If you haven't heard of it before, I wouldn't blame you. Do a google search on it, and you'll find out more. Borobudur is an ancient relic, a building that pictorially depicts the life of Buddha, and his journey to enlightenment. The building is multi-storeyed, and as you go around all the floors on your way to the top, you see Buddha progressing on his journey to enlightenment, when you reach the top, you've seen his story, and symbolically atleast, attained enlightenment. The interesting feature of the building is that you cannot see any floors above you, but you can always see the floors below you, an expression of the causality in life, and a reminder to always remember where you're coming from. Ever since I learnt about the place, I've wanted to see it, and hopefully someday I will.
The second building I find fascinating isn't something you can see in one location at all. Technically, it doesn't exist at all, out of a computer i.e. If you've played civilization, you'll know the building I'm talking about. The intro video to the game revolves around this building as it's constructed and shows a fast forwarded progression through the ages as the building evolves over time. However, we always only see the facet of the building that represents the current age.
Those of you who've read my posts before know this is about to get hairy, so here goes. I was thinking about maturity, personality, and how we grow mentally over time. Language lets us put binary tags on people, like whether they're mature or not, and the like. However, something I realised recently, is that our maturity really is scenario dependent, i.e. the same person could be very mature about one thing, and yet wholly immature with regards to another. My reference to the virtual building is a pointer to that, that we are like a building under construction, and each facet to it proceeds rather independently of the other. They can pull each other up or down, but that's about it. The independence alludes to the fact that each part can be built very differently, and can have varying levels of stability. People can react very differently to different things, their behaviour is somewhat consistent when the transition between situations is smooth, but when shocked, the variation is quite stark. Even more importantly, the stability, let's us try different things. If we are stable and confident about a part of our self, we're much more relaxed in trying out different things, cause we're well grounded in that and know we can cope with whatever new thing gets thrown at us. You'll always find that the people most adamant about a stance, are the ones who're too dependent on it, or too scared as to what will happen if they're proven wrong. These are the ones who'll fight tooth and nail for it, while the more relaxed, more mature ones will stand by. Not to be confused, the ones who have no stance at all, will do so as well, but merely out of the fact that they have no maturity on it at all. It is similar to window cleaners cleaning using a swing. You need a certain amount of strength to hang one, and so not all buildings can take it. As a kid, I was always taught to not fight but listen, cause when you listen you can understand the other point, and to an extent, it helps you ground your own ideas in more sound arguments. As they say, only fools rush in.
I may have mentioned the part about Borobudur before, that it's easy to see how obvious the right answer was later, the gift of hindsight, as they say. But more important is the patience part, waiting and progressing when the end is not nigh. Agreed life doesn't always, if ever progress linearly, but it's a useful trait nonetheless to have, one I believe is the hardest to acquire, not that I have, yet :)
This post is a realization of the fact that no building is ever truly finished, and that outside veneer doesn't say anything about what's inside, and that even though it may feel like we've reached the top and stuck our hand out as far as it may go, there're more floors above and still further you can go on that ledge (figuratively of course, please not literally), and the fact that the ground seems so far below, is a good indication that you've progressed a lot, but there're still other floors to go to, and other parts of the building to complete, lest you forget about them. That's all for the building puns for tonight folks!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
De(con)struction and (De)bugging
Over the past few days, weeks and months, I've been involved in the arduous process of debugging my code to make it work. As anyone before me who's done the same can attest, it is a process that can test the very limits of your sanity. Interestingly, it does offer some interesting insights, which I noticed today. One of the most important parts of debugging, atleast to me, is to try and understand where and which of our assumptions breaks resulting in the bug. Which is interesting as you have to try and think why you did everything you did. The part about retracing your steps and trying to reason your decisions gave me an idea of one place where this idea needs to be used more.
