me as a shock. only a little resentment, but couple of donuts made me got over it.
this severed my spending capacity (another blow to the american economy).
by the way, in the last month i made 3 trips to san jose! :P one with a visit to a haunted hotel (more on that later).
so i wondered, how is my life not going to be the same mundane routine, as i had nothing to do. surprise suprise i started giving interviews to the university paper on an application that i had made and a tv interview as well on the same topic.
this seemed a welcoming change.
so as i await any further development in my career, i sit on my bed ( which is nice and comfy), with thoughts about someone, guitar, music etc. lingering. they keep me active.
and i am blossoming into a fine cook (i am surprised as you are!)
until there is another episode,
cheers
Monday, January 12, 2009
keep them funny speeches comin
with all due respect, i sometimes believe that the team that writes speeches for george bush is from the democratic party OR george bush is plain stupid to be vocal about his thoughts rather than just sticking to the script!
cheers
cheers
spare change
how do you pass a judgment on, when you see a person in his/her mid 30-40s asking for alms on the street, whether to part with some spare change or refrain from it?
this question has been poking me around for quite sometime now.
cheers
this question has been poking me around for quite sometime now.
cheers
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
free will
lets get on a topic that has been hotly debated.
is there such a thing called free will? as always you will find people from both sides of the camp.
in my opinion free will doesn't exist. it is analogous to the observations of a third party in an event or simply put, to the participant an action might seem random, but for an observer unaffected by the system of the experiment, the actions would be deterministic (chaos theory?)
my stand comes from the fact that our understanding of a state is causally ordered. and because of the dependence relationship, it is deterministic.
for e.g.:
you are reading this article. i didn't coerce you to read this article. it was you who chose to read this article (thus exhibiting free will). now lets make some assumptions. lets assume there is a guy named Fred who was created right after the universe was and is omnipotent, he knows all. thus he knows that you are reading this article because that is a fact. you are reading this article because you were led to it from somewhere. your actions were based on a certain influences (which is the cause). and if you walk back this causal chain, you eventually reach the start of the universe.
obviously there is no such guy named Fred, so the question remains, if you actually came here by your own volition or was it pre-determined? if you reason that if you had chosen not to read this article, what then? then the proposition that you read this article is a fallacy and hence would not exist in the causal chain.
along this line of thought, can this be associated to fate?
fate / destiny is commonly attributed to something that is laid out for you, in the shadows, revealing itself only when necessary. this is similar to the above discussion in that no matter how independently you think you are doing, you actually are working like a cog in a machinery.
so now i ask you, is there such a thing/concept of free will?
cheers
is there such a thing called free will? as always you will find people from both sides of the camp.
in my opinion free will doesn't exist. it is analogous to the observations of a third party in an event or simply put, to the participant an action might seem random, but for an observer unaffected by the system of the experiment, the actions would be deterministic (chaos theory?)
my stand comes from the fact that our understanding of a state is causally ordered. and because of the dependence relationship, it is deterministic.
for e.g.:
you are reading this article. i didn't coerce you to read this article. it was you who chose to read this article (thus exhibiting free will). now lets make some assumptions. lets assume there is a guy named Fred who was created right after the universe was and is omnipotent, he knows all. thus he knows that you are reading this article because that is a fact. you are reading this article because you were led to it from somewhere. your actions were based on a certain influences (which is the cause). and if you walk back this causal chain, you eventually reach the start of the universe.
obviously there is no such guy named Fred, so the question remains, if you actually came here by your own volition or was it pre-determined? if you reason that if you had chosen not to read this article, what then? then the proposition that you read this article is a fallacy and hence would not exist in the causal chain.
along this line of thought, can this be associated to fate?
fate / destiny is commonly attributed to something that is laid out for you, in the shadows, revealing itself only when necessary. this is similar to the above discussion in that no matter how independently you think you are doing, you actually are working like a cog in a machinery.
so now i ask you, is there such a thing/concept of free will?
cheers
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
my life.....a soap opera
well its official. my life is a soap. the one with weird camera angles in split seconds, to emphasize the plot. i am not sure if i am to be proud of it.
every other moment when you feel that yes, life can't screw you anymore, up comes a whopper that knocks your pants off! and with the shocking twists in the plot in the soap, so seems to be my life ( yea so what if i am dramatizing a bit, i did say it is a soap! bunch a puritans).
so it all started when i was talking to my folks and my mother usually shows restrain on one particular topic whilst talking with me. she asked me about the job scene and i said its pretty lame and dont expect to look up before the start of the new quarter. as i completed that sentence, my mom uttered that she had shown my birth chart to some astrologers and they assured her that i would be hearing some good news regarding my career in the week of dec 8 - 15 2008 (irrespective of the economy). i ridiculed it but at the back of my mind, i thought if it was already written that, something sort of a fatalist line of thinking. i dismissed the idea because i knew i had no offers on hand and the one i was working with didnt seem too bright. it was on my mind nevertheless (monologue / thinking out loud here).
that said, the next morning, i hear from my manager about a possible extension. gleefully i call my mom to relate the news only to hear, i told you so ( soap intro song here) . fast forward a week later, i get the information that i wouldnt be able to get the extension because i graduated and the position only was for someone who didnt graduate ( weird camera angle and music here).
when i first heard about the extension, i went to the extent of questioning the veracity of free will or non determinism but seems like there seems to be a hint of it around.
i guess i will have to wait and see how the story unfolds for like the soap opera, you never know what turns up next.
every other moment when you feel that yes, life can't screw you anymore, up comes a whopper that knocks your pants off! and with the shocking twists in the plot in the soap, so seems to be my life ( yea so what if i am dramatizing a bit, i did say it is a soap! bunch a puritans).
