A Better World

Once upon a time there lived a surgeon and a patient who had to be operated upon. The patient knew that the surgery will cure him so had put his faith on the surgeon, it was taken for granted (or understood) that the surgery will leave some scars and will be painful, although the patient did not like either of them but he had come to terms with these facts of life – though painful, he would not complain about post operative trauma and the scars.


The surgeon being a practitioner of his field knew what causes pain and what how a cut would result in a scar. The surgeon to a limited degree has the freedom of making the cut they way he wishes, but if he could empathize with the patient, be compassionate, go beyond the call of duty, feel for the patient then he can make cuts that would heal faster, be less painful, leave scars that would be less prominent.

In terms of ‘business as usual’ the surgeon would not have achieved anything substantial rather would have expended some time on paying extra care; the question is - was that extra care worth it. If the surgeon treats a lot of patients it is possible that he might actually be missing out on business by paying extra care to individual patients. It depends on the surgeon what he values more – being compassionate to his patients or his business as usual.

Extending this story onto out lives makes us aware that we too are like the surgeon. We too, at several occasions in life, take the freedom of expressing out differences with people we care for. These people, owing to the affection that they have for us, have given us the freedom of inflicting pain and leaving scars to a certain degree.

So I wonder – is it not worth to make an effort to understand what my words and actions will have on the other person? Is it not worth making an effort to alleviate the pain by putting things that will be easier on the other person? Is it not worth keeping a check on the degree up to which we take our loved ones for granted? Is it not worth being a bit more compassionate that I right now am?

If I my affection for someone is true then I too should feel their happiness, I too should feel their pain, I too should feel for them. Compassion is the key, you being compassionate will be perceived by the others and they too will be moved by it.

Call me idealist but should that deter us from striving for being better, after all we are the world and we dream of a better world.

A No Blog Month

This August has been special - got a new job, moved to a new place and no blog. Wait a minute, this is it - my blog for this month :-)

The Art of Kink

Background: Ever since I started blogging, people who know me (thats three in all if I am to include my parents) have been asking - "How does a slimy pinhead like you come up with that kinda stuff?" and my answer always has been "Beer, sweet beer!". They however were not convinced and rather continue to have the opinion that the stuff that I've written must have been 'lifted off' - plagiarism to be precise. They are not completely off-base in this case as I am pretty notorious for suffering from severe oral dysentery - what that means is that the stuff that comes out of my mouth (other than bad breath) is mostly 'shit', nonsense i.e.
However it is also a fact that beer makes me 'sound' smart, more the beer smarter I sound. Had it not been for its smell in my breath, beer would have taken me places by now. After having three beers or so I start getting over the limitations of metal retardation, after gulping down five bottles I begin to sound like Stephen Hawking - slurred speech wise. Its after seven bottles that I really get super smart. In this condition I can solve all the mysteries of the universe and even tell you where Osama has been hiding all along - if only I could free myself from non stop puking.

Since my gynecologist asked me to go easy on beer I will not be able to churn out my usual philosophical drab. Now wait a minute, you must be wondering what's a gynecologist got to do with this dickhead? Well it so happens that a good friend of mine so happens to be a gynecologist. He asked me to let go of beer and try sleeping pills instead - "they work like a charm!" he said. BTW he works for the armed forces and its no wonder that the army has posted him at some northern frontier where there are no human females. My heart however goes out for the yaks whose delivery he is required to assist. It will not surprise me at all if I get to read this in the newspaper "Army doctor gored to death by crazed out yak!" Anyways, its 

Story Time!

Disclaimer: All events and characters portrayed in this blog are  fictional. Any use of real names is coincidental and purely unintentional. Any similarities to actual persons is also pure coincidence, and not my intent. I cannot emphasize enough how coincidental my fictional entities are to any real life individual, entity, or character.


There, that should take care of the biggies ever suing me. 