Recently more than ever, we've heard phrases like "like god intended", or "like the forefathers/founders intended" tossed around for every thing from gay marriages to immigration. These are some of the most irritating phrases one can hear, cause to be so bold as to claim that you know exactly what went through someone else's mind is naive at best, completely stupid at the worst. There's an old anecdote which goes "Only fools are certain", which rings true at this juncture. The biggest problem is that most people never stop to examine their assumptions and check if what they're thinking isn't based on something spurious. Deconstructing the series of choice one made to reach a conclusion, and the seeing the underlying assumptions is something most people are incapable of. The best example of it is a sportsman trying to recover his "form", since he didn't know the reason why he was good in the first place, he can't figure out how to get back at it. The irony is that for most such people, the reason they were so good was that they weren't paying attention and letting their instincts guide them, instead of coaches. That is an inherent risk in trying to deconstruct a chain of reasoning, that one might simply get lost in the intricacies that we didn't pay attention to, but were snuck under the rug, under the guise of an assumption. Most people are unaware of the number of assumptions we work with everyday, which is a good thing, cause it's our mind's way of coping with the excessive amounts of data it faces. The point when it starts to become counterproductive is when we ignore the checks in place which are supposed to tell us when we're using an assumption, and when it's based on fact. A simple example, if someone comes up and says that by reading one book by an author, he can completely understand the author's mind, we'd know that person's insane. Even better, if one were to say this after reading one of the helper notes like cliffnotes to such a book, you can rest assured the person's quite a loony (or maybe a genius, but the a loony nonetheless). Substitute the person making the claim with any religious authority, and the book by any religious text, and you start to get the picture of why blindly trust clergy with interpreting the will of the god(s) (assuming you believe there is one or more to begin with) is nothing short of lunacy. The same logic holds good for people advocating against gay marriages and the lot using such arguments of faith and religion, cause extrapolating what's written in a text when the author isn't present to clarify the context, is placing too much faith in your understanding or that person or god.
People bashing aside, most texts present this weakness because they're intentionally vague to cover as many bases as possible. Now if a religious text were to try and explain why something should or should not be done, it would be clearer and more easily understood, not to mention the hordes of mathematicians and the like who would admire the completeness of the doctrine. Ok, maybe expecting that from religion is a bit of a stretch, but certainly expecting this from the laws of the land isn't. We have such complicated laws that we need a whole court system to interpret these laws. Now, different judges still have different interpretations of each law, and interpretation often clouds the actual purpose of a law. It would make sense for lawmakers to include a reasoning and context for which a law is being based, so as to circumvent any loopholes that may present themselves to be exploited. Though this would present extra work for lawmakers, as well as the lack of loopholes which could be exploited for extra income and gratification, it is something in the interest of the people who are expected to enforce as well as follow these rules. Even more so, it would help to demystify laws to the layman and remove this sense of loss of clarity when trying to comprehend the reason for submitting forms in triplicate. To be honest, it is what is expected of major software undertakings, so that different people can collaborate on a single project. Then why do laws never give reasons or explanations on why they are as they are. After all, if professionals are expected to do this, is it too much to expect our government to be a little professional?
Recently more than ever, we've heard phrases like "like god intended", or "like the forefathers/founders intended" tossed around for every thing from gay marriages to immigration. These are some of the most irritating phrases one can hear, cause to be so bold as to claim that you know exactly what went through someone else's mind is naive at best, completely stupid at the worst. There's an old anecdote which goes "Only fools are certain", which rings true at this juncture. The biggest problem is that most people never stop to examine their assumptions and check if what they're thinking isn't based on something spurious. Deconstructing the series of choice one made to reach a conclusion, and the seeing the underlying assumptions is something most people are incapable of. The best example of it is a sportsman trying to recover his "form", since he didn't know the reason why he was good in the first place, he can't figure out how to get back at it. The irony is that for most such people, the reason they were so good was that they weren't paying attention and letting their instincts guide them, instead of coaches. That is an inherent risk in trying to deconstruct a chain of reasoning, that one might simply get lost in the intricacies that we didn't pay attention to, but were snuck under the rug, under the guise of an assumption. Most people are unaware of the number of assumptions we work with everyday, which is a good thing, cause it's our mind's way of coping with the excessive amounts of data it faces. The point when it starts to become counterproductive is when we ignore the checks in place which are supposed to tell us when we're using an assumption, and when it's based on fact. A simple example, if someone comes up and says that by reading one book by an author, he can completely understand the author's mind, we'd know that person's insane. Even better, if one were to say this after reading one of the helper notes like cliffnotes to such a book, you can rest assured the person's quite a loony (or maybe a genius, but the a loony nonetheless). Substitute the person making the claim with any religious authority, and the book by any religious text, and you start to get the picture of why blindly trust clergy with interpreting the will of the god(s) (assuming you believe there is one or more to begin with) is nothing short of lunacy. The same logic holds good for people advocating against gay marriages and the lot using such arguments of faith and religion, cause extrapolating what's written in a text when the author isn't present to clarify the context, is placing too much faith in your understanding or that person or god.
