An old question which bugged philosophers of all ages and places: what is the purpose of our life?
Is happiness the goal? What results in happiness? Or is there/should there be a purpose for life? Can't we just live like a cow? Is a cow happy? Or just plain dumb? Ignorance is bliss after all and cows hardly cry and seem to be at peace with themselves. Since we are humans, we seem to have a lot of desires, unlike cows.
Desire is the root-cause of all misery according to Buddha. The lack of desire should come from an actual self-realization that desire is meaningless. I suspect such a philosophy will lead to a civilization in decline, which abandons/devalues all things material. (How much of this affected India is anyone's guess!) These ideas contrast with the ideas of disinterestedness in the result of one's action (nishkama karma) but not in action itself and the importance given to all the four stages of human life - student, householder, retired and renounced - in Gita.
I believe, the purpose or meaning of life does not lie in some end goal, but lies in the pursuit/action itself. I mean there is not enough time in one human life to know all that is there to know, to do all that is there to do and to feel all that is there to feel. So experience the life.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Free will vs. Determinism
One of my first blogs (Probability and human will and Fate, time n God) here is about whether we really have free will or is it all predetermined. Since then, I realized that many people have been trying to answer similar questions.
Princeton is conducting a series of lectures on the so called Free will theorem. There is an interesting discussion regarding the same in slashdot recently. Here, free will is roughly defined as any behavior that is not determined by the past. The fascinating aspect of the theorem is that it roughly implies that if we have free will, then so do elementary particles (like electrons).
My knowledge of quantum mechanics is very limited to understand the theorem completely. May be when I get more time to read and learn about it, I can understand better.
Princeton is conducting a series of lectures on the so called Free will theorem. There is an interesting discussion regarding the same in slashdot recently. Here, free will is roughly defined as any behavior that is not determined by the past. The fascinating aspect of the theorem is that it roughly implies that if we have free will, then so do elementary particles (like electrons).
My knowledge of quantum mechanics is very limited to understand the theorem completely. May be when I get more time to read and learn about it, I can understand better.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Indian attitudes towards terrorism
This is in response to the plethora of articles in general in the media and the blogs on terrorism, criticism of Indian Govt.s poor response and comparing it to the US response to 9/11 attacks and so on..
Huge sections of Indian population have more pressing concerns than terrorism - employment opportunities, natural disasters like floods, droughts, basic amenities like water, living conditions, and so on. Basic infrastructure improvement and transparency in governance go a long way in improving the lives of peoples. Even after almost 60 years of independence and democracy, the politicians, the bureaucrats and the police still have an attitude of the colonial masters rather than the public servants they actually are..
Terrorism, considering so many more people die almost periodically every year due to rains/droughts, is not a significant issue for these sections and hardly anyone remembers/cares for such things by the time the elections come around! For the reasonably well off people like in most of the blogging community, a fitting response to terrorism, strong posturing of our Govt. in international forums, strong military capabilities - all serve as a source of national/cultural pride. While I don’t deny the importance of these issues, I also feel that there are much more important issues handled much more badly which often don’t get enough attention, from the blogging community or popular media!
Before applying the standards of US response to terrorist attacks on its soil to our response, we can’t ignore the fact that for the people of US, the basic stuff are almost taken for granted and hence such attacks are the most pressing concerns!
National security is no doubt, an important issue, but not the only one. Just as an example, I have seen only a handful articles (almost all of them in The Hindu) on the farmer suicides happening across the country, which I believe is a more important concern and affects more number of people than terrorism.
Disclaimer: These are just the observations of a single individual during the course of his normal life.. No scientific basis obviously!
Huge sections of Indian population have more pressing concerns than terrorism - employment opportunities, natural disasters like floods, droughts, basic amenities like water, living conditions, and so on. Basic infrastructure improvement and transparency in governance go a long way in improving the lives of peoples. Even after almost 60 years of independence and democracy, the politicians, the bureaucrats and the police still have an attitude of the colonial masters rather than the public servants they actually are..
