Notes from the Iron City

The Game

2012-01-03T00:33:00.002+05:30

The more I read evolutionary psychology, the more I hate The Game.
Not women in general, nor men for that matter, but people who play the game.
Which obviously includes myself sometimes.

The Game, quite often misunderstood, is not limited to getting laid.
It's found in Politics, in Entertainment, in Science and in every level of society.
Even in those that condemn it like counter-culture.

Listening to the GOP debates (2012), I often wonder if America is a Democracy.
If it is, how did such stupid bunch of people end up running for president?
When I was living in Sri Lanka, I thought democracy there was a joke.
Now I have doubts which country is worse.
It's not democracy that worries me. It's cheating The Game of Democracy that scares the shit out of me.
But cheating is a part of The Game.

More than 90% of our DNA is junk.
They're remnants of "cheating" DNA, that have mastered the art of reproducing themselves and nothing else.
This should've been our first clue in realizing that Evolution is not about survival:
It's about cheating The Game of reproduction.

I probably have the least amount of faith in Humanity that I've ever had in my life right now.
But I'm not sad, nor am I depressed.
I still hate the game, but I feel enlightened. I feel the need to be strong. I understand the importance wit and cleverness alongside humbleness and empathy.
More than ever, I realize the importance of being alive, playing the game AND not being consumed by it.

Self-deception vs the need for Coherency

2011-11-24T06:01:00.001+05:30

It's not self-deception, it's the search for coherency.
God, reincarnation, religion, these were attempts at comprehending,
or more accurately creating a "coherent story" for the intimidating vastness of the universe.
Holding onto these constructs in the age of science however, is idiocy.
Not because Science is "right", but because it gives a more probable Coherent Story of the universe, life and even morality.

Creating coherent stories is how Intelligent life forms create themselves.
From solving day-to-day problems to remembering things of the past,
Rationality, memory, the Autobiographical-Self, morality, politics, science and culture
They all arise from our need to create Coherent Stories.

The stories we tell ourselves even influence our physicality.
The Placebo effect and noncebo effect, are a few documented medical examples.

Love is another good social example.
Some of you will call it a spiritual awakening an a prelude to something special,
Some of you will call it self-decption and a prelude to a good fuck,
There's an infinite amount of roles that you and your partner can take in a dance of love,
But there's always a story, a yarn, a battle.

The notion of a Constant Self, is an example of biological Coherency.
On a cellular level, the body changes every second.
Even when time stops, the body is not a single organism,
it's a multitude of symbiotic relationships between millions of organisms.
Yet our brains keep telling us we are the same person, and narrate autobiographies for us.

Coherency, is neither good nor evil.
It is a limitation of the human condition.
Heck, it might even be the Human Condition.
The stories we tell ourselves is the mind's eye, nothing less, nothing more.

If you want to change the world, tell the world a good story.
If you want to change yourself, tell yourself a different story.

[Photoblog] Miniatureland at Phipps

2011-11-22T06:24:00.001+05:30

Are our brains only meant for motor control??

2011-11-03T23:13:00.001+05:30

Lately there have been some really insidous TEDtalks.

First there was Justin-Hall Tipping (a journalist by profession) talking about how we should take energy off the grid. If his dramatic self-assured tone isn't enough to tell you that something is fishy, let me enlighten you about the current state of power generation: the bottleneck we have now is in the energy storage sector, if we can build efficient long-term energy storage devices, solar-wind and all the eco-friendly power generating sectors will take over all the thermal power plants. Justin-Hall does show us a "new" technique of energy storage that traps single electrons, but he doesn't go into the details of how efficient, stable or practical those devices are in storing bulk quantities of energy for prolonged periods of time.

Then there was Bunker Roy. I'm not going to even waste my time on the epic failness of TED in letting this man talk. It's kind of like a bad x-files episode catered to an audience that has a I-desperatly-want-to-believe syndrome. Just look at his wikipedia page for the controversy behind him.

The latest addition is a neuroscientist who claims our brains are meant for motor control. To give him credit he is far better than Justin-Hall or Bunker Roy; he's done some amazing research and his argument that brains are meant for motor control is in good taste. But he doesn't defend it properly. He doesn't address the problem of organisms that achieve perfect motor control without the help of brains. Hell, even single-celled creatures without a nervous system (or a single neuron) achieve motion without difficulty. Evolutionary psychology has a great amount of literature on to how and why brains evolved in living things. Why doens't he even bother to cite them?

At the end of the talk he answers Chris's question of "whether falling in love or dreaming is an accident?" by saying that even vision should be understood by movement [ie motor control]. Oh the horror. Let's assume for a moment that animal brains were evolved for complex motor control. But humans have evolved way futher since. As hypothesised and defended by Antonio Damassio, the author of Self Comes to Mind
, our brains create three distinct selfs
1.) The Core Self - a neural map of our physical structure
2.) The Protoself - a relational map of the Core Self with external objects
3.) The Autobiographical Self - a narrative that stiches together collections of Protoselfs that is responsible for constructing morality

Obviously, our speaker is only aware of the Core Self and the protoself, and not the autobiographical self. In doing so he misses the very notion of what it means to be an intelligent life form in this Universe. He misses why we create complex societies with justice systems, economics, politics, science and culture.

Shame on you TED for not creating a proper dialogue after the talk and shame on you Daniel Wolpert for not doing your literature survey properly and taking us for ignorant fools.

[Photolog] Autumn

2011-11-02T08:20:00.002+05:30

Does Marriage increase Happiness?

2011-10-25T04:35:00.000+05:30

Here's a conversation between the author of "Singled Out", Bella DePaulo, and Taxi driver she chanced to meet in Chicago:

"So, you're single?"
"Um-hmm."
"Have you ever been married?"
"No, never."
"Why not?"
"I love being single."
"Some guy treat you badly? They're not all like that, you know."
"No, no, nothing like that."
"Maybe it's not guys you like. Nothing wrong with that."
"What I like is being single."
"I bet some guy was too controlling. Wouldn't let you have your freedom. They're not all like that, either."
"No it is not that at all. I'm not running away from anything. I just love my life the way it is."
"You're being so negative!

Bella DePaulo's book is all about "Singlism" or how society discriminates against unmarried people. If the above conversation might not strike you as discriminatory you probably need a good dose of deconstruction. So read the following hypothetical monologue that she fabricates for the sake of all you married-minded folks:

"So, you're married?"
"Have you always been married to the same person?"
"Why is that?"
"Are you afraid to live alone? It's not that bad, you know."
"Do you see yourself as an incomplete without a mate? Nothing wrong with that."
"Do you think you need someone else to validate you and make you happy?"
"Maybe you are just not very imaginative. Lots of people think that they should get married, so you just assumed the same thing applied to you."
"What! You love being married? Why are you being so negative!"

After reading the whole book, I feel more and more that marriage is a social stress that we yield to (pardon the solid mechanics reference). The author talks about the honeymoon effect, where there is a sudden burst of happiness that comes and goes with marriage and by scrutinizing existing psuedo-research, she argues that married people and people who've been always single are no different. And since the studies have not included divorced people (ie the people who were sick of their marriages) as married, she argues that the studies that proclaim marriage as a harbinger of happiness, are fundamentally flawed.

She goes on to describe the discrimination that happens on a social scale in the perspectives of single women and single men. Frankly, I skimmed through those pages because ~~I don't give a rat's ass about what other people think~~. Let me rephrase that: I don't intend to be swayed into making my life decisions by the opinions of other people.

