Agnosticism yet again

Had a interesting observation today. People may be great in all aspects but not in all and when you see (or at least feel) them a bit behind, is it your responsibility to nudge them forward? What if it is about 'religious' philosphy? As everyone knows agnosticism is not a very well known being a substitute to religion that it is. The reason being that agnostics do not believe in converting others. Almost all religions have elements that have evolved to converting or obliterating people with beliefs contrarian to their own. But then if we believe that such questions are not of such paramount relevance (which is a concise definition of agnostics) we certainly do not want to preach our beliefs. Yes, in a sense it does not appear to be very altruistic but that's the way it is. So what I finally saw as the best option was the middle path. To nudge in the right direction but in an abstracted way, not to bring it out in the open. Just show the formula and let him apply it to other things including 'religious' philosophy.

Goal Of Life

Since time immemorial pursuit of your dreams is the noblest of endeavors there is. Whether it was the warrior ready to shed his blood to fight his enemies, a sage immersed in finding eternal peace or artist drowned in their worship of their art; men have given all and staked all to protect their country, their families their passion. Today the situation is not so dramatic anymore, the life has the same challenges but masked in a more subtle way. The race now is more brutal I would say and it is towards education, trade, money and relationships to name a few. The intent of men has now evolved towards inching out others to get yourself a place on the pyramid and as high a place as possible. It is not about you, it is about your position with respect to others. The reason for running in this race is just because the society says so. The goal of life cannot be just trying to fit in with the society, it has to be more than that otherwise the existence of the human race server no purpose and makes no sense. The funny part is that while men pride themselves for achieving goals they very often do not even want it. I have of course never lived in any other age but from my perception it seems the people were more friendly, accomodating and less brutal towards competition. Competition was about the best and not who wins by any means. That is why I have always longed to live in those times. Yes the facilities today have improved but I would say the cost is too dear if you lose your gentle soul to get a bigger car than your neighbour etc..I cannot say that you can be isolated from this and be a saint amongst the evil.. this evolution of man and society is beyond any one to change. All we can do is save ourselves and be one amongst the few who are still resisting the evolution and be considerate and sensitive to others - run the race but the one you want and with your principles intact.

Windows 7

I have tried to keep my geekiness out of this space but I will make an exception this time. So widows 7. It has not been released as yet but microsoft has given out a pre released evaluation version to academia. So first question - is window any good. I would say yes quite. It offers not much in terms of features over and above vista as such but it cures most of vista's annoying fuck ups. Also they recognize that the hardware today is fast enough to warrant some cool snappy graphics and the overall aero themes and theme management and setup etc are way cooler than the xp ones. My grouse with vista was that it also had some graphical improvement over xp but that came with a cost in performance, not in the case of win7 though. Thats what makes me give a thumbs up to it. The vista version was actually not a preplanned release, the initial plan was to go for win7 directly from xp but with several events and economic considertions microsoft made a detour by way of vista.

Another thing really cool was that the upgrade from vista is auto driven and comprehsive. So I just pop in the disc (a virtual disc actually!) and just click upgrade on autorun. I come back after 3 hours and everything is done. No files/settings lost and everything on my desktop preserved (even my browser session and my stickies which I always forget to backup). Only thing in disarray was the taskbar.

So question is will win7 be a success, I doubt it. The reason being people would try to compare it to vista as paying customers should. Plus they have recently made a shift and with the economy as it is they wont be too happy making a seemingly non-essential IT expenditure. In terms of hardware its requirements are somewhat lower than that of vista (thats a hunch cuz it runs faster on the same machine.)

So all in all if you get a free copy dump vista as soon as you can, might even consider buying.

Corporaticracy

The point I want to discuss is the taking over of the world and it's people, its resources and everything else there exist through control of economy by the privileged few best described by the neology corporaticracy. I won't say that I figured it out myself, there are a lot of documentaries out there that tell you this, but the problem with them is constraint. They tend to not control their ideas and this makes their interpretations incredulous, but yeah we can see that there is some truth in the conspiracy theories. Have you heard of the saying that the biggest deception of the devil is making people doubt his existence.

Well the thing is that the reason a man worked in age of prehistory was to feed himself and perhaps his family. It's the same for animals. They didnt have any comforts of transport, accomodation, entertainment, food, medical care etc but they didnt have to work unless required. Compare this to the modern state of affairs. We are slaves to an invisible entity. This entity is the corporates and the people in control are what I call corporaticracy. These are the people who with limitless wealth generated and power generated wealth are pulling strings of every thing that effect us. We feel that now we are free and live in a democratic world, but none but a 5 year old will believe it to be true. Democracy is just the form of government election we have, but ultimately it is all a big show. The banking system that we have is not something that any independent group of leaders would have let take form. Taking for instance the recent recession/depression, the reason was no doubt the greed of these bankers. The credit market was stretched out and loans given like false cheques (ultimately that's what they turned out to be, given that bankers didn't have to pay for them) and then getting humungous amounts of money from the governments as support to prevent these greedy corporates from falling. True that at the position the economic world is/was the role of these corporates was too important to allow them to be diluted, but the question is why were they even allowed to assume such a role when they clearly lacked the credibility and responsibility that was expected from them. The reason is obvious that the government heads are (if not a marionette in their hands) very much associated with their shady operations. These can of course never be proved though all reason points to this.

