Having been brought up in a conservative society,I have never suffered from a dearth of restrictions. I resisted many of them as usual-swore that I would never abide by them - and now having reached man's estate so to speak, I eke out my livelihood exacting vengeance by imposing the very same restrictions on the younger generation!
What I am trying to say is that we all recognize the value of various injunctions that our parents have imposed on us as we grow up. Most of them have to do with the upholding of morality. Stealing is bad so "thou shalt not steal". Taking a step back, we recognize that this morality is needed for preserving order in society. Without morality, the society would deteriorate to some version of chaos da da da bla bla bla.. So morality tells me what is good and what is bad. But who gets to decide on what is right and wrong? It is a good coincidence that for the most part, the world seems to be in concurrence with their views about what constitutes morality - notwithstanding the fact that morality is still geographical and governed by various demographic factors which accounts for most of the conflicts in the world.
But the interesting thing for me here is to observe the polarizing effect morality has on the world. It divides the whole world into the protagonists and the dissidents. Into the right and the wrong. Into good and bad people. Hence morality seems to become the bedrock on which all our notion of asymmetry of human beings rests. And if we go back to the fact that morality is very much based on perception, it is a relief that we all think alike for the most part! So agreement about what constitutes morality seems to be one place where commonality is good and uniqueness bad. Interesting huh?
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Knowledge Explosion & Internet fatigue
It is nice that the internet and the search technology is bringing us access to a fantastic amount of information. I was just pondering over the effects this seeming explosion of knowledge had - on me and a few people around me. Here are a few random observations in no specific order:
The internet puts us in touch with the cognoscenti in extremely narrow fields of specialization. As Anderson argues in his book "The Long Tail", there is tons of stuff in the fringes of knowledge and human understanding, that has suddenly become part of mainstream culture. We are no longer pursuing popular fads but are instead trying to identify the specific categories/sub-categories that align with our personality.
Our tastes and inclinations seem to have become very specific. At one time for instance, I just wanted a bike. Now I know that I need an all terrain bike which has full suspension, bike shoe friendly pedals and shimono speed shifters. This ability to sift through information and identify what exactly we need, gives us an amazing amount of empowerment. It also helps us identify what we want with increased precision. My son would (and should) no longer be content being a "run of the mill" engineer or a doctor. He should identify the exact thing that is interesting him. I see this happening increasingly around me when i talk to the kids around me.
People suddenly find themselves increasingly in touch with the rich and the famous. After all, anyone must be "google"able to even be reckoned as important. No more celebrities in their ivory towers now! Be it Obama, Osama or the Big B - they all beckon to us from across the wires using their blogs, forums, facebook, twitter and the like.
People seem to consider their ability to google (or bing) for information to be directly proportional to their mental faculties. There is no need anymore to analyze the information obtained and dissect the knowledge. Instead, the need of the hour seems to be to just quote it. In fact, if you want to say anything important at all you better put it down on the internet or else you run the risk of being out-googled and out-quoted. In short people have become search engines :P
This is all truly democratic. But sometimes I get tired of all this stuff. I don't want to know anything more. I just want to chill and relax! Maybe fix myself a drink or read a PG Wodehouse. I get tired of being constantly challenged by some pseudo novice who has the insouciance to suppose that he can sabotage my bright idea by being the mouth piece of someone else who might have at some time in the past, refuted, a possibly similar idea somewhere in the dark recesses of the internet! Is this a sign of internet fatigue? Speaking of which let me just try googling for internet fatigue and see what I can come up with.. sigh!
This is all truly democratic. But sometimes I get tired of all this stuff. I don't want to know anything more. I just want to chill and relax! Maybe fix myself a drink or read a PG Wodehouse. I get tired of being constantly challenged by some pseudo novice who has the insouciance to suppose that he can sabotage my bright idea by being the mouth piece of someone else who might have at some time in the past, refuted, a possibly similar idea somewhere in the dark recesses of the internet! Is this a sign of internet fatigue? Speaking of which let me just try googling for internet fatigue and see what I can come up with.. sigh!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The plate theory of forgetting..