People bashing aside, most texts present this weakness because they're intentionally vague to cover as many bases as possible. Now if a religious text were to try and explain why something should or should not be done, it would be clearer and more easily understood, not to mention the hordes of mathematicians and the like who would admire the completeness of the doctrine. Ok, maybe expecting that from religion is a bit of a stretch, but certainly expecting this from the laws of the land isn't. We have such complicated laws that we need a whole court system to interpret these laws. Now, different judges still have different interpretations of each law, and interpretation often clouds the actual purpose of a law. It would make sense for lawmakers to include a reasoning and context for which a law is being based, so as to circumvent any loopholes that may present themselves to be exploited. Though this would present extra work for lawmakers, as well as the lack of loopholes which could be exploited for extra income and gratification, it is something in the interest of the people who are expected to enforce as well as follow these rules. Even more so, it would help to demystify laws to the layman and remove this sense of loss of clarity when trying to comprehend the reason for submitting forms in triplicate. To be honest, it is what is expected of major software undertakings, so that different people can collaborate on a single project. Then why do laws never give reasons or explanations on why they are as they are. After all, if professionals are expected to do this, is it too much to expect our government to be a little professional?
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Alas the apple fell
Recently there's been a lot of talk about the new iPhone, and it's signal troubles. One small thing that got swept under the carpet, was the unfortunate effects of the new iOS4 for users of the iPhone 3G, like me. Apple, as usual, never really gives an "option" on whether to upgrade an OS or not, nor does it ever issue an advisory on whether the new OS can render your phone a relic of the past. But, before we delve any deeper, lets start from the beginning.
I've always been a Windows and Linux guy, ever since I played my first games on MS-DOS. I do have respect for Apple's design, but not as much for the systems they contruct (hardware wise they seem a little behind the times to me). So when I bought the then state-of-the-art iPhone 3G, I surprised myself too. Quite frankly, I hadn't planned on it, but that beautiful phone caught my attention as soon as I saw it, it was love at first sight! Logic failed me, and I ended up shelling out a hefty amount (I'm still a grad student) to get this shiny new plaything. Granted, I never regret having made that decision, I stand by it. But 3 months later, I realised Apple couldn't care less, and rendered me and my shiny new toy obsolete. A couple of months of depression later, I realised it probably wasn't as bad as I first thought, Apple's new plaything was only a minor improvement, and not something that would scar me forever as I initially thought. Yet, that reget of not having waited a few months before taking the leap lingered. Time passed on and we got to the new year with more hope.
As rumors of the new model reached a crescendo, so did little leaks of a new iOS, and of support for multi-threading at last! My brain told me not to increase my expectations, my friends advised me against it, yet the fool that I was, I walked right into it! A few weeks later came the shattering news of the fact that my phone would not support the hallowed feature. Alas, Apple broke my heart again. Add to it the inscrutable thinking that Apple projected, made me wonder about the sanity of their thinktank. The silence and hostile actions against all who dared to doubt its vision confounded me. Yet, with the news that it had overtaken Microsoft as the biggest computer firm by share price, Apple's popularity seemed to have reached a zenith. Not losing hope, I rejected overtures from contenders like the Droid, ah those sluts! How could they ever match the beatific and virginal lure of Apple! They tried to convince me that Apple did not reciprocate my feelings of admiration and love, and that it would never, yet I did not give up.
But alas, the new iOS and iPhone 4 broke the camel's back. They supported something I had long despised, something that made Microsoft one of the most hated Goliaths of the 90s, dictatorial decisions and a lack of openness. They cancelled the long promised support for flash, blocked all development tools other than their own, the new OS took 10 attempts to install, and finally took about 6 hours to install! And even then it has made my phone like an old man's wheelchair on the freeway. Atleast when MS released a new OS, they had the decency of telling you which computers it would make obsolete, so you would not install it on those. Apple has yet to learn that it seems. The new phone has none of the etheral beauty of the versions past, and seems like a botched half attempt to do too many things. Quite frankly, the aura that it once had has diminished, and the other options seem more and more attractive, seemingly not just for me, but for others as well. If all stays the same, Apple might return to it's position of something that has much promise, but never quite knows how to deliver. It's behavior over the past few months reminds me of this line from LOTR, "The door is shut, it was built by those who are dead, and the dead keep it, the door is shut!" (mostly the door is shut part, nothing dead yet)
And so I know I must return to my comfortable world of Windows and Linux, and put this ill-fated experiment behind me. Android seems to be on the rise, and well, Google isn't that evil yet. Every day Microsoft too seems more and more attractive. Yet I shall forever remember my little escapade, before the apple fell....
