Times have changed...

As I said earlier , its 21st century and we need to rephrase/reformat some of our beliefs, ideologies and sayings .. is really funny (or isn't it) read on :
The usual saying goes "When in Rome do as the Romans do" am telling you ...we need to rephrase that ... too many do's in the saying. Make it simpler it goes "When in Rome ... Do the Romans" ;-)

"Practice makes a man perfect" they say I disagree. I say "Perfect practice makes a man perfect". I hope u don't need a logical explanation for that

"Nothing can travel faster than light" yes !! A wave function can !! And every experiment in Quantum mech has proved it ... so "Faster than light = Backwards in time"

"Dog is a man's best friend" you must be kidding me .. I didn't realize. If you watch Hollywood movies "A Dawg can never be a man's best friend"

"Don't let the grass grow on the path of friendship" well well well ... Grass growth aids friendship

But there are some which haven't changed and which even you cannot even think of changing ... one of em is

"Women shall forever be right, even when they aren't correct."

Even god is surprised by their behaviour; he would be like - how is this possible?? I didn't intend to do this !! No way



The comments expressed in this section are the views of the author and by no means was meant to hurt to the feelings of the reader

The Matrix

You know, I know that this steak doesn’t exist. I know when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, do you know what I’ve realized?
Ignorance is bliss.
-Cypher
The Matrix (only the first of the trilogy) was arguably one of the more philosophically intriguing movies in recent memory, I could probably write like a whole bunch of posts based on the movie, but I want to talk about the Cypher quote above in particular right now.


If you read the title of this post, you must be wondering to yourself now, “What the heck does the Cypher quote have to do with love?” You see, the Cypher quote is intriguing because it’s not exactly unreasonable. What exactly is life? Many will say that life is the sum of our experiences. Understandably, everyone is driven by outcomes in life. We do things because we believe it will make us feel good. There is action and there is reaction. I want to find meaning in my life, because I believe I will feel good about myself if I have meaning in my life. I want to buy a good car, because I think I will get a rush driving it down the street. I pay my taxes, because I don’t want the income tax department knocking on my door. You could argue that it’s not quite as simple, like maybe I pay taxes because I was educated to be a good citizen of this country, or that I believe the nice social infrastructure that I enjoy is a result of me paying taxes. But the point is, I do things a certain way because of the final impact that it has on my senses and experience. And I regret some of my actions because I fail to factor in things that impact me in a negative way or maybe I was dumb enough to believe I can outsmart it. Such as people who decide to steal because they believe they can outsmart the police. 

You ever think about why you fall in love? What is love? What is it that we really want from connecting with another person? I believe we are addicted to certain emotions that certain people can trigger in us. It’s all about feelings; we call those feelings “chemistry”. Attraction isn’t a choice. 

Given these observations, it’s hard not to agree with Cypher.

Does it mean that we are just selfish beings who do things to satisfy ourselves? Does nothing else matters other than fulfilling our feelings and longings? Consider the example of people buying insurance. Why do people buy life insurance to ensure the future of their significant other or dependents? Sure, if you are religious, you can argue that people buy life insurance because they can observe from heaven. But many others who don’t believe in consciousness after death still buy insurance. Why is that? Aren’t people like that better off by purchasing something for themselves than to pay the insurance premium? This shows that there are things we intrinsically value other than our own individual experience. Let’s consider another example. I think I am not alone when I say I place a great value in not being deceived over my own feelings of joy. Suppose somebody acts if he/she loves you, but internally he/she doesn’t feel much for you and was only with you for the money or lifestyle. For me, I rather know the truth and live a life of solitude than to live happily ever after thinking I found the love of my life.

In the end, I think what defines us as human and what make Cypher’s viewpoint really fall apart is the great value we place in triggering feelings in other “real humans”. People write great novels, compose great music, paint great art, engineer great products, and discover great physical laws; not because they want to enjoy the benefits of being famous or rich. Rather they do it because they want others to feel that same humanity that triggers and drives them. We love inspiring others, creating something that communicates and excites others. We like telling stories and hearing them, because we want to share and understand vision with other humans. It’s about expressing ourselves and invoking reflections in others. We want to understand and be understood by others. That said, perhaps love is the ultimate expression of ourselves, finding somebody who you trust to share the best and worst of you.
Being the One is just like being in love. Nobody can tell you you’re in love. You just know it. Through and through. Balls to bones.
-Oracle

Little things

Have you ever sat at a coffee shop and just observe people and your surroundings? Drop all thoughts bothering you, just imagine that you aren’t there and try to take in everything around you. It’s like you are stuck in the moment. The cars driving by outside seems so out of focus. The smell of freshly grounded coffee in the air. The slightly tilted neck of the girl reading a book sitting at a table next to me. The chatter of people across the room.

