Dear friends, i would like take a shot at what most people, saints, philosophers etc. have been doing since our evolution. I would like to intoduce 'Humanity'!! Any takers?
Lets start by analyzing ourselfs, what do we think of the world. Is the worl d that we simply just live in, is it that gives us life, or is it that gives us meaning? My religion Hinduism beleives in reincarnation: but i donot. For me life is once, eternal and the most useful organism.
Just for a while i would like all readers to look into their heart, try to imagine who they love, beleive in, trust etc. I am sure that everyone has atleast one person on their list .... this is what is humanity. We Live for Others; We have no being of our own. If you protest try imagining yourself alone on a deserted island.
My "religion" encourages/teaches you to help others other than self; love others other than self; protect and take care of others other than self. The question is not what we can do, the question is what we should do. Just think about the victims in Haiti, Latoor, Tsunami, Katrina. I know this rings some bell; if it does, my friend you are on the right track. Not being all talk, please let me know of institutions where i can donate without being scared of fraud; ill love to do that.
-Ashish
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
How "Logic Taming" makes people illogical
We have entered the information age where we need answers to all our questions. If not answered we search for it. If we still are unsuccesful, we argue with self/friends and bring it to a "logical" conclusion. Logic is built into the neural system of each and every human being. I donot beleive it in being 0 or 1, because a problem could have unimaginable number of solutions and is dictated by the person analysing it. If we agree, why do we still like being "Logically tamed" by certain people/organisations in our society for eg. the government?
I could with a reason and would encourage everyone to help me understand and contribute with their own ideas.
A common man doesnt like taking risks. Over the years of our evolution we have come to terms with the idea of some wise-men taking control of our lives. We didnt like taking risks and loved the idea of blaming someone if things turn haywire. Although convinient, this put us at an disadvantage - we had to play by the rules set by them. Years passed by and we kept getting "logically tamed" by these people, to a point where we actually are machines that tries to act and blend in with the other machines in the so called society. We stopped asking questions and reasoning! Now in the information age we are starting to realise our potential, but are so meshed up in the system that we are unable to come out, even if we want to. We accepted the rules imposed on us, we kept building on it, and now we donot want to start all over from scratch again. Its just like continuing to patch a buggy code of a legacy system. Hence we continue to do, what we are told to do. It is in times like these (i.e. current global recession) we actually start seeing the vulnerabilities (bugs) in the system. We keep working towards making it work, which in my sence makes me think that we are illogical.
A similar argument holds good for religion. Religion according to me is a protocol or lifestyle, a good way to lead our lives ethically, as envisioned and coined by the few old wise-men. How does that apply to us today? Well some moral values might still apply and I am happy to live by them, but a lot of stuff is obsolete and needs to be updated based on the lifestyle we lead today. If updated/edited 'today' (in the information age), it should be based on a common consensus. I know this will never happen and will continue to live by them for centuries to come, which in my sence makes me think that we are illogical.
Well I myself have no solution of my own, plus some people might not even think for this to be a problem. I personally would love to go back to the stone age and start all over again. If people need to live by rules and require to be "tamed", why not they live by my rules :).
-Ashish
I could with a reason and would encourage everyone to help me understand and contribute with their own ideas.
A common man doesnt like taking risks. Over the years of our evolution we have come to terms with the idea of some wise-men taking control of our lives. We didnt like taking risks and loved the idea of blaming someone if things turn haywire. Although convinient, this put us at an disadvantage - we had to play by the rules set by them. Years passed by and we kept getting "logically tamed" by these people, to a point where we actually are machines that tries to act and blend in with the other machines in the so called society. We stopped asking questions and reasoning! Now in the information age we are starting to realise our potential, but are so meshed up in the system that we are unable to come out, even if we want to. We accepted the rules imposed on us, we kept building on it, and now we donot want to start all over from scratch again. Its just like continuing to patch a buggy code of a legacy system. Hence we continue to do, what we are told to do. It is in times like these (i.e. current global recession) we actually start seeing the vulnerabilities (bugs) in the system. We keep working towards making it work, which in my sence makes me think that we are illogical.
A similar argument holds good for religion. Religion according to me is a protocol or lifestyle, a good way to lead our lives ethically, as envisioned and coined by the few old wise-men. How does that apply to us today? Well some moral values might still apply and I am happy to live by them, but a lot of stuff is obsolete and needs to be updated based on the lifestyle we lead today. If updated/edited 'today' (in the information age), it should be based on a common consensus. I know this will never happen and will continue to live by them for centuries to come, which in my sence makes me think that we are illogical.