Terrorism, considering so many more people die almost periodically every year due to rains/droughts, is not a significant issue for these sections and hardly anyone remembers/cares for such things by the time the elections come around! For the reasonably well off people like in most of the blogging community, a fitting response to terrorism, strong posturing of our Govt. in international forums, strong military capabilities - all serve as a source of national/cultural pride. While I don’t deny the importance of these issues, I also feel that there are much more important issues handled much more badly which often don’t get enough attention, from the blogging community or popular media!
Before applying the standards of US response to terrorist attacks on its soil to our response, we can’t ignore the fact that for the people of US, the basic stuff are almost taken for granted and hence such attacks are the most pressing concerns!
National security is no doubt, an important issue, but not the only one. Just as an example, I have seen only a handful articles (almost all of them in The Hindu) on the farmer suicides happening across the country, which I believe is a more important concern and affects more number of people than terrorism.
Disclaimer: These are just the observations of a single individual during the course of his normal life.. No scientific basis obviously!
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Reservations... not again!!
Everyone is opposed to reservations based on caste, but i guess no one has a problem if they were based on income. If the only reason for the present state of reservations is vote banks, then why are the vote banks based only on caste?? why not on income? why don't all poor people constitute a vote bank and push for their reservations?? that would have solved the problem forever at one go!!
But that's not going to be the case.. not in our country anywaz. Because, caste is still important, in all important ways in our society. I go to my village.. I see the so called lower castes still live on the outskirts.. they don't eat on the same table.. and so on.
Now you might say this is only seen in villages and not in cities. Well, they constitute just 30% of India and even here the grouping based on religion/caste is so obvious that it'd be foolish to claim caste really doesn't matter.
And whatever solutions proposed seem to be once again based on the assumption that once a lower caste (well there is a hierachial order however much we dont wanna accept) person is financially well equipped, he doesn't need any more help. Which is all very good for big jobs/influential positions. For a small timer, it may not mean much if he doesn't have the necessary connections.. all success in getting a job/setting up a business/upward mobility depends as much on the connections you make as on your school grades. And these connections are usually considerably weak/non existent for lower castes compared to the upper castes.
Well, these are all points to ponder.. and there is no easy solution. And it's all very easy to sit and blame it on politicians who are probably as rational and intelligent as others in the society. They did not come from another galaxy!!!
What needs to be done? change the way the society thinks???
Anywaz, therez no point in increasing the reservation in iits/iims.. as it is the existing quota is hardly filled to the capacity.. and most of them struggle to complete the course.. the problem is with the primary education! and now whoz gonna run schools for poor kids? dont ask them to join govt schools!!
One good solution could be to reserve the seats in all primary and secondary schools- both private and public. Make it mandatory in all private schools too. This would probably lead to higher fees in general for richer sections. This would inevitably lead to increase in the number of good schools and mixing of populations in general. The Govt. could bear the costs of schooling for the next 20 years or so which I don't think is a problem considering the billions they pour into the defense deals.
But that's not going to be the case.. not in our country anywaz. Because, caste is still important, in all important ways in our society. I go to my village.. I see the so called lower castes still live on the outskirts.. they don't eat on the same table.. and so on.
Now you might say this is only seen in villages and not in cities. Well, they constitute just 30% of India and even here the grouping based on religion/caste is so obvious that it'd be foolish to claim caste really doesn't matter.
And whatever solutions proposed seem to be once again based on the assumption that once a lower caste (well there is a hierachial order however much we dont wanna accept) person is financially well equipped, he doesn't need any more help. Which is all very good for big jobs/influential positions. For a small timer, it may not mean much if he doesn't have the necessary connections.. all success in getting a job/setting up a business/upward mobility depends as much on the connections you make as on your school grades. And these connections are usually considerably weak/non existent for lower castes compared to the upper castes.
Well, these are all points to ponder.. and there is no easy solution. And it's all very easy to sit and blame it on politicians who are probably as rational and intelligent as others in the society. They did not come from another galaxy!!!
What needs to be done? change the way the society thinks???
