Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Music - ahaaa !!!

There is just something magical about music. Any kind is fine. Hindi - great.! English - great ! Marathi - great ! Classical - great ! anything else at all - great !

Dont want to say anything more. I am going back to get myself some music :)

Monday, March 07, 2005

The Science of Happy



A la descartes, I am turning this blog into an analysis of things . Apologies for that. Bear with me for now. I shall change gears soon.

Anyways, the topic I want to discuss is happiness. What is happiness ?. It is an emotion right ?. Well, fundamentally you could break down human emotions into two sets - happy and sad. The rest are just the variations of these two basic emotions in different ways, say greed, envy, love, hate and so on.

The first question that one can raise is - why do humans need to be happy ?. Why does everyone want to be in that state? Why not be sad all the time ? What is it about this emotion that makes it the "preferred emotion " ?

Analyzing a bit more - Happiness and the positive emotions are a state where your mind says "this is the way things should be ". So this would mean that happiness is a state where you would not like to change anything. Everything is just as it should be. Again, Sadness and the other negative emotions is where you want something to change.

Doesn't this reflect the laws of nature ? Din't Newton say "Every body shall continue to be in its state, unless an external force is applied "- the famous law of inertia ?

So could we say that it is by this law of inertia that Humans want to be in a state where they dont want to change anything ? That is the exact reason you would like to be with people about whom you wouldnt want to change anything ( or as few a number/quantity of change of things), or you like to eat food to which you just dont want to add any more ingredients. Its just perfect. Its just following its natural inertia.

On the other hand if you think that your food needs some more salt, or your bank account needs more money - well things need to be changed. That is where the inertia is broken and we are in the realm of the negative emotions.

But then there is no perfect inertia in the real world. There are always some forces right? There is friction, there is gravity and electromagnetism and what not.

In the same way - there can be no perfect happy state. There are always forces that keep changing things. Not only the changes in our lives but changes in our likes, our ideals, the way we want things to be. This is the reason people cannot remain in a "happy" state for long.

But what if you start liking change - irrespective of what the change may be ?. What if you say "Isnt it great that I am losing my job - now i get a chance to look for a new one ! ". Wouldnt such an attitude make you perpetually happy ? .

[ It is a another argument that if this were the case, then humans would still have been happy to live in trees and would never have invented anything !! ]

Well, then "to be happy" would be to say "Well there is change - I know it exists. Let me deal with it the best I can". Would that guarantee perpetual happiness ?

How can I find perpetual happiness ? How can I solve this mystery ? How can I solve the biggest problem that billions of people grapple with, the biggest problem that plagues humanity ? How can I ?

Thats Ok ! , I dont want to solve any more problems or change anything in the world - I am perfectly happy with just the way things are right now . Problem Solved ! :)

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Ways of Life.



It all started in the water. Some molecules get together and interesting patterns start developing. There is a structure. It looks good. The molecules keep combining with each other. They keep organizing and re-organizing. The structure keeps getting more complex.


Then there is life.

The ancient life form keeps evolving. Organisms are formed. They learn to thrive in the water. They learn to live on the land. They learn to fly. The process continues. Some ones are good, some not so. Creatures are manufactures, some live, some die. Darwin is happy.

There are these strange creatures that start walking on two legs. They are different from the rest. They are not so strong, nor so fast. They have some other quality. A quality that had never before played a pivotal role in the battle for survival, suddenly seems to be more important.

This power is akin to the power that afficianados of "age of empires" might be familiar with. It is when out of nowhere you discover that you have something that even though did not seem important before, has become a very important tool indeed.

This quality is the harnessing of the mind.

The humans continue to run the show. They take over the planet. They build their own beautiful structures and they destroy some beautiful natural ones. They love each other and keep the species growing. Some hate each other and kill a few here and there. But on the whole all is well.

New tools are developed. New ideas are thought of. Good tools, Bad tools. Good Ideas, Bad Ideas. Humans continue to change. They adapt to what they percieve and the process continue.

All this while they are living in this physical world. That is about to change.

Someone invents the internet.

It starts growing. Slowly at first. But the disease keeps growing. There is this fascination. There is this new world.

The very minds that once harnessed this gigantic piece of rock and had the entire planet to its mercy. These very minds now stop existing in the physical world.

These minds start living in a virtual world. They stare at screens and the process of evolution starts takes its toll. They dont need their muscles too much. Moving in the physical world is inconveniant.

They dont need to listen too well nor do they need to have a sharp vision. The sense of smell is gone. After all, there is no physical danger that they encounter as they sit in front of their screens.

Their physical faculties start deteorating, just like say the animal tails. If you dont need it ... well then it goes away.

Their mental powers keep getting sharper. They are thinking and processing more and more information all the time.

Slowly these physical creatures start living virtually. Their brains and the internal organs are the only organs that they need. All else is non-essential for survival. Everything starts disappearing.

There is a time when the humans as we know it, are nothing but their thoughts - present in some virtual world.

You dont see humans. You dont need to interach with each other. Your world is the computer screen. If you want to convey your thoughts to someone , the virtual human sends an e-mail. There are blogs. There are a variety of other things. Its a collection of electronic thoughts and electronic feelings.

The human species as we know it exists on the internet.

Then the power goes off.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Why are smart people single ?

Times of India reports this study which, by my interpretation explains, why all smart people remain single.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1020016.cms

My favorite part is where they explain love - "...they should realise it is akin to being mad. You become deranged ..." :)