(Ps: if this seems a little insane to you, you're not reading carefully enough! :) )
I've always been a Windows and Linux guy, ever since I played my first games on MS-DOS. I do have respect for Apple's design, but not as much for the systems they contruct (hardware wise they seem a little behind the times to me). So when I bought the then state-of-the-art iPhone 3G, I surprised myself too. Quite frankly, I hadn't planned on it, but that beautiful phone caught my attention as soon as I saw it, it was love at first sight! Logic failed me, and I ended up shelling out a hefty amount (I'm still a grad student) to get this shiny new plaything. Granted, I never regret having made that decision, I stand by it. But 3 months later, I realised Apple couldn't care less, and rendered me and my shiny new toy obsolete. A couple of months of depression later, I realised it probably wasn't as bad as I first thought, Apple's new plaything was only a minor improvement, and not something that would scar me forever as I initially thought. Yet, that reget of not having waited a few months before taking the leap lingered. Time passed on and we got to the new year with more hope.
As rumors of the new model reached a crescendo, so did little leaks of a new iOS, and of support for multi-threading at last! My brain told me not to increase my expectations, my friends advised me against it, yet the fool that I was, I walked right into it! A few weeks later came the shattering news of the fact that my phone would not support the hallowed feature. Alas, Apple broke my heart again. Add to it the inscrutable thinking that Apple projected, made me wonder about the sanity of their thinktank. The silence and hostile actions against all who dared to doubt its vision confounded me. Yet, with the news that it had overtaken Microsoft as the biggest computer firm by share price, Apple's popularity seemed to have reached a zenith. Not losing hope, I rejected overtures from contenders like the Droid, ah those sluts! How could they ever match the beatific and virginal lure of Apple! They tried to convince me that Apple did not reciprocate my feelings of admiration and love, and that it would never, yet I did not give up.
But alas, the new iOS and iPhone 4 broke the camel's back. They supported something I had long despised, something that made Microsoft one of the most hated Goliaths of the 90s, dictatorial decisions and a lack of openness. They cancelled the long promised support for flash, blocked all development tools other than their own, the new OS took 10 attempts to install, and finally took about 6 hours to install! And even then it has made my phone like an old man's wheelchair on the freeway. Atleast when MS released a new OS, they had the decency of telling you which computers it would make obsolete, so you would not install it on those. Apple has yet to learn that it seems. The new phone has none of the etheral beauty of the versions past, and seems like a botched half attempt to do too many things. Quite frankly, the aura that it once had has diminished, and the other options seem more and more attractive, seemingly not just for me, but for others as well. If all stays the same, Apple might return to it's position of something that has much promise, but never quite knows how to deliver. It's behavior over the past few months reminds me of this line from LOTR, "The door is shut, it was built by those who are dead, and the dead keep it, the door is shut!" (mostly the door is shut part, nothing dead yet)
And so I know I must return to my comfortable world of Windows and Linux, and put this ill-fated experiment behind me. Android seems to be on the rise, and well, Google isn't that evil yet. Every day Microsoft too seems more and more attractive. Yet I shall forever remember my little escapade, before the apple fell....
(Ps: if this seems a little insane to you, you're not reading carefully enough! :) )
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Quarter Life Crisis
Granted, I haven't had one yet, but it seems like everyone's writing about one, and hey! I just turned 25, so I'm the prime candidate to be writing about it. And so let the narcissistic babble begin!
By all means, I concede I'm lucky to be born in a time where 25 isn't the life expectancy, and is pretty much the beginning rather than the end of a lifetime. But then again, the current world needs you to be 25 to start to achieve something, unless you're a crazy prodigy like Nadal or Federer. And doing a PhD doesn't mean that your thesis will be in any way world changing, so it's bleak. So ok, I won't be conquering the world anytime soon like Alexander the Great, but I won't be dying of a weird fever either, so I'll live with it.
I've had a nice childhood, sheltered, though I've been sick quite a bit, so much so that I know how to avoid and cure myself of most non-life-threatening diseases. That, coupled with the fact that my crazy exercise-holic genes are starting to wake up means that I could someday, in fact be close to six-pack abs, instead of the beer-belly I have, which is ironic considering I barely drink, if at all. I've made some very dear friends in my life, ones who I think would turn their lives upside down for me, some interesting foes as well, but what the heck, one great man once said, you can't fool everyone all of the time. I also am blessed with a wonderful family, who are in no small way responsible for who I am, the good parts anyways :) . So apart from the fact that I'm still a mostly broke student, you might think I don't have much to be sad about. Which is true, except that thanks to a nice internship by a very generous company (lets not spoil the fun by naming them :P ) my bank balance has a heart beat too, and is not the flat-lining train wreck it once was.