At the end of the book, she goes on to tackling the difficult subject of single-parenthood, and government sponsored singlism in the United States. The book is a breath of fresh-air for those who have been tormented by the seemingly high-moral ground of snobbish married/coupled people. But as we know, our collective morality is a result of existing socio-economic realities. Markets that cater to majorities are reluctant to endorse minority values, simply because catering to the majority is profitable.

In an age where homosexual couples don't even have the same rights as heterosexual couples, it's highly doubtful that our values on Singlism will change. But then again creating awareness is the first step in the right direction.

[Photolog] A bit of Macro

2011-10-24T05:17:00.000+05:30

Technically I don't have a macro lens, I'm using one of those cheapo workaround lens attachments to get higher magnification, and so far it seems to be working. There's a bit of chromatic aberration here and there and softening at the edges, but meh, it's the thought that counts..

The definition of Patriotism

2011-10-12T06:24:00.002+05:30

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

At least that was what Edward Abbey thought. Whistleblowers, activists, liberal journalists, usually have this mindset.

At the other extreme there are the people who don't understand the difference between a country and a government. Usually cardiologists and other conservatives fall into this category.

Then there are the people who think it's more productive to work with the government than to criticize it. Majority of the world's population fall into this category. How much of it is due to personal conflict of interest is hard to say. And I'm not blaming these people, if you think that working with the government is the best way to make change, then go for it.

But remember this: competition brings the best in us. There's an old Krugan warlord blessing essentially translates to "May your enemies be strong enough to keep you sharp.". And for democracy to work, for society to move forward, for life to keep evolving - you need good enemies. Worthy opponents that will challenge you like Val Chmerkovskiy is to Mark Ballas.

Songs that make me smile - Take 2

2011-10-07T07:07:00.002+05:30

1.) Death cab for Cutie - You are a Tourist

I went to see them live at Nashville, and they were outstanding. But this song strikes a chord personally due to the lyrics. I felt like a tourist that doesn't belong the last time I went to Sri Lanka, and this is exactly what I needed.

2.) Loreena Mckennit - The Mummers Dance

Celtic music has a mystical touch that when combined with Elves and Promised Lands bring an almost whimsical touch to the music.

3.)David Garrett - Carmen

I danced the Tango to a slower version of this recently, and twas a night to remember. This song definitely makes me smile whenever it's played. When I'm not worried about the steps, David Garrett's version is the one I listen to.

4.) Barenaked Ladies - Pinch me

I'm not even going to waste words on this one.

5.) Michael Buble - Everything

Women go crazy over this guy, and I can't blame them. I kind of do too. He falls into character so easily. This song wouldn't mean anything if it was sung by anyone else. Watch it on youtube, embedding is disabled.

6.) The Rap - Secret Garden

The first time heard this, I was on my way to CMU. It was a Monday and my head was heavy with the work that needed to get done that week. I believe it was the last before I left for the conference in Nashville. This song blew me away instantly and gave me inspiration that lasted the whole week.

7.) Noah and the Whale - Life is Life

I was introduced to Noah and the Whale by a girl I once knew. We were both at turning points in our lives and she sent me the "In five years time" song. I instantly fell in love, with the song, and with the band. Their new album -Last Night On Earth -
is so-so but this song is easily one of my favorites.

Quasi-crystals (Nobel Prize 2011) for dummies

2011-10-06T08:46:00.003+05:30

And this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to a Materials Scientist! Yay! (*Does a small inappropriate dance*)

Dan Shechtman at the Israel Institute of Technology was credited today for his discovery of Quasi-crystals in 1982. To appreciate the significance of Quasi-crystals, you really need to know a bit about the mathematics of symmetry. Indeed most scientists rejected Shechtman's idea when it was first presented, and it took two years for him to publish. Of note, the nobel-lautarate Linus Pauling had said "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists." The issue that everyone had with Quasi-crystals was that they defied the laws of 3-dimensional symmetry. The only way to make sense of the periodicity of Quasi-crystals is to see them as a projection of a higher-dimensional crystal symmetry into our own 3-dimensional world.

Wait, I shouldn't be explaining the symmetry behind Quasi-crystals in a blog (*headdesk*), if you're interested wikipedia has a thorough piece here. The problem with wikipedia though is that you have to take everything with a grain of salt. They cite the infamous Science Magazine article by Lu and Steinhardt which claims that "tiles in a medieval Islamic mosque in Isfahan (Iran) are arranged in a quasicrystalline pattern." There is an ongoing debate on whether this is the case. (See here, here and here.) So it seems that the debate on Islamic Quasi-crystalline symmetries (?) is possibly even more controversial than the original paper by Shechtman.

Anyways, getting back to the awesomeness of Quasi-crystals, they aren't really that awesome if you're looking at an applications point of view. Or at least we engineers haven't found a way to properly exploit their awesomness. So far they're used in very small compositions in high-strength steels and non-stick coatings. Yeah, it's kind of depressing, but fear not there's a fair amount of research interest in the field of photonic quasi-crystals. If you're not familiar with photonics, well, they're kind of like semiconductors for light (as opposed to electrons).

[PhotoBlog] Blossoms of Summer

2011-10-05T07:18:00.002+05:30

The summer in Pittsburgh is highly underrated. This post is intended to fix that.

Note: Please do not steal my pictures. It's not nice. If you ask nicely, I'll probably give you a high-res version.

Why I'm not so "fired up" about Amazon's new tablet

2011-09-29T22:04:00.000+05:30

Amazon previewed it's most awaited tablet - Kindle Fire - yesterday and geeks all over the world rejoiced. While I do see the appeal of a color ebook reader that tackles webbrowising, movie streaming and magazine viewing, I personally am not inclined to buy one. But that's just me, I hated the Ipad/Xoom when they came out, and I still find it ridiculous that people spend so much money on a dumbed down laptop with a touchscreen.

But Amazon's Kindle Fire is actually afforadable - it's priced at $199 and Amazon is actually loosing $50 each time it sells a Kindle fire because apparently the manufacturing cost is higher than the selling cost. Amazon is aiming to gain profit when people buy ebooks, films, games, music, apps and magazines that Amazon is offering through their newly established Android Marketplace, Amazon Instant and their good old Kindle store. Got to hand it to them though, the whole cloud storage thing and the high-speed Amazon silk browser that reroutes internet traffic through Amazon's superfast connection to an Internet backbone and bundled with all these goodies is really tempting.

Having said all that, I'm not going to buy one any time soon. I already have access to an amazing colllection of books through the the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the Hunt Library at Carnegie Mellon. I stream films on my computer and listen to music on my smartphone. The only thing that could convince me of buying a tablet would be gaming - but none of the tablets in the market have sufficient specs for gaming.

Oh well, might as well wait for nvidia's Project Kal-el to happen.

Anonymous Analytics: Wikileaks for Corporations?

2011-09-28T08:32:00.002+05:30

Apparently the group Anonymous have started their own leak site. And rather than concentrating on political leaks, they seem to be focused on investigating financial frauds. Their first leak comes from the major Chinese agricultural company Chaoda.

The report exposes how Chaoda's management has deceived shareholders, how several high level executives have resigned due to "personal reasons" through the past years, on how billions of dollars are missing in Chaoda's financial statements, transactions with a fertilizer company that never existed, and how they paid a fake branding company to fake their brand value (stuff of legends).