so it all started when i was talking to my folks and my mother usually shows restrain on one particular topic whilst talking with me. she asked me about the job scene and i said its pretty lame and dont expect to look up before the start of the new quarter. as i completed that sentence, my mom uttered that she had shown my birth chart to some astrologers and they assured her that i would be hearing some good news regarding my career in the week of dec 8 - 15 2008 (irrespective of the economy). i ridiculed it but at the back of my mind, i thought if it was already written that, something sort of a fatalist line of thinking. i dismissed the idea because i knew i had no offers on hand and the one i was working with didnt seem too bright. it was on my mind nevertheless (monologue / thinking out loud here).
that said, the next morning, i hear from my manager about a possible extension. gleefully i call my mom to relate the news only to hear, i told you so ( soap intro song here) . fast forward a week later, i get the information that i wouldnt be able to get the extension because i graduated and the position only was for someone who didnt graduate ( weird camera angle and music here).
when i first heard about the extension, i went to the extent of questioning the veracity of free will or non determinism but seems like there seems to be a hint of it around.
i guess i will have to wait and see how the story unfolds for like the soap opera, you never know what turns up next.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
.... and then it happened
it was a thursday evening like no other. as the christmas break was coming closer, my roommates and i were deliberating over the details of a roadtrip to new york from la. and we had a good reason to be excited about it. it was daring and adventuresome. whilst making our way towards the gym for the daily routine ( we were still deliberating then), a glance on the person walking past us reminded me of someone i knew.
a tad unsure, but later pacing towards her, i called her name out. she stopped her walk, stood there for a split second and turned around. still a couple of feet from her, i waved at her. it was not a full wave. i stopped short half way through. and then it happened. my heart beats went from a steady beat to a panic attack. i said to myself," calm down now, she is not going to bite you". as i assured myself, i covered the ground and was in a conversation distance to her.
and so there i was, with tousled hair, shorts and a windcheater. a scene right out of a teen flick: a pavement, grass on one side, an underdog, and the chick of the flick. we conversed and conversed a little more. the steady beating of the heart resumed and i asked her if i could interest her in a cup of coffee. a few pleasantries later, we bid each good bye and parted ways.
until next time,
cheers,
kyos
a tad unsure, but later pacing towards her, i called her name out. she stopped her walk, stood there for a split second and turned around. still a couple of feet from her, i waved at her. it was not a full wave. i stopped short half way through. and then it happened. my heart beats went from a steady beat to a panic attack. i said to myself," calm down now, she is not going to bite you". as i assured myself, i covered the ground and was in a conversation distance to her.
and so there i was, with tousled hair, shorts and a windcheater. a scene right out of a teen flick: a pavement, grass on one side, an underdog, and the chick of the flick. we conversed and conversed a little more. the steady beating of the heart resumed and i asked her if i could interest her in a cup of coffee. a few pleasantries later, we bid each good bye and parted ways.
until next time,
cheers,
kyos
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
snooping
over a couple of months something struck me.
it is common knowledge that the google search results were populated based on some ranking alogirthm. hence i wondered if it is possible to poison those results such that your websites get populated first. obviously if you had some relavent content, over a period of time it will be somewhere in the top list. but i didnt have any relavent content interesting to the masses out there. (Note: BTW i am not doing something new, look up search engine poisoning, only that i didnt refer to any of the material online to do what i did).
then i reasoned, what would be the most popular search queries in google? the first thing that struck me was movies. mp3s, clips. basically any media that can be mooched for free (bunch of deadbeats!). and i did know that sites such as rapidshare , megaupload etc hosted such media. if one is adequately familiar with the naming conventions of movies, they usually are titled with divx, xvid, rmvb etc.
so here is what i did: i created a post with the following text:
rapidshare
megaupload
rmvb
divx
xvid
700mbs
thats about it. and i published it. and viola! within about a week or less i began receiving hits from people who were searching these terms. in good amounts as well! and more the number of hits, the Page Ranking algorithm gets duped. even the above text will cause numerous hits.
now if i were a virii author ( I AM NOT, SO GET OF MY BACK!), just hypothetically, that would mean that with some amount of social engineering, i could have links to text in the post pointing to some viruses and the rest of the story is all too familiar these days.
well thats about from me,
cheers,
p.s.: this was done purely with the motive of research and with no other intentions!
it is common knowledge that the google search results were populated based on some ranking alogirthm. hence i wondered if it is possible to poison those results such that your websites get populated first. obviously if you had some relavent content, over a period of time it will be somewhere in the top list. but i didnt have any relavent content interesting to the masses out there. (Note: BTW i am not doing something new, look up search engine poisoning, only that i didnt refer to any of the material online to do what i did).
then i reasoned, what would be the most popular search queries in google? the first thing that struck me was movies. mp3s, clips. basically any media that can be mooched for free (bunch of deadbeats!). and i did know that sites such as rapidshare , megaupload etc hosted such media. if one is adequately familiar with the naming conventions of movies, they usually are titled with divx, xvid, rmvb etc.
so here is what i did: i created a post with the following text:
rapidshare
megaupload
rmvb
divx
xvid
700mbs
thats about it. and i published it. and viola! within about a week or less i began receiving hits from people who were searching these terms. in good amounts as well! and more the number of hits, the Page Ranking algorithm gets duped. even the above text will cause numerous hits.
now if i were a virii author ( I AM NOT, SO GET OF MY BACK!), just hypothetically, that would mean that with some amount of social engineering, i could have links to text in the post pointing to some viruses and the rest of the story is all too familiar these days.
well thats about from me,
cheers,
p.s.: this was done purely with the motive of research and with no other intentions!
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