Forgetfulness has become an obsession with me of late. I probably have like two things that I can remember and the rest of them just seem to vaporize away! And this seems to get worse with time. Not that I am anywhere near the nadir of my life and ready to kick the bucket anytime soon. But still this forgetfulness seems to become more chronic of late.
This got me thinking about it a little bit. And as always I sought out an expert for enlightenment. Big Bro Google should surely lead me to the expert. So I typed "Forgetfulness" at the Search field. Promptly, with the speed that we have come to expect from Google, I get an ad on the right hand side asking me "Is it Alzheimer's Disease?". O Boy I thought, I really needed this one now! I am sure there are a ton of search results that would serve to illumine me in this matter but I was not in the exact mood for being scared. So, being the inveterate escapist that I was, I went back to the arm chair and started ruminating over recent events in a quest for the solution. The following is the outcome of this.
Computer savvy folks can relate to this analogy that I came up with. The mind is like a stack of plates. Each thought in it is like a plate. You keep piling one plate on top of the other and very soon you start building a huge stack. But since there is only so much space available, the ones at the bottom just "go away" (don't ask me how and where). The ones on top stay in the stack till they also get pushed down to no man's land. So this is all fine. But that still does not explain why I am getting more forgetful now than before. To answer that, the only thing I could think of is that my stack has got smaller for some reason thereby accommodating fewer plates! Or maybe I am having too many items on my plate of late.. or continuing the analogy further.. too many plates in my stack! I suddenly realized that it is neither of these two reasons. It is just that of late I have been bombarded with unrelated things which by their very nature are hard to keep track of.
So for me to remember all the tasks that I have to accomplish, there should be a certain amount of cogency in the tasks that I have at hand. This realization lead me to look up at the root cause of the problem. In this digital age, we are bombarded with all kinds of information - each quite disjoint from the other. In the absence of prioritization, we would be desultorily trying to process myriads of information and as promptly forgetting each of them! Hence selectiveness is a necessary criterion for picking what we want to process. We should apply the correct filters to appropriately filter out the "noise" and process the information that needs to be processed. Else, we will end up gobbling too much of useless information and forgetting the one that is important.
A part of this endeavor is to keep your "stack of plates" as little as possible by applying the correct filters as to what qualifies to enter the stack. Hence in pursuant to this thought process, I started disciplining my life a little bit. The following are some of the things I did:
Keep your email "inbox" minimal. Let it not be overwhelmed with historical information. Keep historical information pigeon holed into appropriate email folders that you can always go back to without cluttering your senses.
Speaking of clutter, keep the office and home more organized by reducing clutter.
Cutting the noise out by reducing useless interactions with people, reading unnecessary books etc.
I would say it did help me out. So the plate theory has gone beyond the realm of tectonics and is actually applicable elsewhere too. That is definitely changing the plate quite a bit !
This got me thinking about it a little bit. And as always I sought out an expert for enlightenment. Big Bro Google should surely lead me to the expert. So I typed "Forgetfulness" at the Search field. Promptly, with the speed that we have come to expect from Google, I get an ad on the right hand side asking me "Is it Alzheimer's Disease?". O Boy I thought, I really needed this one now! I am sure there are a ton of search results that would serve to illumine me in this matter but I was not in the exact mood for being scared. So, being the inveterate escapist that I was, I went back to the arm chair and started ruminating over recent events in a quest for the solution. The following is the outcome of this.
Computer savvy folks can relate to this analogy that I came up with. The mind is like a stack of plates. Each thought in it is like a plate. You keep piling one plate on top of the other and very soon you start building a huge stack. But since there is only so much space available, the ones at the bottom just "go away" (don't ask me how and where). The ones on top stay in the stack till they also get pushed down to no man's land. So this is all fine. But that still does not explain why I am getting more forgetful now than before. To answer that, the only thing I could think of is that my stack has got smaller for some reason thereby accommodating fewer plates! Or maybe I am having too many items on my plate of late.. or continuing the analogy further.. too many plates in my stack! I suddenly realized that it is neither of these two reasons. It is just that of late I have been bombarded with unrelated things which by their very nature are hard to keep track of.