I had mixed feelings while reading Anonymous's report. Though facts and figures were presented concisely and somewhat entertainingly - with quotes from The Simpson and Seinfeld - it's not clear on how they obtained some information. They do say in their website that their team is made up of "analysts, forensic accountants, statisticians, computer experts, and lawyers from various jurisdictions and backgrounds", and it's very possible that these guys didn't spend much time in academia to get into the habit of citing what they claim, or at least letting people know how they got the information. Being an anonymous group, it makes things a tad bit fishy as well. How does one go about peer-reviewing these articles/investigations? There's no doubt that their efforts will have an effect on the stock market (see Chaoda's value) so how does one make sure that personal interests are not being pursued in the disguise of financial transparency?

But this anonymous nature of Anonymous might well be a matter of survival for the group. If Julian Assange and Bradley Manning are manhandled in a government where the the president won a nobel-peace prize, it's highly unlikely that a leaking group could ever do their work in the open - anywhere. So the ambiguous credibility may possibly be something that we'll have to deal with for now.

And even with all these ambiguities, I'm a tad bit optimistic about Anonymous Analytics. Mostly because it's easier to place faith in capitalist markets than with democracy. And while Wikileaks did prove to be a good feedback mechanism in oppressed states like Tunisia and Egypt that had crippled human rights of their citizens, it's highly unlikely that any other society would be moved to create a revolution by political leaks alone. And unlike in those oppressed states where governments control businesses, in the developed world, corporations control governments. So the most potent leaks might well be financial than political for the developed world. When shareholders are given the proper feedback, which is what happened with Chaoda, they have the power to vote down the price of a corporation and thus re-establishing democracy to the developed world.

Einstein was probably not wrong! (E does equal to mc2 - subject to condition)

2011-09-26T04:33:00.011+05:30

Seriously people, stop with this madness. Everywhere I look, people are making a big fuss out of the results from one of CERN's experiments. People are claiming that "Science is wrong", "Einstein was wrong", "It's time to rewrite the science books".

Have you people forgotten how many times the theory of relativity has been proven right in real world applications? Global Positioning Systems, planetary motions, gravitational time dilation, astrophysical measurements that NASA use for every single space mission - are these merely made up for the sake of scientific entertainment? The equations that explain the electron behaviour that I use everyday when operating a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) are essentially based on the relativistic quantum mechanics. If the theory of relativity is "wrong", the microscopes shouldn't work. But they are working, and I'm pretty sure they'll still be up and running tomorrow when I go back to work, even though CERN's experiments claim otherwise.

Let's look at these psuedo-scientific claims in detail.

Apparently the guys and girls at CERN found that a bunch of neutrinos traveled a 60-billionth of a second faster than the speed of light when traveling from Switzerland to Italy. Einsteins Relativity theory and our current understanding of the universe is that every thing that moves forward with the arrow of time should be traveling below the speed of light. If it travels faster than the speed of light, then the arrow of time should be pointing backwards for that particle.

Obviously there could have been errors with the experiment and there'll be more teams redoing the experiment to see if there is something amiss with the experimental procedure. But let's for a moment assume that the experiment was right.

To answer the claim "Science is wrong";
Science is not a constant and ultimate body of knowledge; it's a self-correcting process that builds up upon itself. This might come as a shock for those who like to have certainty in their lives (go back to believing in God/reincarnation because science is certainly not for you!) but theories in science are meant to be challenged and even broken.

To answer the claim of "Einstein was wrong";
So what if Einstein was wrong? He was wrong about many things. At a certain point he proclaimed that "God does not play dice with the universe" with regards to the probabilities encountered in Quantum Mechanics. He was [un]certainly wrong there. He was often perplexed about why the quantum world was so different from the world that he saw with the the theory relativity and tried to bridge the gap between the two worlds by creating a Grand Unified Theory. So yes, he is a human being. And he has all the right in the world to be wrong. That doesn't mean anything.

To answer the claim of "rewrite the science books":
There will be no such thing. Did they rewrite science books to reject Newton's laws of gravity when Einstein proposed the theory of relativity? Did they discard Bohr's atomic model when Plank introduced Quantum physics? No, we still use Bohr's atomic model and Newton's laws because for certain simple applications they are sufficient. And as I mentioned earlier, relativity has a heavy bit of application everyday in science and technology, even if it's not applicable to a certain bunch of adamant neutrinons.

And thus the theory of relativity is very very unlikely to be obsolete.

Dear Facebook,

2011-09-25T19:08:00.003+05:30

I'm glad that you updated the design, even though it was way overdue and you had a little push from Google+. Ignore the technophobic conservatives who are afraid of change, and keep on improving yourself. Here are a few suggestions that you might want to consider for the next redesign.

1.) Have an option to disable comments. This includes status updates, photos, notes and whatever. Google+ already has this feature.
2.) Have an option to disable right clicking on photos. This will encourage photographers like myself to upload photos to facebook without worrying about copyright infringement. Tumblr can be tweaked to have this feature.
3.) Stop making facebook into a popularity contest. Where was the "Recent News" option that we had earlier? I don't want "Top News". It's usually filled with cheesy spam statuses ("like" this if...). I want the most recent statuses/photos from all my friends, not just the ones who are popular.
4.) Leave the gossip on the smaller newsfeed. I don't want to know who's friends with who, or what others like on my large newsfeed. It's too voyeuristic for my taste.

On Science Fiction

2011-09-21T00:33:00.002+05:30

It's a curious thing, our preferences. We tend to like somethings and tend to dislike others. And sometimes we don't know why that exactly is. For me, Science Fiction is one of those things. I love it terribly, but I'm still not sure why.At first, I thought it was a form of escapism. But then I'm not a huge fan of Fantasy. If I wanted to escape Fantasy should be as much as appealing as sci-fi. But that's not the case. The only fantasy character that I ever felt kinship to is Tom Bombadil from the Lord of the Rings- and that was due to purely Existential reasons. I think my fascination for science fiction comes from the fact that good science fiction actually transcends human drama, and in a way releases us from our age dependent, culture dependent moralities. And I'm not talking about books like Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica. They're more meant for mass-appeal. Rather, books like Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End and Olaf Stapledon's Starmaker or even the most recent Doctor Who season seem to have somewhat of a transcendence of the human condition about them. Hmmm.. have to ponder on this further.

An app for your Genome?

2011-09-16T05:41:00.002+05:30

Watching science enrich our lives is still one thing I like about living in the 21st century. As technology will continue to change our lives, so will our self-deceptive morality.

Yes, I did link to David Livingstone Smith's webpage; I'm currently reading his book on "Why We Lie", where he uses evolutionary psychology to persuade the reader that our sense of Morality is nothing more than Opportunism. And not only do we deceive others to get what we want but more often than not we deceive ourselves in the process too.

And the wonderful thing is about Science reinventing Morality is that its happening at an exponential rate never before experienced by the human race.

having an eating disorder due to Sri Lankans objectifying Life in the US

2011-09-04T21:53:00.002+05:30

Out of all the friends and family I met, I don't think anyone sincerely wanted to know what life in Pittsburgh is like. Instead they had their own preconceptions and prejudices and held a moral high ground which I'm not sure was due to denial or ignorance.

I neither had the time nor patience to retaliate and bring things to light. I'm not even sure a lifetime would be enough to instill change. Meh.

