Open-mindedness and Prejudice

A brilliant video on the concept of "Open-mindedness"

Most of the anecdotal evidence ought to be rejected right away. It is subjective in nature, and any subjective experience depends on the individual(who's experiencing it) to explain it.Therefore, its acceptance is contingent on the reliability of the individual as a witness. Unfortunately, due to the malleability of our memory, whenever there is a vested interest, as is the case with an individual using the experience to justify his beliefs, these "facts" are not reliable.

At the same time, I find it amusing when people accuse others of a "prejudice" without knowing what it means. There are a few unpleasant truths that can be uncovered in every society after a thorough examination. It might be politically incorrect to say so, but actually saying it doesn't imply prejudice. I am particularly agitated by the media in "free-world" adopting self-censoring measures just to be "Politically correct."

Being free from prejudice doesn't mean you have to bury your heads in the sand and reject all evidence so that you don't come to a conclusion one way or another. If facts corroborate an argument one way or another, following through to the proper conclusion is the intellectually honest thing to do. After all, based on our studies linking smoking to lung cancer, we do conclude that smoking is injurious to health, instead of accusing the scientists of prejudice against smoking, don't we?

Locus of Control

According to Locus of control theories in psychology:

Perceived control is defined as a generalised expectancy for internal as opposed to external control of reinforcements." For every individual it spans between the extremes of "External"(where one believes everything is caused and influenced by external factors) and "Internal"(where one believes that everything is directly determined by one's own actions irrespective of the external factors)...
... A strong internal locus of control has been shown to have high correlation with a high 'need for achievement' and therefore greater motivation.

The "Left-Liberal" bias of a majority of "intellectuals"(connected to socio-economic studies or otherwise) may perhaps be explained thus: Most of the intellectuals(especially the ones at the top) are loathe to admit that any situation is beyond their sphere of control. They try hard to internalise the locus of control and believe that they can "do something" to "fix the system."

Resignation to external factors requires considerable amount of "swallowing one's pride" and it is not that easy for the high-fliers. It would seem arrogant coming even as it does, from the most powerful person on earth to say "We know what is wrong and we're going to fix it." Sadly, we don't know (yet) how to "fix it".

Therefore, how much ever the enlightened ones may insist that these ideas are dead, a few of us hold on to the ideas of libertarianism and capitalism not because it is bereft of ills, but because we believe that in trying to fix these ills without understanding the systems, we give birth to greater evils.

Identity

The essay "Keep your identity small" by Paul Graham makes many poignant points.

I think what religion and politics have in common is that they become part of people's identity, and people can never have a fruitful argument about something that's part of their identity. By definition they're partisan............

.........The most intriguing thing about this theory, if it's right, is that it explains not merely which kinds of discussions to avoid, but how to have better ideas. If people can't think clearly about anything that has become part of their identity, then all other things being equal, the best plan is to let as few things into your identity as possible......

......A scientist isn't committed to believing in natural selection in the same way a bibilical literalist is committed to rejecting it. All he's committed to is following the evidence wherever it leads.

I do agree that the identity can cause a partisan bias. Therefore, the foremost trait to infuse your identity with, would be a strong streak of self-awareness and self-criticism. This will automatically lead to pruning of the useless edges that start taking roots in one's identity from time to time. I also like the way he proposes this theory but claims no authority over its veracity.

His other essays are also enjoyable and thought-provoking and my first contact with his writing came through the essay: "Lies we tell our kids".

Where is your mind?

"I open my mail two weeks after they have arrived and I find that the problem is already solved".

I don't remember who said this, but I just love it. We've all had our share of problems, but having problems is not the problem.(excuse please). And yes, we've all had our share of "melodramatic queen" incidents. But I guess we do(should) grow out of it.

I wonder if the so called teenage angst is limited to teenagers. Stereotypes help us paint with brushes "teenagers", "that time of the month" etc. but the worst thing is when the most rational amongst us feel entitled to something and on not getting it enter into an abyss of self pity and or anger and regress back to those "drama queen" times.

We do take ourselves far too seriously. A step back and a walk in another's shoes is all that is required. Hindsight is 20/20. And most of the times, the things we agonize over seem absolutely worthless in hindsight. For all the evolution of our brains we haven't developed pre-emptive hindsight.(foresight I know, but this sounds better).

Nor has science been able to come up with a cure for this all pervading angst. Although not 100% effective a pill known as "kick up the backside" seems to work in most cases. Yours truly is not modest enough to deny that he is one of the better exponents of this kick, both metaphorically and literally, and that if his services are needed, he is only one call away.


Oh btw,

Teenage Angst

Shine the headlight, straight into my eyes.
Like the roadkill, Im paralysed.
You see through my disguise

At the drive-in, double feature,
Pull the lever, break the fever
And say your last goodbyes.

Since I was born I started to decay.
Now nothing ever ever goes my way

One fluid gesture, like stepping back in time.
Trapped in amber, petrified.
And still not satisfied

Airs and social graces, elocution so divine.
Ill stick to my needle, and my favourite waste of time,
Both spineless and sublime.

