The inequality of the sexes in the economic and social life of any society is something that our rationalists have tried to destroy,but to little avail.And inspite of various movements and also the education of the masses, why is it that this disease still prevails?
Well I guess,any question that affects the society or any larger social institution can be answered best with faith in time, and in the belief that social systems are systems that EMERGE from the interactions of independent agents(humans).The wider an idea is propagated and more efficiently particular actions are infused in individuals, the more effectively shall the society be trained to work in a particular manner.A framework cannot easily be imposed on the masses, you need to insinuate it the porosity of human social weave and slowly but steadily see the contamination on the macro scale.
This is the very reason that social scientists look upon the institution of the Family to be the agent of change. The elemental unit of any society is the family, for its here that individuals (adult-n-young) live in communion, sharing resources and services,taking decisions of actions in accordance with accepted codes of conduct.
Well after all that serious crap lets just get cozy with something shall we :P
See the fact that a monologue in this direction has been initiated is that I had this wonderful oppurtunity yesterday,to talk to a Professor(female), with an expertise in Ethnic Literature. Now,its a rare oppurtunity to actually be in a situation where you can question a woman who has the capacity to give insight into questions about women,girls and motherhood, not just from her own experience, but also from the commentaries on the same by noted social scientists, authors and other women colleagues. And its her wealth of experience that actually led us to discuss something that men can't just think about on their own.
Women have been a marginalised section in our society.Though constituting about 49% of our demography, its a general opinion that they do not enjoy a status equal to men in a majority of fields.If we were to classify womankind it'd be into the following forms: a diety/goddess, a bitch, and/or a witch/seductress.Glorifying the feminine form , doesn't ,generally, seem to get much room for expression, since apart from the prayer room, and the courtroom of love, its seen nowhere else. K, the bitchiness might be a remark we make off-handedly either for a man or woman, but then the fault lies in the language - coz "dog" seldom sounds as appealing as "bitch". At the pinnacle of defamation, comes the part where we call a woman - the seductress or the witch, where she plays Eve who brings about the fall of Adam.This might be the worst we could do to defame and deprive a woman of dignity and respect in society.
Now, it'd be false to presume that its only men who resort to such a disgraceful act of verbal abuse. Coz, even at home you have mothers warning their sons of girls around them.
If we saw only the surface of such a warning, it would obviously lead us to believe that women are cunning and foxy.They are not to be trusted,as they may easily mislead men, who are but burdened by innocence and naivety(lol!). However, what this Lady made me see, was something far deeper, something in our collective conscious that was the cause for such beliefs.
Every society that we know of ,from the centres of modernity to the remotest lands on earth, has developed a Patriarchal orientation with women being dependents on the men. It'd seem likely that this bias would have emerged in the early days of social evolution merely based on the fact that life depended on food, the stronger the body the greater the ability to collect more. It made sense for the woman to seek dependence on a man, to feed her and her baby.Statistics show that when theres an abundance of food, and security, mammals tend to give birth to male progeny. The female is the more resilient one and has a lesser mortality ratio than a male with the same amount of resources. And as the population of men grow, so does the urge to have one's own progeny survive and support the next generation.
Now I guess LIFE as such infuses in us the urge to Live either in our bodies, or atleast ensure that our constituents propagate into the next generation.Between men and women, the woman is always sure who the Mother of her child is. The Men never know who the father of a child is(:O). And it is for this very reason that men tend to get jealous of their women, as they are their only means to propagate their genes ahead.
And at times of pregnancy, when women are fragile and vulnerable, men tend to assert their dominance.It is this physical vulnerability that enabled men to construct patriarchal societies. Build religions that considered required women to be restricted to the indoors.Force the woman to cover herself, and keep her away from the sight of male wolves prowling the vicinity.Sex became something more sacred than ones emotions and true feelings for one. Fornication thus became a crime, as one was permitted to belong to only one under the social framework of marriage. Not that the practice is somethign that has to be disregarded, but it just made sense to let there be just one man for one woman, and once married let them not be married again.Marriage became a sacred institution between two people, who once united were incapable of independent of existence.The rules of who has to be loved, and how much were set down.
And now, at a time when its not just brawns but brains, that determines who gets the means to a livelihood, we realise that the partiarchal system isn't the ideal state for a society that respects humanity and not a Gender in particular.
In Humanistic society, the individual is revered as a marvel of evolution, a marvel of celestial creation, a marvel blessed with brains and brawns to support oneself in anyway one can contemplate, provided she respects similar rights of another human being. Though the realization has been attained ,the absence of an alternative Matriarchal system of reference, makes it more difficult to envision what it shall be like to have an Egalitarian system of existence.
What shall be the rules of conduct, what shall be the institutions and the roles of each within these institutions.This is something that we shall have to ponder upon deeply and attempt to construct, to fructify the evolutionary effort to realize an ideal human society.
Any effort to promote gender equality may be addressed by a two-pronged approach.
Approach 1: Focus on education of girls, provision of same oppurtunities(not just similar!) for growth intellectually ,and professionally.Essentially focusing on inclusion of women in all fronts that we perceive as important.