Gender, the Female Brain and Sexism

2011-08-24T20:30:00.002+05:30

When Louann Brizendine infamous book "The Female Brain" came out a couple of years ago, I was excited about knowing once-and-for-all what women think/want. And as I read page by page, amazed at all the scientific studies she's cited, as well as the empirical examples she cleverly incorporates into the narrative, I found myself falling into a sudden appreciation of gender differences, and celebrating my own masculinity in the process. After all, since men and women are "hardwired" to be masculine and feminine, it seemed as it was "natural" thing to do. I remember becoming more and more chivalrous, emotionally-withdrawn, and unconsciously trying to improve my manly skills - math, self-defense, logical-left-brain stuff, and being an overall asshole. All by reading a book that emphasized gender differences are hardwired to the male and female brains.

Fast forward a few years, and I find out that Brizendine's book is enormously erroneous. In the acclaimed science journal "Nature" the reviewers slash the book as "Psychoneuroindoctrinology"; abuse of Neuroscience in explaining human behavior. They go on to say that "despite the author's extensive academic credentials, the Female Brain disappointingly fails to meet even most basic standards of scientific accuracy and balance."

So if gender is not hardwired to the brain, what causes gender differences? According to Cordelia Fine, the author of Delusions of Gender, a heavy amount of gender traits are learnt throughout our childhood as a result of sublime social conditioning. She shows that from the very first time that parents find out the gender of their child, even the most gender-neutral parents discriminate unknowingly and give cues to how girls and boys should behave. She goes on to challenge the science cited by Louann Brizendine, Steven Pinker, and Simon Baron-Cohen who's made a living out of nitpicking the differences of the male and female brain. And most importantly she cites some beautiful studies that show just by creating awareness one's sex, you can increases the performance of traditional gender-specific traits (boys improve at math when they are reminded that they are boys, and girls improve at reading other's emotions when reminded that they are girls).

So what if gender is a social construct? Female intuition, male aggression, female empathy, male rationality - these are all traits that we create out of subliminal social conditioning! So it's not just your psychological and behavioral aspects that change due to social pressure - your whole physiology changes and adapts. That in itself is a bit surreal to me. And exciting. The question that arise in the aftermath of the dissolution of the illusion of gender is the rewards that dissolve along with it. It's one thing to be politically and scientifically enlightened and dismiss gender as a divider of humanity, it's another thing to face the consequences of doing so. As a young man, I'm attracted to feminine women; the soft voice, the playful submissiveness, the empathetic kindness - are all huge turn-ons for me. And if you're a woman, you'd have similar masculine traits that you find attractive in men. While I've tried hard not to let this dictate my appreciation of people, it's always an uphill battle. So if women do not act feminine and men don't act masculine, they'd be handicapped because of not getting enough attention from the opposite sex. [Let evolution take it's course for a couple thousand centuries and you're set with gender segregated sexes.] Even the very act of love making and sexual intercourse seems to be dance of masculinity and femininity. Maybe it's my lack of experience, but the very small sample of women in my life have all craved for a dominant man who can handle them appropriately in and out of the bedroom.

So again, even though I'd love to see a world void of arrogant/aggressive men and princess-syndrome ridden women, even though I'd love to see a world where household work is shared and submission happens both ways, and a world where boys are not called "sissies" for being empathetic or girls called "sluts" for making the first move, I sincerely wonder how pragmatic this dream is.

Back in Colombo after 2 years..

2011-08-22T16:49:00.001+05:30

...and nothing has changed. Even the music on Yes FM and TNL are the same. And I'm not even kidding. For some reason I'd forgotten that Taunting was a requirement while driving in Colombo. But that doesn't need a lot of time to internalize.

Nationalism, fuck yeah!

2011-07-21T08:32:00.003+05:30

The above is picture floating around the Internet as a reminder to how classy Americans can be. If you haven't figured it out already, it's a montage of facebook statuses posted at the defeat of the American Woman's soccer team to Japan.

I mean, this is not a purely an American issue. In every country there's a Gaussian curve for intelligence among the population, and thus you'll get quite a bit of crazies anywhere you point in the map. From the snobbish French, to the patriotic Chinese, to the supremist Australians - nationalism - the pride of one's own nation is not something uncommon. Recently in an effort to unite two ethnicities in Sri Lanka I saw a few people falling on to the "We are Sri Lankan" bandwagon. To face the economic crisis back home, the Irish called out to their diaspora for help, and there was a fair amount of pride and nationalism inducing claims in that that NY times piece.

But really, is pride necessary to unite people? Is pride even healthy for a society or for an individual? Apparently, according to psychologists there are two kinds of pride: Authentic Pride and Hubristic Pride[1]. Authentic pride is when people are proud of something that they personally achieve, and Hubristic Pride is being proud of something they inherit. For example, Authentic Pride might occur when a student is proud of her previous examination score. Hubristic Pride might occur if the student thinks she's born smart irrespective of whether or not she passed or failed on the test. If she fails, a student having Hubristic Pride will find some fault in the exam and be proud none-the-less, while a student with Authentic Pride will actively try to find out how and why she failed.

Now for some people, they might see nothing wrong with Hubristic Pride. After all, society does often confuse arrogance with confidence and at the pace we're moving, no one really seem to care which is which. But studies have found that Hubristic Pride is highly correlated with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) [2] and that people with Authentic Pride have no significant correlation with NPD. Furthermore Hubristic Pride was negatively correlated with Implicit Self-Esteem. But it doesn't stop there, it get's worse; People with Hubristic Pride seem to have poor interpersonal relationships, mental health and psychopathology. Those who were extremely high in Hubristic Pride tended to be social phobic and chronically anxious.

So remember, the next time you meet someone who's proud of their school, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or anything they've inherited (and haven't worked for), don't bash them outright. Have sympathy, because even though they might seem super high right now while insulting the other team or being an outright jerk, they'll be going back home to dysfunctional relationships and unhealthy lives of denial.

And to those of you who are trying to unite people under a broader flag, you're intentions might be pure but your actions will have far reaching consequences than you intend. Many a times, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

References:
[1] J. L. Tracy, R. W. Williams, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. (2007)
[2] J. L. Tracy, R.W Robins, K. H. Trzesniewski, Self and Identity, (2008) 8 196-213

What can google+ help you achieve that facebook can't?

2011-07-09T22:03:00.010+05:30

1.) Add mum and dad to your network.

Most of us have good relationships with our parents. And as children we share a lot of lives (even some of the most intimate details, our greatest fears and immeasurable joys) with our parents. But when you give such a person the ability to comment on every status you post, link you share and photo you upload, that might lead to very embarrassing situations.

On the other hand, we always have segments of our lives that we don't disclose to our parents. Mostly because our parents are realists. They judge us for who we were in the past, and that doesn't really help children change. To breakaway from the past and change yourself for the better, the first thing you have to do is breakaway from your parents and/or loved ones. Which is another reason that I've haven't added mum and dad to my friends list, even though I love them dearly.

Designating the family circle in google+ to mum and dad, lets me cater to them specifically and thus eliminates the trouble and horror of dealing with privacy settings in facebook.

2.) Eliminate the conspicuous fb status quo

After the initial honeymoon period on facebook, you realize that facebook doesn't actually break social differences, but creates a status quo in it's own right. They'll be people who like your statuses all the time even if they don't know what you're talking about, and people who adamantly stay away from you because of political thoughts, personal disagreements or just out the fear of being associated with you.

