Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic - Arthur C. Clarke .
When you watch a movie , even though it is just a seamless integration of the red, blue and green color pixels of different textures, we will perceive them with the characters of the movie and feel the emotions of the characters. The characters in the movies think and act rationally, emotionally still nothing of that was actual reality.
Now take the same and apply it to the reality ,when I first read that Idea I thought it was a crazy and stupid Idea But after reading the following research from the Newscientist ( http://www.mindpowernews.com/Hologram.htm or http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126911.300-our-world-may-be-a-giant-hologram.html (which needs subscription) ) now I think its only a crazy idea and may be not as stupid idea as i think it was. This research tells actually we may be some kind of projected holographic images which seems absurd .
I first read this theory in different forms in Scott adams books, Douglas adams books and to some extent in Inception and matrix movies.Even though it looks impossible to believe , think if we are in 1500's and someone tells us that the earth is revolving around sun and we are attached to it by a fevicol called gravitational force we may think it as a stupid idea but it turned out to be truth , So I am just giving a benefit of doubt to this theory.
After reading this I felt that reality it self is much more complicated than the inceptions shown in Inception or Matrix.
Friday 31 December 2010
Saturday 18 December 2010
Democracy - Unplugged
Read the following blog carefully as it will save a lot of time for you in the future especially when you are involved in any arguments..
Success of Democracy mainly depends on the people collectivity making right choice as well as correcting the mistakes that were made. But when people have a wrong perception(ideology) about anything which is not based on facts . You expect them to change their mind when you bring on the facts to their notice . This is the main point for any of us having a discussions with others.But the studies suggest that whenever you say any fact which contradicts the ideology of others, instead of changing their mind on that issue, it simply reinforces the belief they already have(which is wrong and contradicting to the fact you said) . I personally know so many people who believes Obama is a muslim and I can see that number of people who believe that is increasing even the facts suggest otherwise.now go through the following link, which explains the studies done on the same.http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080924-does-ideology-trump-facts-studies-say-it-often-does.html (Uffff I strengthened the belief of the people who think Obama is muslim by contradicting their views:().So next time when some one says the things which are rubbish, save your time by not arguing and reinforcing their beliefs.
Second study is also on the same lines. As I explained in one of my previous blog human beings take decision first and then try to find a reason for supporting the same.So they randomly choose to vote for someone ( or support something) and then try to find a reason for the same . Once the people programmed to think in a particular way its almost impossible to change their thinking no matter how much irrational they are and how many facts you give to support your argument. Every day we see a lot of debates in news channels and even we involve in many discussions but I rarely see any of the participant agreeing to the opponents view. You may think the watchers may be benefiting from this but you will be disappointed even from that as mostly the audience take only the things to reinforce the beliefs they already have(communist will read only communist literature and capitalist will read only capitalist literature etc or take the parts which are useful to them). So if any of you think that discussions on NEWS channels are useful (apart from making money to the the channel) for the country and watchers may be need to rethink. Also I think we can help ourself by saving time on watching the discussions.Now go through the link below http://www.salon.com/env/mind_reader/2008/09/22/voter_choice/index.html?site_design=grapenuts
These studies conducted in US which is having better informed people so the results in India would have been much worse.
( The original blog from which, I inspired (ok copied :)) this is hidden some where in the blog find it to have more fun.)
Success of Democracy mainly depends on the people collectivity making right choice as well as correcting the mistakes that were made. But when people have a wrong perception(ideology) about anything which is not based on facts . You expect them to change their mind when you bring on the facts to their notice . This is the main point for any of us having a discussions with others.But the studies suggest that whenever you say any fact which contradicts the ideology of others, instead of changing their mind on that issue, it simply reinforces the belief they already have(which is wrong and contradicting to the fact you said) . I personally know so many people who believes Obama is a muslim and I can see that number of people who believe that is increasing even the facts suggest otherwise.now go through the following link, which explains the studies done on the same.http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080924-does-ideology-trump-facts-studies-say-it-often-does.html (Uffff I strengthened the belief of the people who think Obama is muslim by contradicting their views:().So next time when some one says the things which are rubbish, save your time by not arguing and reinforcing their beliefs.
Second study is also on the same lines. As I explained in one of my previous blog human beings take decision first and then try to find a reason for supporting the same.So they randomly choose to vote for someone ( or support something) and then try to find a reason for the same . Once the people programmed to think in a particular way its almost impossible to change their thinking no matter how much irrational they are and how many facts you give to support your argument. Every day we see a lot of debates in news channels and even we involve in many discussions but I rarely see any of the participant agreeing to the opponents view. You may think the watchers may be benefiting from this but you will be disappointed even from that as mostly the audience take only the things to reinforce the beliefs they already have(communist will read only communist literature and capitalist will read only capitalist literature etc or take the parts which are useful to them). So if any of you think that discussions on NEWS channels are useful (apart from making money to the the channel) for the country and watchers may be need to rethink. Also I think we can help ourself by saving time on watching the discussions.Now go through the link below http://www.salon.com/env/mind_reader/2008/09/22/voter_choice/index.html?site_design=grapenuts
These studies conducted in US which is having better informed people so the results in India would have been much worse.
( The original blog from which, I inspired (ok copied :)) this is hidden some where in the blog find it to have more fun.)
Saturday 11 December 2010
Inflation - The Zimbabwe way
Think that you worked hard for 10 years and saved some Lacs of money and unfortunately you got a stupid government (say like CPI which cant be ruled out completely ) and the inflation touched 11,200,000% as it did in Zimbabwe in 2008 (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/08/19/zimbabwe.inflation/index.html) all our life savings will be sufficient to buy say 20-30 kgs of rice. If you imagine someone who started saving money in Zimbabwe around 1990's and didn't have proper financial intelligence (or did not have a intelligent friend like me) would have been in a terrible state in 2007-08.Even if we did everything right from our side our Government can screw us big time by deflating the value of the currency.So I just want to give a basic knowledge on inflation in this blog.