The Story: The series of events that I am going to tell you folks took place during April 2010. Me and four of my buddies had just returned from a trip to north India - I cannot take their names here as some of them like Neelu, Shagger Choudhury, Mots and Fodder (Real names available on request) may not like the idea of their names appearing in some kinky blog on the internet.. 
Me and Mots reached Mumbai on 11th and were supposed to fly out to Mallupradesh (AKA Kerala) on the next day. We were supposed to take a Jet Lite flight to Calicut that was scheduled to depart at 11:25 Hrs. The drive to the airport was uneventful as neither of us tried to kiss each other or even hold hands - that is because neither of us is gay and we were too busy looking outside to spot some hot girl in skimpy dress. 
'Uneventfully' we reached the airport well ahead of time, checked in our luggage and then we got creative - which meant something very bad was in the making.
Now our dude Mots laid his eyes on some electronics and book stores at the airport and went into a shopping frenzy. Before I tell you anything further I need to tell you that Mots is not exactly your usual Indian; he is an NRI what that means is that buying something that he classifies as 'dirt cheap' has a very real potential of leaving me bankrupt, a kidney less and imprisoned for credit card fraud. At the electronics store he checked out every gizmo on display, but there was only one thing that got him interested. His request for its demo was however turned down and we were not-so-politely informed that the salesgirl was not up for sale and thus a demo was out of question. Being the gentleman he is, Mots did buy some Video CDs from there, I however did not buy anything from the store as I was too busy eyeballing the sales girl. At the bookstore our dude went from section to section searching - he finally gave up the frantic search when I told him that porn was not available in Indian bookstores yet, for that you need to go to some shady alleys near CST (Now don't ask me how I know that).
Nevertheless he did buy a decent share of 'cheap' books, I too bought a 'cheap' book and the very instance I swiped my credit card for making the payment I got a call from my bank - 
"Tring Tringggg"
- Hello
- Good Morning Sir, My name is ******, am calling on behalf of I*I*I bank. Am I speaking to Mr. Sanjay Kumar
- Yeah bugger, the name is SanjOy, not SanjAy
- Sorry about that Mr Kumar, we have identified an unusually high value transaction on your credit card and would like to confirm if it is genuine.
- Yeah, it is genuine...
- Sir as a part of our policies we would like to confirm the credentials of the customer.
- What is that supposed to mean, you call me on my mobile and ask me to confirm my credentials?
- Sir these are the bank's policies.
- OK, go on..
- Is your name Sanjoy Kumar
- Yes
- Date of birth please
- Is that really required, common man people are reading that stuff off this blog. Can we please skip that question?
- I am not sure sir..
- Please dude...I'm not married yet 
- Ohhh, that is serious, let me check with my senior - he too, just like you, is unmarried, ugly and ** years old.
- Hey, I'm not ugly 
- Sorry sir but I have a photograph of you and I can clearly see that you are realy ugl..
- Hey will you stop it, man this is a blog remember..people will come to know..
- Ooh, I am extremely sorry. You mind if I put you on hold.
- Not at all plea....
The guy doesn't wait and puts me on hold and what I get to hear is some real shitty music.... 
For the next 15 minutes or so the shitty music continued and finally the human voice on the phone returned.
- Sir, I'm sorry for keeping on hold for so long..
- You better be...
- Sir we can do away with the DOB question, but there is one more question that I need to ask..
- OK shoot..
- Spell 'Czechoslovakia'
- That's easy CHEKOS-LO-VA-KIA
- Great, you are through with the confirmation. Congratulations! 
- Now look fella I do not understand how the last question come in handy in confirming someone's identity...
- It does sir. We have it on record that you do cannot spell 'Czechoslovakia'
- Great, you had to tell that OUT LOUD on this blog.
- Thanks for calling I*I*I bank, You were talking to ******. You have a good day.
- It was YOU who called ME, moron.


Boy, by now the time was 11:10 and Mots was getting real jittery not because it was getting late but because he was hungry. I wouldn't blame him, all that the poor guy had for breakfast 2 hours ago was a dozen rotis with generous helping of chicken curry, throw in some fruits and a milkshake - that is all.


Now Mots is a big boy and takes his food and drinks seriously. He knows his priorities in life - food comes in at the first position and boarding a flight on time does not seem to have a place on the priority list. So off we went to the Cafe' Coffee Day counter at the airport and ordered some packed stuff. Just when I thought that we were through all that, our guy has another one of his cravings - he needs chicken. The man needs chicken and chicken it is. "Wait a minute, did you pack that bottle of Snapple - Yes I need a Snapple".
Time now 11:20, we proceed to the departure gate and are greeted by an Airline staff who almost began to fume the moment he laid his eyes on our boarding passes.
"Where were you? we have been calling out your name for the last half an hour" Both of us make a face as if we just fell off a asteroid from outer space and did not understand the lingo. To describe that guy as furious would have been an understatement - I could almost see smoke emanating out of his ears, maybe he swallowed a cigarette butt or maybe I was scared. He made some calls over the walkie-talkie and finally asked us to board a rickety bus - thats when it dawned upon me that the guy had specifically called in for the shittiest bus to carry us around. I expected Mots to complain but he seemed to be caught up with some other thoughts - maybe he was worried for the Snapple bottle and chicken puffs or maybe he was scared too. While boarding the bus I covered my face to avoid being photographed and the images being shown on India TV.
Finally by the time we got to the aircraft and got in it was 11:30. The air-hostess mistook me for the cleaning staff (most pretty women do) and told me that it was too late to clean the loo. Even after having seen my boarding pass she was hell bent on getting me deplaned. But being someone who believes that truth alone triumphs I did not intend to give up so easily and finally managed to win her trust - all I had to do was to spell 'Czechoslovakia'.

F**K!