Uploading photos on facebook has become an art form. People no longer dance, go out or enjoy themselves on a friday night for the sake of enjoying themselves. They sing, dance, go out and pose so that others can take pictures and upload them to facebook. Again, the privacy settings and circles will hopefully put an end to this madness and conspicuous status quo.

3.) Avoid sounding pretentious

There were plenty of times that I wanted to publish this posts from this blog to facebook, but I simply didn't because I felt like I was begging for attention or even being pretentious in the eyes of some of my friends. Since I know the people and can choose the people who'd be interested in a particular internet meme, or be blown away by a psychology discussion, a business idea or even a Materials Science discussion, I can share things with such people and not spam everyone on my friends list.

4.) Establish relationships in a more personal level.

Self-explanatory.

5.) Breakaway from Zuckerberg's ideal of a Unified-Coherent-Public-Self

Zuckerberg's naive ideal on a unified public image might sound utopian if you think that it'll bring transparency to a world of unnecessary boundaries. However the problem with this philosophy is that we are never a constant self. To misquote Rick Hanson PhD, the author of the Buddha Brain, "From a neurological standpoint a unified self is an utter illusion: the coherent "I" is built of many subsystems, and the sense that there is a subject of experience is built from myriad disparate moments of subjectivity."

Even if you don't go that deep into the mind's eye, it's fairly intuitive that we have different persona's under different circumstances, for different external stimuli. And while it might be enlightening sometimes to bring all these personalities into one unified being, it's more likely that the dissonance it creates will stop you from posting at all or sharing things at all.

Thus for the first time in awhile, I'm actually hopeful about social networks and hope that my relationships with friends and acquaintances will be enriched rather than be strained and awkward.

Homosapiens: the control freaks

2011-07-08T06:03:00.002+05:30

Stumbled upon this noteworthy study from 1976 [1].

A group of nursing home residents were given a plant to take care of, and they were divided in to two groups. The low-control group was told by the staff when they could water the plant and tend to it's care. The high-control group was given the freedom to choose when they want to take care of the plant.

Six months later, 30% of the low-control group had died compared to the 15% of high-control group. The researchers had stopped the experiment then and noted the importance that perceived control has over the human mind. I would go a step further and say it's not just control, but the control of a goal that kept them healthy. In fact, in his book "The Brain and the Meaning of Life" Paul Thagard argues just that; we create meanings for our lives through setting goals in the avenues of love, work and play. The whole school of Absurdism which broke away from Existentialism was based on this simple but elegant theory as well. But I digress..

In 1978, researchers took another step forward [2] by substituting plants with college students. As before, there was a high-control group that made the decisions when the students would get to see them on the next visit, and there was a low-control group that were at the mercy of the students' timetable. The results were remarkable- just after 2 months those in the high-control group were happier, heather and took less medication than those in the low-control group.

The researchers were happy and concluded that the experiment was successful. Several months later, they were astonished to find out that a significant large number of residents in the high-control group had died, after the students left.

Talk about withdrawal. When Gouthama talked about attachment being the cause of all human suffering, he wasn't kidding. It seems that people are healthier and happier when they have control over relationships. But they are far more worse than not having control at all when those relationships are taken away from them.

Of course this brings up a few ethical questions. But to me as a young adult in the prime of his life the most important question is whether I would want to have children some day. As Kahlil Gibran once said "Children come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you."

But then arises the Existential question of what we should hold on to. To me as I see it now, we should hold on to relationships that are unattached, we should help those who will never know we helped them, and as Zarathusra (Nietzsche) once said, we should love our farthest rather than our neighbor.

References:
[1] Langer, Ellen J.; Rodin, Judith, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 34(2), Aug 1976, 191-198.
[2]Schulz, Richard; Hanusa, Barbara H., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 36(11), Nov 1978, 1194-1201

Chastity in the eyes of Nietzsche

2011-06-30T22:18:00.001+05:30

"Chastity is a virtue in some, but almost a vice in many. They abstain, but the bitch, sensuality, leers enviously out of everything they do. Even to the heights of their virtue and to the cold regions of the spirit this beast follows them with her lack of peace. And how nicely the bitch, sensuality, knows how to beg for a piece of spirit when denied a piece of meat. "

-From his semi-satirical and philosphical novel "Thus spoke Zarathustra"

For some reason this reminds me of my long lost aunts and uncles. Of religous hypocrites that adminster sila on every poya day, of monks and priests who are trapped inside organized religions, of Principals of public schools, of sexist men, and sexist women. Generally, to all those people who try to force upon certainty (via a moral doctrine) into their uncertain lives.

Nietzsche's prose is at times tiresome, but he goes on to describing an "overman" or a superman - one who overcome their human nature. And the way he's incorporated Chastity is brilliant. Chastity is in fact an effort to rise above human nature. But in reality chastity itself has become a fitness indicator towards sexuality. And rather than transcending us, it has corrupted us.

Obama's 3nd visit to Carnegie Mellon

2011-06-27T04:00:00.001+05:30

His visit was clearely focused on campagin agenda. He sounded more patriotic than ever before and defensive about his decisions as commander-in-chief. This was clearly a man fallen from grace - removing himself from staunch idealogies of peace that he used to represent to the more pragamatic popularity seeking presidential candidate.

He spoke about automation - how the american industry can use more of it, and seemed impressed by the robotic research. He talked about funding a major manufacturing initiative that will unite universities and manufacturers creating industry leaders. Personally, I don't buy it. Then again I don't have enough information to bring rationale to my fears.

But what struck me was the extremely low-profileness of the visit. As far as I know there weren't any roadblocks, no secret-service agents swarming around harrasing people, and there was really no hindrance what-so-ever on level that was noticable. Campus ran like just like any other day. (Edit: Apparently he came to the lawrenceville Robotics center, and not to the main campus.)

Back in 2010 during his second visit, I was taken aback by the same lack of conspicousness that's usually associated with elite visits. Living in Sri Lanka for most the most of my life, I was used to witness hundreds of people stranded in traffic jams that would last somewhere from minutes to a couple of hours just so an insignificant parlimentarian (usually a common theif and/or drug dealer) could get to the other side of town. Authoratarian and self-righteous policemen would create their own laws, and disrupt the daily lives of citizens - just to show off the 'importance' of the most crooked.

Back then I posted a status on fb mentioning this difference. I got several angry replies from patriotic types saying 'Oh you probably don't know but there must be tonnes of secret service snipers in the buildings' and a few other insane excuses. That's the effin point isn't it? I as a citizen don't even notice that the most political figure in the world is present 500 yards away. No one's harrasing me, asking for ID or asking me to wait until the governor takes a piss.

An year later, after seeing the events unfold again, I thought I'd rather blog than fb. Since comments are disabled, I won't have to deal with islanders suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

Tips for Present Moment living

2011-06-07T13:10:00.002+05:30

1.) Present-moment living is not Present Hednoism.
So let's start with the don'ts. If you think living in the present means trying to squeeze out happiness every moment in your life - then you're doing it wrong. Remember, happiness among other things cannot be pursued. Or at least, the more you pursue it, the less you find it. So don't try to 'enjoy' the moment. Just live it.

2.) Living in the present means adapting to the present.
The only constant in this Universe is change. In a socio-economic perspective that means growth. And you need to let that happen. If you try to stand still, if you try to achieve "stillness", you'll only achieve stagnation. Be aware of the ever changing environment around you. Adapt to it. Flow with it.