Well I myself have no solution of my own, plus some people might not even think for this to be a problem. I personally would love to go back to the stone age and start all over again. If people need to live by rules and require to be "tamed", why not they live by my rules :).
-Ashish
Monday, February 2, 2009
Reviving the Economy - My way
Dont mind...but I think Mr. Barack Obama is doing a stupid mistake, just like his predecessor G.W Bush, by going in for a stimulus package. According to me this would not help the current ailing american economy. $815 billion is roughly equal to american consumers (maximum) monthly spending, and hence if the economy does not revive it would last for only a month. What Mr. Obama has to do is to make the money flow in the economy like earlier days. Being a capatalist economy, the US cannot survive without its citizens spending money. So how do we make people spend in this pitiful economy? I have an idea...read on
Il'll like to talk about a 2 step approach, based on the type of consumer:
1st the american salaried worker:
For all the currently employed workforce, excluding the ones that unfortunately lost their jobs because of the recent turmoil; the salaries have to be paid in 2 sections. Let me take an example: If Mr. Bob is employed and earns $3000 a month (take home), he would be paid $1500 in cash and the remaining amount $1500 in the form of a cash card. The cash card expires in 2 months, hence he is forced to spend that money within 2 months. The emphasis here is laid on the fact that in todays market the american consumer is refraining from spending money, and if americans dont spend money, there is no US economy. Although this might be the violation of democratic rights blah blah...but drastic conditions require drastic measures. So given the fact that if you donot agree with this, seeing the current economy, you might be the next one to get laid off, i hope no-one will disagree with this.
The advantage: We get the amount mentioned by Mr. Obama in his stimulus package in the market within a month. Mr. Obama, please spend that amount in some useful activities. The rule that a mentioned stays in effect till the economy has been fully recovered, irrespective of whether a person recently got his job or not.
2nd the american business owners: Now the next question is, there are only 50-60% of the entire workforce that are employed, rest all are business owners; How do we get them to spend? The answer is simple. Tax them at the rate of 70%, dont worry I am not against business owners, but suppose you paid 30% tax initially, now you pay 70% tax, the 40% would be refundable by the government in the form of a cash card, that expires in 6 months. You have the option of investing this money in the economy by recruiting new people, or simply loosing it.
I hope i have covered the entire mass of the US affected by this slump. If not, I am sorry as I am still a layman who does not understand market economics :). But yes, again my advice to the americans would be, go spend!! only you spending can revive this economy, its not me or Mr. Obama. The power is in your hands. Today cars, houses etc are at their cheapest, get a good bargain and move on with it, you would not get this opportunity again in the near future.
Thanks,
-Ashish
Il'll like to talk about a 2 step approach, based on the type of consumer:
1st the american salaried worker:
For all the currently employed workforce, excluding the ones that unfortunately lost their jobs because of the recent turmoil; the salaries have to be paid in 2 sections. Let me take an example: If Mr. Bob is employed and earns $3000 a month (take home), he would be paid $1500 in cash and the remaining amount $1500 in the form of a cash card. The cash card expires in 2 months, hence he is forced to spend that money within 2 months. The emphasis here is laid on the fact that in todays market the american consumer is refraining from spending money, and if americans dont spend money, there is no US economy. Although this might be the violation of democratic rights blah blah...but drastic conditions require drastic measures. So given the fact that if you donot agree with this, seeing the current economy, you might be the next one to get laid off, i hope no-one will disagree with this.
The advantage: We get the amount mentioned by Mr. Obama in his stimulus package in the market within a month. Mr. Obama, please spend that amount in some useful activities. The rule that a mentioned stays in effect till the economy has been fully recovered, irrespective of whether a person recently got his job or not.
2nd the american business owners: Now the next question is, there are only 50-60% of the entire workforce that are employed, rest all are business owners; How do we get them to spend? The answer is simple. Tax them at the rate of 70%, dont worry I am not against business owners, but suppose you paid 30% tax initially, now you pay 70% tax, the 40% would be refundable by the government in the form of a cash card, that expires in 6 months. You have the option of investing this money in the economy by recruiting new people, or simply loosing it.
I hope i have covered the entire mass of the US affected by this slump. If not, I am sorry as I am still a layman who does not understand market economics :). But yes, again my advice to the americans would be, go spend!! only you spending can revive this economy, its not me or Mr. Obama. The power is in your hands. Today cars, houses etc are at their cheapest, get a good bargain and move on with it, you would not get this opportunity again in the near future.