Generally all the central banks encourage moderate inflation (5-10%) by various tools so that people will circulate money by spending or investing which will create employment.So if you take 10 years from now almost all the prices will be more than double as that was the primary job of the RBI.So if you keep money in banks or insurance policies most probably you will become poorer(may be not as poor as in Zimbabwe :)) compared to what you are today.
The currency note is just a paper with some ink markings ,what it can buy (read value) completely depends on our economy and and our government So instead of blindly believing on the government we should try to de-riskify our-self by creating assets(like equity or real-estate) which can offset the inflation or we should follow this to slove our problem http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-09-16/
Friday 10 December 2010
Programed souls
(I loved the following blog from rgvzoomin.com and want to share with you all)
The French philosopher Baruch Spinoza said “If you throw a stone into the air and if the stone has consciousness it will think it’s flying as per its own wish”.
It’s incredible how many of us are so programmed to feel an emotion so strongly even without ever understanding the fundamental basics of why we feel that emotion. The first time I took notice of this is when me and a friend of mine went to watch a film and in the newsreel which came before the film started, as was the practice during those days, a shot of Subash Chandra Bose came. My friend immediately got up and clapped loudly and whistled. He told me that his hair rises when he sees Subash Chandra Bose. I asked him what he knew about Subash Chandra Bose and he said he is a freedom fighter who in opposition to Gandhi, believed in violent action. I asked him what fights did actually Mr.Bose fight? He didn’t know. Then I asked him what he thought of Hitler? To which he said Hitler is a Bastard. Then I asked if it would surprise him to know that Mr.Bose was trying to become an ally of Hitler as the British who were ruling us at that time were an enemy of Hitler. He was thoroughly confused and I was sure that the next time he sees Mr.Bose his hair will not rise as much.
Here the point is not about what Mr.Bose’s contribution was which I myself am ignorant of but it’s about how my friend could be programmed to feel that emotion so strongly without him knowing an iota about Mr.Bose and worse he didn’t even bother about knowing.
Now that I put a doubt in his mind, instead of trying to understand what exactly his idol Mr.Bose is about, he just started following me in whatever I say and just wanted to be programmed by me, meaning listening to and believing in whatever I say thereby making me his idol… Thanks.
On another occasion I was speaking to a guy who is so compassionate about every living being. He could not stop talking about kindness towards animals. I asked him what if he was given an offer, that if he kills a dog he will be given a lakh of rupees. He said “No way”. I said what if it is 10 lakhs. He said “No”. Then I asked him if he would be willing to kill a guy who is willing to kill the dog for a lakh of rupees. After some hesitation he said “No, because the man is a living being too”. I asked him if he meant he just loves them for having life and it does not matter what they are doing with their life. He said yes. In other words does he love both Gandhi and Hitler equally to which he got confused and I said that in case he will not kill the man in spite of him doing what he is doing then does it mean that he has no disparity between living beings irrespective of the actions of what he or she or it is doing in life and if that is not the case then he should naturally choose to kill the man who is killing the dog, because the dog is innocent and the man is the killer.
Grudgingly after some thought he said yes he will kill the man. Then I asked him what if the man who is killing the dog for that 1 lakh actually needs the money for the treatment of his dying child. Then would he kill the child to save the dog or let the dog be killed to save the child or will he kill the man and let the child die, and if he will opt to let the man kill the dog to save the child, then how is it justified for him to claim that he has the same compassion for all living beings? And what if he has prior knowledge somehow that the child would grow up to be a really bad guy and the dog would be very good and faithful. Then how does he make the choice?
As my questioning was going on and on and on his anger kept growing and growing and at one time I felt he will leave the child, the man and the dog and kill me instead. So I abandoned my de-programming project and left him in haste.
The reason he and lots of others would not see logic and understand an analysis is that if they really got the point of what I am saying it will almost erase their identity and whatever they have built up till then in their lives and they would be left with a vacant mind which they cannot afford. So they start defending their beliefs violently shutting off all sanity and that’s how radicals are born.
In another instance to a guy who was claiming to be very patriotic and who hates Pakistan and who keeps saying that he is ready to die for the country, I asked him what if a very reliable survey gives findings that all Pakistani’s are very nice guys and all Indian’s are very selfish Bastards, what would he do then? I asked him, “When you say you love India what do you love exactly? If it’s the people you love, can you tell me the names of just 50 people in this country who you love so very much and for whom you are ready to die for? Or is it that you love the dirty roads or the corrupt system which you keep bitching about all the time? If you do not want to die for any one single man in particular or any one single element in India, do you even begin to understand consciously what you mean when you say you will die for INDIA? And if in a War, if India takes over Pakistan and joins it in India will you then love Pakistan too? In actuality how many Pakistani’s do you know to hate them?” By the end of this barrage of questions he took a long long pause and asked me hesitantly if I didn’t love India. I gave up.
I believe that we all are constantly programmed to feel a certain emotion, feel righteous, feel guilty, feel committed, feel grateful etc for a certain intended social and religious objective. We don’t even question the intention of the objective and blindly respond to it and due to that constantly get victimized by the negative effects of that programming. But I believe that if we question and re-question the feelings that are generated in us we can still follow the set rules of society but without getting programed in the head.
The French philosopher Baruch Spinoza said “If you throw a stone into the air and if the stone has consciousness it will think it’s flying as per its own wish”.