This is not a blog that has been thought through and neither is there any beer involved. What is there for sure are sweat and disgust. This is something that happened at my gym today morning. A ‘not so young’ couple walked into the gym, neither of them were anything unusual – lady was the typical ‘sati savitri’ image in flesh and blood, maybe bit too much of flesh here and there. She had vermilion smeared into her parting of hair that said “Don’t look at me, I’m taken”, “Right said babe, to 'take' you we’ll need a fork lift truck, and we’ll airlift that midsection of yours – don’t want to clog those 6 lane roads” I thought. The hubby had a paunch that could deflect a cruise missile, but the guy had the airs of a teenager on drugs saying “I’m cool”.



Anyways what happened next was the disgusting part; the lady went to the locker room and came back with 2 pair of shoes - one for herself and the other for the guy with the integrated missile defense system – the hubby. This made me think “What the FUCK!” and believe me she did this as a part of her ‘responsibilities’ that come as a part of being an Indian wife. I fully appreciate her selfless dedication, what sucks is the thought if the bastard of a hubby would even consider doing such a thing in the privacy of their home let alone in complete public gaze.


Trust me on this, there will be more than a majority of people who will see this act as one where a wife is performing her duty and thus make the whole episode seem normal or great (to them). If you are one of those and are reading this then I have this for you  - “FUCK you!”


It is indeed unfortunate that we live in a society that is soaked/drenched in hypocrisy. Talking of the society, let me assure you that it is some aliens who beam down and form the society – we need to remember that it is each and every one of us individuals who make up the society. So next time we think of blaming the society for something let’s first look into ourselves and check if what we are complaining is a reflection of our inner self.


BTW, every morning I have to hunt for my shoes – maybe it’s about time I got myself a wife and maybe it’s about time I looked at myself in the mirror and said “FUCK you!”

Whose the Man?

This is something that I'd written a long time ago for a good friend of mine. This is his life, this is his story.
1. Get up early in the morning at 04:00 Hrs
2. Boil up the following
   1. Regular Tea
   2. Herbal Tea
   3. Black coffee
3. Wake up wife and offer her the above concoctions - try not to stutter.
4. Hide face and delicate areas on one's body just in case wife spits the concoction after tasting it – This is the usual case, unusual is the case when there is added extreme physical abuse.
5. Clean oneself of the splashes if spat upon or if assaulted then fix the injuries. Apply foundation on the black eye if the need be – Wife does not like husband looking like a bruised terrorist.
6. Adorn the apron (if unavailable then try the maxi, churidar, sari as per availability) and head to the kitchen to cook up some lip smacking delicacies – boiled eggs, potatoes & beans garnished with roughly diced onion and terribly sliced tomatoes [can't blame one for having the knife handling skills of a penguin].
7. Set the breakfast on the table and take cover in the bathroom before wife begins to gorge on the culinary delights.
8. When in the bathroom, take the opportunity to wash oneself. Care must be taken not to wash away the foundation applied on the black eye.Remember, Wife does not like husband looking like a bruised terrorist.
9. After having been through the grueling bathing session, head back to the dining area and clean it up.
10. Do the dishes
11. Vacuum the carpets
12. Mop the floor
13. Wash the car
14. Get the trash
15. Walk the dog (i.e. taking the stroll all by oneself)
16. Before heading to office check the foundation on the black eye – remember, Wife does not like husband looking like a bruised terrorist.
17. While at the office, ping wife every half an hour in an effort to convince her that one is not having an affair with one's boss's secretary.
18. Ping wife every 15 minutes to convince her that not having an affair with boss's secretary does not make one gay.
19. Head to the school to pick up the phantom kid and drop him/her at home – this is practice session, don't want to look inexperienced when the actual exercise begins.
20. Once done with the office work head to the super market to pick up the domestic consumable goods – Eggs, potatoes, beans, onions and tomatoes to be precise.
21. Report back at home on time to prove that one is not having an affair with boss's secretary.
22. Prepare lip smacking dinner comprising of boiled eggs, potatoes & beans garnished with roughly diced onion and terribly sliced tomatoes – are we not done with this thing yet?
23. Do the dishes
24. Whilst wife heads for the bed, one takes position on the couch for the slumber
25. Try catching some sleep.
26. Wake up 04:00 Hrs in the morning. Check on the foundation on the black eye – remember, Wife does not like husband looking like a bruised terrorist.


Know what, after reading it all the married guys tend to get that smirk on the face while thinking "Gee, I'm not the only one!"

The Knowledge of Ignorance

The greatest of all knowledge is the knowledge of one's own ignorance. It is in the fire of this knowledge that one's ego burns and dies.

On Destiny

des·ti·ny 

n. pl. des·ti·nies

1. The inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined; one's lot.

2. A predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control: 

3. The power or agency thought to predetermine events: 

The question is, is destiny for real? Are we to believe that our actions and their outcomes are orchestrated by some unknown force and all that we are doing here right now is merely playing a role in a drama that is being enacted along a certain predetermined line?        