3.) Open up your senses.
Human beings are social animals to the extent that if you put someone in solitude, after awhile they'll go crazy just by thinking too much. From an evolutionary perspective we were trained to simulate fear and anxiety in our minds so we wouldn't be eaten by a predator. This same fear and anxiety kicks in whenever our mind thinks rather than acts. There has to be a delicate balance between the two to counteract this evolutionary trait.

And the only way to do that when someone is not around is to open your sense to the world. Listen to the sounds, smell the subtle aromas around you, touch different things to see how they feel, and look at the vividness of different colors. Be doing so, you'll act. And stop the unnecessary thinking that leads to anxiety.

4.) Don't be afraid to project in to the future
Our brains are inherently plastic. And with a little effort we can change anything. So if you want to develop a certain skill, practice, practice and practice. Make sure you imbed those motor skills deep into those muscles. But there is one more thing that you can do. And that is to see yourself in the future doing this - and this is very important - envision yourself succeeding, and feel good about it. This creates a motivation or driving force to actually do it and seek that moment of 'feeling good'.

Why am I writing this in a post about living in the present moment? Well contratry to popular belief, present-moment living also means planning for the future - when the moment of planning arises.

5.) Show yourself some compassion.
If you made a mistake, admit it. Laugh at yourself, and move on. Don't punish yourself and think about what may have happened if you've done things differently. Accept that you are also human, apologize to people sincerly, and take measures not make the same mistake. But more importantly show yourself some compassion. Self-compassion is sometimes the most difficult form of compassion, because we see it as a hindrance to growth. But that is not the case, growth and compassion are mutually exclusive - and you as an intelligent being can achieve both.

Blame yourself, not the world.

2011-05-25T02:15:00.002+05:30

Frankly, I'm appalled at the number of people blaming (and simplifying) all the world's problem into consumerism. And then saying that capitalism is the root of all evil. And of the cognitive science graduates who retweet these articles.

Get these facts straight.
1.) Consumerism is NOT a byproduct of Capitalism. It's an extension of a common phenomena known as addiction which plague lazy humans who refuse to adapt, discover and re-invent themselves. Addiction to markets is no different than being addicted to sex, drugs, parental security, or any other form of dependence. Don't blame sex, drugs, your parents or markets for you being addicted to them - blame yourself!

2.) Economical growth is economical growth. Nothing more, nothing less. GDP might not be the best factor to consider when looking at the growth of a country but neither is Gross National Happiness. Which was ironically invented by some king as an excuse to not being able to increase the GDP in his own country. Buddhist values, my ass.

3.) Learn about Comparative Advantage. And Economies of Scale. Learn about the selfish nature of Altruism. And learn about the altruistic nature of selfishness. Learn why trading/bartering are the essence of what it means to be homosapiens, than being Neanderthals. Learn how humans have learned to evolve through changing habits, rather than evolving by natural selection. Learn the role of markets, trade, and comparative advantage that shifted this tide of evolution.

Enough said, I'm off to work.

Reality and truth in the age of Pragmatism

2011-05-20T21:04:00.002+05:30

I've been reading Chandler Burr's somewhat acclaimed book, The Perfect Scent to understand the economics behind Perfumery. Mostly in the hope of understanding the price difference between niche fragrances and designer fragrances and why dry body oils and bath oils are much cheaper than the above mentioned both.

While I didn't get the answers to my questions I did stumble upon an industry based on complete deception; where merchants believe that customers can't handle the truth and a snobbish-elite and ignorant consumer base that may actually prove the merchants correct. The big "secret" that these fragrance houses don't want the customers to know is that all modern scents are synthetic. They are created in laboratories to match the exact chemical compound of whatever their notes are. For example, the floral rose note seen in many feminines is a mixture of geraniol, citronellol, phenylethyl alcohol and linalool, the fruity mango/carrot note seen in many modern masculines are allyl amyl glycolate, para-anisaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, dimethyl anthranilate and a bunch more. Obviously when the fragrances are made, the ingredients aren't listed; instead the designer claims it to have a Mango or a Rose note.

According to the book, the consumers think that these are pure (distilled) ingredients that concentrate to make perfume. And if they knew the truth they wouldn't buy it in the first place. The author goes on to describe the insanity behind this thinking, because in reality the synthetic chemicals produced in the lab are more pristine and safer (in terms of allergic reactions) than natural ingredients. Obviously you don't have to explain this in detail to someone with a background in chemistry or some sort of physical science. But for the rest of the consumer base, the perfumers fear that this knowledge will cripple the market down to zero.

This brings the broader dilemma of free-flowing information in societies into question. I am a firm believer that people should learn the truth however gruesome it maybe. I believe that people should be aware of the conditions of the animals that we farm for food. I believe that we should be aware of the costs of war, and realize that the Armies we sent out for battle don't always have the wellbeing of the civilians in mind. I've voiced my concerns over civilian casualties in the war waged in Sri Lanka against the LTTE, and I continue to support Wikileaks and question the American Authority to invade countries in the Middle East. At least, the information should be available to the public to the point where people can decide for themselves.

But that is matter of principle. In truth, the world is more pragmatic than I used to think. Information isn't free-flowing. There are no unbiased news organizations (Aljazeera might come close, but there isn't enough coverage at the present), press-releases and News given to journalists are assignments are mostly public image building campaigns -whether it be a non-profit in Africa trying to impress their donors, a corporate giant in Silicon Valley trying to impress their shareholders or a terrorist organization in the Middle East trying to invoke fear - it's all a show. I don't even want to go into Politics because we already know it's a show, and deep down we know that Democracy is the worse form of government, except all the others that have been tried. (Apologies to Churchill)

But I remain to be a rational optimist. The world and the humans living in it, is better of than any other time in known history. The crime rate, the violence and corruption is at an all time low. People are more healthier, wealthier and intelligent than they have ever been in the history of human kind. An average physics graduate knows more than Einstein ever knew. We have uncovered the mysteries of own genome and have the means of reprogramming our neurobiological selves to our own liking - even though it's still on paper. Immortality via stem-cells seem to be just around the corner.

But we still have so much ground to cover. Accepting reality as it is, and facing the truth are probably not our strong points. In the Age of Pragmatism, Obama and Mahinda might be right to act the way they did, but that makes Osama Bin Laden and Prabhakarran also right. I yearn for the age of reality to dawn upon humankind, although I'm well aware that it just might not happen in my lifetime.

This might change a few things..

2011-05-18T01:07:00.000+05:30

I'm probably citing too much MIT professors, but you got to hand it to them, they do some pretty darn good research.

Building Batteries and Solar Cells from Bacteria

2011-04-29T17:37:00.000+05:30

Now this is fucking Materials Science! I love the way she has a non-bullshit approach to presenting her work. The talk is like 10 minutes and she gives a multi-billion dollar presentation. If this was a typical Humanities TED speaker, they would've taken twice as long, added 10 times the personal drama, and left us with nothing at the end.

The Fragmented Self.

2011-04-28T19:57:00.000+05:30

I am not who I think I am.
Because the the thinker in me, doesn't understand the poet in me.
The poet doesn't understand the sportsman inside me.
The sportsman doesn't understand the lover.
The lover doesn't understand the dreamer.
The dreamer doesn't understand the existentialist.
The existentialist doesn't understand the fighter.
The fighter doesnt' understand the taoist.

The thinker doesn't understand any of them.
Neither does the writer.

The fact that this thinker and writer are aware of his other selves make it easier on them. They no longer make decisions on behalf of others. But rather let them be, let them live, or at least give them time to live.