It’s incredible how many of us are so programmed to feel an emotion so strongly even without ever understanding the fundamental basics of why we feel that emotion. The first time I took notice of this is when me and a friend of mine went to watch a film and in the newsreel which came before the film started, as was the practice during those days, a shot of Subash Chandra Bose came. My friend immediately got up and clapped loudly and whistled. He told me that his hair rises when he sees Subash Chandra Bose. I asked him what he knew about Subash Chandra Bose and he said he is a freedom fighter who in opposition to Gandhi, believed in violent action. I asked him what fights did actually Mr.Bose fight? He didn’t know. Then I asked him what he thought of Hitler? To which he said Hitler is a Bastard. Then I asked if it would surprise him to know that Mr.Bose was trying to become an ally of Hitler as the British who were ruling us at that time were an enemy of Hitler. He was thoroughly confused and I was sure that the next time he sees Mr.Bose his hair will not rise as much.
Here the point is not about what Mr.Bose’s contribution was which I myself am ignorant of but it’s about how my friend could be programmed to feel that emotion so strongly without him knowing an iota about Mr.Bose and worse he didn’t even bother about knowing.
Now that I put a doubt in his mind, instead of trying to understand what exactly his idol Mr.Bose is about, he just started following me in whatever I say and just wanted to be programmed by me, meaning listening to and believing in whatever I say thereby making me his idol… Thanks.
On another occasion I was speaking to a guy who is so compassionate about every living being. He could not stop talking about kindness towards animals. I asked him what if he was given an offer, that if he kills a dog he will be given a lakh of rupees. He said “No way”. I said what if it is 10 lakhs. He said “No”. Then I asked him if he would be willing to kill a guy who is willing to kill the dog for a lakh of rupees. After some hesitation he said “No, because the man is a living being too”. I asked him if he meant he just loves them for having life and it does not matter what they are doing with their life. He said yes. In other words does he love both Gandhi and Hitler equally to which he got confused and I said that in case he will not kill the man in spite of him doing what he is doing then does it mean that he has no disparity between living beings irrespective of the actions of what he or she or it is doing in life and if that is not the case then he should naturally choose to kill the man who is killing the dog, because the dog is innocent and the man is the killer.
Grudgingly after some thought he said yes he will kill the man. Then I asked him what if the man who is killing the dog for that 1 lakh actually needs the money for the treatment of his dying child. Then would he kill the child to save the dog or let the dog be killed to save the child or will he kill the man and let the child die, and if he will opt to let the man kill the dog to save the child, then how is it justified for him to claim that he has the same compassion for all living beings? And what if he has prior knowledge somehow that the child would grow up to be a really bad guy and the dog would be very good and faithful. Then how does he make the choice?
As my questioning was going on and on and on his anger kept growing and growing and at one time I felt he will leave the child, the man and the dog and kill me instead. So I abandoned my de-programming project and left him in haste.
The reason he and lots of others would not see logic and understand an analysis is that if they really got the point of what I am saying it will almost erase their identity and whatever they have built up till then in their lives and they would be left with a vacant mind which they cannot afford. So they start defending their beliefs violently shutting off all sanity and that’s how radicals are born.
In another instance to a guy who was claiming to be very patriotic and who hates Pakistan and who keeps saying that he is ready to die for the country, I asked him what if a very reliable survey gives findings that all Pakistani’s are very nice guys and all Indian’s are very selfish Bastards, what would he do then? I asked him, “When you say you love India what do you love exactly? If it’s the people you love, can you tell me the names of just 50 people in this country who you love so very much and for whom you are ready to die for? Or is it that you love the dirty roads or the corrupt system which you keep bitching about all the time? If you do not want to die for any one single man in particular or any one single element in India, do you even begin to understand consciously what you mean when you say you will die for INDIA? And if in a War, if India takes over Pakistan and joins it in India will you then love Pakistan too? In actuality how many Pakistani’s do you know to hate them?” By the end of this barrage of questions he took a long long pause and asked me hesitantly if I didn’t love India. I gave up.
I believe that we all are constantly programmed to feel a certain emotion, feel righteous, feel guilty, feel committed, feel grateful etc for a certain intended social and religious objective. We don’t even question the intention of the objective and blindly respond to it and due to that constantly get victimized by the negative effects of that programming. But I believe that if we question and re-question the feelings that are generated in us we can still follow the set rules of society but without getting programed in the head.
Sunday 5 December 2010
Serendipity - II
(In my previous blog I thought of writing something else and as always carried away to something else.So I want to continue it here.)
After attending the session at BSE I formed a theory that some times we should do the things which looks no good at all, as occasionally we may experience the serendipity of discovering some thing interesting.
Before joining Infosys I thought I cant stay more than a year in it as I personally don't like companies which restricts employees attire or anything else. But my stay in Infy was really a pleasant surprise ,it probably is the best part in my career in many ways. In the same way most of the time when I plan perfectly and try to do that it may end up as a disaster.So the better thing would be to try as many things as possible and continue what ever works the best. And also whenever you find something is not working we should be able to stop doing that instead of emotionally getting attached to it.
Because of this theory many times I will commit to do things which i don't like to do and many times they turn out exactly as expected :( but when they work it usually pay off for the things which didn't work
After attending the session at BSE I formed a theory that some times we should do the things which looks no good at all, as occasionally we may experience the serendipity of discovering some thing interesting.
Before joining Infosys I thought I cant stay more than a year in it as I personally don't like companies which restricts employees attire or anything else. But my stay in Infy was really a pleasant surprise ,it probably is the best part in my career in many ways. In the same way most of the time when I plan perfectly and try to do that it may end up as a disaster.So the better thing would be to try as many things as possible and continue what ever works the best. And also whenever you find something is not working we should be able to stop doing that instead of emotionally getting attached to it.