Different people have different views on destiny – at one extreme there are the proponents of destiny and on the other there are those who peg their allegiance to the belief that destiny is merely the outcome of what we do in the present thus we make out own destinies and somewhere in the middle are those who believe in a bit of both.

The very reasons why destiny has earned its candidature as a subject worth discussing or pondering over are due to the existence of two ideas that find themselves on the opposing extreme ends of the scale, the first being the idea that we are mechanically performing our predetermine tasks is least convincing and the second , on the contrary, being that of the existence of events that leaves one without doubt that there are things on which we have no control over and the only (rather the most convincing) explanation that seems to be able to explain these events is the existence of destiny.

My attempt here is to arrive at an explanation that will include the rationality from both the camps. The objective however is not to ‘cook up’ something with intent to cajole the opposing camps. As ever the reliance on reasoning will be paramount.

Let’s first try first to understand why the concept of destiny exists. One of the fundamental reasons why we cannot disprove the existence of destiny is because we cannot turn back time – if we could then it would only be question of going back in time and changing the course of destiny.

Let me try explaining my view using a very simple example. If I was given an option to eat either an apple or an orange and I ate the apple, then it would be said that I was destined to eat the apple. Now, if we had a provision to turn back time by which I could ‘go’ back in time (for the purpose of disproving the existence of destiny) and eat the orange instead (of the apple) then it would prove that destiny does not exist as we would be able to perform an (any) act as per our liking.

Of course the hard core proponents of destiny can claim that the entire sequence of events – me eating the apple first then performing a time travel and then consuming the orange, was destined and thus it happened. Their version of destiny can be defined as “Whatever has happened was as per destiny”. This is the fact that the proponents of destiny always harp onto, once an event has happened they will always have a case of saying “That was the way it was destined” and it so happens, obviously, that no one will ever be able to prove them wrong.

The underlying principle for this situation (inability to disprove the existence of destiny), I believe, is that when this kind of argument (of shifting the version of destiny from time to time) is placed then there is no reference against which a deviation can be shown.

Mathematically speaking

Assume that we (somehow) figure out the way an event is supposed to take place in time T, where T is an instance in the future. Let this event be represented by E₀(T).

This can only be done by having somehow accurately predicting the future event.

Now that we know what is destined, we have an option to demonstrate that the event can be carried out in a manner that is different from E₀(T). Let us represent the way the event will be differently carried out by E₁(T). The existence of destiny can be disproved if we can objectively demonstrate any difference between E₀(T) and E₁(T).

The apparent simplicity of this proposition is, well, deceptive. The problem lies in the fact that there is no way of ‘accurately’ knowing or fixing E₀(T) before it actually takes place, it will be known only once it has actually taken place but by that ‘time’ the instance would have elapsed and the only way to carryout E₁(T) is by going back in time since we now will be in an instance (T+n) [where n is non zero]. Sadly time travel continues to be a fancy idea limited to the material churned out by Hollywood.

Randomness – The Silver Bullet: This is one agent that can ‘kill’ destiny singlehandedly. The theory of destiny primarily proposes that the way things are going to happen is in a predetermined way. If we can show that if the way an event is going to take place has certain randomness associated with it then destiny cannot exist as it will be impossible to know the outcome of a random action. Considering this proposition makes one believe that destiny must be dead for sure. There is so much of randomness all around that it makes one wonder if there exists anything that is not random. So how does destiny manage to survive in this difficult world – let’s find out.

Now let’s ponder over the criteria of randomness – what can be classified as random? At the simplest level a system can be classified to be random if it cannot perform an act in a repeatable manner. Let me give an example, the outcome of tossing of a coin can be considered as random with the either of the results having 50% probability - assuming an unbiased coin being used. Now the question is – is the coin the only thing that matters here – obviously not.

Randomness – KIA [End of Hope]: For the sake of simplicity I shall consider the case involving the tossing of a coin, letting it land on a solid surface and immediately acquire its final resting position without rolling. The final result of the toss will involve the following.

#	Parameter	Description	Repeatable
1.	Coin’s initial position	The location at which the coin shall rest on the index finger (or any other finger) which forms the fulcrum.	Yes
2.	The initial locking position of the thumb	This is the position of the thumb at which it is locked prior to its release to flip the coin.	Yes
3.	Thumb Locking force	This force will be the trigger force required to release the thumb from its locking position and initiate the flipping of the coin.	No
4.	The flipping force	The flipping force that is applied will depend on the locking position and the force applied to lock the thumb with the finger acting as the fulcrum. It is this force that will provide the impetus for the coin to be flipped into air.	No

Tracing the source of randomness - If you would notice, the last two parameters have been marked as non-repeatable and it is these parameters/factors that provide the randomness to the result of a coin flip. If we delve in further we can find out the reason why these parameters are random.