Anywaz, therez no point in increasing the reservation in iits/iims.. as it is the existing quota is hardly filled to the capacity.. and most of them struggle to complete the course.. the problem is with the primary education! and now whoz gonna run schools for poor kids? dont ask them to join govt schools!!
One good solution could be to reserve the seats in all primary and secondary schools- both private and public. Make it mandatory in all private schools too. This would probably lead to higher fees in general for richer sections. This would inevitably lead to increase in the number of good schools and mixing of populations in general. The Govt. could bear the costs of schooling for the next 20 years or so which I don't think is a problem considering the billions they pour into the defense deals.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Am baaaack!!!
After a long time, I am back to blog... now that the summer is here!
Blog about what? Not yet decided, but decided to start anwaz...
Have been pretty lazy all winter.. not that it's something new! Analagous to polar bears going into long hibernation during winters :(
What's the big deal about the weather that stopped me from writing??
I dunno.. nothing really.. just some stupid excuse I guess, to cover up laziness of the nth order! I have decided something.. not to be so lazy any more.. So what am I gonna do? That's not important anywaz.. what is important is what I shud write about? And to be honest, why should I write anything? Thinking about writing something, I am reminded about the hapless Kaavya Viswanathan and her misery with her first novel.. How fortune can change just within a matter of days? And yeah, the family of Surya Narayana.. His beheading by the Taliban was a big shock! And as if that wasn't enough, enters a young lady claiming to be his second wife!!!
Hmm... don't wanna write about them. I am listening to this wonderful song Lemon Tree from Fool's Garden.
"I'm sitting here in the boring room
It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon
I'm wasting my time
I got nothing to do
I'm hanging around
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens and I wonder
I'm driving around in my car
I'm driving too fast
I'm driving too far
I'd like to change my point of view
I feel so lonely
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens and I wonder
I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
I'm turning my head up and down
I'm turning turning turning turning turning around
And all that I can see is just another lemon-tree
I'm sitting here
I miss the power
I'd like to go out taking a shower
But there's a heavy cloud inside my head
I feel so tired
Put myself into bed
Well, nothing ever happens and I wonder
Isolation is not good for me
Isolation I don't want to sit on the lemon-tree
I'm steppin' around in the desert of joy
Baby anyhow I'll get another toy
And everything will happen and you wonder
I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just another lemon-tree
I'm turning my head up and down
I'm turning turning turning turning turning around
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
And I wonder, wonder
I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see, and all that I can see, and all that I can see
Is just a yellow lemon-tree"
Perhaps aptly describes my present situation even though it's neither Sunday nor is it raining!
Blog about what? Not yet decided, but decided to start anwaz...
Have been pretty lazy all winter.. not that it's something new! Analagous to polar bears going into long hibernation during winters :(
What's the big deal about the weather that stopped me from writing??
I dunno.. nothing really.. just some stupid excuse I guess, to cover up laziness of the nth order! I have decided something.. not to be so lazy any more.. So what am I gonna do? That's not important anywaz.. what is important is what I shud write about? And to be honest, why should I write anything? Thinking about writing something, I am reminded about the hapless Kaavya Viswanathan and her misery with her first novel.. How fortune can change just within a matter of days? And yeah, the family of Surya Narayana.. His beheading by the Taliban was a big shock! And as if that wasn't enough, enters a young lady claiming to be his second wife!!!
Hmm... don't wanna write about them. I am listening to this wonderful song Lemon Tree from Fool's Garden.
"I'm sitting here in the boring room
It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon
I'm wasting my time
I got nothing to do
I'm hanging around
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens and I wonder
I'm driving around in my car
I'm driving too fast
I'm driving too far
I'd like to change my point of view
I feel so lonely
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens and I wonder
I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
I'm turning my head up and down
I'm turning turning turning turning turning around
And all that I can see is just another lemon-tree
I'm sitting here
I miss the power
I'd like to go out taking a shower
But there's a heavy cloud inside my head
I feel so tired
Put myself into bed
Well, nothing ever happens and I wonder
Isolation is not good for me
Isolation I don't want to sit on the lemon-tree
I'm steppin' around in the desert of joy
Baby anyhow I'll get another toy
And everything will happen and you wonder
I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see is just another lemon-tree
I'm turning my head up and down
I'm turning turning turning turning turning around
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree
And I wonder, wonder
I wonder how
I wonder why
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky
And all that I can see, and all that I can see, and all that I can see
Is just a yellow lemon-tree"
Perhaps aptly describes my present situation even though it's neither Sunday nor is it raining!