So for me to remember all the tasks that I have to accomplish, there should be a certain amount of cogency in the tasks that I have at hand. This realization lead me to look up at the root cause of the problem. In this digital age, we are bombarded with all kinds of information - each quite disjoint from the other. In the absence of prioritization, we would be desultorily trying to process myriads of information and as promptly forgetting each of them! Hence selectiveness is a necessary criterion for picking what we want to process. We should apply the correct filters to appropriately filter out the "noise" and process the information that needs to be processed. Else, we will end up gobbling too much of useless information and forgetting the one that is important.
A part of this endeavor is to keep your "stack of plates" as little as possible by applying the correct filters as to what qualifies to enter the stack. Hence in pursuant to this thought process, I started disciplining my life a little bit. The following are some of the things I did:
I would say it did help me out. So the plate theory has gone beyond the realm of tectonics and is actually applicable elsewhere too. That is definitely changing the plate quite a bit !
Thursday, October 16, 2008
En vazhi thaneee vazhi...(My way is unique)
Rajnikanth would have had a great future as a comedian even if he had not become a super star in tamil cinema.
His so called stunts are totally humorous.
Check this really hilarious ad out.
His so called stunts are totally humorous.
Check this really hilarious ad out.
The Power of Pre Conceived Notions
As anyone who works in a Silicon Valley company (or a company with similar outlook) would endorse, there comes a time in an individual's career when she has to choose between an Individual Contributor(IC) role or a managerial role. ICs in general, are viewed as anti-social nerds with technical brilliance. They would be a square peg in the round managerial hole. On the other hand, the managers have the ability to lead teams, solve administrative problems, provide strategy and vision etc.
This model of strict demarcation works great in many cases. But as with anything, attempts to "strait jacket" these would usually be extremely counter productive. I have been in situations where there is a firm division between what they call the managerial growth path and the technology growth path and never the twain shall meet.
Consider my example for instance. I have always been technically strong which in silicon valley parlance means I understand code and programming well. But I want to grow beyond technical ability and want to handle tasks that are more organizational, strategic and visionary. I had been thwarted in these attempts by some of my ex bosses who had fixed perceptions about the managerial role. Some of them think that I would become a bad manager and also lose out on my technical abilities if I choose what they call the "managerial growth path". This myopic view is the most prominent reason for the abundance of "dunce" managers with very limited vision and a general inability to guide people.
This was in line with a discussion that I was having with a colleague of mine recently. We tend to be seen by people according to their pre-conceived notions. If you are viewed as a geek, then you cannot be a manager. So no matter what you do everything will reinforce the geeky thing and negate the managerial ability.
And if such a person who has pigeon holed you, happens to be your boss, then God save you! He is going to create situations that would make you perform sub-optimally in places, that he with his infinite wisdom deems, are beyond your ken. This kind of attitude is extremely detrimental to personal growth. Makes you really want to scream out sometimes.
This made me remember a poem that I had read when I was a kid. It is about a hypochondriac king who refused to believe he was hale and hearty.
Read the poem for yourself - "The Enchanted Shirt" by John Hay.
This model of strict demarcation works great in many cases. But as with anything, attempts to "strait jacket" these would usually be extremely counter productive. I have been in situations where there is a firm division between what they call the managerial growth path and the technology growth path and never the twain shall meet.
Consider my example for instance. I have always been technically strong which in silicon valley parlance means I understand code and programming well. But I want to grow beyond technical ability and want to handle tasks that are more organizational, strategic and visionary. I had been thwarted in these attempts by some of my ex bosses who had fixed perceptions about the managerial role. Some of them think that I would become a bad manager and also lose out on my technical abilities if I choose what they call the "managerial growth path". This myopic view is the most prominent reason for the abundance of "dunce" managers with very limited vision and a general inability to guide people.
This was in line with a discussion that I was having with a colleague of mine recently. We tend to be seen by people according to their pre-conceived notions. If you are viewed as a geek, then you cannot be a manager. So no matter what you do everything will reinforce the geeky thing and negate the managerial ability.
And if such a person who has pigeon holed you, happens to be your boss, then God save you! He is going to create situations that would make you perform sub-optimally in places, that he with his infinite wisdom deems, are beyond your ken. This kind of attitude is extremely detrimental to personal growth. Makes you really want to scream out sometimes.