The thumb, for providing the flipping action, is operated by two muscle groups (this information is an educated guess and these numbers are not critical). The muscles provide the flipping force but what determines the force would depend on the excitation voltage the muscle fibers receive from the brain. We can safely assume that if the same excitation voltage is applied to the same set of fibers then the force generated by the muscles will almost be the same (the deviation will be too small to cause any change in the result of the coin flip). So the randomness is not generated in the muscle fibers, rather it is traceable to the random voltage that is generated by the brain. Now the question is – what decides the voltage that brain generates at each coin flipping instance? We all accept the fact that brain is a supremely complex piece if machinery. The excitation voltage must be a function that is affected by a combination of several involuntary and voluntary aspects as well as the person’s mood. The change in mood can however be discounted if we are to assume that the there will not be any substantial change in the mood between successive coin flipping events. Even if we are to discount the effect of the involuntary factors, the question remains “Are we capable of repeating an action in a precise manner?” The answer to this question is a ‘No’. It might probably be because of the fact that our conscious mind neither perceives senses by absolute measurement rather goes by relative ‘feel’, say for example the temperature of an object is not perceived in any actuarial manner rather a relative term such as cold, warm or hot is used to describe it. The similar goes for the things we do with our motor system – our muscular actions too go by subjective descriptions soft touch, hard kick, slow pace etc and not by absolute scales in terms of pressure or force or acceleration etc. In this specific case (of flipping the coin) I can apply a force that will be an approximate of the force that I had applied earlier because there is no way for my brain to record the quantitative details of the action performed, even if it did there is no I can access and utilize it.

The conclusion being that our brains perceive senses and operate the muscular system on an approximation basis and it is this approximation that gets manifested in the form of randomness.

But the above explanation does not rule out randomness, rather I feel that randomness too becomes relative. As far as I (the entity engaging in the act of tossing) am concerned the result of a coin toss is random because it meets the requirement of being classified as random – the result of the toss is always probabilistic and never certain.

But is the act of tossing the coin random at all. Well, within the purview of the human body’s capabilities to faithfully repeat an action, the results of a coin flip are random indeed but if we are to look at the human body at a higher level it can be seen that the brain generaes the excitation voltage not on a random basis but on certain, however complex, underlying neuro-chemical reactions. It is the complexity of these underlying bases that makes it convincing that the operation is random but it is not.

Now if we had an advanced imaging system which could record the state of every neuron in my nervous system and accurately calculate the excitation voltage that would be generated by the system then, as far as the machine is concerned, the result of the coin toss will no longer remain random, it would indeed be a certainty.

What I can infer from the above mentioned points is that randomness of a system (in a given context) is a function of its capability to parametrically elucidate and manipulate parameters in manner so as to create the desired/predicted outcome.

So as go back to what we originally set upon (the concept of destiny), we will have to frame the above said proposition in a cognitive context. What goes into making something predictable is the completeness and complexity of the information required to fully understand it along with any associated implications. It should be noted that the idea of completeness of information is objective; however complexity is subjective and depends on the perceiver how they rate the complexity. Based on the level of information available and its perceived complexity a perceived phenomenon will find an appropriate place on the following chart.

#	Type	Description
1.	Obvious	These are class of phenomenon whose results are so predictable that we are certain about their occurrence or results. For example the idea that sun will rise tomorrow is an obvious thing. The reason for its certainty is that we have been observing this phenomenon take place with such regularity and we know of no reason that can cause a deviation in the act of sun rising daily, even if there were reasons their probability of occurrence is so small then they will be considered to be impossible. For example the possibility of a comet appearing out of nowhere and destroying earth and thus cause the sun not to rise tomorrow seems impossible.
2.	Probable	These are class of phenomenon whose occurrence or result are not as predictable to be classified as certain and neither are that unpredictable so as to term as random. For example the case of the forecast of the weather for the next day can be considered to be probable. The forecast is made based on details available from many sources however the exact nature of the weather will depend on many aspects which may have not been considered. Even if the parameters have been considered there exists the possibility of these parameters behaving differently from the predicted way. Then again it is unlikely that the forecast will deviate substantially from the actual.
3.	Random	The occurrence or results of these phenomenons are completely unpredictable because the states of parameters that decide the outcome are unknown. For example the final resting place of a golf ball after teeing off is random because the topology of the golf course and the direction and speed with the wind might be blowing are more or less unknown. Although a rough estimate of the balls final location may be predicted, the probability of it actually happening is so low that it can be considered to be random,

I will not be incorrect in saying that to classify if something (the subject) is random or not depends the thing itself and the entity/perceiver making the judgment.

In a way what we though to be the killer of destiny now seems to be the key factor that creates the illusion of destiny – randomness itself is a perception. When things become unpredictable due to lack of information and/or degree of complexity due to the involvement of large number of parameters and dynamic entities it becomes difficult (to the extent of being impossible in certain cases) to resolve them. Our minds find it easier to classify the outcomes of these situations as probable and as the situation worsens they get classified as random. The borders between things that are perceived as obvious, probable and random are hazy.