Thanks,
-Ashish
Monday, January 12, 2009
Hullabu - A Customizable Meta Search Engine
A good friend of mine recently launched Hullabu, his long awaited baby. The website is actually a meta-search engine just like the "recently launched Leapfish", dogpile, mamma etc; but with an additional feature: It is Customizable. To start off, for beginners a meta-search engine is a search tool that sends user requests to several other search engines and aggregates the results into a single list or displays them according to their source. Metasearch engines enable users to enter search criteria once and access several search engines simultaneously. Metasearch engines operate on the premise that the Web is too large for any one search engine to index it all and that more comprehensive search results can be obtained by combining the results from several search engines.
In short, Hullabu is very similar to kayak, with an exception that kayak concentrates entirely on travel, whereas Hullabu gives you the option of customizing your search by using the following variables:
1) It allows you to customise the Category in which your search item falls.
2) It allows you to select the search engines to send your search item feed to, for that particular search category.
The result is narrowing down your search to a particular category on specific search engines, instead of looking for the search items on different websites/engines by opening multiple browser windows. I know this might get a little confusing, but you will get the idea of what I am talking about once you log on to http://www.hullabu.com/. For eg. Before buying any electronic gadget earlier I always use to go to bestbuy, frys, walmart, target etc websites and search for the gadget and look for the best price, and I am sure you would too since you are spending money at the end of the day. What I did was simply create a cateogory called "Electronics", added these websites and now get everything in one click.
Just like any other product, Hullabu also has a learning curve (a very small one though), but once you start using it surely turns into a handy search tool.
I would like to congratulate my friend on his feat, and wish him all the best with Hullabu.
-Ashish
In short, Hullabu is very similar to kayak, with an exception that kayak concentrates entirely on travel, whereas Hullabu gives you the option of customizing your search by using the following variables:
1) It allows you to customise the Category in which your search item falls.
2) It allows you to select the search engines to send your search item feed to, for that particular search category.
The result is narrowing down your search to a particular category on specific search engines, instead of looking for the search items on different websites/engines by opening multiple browser windows. I know this might get a little confusing, but you will get the idea of what I am talking about once you log on to http://www.hullabu.com/. For eg. Before buying any electronic gadget earlier I always use to go to bestbuy, frys, walmart, target etc websites and search for the gadget and look for the best price, and I am sure you would too since you are spending money at the end of the day. What I did was simply create a cateogory called "Electronics", added these websites and now get everything in one click.
Just like any other product, Hullabu also has a learning curve (a very small one though), but once you start using it surely turns into a handy search tool.
I would like to congratulate my friend on his feat, and wish him all the best with Hullabu.
-Ashish
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Recession: lies in the eye of the beholder.
The topic above might sound funny; but the beholder above refers to the common man i.e. you and me. With this post I somehow want to establish a relation between how the mentality of a common man brings about recession in the economy. According to me true recession is brought by the fear the common man feels seeing his environment. I would like to define FEAR as "Fear Ends All in Recession". Ill like to start this post with my layman understanding of how the economy/industries operate today.
Most of the industries today typically make just enough money for the organisation to sustain and make minimal growth (considering the fierce competition). To obtain exponential growth most of the companies rely upon financial institutions (like banks, venture capatalists etc) and people (share and security holders). The actual growth in the world with respect to land prices, minerals, commodities etc is very limited. Now how do each of these organizations get a piece of pie from this growth (they also have to pay back debt taken from financial instituations); even though they get some it would not be significant. In order to maximise profits these organisations go ahead and anticipate/prepare for a much higher growth. The net result is higher prices of land, minerals etc. Lets now see how does this artificial growth move towards recession.
The National Bureau of economic Research defines economic recession as: "a significant decline in the economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP growth, real personal income, employment (non-farm payrolls), industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales." This decline (or negative) growth is because the economy was growing at a rate that is neither natural nor proportional to the actual growth. Lets see how a common man affects this and makes this condition worse.
When the economy is in recession organisations start losing money; hence they start cutting cost and try to get rid of employees they hired taking into consideration higher growth than natural. When people lose their jobs they tend to spend less; even the people who havnt lost thier jobs tend to start spending less in anticipation of bad times ahead. When people spend less, organisations make even lesser money and lay off more people. The result is more bankrupt organisations and more jobless people. Its a cycle that keeps going on, only till the mindset of consumer changes. Once the consumer feels it is a good time to spend (due to many reasons like low prices etc) the process reverses as organisations start making more money and start hiring more people. Remeber, in a capatalist economy the common man is the catalyst the fuels the economy for future growth. Today if the US is the largest economy, its because of the mindset of the citizens it has here, who just love spending. My advice would to be to spend, but be wise.