Because of this theory many times I will commit to do things which i don't like to do and many times they turn out exactly as expected :( but when they work it usually pay off for the things which didn't work
Saturday 4 December 2010
Serendipity
“ Since all human actions obey laws, as fixed as those of geometry, psychology should be studied in geometrical form, and with mathematical objectivity”-Spinoza
In one of the session at BSE the instructor told that 'when I look at 2+2=4 I wont feel neither happy nor sad ,I wont wish that it should be more or something else'. As I was not interested in the subject he was telling (Technical analysis) I tried to take the impression to him and whatever he was telling . I tried to hate and dismiss it but I was not able to leave that thought for 2-3 days .Then it stuck me as a pleasant surprise. That thought taught me about looking at the things objectively more that any thing else and I think that was the best lesson I learnt from the whole course .
Everybody criticize and abuse politicians and bureaucrats for taking bribes but if our relative works in income tax, revenue or railways we will consider all that money as a legitimate earnings ( which is evident from the huge devories they get).Most of the people accept that terrorism is evil but if you take in south tamilnadu many people support LTTE and in many states many people support naxalites and extremists when it is useful for them.
If I say ' mera bharat mahan' is a stupid slogan and India is not great in any way, say compared to America many people instead of objectively thinking on what basis we can call India is great , FEEL bad about it and try to take false pride on the saying it.In the same way if someone say most of the sharukh movies are dumb all sharukh fans will feel bad and others feel happy instead of thinking about the fact objectively.
So Whenever we face any problem or take decision we should think objectively ,statistically and mathematically towards solution , instead of mixing feeling's with it.
Friday 19 November 2010
10 things that I like or like to do
1) Reading books with high intellectual content like Ayn Rand ( or ) with no intellectual content at all like Scott Adams
2) Watching movies which are high brainier's like Amir Khan and RGV ( or ) no brainier's like Akshay kumar and Rajendra prasad
3) Taking decisions by carefully analyzing all the alternatives ( or ) doing things instantaneously and impulsively without thinking.
4)Investing in rock study companies which won't not get affected by any adverse economic trends ( or ) highly speculative companies which may either go bankrupt or become strong companies over time.
5) Working extremely hard to complete the assignments when the work is interesting ( or ) trying to avoid work by hook or crook when it is boring.
6) Being extremely loud and noisy with friends ( or ) extremely silent and decent with colleagues.
7) Buying Products of the companies which will charge huge prices compared to the competitors and continue to increase their prices like Apple and Nike ( or ) companies which sell products for the least prices and continue to decrease prices with their efficiency like Big Bazar and Airtel.
8) Watching or wearing Colors which cause pleasure to senses like white ( or ) which will show strength like black.
9) Observing People who take the work so seriously and try to achieve perfection in every aspect like Sachin, Ayn Rand and Amir ( or ) who wont even care about their work like Sehvag or RGV.
10) Listening to the Melodious and classic music like Illayaraja ( or ) trendy and western music like AR Rehman and shakira.
2) Watching movies which are high brainier's like Amir Khan and RGV ( or ) no brainier's like Akshay kumar and Rajendra prasad
3) Taking decisions by carefully analyzing all the alternatives ( or ) doing things instantaneously and impulsively without thinking.
4)Investing in rock study companies which won't not get affected by any adverse economic trends ( or ) highly speculative companies which may either go bankrupt or become strong companies over time.
5) Working extremely hard to complete the assignments when the work is interesting ( or ) trying to avoid work by hook or crook when it is boring.
6) Being extremely loud and noisy with friends ( or ) extremely silent and decent with colleagues.
7) Buying Products of the companies which will charge huge prices compared to the competitors and continue to increase their prices like Apple and Nike ( or ) companies which sell products for the least prices and continue to decrease prices with their efficiency like Big Bazar and Airtel.
8) Watching or wearing Colors which cause pleasure to senses like white ( or ) which will show strength like black.
9) Observing People who take the work so seriously and try to achieve perfection in every aspect like Sachin, Ayn Rand and Amir ( or ) who wont even care about their work like Sehvag or RGV.
10) Listening to the Melodious and classic music like Illayaraja ( or ) trendy and western music like AR Rehman and shakira.
Thursday 18 November 2010
Backward Reasoning
Most of the time we do something then we try to justify it with a reason than actually taking a decision based on proper reasoning.
I read in some book by scott adams that in a controlled lab environment it was proven that in the mind the part which is responsible for reasoning will react way later compared to the part responsible for the action, which means we continue to do actions randomly and then try to make up reasons for the actions already done , which is quite disturbing and I personally can not fully believe .But I can see many of us do this to some extent.
The classic example for this is , in 'saving private ryan' movie when the Tom hanks troop has been sent to save one soldier,In a discussion Tom hanks will say that Ryan should become some scientist or save many lives to justify the effort they are putting. Even though he is not having any idea whom they are going to save and he is doing that only because he was given orders ..But that wont stop him reasoning to justify his actions..
No matter how stupid the action seems to you , if you ask the person he will tell you a fascinating reason. I don't think the followers of the raj thakray or telangana activists will think they are stupid. They typically believe they have a solid reason behind their actions.
It is very helpful to understand the backward reasoning as it is one of the trap's that our mind plays on us.Whenever we make any mistake instead of rectifying it we will continue to find reasons to justify our actions. It would be better if we understand that we made mistake and focus on how to rectify the same.
I read in some book by scott adams that in a controlled lab environment it was proven that in the mind the part which is responsible for reasoning will react way later compared to the part responsible for the action, which means we continue to do actions randomly and then try to make up reasons for the actions already done , which is quite disturbing and I personally can not fully believe .But I can see many of us do this to some extent.
The classic example for this is , in 'saving private ryan' movie when the Tom hanks troop has been sent to save one soldier,In a discussion Tom hanks will say that Ryan should become some scientist or save many lives to justify the effort they are putting. Even though he is not having any idea whom they are going to save and he is doing that only because he was given orders ..But that wont stop him reasoning to justify his actions..