I feel that the lack of clear demarcation between three categories is again because the whole idea is subjective – the classification is based on a ‘feel’ and not on any absolute numbers (if there are any) and finally the entire act of classifying depends on the perceiver. Since there is nothing what can be considered to be the reference classifier the problem becomes all the more obvious (rather subjective).

Simply put, to which category a phenomenon gets classified depends on the perceiver’s cognitive capabilities and perspective.

Now look at this world as a large system, a system comprising of countless subsystems/entities interacting with each other. Each of these entities has set of input parameters and a set of rules/formulas associated with these parameters which determine the nature of the output parameters. Say for example I as a person have numerous parameters based on which my nature/behavior/reaction is based on. The society can be seen as a set of similar entities who are interacting with each other.

Of Prediction and likes: It’s always nice to think to have a the capability to predict the future and take appropriate actions for a desired outcome. Well it will indeed be a great thing to have but it’s not that simple we need to understand that this world (also) comprises of entities whose action depends on the actions that you take. For example take the case of an auction and I have this magic orb in which I can see the future. For the sake of simplicity I will consider only one competitor - let call him Competitor (PJ ladies & Gentle men, an extreme PJ). If the orb tells me that Competitor is going to buy the goods for 100 bucks then I could pitch in for 101 bucks and think of winning the bid. Well that’s where the sweet dream ends, Competitor’s actions are based on the actions that I take – the rule that Competitor follows it “bid more than the other guy” so we cannot go purely by what the orb has to tell – because the orb tell us of a version of the future that would have the outcome of action taken by me and Competitor. Whiteout beating around the bush I will say what I intend to say – the future is the outcome of the way the present is acted upon. There is no clearly defined future, actually there is nothing called as the future. Future is the projection that we create inside our heads based on our experience. There are components in the future that can be classified under one of the three categories we had earlier defined, but where each component finds itself will depend on the perceiver which in turn will depend on the availability of information that will help the perceiver ‘feel’ things better and the and ability combined with the perspective of the perceiver.

So, the million dollar question – is there anything called destiny. The answer that I can think of is in the form of another question – Is there anything called night? Just as the way the existence of day does not, in any way, prove the non existence of night the existence of predictable things does not rule out the existence of things that ‘seem’ to be random and acts of destiny. It all depends on how one wants to look at it.

There is no clear cut border between day and night and in the same way there is no clear demarcation between the obvious and random.

If I was to consider the case where night is the situation involving compromised visibility and thus unsuitable for doing work and day the other way around then it depends on the individual when they want to stop working. Those who leave things on destiny call it quits at the onset of evening but those who believe in their actions carry on, armed with torches they wade their way though darkness. Not that they have cat like eyes (some of them actually do) their threshold of considering something to be dark is much higher – these are the leaders, the real trailblazers, the masters of their own destiny.

Conventional

Convention is the way something was done unconventionally for the last time.

Glassy Relations

Glass and Relations have one thing in common - neither should be tested for their strength by breaking them.

A Little World

It is the sense of belongingness & affection that binds us humans together. That is why I guess, though separated by material distances, we continue to cherish our relations. 
Its the sweet memories that remind us that no matter how big this world be it shall forever remain small, for smaller it always shall be than a love filled heart.

The Theory of Reasoning and Decision Making

At the outset I wish to make it clear that the title of this article is a misnomer. Although this article does deal with reasoning, it will become obvious later that it deals much more with something else and that is Perception.
Reasoning is the act of finding the basis or cause of a phenomenon and I believe is fundamental to rational thinking. It also plays a major role in decision making and through this article I will try to theorize the act of reasoning and how we take decisions.

The factors that go into the act of reasoning can be broadly categorized into two – the Static Factors and the Dynamic Factors.

The Statics: Static factors are those that do not depend on the situation directly. The factors that go into reasoning are the following.

1. Instincts: These are the innate needs/desires of a person. Instincts are not learned from the environment but are feelings that are inborn; since they are primal in their nature they will be very similar among majority of the people. These instincts can further be classified into Higher and Lower Level instincts. The Lower level instincts can be as basic as the struggle for survival, maternal instincts etc. These instincts can generally be found across species and may manifest in a more pronounced manner in the advanced species owing to their higher cognitive capabilities. On the other hand struggle for survival, fear of fire/predators etc can be classified under lower order instincts. The higher level instincts are outcome of higher order brain functions and manifest in the form of wisdom, emotions etc. Although a static function, the higher order brain functions take shape throughout a person’s life in an exponential manner. It should however be noted that the higher and Lower level instincts act in a supplementary manner with the higher level functions often taking off from where the lower level functions end; essentially forming an extension to the lower odder function. For example in the advanced species such as humans the lower order parental instincts and the higher order instinct of social bonding act in a supplementary manner and in essence result in the strengthening of the social structure. The possible explanation for stronger social bonds within humans could be provided by the fact that higher order social functions source their strength from the lower order parental instincts thereby demonstrate their supplementary nature – the higher order functions gain the strength of the lower order function as its foundation and the lower order function gains by having an extended longevity (often for a lifetime) which otherwise, in the absence of the higher order functions, would not have lasted beyond the point where the offspring attains adulthood. Presence of instincts is a proof to the fact that not everything about a person is learned, a person is an outcome of a combination of innate instincts and learning that takes place as a part of growing or maturing intellectually. I’ll use the instinctive painful sensation associated with burning as an example to link various aspects discussed in this article