On the home front, I've had a few heartbreaks, and have probably (and hopefully, I'm not sadistic, but it still feels weirdly good to think this) broken a few myself. If you're thinking about what I might be sad about on this front and haven't figured it out, look at the nearest giggling fool who's reading this with you. My name's been mispronounced about a million times by now (not that I mind, I quite like it!), and I've earned a few interesting nicknames along the way, the newest one all of 3 days old. I'll very happily concede, my idea of what a happy and successful life should be has changed quite a bit. About 10 years ago, I believed a successful life would entail a CS degree from an IIT, an MBA from IIMA, and a well paying job from some company. 5 years ago I was sure I'd still have items 1 & 3 from that list. 3 years ago I became sure that item 3 was untenable at the time, and it's probably a good thing I did, cause it now seems that it's tenable again, after I finish my PhD, after hopefully 3 more years, so there's room for change still. So you never know, I might still become that prof my dad always dreamed I would. I have been told I'm a good talker and teacher, but I've realised that's necessary for any job.
In my life I've been told I'm very mature, as well as extremely immature, and I'm very happy I'm both of those extremes. If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that it's very important to grow up, yet remain that little kid, it helps you maintain perspective, and remain happy overall. I'll need all of that perspective to get through the next few years. You see, that I'm now the next unmarried bachelor in my generation, and my siblings are all happily married. So I'm now under the watchful eyes of "The all seeing Eye", not of Sauron, but of all the aunties and uncles who like to point out that I'm next. Unfortunately, none of them are old enough for the counter quip that they are too.
If it were not for a pesky Olympic shooter from India and a few other idiots, I'd even be close to the top search result on Google. All in all, I've achieved most of the things on my list of things I wanted to achieve, so I'm quite content. But the fact that I'm happiest about, is that the list hasn't shortened one bit, it's only grown longer, and quite likely, always will, and until that keeps happening, I'm unlikely to ever have a crisis, quarter or otherwise.
By all means, I concede I'm lucky to be born in a time where 25 isn't the life expectancy, and is pretty much the beginning rather than the end of a lifetime. But then again, the current world needs you to be 25 to start to achieve something, unless you're a crazy prodigy like Nadal or Federer. And doing a PhD doesn't mean that your thesis will be in any way world changing, so it's bleak. So ok, I won't be conquering the world anytime soon like Alexander the Great, but I won't be dying of a weird fever either, so I'll live with it.
I've had a nice childhood, sheltered, though I've been sick quite a bit, so much so that I know how to avoid and cure myself of most non-life-threatening diseases. That, coupled with the fact that my crazy exercise-holic genes are starting to wake up means that I could someday, in fact be close to six-pack abs, instead of the beer-belly I have, which is ironic considering I barely drink, if at all. I've made some very dear friends in my life, ones who I think would turn their lives upside down for me, some interesting foes as well, but what the heck, one great man once said, you can't fool everyone all of the time. I also am blessed with a wonderful family, who are in no small way responsible for who I am, the good parts anyways :) . So apart from the fact that I'm still a mostly broke student, you might think I don't have much to be sad about. Which is true, except that thanks to a nice internship by a very generous company (lets not spoil the fun by naming them :P ) my bank balance has a heart beat too, and is not the flat-lining train wreck it once was.
On the home front, I've had a few heartbreaks, and have probably (and hopefully, I'm not sadistic, but it still feels weirdly good to think this) broken a few myself. If you're thinking about what I might be sad about on this front and haven't figured it out, look at the nearest giggling fool who's reading this with you. My name's been mispronounced about a million times by now (not that I mind, I quite like it!), and I've earned a few interesting nicknames along the way, the newest one all of 3 days old. I'll very happily concede, my idea of what a happy and successful life should be has changed quite a bit. About 10 years ago, I believed a successful life would entail a CS degree from an IIT, an MBA from IIMA, and a well paying job from some company. 5 years ago I was sure I'd still have items 1 & 3 from that list. 3 years ago I became sure that item 3 was untenable at the time, and it's probably a good thing I did, cause it now seems that it's tenable again, after I finish my PhD, after hopefully 3 more years, so there's room for change still. So you never know, I might still become that prof my dad always dreamed I would. I have been told I'm a good talker and teacher, but I've realised that's necessary for any job.
In my life I've been told I'm very mature, as well as extremely immature, and I'm very happy I'm both of those extremes. If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that it's very important to grow up, yet remain that little kid, it helps you maintain perspective, and remain happy overall. I'll need all of that perspective to get through the next few years. You see, that I'm now the next unmarried bachelor in my generation, and my siblings are all happily married. So I'm now under the watchful eyes of "The all seeing Eye", not of Sauron, but of all the aunties and uncles who like to point out that I'm next. Unfortunately, none of them are old enough for the counter quip that they are too.