No matter how stupid the action seems to you , if you ask the person he will tell you a fascinating reason. I don't think the followers of the raj thakray or telangana activists will think they are stupid. They typically believe they have a solid reason behind their actions.
It is very helpful to understand the backward reasoning as it is one of the trap's that our mind plays on us.Whenever we make any mistake instead of rectifying it we will continue to find reasons to justify our actions. It would be better if we understand that we made mistake and focus on how to rectify the same.
Monday 8 November 2010
Free advice
"Success is achieved by development of our strengths, not by elimination of our weakness." - Marilyn Vos Savant
In our interaction with people we will get a lot of free advices without even asking for it and Most of the time the persons who are giving the advice will not be having any real knowledge on the problem which doesn't stop them exhibiting their wisdom .In my experience I understand that following free advice is the most expensive mistake we can do.
As a knowledge workers everyone of us would go through a lot of appraisal in which we typically get feedback like ' you have done good in X (some technical work) and bad in Y (some documentation) so next time concentrate more on the job Y, which you did bad'. In the same way from our childhood day we always get advice to concentrate on the subjects which we scored less. By doing which we can neither enjoy nor get expertise in both.Till now I haven't been to any appraisal in which my manager says continue to work more on what you are good , because of which I think most of the appraisals I attended are in fact useless.
If you take in cricket Zaheer has the best in-swinger ,when he started his career our esteemed experts and commentators used to say Zaheer should learn out-swingers. when he was out of form he used to try that and became a mediocre bowler and gone out of cricket for many years. same thing happened to Nehra and Irfan when they tried to learn in-swing and pace.
We may ignore these free advices but they will in-fact effect in our sub-consciousness and will strike when we are down with other problems. So its best to consciously reject them when we got than ignoring. So Its my free advice to you all that not to follow any other free advices.
In our interaction with people we will get a lot of free advices without even asking for it and Most of the time the persons who are giving the advice will not be having any real knowledge on the problem which doesn't stop them exhibiting their wisdom .In my experience I understand that following free advice is the most expensive mistake we can do.
As a knowledge workers everyone of us would go through a lot of appraisal in which we typically get feedback like ' you have done good in X (some technical work) and bad in Y (some documentation) so next time concentrate more on the job Y, which you did bad'. In the same way from our childhood day we always get advice to concentrate on the subjects which we scored less. By doing which we can neither enjoy nor get expertise in both.Till now I haven't been to any appraisal in which my manager says continue to work more on what you are good , because of which I think most of the appraisals I attended are in fact useless.
If you take in cricket Zaheer has the best in-swinger ,when he started his career our esteemed experts and commentators used to say Zaheer should learn out-swingers. when he was out of form he used to try that and became a mediocre bowler and gone out of cricket for many years. same thing happened to Nehra and Irfan when they tried to learn in-swing and pace.
We may ignore these free advices but they will in-fact effect in our sub-consciousness and will strike when we are down with other problems. So its best to consciously reject them when we got than ignoring. So Its my free advice to you all that not to follow any other free advices.
Sunday 31 October 2010
My Experiments with Stupidity
After reading Ayn rand books I used to feel pretty depressed looking at the amount irrational things around me , till I find Dilbert.When I first read "Dilbert the way of weasel" it stuck me so hard that within 6-7 months I read almost everything written by Scott Adams(hmm may be I have too much free time also at that time) . By reading Ayn rand books we can see what is wrong, and if you read Dilbert instead of feeling bad about that you will actually start enjoying it. After reading Dilbert books I never had a dull or bad day as I was petty much surrounded by its characters in live and I feel like I am the only person who actually saw the preview of situations that are coming .
In one of the comic when asok informs the boss about the project being behind the schedule , he asks him for a daily status update till the situation improves, its really funny to see the same thing repeatedly in my office. Recently I saw the extreme end of this which is hourly status update( I would have gone crazy if not enlightened by Dilbert).
In another comic Dogbert will say he is planning to kill all the people in elbonia (some third world country) but we don't need to feel guilt as elbonians believe whoever dies in that will get donuts in their after life .When I read that one of the terrorist who attacked TAJ hotel actually told other terrorist that they don't need to take dinner as they can have it in their Jannath (heaven), I know that Dogbert is right on target. Many comics in Dilbert need deep philosophical knowledge to actually enjoy the comic (I think Dilbert is the second best philosophical content I came across after Ayn rand).
The strategy which improved my quality of life greatly is 'surviving the meetings'.Before going to any meeting i will clearly define the objective to achieve in the meeting which is almost but not exactly opposite to the objective of the meeting, like how many blunders we can find in some movie (ex. DON)or in how many ways Sharukh movies are stupider compared to aamir's movies etc. and will try to come to a conclusion by the time meeting ends.
Dilbert is the best thing I got from working in IT as I would have missed it badly in any other profession .Thank God for Dilbert.
In one of the comic when asok informs the boss about the project being behind the schedule , he asks him for a daily status update till the situation improves, its really funny to see the same thing repeatedly in my office. Recently I saw the extreme end of this which is hourly status update( I would have gone crazy if not enlightened by Dilbert).
In another comic Dogbert will say he is planning to kill all the people in elbonia (some third world country) but we don't need to feel guilt as elbonians believe whoever dies in that will get donuts in their after life .When I read that one of the terrorist who attacked TAJ hotel actually told other terrorist that they don't need to take dinner as they can have it in their Jannath (heaven), I know that Dogbert is right on target. Many comics in Dilbert need deep philosophical knowledge to actually enjoy the comic (I think Dilbert is the second best philosophical content I came across after Ayn rand).