Approach 2: Identify activities and tasks that have been considered as a woman's domain of functioning, like home-making, cooking, styling, etc, and evaluate its importance in the economy. Emphasising the economic importance of tasks that have so long been looked down upon as something meek and insignificant,and identifying the value of these activities in determining our standard of living and the growth of the economy, shall indirectly be a step to emancipation of women. This may not be a direct inference, but there's no harm in believing that the praise of an action, is also praise to the doer of the action. Further,men too begin to compete with women to excel in these functions, thus creating a situation wherein not only women have to compete for thier stand in a workplace with male dominance, but also, men seek to excel in an industry where women seem to have an innate ability and thus,dominate by their skill.
What this teaches us is that, in our attempt to establish an egalitarian society we shouldn't throw the onus of effort only on the shoulders of the women.Men should have an equal stake in this effort.Women should be encouraged to educate themselves and to fight for their position amongst the males, while the men should made to realise the oppurtunities available in the tasks/functions that women have so far been focussed. This mutual competition shall foster a sense of respect.equality and dignity for each other's being and functionality.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Disgrace ~ JM Coetzee : An analysis
JM Coetzee's work, "Disgrace" covers this "state of being" as its elemental theme,in as many dimensions as he could contemplate. And his skill is only exemplified by his extreme frugality with words and constraints on period and character roles. A novel of just 220 pages, this work is more than a handful for one to handle in one read.The complexity of characters portrayed, the uniqueness of plot and the choice of situations to exemplify quintessential human traits while forcing one to probe questions about life that one normally wishes to avoid is something that may be addressed only by Coetzee's unparalleled ability,command of language and creativity in expression.
The work is a marvel not only for its approach towards exploring human thought and action, but also in linking an individuals choices in the perspective of a nation's history and in exploring instruments of expression that guide the reader(rather obliquely) in unraveling for himself the truth/the author's intentions in the text.
The protagonist in the novel is David Lurie, a Professor of Romantic Literature at Technical University at Cape Town. The other lead characters forming the pillar holding up the plot of the novel is Lurie's daughter, Lucy and her helping hand, Petrus. With the unfurling of the narration, which is mostly a delineation of the thoughts that drive around in Lurie's head, we explore their personalities and explore the complexities in their relationships.
To cut the narration short in terms of the plot we,here's the jist of what happens.Professor David Lurie has a sexual temperament that can be described as Intense.In the desert of his life,he seeks a nine hour oasis of sexual indulgence with a prostitute named Soraya. However, when destiny gives him a peek into her private life, the relationship they shared ceases and he is left wanting. He is a slave to his desires, and in his desperation he seduces his student,Melanie and has a sexual affair with her.The duality of their relationship as teacher-student and man-mistress leads to unwarranted mix of actions on his behalf.Soon, the affair becomes public, he is accused of sexual harrasment and doctoring of academic records,tried in court,dishonoured and ostracised from society in disgrace. He seeks refuge at his daughter's place in the countryside.The story begins to unravel the complexities of the country life, in stark contrast to the "simplistic idiocy" with which its discussed in general.Petrus, an African by race,is her neighbour who doubles as a helping hand. He's on the rise as a prominent farmer and land owner in his own community.We are hinted towards his conniving to the rape of Lucy by three black men, of which one was a member of his family.Lucy is disgraced, but then chooses to continue the life she's been having. In the ordeals that life pushes Lurie into ,he begins to earn a living as a "dog-man" in the company of Bev Shaw, entertains sexual infidelity in Bev, and also finds a friend in her husband Bill Shaw.He does have a sojourn back to his City dwelling , only to realise that life cannot be lived in dignity again. He apologises to Melanie's parents for what he has done, and seeks absolution from her mother. He returns back to the countryside to be the support for his only love, his daughter during her days of pregnancy.To find a means to be independent,and to earn his living he joins Bev again at the dog-clinic.From his experiences at the "dog-clinic" and the trials at the countryside, he realises what is love,dignity of life and honour in life and death. He begins to appreciate life, and tries to make his contribution to the world through an opera on Byron's affair with Lady Teresa.
The beauty of the book, how I see it, however lies a lot in the Authors ingenuity in using Poetry and Quotations ,camouflaged within the Lurie's Romantic Literature coursework
The author has taken care to portray every character neither in black nor in white(literally ;)) but in shades of grey. We are asked to sympathise and understand every character for what they are, and in the process reevaluate our understanding of morality, of emotions and of the depth in our relationships.Life, Death,Love,Friendships,Old age, Honour and Dignity are questions that we asked to consider.And with the character's obsession with sex ,and a general description of this potent act in the history of human cultural evolution, we are made to question the weight of importance we assign to this act, as against the fidelity and integrity of ones mind and intentions,in determining one's strength in character. Rationality is never man's sole guide, Faith is, and in the absence of the faith ,what befalls man's life may as well be seen in the character of David Lurie.
Through these lines,David Lurie, asks his class to understand and sympathize with Lucifer.Lucifer did what he felt without any scruples.He acted,not on principle, but on impulse,whose source was dark to him.However, he reminds them that there is a limit to sympathy.Though he lives amongst them,he is not one of them.He is what he calls himself,a THING.He shall be condemned to solitude.