-Ashish
Most of the industries today typically make just enough money for the organisation to sustain and make minimal growth (considering the fierce competition). To obtain exponential growth most of the companies rely upon financial institutions (like banks, venture capatalists etc) and people (share and security holders). The actual growth in the world with respect to land prices, minerals, commodities etc is very limited. Now how do each of these organizations get a piece of pie from this growth (they also have to pay back debt taken from financial instituations); even though they get some it would not be significant. In order to maximise profits these organisations go ahead and anticipate/prepare for a much higher growth. The net result is higher prices of land, minerals etc. Lets now see how does this artificial growth move towards recession.
The National Bureau of economic Research defines economic recession as: "a significant decline in the economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP growth, real personal income, employment (non-farm payrolls), industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales." This decline (or negative) growth is because the economy was growing at a rate that is neither natural nor proportional to the actual growth. Lets see how a common man affects this and makes this condition worse.
When the economy is in recession organisations start losing money; hence they start cutting cost and try to get rid of employees they hired taking into consideration higher growth than natural. When people lose their jobs they tend to spend less; even the people who havnt lost thier jobs tend to start spending less in anticipation of bad times ahead. When people spend less, organisations make even lesser money and lay off more people. The result is more bankrupt organisations and more jobless people. Its a cycle that keeps going on, only till the mindset of consumer changes. Once the consumer feels it is a good time to spend (due to many reasons like low prices etc) the process reverses as organisations start making more money and start hiring more people. Remeber, in a capatalist economy the common man is the catalyst the fuels the economy for future growth. Today if the US is the largest economy, its because of the mindset of the citizens it has here, who just love spending. My advice would to be to spend, but be wise.
-Ashish
Monday, May 5, 2008
Is GOD Real?
During the early days of my life, my Mom asked me to summon 'God' religiously. I was told God is an almighty figure who controls each and every entity in the Universe. God is the Creater, maintainer and destroyer of everything. Initially I used to fear God and used to pray so that i dont have to face his wrath ;) or get punished for my bad karma, but never really used to respect him. But over the years in my life I have come to respect him. Lets start off by discussing what/who is God.
God most commonly refers to the deity worshiped by followers of monotheistic and monolatrist religions, whom they believe to be the creator and overseer of the universe. Conceptions of God held by individual believers vary so widely that there is no clear consensus on the nature of God. So if God is such a varied concept, why does majority of the humanity (barring a few atheists) beleive in this concept. A Man is a creative as well as a logical thinker. If something is beyond his logical knowledge, he shifts his focus towards the creative side of his brain. Thats where the concept of God evolves. If this is what I think, why do I beleive in this concept and have come to respect him/her?
For a very long time now I have been living away from home. There have been times in my life where I felt very low, I felt nothing is working according to plan. What do I do in this situation, who do I turn to for support? When at home, the answer was pretty simple; "Dad, I am in trouble could you please help me out."; "Mom, i flunked in maths, please help me hide from Dad". What do I do today when I am sitting 8K miles from home? I turn my attention to the faith that I have in the concept known as 'God'. When things dont go as planned I turn to God for support. Although he/she is not present physically but you wouldn't beleive me if I said, it really works mentally. Now I will tell you the best part about beleiving in God. He never comes to you and never makes promises; hence you have nothing to expect. If things suddenly start going according to plan your faith in him/her increases; if not, it doesn't go down cause you weren't expecting anything off him/her. Beleive me or not, this has led to my increased faith in God. I think it is very easy not to beleive in God, but living without him/her might sometimes feel difficult.
Unlike the concept 'God', people around you are logical. They might not understand things that sometimes are bothering you. Speaking to yourself might help, but doesn't give you a sense of direction as you know noone else is listening to you. In the past millions of years this concept has never harmed anyone, it has only helped people gain confidence and make them beleive in themselves. If the concept of God helps me regain confidence when I am down and help me trust in my abilites, I am 'in' for this concept. What about you?
-Ashish
God most commonly refers to the deity worshiped by followers of monotheistic and monolatrist religions, whom they believe to be the creator and overseer of the universe. Conceptions of God held by individual believers vary so widely that there is no clear consensus on the nature of God. So if God is such a varied concept, why does majority of the humanity (barring a few atheists) beleive in this concept. A Man is a creative as well as a logical thinker. If something is beyond his logical knowledge, he shifts his focus towards the creative side of his brain. Thats where the concept of God evolves. If this is what I think, why do I beleive in this concept and have come to respect him/her?