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Reality
Most of us must have heard this story about Rama when he was a child. One day he cried for the moon in the sky. Then, his mother Kausalya showed him the reflection of the moon in the mirror, to make him smile. Rama was happy that he got the moon in his hand.
Now, thinking back, I am very amused. Our perception of reality is very different from a child's perspective. Indeed, ignorance is bliss. But what is reality and what exactly constitutes reality? In its usual sense, that which exists objectively is what we call reality. This essentially means that what most people agree upon is what is called reality.
If a random individual in the group sees things which others don't see, then that individual is said to be hallucinating or he is diagnosed mentally ill. Now, is it possible that a whole group could be hypnotized to believe something which is not real (to members outside the group!) ? Ofcourse, it's possible. Widespread longheld superstitions (which aren't superstitions to the believers themselves until they were told about them) until the advent of science and reason are glaring examples.
Now, if a small group can be made to believe somethings to be real, perhaps the whole world could be made to believe that somethings are real and we wouldn't know. Ofcourse, we are not told or hypnotized by anyone to think somethings are real and some are not. We all came into this world with an innate sense of what is real and since we all independently arrive at the same conclusions about what constitutes reality, we might argue that what we perceive is real (not just to members on our planet earth, but to any neutral observer outside our group).
But can we be sure? Since we all are within the group, within the system, we can't know. For all we know, right from the birth, we might have been conditioned to the same objective reality as everyone else.
"What we perceive as reality is a tiny detail from the field of possibilities surging around us which our nervous system has realized through computation. If all reality is a computation from possibilities, then "reality" is a threshold value." - www.equivalence.com/labor/lab_vf_glo_e.shtml
Now, thinking back, I am very amused. Our perception of reality is very different from a child's perspective. Indeed, ignorance is bliss. But what is reality and what exactly constitutes reality? In its usual sense, that which exists objectively is what we call reality. This essentially means that what most people agree upon is what is called reality.
If a random individual in the group sees things which others don't see, then that individual is said to be hallucinating or he is diagnosed mentally ill. Now, is it possible that a whole group could be hypnotized to believe something which is not real (to members outside the group!) ? Ofcourse, it's possible. Widespread longheld superstitions (which aren't superstitions to the believers themselves until they were told about them) until the advent of science and reason are glaring examples.
Now, if a small group can be made to believe somethings to be real, perhaps the whole world could be made to believe that somethings are real and we wouldn't know. Ofcourse, we are not told or hypnotized by anyone to think somethings are real and some are not. We all came into this world with an innate sense of what is real and since we all independently arrive at the same conclusions about what constitutes reality, we might argue that what we perceive is real (not just to members on our planet earth, but to any neutral observer outside our group).
But can we be sure? Since we all are within the group, within the system, we can't know. For all we know, right from the birth, we might have been conditioned to the same objective reality as everyone else.
"What we perceive as reality is a tiny detail from the field of possibilities surging around us which our nervous system has realized through computation. If all reality is a computation from possibilities, then "reality" is a threshold value." - www.equivalence.com/labor/lab_vf_glo_e.shtml
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Let me see
Hmm... so what should I write? Well, immediately the question arises.. should I write? Okay I don't know the if's and why's, but I am going to write something. Anything.
Tic Tic Tic ...
Blank. Am just staring at the screen :(
Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic ...
Zero. Still nothing :((
What is there around me? Hmm.. laptop, bag, table, chair, shoes, lamp picked from the trash. All stupid boring things. Oh yeah, this key board seems to be interesting.
Nooo.. not again.. I never understood why these letters have to be ordered in such a weird way? Now, I don't even want to think about it. A case of machine evolution gone haywire I guess!