Eliminating Poverty !

Poverty is the bane of this world. Contrary to popular (and ignorant) perception even the western/developed world has loads of poor people. (I define poor not in the relative sense but in the sense that food and shelter is a constant worry and seldom attained.) But yeah this is a more ugly and visible problem in the 'developing' countries. The whole political game in our country has revolved around the promise of removing it, but have we ever thought on it with a sane mind. What will be the consequences of eliminating poverty, can it be realistically done? As a kid I wished that there be food for all, living conditions and opportunities like what I was blessed with and all other things like health and education. We argue that the world has enough resources and it is through our insane bickering that we have created a virtual scarcity of every basic resource. People find it convenient to blame people/conditions on the state of affairs but ugly reality is that there is no immediate solution. I am not able to come up with any magic solution either. There are two things that I understand that people do need to look into. First the government can/will do only so much, the rate at which problem come up can not be tackled with the resources of the government or a few super rich philanthropist. All the people who have made good of the opportunities have to contribute and help the unfortunate. It does not mean to leave your work or go to educate kids in slums, that might be good too but maybe it is not for everyone. The problem is that this is like killing a few viruses but does not stop their multiplication process. Our efforts should be to eliminate the growth of these problems. I see the role of technology today as something that can reshape the life of numerous. We can help boost the research and help the students and young researchers, provide funds and expertise, help make collaborations. Indians currently spend ~15 bn USD yearly in universties abroad, and a large portion of these students are in such a position to help do this economically as well as providing expertise. If out of millions of us everyone helps one researcher/student we can make India into a educational/technological powerhouse. This as I see it can be the only route of elevation of poverty. Second is to have realistic targets, eliminating poverty has to be defined properly, we have to face it that we cannot have a level field. That would be akin to having a level earth with water (wealth) distributed all over it, submerging the whole of it. It would be both unrealistic, and harmful. But what we can realistically attempt is to bring up the fallen back ones, so that they too can rejoice in the facilities possible today. The solution lies in unity and not just economic measures or schemes.

Perfection

Perfection, the ever eluding, the ever so alluring dream that remains unattainable for almost everyone. Well have we ever thought about how it feels being in that state. Perfection is perhaps invaluable since it is rare and the reason it is rare is that it is a state where even a minor deviation is read by the ever focused eyes trained on the entity in that state. We see an analogy in a pyramid, the tip represents perfection and getting on it is difficult enough, staying on it impossible. The question we need to ask ourselves is what is the need for perfection. We are after all perishable items, we were not built to be perfect and there is no real long term use of attaining this either. The only purpose it serves is perhaps our vanity. The whole problem as I see it is the sheepy nature of mankind, the tendency to follow. The will is not strong enough in most to be able to make sensible decisions and this is the reason that we seek goals which we don't even want for ourselves. Goals which don't affect our happiness are not the ones we should be after and Perfection is one of them.!

Racial Blackmail

White people are deemed rascists and have now been made to believe so and even mortally scared of it. It is a sick thing to do and most white folks are now scared of being associated with it. What they don't realise is that rascism is not a characteristic of a particular race, it is more of a cultural thing and more importantly every race today has elements of it. The world is no more global than it is secure. The people are rascist as a rule rather than exception. Indians are from my experience a rascist lot, we take this to a step further discriminating even within our own race and based on every difference we can find. So are chinese and other folks. The only thing different about white people is that they are industrious and determined. That is the major reason that the white world has made most of the strides for humans and responsible for most technological advancement. They thus are the richest and most powerful lot in general. That being said, it is not as if they are a race that has been wrongly accused, they have plundered the world over and collected resources from them, people as slaves and money among other things. The black or African American community has been wronged by them being made to work as slaves all these years. But if i know my history right, officially changes began in removing slavery in the US as early as 1865 and from early 20th century blacks have had equal rights. Even so more they are being awarded in form of special scholarships, funds and programs. But still there is resentment and a lot of what i would say 'racial blackmail' associated with the situation. Take on the other hand, the slavery in India. The British government took steps towards abolition of slavery as early as 1833, but excluded India from the laws, where slavery and exploitation of it's resources and people were in full flow. Even when they left (being left with nothing to loot and no ability to do so either) there was no real helping hand to help up the one they had trampled so mercilessly. It is a miracle that India has managed to reach the stature it has today. Now even after being dealt with such a poor treatment, I have not seen any resentment in Indian people towards their former oppressors even when they prouldly showcase many of the most precious pieces of our art and wealth as trophies of their exploits. Thinking without a bias, returning these possessions back would be a beginning of compensation for the years of oppression. But Indians have no hope of that and we haven't really pursued that with much vigor mostly. How do you compare the two situations - how were the excesses on the blacks more inhuman to warrant this resentment even after an attempt to compensate them. Or are Indians just meek.

