Playing God

If I write a program that fills “agents” with behaviors, and then introduce a lot of agents in the system, I know the agents wouldn’t have any purpose. Now think of these agents as drivers. I program them to be able to drive. Their purpose is not “not to hit others”; their purpose is to reach a destination without getting hit themselves. Let's say I assign destinations randomly every some-time-period. I also program them to maneuver left and right, give them a rear view mirror and so on.

Then I fill the system with too many agents to avoid hits altogether. As a last resort, agents don’t become motionless; they hit each other and die. In this program, I can be sure of all the factors that come in play when an agent near misses another agent – after all, I coded it!

Now,

• Can I be sure that the factor of the agent’s purpose of reaching a destination played or not a role in the near miss? In the short term, apparently not; in the long term, definitely yes.
• Can I be sure that any pattern that arises out of such near misses isn't the manifestation of collective activity of some benign bug that I left in the agents' code?
• Can I be sure that the pattern in the collective activity itself is not a manifestation of a bigger universal truth like pi?
  

I am sure, if there is a God, he is one very confused guy.

'How to debate on the Internet' by Scott Adams

After yesterday's post, I seriously wondered to what length one can go to find reasoning, once he finds the conclusions beautiful.

I sent the link to some of my friends as well, and few of their responses, while they sit in my Inbox, remind me of an old post by Scott Adams.

- Portion of Scott's post begins -

If you are new to the Internet, allow me to explain how to debate in this medium. When one person makes any kind of statement, all you need to do is apply one of these methods to make it sound stupid. Then go on the offensive.

1. Turn someone’s generality into an absolute. For example, if someone makes a general statement that Americans celebrate Christmas, point out that some people are Jewish and so anyone who thinks that ALL Americans celebrate Christmas is stupid. (Bonus points for accusing the person of being anti-Semitic.)

2. Turn someone’s factual statements into implied preferences. For example, if someone mentions that not all Catholic priests are pedophiles, accuse the person who said it of siding with pedophiles.

3. Turn factual statements into implied equivalents. For example, if someone says that Ghandi didn’t eat cows, accuse the person of stupidly implying that cows deserve equal billing with Gandhi.

4. Omit key words. For example, if someone says that people can’t eat rocks, accuse the person of being stupid for suggesting that people can’t eat. Bonus points for arguing that some people CAN eat pebbles if they try hard enough.

5. Assume the dumbest interpretation. For example, if someone says that he can run a mile in 12 minutes, assume he means it happens underwater and argue that no one can hold his breath that long.

6. Hallucinate entirely different points. For example, if someone says apples grow on trees, accuse him of saying snakes have arms and then point out how stupid that is.

7. Use the intellectual laziness card. For example, if someone says that ice is cold, recommend that he take graduate courses in chemistry and meteorology before jumping to stupid conclusions that display a complete ignorance of the complexity of ice.

Those are the basic tools that come to mind.

- Portion of Scott's post ends -

I am quite a fan of Scott Adams, regular reader of his blog, like him despite occasional disagreements, and do a good job of recommending God's Debris to my friends. Hence, I think he wouldn't have a problem with my stealing from his blog entry and posting here. I am also counting on the fact that I lack the talent to write anything that'll make people laugh out loud and that deserves some sympathy from the best professional humorist around.

The original post, by the way, is titled Results of Why I'm Stupid, but you need to know the context of past few posts by Scott in order to appreciate this one fully. I have pasted only the part that can be understood without context. You can find the original post here.

Rest Energy and Kinetic

1. Rest energy of a body - m c^2
2. Kinetic energy of a body - 0.5 m v^2

Leaving aside the formal definitions of these energies, I am linking the formulae to some philosophy:

• The energy in you defines who you are.
• Your mass is something you were born with.
  
  
• When you are at rest 'who-you-are' is defined by the universe
  
• By the mass it gave you, and
• By the speed at which it moves
  
  
• When you are moving, who-you-are is defined by two things
• By the mass the universe assigned to you, and
  
• By the speed and the direction in which you are moving
  
  
• Independent of the magnitudes of these values, when you're moving, you're more defined by the speed and direction you choose than the mass assigned to you.
  

When will you call it quits?

Yesterday was the first day of year 2 of my salary-less survival. Not that this is the first time, I've gone through such a time. In fact, it is the fourth time. What makes this time special is that the last times my struggle periods (if-i-may-call-them-that) lasted for 3 months, 2 months and 2 months respectively. This time I've broken my record. I've just begun the 13th month. And I am hoping 13 proves to be my lucky number!

I often wonder how each of these times were different. And few of my friends who look at such a pathetic (their opinion) state, do find it intriguing that every time I got myself into the situation knowing fully well the repercussions - It never happened, I always did it! Let's see.

The first time, I came to Delhi without a job, without a house to live in, and without a relative in town. Mistake, mistake and mistake. It was through sheer luck that I could find decent and secure dwelling on my day one. The first time, I spent money on my bike and went hungry so I could find a job. I was someone who made mistakes.

The second time, I lost two well positioned jobs due to my simple yet profound dumbness. I hated marketing / sales, I hated doing business, and I depended too much upon god-knows-what. Dumb, dumb, and dumb. The second time I spent money on keeping myself alive in Delhi winters and went hungry so I could find a better job. I was someone who had shown an aptitude for dumbness.