The strategy which improved my quality of life greatly is 'surviving the meetings'.Before going to any meeting i will clearly define the objective to achieve in the meeting which is almost but not exactly opposite to the objective of the meeting, like how many blunders we can find in some movie (ex. DON)or in how many ways Sharukh movies are stupider compared to aamir's movies etc. and will try to come to a conclusion by the time meeting ends.
Dilbert is the best thing I got from working in IT as I would have missed it badly in any other profession .Thank God for Dilbert.
Sunday 24 October 2010
Apocalypse
I see many people discussing in media and in general also on end of world on some particular year or date etc.I can understand the people who are un-educated discussing it, but I wonder on the number of educated persons discussing about this when actually they can spend time on many useful ways.
The main flaw in any Apocalyptic argument is it suggests some year, some round number or a fancy number and numbers by themselves doesn't have any meaning . If you take 10 , its two in decimal system, eight in octal system and sixteen in hex-decimal system. and I don't see any reason why god , nature or the universe whatever that's running the world would use decimal system and have a preference to fancy numbers.
After reading these predictions I did some research (actually googled for 5 mins) and found these top 10 failed predictions http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/091104-doomsday-predictions.html . I think we will see these predictions time to time to solace people who are not able to keep up with the pace of the world . Any way I have a bad news for the people who are enthusiastically waiting for the end of the world as per Mayan calender ....at least till they find another calender :) follow the below links.
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/end-of-the-earth-postponed
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39759260
The main flaw in any Apocalyptic argument is it suggests some year, some round number or a fancy number and numbers by themselves doesn't have any meaning . If you take 10 , its two in decimal system, eight in octal system and sixteen in hex-decimal system. and I don't see any reason why god , nature or the universe whatever that's running the world would use decimal system and have a preference to fancy numbers.
After reading these predictions I did some research (actually googled for 5 mins) and found these top 10 failed predictions http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/091104-doomsday-predictions.html . I think we will see these predictions time to time to solace people who are not able to keep up with the pace of the world . Any way I have a bad news for the people who are enthusiastically waiting for the end of the world as per Mayan calender ....at least till they find another calender :) follow the below links.
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/end-of-the-earth-postponed
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39759260
Monday 11 October 2010
Emotional Atyachar
Guilt, i think is most dominant emotion used in the world against man. When I first read fountainhead I understand its true nature of Guilt and started analyzing ,I was surprised to see the amount of Guilt that is filled in the world and only way to achieve happiness in this world is to kill that emotion.Guilt is mainly used against man to make him feel small and unhappy as the Man with happiness without guilt cannot be ruled.It is evident in the small tussles between friends to abstract religious beliefs.
Mostly the situation they use to create guilt in us will not even have remote connection to us but still we feel responsible the them. What you need to know is that the main objective is not to serve the cause but make you feel guilt.Take the case of tiger's(or any species) extinction we are in no way responsible for it, and even if all the tigers/seals/wheals extinct I don't think it's going impact me or any human being in any way. If we spend the same money on poor people , the results would be much better. In the same way " Go Green" or global warming problem ( http://bit.ly/cHAv3G) , without any kind of evidence we all made to believe that we are causing global warming.
We will see mails and people teaching we need to consume less as in some part of the world people are starving without thinking how will that impact, as a matter of fact if you consume more, it will actually support whole supply chain and create jobs to all of them and will help the people raise out of poverty.
Not only these what ever gives pleasure to man are vehemently attacked by religions ,politicians, NGO's and masses causing people to think pleasure it self is a sin/guilty.If you don't believe see the attack on Coke, Cigars, Mobile (by NGO's) ,Sex (by Religion), Industrialization and Cars (by environmentalists) Money (Altruism and politics) . All these things may be diverse in nature but only thing in common is they give pleasure and sense of achievement to the man.
Without you making a conscience effort to understand the true nature of these preachings its not possible to escape or raise out of this emotional atyachar.
Read the following lines form Ellsworth Toohey which is the best antagonist character I have ever seen or read till date, (The main difference between Atlas shrugged and Fountainhead is that Atlas shrugged lacks a strong antagonist character like Toohey.) so that you can get better understanding of Guilt.
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004FMp
Mostly the situation they use to create guilt in us will not even have remote connection to us but still we feel responsible the them. What you need to know is that the main objective is not to serve the cause but make you feel guilt.Take the case of tiger's(or any species) extinction we are in no way responsible for it, and even if all the tigers/seals/wheals extinct I don't think it's going impact me or any human being in any way. If we spend the same money on poor people , the results would be much better. In the same way " Go Green" or global warming problem ( http://bit.ly/cHAv3G) , without any kind of evidence we all made to believe that we are causing global warming.
We will see mails and people teaching we need to consume less as in some part of the world people are starving without thinking how will that impact, as a matter of fact if you consume more, it will actually support whole supply chain and create jobs to all of them and will help the people raise out of poverty.
Not only these what ever gives pleasure to man are vehemently attacked by religions ,politicians, NGO's and masses causing people to think pleasure it self is a sin/guilty.If you don't believe see the attack on Coke, Cigars, Mobile (by NGO's) ,Sex (by Religion), Industrialization and Cars (by environmentalists) Money (Altruism and politics) . All these things may be diverse in nature but only thing in common is they give pleasure and sense of achievement to the man.
Without you making a conscience effort to understand the true nature of these preachings its not possible to escape or raise out of this emotional atyachar.
Read the following lines form Ellsworth Toohey which is the best antagonist character I have ever seen or read till date, (The main difference between Atlas shrugged and Fountainhead is that Atlas shrugged lacks a strong antagonist character like Toohey.) so that you can get better understanding of Guilt.
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004FMp
Sunday 3 October 2010
Reflexivity
Reflexive theory is the the best theory I studied in the recent times and influenced me a lot. I read this first from the books of George soros ( is the man who short sold $10billon and made $1.1 billion profit within 24hrs. in 1992) its petty simple theory but the applications and influences are quite enormous.