Another example : Come to think of the Jewish use of the past excesses on them and reference to holocaust to get away with their excesses on the Palestinians. Compare that to the Japanese. The Japanese have chosen to rebuild after the bombings and are helping others even rather than use the past as a leverage to get favours and get away with crimes. We have to realise that past has to be forgotten and attempts to help undo the mistakes and help in the recovery is the only sensible thing that can be done. Using this as an excuse for further misdoings will not really help in any way other than bringing the world closer to it's end.

Chinophobia

Chinophobia is not chionophobia, it has nothing to do with snow or ice cream. It is a new term coined by yours truly in the face of the dangers and fears that I sense. China is a big country and has been known for its impervous nature in the sense that the world has never known (for most of last century) about the goings on there. But now with so much exposure to the present world scenario I see/ know more of china now. China is largely thought of as a oppressed country by many, they consider that china is powerful but have no idea largely of the extent. Here I intent to state some facts to bring in the cold truth. US has been wary of the growing influence/power that china has been gathering over the past 2 decades. Not only does it hold the largest value of usa t-bills (external debt) - almost a trillion, but also its military power is beginning to challenge US. And for Indians who wish to believe that whatever power China may have should not affect India - well China is interested in expanding and for a country that is a dangerous thing for it's neighbours. China lays claims to Arunachal in NE India and it is not interested in the Hindi-Chini bhai bhai crap. It has shown that it is determined to oppose and hinder India at all possible points. The security council seat or the recent veto of the 3billion ADB funding to India. It has come to light that China has been trying to malign Indian industries - selling goods (spec garments and medicines) with fake 'Made in India' labels in countries where India's most export go to. Such is the determination of China in breaking India. What is going on is perhaps a cold war of sorts that has not been acknowledged by either side as yet.

Also it is a well known fact that industry in US is dying and china has become as the manufacturing centre for the whole world. It operates factories in 'inhuman conditions' and can obviously mass produce goods at - often unbelievably cheap rates. India has been allegedly 'shining' etc based on the few call centres we have managed to open up. Added to that we believe that because we have some IT companies that we are beginning to emerge as the next superpower. We cannot be more wrong - all that is produced in India is lowest quality stuff - the engineers we produce are good just because they are so many and so cheap. The work done in IT in India is mostly stuff that is low end. On the other hand chinese engineering technical supremacy was apparent in the recent top coder contest. There were as many as 800+ competitors from India but none managed to reach the final rounds. China had quite a few of the top places including the #1 winner. There are many other incidents that point to one direction - that china is taking over the world. If you are not bothered by it, enjoy and start learning chinese oops cantonese. But if you are not - then don't do anything out of the charts - we need to at least acknowledge and accept the position we are in. Acceptance of the problem is the first step in solving any problem and it is high time we begun.

0% Syndrome - A product of Procastination Inc.

Being a total geek, even my jokes have their source in academics. In software engineering there is term called the 90% syndrome (there are even papers on it). It basically means that a software project after reaching 90% completion takes till eternity to finish the last 10% because people make assumptions, over estimate their deeds and underestimate the remaining tasks. So basically things drag and makes the whole project very inefficient. Now we as elders of the procastination society (no one holds elections, so everyone can take as many posts as he feels like) take it upon to give back to the society (contrary to the claims that procastinators have no useful output).

I give you the 0% syndrome. It is based on studying the doings of myself as well as fellow members of the procastination society. The fact that a job has not been started means it is at 0% completion. And it remains so until the very last moment, the job is done (if done) so fast that it spends almost all of its time at 0%. We find this is very efficient to the worker in the sense that he gets from being fired (mostly) and doesn't worry about work except the bare minimum required.

If only I could get a research paper out of this too .. ! :D

Talibanisation

So today we see how precariously Pakistan is placed. India and Pakistan started of as kind of similar nations. Just that Pakistan was smaller. Even in early nineties economically they were not far apart. But now when Indian are going out and making a name for themselves around the world, we have millions of Indian researchers in premium universities, companies trading with fortune 500 companies and PIOs working in those companies as well. But what about Pakistan, its busy making headlines as the home grown terrorism hit country. The nurturing of Taliban and other 'Islamic' forces have now been proven to be disastrous out in the open, its not a new suprising thing as such, people always knew what they were dealing with. Just that they had been denying it as everything was not out in the open. Now that they are being held hostage and their existence is more than in danger. Now we don't have anything to rejoice because India's stand is being vindicated. The thing is now India has a more grave responsibility, to forgive and help. That requires a very big heart and lots of humility from both sides. But that alone can be the solution that can now resolve this situation so that both continue to survive. Its not fair to expect this of India but come to think of it, Pakistan is a way better neighbour even at its worst than Taliban. To support Pakistan is somethng unimaginable in India and I dont see any party with thing on their agenda getting a single seat.. But good thing that politicians are not answerable to the public unless their time is almost up. Lets hope that leaders on both side see some sense and act with maturity of mind and not only age.