The third time, I left the job gotten above with much hardship at 04:30 in the morning cuz I couldn't take in the environment. I underestimated the chill of January in Delhi, I underestimated the fact that zero means no more than zero, and I underestimated the past hardships. Ego, ego, and ego. This was probably the worst of all times. There were no jobs in the market, the few that were, were those I wouldn't take (ego), and the ones I would, were not open to undergraduates. The third time, I spent money on nothing cuz I had none, and went hungry while looking for my kind of job. I was someone who had shown traits of arrogance and stubbornness.

The fourth time, which hasn't ended yet, I started a business. The question that one of my far sighted friends keeps asking me is "when will you think it's time to call quits". What a rhetoric question! It is never a time to call quits. Anyway, the point I want to highlight here is, this time I am not going hungry. This time, I am spending money on my car, on the right dresses, on making international calls etc. Yes, borrowed money. Yes, borrowed as personal loan - the kind with the highest interest rates. Yes, since a year. I intend to go as long as banks would let me. Then, I'll sell the car. Then, I'll borrow from my friends. Then, I'll borrow from my family whatever little they can afford. Then, we'll see. Of course, I know it'll never come to all this; we'll make money long before then, but if it does, I'm not setting a limit to how far I'll go.

So, I've proven myself as someone prone to make mistakes, dumb, arrogant, egoist and stubborn. After writing the last paragraph, I'm also certified mad and crazy. Oh yeah, irrational too.

I feel quite at home in this world.

Lesson for an Entrepreneur Part 0

When the Gods are done

Though the fires rage,
And though the gods roar,
And waves mighty big
Prevail upon my shore,
And though the grounds howl,
And though the quakes come ..

.. The most beautiful flowers,
After the snow, .. blossom.

And when the Gods are done,
And when the lands lay bare,
When beasts stay hidden -
It's the Humans who dare.
And when the earth needs help
And the burden is "to create" ..

.. The Great only Human
Can lift the mighty weight.

Across the fields of yesterday

I remember a poem, that has always touched my heart. It's by Thomas Jones Jr.

Sometimes

Across the fields of yesterday
He sometimes comes to me,
A little lad just back from play -
The lad I used to be.

And yet he smiles to wistfully
Once he has crept within,
I wonder if he hopes to see
The man I might have been.

Nice things to say

I hope to add a happy ending to this piece sometime.


In a world,
Where it is difficult to find
nice things to say

Where it is easy to blame
other ppl for my faults,
their vices for my shame,
their rise for my falls;

Where it is easy to find
shelter from conscience;
And it is easier to be blind
to grudge, anger, vengeance;

Where it is impossible to say
a single nice thing to my friend,
cuz I'm busy planning the next day:
how to get offended, and offend.

I am no fool and I very well know,
Less of hatred could make things right.
But as I know - "It is all I have", so,
I save my bitterness with all my might.

[Update: Although I never got around to a happy ending for this piece, I did write a related poem: Choice things to say]

There are no strangers

Rarely, have I used the word disgusting, if ever, to describe something.

Things are beautiful, sometimes ugly; people are interesting, sometimes boring; movies are good, sometimes vulgar, at times gory; performances are superb, sometimes mediocre, at times even pathetic; but disgust - now that's not a feeling one normally gets; even my friends, who seem to be quite fond of the word, I don't suppose really feel disgusted so often.

How about conversations? Can a conversation be disgusting? Without making up a story, without making you listen to a long prelude of sad / angry music, without a page long passionate preface, can a simple down-to-earth conversation make you feel disgusted? Can it make you want to cry out loud? Want to tear the walls of your room apart? Can it make you reconsider if you should've been in army? Can it make you cry? For strangers? Can it make you pray? Even if you are an atheist, like me? Can it make you tremble with anger? Can it make you forget values like 'forgiveness' and 'compassion'? Can it make you want to kill? For things strangers did to strangers?

Yes, it can. Have a look.

And who is a stranger? To the guys who put bombs in Mumbai trains, to the guys who planned & executed the 9/11 attacks, the businessmen working inside WTC were nomore stranger than the accountants going back home on 7/11. There are no strangers. There are no Indians; there are no Americans. There are no strangers.

There are people, and there're terrorists. It's "us" and "them". And it doesn't matter if some of us don't want to to be counted in the "us". We already are "us", courtesy "them".

Amol Palekar - English version

Previous poem, translated in English.

in my middle-class colony, there lies a middle class lawn

twenty five feet broad
about forty in length
with dull green grass, it's not really garish

often i wonder, "isn't the world round,
then how does every evening, it manages to get found
in a shape so squarish?"

Amol Palekar

This poem reminds me of Amol Palekar movies. Hence the title.

मेरी छोटी सी कालोनी में एक छोटा सा लॉन है

पच्चीस फ़ीट चौड़ा
कुछ चालीस फ़ीट लम्बा
ज़्यादा बड़ा नहीं विस्तार में

अक्सर मैं सोचा करता हूँ, "दुनिया तो गोल है,
हर शाम फिर कैसे आ सिमटती है,
इस चौकोर से आकार में?"

[Update: I translated this poem into English and it is available as the next post. ]