Category: Uncategorized

Even though I know precious little about the formation of mass psychology, I am certain that how the citizens of a nation collectively view the world must have a causal relationship with the fortunes of a nation.

As individuals we are singularly powerless to alter the environment we grow up in. We have to take that as a given, outside our control, exogenous. How we view the world is not of our choosing. Our mental models are formed largely unconsciously, and shaped contingently. It is an enormous intellectual challenge for us to critically examine our conditioning — and in most cases plain old-fashioned brainwashing by state institutions  — and change our perception of the world.

Most critically, how people perceive government and governance matters. The what, why, and how of government differs from nation to nation, and those differences are consequential. To change how the collective’s conception of government and governance is to change its destiny.

This line of thinking is motivated by an email that my colleague Rajesh Jain received, and forwarded to me. I include the full text of the email and my response, for the record. Continue reading “Government as the Overlord”

Today, Saturday 20th October, Rajesh Jain and I will be hosting a webinar titled “How to Walk the Path to Prosperity”. It starts at 8:30 PM India time (8 AM Pacific, 11 AM Eastern.)

Register here for the event. To join the webinar, click on this zoom link at 8:30 PM India time (8 AM Pacific, 11 AM Eastern.)

Here are the details.  Continue reading “Webinar on “The Path to Prosperity” Today”

Here we go again. Now that India’s 2019 general elections are just a few months away, Mr Modi wants you to help him “transform India.”

Here’s an opportunity for India’s best brains to work for PM Modi’s campaign in 2019. 

Take a sabbatical from your current job and work with Nation with NaMo till May 2019.

Dedicate your 8 months to transform India in the next 5 years.

“… work with Nation with NaMo …”  Seriously? Couldn’t find a decent copy editor even?

It’s déjà vu all over again, as the great sage Yogi Berra said.  Continue reading “Modi Needs You to Transform India”

“War is a judgement that overtakes societies when they have been living upon ideas that conflict too violently with the laws governing the universe … Never think that wars are irrational catastrophes: they happen when wrong ways of thinking and living bring about intolerable situations.”
— Dorothy L Sayers.[1]

That quote is from E. F. Schumacher’s book Small is Beautiful [2] where he meditated upon the causes of the bind that humanity finds itself in and indeed is responsible for. He posited that it was lack of wisdom that impels people to ‘cure a disease by intensifying its causes.’ Here’s what he wrote:  Continue reading “Curing a disease by intensifying its causes”

In a comment baransam1 asks, “Should the government fund primary education, fund higher education, fund research in basic sciences?” The answer is “No, no, and no.” Emphatic no’s.

No for the same reason that the government should not be in the business of income and wealth redistribution. It should not be in the business of charity. It should not be in the business of taking care of the indigent, the sick and the victims of accident and natural disasters. The government should not be in the business of religious indoctrination, or indeed indoctrination of any kind. The government should not engage in commercial activities like transportation and communications. It should not run hospitals and hotels, clubs and cafes, factories and farms. It should not run banks and non-banking financial institutions.

The list of prohibitions — the “blacklist”– is too long. It is best to have a “whitelist” of what the government is allowed and required to do, and nothing beyond that.  Why? The answer is one word: violence.  Continue reading “What Should the Government Do?”

What is not privately owned is public wealth. It’s everything that exists within the territorial boundaries of a country and the citizens have a legitimate claim to it. The question is this: who has the authority and the right to control it? Furthermore, when and how do the citizens of a country get access to their share of what wealth they collectively own?  Continue reading “Public wealth return”

I respect two former prime minsters of India — Shri PV Narasimha Rao and Shri AB Vajpayee. If only they had had the mandate to make those fundamental changes that they wanted to make. Both, unfortunately, did not have the necessary popular support in the parliament. And equally unfortunately, those prime ministers who did have massive parliamentary support did not have the vision to put India on a path to prosperity. Indians collectively suffer very bad karma.

But I am thankful for small mercies. Today I learned that Shri Vajpayee supported the right to self defense and wanted Indians to have the right to bear arms. (Hat tip: Akshar Prabhu Desai.)  Continue reading “Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Right to Bear Arms”

The trolley problem posits the scenario that the trolley would kill five unsuspecting people along its tracks but by pulling a lever it can be sent along a different route where only one person would get killed.

Would you pull the lever?

The trolley problem is a hypothetical intended to provoke discussion and to illuminate moral dilemmas that people face in real life. In my view, it is good to work through hypothetical so as to arrive on general principles that could be applied if the situation arises. It could spare one pointless agonizing and indecision. Continue reading “Why I will not pull the lever”

I am so thrilled to be forwarded on Whatsapp a bunch of pictures with the caption, “First Tank Delivery By L&T under “Make In India”. The message approvingly said, “Proud Moment For India.” Here are the pictures:  Continue reading “L&T “Make in India” Tanks”

In a comment to a previous post, Happy 4th of July, Akshar wrote, “in 1789 George Washington became the first democratic president of such a large nation directly at odds with the largest empire on earth.” What caught my attention were the words “large nation” and “democratic.”

Today when we talk of large nations, we figure hundreds of millions of people. But things were different in the past. By today’s standards, the newly minted United States of America was tiny, Around 1776, the total population of the 13 former colonies was around 2.5 million people. That’s less than the present population of Pune (a moderately big city by Indian standards), which is over 3 million people.

And how big was Great Britain at that time? Estimates of the population range from 7 to 10 million. That means the combined population of England, Scotland and Wales was less than half the present population of Delhi or Mumbai. Those countries had tiny populations.                            ∇

What about democracy?  Continue reading “Human Population”