2. Prior experience(s): An experience is an act through which a phenomenon is witnessed by the perceiver and thereby has earned its place in his/her memory. An experience through the act of perception, taking into consideration the experiences from the past that bear relevance to the current phenomenon being analyzed, is evaluated based the person’s perspective. The memorability of an experience will depend on the emotions that it invokes – stronger the emotion, longer will it linger. Experiences ultimately lead to learning. What the learning has been and how the learning has impacted the person’s outlook depends on the experience itself and how the experience has been perceived by the perceiver. For example the act of touching a hot surface will lead to burns and that experience will lead to the learning of associating hot objects with burns. The degree of burns caused will set the memorability of the experience and its associated learning. Its will also set the degree of preference or aversion to the associated experience. I believe repeated exposure to an experience has the potential of creating obsession or phobias depending on the severity of the sensation it invokes. What differentiates a phobia or an obsession form a normal fear or desire is the influence it has on an individual. If a desire or fear begins to become paramount in a person’s behavior then it can be considered to have devolved into a Phobia or an obsession. Obsession with substance abuse leading to a person loosing control of his/her life due to failure to reign in the desire is a case of desire gone amuck.  

3. Learning(s): These are closely related to the prior experience but have not been experienced directly in first hand. This would include knowledge gained from secondary source of information such as teachings, interpretations made by analyzing information available in different media such as books, audio visual media etc. Learning too is an experience but lacks the sensory stimuli/aspect of an actual experience. Learning too invokes emotions and how well they are imbibed depends on the efficiency of the learning process and the permeability of the mind for the idea being learned and it is here where lies the key to effective communication; thus by belief that learning is centered around communication.

4. Ideation: This is the process of forming an idea/notion. These are also related to prior experience but manifest neither out of direct experience nor through secondary sources of information, rather these are synthesized out of either (or a combination of)
1. Instincts
2. Prior Experience
3. Learning

The manifestation of this factor involves higher degree of cognitive activity on part of the person since it requires extrapolating the available information or knowledge, possibly in combination with the prior experience, into making inferences on how things could or would be. Ideas formed are strongly influenced by the system of belief (or general outlook) of the person since ideation is purely synthetic and strongly rooted in the person’s psyche.

The act of reasoning will begin with the person identifying the parameters that have a say in the phenomenon – parameters that would ultimately decide the outcome. How successful the person will be in terms of identifying the set of parameters will depend on the volume of relevant Prior experience, learning and the cognitive capability of the individual.

This is the point I will begin to bring in another perspective to this model – it is worth noting that the identification of the parameters itself is based on the perception of the problem at hand – the phenomenon being perceived by the person(hereinafter referred to as the perceiver). Judging what parameters bear relevance to the phenomenon is in itself an act of perception and what assumptions are brought in again depends on how the Perceiver perceives/interprets/associates the prior experiences and learning in the current context.  

The above mentioned factors are kind of static in a way that their basis does not include the phenomenon rather it is in light of these factors that the phenomenon will be perceived.

The Dynamics: There are some factors that are dynamic i.e. their basis includes the phenomenon being perceived and these may even take their final form through a feedback mechanism and this is where the concept of expectation needs to be introduced.

Expectation I feel is a state that is favored by the perceiver, in other words it is a condition that the perceiver ‘expects’ to have once the phenomenon gets resolved/realized. There are two possibilities on the formation of an expectation – it may either have always existed or may get formed upon witnessing the phenomenon. In the former case it’s the association of an existing expectation to the phenomenon that will take place. The key aspect that needs to be understood at this point is that perception is a continuous process and the formation of an expectation itself depends on how the perceiver perceives the problem at hand. The final expectation that gets set may be a new one, an existing one or a variant of an existing expectation that has been altered to suit the situation and the problem at hand. It is critical to note that the formation of an expectation will not only depend on the phenomenon being witnessed but also depend on the existence of other expectations that the perceiver might have and more importantly on the fact that shaping of an expectation depends on lot many factors that the perceiver is considering at that point of time. These will include prior experience, learning and assumptions.