For a very long time now I have been living away from home. There have been times in my life where I felt very low, I felt nothing is working according to plan. What do I do in this situation, who do I turn to for support? When at home, the answer was pretty simple; "Dad, I am in trouble could you please help me out."; "Mom, i flunked in maths, please help me hide from Dad". What do I do today when I am sitting 8K miles from home? I turn my attention to the faith that I have in the concept known as 'God'. When things dont go as planned I turn to God for support. Although he/she is not present physically but you wouldn't beleive me if I said, it really works mentally. Now I will tell you the best part about beleiving in God. He never comes to you and never makes promises; hence you have nothing to expect. If things suddenly start going according to plan your faith in him/her increases; if not, it doesn't go down cause you weren't expecting anything off him/her. Beleive me or not, this has led to my increased faith in God. I think it is very easy not to beleive in God, but living without him/her might sometimes feel difficult.
Unlike the concept 'God', people around you are logical. They might not understand things that sometimes are bothering you. Speaking to yourself might help, but doesn't give you a sense of direction as you know noone else is listening to you. In the past millions of years this concept has never harmed anyone, it has only helped people gain confidence and make them beleive in themselves. If the concept of God helps me regain confidence when I am down and help me trust in my abilites, I am 'in' for this concept. What about you?
-Ashish
Friday, December 28, 2007
Parenting OR Child Abuse??
Hello friends. Today ill like to express my views on a somewhat sensitive topic. Parenting is the process of raising your child. There are different models demonstrated in the society today and parents tend to follow these models based on their own nature and what best suits them. "Rules of the traffic model", "strict father model", "reward and punishment model" to name a few. Today ill like to discuss when is that parenting enters child abuse. Is there a fine line that differentiates this, and if yes when do we realise we have reached that line? Does spanking your child for wrong really make you cross that line or is it something else?
Before continuing, let us make an assumption. All the parents in the world love their child/children, even the ones that have been charged for child abuse. So if every parent loves their child, why would they abuse them? One argument says that parental choices and other unforeseen circumstances that place families under extraordinary stress ― for instance, poverty, divorse, sickness, disability and drugs are often associated to child abuse or neglect. This sounds reasonable as people do tend to break down under such conditions. But is it only this or is there something else that gets into a parents mind before he crosses that line? I would like to request all readers to please express their views on this, because in the next paragraph ill express strictly my views with no generalisation.
What I feel is when a parent reaches a stage where he thinks he completely owns his child, it is then he crosses the line. Let me put "completely" into perspective. Completely here refers to both physical and mental. The feeling of complete ownership gives the parent the mental ability to do bad for his/her child. If a parent respects his child a different human being, I think he would never come across this situation. Even if he occasionally spanks the child, it will be for the childs good, because the parent will have in mind to raise his child as a complete human being. People might say if we dont own a "thing" how will we show affection towards it. I agree to that, and thats where the difference between a "thing" and a "child" comes. "You buy a thing to love it, you love your child to reflect you". If a childs personality reflects good parenting, you will earn the respect of the society. A "thing " is an asset to your money, your child is an asset to your values.
I think I was able to make a point, and I kept it short because I was running out of words. If you donot agree with my views you can write to me and express your views on this topic. I really appreciate you reading through this post and promise you that I would try to come with better ones in the future.
-Ashish
Before continuing, let us make an assumption. All the parents in the world love their child/children, even the ones that have been charged for child abuse. So if every parent loves their child, why would they abuse them? One argument says that parental choices and other unforeseen circumstances that place families under extraordinary stress ― for instance, poverty, divorse, sickness, disability and drugs are often associated to child abuse or neglect. This sounds reasonable as people do tend to break down under such conditions. But is it only this or is there something else that gets into a parents mind before he crosses that line? I would like to request all readers to please express their views on this, because in the next paragraph ill express strictly my views with no generalisation.
What I feel is when a parent reaches a stage where he thinks he completely owns his child, it is then he crosses the line. Let me put "completely" into perspective. Completely here refers to both physical and mental. The feeling of complete ownership gives the parent the mental ability to do bad for his/her child. If a parent respects his child a different human being, I think he would never come across this situation. Even if he occasionally spanks the child, it will be for the childs good, because the parent will have in mind to raise his child as a complete human being. People might say if we dont own a "thing" how will we show affection towards it. I agree to that, and thats where the difference between a "thing" and a "child" comes. "You buy a thing to love it, you love your child to reflect you". If a childs personality reflects good parenting, you will earn the respect of the society. A "thing " is an asset to your money, your child is an asset to your values.
I think I was able to make a point, and I kept it short because I was running out of words. If you donot agree with my views you can write to me and express your views on this topic. I really appreciate you reading through this post and promise you that I would try to come with better ones in the future.
-Ashish
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