Ah! Evolution. Now, that's an interesting thing to think about. And there's lot to write too. Probably another time, now that I have other things to do!
Tic Tic Tic ...
Blank. Am just staring at the screen :(
Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic ...
Zero. Still nothing :((
What is there around me? Hmm.. laptop, bag, table, chair, shoes, lamp picked from the trash. All stupid boring things. Oh yeah, this key board seems to be interesting.
Nooo.. not again.. I never understood why these letters have to be ordered in such a weird way? Now, I don't even want to think about it. A case of machine evolution gone haywire I guess!
Ah! Evolution. Now, that's an interesting thing to think about. And there's lot to write too. Probably another time, now that I have other things to do!
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Cherished moments
Manasuloni bhaavaalanni maatalugaa bayatiki raavaalani thapana..
So many thoughts in mind.. expressing them in precise words seems to be so difficult! A sudden inexplicable feeling of happiness at times.. reason unsure, but why should I care.
walking across the green field on a pleasant morning
the dew drops sliding across the leaves
the dense fog slowly lifting up
the distant sounds of the chirping birds
the cool breeze blowing across the face
the sounds of the running water from the nearby stream
the long rays of the rising sun on the horizon
the paradise is neither too far nor unreachable!
Let the moments linger on..
So many thoughts in mind.. expressing them in precise words seems to be so difficult! A sudden inexplicable feeling of happiness at times.. reason unsure, but why should I care.
walking across the green field on a pleasant morning
the dew drops sliding across the leaves
the dense fog slowly lifting up
the distant sounds of the chirping birds
the cool breeze blowing across the face
the sounds of the running water from the nearby stream
the long rays of the rising sun on the horizon
the paradise is neither too far nor unreachable!
Let the moments linger on..
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Happiness
Somehow, I really don't like the conclusion of my last post. I never thought of fate that way and it sortaa just popped out in my mind. But right now, for lack of better explanation or understanding about consciousness I'll put that idea on hold for a while..
What is consciousness? How important are we in this universe? What is so special about the earth? What is so special about us? Or is there anything special at all? So many questions and not many answers I guess..
Sometimes it appears so silly and foolish to go through all these trappings of modern life. All through the ages, people have been doing the same things more or less.. when it comes down to the basics, nothing much has changed really. We are faced with the same sort of problems faced by the first humans i guess.. just the scale is different! Even with all the advances in science and technology, supposedly meant to save a lot of human labor and time, we are still working all day and perhaps, we have even less of a time compared to our ancestors. Perhaps the difference is that our ancestors might have been happy for so many things, that we take for granted and no longer derive any pleasure from them. Now, we want more or rather different things that the earlier ones had no knowledge of.
In such a case, if our aim is to make this planet a nice place for everyone, are we any closer to achieve that goal than the earlier ones? At any given place, over a period of time, I would imagine there is happiness and there is misery, in roughly the same proportions. Happiness is more a state of mind than anything else.. which can be influenced by the surrounding material world, but not just that.
When a person living in a small hut suddenly acquires a palace, he will be elated and happy, but not for too long when the palace becomes granted for him and he'll soon be worried about other issues.. as worried as he was, when he was in the small hut. Eventually, he craves for other things, things which he doesn't have..
Now imagine a world in which we could get anything we wanted. Will that assure us happiness? I am not so sure. I would imagine, we would eventually get bored. Come to think of such a world, that would be even more painful than this one. Here, atleast we wish for something and strive for it anticipating the pleasure it's going to bring us. There, we don't even have that anticipation of pleasure which is very upsetting I think.
Probably, here lies the clue to our happiness.
What we want itself doesn't really matter. All the pleasure is in the sense of achievement, when we get what we desired. And the knowledge that we could have failed in achieving that, enhances the happiness we get when we really achieved it. And ofcourse, this is only one facet of happiness.
What is consciousness? How important are we in this universe? What is so special about the earth? What is so special about us? Or is there anything special at all? So many questions and not many answers I guess..