More importantly though, this thinker no longer takes his thinking seriously.

Why everyone (else) is a hypocrite.

2011-04-26T19:03:00.002+05:30

One of the pit falls that young people face when studying psychology is the depression that comes with understanding the human condition. Traditionally, we are thought to believe that we are a Constant Self, with strict moral values, notions of justice and equality. But when we look at society, we see the exact opposite.

If one looks at this conundrum scientifically, it won't take long to realize that our hypothesis of a Constant Self is flawed. But we're not trained to think scientifically, thus we end up demoralized (pun intended), depressed, and thinking that everyone else is a hypocrite.

So are we hypocrites? Yes.

Can we do something about it? I don't think so.

Will this change the way we look at social systems and morality? Yes.

Is that bad? No, not necessarily. I think understanding our own hypocracy is a good thing. Humans are hardwired to be dopamine-rewarded for food, sex and altruism. Altruism being the keyword here. Rather than expecting naive equality and justice, people will strive for win-win situations, which will in fact benefit society as a whole.

Paternalism

2011-04-13T04:08:00.000+05:30

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

-C.S. Lewis.

The culprits are not necessarily dictators/governments. It could be communities, schools, parents, relatives, loved ones, or even yourself. What matters is not who imposes the tyranny, but how mindfully we react to it.

We don't serve the government, the government should serve us!

2011-03-25T08:28:00.002+05:30

That is the whole idea behind democracy.

If a government behaves badly, it's up to the people to investigate, criticize and collectively rise against such a regime. Thus providing a feedback loop, which will either rectify the governments actions or create a new government.

If patriotism has a definition, it should be the execution of the above. Yet the idiotic-definition of patriotism these days is praising the government for no reason, and helping to hide their deep dark secrets from the world.

Why are people still so damn feudalistic? Is autonomy no longer a turn on for men? Has the allure of security in paternalistic societies made us blind to the self-destructiveness of Authoritarian rule?

Or are we still not psychologically ready to face the truth about ourselves?

Take for example religion; a great majority of people know that God/reincarnation is a lie. But they believe in the belief system because they think it makes them better people. Take for example, the commercial and traditional notion of love; it doesn't take an Einstein to proclaim it's all a charade. But we believe in the notion of Commercial Love, because we think we'd be better human beings for it. (These are not necessarily conscious decisions, but sub-conscious ones.)

We tell lies to ourselves. We tell lies to the people we care about the most. We build our lives, our stories, our essence and the very meaning of our existence upon these lies.

So is it really a surprise that the allure of Authoritarian rule is getting the best of us?

Living life to your own accord

2011-03-23T16:41:00.000+05:30

I think it was Krishnamurthi who said that conforming to a profoundly sick society is not the mark of Intelligence. On that note Alan Watts has this great talk on the mask of humanity, and the trials that we put our children through.

Though society is cruel to those who do not conform, the choice is in our hands. To flow with life, or to build a false integrity that will burn us from the inside.

Music that makes me smile.

2011-03-17T23:09:00.000+05:30

They say that dreams are the best path to our subconscious. Perhaps another is our taste in music. These are tops on my favourite list, and probably listen to at least once a day. Obviously the list is subject to change every month or so as everything does. But right now, this is it.

Morning has broken - Cat Steevens

500 miles - Proclaimers

Everyday - Buddy Holly

Free Fallin - John Mayer (cover)

She's always a Woman - Billy Joel

It's 5 o'clock somewhere - Alan Jackson

The Black Swan - A Social and Psychological Critique

2011-01-26T22:33:00.002+05:30

(Contains mild spoilers, but not enough to ruin the film)

Social-critique

I've heard someone say that 'for teenagers the most scarcest resource is sex, for the rest of us - it's time'. While I'd like to agree with this romantic notion, it isn't always the case. Even with birth control and the numerous breakthroughs in healthcare we've seen in the past few decades, sex in many societies is still a highly regulated resource that people wage wars over. Most of this sexual-conservatism comes from the semi-paternalistic notion that sex involves a loss of innocence. There's also a notion that sex involves a predator (the big bad wolf) and an innocent victim (Red Riding Hood). Usually in pop-culture the man ends up being the predator and the woman ends up being the prey, although there are exceptions (Juno, 500 days of Summer).

The defining moment where the film refused to be identified with the predator-and-prey script, is the scene where the teacher takes the newly crowned swan queen to his apartment for some drinks and celebration. He asks questions like "Do you have a boyfriend?", "You're not a virgin are you?", "You should be comfortable about talking about sex with me". All of these questions lead the audience to think that he's about to take advantage of her. But rather than playing the role of the predator, to much suprise he tells her to go home and do some homework.

So contrary to popular belief, this is not a story about lost-innocence. Or the sacrifices that a ballerina has to make. And neither is it a crude-feminist film on male oppression which is supposedly the cause of all female suffering. Rather, the film is completely the opposite. It's a story of how we limit ourselves, the extremes that we oscillate in order to retain sanity and coherency from the fantasies that we create for ourselves, and the way we kill ourselves in the process of coming back to reality.

Psychological-critique

One of my friends asked why we can't be a grey swan, rather than be completely black or completely white swan? The answer is we are grey-swans, the problem is the way we give meaning to ourselves by painting ourselves black and white. We are so perversely used to the notion of a painting ourselves white, we distance ourselves from the things that we want most. Our hidden desires are suppressed in the form of the dark swan, who is ever present but never acknowledged.

The black-swan is always present from the beginning of the film, even when the white swan is the dominant role in her life. In the very first scene you'll see a black shadow scuttling through the background as she puts on her shoes. She sees the dark swan in the subway, when looking at herself in the mirror and in the bodies of her friends. But she refuses to believe that the black swan is in fact a part of her. By doing so, she thinks that she's hurting herself, bruising herself and killing herself by "giving in" to the Black Swan. In fact she believes that in order to be a black-swan she should kill the white-swan.

This is the tragedy of our idealistic virtues. In order to be a consistent protagonist, we keep the most interesting fragments of our lives a secret. Not just from our friends, but from ourselves. We strive to play a perfect role, rather than be human. In doing so not only do we loose our humanity, we loose our sanities as well.

Self-consciousness vs Self-awareness.

2011-01-07T18:13:00.000+05:30

In face value it's just two words that anyone can interpret to their own ends. But after reading all this literature I feel the need to define these words for the sake of clarity;

Self-consciousness is being aware of the limitations of your present self, and worrying about what other people think of you.

Self-awareness is being aware of limitations of your present self, being aware of the biological needs you have, and being aware of the limits of free-will. This so-called self-awareness does not stem from the need of gaining approval of others. It stems from the knowledge that there is no constant notion of self. It sees yourself as a different (or just another) entity, and therefore is capable is self-compassion.

New Year's Eve in New York City

2011-01-03T19:28:00.003+05:30

It was a last moment thing. I really didn't want to go crowd-surfing just to see a ball drop from a building. But I was in New York with a long lost high-school friend, and it was New Year's Eve. So we went out and observed several things.

The crowd, which mainly consisted of tourists and out-of-state visitors, were discplined than I expected. I didn't witness any stampedes or other incidents.

Chuck and Berry is apparently a rock-n-roll legend. And most importantly, you need tickets for the show.

Even though disciplined, the crowd is generally stupid. It took me awhile to convince my friend that the countdown was not worth the trouble, especially since we were not allowed in.

The fireworks at Central Park are much better than Times Square. Plus they have free live music, and people dancing in costumes.