If it were not for a pesky Olympic shooter from India and a few other idiots, I'd even be close to the top search result on Google. All in all, I've achieved most of the things on my list of things I wanted to achieve, so I'm quite content. But the fact that I'm happiest about, is that the list hasn't shortened one bit, it's only grown longer, and quite likely, always will, and until that keeps happening, I'm unlikely to ever have a crisis, quarter or otherwise.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Desiderata
This is an interesting poem my friend forwarded to me, quite beautiful and relevant as well. Since it seems to have a copyright, I thought I'd simply link it rather than copy and invite some lawyer's wrath. So here it is, Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann: http://mwkworks.com/desiderata.html
Friday, April 23, 2010
A Brand New Day
Listen to the winds, for they tell a tale,
Pay heed to the trees, for they whisper secrets untold,
Hear the birds chirp, as they recite poems so old,
Open your eyes, and cast your gaze,
The day starts anew, the morning behold!
Pay heed to the trees, for they whisper secrets untold,
Hear the birds chirp, as they recite poems so old,
Open your eyes, and cast your gaze,
The day starts anew, the morning behold!
-- Me
Friday, April 16, 2010
Ambient Amplification
Well, first things first, if you're thinking of googling the title, I'm not sure you'll find anything useful there. And now to the point. This story begins with a simple, but rather interesting thing one of the professors of my course told us. So a lot of people in my research group work on sound simulation and propagation. The math professor I'm talking about, was talking about thunder, more specifically, what do we hear as thunder when lightning strikes. So, what a lightning strike does, in layman terms, is to set off a shockwave, somewhat like what happens when a bomb goes off, though not strong enough to throw you off. This shockwave itself, will only last for a short time, much less than a second, and it will cause the thunder clap. But we all know we hear stuff for a much longer time, well, that's simply the amplification of ambient sounds, i.e. the sounds prevalent in our environment, which are amplified thus enabling us to hear them, ergo the title.
The interesting analogy that came to my head is the way things tend to overwhelm us at times. Now we've all seen sportsmen go "out of form" and struggle to do even the simplest of things, when they seemed to have the midas touch only a little while back. My theory is, and it can be easily backed up by personal experiences, is that when we face a sudden shock, things which didn't bother us before, start to take on astronomical proportions. Minor irritations assume the role of major bottlenecks, and you don't understand what is going on. And quite expectedly, nor can anyone else. This interesting amplification of ambient experiences, does not confine itself to just bad experiences, in my opinion. We've all seen people "ride the wave" of success. Somehow, sometimes, our instincts take hold in such fashion that everything we touch turns to gold, so to say. We know of many names for this sort of effect, like being in the zone, to name one. For some people, or so it seems to others, this streak lasts their entire lifetimes. What I do know is, that trying to analyze such a streak usually ends up in destroying it. And people go to extreme lengths to preserve such streaks, resorting to seemingly superstitious acts. The simple fact is that to others these acts will seem somewhat random, and not having an effect on the task at hand. But, as much as I may hate quantum mechanics, I agree with the premise that a butterfly's flapping of its wings can change the world. Now this may seem illogical to a lot of people, but seemingly random and unrelated acts can benefit or harm our main focus. Trying to explain to someone why you put on the right shoe before the left, comb your hair a certain way, or even why you eat a certain breakfast on special days, is certainly not easy. Not to say I follow any of them, just as a disclaimer :) . But the simple fact is that these simple rituals calm our minds, and help us tune our minds.
Look, the main driving force behind my argument is my belief in the power of the subconcious, and the things we don't notice in our everyday lives, can in some ways affect our performance. People usually attribute that to emotion, but I don't think that's the only thing in play here. The way we pick up such habits is by remembering the times we were successful in doing something. Maybe we did tie our shoes a certain way that day, and repeating that seemingly unrelated act recalls some other things from our memory which we didn't notice conciously. It's not an unknown fact that we do notice and remember a lot of things we don't "notice" i.e. our concious mind is never made aware of it. That's not to say that data is useless, that seems to be the way in which we learn simple tasks, like walking as a kid. Maybe our tics, these habits, act as a recall system to load up the auxiliary data we otherwise would not know how to conciously access (Forgive the computer specific language, force of habit, but you get what I mean :P ).