This could well have been the author's suggestion to the reader,with Lucifer being the pseudonym for Lurie.
Similarly, the author adopts quotations to highlight a remark or a belief.In the scenario when, Lucy informs Lurie of her pregnancy,with one of the rapists having fathered the child,we are repulsed to think about the character of the child.Abortion is suggested by the Lurie to do away with the child.But then Lucy questions the assumption of the child's depravity and asserts her willingness to bear the child and to believe that her love for it shall grow.
"Blest be the infant babe.No outcast he.Blest be the babe."
Lurie adheres to the import of these lines, in his assumption of Melanie's love for him and his notion of her character.He is not willing to destroy his opinion of her by reading her accusation of sexual harassment. He believes that she's right in what she's done because he hasn't been kind to her, and further she's bending to the pressures of family and peers.
There are many more instances where we get to understand about the characters and the author's intentions by interlinking bits and pieces of narratives scattered across the text.Its more like a puzzle, where the truth unravels itself with every read, as the present,past and future to every sentence is stored in memory and patterns are observed in the wonderful design of the author. We also see the author's use of imagery of Fire,Snakes,Plagues, Predator and Prey to indicate the dire straits the characters sail in.He even introduces Literary figures as characters in themselves or as metaphors for his characters.Teresa plays the lover that Lurie hopes to have and return to.Harmony symbolizes Laurie's vision of his impeccable Melanie
"Disgrace" as the elemental theme is covered in two layers, the obvious and the implicit.Lurie's fall into disgrace,the disgrace of Lucy's by her rapists,and the disgrace of death brought upon the injured/impotent dogs are among the obvious disgraces.The author also points towards the disgrace of old age,the disgraceful acts by men in their lust for power and the disgraceful state of a nation in transition from apartheid to post-apartheid regime.Its the implicit disgraces that form the core of the Author's message.The plot is set in a South-Africa in the late 1990's.The post-apartheid constitution had been adopted in May 1996.Ever since, S.Africa has been coming to grips with an identity that was egalitarian and secular.Power was being transferred,and roles were being reversed.Through the characters, the author indicates that the power shifts might be a welcome sight externally,to emphasise the egalitarian attitude of the state. However, he does warn that the means adopted may not be as graceful as expected.In the story, we may believe that Petrus,the former "dog-man",connived at the gang-rape of Lucy,with the understanding that he could build up his establishment at her expense. As circumstances roll out, we have Lucy consenting to be a "dog" in Petrus's household, and Lurie accepts his role as the village "dog-man" to earn his bread.Thus, providing the almost comical scenario of the black being the master and the whites being the dogs, in sharp contrast to historical norm of the whites' subjugation of the natives.With this fact of reality, the authors makes us realise that external appearances may be sweet, but the truth remains that the Mandela's "Rainbow Country" was far away from the horizon.
The work is a marvel not only for its approach towards exploring human thought and action, but also in linking an individuals choices in the perspective of a nation's history and in exploring instruments of expression that guide the reader(rather obliquely) in unraveling for himself the truth/the author's intentions in the text.
The protagonist in the novel is David Lurie, a Professor of Romantic Literature at Technical University at Cape Town. The other lead characters forming the pillar holding up the plot of the novel is Lurie's daughter, Lucy and her helping hand, Petrus. With the unfurling of the narration, which is mostly a delineation of the thoughts that drive around in Lurie's head, we explore their personalities and explore the complexities in their relationships.
To cut the narration short in terms of the plot we,here's the jist of what happens.Professor David Lurie has a sexual temperament that can be described as Intense.In the desert of his life,he seeks a nine hour oasis of sexual indulgence with a prostitute named Soraya. However, when destiny gives him a peek into her private life, the relationship they shared ceases and he is left wanting. He is a slave to his desires, and in his desperation he seduces his student,Melanie and has a sexual affair with her.The duality of their relationship as teacher-student and man-mistress leads to unwarranted mix of actions on his behalf.Soon, the affair becomes public, he is accused of sexual harrasment and doctoring of academic records,tried in court,dishonoured and ostracised from society in disgrace. He seeks refuge at his daughter's place in the countryside.The story begins to unravel the complexities of the country life, in stark contrast to the "simplistic idiocy" with which its discussed in general.Petrus, an African by race,is her neighbour who doubles as a helping hand. He's on the rise as a prominent farmer and land owner in his own community.We are hinted towards his conniving to the rape of Lucy by three black men, of which one was a member of his family.Lucy is disgraced, but then chooses to continue the life she's been having. In the ordeals that life pushes Lurie into ,he begins to earn a living as a "dog-man" in the company of Bev Shaw, entertains sexual infidelity in Bev, and also finds a friend in her husband Bill Shaw.He does have a sojourn back to his City dwelling , only to realise that life cannot be lived in dignity again. He apologises to Melanie's parents for what he has done, and seeks absolution from her mother. He returns back to the countryside to be the support for his only love, his daughter during her days of pregnancy.To find a means to be independent,and to earn his living he joins Bev again at the dog-clinic.From his experiences at the "dog-clinic" and the trials at the countryside, he realises what is love,dignity of life and honour in life and death. He begins to appreciate life, and tries to make his contribution to the world through an opera on Byron's affair with Lady Teresa.