In simple terms it says " Reality will effect/change perceptions,in the same way perceptions can also effect/change reality". In this first part is quite simple like if a person is good, every one perceive him as a good person and the second part is quite hard to digest but if you can observe you will know that the perception can change reality too.
If you take India in 2000 ,on the ground we had nothing to write about infrastructure, living conditions, good government etc but some how the perception started to change towards India (may be Nuclear tests helped) and foreign investment started to flow into India ,which started changing the reality , now we are the worlds second fastest growing economy.Even now if you take in any standard (like growth,infra,living standards etc) china is far superior to India but the capital flows to India are much better compared china ,more companies are starting /increasing investments in India and many companies like Google are leaving china,which i think will again change the reality in our favor.
If you take prices of Gold for which there are no fundamentals than the price it self are going up because people are buying it thinking the prices go up and the prices are going up because people are buying. When the trend starts reversing the same reflexivity will work in opposite direction too.
In the same way if you take Windows/iPhone there are more applications because of which more people continue to use them and there are more number of users so more companies will continue to develop applications to that platform.This reflexive process to continue till some new platform emerge.
When I first started investing I started reading finance related books. Reading the books helped me understand the markets better and understanding the markets made my reading much more interesting and enjoyable. In the same way reading philosophical books helped understand the world better and vice versa.It is very useful as if you can appreciate it and setup this kind of feedback loops.
We can find a lot more examples in financial world which you can access below
http://www.sharpeinvesting.com/2007/08/george-soros-theory-of-reflexivity-mit-speech.html
In simple terms it says " Reality will effect/change perceptions,in the same way perceptions can also effect/change reality". In this first part is quite simple like if a person is good, every one perceive him as a good person and the second part is quite hard to digest but if you can observe you will know that the perception can change reality too.
If you take India in 2000 ,on the ground we had nothing to write about infrastructure, living conditions, good government etc but some how the perception started to change towards India (may be Nuclear tests helped) and foreign investment started to flow into India ,which started changing the reality , now we are the worlds second fastest growing economy.Even now if you take in any standard (like growth,infra,living standards etc) china is far superior to India but the capital flows to India are much better compared china ,more companies are starting /increasing investments in India and many companies like Google are leaving china,which i think will again change the reality in our favor.
If you take prices of Gold for which there are no fundamentals than the price it self are going up because people are buying it thinking the prices go up and the prices are going up because people are buying. When the trend starts reversing the same reflexivity will work in opposite direction too.
In the same way if you take Windows/iPhone there are more applications because of which more people continue to use them and there are more number of users so more companies will continue to develop applications to that platform.This reflexive process to continue till some new platform emerge.
When I first started investing I started reading finance related books. Reading the books helped me understand the markets better and understanding the markets made my reading much more interesting and enjoyable. In the same way reading philosophical books helped understand the world better and vice versa.It is very useful as if you can appreciate it and setup this kind of feedback loops.
We can find a lot more examples in financial world which you can access below
http://www.sharpeinvesting.com/2007/08/george-soros-theory-of-reflexivity-mit-speech.html
Thursday 30 September 2010
Philosophy
I think Philosophy is the most abused word in India,everybody uses it without even caring about the meaning of it. I understand the real meaning and implications of it after reading Ayn rand's Philosophy who needs it. It is the best non-fiction novel I have read till date.
If you think philosophy is a boring thing which has nothing to do with concrete real world issues which you face read the following para from Ayn Rand.
" You might claim--as most people do--that you have never been influenced by philosophy. I will ask you to check that claim. Have you ever thought or said the following? "Don't be so sure--nobody can be certain of anything." You got that notion from David Hume (and many, many others), even though you might never have heard of him. Or: "This may be good in theory, but it doesn't work in practice.You got that from Plato. Or: "That was a rotten thing to do, but it's only human,nobody is perfect in this world." You got that from Augustine. Or: "It may be true for you, but it's not true for me." You got it from William James. Or: "I couldn't help it! Nobody can help anything he does." You got it from Hegel. Or: "I can't prove it, but I feel that it's true." You got it from Kant. Or: "It's logical, but logic has nothing to do with reality." You got it from Kant. Or: "It's evil, because it's selfish." You got it from Kant. Have you heard the modern activists say: "Act first, think afterward"? They got it from John Dewey.Some people might answer: "Sure, I've said those things at different times, but I don't have to believe that stuff all of the time. It may have been true yesterday, but it's not true today." They got it from Hegel. They might say: "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." They got it from a very little mind, Emerson. They might say: "But can't one compromise and borrow different ideas from different philosophies according to the expediency of the moment?" They got it from Richard Nixon--who got it from William James." (Ayn Rand)
So you don't have a choice of not having a philosophy,either u decide that ur conciseness guide u towards a rational philosophy or let the mindless generalizations guide you .
The best way to develop your philosophical knowledge is reading Ayn rands "Fountainhead' and 'Atlas shrugged ' which are fictional novel setup in a philosophical background. I didn't see any one even attempting to write a 1000 pages novels where the conflict between antagonist and protagonist is meta physical (philosophical).As the story was setup with real life characters we will be able to visualize the impact even though we may not understand the implied philosophy.
If you think philosophy is a boring thing which has nothing to do with concrete real world issues which you face read the following para from Ayn Rand.