On the bad side of things, such shocks tend to bring us down probably because they break some assumptions we worked with. And assumptions are usually the base elements in the pile of cards that is our existence, so they tend to bring down a lot with them. It's quite easy to devolve into simpering idiots, and wallow in the pools of self pity, among other things :P . The actual event that brings us out of such phases is something along the lines of this phenomenon too, and depending on the kind of person you are, both the events may have differing probabilities of occurence. My guess is that increasing maturity, tends to even out these probabilities, in the sense that we tend to recover from downturns faster because we have faced most of those things before. In some sense that should imply, that to gain maturity and avoid mistakes, you must make a lot of them in the first place, preferably though, in things that don't matter too much. It does seem sensible to think that emotions do play a role in triggering these events, as such shocks are usually accompanied by some emotional shock. That seems to suggest that this, is what makes us human, as this is where our existence starts to deviate from the logical. But well, that's a discussion for another day.
The interesting analogy that came to my head is the way things tend to overwhelm us at times. Now we've all seen sportsmen go "out of form" and struggle to do even the simplest of things, when they seemed to have the midas touch only a little while back. My theory is, and it can be easily backed up by personal experiences, is that when we face a sudden shock, things which didn't bother us before, start to take on astronomical proportions. Minor irritations assume the role of major bottlenecks, and you don't understand what is going on. And quite expectedly, nor can anyone else. This interesting amplification of ambient experiences, does not confine itself to just bad experiences, in my opinion. We've all seen people "ride the wave" of success. Somehow, sometimes, our instincts take hold in such fashion that everything we touch turns to gold, so to say. We know of many names for this sort of effect, like being in the zone, to name one. For some people, or so it seems to others, this streak lasts their entire lifetimes. What I do know is, that trying to analyze such a streak usually ends up in destroying it. And people go to extreme lengths to preserve such streaks, resorting to seemingly superstitious acts. The simple fact is that to others these acts will seem somewhat random, and not having an effect on the task at hand. But, as much as I may hate quantum mechanics, I agree with the premise that a butterfly's flapping of its wings can change the world. Now this may seem illogical to a lot of people, but seemingly random and unrelated acts can benefit or harm our main focus. Trying to explain to someone why you put on the right shoe before the left, comb your hair a certain way, or even why you eat a certain breakfast on special days, is certainly not easy. Not to say I follow any of them, just as a disclaimer :) . But the simple fact is that these simple rituals calm our minds, and help us tune our minds.
Look, the main driving force behind my argument is my belief in the power of the subconcious, and the things we don't notice in our everyday lives, can in some ways affect our performance. People usually attribute that to emotion, but I don't think that's the only thing in play here. The way we pick up such habits is by remembering the times we were successful in doing something. Maybe we did tie our shoes a certain way that day, and repeating that seemingly unrelated act recalls some other things from our memory which we didn't notice conciously. It's not an unknown fact that we do notice and remember a lot of things we don't "notice" i.e. our concious mind is never made aware of it. That's not to say that data is useless, that seems to be the way in which we learn simple tasks, like walking as a kid. Maybe our tics, these habits, act as a recall system to load up the auxiliary data we otherwise would not know how to conciously access (Forgive the computer specific language, force of habit, but you get what I mean :P ).
On the bad side of things, such shocks tend to bring us down probably because they break some assumptions we worked with. And assumptions are usually the base elements in the pile of cards that is our existence, so they tend to bring down a lot with them. It's quite easy to devolve into simpering idiots, and wallow in the pools of self pity, among other things :P . The actual event that brings us out of such phases is something along the lines of this phenomenon too, and depending on the kind of person you are, both the events may have differing probabilities of occurence. My guess is that increasing maturity, tends to even out these probabilities, in the sense that we tend to recover from downturns faster because we have faced most of those things before. In some sense that should imply, that to gain maturity and avoid mistakes, you must make a lot of them in the first place, preferably though, in things that don't matter too much. It does seem sensible to think that emotions do play a role in triggering these events, as such shocks are usually accompanied by some emotional shock. That seems to suggest that this, is what makes us human, as this is where our existence starts to deviate from the logical. But well, that's a discussion for another day.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
All about music
I recently started learning to play the guitar. Ok, now that you've taken a minute to stop laughing as to the possible reasons for my doing so, (ok insert more delay here) let me point out the reason for my fascination with this instrument. I've been told it's easier to learn the piano, by a good friend who does, but my fascination with the guitar goes back to the first time I heard "With or without you" by U2. Lyrics and good singing aside, this song amazed me because of the instrumental section towards the end, dominated by the guitar. Even this clip of how The Edge achieves his effects (courtesy, the same friend), hasn't quite deterred me yet. What my short learning experience with the guitar has taught me though, is that it is a hard instrument to master. Maybe I'm an inexperienced player, or my fingers are too fat, but finding the right placement without damping the other strings is still something that fails me.
