Suicide! Suicide! — Part 2

This is a follow up to the post “Suicide! Suicide!”

Of shoes and ships . . .

Let me tell you a story. This happened many years ago on a train journey. A couple of children were running around the compartment playing. The father of one of the kids, busy talking to a fellow traveler, would every now and then stop his son and tie the kid’s shoelaces. He repeatedly retied the laces but in a few minutes they would mysteriously come untied. I watched with growing frustration and anger at the senselessness of what the man was doing. Continue reading “Suicide! Suicide! — Part 2”

Open Thread: Speak up

To minimize spam, comments are closed after 21 days of posting. That’s a pity as sometimes people like to comment on archived posts. The occasional open thread should help in this regard.

I have been pondering where I want to go with this blog. One idea is to increase the range by posting all sorts of things that I find interesting. One way is to post links with very very brief commentary, and every now and then post an original article. I have some requests that I should post very brief “basic principles of economics” sort of thing. Let me see what I can do to overcome my laziness.

So stop lurking. Introduce yourself to other readers, tell us where you are from, and be critical.

NOTE: If you wish to not bother with registering before commenting, here’s a generic username and password which you could use. Username: lurker Password: lurking

POSTSCRIPT: If you do use the generic “lurker” login, please do sign off with your actual name or even a persistent pseudonym so that the comment can be referred to. Thanks.

What’s a “Patwa”?

A fatwa is a religious decree made by a mullah. A “patwa” is like a fatwa but made by Patil. A patwa, like a fatwa, is not based on reason or logic. But it is not just a matter of whim, a fancy, a just-like-that sort of thing. It is calculated to serve Patil’s and her masters’ interest.
Continue reading “What’s a “Patwa”?”

B Raman: “Aurangzebs of Today”

B Raman is the one to read to understand matters of security. His analysis is accurate and dispassionate. So do yourself a favor and read his recent paper (March 8th) at the South Asia Analysis Group site on “Aurangzebs of Today.” He delves into the history of how Aurangzeb is perceived in Pakistan and why. Continue reading “B Raman: “Aurangzebs of Today””

On Aurangzeb

I have it on good authority that Satyameva Jayate is India’s national motto. The English translation of the Sanskrit is “Truth Alone Prevails.” Is that claim itself true? Can it really prevail in a land where some people are afraid to speak what they perceive to be the truth because some others confront that expression with violence?

Thomas Jefferson claimed over 200 years ago that “it is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.” I agree only partly. I don’t think that without courageous people truth has a chance. Truth, in the abstract, of course exists. But for it to triumph, surely it has to be expressed by humans and be part of the mental makeup of at least one human being. The world is spherical is a truth in the abstract. But at some point in the history of human civilization it became a concrete truth. But it required courage to express a truth that in some parts of the world was considered against god and morality.

Truth would have a hard time prevailing in a nation of people cowed down from fear and threat of violence. A recent example of violence shutting out an attempt at finding the truth occurred in Chennai. A bunch of people shut down an exhibition which revealed Aurangzeb to be a tyrant. The police were also involved in the vandalism. The state was involved in suppressing the expression of a viewpoint that some considered unpalatable. Most of the newspapers did not report this.

Isn’t it true that India’s motto basically pokes fun at India’s public actions?

Link: Details of what happened and Kanchan Gupta’s opinion piece.

[Follow up post: B Raman on “Aurangzebs of Today.”]

Suicide! Suicide!

Pardon me if I sound a bit like that woman from the French resistance in the side-splittingly funny British comedy series “‘alo, ‘alo” when she enters through the windows at the back of the tavern and says, “Listen to me very carefully. I am going to say this only once.” She of course prefaces all her revelations with that line delivered in a conspiratorial and stern whisper. I am going to do the same. So listen to me very carefully because I am going to say this only once.

Ready? Are you quite sure? Sure you don’t want to take your time and come back later to hear what I have to say?
Continue reading “Suicide! Suicide!”

Plastic Deformation of the Brain

Humans are the ultimate general purpose machines. What we are potentially capable of is virtually unlimited. Who we become and what we become capable of doing depends on the environment we grow up in and the programming that we are subjected to. To some degree at least, our educational system programs us. In some cases, the programming causes plastic deformation of our brains: the firmware is permanently and unalterably implanted.
Continue reading “Plastic Deformation of the Brain”

Dershowitz on suicide bombings

Alan Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard University, wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal a couple of day ago: “The Worshippers of Death”

A few people wrote advising me to not to mention Islam on a blog about India’s economic development. They think it is taboo to mention Islam and point out its influence on the world today. That is puzzling to me.
Continue reading “Dershowitz on suicide bombings”

Your Vote for My Money

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.
— Alexander Tytler

Some numbers are well beyond human comprehension. We can talk glibly about millions and billions of this or that but we cannot intuitive grasp what they actually mean. Evolution has equipped us with fine brains but those brains never needed to deal with thousands — leave alone millions — of anything. So we have to do some mental gymnastics to get a fleeting glimpse of what very large numbers represent.
Continue reading “Your Vote for My Money”