Another dynamic factor that plays a key role in the act of reasoning is Perceived Implication. These are the projected outcome(s) along various paths that may be taken. Where each path refers to a specific way/fashion in which the parameters may be applied or taken into consideration for arriving at a decision. Since the implications are inherently dependent on the phenomenon being witnessed and also are a factor taken into consideration in the formation of a perspective, they eventually form a feedback mechanism. The resolving of implications will involve all the factors discussed so far and itself. Thus Perceived Implications become the one aspect involved in reasoning that involves maximum cognitive effort.

Another factor that plays a crucial role in the formation of a perception is the Biasing Factor. These deceptively independent entities are transients that may dictate the state that the perceiver may assume and these factors that go into the way the perceiver forms the perspective. Biasing factors may manifest in the form of Emotions, Preconceived notions etc. The details on the formation and longevity of a biasing factor will be dealt with later on in this article.

The Perspective: In reality the act of perception is essentially the creation of a perceived model of a real world phenomenon being witnessed or analyzed and is what in common parlance known as “the way one looks at things” or simply as one’s “perspective”.

Now, how a perceiver perceives things or how a perspective gets set depends on the phenomenon itself and the expectation that has been formed. As an analogy, the setting of a perspective is like looking at the real world through a looking glass. How faithful an image of the subject the viewer gets depends on the neutrality of the looking glass and in this case the looking glass is the expectation and what might taint it is the degree of influence the biasing factors have on the perceiver.

OK there we have it, the stage is all set. We have the phenomenon, perceiver, desires, perceived implications and perspective - It’s Showtime.

How it all works: At the simplest level a phenomenon is witnessed by the perceiver, the perception is evaluated with reference to the relevant prior experience, learning and assumptions. The evaluation of the perception will involve the perceiver identifying the parameters that have a say in the final out come of the phenomenon. The perceiver attempts to understand how the parameters will influence and the degree of influence on the final outcome. The perceiver identifies/forms the expectation from the phenomenon and makes projections of the implications that will arise out of the realization of the proposition. Once this stage is done the perceiver will be left with a set of Projected Realities. In other words the perceiver will have a set of possible paths that can be taken for resolving the problem at hand and what it will involve to traverse these paths, also known at this point of time will be the perceived implications associated with each of the projected realities.

In the next level of reasoning each of these sets (Projected reality and associated implication) are gauged against the expectation to see if they align or not. This assessment will be a measure of the degree of deviation of the projected reality from the expectation - lesser the deviation, more favorable will be the path in question and thus higher the chances of the perceiver deciding upon the path. In addition to checking the degree of deviation of the projected reality from the expectation the perceiver will also weigh in the impact of perceived implications on relevant expectation. The impact of the perceived implication may either be favorable or unfavorable to expectation and the accrued effect of all the perceived implication will be taken into consideration for arriving at the final score of a particular path. Once perceiver has evaluated the scores for all the paths the decision is made in favor of the path with the maximum score.

Reality Check: Once the decision is made the focus now shifts back to reality. With the implementation of the decision in the real world the perceiver is now provided with the outcome of the decision in real. The perceiver perceives the resultant phenomenon and compares how the act of reasoning has fared against reality, how favorable the reality has indeed been to the expectation and how realistic the perceived implications have been.

So far the bases of Prior Experiences and learning have been Axiomatic at best and it is now that we need to ponder how these come into existence and take shape.

The points and degree of deviation of the resultant reality from the projected reality will cause the perceiver to reevaluate the reasoning strategy. The experience and learning will happen through the following means.

1. The way a set of parameters (composition of the projected reality that got realized) fare in the real world.
2. Miscalculation or missing out of any implications
3. Missing out of a valid parameter
4. Inclusion of an inappropriate parameter
5. Inappropriate weight assignment to any parameter
6. Biasing factors

The very act of the perceiver reevaluating the reasoning strategy will cause certain realization of the flaws in the model adopted and result in either the strengthening or weakening of the influence any biasing factors might have had on the perceiver - this is what manifests in the form of realization or creation/elimination of notions.

Immaterial of whether the decision was good or bad with reference to the expectation, the perceiver having gone through the exercise of reasoning and experiencing the real world impact will only stand to benefit since he/she has been rewarded with the knowledge if a path has either been “the way to go” or “best avoided”.

Of Confusion/Dilemma: As I had pointed out earlier the example considered was simple one and is indeed been a far cry from a real world scenario. The real world scenario would typically involve the existence of multiple perspectives and most difficult of all the existence of multiple Expectations and the absence of a decision path that can provide acceptable deviation from the primary expectations, or the existence of mutually exclusive realities (outcomes) neither of which can be compromised – this is the classic case of a dilemma.

Confusion would result from the perceiver being overwhelmed by the complexity of the phenomenon being witnessed and the inability to rationally evaluate the situation – too many options to choose from, existence of decision paths that have very similar score, vague information, and acute subjectivity are some of the factors that might lead to this situation.