" You might claim--as most people do--that you have never been influenced by philosophy. I will ask you to check that claim. Have you ever thought or said the following? "Don't be so sure--nobody can be certain of anything." You got that notion from David Hume (and many, many others), even though you might never have heard of him. Or: "This may be good in theory, but it doesn't work in practice.You got that from Plato. Or: "That was a rotten thing to do, but it's only human,nobody is perfect in this world." You got that from Augustine. Or: "It may be true for you, but it's not true for me." You got it from William James. Or: "I couldn't help it! Nobody can help anything he does." You got it from Hegel. Or: "I can't prove it, but I feel that it's true." You got it from Kant. Or: "It's logical, but logic has nothing to do with reality." You got it from Kant. Or: "It's evil, because it's selfish." You got it from Kant. Have you heard the modern activists say: "Act first, think afterward"? They got it from John Dewey.Some people might answer: "Sure, I've said those things at different times, but I don't have to believe that stuff all of the time. It may have been true yesterday, but it's not true today." They got it from Hegel. They might say: "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." They got it from a very little mind, Emerson. They might say: "But can't one compromise and borrow different ideas from different philosophies according to the expediency of the moment?" They got it from Richard Nixon--who got it from William James." (Ayn Rand)
So you don't have a choice of not having a philosophy,either u decide that ur conciseness guide u towards a rational philosophy or let the mindless generalizations guide you .
The best way to develop your philosophical knowledge is reading Ayn rands "Fountainhead' and 'Atlas shrugged ' which are fictional novel setup in a philosophical background. I didn't see any one even attempting to write a 1000 pages novels where the conflict between antagonist and protagonist is meta physical (philosophical).As the story was setup with real life characters we will be able to visualize the impact even though we may not understand the implied philosophy.
Sunday 26 September 2010
Money never sleeps
Today I watched a movie called Wall Street (II) which is quite fantastic for people who are involved with stock markets ,may be not a great watch for other people as the director presumes that knowledge and doesn't try to explain on that front.We may not be able to compare this with the first part but the movie shows the economic situation quite brilliantly.Micheal douglas performance is as fantastic as part I. First half of the movie, bear sterns sellout scenes are quite good but second half especially the peak of the crisis is not captured properly. When you saw the movie you realize that how cinematic the economic crisis is. It has good beginning ,buildup and a fantastic climax.
When I first saw the first part of the Wall street(1987) in 2007 I just blown away by the characterization and performance of Micheal Douglas. Even though the movie is quite average till the Gekko character enters ,with the entrance of Douglas the movie will go into another league.I didn't saw in any other movie even remotely portraying a character like Gekko. When he explains with reasons that "the greed is good" not only the characters in the movie but the audience also will become dumb enough to believe so.
Enjoy the clip here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7upG01-XWbY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7upG01-XWbY
RK
Friday 24 September 2010
Anti knowledge
Anti knowledge is not just the non useful information it's some thing which make the useful information unusable by providing wrong info.
When u search something in Google how much useful info we get may be 2-3 in 10 which means 70-80% are crap. Google continues to evolve its search to find good info and the anti knowledge continues to evolve keeping the same ration intact. This makes user who can exactly distinguish between them can only move forward.
If you see any business Chanel any time if one expert say enthusiastically to buy a share ,other expert will say with same energy to sell (with a valid reason) making both of their arguments useless unless you have some knowledge to distinguish between them.
If you take any group discussing any topic and one person asks abt the reason for anything some one will say we can't look for reason in every thing making whole discussion useless .
Knowledge continues to grow up and at the same time the anti knowledge will continue to grow exponentially . Which continues to makes personal skill more valuable
I used to wonder why the salaries of knowledge professionals were going up when the tech products prices are going down. And why the companies should pay handsome salaries when all the knowledge(information) is available for free in Net.It may be every companies/managers dream to have the knowledge in that way so that they can simply replace the employees with dolts, But this may not happen any time mainly because of the anti knowledge.
If you think the above content is not adding any knowledge to you feel happy as this may be contributing to the anti knowledge and increasing you pay check :).
Ravikanth
When u search something in Google how much useful info we get may be 2-3 in 10 which means 70-80% are crap. Google continues to evolve its search to find good info and the anti knowledge continues to evolve keeping the same ration intact. This makes user who can exactly distinguish between them can only move forward.
If you see any business Chanel any time if one expert say enthusiastically to buy a share ,other expert will say with same energy to sell (with a valid reason) making both of their arguments useless unless you have some knowledge to distinguish between them.
If you take any group discussing any topic and one person asks abt the reason for anything some one will say we can't look for reason in every thing making whole discussion useless .
Knowledge continues to grow up and at the same time the anti knowledge will continue to grow exponentially . Which continues to makes personal skill more valuable
I used to wonder why the salaries of knowledge professionals were going up when the tech products prices are going down. And why the companies should pay handsome salaries when all the knowledge(information) is available for free in Net.It may be every companies/managers dream to have the knowledge in that way so that they can simply replace the employees with dolts, But this may not happen any time mainly because of the anti knowledge.
If you think the above content is not adding any knowledge to you feel happy as this may be contributing to the anti knowledge and increasing you pay check :).
Ravikanth
Tuesday 21 September 2010
First blog
This is my first blogpost after a long time. As I was in a job which needs little use( too little to quantify say equal to atom) of mind ,so thought of doing something less boring(typing is really boring). This blog is mostly abt my life , my universe and everything abt me. Hmm may be not exactly but I liked the book "life universe and everything" by douglas adams and invested a lot of time in reading it so I am going to keep the same even if it doesn't make any sense.
Importantly I want to keep a trail of my thoughts which are quite random and unpredictable. Let me see how many days I can continue.
I read a lot of books mainly in the philosophical,financial and technical genres . Which I believe are absolutely necessary for any one who want to lead a happy life(I think government should change the education system in this lines :-)).
Importantly I want to keep a trail of my thoughts which are quite random and unpredictable. Let me see how many days I can continue.
I read a lot of books mainly in the philosophical,financial and technical genres . Which I believe are absolutely necessary for any one who want to lead a happy life(I think government should change the education system in this lines :-)).
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