Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw

Richard Feynman wrote that he was mystified by the different ways — ways that bear no resemblance to each other — in which a fundamental law of physics can be described. He conjectured that perhaps it was because the fundamental laws are simple. “Perhaps a thing is simple if you can describe it fully in several different ways without immediately knowing that you are describing the same thing.” [1]
Continue reading “Time to Simplify”

Rights appears to be all the rage these days. The right to this, that and the other. For example, in the US, the acrimonious debate about healthcare — a right to cheap medical services — is reaching unhealthy levels. Nationalized healthcare (and all other things as well) seems to be the preferred route in the US. It seems everyone has a right to a bail out from the government — sick automobile companies and banks included. In India, the newest right on the horizon is a right to “compulsory and free education.”
Continue reading “Can too many Rights be Wrong?”

The Pew Global Attitudes Project is curiously interesting: “a series of worldwide public opinion surveys that encompasses a broad array of subjects ranging from people’s assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day. More than 175,000 interviews in 55 countries have been conducted as part of the project’s work.” (Hat tip: Nitin.) Below is one of the opinion surveys found on the site.
Continue reading “How the US is Viewed around the World”

Back in April I had written about the old retrofitted Russian aircraft carrier that India was buying (“The War and the Circus“). “In January 2004, India signed a deal to buy the antique and obsolete 1980s-design Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. Originally the deal was for $1.5 billion but the Russians later said that the retrofitting will take an additional $2 billion. The heap of prettied-up scrap will be delivered to India sometime in 2012, and it will be accessorized with 16 matching MiG-29Ks. The deal was made by the Congress-led UPA government. Pranab Mukherjee and lots of other people got lots of foreign trips out of the deal. The Indian navy big bosses must be looking forward to having another floating deck to strut about on.” Here’s an update on the deal.
Continue reading “Everybody Knows”

In a New York Times editorial titled “Secretary Clinton Goes to India” published 17th July, the writer makes the case that “it is time for India to take more responsibility internationally.” I completely concur. The editorial spells out what India should do. For instance, it points out that India has to ” constrain its arms race with Pakistan and global proliferation.” Excellent advice — but for one small little inconvenient detail. Who exactly is the one that fuels the arms race in the Indian subcontinent?
Continue reading “The NYTimes Lays it on Thick and Heavy”

As my friend Rajan Parrikar wrote when he sent me the link to Microsoft’s Project Tuva, “What times we live in that all of this is now at our fingertips.”
Continue reading “Microsoft’s Project TUVA”

Is China really going to attack India before 2012? Yes, says Bharat Verma, editor of the Indian Defence Review, according to rediff.com

Why? Out of nervousness and to divert attention from its own problems.
Continue reading “Here We Go Again”