Since I was born I started to decay.
Now nothing ever - ever goes my way

-Placebo

PS: "Where is your mind?" -Pixies/Placebo - OST of fight club.

Trouble with movies

One of the main reasons I haven't been able to watch too many movies is that my mind is just not able to bear the pounding on laws of physics some of these dish out. It seems quite ok to have these aberrations in animations which is why they are much more bearable.
Even ads for example- Most recently a Havell's advertisement for economy light bulbs. To depict its brightness it is shown to form a kind of halo over a child who's studying. Towards the end of the ad though, the way bulb formed a glowing sphere, meant that the intensity of bulb is not enough to even light up the wall that is meters from it. (And they were trying to say "aisi roshini..")

I'm glad to see that Someone else agrees with this and has taken it a few steps further.

Natural Science

[1. Tide Pools]

When the ebbing tide retreats
Along the rocky shoreline
It leaves a trail of tidal pools
In a short-lived galaxy
Each microcosmic planet
A complete society

A simple kind mirror
To reflect upon our own
All the busy little creatures
Chasing out their destinies
Living in their pools
They soon forget about the sea...

Wheels within wheels in a spiral array
A pattern so grand and complex
Time after time we lose sight of the way
Our causes can't see their effects

[2. Hyperspace]

A quantum leap forward
In time and in space
The universe learned to expand

The mess and the magic
Triumphant and tragic
A mechanized world out of hand

Computerized clinic
For superior cynics
Who dance to a synthetic band

In their own image
Their world is fashioned
No wonder they don't understand

[3. Permanent Waves]

Science, like nature
Must also be tamed
With a view towards its preservation
Given the same
State of integrity
It will surely serve us well

Art as expression
Not as market campaigns
Will still capture our imaginations
Given the same
State of integrity
It will surely help us along

The most endangered species
The honest man
Will still survive annihilation
Forming a world
State of integrity
Sensitive, open and strong

Wave after wave will flow with the tide
And bury the world as it does
Tide after tide will flow and recede
Leaving life to go on as it was...

-Rush

why is it so difficult?

This is why we used to say beauty*brains = delta*.
But as further studies revealed, this equation is affected by another variable and after incorporating it into the equation, beauty * brains * existential probability = delta*.

Never Ending Math Equation

I'm the same as I was when I was 6 years old
And oh my God I feel so damn old
I don't really feel anything
On a plane, I can see the tiny lights below
And oh my God, they look so alone
Do they really feel anything?
Oh my God, I've gotta gotta gotta gotta move on
Where do you move when what you're moving from
Is yourself?
The universe works on a math equation
that never even ever really even ends in the end
Infinity spirals out creation
We're on the tip of its tongue, and it is saying
We aint sure where you stand
You aint machines and you aint land
And the plants and the animals, they are linked
And the plants and the animals eat each other
Oh my God and oh my cat
I told my Dad what I need
Well I know what I have and want
But I don't know what I need
Well, he said he said he said he said
"Where we're going I'm dead."

- Modest Mouse

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*Delta was used in our calculus to denote an arbitrarily small number, or delta->0.

Surveys and its ilk

One thing that gets my goat each time is the number of so called "surveys" that keep cropping up. Forget the sample space and other considerations,(survey? line up those people hanging out at the mall) etc, but even the conclusions arrived at can be so irritatingly irrational that I just can't believe people still have any faith left in them.

Take as an example "this. I would take any conclusion reached by talking to 347 people (not randomly chosen again) and throw it in the salt bed. But, to come to such an awesome conclusion, especially when its quite obvious to anyone with a hint of braincells that most of the people who can become managers are old enough to have started their own families, it must take quite a lot of talent.

Then we have some genuinely misled conclusions arrived at .. for example this. I wouldn't be too harsh on this guy, because it was done for fun, not to sell copies or publish journals but still since he claims its research, here goes my rebuttal:

"the fact that people haven't noticed you've been changing your birthday can means they don't care about you enough to know that or that they have become too dependent on orkut.

If second were true, that they cared enough about you but become too dependant on orkut, they might not remember your actual birthday, but would've found out your game when you changed the birthday a second time.

Imagine if things like orkut didn't exist, you'd probably have got maybe one or two calls from your closest friends who remember the occasion or from your colleagues/classmates etc whom you interact with daily. But thats that. On the other hand an old acquaintance's face popping up on birthday list is just like running into him downtown which is out of your routine, so for old time's sake you do a courtesy call, wish him and find out what he's been upto etc etc. It's about keeping in touch, remembering that a guy called XYZ existed and I knew him once"

Twisted Logic

Sunlight opened up my eyes
To see for the first time it opened them up
And tonight rivers will run dry
Not for the first time rivers will run

Hundreds of years in the future
There could be computers looking for life on Earth
Don't fight for the wrong side
Say what you feel like
Say how you feel

You go backwards but then you go forwards again
You go backwards but then you go
Created then drilled and invaded
If somebody made it someone will mess it up
And you are not wrong to
Ask who does this belong to
It belongs to all of us

You go backwards but then you go forwards again
You go backwards but then you go forwards
You go backwards but then you go forwards again
You go backwards but then you go forwards

-Coldplay