Sometimes it appears so silly and foolish to go through all these trappings of modern life. All through the ages, people have been doing the same things more or less.. when it comes down to the basics, nothing much has changed really. We are faced with the same sort of problems faced by the first humans i guess.. just the scale is different! Even with all the advances in science and technology, supposedly meant to save a lot of human labor and time, we are still working all day and perhaps, we have even less of a time compared to our ancestors. Perhaps the difference is that our ancestors might have been happy for so many things, that we take for granted and no longer derive any pleasure from them. Now, we want more or rather different things that the earlier ones had no knowledge of.
In such a case, if our aim is to make this planet a nice place for everyone, are we any closer to achieve that goal than the earlier ones? At any given place, over a period of time, I would imagine there is happiness and there is misery, in roughly the same proportions. Happiness is more a state of mind than anything else.. which can be influenced by the surrounding material world, but not just that.
When a person living in a small hut suddenly acquires a palace, he will be elated and happy, but not for too long when the palace becomes granted for him and he'll soon be worried about other issues.. as worried as he was, when he was in the small hut. Eventually, he craves for other things, things which he doesn't have..
Now imagine a world in which we could get anything we wanted. Will that assure us happiness? I am not so sure. I would imagine, we would eventually get bored. Come to think of such a world, that would be even more painful than this one. Here, atleast we wish for something and strive for it anticipating the pleasure it's going to bring us. There, we don't even have that anticipation of pleasure which is very upsetting I think.
Probably, here lies the clue to our happiness.
What we want itself doesn't really matter. All the pleasure is in the sense of achievement, when we get what we desired. And the knowledge that we could have failed in achieving that, enhances the happiness we get when we really achieved it. And ofcourse, this is only one facet of happiness.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Fate, Time 'n God
It appears very counter intuitive to say we don't have choice. But do we really have? At any given time instant, we can do only one thing and not another.. and it looks like we choose to do what to do at that time instant. Now, suppose the choice is already made (not by us, but the situation demands that a particular thing is to be done and not another.. the all perfect model can theoritically predict this choice) and we dont know this. In such a situation, we feel we chose to do that particular thing, even though we really had no other choice. An illusion?? If we really have choice, then we should be able to go back in time and change our choice and do another thing at that same time instant.., which is not possible in reality.
The unidirectional time really leaves us with no choice!!
So assuming the choice is already made, the next question is who decides what choice we make? Or is there any reason for us to believe that there exists someone who decides our choices?
Hmm.. let's say all the knowledge is known and the perfect model of the universe is available. With this perfect model and the initial conditions in hand, we can predict the evolution of the universe in time. This, in effect, will help us in knowing what choices a person makes at a particular time instant. So, it doesn't look like there is someone making choices for us, but the universe once started will take care of itself, with the supply of energy.
And probably this source of energy and starter of the universe is called God by all our scriptures (atleast this is my idea of God). God as just a 'source of energy' seems to be pretty bland/lifeless. Since we humans who are a part of the universe have consciousness (now what is consciousness??), we can safely attribute this (certainly a higher level of) consciousness to the 'source of energy' and hence the all powerful God.
Hmm... it really luks like our fates depend on how God decides the universe to be!
The unidirectional time really leaves us with no choice!!
So assuming the choice is already made, the next question is who decides what choice we make? Or is there any reason for us to believe that there exists someone who decides our choices?
Hmm.. let's say all the knowledge is known and the perfect model of the universe is available. With this perfect model and the initial conditions in hand, we can predict the evolution of the universe in time. This, in effect, will help us in knowing what choices a person makes at a particular time instant. So, it doesn't look like there is someone making choices for us, but the universe once started will take care of itself, with the supply of energy.
And probably this source of energy and starter of the universe is called God by all our scriptures (atleast this is my idea of God). God as just a 'source of energy' seems to be pretty bland/lifeless. Since we humans who are a part of the universe have consciousness (now what is consciousness??), we can safely attribute this (certainly a higher level of) consciousness to the 'source of energy' and hence the all powerful God.
Hmm... it really luks like our fates depend on how God decides the universe to be!
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