The beauty of the book, how I see it, however lies a lot in the Authors ingenuity in using Poetry and Quotations ,camouflaged within the Lurie's Romantic Literature coursework
The author has taken care to portray every character neither in black nor in white(literally ;)) but in shades of grey. We are asked to sympathise and understand every character for what they are, and in the process reevaluate our understanding of morality, of emotions and of the depth in our relationships.Life, Death,Love,Friendships,Old age, Honour and Dignity are questions that we asked to consider.And with the character's obsession with sex ,and a general description of this potent act in the history of human cultural evolution, we are made to question the weight of importance we assign to this act, as against the fidelity and integrity of ones mind and intentions,in determining one's strength in character. Rationality is never man's sole guide, Faith is, and in the absence of the faith ,what befalls man's life may as well be seen in the character of David Lurie.
"He stood a stranger in the breathing world,
an erring spirit from another hurled
a thing of dark imaginings that shaped
by choice the perils he by chance escaped."
...
He doesn't act on principle but on impulse,
and the source of his impulses is dark to him
his madness is not of head but of heart"
...
He could at times resign his own for others good
but not in pity,not because he ought
but in sum strange perversity of thought
that swayed him onward with a secret pride
to do what few or none would do beside
and this same impulse would in tempting time
mislead his spirit equally to crime."
~~ Lara, by Byron~~
Through these lines,David Lurie, asks his class to understand and sympathize with Lucifer.Lucifer did what he felt without any scruples.He acted,not on principle, but on impulse,whose source was dark to him.However, he reminds them that there is a limit to sympathy.Though he lives amongst them,he is not one of them.He is what he calls himself,a THING.He shall be condemned to solitude.
This could well have been the author's suggestion to the reader,with Lucifer being the pseudonym for Lurie.
Similarly, the author adopts quotations to highlight a remark or a belief.In the scenario when, Lucy informs Lurie of her pregnancy,with one of the rapists having fathered the child,we are repulsed to think about the character of the child.Abortion is suggested by the Lurie to do away with the child.But then Lucy questions the assumption of the child's depravity and asserts her willingness to bear the child and to believe that her love for it shall grow.
"Blest be the infant babe.No outcast he.Blest be the babe."
"To have a soulless image on the eye
That had usurped upon a living thought
That never more could be."
~~The Prelude by William Wordsworth
Lurie adheres to the import of these lines, in his assumption of Melanie's love for him and his notion of her character.He is not willing to destroy his opinion of her by reading her accusation of sexual harassment. He believes that she's right in what she's done because he hasn't been kind to her, and further she's bending to the pressures of family and peers.
There are many more instances where we get to understand about the characters and the author's intentions by interlinking bits and pieces of narratives scattered across the text.Its more like a puzzle, where the truth unravels itself with every read, as the present,past and future to every sentence is stored in memory and patterns are observed in the wonderful design of the author. We also see the author's use of imagery of Fire,Snakes,Plagues, Predator and Prey to indicate the dire straits the characters sail in.He even introduces Literary figures as characters in themselves or as metaphors for his characters.Teresa plays the lover that Lurie hopes to have and return to.Harmony symbolizes Laurie's vision of his impeccable Melanie
"Disgrace" as the elemental theme is covered in two layers, the obvious and the implicit.Lurie's fall into disgrace,the disgrace of Lucy's by her rapists,and the disgrace of death brought upon the injured/impotent dogs are among the obvious disgraces.The author also points towards the disgrace of old age,the disgraceful acts by men in their lust for power and the disgraceful state of a nation in transition from apartheid to post-apartheid regime.Its the implicit disgraces that form the core of the Author's message.The plot is set in a South-Africa in the late 1990's.The post-apartheid constitution had been adopted in May 1996.Ever since, S.Africa has been coming to grips with an identity that was egalitarian and secular.Power was being transferred,and roles were being reversed.Through the characters, the author indicates that the power shifts might be a welcome sight externally,to emphasise the egalitarian attitude of the state. However, he does warn that the means adopted may not be as graceful as expected.In the story, we may believe that Petrus,the former "dog-man",connived at the gang-rape of Lucy,with the understanding that he could build up his establishment at her expense. As circumstances roll out, we have Lucy consenting to be a "dog" in Petrus's household, and Lurie accepts his role as the village "dog-man" to earn his bread.Thus, providing the almost comical scenario of the black being the master and the whites being the dogs, in sharp contrast to historical norm of the whites' subjugation of the natives.With this fact of reality, the authors makes us realise that external appearances may be sweet, but the truth remains that the Mandela's "Rainbow Country" was far away from the horizon.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
a realization about projects
The past week has been in a labor of sorts, seeking out alternatives to a reality so that our intention of completing a B.Tech project within schedule may be realized.Its been a queer effort especially since having a partner who is a chronic nocturnal with myself an early-bed-early-riser, we have found little time between two sun-risings to collaborate and work together. It would be iniquitous of me to lay charge on this single source of incongruence between our personalities and habits to be the retarding force in our project efforts, and hence would love to point to the many others. However, I'm pretty sure no matter what -the reasonings are always going to pale out in the end, as its finally the answer to this simple question:
"To do or not to do?" -- that shall see us through till the end.
Well the interesting mix of an incessant desire to do something and the physical lethargy of doing anything, has made me resort to a very convenient form of action:
Lying in bed under the comfort of a cotton bedsheet, wondering what exactly I ought to do with my final days of the semester.(Meets my physical needs of inaction, and satisfies the mental urge towards action ;) )
And, in this state in activity,was I directed by destiny towards this profound thought:
Our intentions are generally to complete a Project by a stipulated time(say a semester). And not a day goes without us wondering about the Project. However, its magnitude,its sheer scale and its complexity are general factors that push us down, and incapacitate us at the start.And with the fear of beginning, of putting our feet forward - we procrastinate. So here are a few commandments :
"The only way to complete any project is to resort to time-tested-means :
+ Let each day be not for the "Completion/Work on the PROJECT" but let it be a day to "Complete a TASK or a series of TASKS".
+ The smaller the, the surer we are of our capacity to complete it. The belief that we can do it, and the record of having completed our small but significant commitments keeps us on our feet.
+ We may as well record our growth, by not only the completed to date, but also our efficiency in completing more tasks per 24 hours , than we had assumed.
+ Our shall an the phenomena of our Intelligent Design(Id) and Consistent Effort(CE).
Its a proven fact that with the little intelligence we have we may actually achieve wonders, because Genius isn't the thing that moves the world -- Consistency,Perseverance and Hard-work are the quintessential gears, with Genius being the lubricant ;) "
Wishing you all the very best in your endeavours.
Remember :
"To do or not to do?" -- that shall see us through till the end.
Well the interesting mix of an incessant desire to do something and the physical lethargy of doing anything, has made me resort to a very convenient form of action:
Lying in bed under the comfort of a cotton bedsheet, wondering what exactly I ought to do with my final days of the semester.(Meets my physical needs of inaction, and satisfies the mental urge towards action ;) )
And, in this state in activity,was I directed by destiny towards this profound thought:
Our intentions are generally to complete a Project by a stipulated time(say a semester). And not a day goes without us wondering about the Project. However, its magnitude,its sheer scale and its complexity are general factors that push us down, and incapacitate us at the start.And with the fear of beginning, of putting our feet forward - we procrastinate. So here are a few commandments :
"The only way to complete any project is to resort to time-tested-means :
~~ Lay it down - brick-by-brick.~~
+ Divide the + Let each day be not for the "Completion/Work on the PROJECT" but let it be a day to "Complete a TASK or a series of TASKS".
+ The smaller the
+ We may as well record our growth, by not only the
+ Our
Its a proven fact that with the little intelligence we have we may actually achieve wonders, because Genius isn't the thing that moves the world -- Consistency,Perseverance and Hard-work are the quintessential gears, with Genius being the lubricant ;) "
Wishing you all the very best in your endeavours.
Remember :
The key to perfection is 10,000 hours.It just depends on how well you distribute that quota across your years.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
from the palms of nothingness, onto the canopy of everything
Its been long since I've meditated on the metaphorical significance of the metropolis in the heavens,as mentioned in the Northern Lights by Pullman.He might not have assumed such a connotation at the time of its inscription into the papyrus.However, I believe its this desire to know the other world, a belief that what we perceive as our reality is just the view from a window, and what we don't , lies well out there.
The concept of matter and energy being the dualities of physical existence, was a brilliant insight into our elemental nature.And if it were said, the Trinity would rather be a reference to Matter, Energy and Spirit.The three constituents that comprise the physical world, and life itself. However, what has intrigued man over the ages is not his own constituency nor that of the world around, but its been Life, its purpose and its genesis.To a large extent the two question have not been answered satisfactorily, however, what emerges from life has in itself engaged more scholarly thought anything else.
Now, a characteristic of life is thought and reason. We may have our doubts about Intelligence being the gift of the Gods to man, of Intelligence having found the apex of its expression in man- the reason being observations proving Intelligence is a trait,a characteristic,an ability thats emerged in spite of divergence in organismic evolutionary trees.There is something in nature, that encourages Intelligence to be the offspring of natural selection, in lifeforms as varied as Man, the Raven, Dolphins and even Bees.
Intelligence at its core is driven by Reasoning and Logic. To date I fail to discriminate between the two, for my limited exposure to discourses on the same. However, I would like to believe that the differences generally lie in the adoption of causality,and the differences in the languages used for their expression.Anyways, what's brought us to this point is that we have now for contemplation, as sculptors of our world, two realms to deal with, that would enhance our ability to effect change in our Reality -
Platter 1 : Matter - n - Energy
Platter 2 : Logic+Language
(I could do with some clarification on interdependence between language,reasoning and logic)
The Spirit lies largely within us , manifesting its will in the real world, through the organic bodies action and the nurturing thought/reasoning.
Looking back at man's evolution(considering man as the specimen under observation) we see that his ability to use tools,manipulate matter to his intentions has been a great force in determining the evolution of the species, and in realising the complex social institutions that integrate whole populations.Since, our genesis to the present day what we have been doing is utilizing matter abundant around us, to either manipulate its characteristic, develop new matter, to capture energy or convert it into energy.
Until the discovery of electricity and magnetism, we were concerned with manipulation of matter with matter.This breakthrough was our gateway into utilizing energy with matter.A leap that can best be honoured by what we have achieved to date.Matter and Energy were the enablers and the limiters.If you could harvest material then you could reap the benefits of your conception.We were rather dependent on resources,the props we needed were expensive.
And all through this journey, there have been others,Philosophers of a certain kind who dealt with Reasoning.Mathematics became man's language of understanding the world and its expression. Logic became his language of understanding himself.What I refer to logic doesn't confine itself to the mathematical concept or the general idea that we have. I refer to a realm of abstraction, where only thought and ideas have its say. Each one interacting with another to give form to a structure, a system that has as its dependency nothing but this .. the energy of the Idea.
Electronics was our caring Matron, who prodded us along newer paths to unravel the field of Computer science.Herein lay our inception into the Soft-World(the realm of abstraction) in contrast to the Hard-World(of matter and energy).And as the Subtle Knife, we have Electronics/Optics,cutting through the two realms, and letting us travess its intricate alleyways.
The beauty that we behold with the gift of computer science is the ability to imagine a world, and to craft it entire in the abstract plane.If we desired, we could even let those semblances to influence our present life.. bcoz, our observation of the other world,is essentially the influence (through understanding) of the other world on our universe(i.e the observer). We no longer are limited by the constraints of matter,and this is an oppurtunity to imagine what would existence be in a world of no matter. Its true all that computation, would need the material of this world(hardware/circuitry) to run, but that apart it might as well be a different entity.
I wonder, about creating digital-organisms, ones programmable to forage for their existence. Their food being hardware space to store data/information, and also processing capabilities.The internet is the biosphere, with differnt geographic domains being ecosystems harbourings species endemic to its set of tehnological advancement. If we have a non-standardization of technology, differnent hardware schemes, or different approaches like electronics and photonics being integrated into the network, probably that would lead to competition between the programs. The question now is.. what exactly would determine a species of program? And if intelligence and reproduction is the essence of life in this world, what would life in the digital biosphere be like? duplication of code.. well that would be just replication/cloning. Dynamic generation of Programs through Crossover/Mutation of the Genetic makeup(OOP structures that constitute the program) may well be analog of sexual reproduction.
I guess its something to think about, apart from utilizing the Internet for developement of applications to influence the social networking, improve interactivity and connectivity among people in this world. Why not let a species and digital-life evolve within a confined world of hardware?From what evolves, shall we realise what are the constraints that guide the origin of life, not as we know it, but as something that Nature demands of the coexistence of Matter/Energy , Spirit and maybe Dust. ;)
The concept of matter and energy being the dualities of physical existence, was a brilliant insight into our elemental nature.And if it were said, the Trinity would rather be a reference to Matter, Energy and Spirit.The three constituents that comprise the physical world, and life itself. However, what has intrigued man over the ages is not his own constituency nor that of the world around, but its been Life, its purpose and its genesis.To a large extent the two question have not been answered satisfactorily, however, what emerges from life has in itself engaged more scholarly thought anything else.
Now, a characteristic of life is thought and reason. We may have our doubts about Intelligence being the gift of the Gods to man, of Intelligence having found the apex of its expression in man- the reason being observations proving Intelligence is a trait,a characteristic,an ability thats emerged in spite of divergence in organismic evolutionary trees.There is something in nature, that encourages Intelligence to be the offspring of natural selection, in lifeforms as varied as Man, the Raven, Dolphins and even Bees.
Intelligence at its core is driven by Reasoning and Logic. To date I fail to discriminate between the two, for my limited exposure to discourses on the same. However, I would like to believe that the differences generally lie in the adoption of causality,and the differences in the languages used for their expression.Anyways, what's brought us to this point is that we have now for contemplation, as sculptors of our world, two realms to deal with, that would enhance our ability to effect change in our Reality -
Platter 1 : Matter - n - Energy
Platter 2 : Logic+Language
(I could do with some clarification on interdependence between language,reasoning and logic)
The Spirit lies largely within us , manifesting its will in the real world, through the organic bodies action and the nurturing thought/reasoning.
Looking back at man's evolution(considering man as the specimen under observation) we see that his ability to use tools,manipulate matter to his intentions has been a great force in determining the evolution of the species, and in realising the complex social institutions that integrate whole populations.Since, our genesis to the present day what we have been doing is utilizing matter abundant around us, to either manipulate its characteristic, develop new matter, to capture energy or convert it into energy.
Until the discovery of electricity and magnetism, we were concerned with manipulation of matter with matter.This breakthrough was our gateway into utilizing energy with matter.A leap that can best be honoured by what we have achieved to date.Matter and Energy were the enablers and the limiters.If you could harvest material then you could reap the benefits of your conception.We were rather dependent on resources,the props we needed were expensive.
And all through this journey, there have been others,Philosophers of a certain kind who dealt with Reasoning.Mathematics became man's language of understanding the world and its expression. Logic became his language of understanding himself.What I refer to logic doesn't confine itself to the mathematical concept or the general idea that we have. I refer to a realm of abstraction, where only thought and ideas have its say. Each one interacting with another to give form to a structure, a system that has as its dependency nothing but this .. the energy of the Idea.
Electronics was our caring Matron, who prodded us along newer paths to unravel the field of Computer science.Herein lay our inception into the Soft-World(the realm of abstraction) in contrast to the Hard-World(of matter and energy).And as the Subtle Knife, we have Electronics/Optics,cutting through the two realms, and letting us travess its intricate alleyways.
The beauty that we behold with the gift of computer science is the ability to imagine a world, and to craft it entire in the abstract plane.If we desired, we could even let those semblances to influence our present life.. bcoz, our observation of the other world,is essentially the influence (through understanding) of the other world on our universe(i.e the observer). We no longer are limited by the constraints of matter,and this is an oppurtunity to imagine what would existence be in a world of no matter. Its true all that computation, would need the material of this world(hardware/circuitry) to run, but that apart it might as well be a different entity.
I wonder, about creating digital-organisms, ones programmable to forage for their existence. Their food being hardware space to store data/information, and also processing capabilities.The internet is the biosphere, with differnt geographic domains being ecosystems harbourings species endemic to its set of tehnological advancement. If we have a non-standardization of technology, differnent hardware schemes, or different approaches like electronics and photonics being integrated into the network, probably that would lead to competition between the programs. The question now is.. what exactly would determine a species of program? And if intelligence and reproduction is the essence of life in this world, what would life in the digital biosphere be like? duplication of code.. well that would be just replication/cloning. Dynamic generation of Programs through Crossover/Mutation of the Genetic makeup(OOP structures that constitute the program) may well be analog of sexual reproduction.
I guess its something to think about, apart from utilizing the Internet for developement of applications to influence the social networking, improve interactivity and connectivity among people in this world. Why not let a species and digital-life evolve within a confined world of hardware?From what evolves, shall we realise what are the constraints that guide the origin of life, not as we know it, but as something that Nature demands of the coexistence of Matter/Energy , Spirit and maybe Dust. ;)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Daily Me
I'm pretty sure the title shall seem to indicate a perverse obsession with my self, vanity being the vice under the lens. However, it isn't about an individual that this speaks of. Nor is it something that we could look up to in awe and admiration. Its a phenomena that MIT's Nicholas Negroponte has brought to light with his observation of social behaviour in a world that careens towards self-obsession and excess freedom of choice.
Now, don't get me wrong here when my words seem to bash the virtues of self-expression and the freedom of choice. My intentions are however on the contrary.
At times of crisis, economic - as of now, and social- as of every other day, we find obituaries being written not of men, nor institutions alone, we find it being done for independent "Dailies" too,the Seattle Post-Intelligencer being the latest to pass away. Independent journalism is finding it hard to sustain in its ancestral format: ink-on-dead-trees(aka. newsprint) and is rather being pushed into the safe haven of cyberspace.Though its existence is ensured, the melodrama here, is dedicated to the emergent structure of social thought and attitude, that this reality shall nurture.
News today, is an entity not just in the hands of the journalist(the creator) but also in the hands of the audience(the consumer).Its a product, manufactured by either the liberal, objective, analytical and conscientious journalist(good manufacturing practices) or the prejudiced, subjective, careless , insincere journalist. Further, the commodity is available in the open market (cyberspace), wherein every individual has the privilege to choose what she wishes to gain access to.Now I, as any other grazer of news in the cyberfarmland is my own farmer, my own harvester.Each of us in the public community is our own editor and our own gatekeeper.We select the kind of news and opinions that concerns us the most.
Now, the question arises, what exactly could be so disheartening in such a reality. Well its just this-- there's good evidence that we generally do not want good information. As reader's we generally gravitate towards news/information that seems to validate ideas or opinions that we already hold. And when every individual with his limited intelligence,begins to feast on news that seems to "embed him in the reassuring womb of an echo chamber" *, only God can save him.
Continuous reassurance of one's beliefs makes him intolerant to any alternative perspective.As a society,we become closed insular congregation of people with similar convictions.
Bill Bishop in his work The Big Sort:Why the Clustering of :like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, argues that
The Daily Me , shall be our accompaniment at the coffee-table and the rest-room.News shall blend into commodity of self-indulgence and entertainment. We'll find our wisdom,limited though it may be, confirmed and reconfirmed, to mark each of us as wise, if not the wisest of the folks around.The danger lies in us being the architects of our coccoons of monochromatic-world-perception,in a reality that is permeated with color and brilliance.
Now, don't get me wrong here when my words seem to bash the virtues of self-expression and the freedom of choice. My intentions are however on the contrary.
At times of crisis, economic - as of now, and social- as of every other day, we find obituaries being written not of men, nor institutions alone, we find it being done for independent "Dailies" too,the Seattle Post-Intelligencer being the latest to pass away. Independent journalism is finding it hard to sustain in its ancestral format: ink-on-dead-trees(aka. newsprint) and is rather being pushed into the safe haven of cyberspace.Though its existence is ensured, the melodrama here, is dedicated to the emergent structure of social thought and attitude, that this reality shall nurture.