A dishevel stack of The Hindu on an empty table. An old man reading his magazine. The movement of the thambis with their towels on the shoulders. The voice of MS playing in the background. The rain drops tapping of the window, forming bigger droplets then sliding down, almost as if it is measuring the passage of time.

There’s a certain tranquility and beauty just watching the gloomy weather outside. I never thought I would start liking the rain in Bangalore, but I do. As much as I like sunshine, I find an indescribable comfort in the slight hint of melancholic mood that rain provides. I reached out for my coffee, filter coffee to be exact, feeling the warm surface of the paper sleeve on the cup, took a little sip.

Sometimes it’s the little things that touches you.

Nice guys and metrosexuals

It was just a matter of time before I write something regarding the subject of nice guys. What prompted this was my phone conversation with a old time friend last night. He told me about some girl he met, and how she is using her looks and sex appeal to get away with murders (figure of speech course) and manipulating guys around her. The funny thing is she never lacks guys she can use, guys volunteer to be used. I say that the problem does not lie in the girl, but the nice guys who make it easy for her to prey on.

Why do nice guys finish last? “Nice” is like the last adjective a guy should want people to describe him as. Ask yourself this: “what kind of guy is a nice guy?” I mean shouldn’t a “person” have personality and other memorable qualities that distinguish himself from others? Proper adjectives should be stuff like: smart, quick, atheletic, determined, driven, ambitious, experienced, …etc. 

Imagine your typical nice guy, what kind of image forms in your head? Probably somebody who is quick to agree and will bend themselves around for other people. You’ve probably seen this before in web forums or mailing list discussions, every time a female posts or create a thread, the exact same guys will respond with OVERLY “nice” posts, and are TERRIFIED of disagreeing with her. It’s like they are begging for attention. Pathetic. And borderline sick.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally agree that women should have equal rights, and that the women movement was a good thing back in 1900s. But sometimes I feel like our society is now educating and shaping bunch of men who apologize too much for being males. As a result, you often see guys without a backbone when dealing with the other sex. 

I think this is the decade in which guys have a serious identity crisis and not know their roles as males. I mean, what is this “metro-sexual” crap? A man ought to be strong and action oriented. Not weak and sensitive. On the other hand, sometimes guys go to the extreme and are assholes, NEVER showing their good side (yes…assholes too are losers). 

In my mind, a guy should not be afraid to tell a women things for what they are. Although, he makes sure that he is not hurting anyone either. He’s gotta have some flair, a personality, have things which he’s truly passionate about. Not like a dog begging for female attention. He treats everyone with respect. He is fair and balanced in the way he treats both females and males. A man is a brand, make an impression.

The Fabric of the Cosmos : Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

I picked this book - The Fabric of Cosmos: Space, Time, and Texure of Reality - up Saturday afternoon, and read the first 3 chapters. 

I decided that I have been reading too many fiction lately, and haven’t read much non-fiction. Every now and then, it’s good to pick up some heavier material to occupy your brain with. And there’s probably not much material out there heavier than the nature of space and time. 

http://bit.ly/1r7qeMV
Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? The ultimate questions pondered by philosophers and physicist throughout history. 

The book has a very minimalist and yet elegant cover, it’s the picture of some out of focus fabric, which matches the book’s title. Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists who teaches at Columbia University, is set out to describe superstring and M-theory to the general public in this book. As he described early on in the book, we as humans gain appreciation for our world, when we truly understand the inner workings and truth of things beyond our limited senses. 

Yes, we can no doubt look up the night sky and see and appreciate the vastness of space and time with our eyes, but this is not what drives scientists. 

Scientists want “to assess life and to experience the universe at all possible levels, not just those that happened to be accessible to our frail human senses.” It’s a passion for beauty and truth. In fact the basis for string theory is the believe that theory of general relativity (works well on big objects and distances) and theory of quantum mechanics (works well on small objects and distnaces) should not contradict. 

String theorists are believers of an elegant universe, that there ought to be one way to describe the nature of all things.
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )