I often hear or read about people seeking the ultimate
truth. They speak with a sort of fantasy in their eyes.
To be one with the universe or to be in sync with the
universe, to experience that deep sense of unity with
the universe where there is no subject or the object,
just the one.
I do not want to speak about what that state might
bring about. I have a question about the ultimate
truth. Does it exist? And I want to present a
different point of view on this.
Human beings need to make sense of what they see.
They need to make abstractions in order to store
information and use. They need to make abstractions
of abstractions to simplify things. They tend to
seek invariant patterns in everything they see,
everything they do. It is perhaps necessitated
by how our brains work, tending to remember
patterns and attributes.
So humans are compelled to make a ladder of abstraction
chain. Perhaps the notion of the ultimate truth
which is the highest abstraction originates from
this tendency. It is the way we think, the way we
hypothesize that has created this hypothesis and
so it does not guarantee that such a concept exists.
It may be just a by-product thought generated
because of the way our brains work.
It does sound crazy but who cares !
- Onkar
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Of food etc !
I went to a supermarket (actually it was a general commodity store) this Sunday after many months. AndI just stood looking at the prices, totally stunned ! It must not be a news to many peoople. Tur-dal Rs 110/kg, Mung-dal Rs 90/kg, Udal-dal Rs 85/kg, Rice Rs 40/kg (standard and non-exotic), Sugar Rs 40/kg! What a menace. One of my friends recited the story about buying Tur-dal. Three times he went to buy Tur-dal in few weeks time, and he heard rates of Rs 55,75 and 100. Crazy stuff !
According a not-so-recent govt survey, on average, per capita Indian expenditure on food was Rs. 440, for the duration of 2006-07. For a four member family, it amounts to Rs. 1760. Considering the spiraling rates this year, it must have crossed Rs. 2000 per month. I really am stupefied how poor people manage to have four meals a day. Here most BCom people or even BA people, hardly get salaries above Rs. 8000-10000. Considering some of the major expenditure channels like food, rent, travel, telephone, healthcare; I really cannot imagine their plight making both ends meet.
Government cannot provide jobs to all. Thats OK, in my opinion, the government should only foster the growth of employment. But food? As a touted superpower-to-be, we should at least succeed in providing food to people. This is the least you should do as govt.
Not that I did not know of the rates, but going to the shop this Sunday made me acutely aware of these rates. Just a glimpse of reality shocked me to the core.
If we are depriving poor of the food, we are doing them no good by the fake austerity drive. Austerity is a virtue, not a showcase item. I am not really against the leaders but against this showcase politics. We lament Shashi Tharoor's comments without understanding the English meaning and connotations of "cattle-class". Not only demonstrate our lack of maturity by flogging Shashi Tharoor, we also show lack of sensitivity by transforming the real issue into a totally unrelated one. We attack Shashi Tharoor for the so-called-meaning of calling them cattle but do not try to improve the conditions of cattle. In fact, we want to make them stay as hungry cattle so that we can feed them at the time of elections and get votes, then forget about them till the next election.
I am aware that as Shashi Tharoor issue was a superficial one, so are possibly my comments too, as I do not know a lot about theoretical government efforts. Still, you can get a feeling from the local news, local mess rates and from speaking to common people like auto-drivers, bus-conductors, hawkers. I also believe that if a politician has enough will power, he can definitely do most of the things in his scope.
Anyway thats the end of gibberish about the inflating prices. A small story to add a positive note at the end : Few days back I went to a State Transport bus ticket reservation center. And they were using Linux for booking tickets online! Yes, we can ! :)
According a not-so-recent govt survey, on average, per capita Indian expenditure on food was Rs. 440, for the duration of 2006-07. For a four member family, it amounts to Rs. 1760. Considering the spiraling rates this year, it must have crossed Rs. 2000 per month. I really am stupefied how poor people manage to have four meals a day. Here most BCom people or even BA people, hardly get salaries above Rs. 8000-10000. Considering some of the major expenditure channels like food, rent, travel, telephone, healthcare; I really cannot imagine their plight making both ends meet.
Government cannot provide jobs to all. Thats OK, in my opinion, the government should only foster the growth of employment. But food? As a touted superpower-to-be, we should at least succeed in providing food to people. This is the least you should do as govt.
Not that I did not know of the rates, but going to the shop this Sunday made me acutely aware of these rates. Just a glimpse of reality shocked me to the core.
If we are depriving poor of the food, we are doing them no good by the fake austerity drive. Austerity is a virtue, not a showcase item. I am not really against the leaders but against this showcase politics. We lament Shashi Tharoor's comments without understanding the English meaning and connotations of "cattle-class". Not only demonstrate our lack of maturity by flogging Shashi Tharoor, we also show lack of sensitivity by transforming the real issue into a totally unrelated one. We attack Shashi Tharoor for the so-called-meaning of calling them cattle but do not try to improve the conditions of cattle. In fact, we want to make them stay as hungry cattle so that we can feed them at the time of elections and get votes, then forget about them till the next election.
I am aware that as Shashi Tharoor issue was a superficial one, so are possibly my comments too, as I do not know a lot about theoretical government efforts. Still, you can get a feeling from the local news, local mess rates and from speaking to common people like auto-drivers, bus-conductors, hawkers. I also believe that if a politician has enough will power, he can definitely do most of the things in his scope.
Anyway thats the end of gibberish about the inflating prices. A small story to add a positive note at the end : Few days back I went to a State Transport bus ticket reservation center. And they were using Linux for booking tickets online! Yes, we can ! :)
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