News today, is an entity not just in the hands of the journalist(the creator) but also in the hands of the audience(the consumer).Its a product, manufactured by either the liberal, objective, analytical and conscientious journalist(good manufacturing practices) or the prejudiced, subjective, careless , insincere journalist. Further, the commodity is available in the open market (cyberspace), wherein every individual has the privilege to choose what she wishes to gain access to.Now I, as any other grazer of news in the cyberfarmland is my own farmer, my own harvester.Each of us in the public community is our own editor and our own gatekeeper.We select the kind of news and opinions that concerns us the most.
Now, the question arises, what exactly could be so disheartening in such a reality. Well its just this-- there's good evidence that we generally do not want good information. As reader's we generally gravitate towards news/information that seems to validate ideas or opinions that we already hold. And when every individual with his limited intelligence,begins to feast on news that seems to "embed him in the reassuring womb of an echo chamber" *, only God can save him.
Continuous reassurance of one's beliefs makes him intolerant to any alternative perspective.As a society,we become closed insular congregation of people with similar convictions.
Bill Bishop in his work The Big Sort:Why the Clustering of :like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, argues that
The nation grows more politically segregated-and the benefit that ought to come with having a variety of opinions is lost to the righteousness that is the special entitlement of homogenous groups.We become polarised communities and intolerance becomes a subconscious virtue.Further, there runs the risk of opinions,discussed within the community tending to become more homogenous and more extreme. We fail to see the world as it is, truth becomes a matter of conformity to a held belief. It becomes a new dogmatic religion, and this shall mark not the elevation of an intellectually higher being, but the decadence of society into another disintegrated whole.
The Daily Me , shall be our accompaniment at the coffee-table and the rest-room.News shall blend into commodity of self-indulgence and entertainment. We'll find our wisdom,limited though it may be, confirmed and reconfirmed, to mark each of us as wise, if not the wisest of the folks around.The danger lies in us being the architects of our coccoons of monochromatic-world-perception,in a reality that is permeated with color and brilliance.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
..the beginning of a new dawn..
I take the title literally, as at 0600 hrs, thats precisely what you see in Roorkee.The last few days of nasal blockade and throatal conflagaration has led me to choose a lifestyle of sedation, and solitude within the confines of my room.
In this wake of a brilliant morning, amidst the chirps of the sparrows and kaaws of crows, beyond the confines of wall and wood, I'm stumped by what lies ahead apart from an hour each of English literature and Microprocessor systems.
I realise that a blog entry after a dormancy of year, needs to justify the absence,to seek forgiveness from the junta, to reaffirm resolutions and to provide a preface to what may be expected in the days to come. But, that my dear friends, might have been the normal scheme of things. And as of now, in a time of economic depression, a period in the clockwork of history that calls for a restructuring of the systems we have been acquainted with, i find little incentive to follow the course that is expected of me.And hence i deviate, to become a deviant in my own domain.. ;)(~unless ,of course,you consider the script above as a deliberation on my intentions, and resoning for my negligence ~)
Its been a day of prepartations... installing ScribeFire, fiddling with the settings of Blogger and FeedBurner, and mods on both the Windows and Ubuntu (Hardy ) platforms.My intentions were to publish something yesterday, but a disturbed head caught me unawares and forced me into a night of dark uncomfortable slumber.
Spring has its grace in the morning, amidst the bright spears of solar brilliance, but as the dark overpowers the light, so do the creatures of the dread arise. And for us denizens, of this rural land named Roorkee, what greater dread is there than a murder of mosquitoes?And these buzzing entities are, my friend, the cause of greatest discomfort in a tropical land during the most pleasantest of seasons.
.. To tweet or not to tweet!..
-jprahladan
A question i gotta answer ... with my loyalty to twitter at stake :P catch you folks at :
https://twitter.com/jprah
In this wake of a brilliant morning, amidst the chirps of the sparrows and kaaws of crows, beyond the confines of wall and wood, I'm stumped by what lies ahead apart from an hour each of English literature and Microprocessor systems.
I realise that a blog entry after a dormancy of year, needs to justify the absence,to seek forgiveness from the junta, to reaffirm resolutions and to provide a preface to what may be expected in the days to come. But, that my dear friends, might have been the normal scheme of things. And as of now, in a time of economic depression, a period in the clockwork of history that calls for a restructuring of the systems we have been acquainted with, i find little incentive to follow the course that is expected of me.And hence i deviate, to become a deviant in my own domain.. ;)(~unless ,of course,you consider the script above as a deliberation on my intentions, and resoning for my negligence ~)
Its been a day of prepartations... installing ScribeFire, fiddling with the settings of Blogger and FeedBurner, and mods on both the Windows and Ubuntu (Hardy ) platforms.My intentions were to publish something yesterday, but a disturbed head caught me unawares and forced me into a night of dark uncomfortable slumber.
Spring has its grace in the morning, amidst the bright spears of solar brilliance, but as the dark overpowers the light, so do the creatures of the dread arise. And for us denizens, of this rural land named Roorkee, what greater dread is there than a murder of mosquitoes?And these buzzing entities are, my friend, the cause of greatest discomfort in a tropical land during the most pleasantest of seasons.
.. To tweet or not to tweet!..
-jprahladan
A question i gotta answer ... with my loyalty to twitter at stake :P catch you folks at :
https://twitter.com/jprah
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