Ok, after the long intro, let me get to the main point of my post. A while ago, I read up about how people appreciate music for a course on art & philosophy. I found an interesting study on how even though we focus on the notes we hear, the ones we don't often induce an emotional response. Which means that the inaudible frequencies affect our brain activity (see paper here), and from what I remember, it does affect our emotional response to the music. This is one reason I don't quite like mp3's, the way they achieve a small file size is by cutting off these very frequencies. Might be an interesting pitch for studios to make for CDs and DVDs and not focus on mp3s exclusively. Also while working on the same project, I got this idea of resonance with music. But since I've covered that in another post, I won't go into it.
Recently I read this new study on the link between music and rehab for people who have had strokes. They made this observation on how music activates different regions of the brain, and people who have lost the ability to use the left side of the brain, can still communicate using singing. It's an interesting point on how music seems to have this intricate contact with our brains, our minds. We all have had our moments where we've listened to certain music tracks to calm us down, pump us up, or even get over bad moments. Rhythm and musical notes seem to have this connection with our minds, and it seemingly goes beyond training. Babies are known to respond to music, more so to rhythm, and feel like dancing when they hear it (see here). This would suggest that whatever relationship we have with music, goes beyond training and might just be ingrained in our genes. No one quite understands why we have this attraction to rhythm, but I've personally found it easier to learn and do repetitive tasks when associated with a rhythm. It would seem our brains are tuned to certain rhythms which govern us, subconciously. It might even be interesting to see whether we can grasp something about our minds from this fact, though it's quite clearly a long shot. Maybe our preferences for different kinds of music, apart from reflecting on who we are, also says something about how our brains are wired. But till we know more, enjoy that rhythm.
Ok, after the long intro, let me get to the main point of my post. A while ago, I read up about how people appreciate music for a course on art & philosophy. I found an interesting study on how even though we focus on the notes we hear, the ones we don't often induce an emotional response. Which means that the inaudible frequencies affect our brain activity (see paper here), and from what I remember, it does affect our emotional response to the music. This is one reason I don't quite like mp3's, the way they achieve a small file size is by cutting off these very frequencies. Might be an interesting pitch for studios to make for CDs and DVDs and not focus on mp3s exclusively. Also while working on the same project, I got this idea of resonance with music. But since I've covered that in another post, I won't go into it.
Recently I read this new study on the link between music and rehab for people who have had strokes. They made this observation on how music activates different regions of the brain, and people who have lost the ability to use the left side of the brain, can still communicate using singing. It's an interesting point on how music seems to have this intricate contact with our brains, our minds. We all have had our moments where we've listened to certain music tracks to calm us down, pump us up, or even get over bad moments. Rhythm and musical notes seem to have this connection with our minds, and it seemingly goes beyond training. Babies are known to respond to music, more so to rhythm, and feel like dancing when they hear it (see here). This would suggest that whatever relationship we have with music, goes beyond training and might just be ingrained in our genes. No one quite understands why we have this attraction to rhythm, but I've personally found it easier to learn and do repetitive tasks when associated with a rhythm. It would seem our brains are tuned to certain rhythms which govern us, subconciously. It might even be interesting to see whether we can grasp something about our minds from this fact, though it's quite clearly a long shot. Maybe our preferences for different kinds of music, apart from reflecting on who we are, also says something about how our brains are wired. But till we know more, enjoy that rhythm.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
A World of Snow
I stepped out and lo and behold,
There it was,
A world dressed in white,
Untouched and unblemished,
By the sand of time,
Is it the end of an epoch,
Or the beginning of something new,
But those questions can wait,
As I'm reborn in this world anew
There it was,
A world dressed in white,
Untouched and unblemished,
By the sand of time,
Is it the end of an epoch,
Or the beginning of something new,
But those questions can wait,
As I'm reborn in this world anew
-- Me
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Quotes
How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on...
When in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back?
There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts go too deep... that have taken hold.
When in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back?
There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts go too deep... that have taken hold.
--Frodo (The Lord of the Rings)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Irony
Most of an iceberg, is never seen,
We're always more concerned with where we'll be,
Than where we've been
Blind to all around
Yet so focused on that distant dream
Always ready to run, hear, and look
Yet never able to stay, listen, and see
Confined in cold lonely spaces
Yet unwilling to step out and seek warmth,
Amongst the hearts that beat so keen
We're always more concerned with where we'll be,
Than where we've been
Blind to all around
Yet so focused on that distant dream
Always ready to run, hear, and look
Yet never able to stay, listen, and see
Confined in cold lonely spaces
Yet unwilling to step out and seek warmth,
Amongst the hearts that beat so keen
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