This made me remember a poem that I had read when I was a kid. It is about a hypochondriac king who refused to believe he was hale and hearty.
Read the poem for yourself - "The Enchanted Shirt" by John Hay.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sequels and the current financial crisis.
We seem to be living in a world that does not know when to call it quits. For instance, if a good movie is created it has to have its sequels. Exorcist was quickly followed by Exorcist II and so on till the whole world knew about the entire family tree of exorcists. Chicken soup for the (generic) soul got succeeded by a spasm of chicken soups for every species of soul extant in the universe. So you had one for the Pet Lover's soul, father and son soul, adopted soul,mother's soul, preteen soul,ocean lover's soul etc.- Irreverently speaking, there is one for every a$$hole (no offence meant.. just could not resist this diabolical urge to use the pun) And what if a pre teen mother loves visiting acquariums and keeps a rabbit? She has to read like four books now!
This "keep a good thing going" spirit has infiltrated almost every walk of life. That was how most of these sagas were born be it in the comics (Mickey Mouse etc.), children's books (Harry Potter etc.) or even good old Jeeves of Mr. P G Wodehouse. What makes this complex is the fact that each saga branched out into a million other "child" sagas. Look for instance at every good tv sitcom. There are follow up sitcoms by the various people who acted in the original sitcom. Cheers and Fraser for instance.
The sequels originate because of many reasons in my opinion:
Anyways, what has all this to do with the current financial crisis? In my opinion, this trend of spawning sequels got extended recklessly into the financial domain,thereby proliferating a slew of products. Consider the situation for yourself. The US was having the biggest boom in the housing industry due to favorable interest rates coupled with escalating house costs due to the disparity between supply and demand. The direct beneficiaries of this unprecedented demand, besides the housing industry itself, were the mortgage banks.
But there mushroomed multiple markets that got set up to milk this "housing cow dry". The good ole housing loan got repackaged with exotic, tongue twisting gobbeldygook such as "High Grade Structured Credit Enhanced Leverage Fund", CDOs (Collateral Debt Obligations), Structured Investment Vehicles etc. which were sold to people all over the world. Not only that, these products were insured by other products such as Credit Default Swaps. Are you impressed by all this knowledge from me?? Dont be.. Just read this rather enlightening article.
At some point in time, the products were so far removed from the housing industry that people did not even realize that a part of their portfolio was dependent on the home prices in America. For instance, if you bought AIG shares, would you have thought that your fate depended on the prices of American homes? So, when the housing bubble finally burst, people felt like the carpet was dragged from under their feet!
To me, this incident smacks of excess greed. But the laugh is on me since I have also inadvertently allowed myself to get embroiled in this quagmire. Let us hope that the spaghetti would wind itself back to the spindle!
PS: You should check this rather hilarious video that talks about exactly what i talked about.
This "keep a good thing going" spirit has infiltrated almost every walk of life. That was how most of these sagas were born be it in the comics (Mickey Mouse etc.), children's books (Harry Potter etc.) or even good old Jeeves of Mr. P G Wodehouse. What makes this complex is the fact that each saga branched out into a million other "child" sagas. Look for instance at every good tv sitcom. There are follow up sitcoms by the various people who acted in the original sitcom. Cheers and Fraser for instance.
The sequels originate because of many reasons in my opinion:
- The original author deems that the last word has not been said on a particular topic.
- The author thinks that he should get specialized to attend to the needs of a particular sub topic in more detail. Ex: The Chicken soup series.
- Plagiarizers want to ride the wave of the original topic's popularity
- Others just want to milk the cow dry!
Anyways, what has all this to do with the current financial crisis? In my opinion, this trend of spawning sequels got extended recklessly into the financial domain,thereby proliferating a slew of products. Consider the situation for yourself. The US was having the biggest boom in the housing industry due to favorable interest rates coupled with escalating house costs due to the disparity between supply and demand. The direct beneficiaries of this unprecedented demand, besides the housing industry itself, were the mortgage banks.
But there mushroomed multiple markets that got set up to milk this "housing cow dry". The good ole housing loan got repackaged with exotic, tongue twisting gobbeldygook such as "High Grade Structured Credit Enhanced Leverage Fund", CDOs (Collateral Debt Obligations), Structured Investment Vehicles etc. which were sold to people all over the world. Not only that, these products were insured by other products such as Credit Default Swaps. Are you impressed by all this knowledge from me?? Dont be.. Just read this rather enlightening article.
At some point in time, the products were so far removed from the housing industry that people did not even realize that a part of their portfolio was dependent on the home prices in America. For instance, if you bought AIG shares, would you have thought that your fate depended on the prices of American homes? So, when the housing bubble finally burst, people felt like the carpet was dragged from under their feet!
To me, this incident smacks of excess greed. But the laugh is on me since I have also inadvertently allowed myself to get embroiled in this quagmire. Let us hope that the spaghetti would wind itself back to the spindle!
PS: You should check this rather hilarious video that talks about exactly what i talked about.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Laughter Therapy
As a person who has travelled to different parts of the world, I did get a chance to experience massage at different places. But today's experience at an ayurvedic massage center at Hyderabad, has to rank as one of the funniest ones ever.
In case the mention of massage conjures in you a calm, peaceful atmosphere that would facilitate relaxation, then you would do well to refrain from patronizing the place that I alluded to above. For by doing so, you would disillusion yourself from all your preconceived notions about massage and also in the process add to it an element of humor. And when I say that this experience was funny, you better believe it - it was rip-roaringly funny. So let me see if my pen is sufficient to capture the humor in this experience.
I went to this place at Jubilee Hills. It was located in a rented house. The owner bade me to be seated and charged me for the massage upfront. That was kinda strange but I figured that since it was late, the guy just wanted to leave. So he pocketed the loot upfront. Anyways, in a few minutes, two guys (my would be masseurs) came in and motioned me to go in. They did not "look" very professional - whatever the hell it means. Somehow I was not expecting this. Anyways, since the owner had already taken my money I thought I might as well get through with this. Besides, this may turn into an experience that is not so bad. Right? Wrong. So to continue, my masseurs escorted me to an inner room.
This room had a couple of low wattage bulbs and a bright fluorescent tube light. I initially thought that there should be some internal sanctum where these guys would do the deed, but the presence of a large formidable massage table in the typical keralite style right at the center of this brightly lit room, belied my belief. So I go in and was asked to strip right IN FRONT of these two guys who made no attempt to look the other way. In fact, they offered to help me tie the "loin cloth" to cover my crotch. The loin cloth, for the non cognoscenti, is a traditional Indian equivalent of a bikini bottom. I guess, it does its job pretty well. But I was just a tad conscious. Besides, it was not really very comfortable having these two ogling urchins at the back of me and inspecting my every move. But be that as it may, I did what I was expected to do and before I can say "hello" I was all stripped except for the loin cloth which was trying its best to protect me. I felt like a performing artist in a brightly lit auditorium!
In a feeble attempt at protecting my chastity, I did ask the two to at least be gracious enough to give me a towel. They readily acceded to the request and handed me a white handloom towel that was more like a napkin. It was probably all of half a feet long! Anyways, I wound it around my frame and proceeded to the massage table where I was directed to goto. But any relief that I had was short lived since the two seized the towel unceremoniously and cast it aside stating that it would be in the way. Then they proceeded to rub oil on my face and head after which I could not even open my eyes. So, here I was in a brightly lit room, with two guys whom I would hesitate to meet down a dark alley, totally naked save for an inadequate loin cloth, with my eyes blinded by oil (and later tears since I was uproarious with laughter visualizing myself) and lying face up. The humor of the situation was so poignant that all effort at suppressing my mirth was futile. And to add insult to injury, my masseurs also seemed to notice the comedy in the situation. So all the three of us were guffawing in the most crazy manner without any thought about the imminent massage. It did accentuate the imagery of the performing artist in a brightly lit auditorium that I initially had. It looks like I really have an appreciative audience to boot!
But all good things must come to an end. So once my spectators were satisfied that the last drop of humor has been extracted out of the situation, their laughter subsided slowly into intermittent chuckles and finally culminated in their grinning at me (though I could hardly notice their grin with all the tears in my eyes). So, now they started their massage. My wife always is under the impression that I do not have too many ticklish spots on my body. But these two guys managed to prove her wrong in the most outstanding way possible. Either their ministrations have made me extra sensitive or more probably I just about lost it. It looked as if the laughter dam has burst today and all the bottled up laughter started bubbling out with great gusto. There was hardly a single minute when I did not bellow with uncontrollable mirth.
As the massage(sic) wound its way to the end, I was not experiencing any lightening of my pressure points but I did experience a stress relief with all this laughter. So much so that I did generously tip my therapists before leaving the place. It might not have been the therapy I expected but it did do its job!
In case the mention of massage conjures in you a calm, peaceful atmosphere that would facilitate relaxation, then you would do well to refrain from patronizing the place that I alluded to above. For by doing so, you would disillusion yourself from all your preconceived notions about massage and also in the process add to it an element of humor. And when I say that this experience was funny, you better believe it - it was rip-roaringly funny. So let me see if my pen is sufficient to capture the humor in this experience.
I went to this place at Jubilee Hills. It was located in a rented house. The owner bade me to be seated and charged me for the massage upfront. That was kinda strange but I figured that since it was late, the guy just wanted to leave. So he pocketed the loot upfront. Anyways, in a few minutes, two guys (my would be masseurs) came in and motioned me to go in. They did not "look" very professional - whatever the hell it means. Somehow I was not expecting this. Anyways, since the owner had already taken my money I thought I might as well get through with this. Besides, this may turn into an experience that is not so bad. Right? Wrong. So to continue, my masseurs escorted me to an inner room.
This room had a couple of low wattage bulbs and a bright fluorescent tube light. I initially thought that there should be some internal sanctum where these guys would do the deed, but the presence of a large formidable massage table in the typical keralite style right at the center of this brightly lit room, belied my belief. So I go in and was asked to strip right IN FRONT of these two guys who made no attempt to look the other way. In fact, they offered to help me tie the "loin cloth" to cover my crotch. The loin cloth, for the non cognoscenti, is a traditional Indian equivalent of a bikini bottom. I guess, it does its job pretty well. But I was just a tad conscious. Besides, it was not really very comfortable having these two ogling urchins at the back of me and inspecting my every move. But be that as it may, I did what I was expected to do and before I can say "hello" I was all stripped except for the loin cloth which was trying its best to protect me. I felt like a performing artist in a brightly lit auditorium!
In a feeble attempt at protecting my chastity, I did ask the two to at least be gracious enough to give me a towel. They readily acceded to the request and handed me a white handloom towel that was more like a napkin. It was probably all of half a feet long! Anyways, I wound it around my frame and proceeded to the massage table where I was directed to goto. But any relief that I had was short lived since the two seized the towel unceremoniously and cast it aside stating that it would be in the way. Then they proceeded to rub oil on my face and head after which I could not even open my eyes. So, here I was in a brightly lit room, with two guys whom I would hesitate to meet down a dark alley, totally naked save for an inadequate loin cloth, with my eyes blinded by oil (and later tears since I was uproarious with laughter visualizing myself) and lying face up. The humor of the situation was so poignant that all effort at suppressing my mirth was futile. And to add insult to injury, my masseurs also seemed to notice the comedy in the situation. So all the three of us were guffawing in the most crazy manner without any thought about the imminent massage. It did accentuate the imagery of the performing artist in a brightly lit auditorium that I initially had. It looks like I really have an appreciative audience to boot!
But all good things must come to an end. So once my spectators were satisfied that the last drop of humor has been extracted out of the situation, their laughter subsided slowly into intermittent chuckles and finally culminated in their grinning at me (though I could hardly notice their grin with all the tears in my eyes). So, now they started their massage. My wife always is under the impression that I do not have too many ticklish spots on my body. But these two guys managed to prove her wrong in the most outstanding way possible. Either their ministrations have made me extra sensitive or more probably I just about lost it. It looked as if the laughter dam has burst today and all the bottled up laughter started bubbling out with great gusto. There was hardly a single minute when I did not bellow with uncontrollable mirth.
As the massage(sic) wound its way to the end, I was not experiencing any lightening of my pressure points but I did experience a stress relief with all this laughter. So much so that I did generously tip my therapists before leaving the place. It might not have been the therapy I expected but it did do its job!
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