The New Year's Eve cover charges are horrendous.

The only thing that's remotely affordable at the Time Warner building is the buffet at Whole Foods.

There's always a Church group offering free hot chocolate, somewhere. May their imaginary friend bless them.

Grand Central station is a great place to meet fellow travelers.

The New York subway is the best place to find muscians. Especially at New Year's Eve. And the spontaneous dancing crowds are just priceless.

The youth in Colombo and the youth in NYC are not at all different. Rowdy, in-your-face, shameless and beautiful. Atleast the boys are boys. The girls, well they're a bit more self-conscious and scared in Colombo.

Wikileaks and an insight into post-war Sri Lanka

2010-12-27T06:16:00.002+05:30

Wikileaks has been in the forefront of International news these days. The recent leaks of US diplomatic cables by private Bradly Manning has been mostly an embarrassment for top US diplomats, and not necessarily a threat to US national security as feared by many. Outside the US, these cables have exposed thousands of corrupt officials and brought information to the hands of the people who would’ve never obtained such information through local journalistic routes.

This huge impact has been possible due to the colossal US defense budget allocated for foreign intelligence. As Julian Assange points out in his interview with David Frost, the amount that the US spends on intelligence surpasses that of intelligence budgets of all the nations put together.

Sri Lanka, the country where I was born, is no exception.

For the common folk in Sri Lanka, the present regime has achieved a historic milestone: the annihilation of terrorism from the country. The Liberation of Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) has been vanquished. Obliterated. Annihilated from the face of the Earth. What they do not hear from local media is the fact terrorism has not been erased by the government but rather has only been a transferred from one terrorist organization (ie LTTE) to two terrorist organizations (TMVP and EPDP). The most frightening part is that terrorism now occurs on the watch of the Sri Lankan government.

The current leaks have revealed that allying with Karuna Amman’s Liberation Tigers of the Tamil people (TMVP) and Douglas Devananda’s EPDP has given the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) deniability of the oppression carried out in the North. Gotabaya Rajapakse, the Defense secretary, has given immunity to both Karuna and Douglas, while asking the army not to interfere on the acts of TMVP and EPDP in the north – basically allowing them to rob businessmen, engage in extortion and kidnapping of civilians.

Allegations of terrorism that wikileaks reveal:

These are the summary of allegations submitted via diplomatic cables to Washington:
• The assassination of parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham has been plotted by both Karuna and Douglas Devananda. Sources say that the assassination of parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj was also Karuna’s doing.
• Karuna’s cardes are mostly underage and are recruited under coercion.
• Karuna operates prostitution rings near IDP camps, where the women and children are forced in to prostitution.
• The military doesn’t do the extra-judicial killings themselves, but allow the EPDP carders to carry out assassinations, by taking breaks at pre-designated times.
• The EPDP conducts child slavery, in the forms of transferring boys to work camps and girls to child prostitution rings in India and Malaysia. It’s said that corrupt Customs and Immigration officials have helped to smuggle the children out of the country.

Middle class Sri Lankan’s and their ignorance

For an international reader, the situation in Sri Lanka would sound similar to Kabul, Afghanistan. But that’s not entirely true. These stories happen in the north and east, far away from the sheltered capital of Colombo. The citizens of Colombo are mostly ignorant of what happens in the north and east, and believe that the government of Sri Lanka is doing a great job at tackling terrorism. As a matter of availability heuristics than anything else, they like to insist that the Sri Lankan army is the best in the world. In that sense, their rosy cozy lives are much like a teenage girl’s fantasyland where fairy tales come true and gallant white knights in shining armour are real and not mythical creatures created for their own self-indulgence.

Blinded by government-run television networks such as Rupavahini and ITN, the middle-class Sri Lankan has evolved to believe that lasting peace can be achieved by war. And that suppressing the needs of minorities will simply make them go away. Brain-washed by historic texts such as Mahavamsa that claim an ethnic inheritance to the country, they ideologically believe (not necessarily in practice) that dictatorship and feudalism, is better than democracy and capitalism. And that patriotism is a matter of blindingly obeying what their king says. From the top of my head I can count about 10 pop songs that sing in praise of mighty kings, or the sadness of the people due to a lack of king. Inevitably and sadly, the conservatives (Sarah Palin’s and John McCain’s of Sri Lanka), are a brutally pro-Sinhala nationalist, anti-western, and closet anti-Tamil bunch of people whose insecurities stem from a heavy inferiority complex due to a lack of English proficiency. The Tamil conservatives are equally polarized and have the same insecurities, although due to their small numbers the aggressiveness is dormant and is not necessarily visible.

The other reason why the Sri Lankan middle class can’t let go of ideological feudalism, is that they didn’t have a revolution of their own. France, Russia, Germany, and a lot more countries made their own mistakes and realized that dictatorship is a bloody business. Even the United States is slowly coming to realize that International dictatorship also has its bloody side-effects. Sri Lanka, on the other hand still holds a grudge against the British for introducing democracy rather of letting them fight their own battles. The anti-western pro-Sinhala/Tamil movements are further encouraged by this hatred for the British. While it goes to show that some lessons are better learnt by experience, it’s also a lesson to the non-profits of the world that self-righteously shoving down Human Rights on nations is not the most sustainable way to go about things.

But I digress..

Transparency and the power to the people:

The whole idea behind Wikileaks is giving information to the people, instead of it being left trapped inside bureaucratic institutions like governments or large cooperation that limits its use for their own benefit. Information is power, and when people receive it they have the ability to make the right choice. It doesn’t necessarily have to involve overthrowing the government; it could easily be employed to pressurize governments or to bring sustainable negotiations to the table.

It’s time for the people in Sri Lanka to demand the government to end its support of EPDP and TMVP. It’s time for the Sri Lankan diaspora abroad to stop sending funds for these organizations. It’s time for people in India and Tamil-nadhu to pressurize their governments into disowning EPDP and TMVP.

And most importantly it’s time for the people in Sri Lanka to stop worrying about their “International Image”, and ask for better standards in local journalism. In the wake of the Wikileaks era, it’s imperative to understand that no nation is without flaw. We all have our deep dark secrets tucked away inside somewhere. It’s no longer a matter of who will reveal them, but when they will be revealed. So stop trying to hide or seek refuge in patriotism, and start cleaning up your closets.

Epilogue: Wishful Thinking?

It’s hard to say exactly how these cables will alter the Sri Lankan mindset. Old habits do die hard, and the possibility that this leaked intelligence will be shrugged off as a “western conspiracy” aimed at weakening the pure hearts of the patriotic regime, does not escape me. But I’m not entirely pessimistic either.

Throughout the years I’ve spent in Sri Lanka, I’ve seen people change for the better. I’ve seen more and more people embrace the English language without fear. I’ve seen more parents willing to let their children go to International schools than local ones. I’ve seen homophobics and xenophobics tolerating diversity out of exposure to different situations. I’ve seen people choose private sector jobs instead of public sector jobs due to prevailing economic sense. While these are not ideological changes, these pragmatic and unconscious shifts in values will eventually shift the ground from underneath them.

Once the cognitive dissonance between pragmatic and ideological values become too great, the whole system will collapse and trigger self-reflection and self-correction. So even if it’s not today, Sri Lanka will change. And as Arundathi Roy would say, change could be bloody, or it could be beautiful; it depends on us. I for one, would like it to be beautiful. Organizations like Wikileaks, that give power to the people by inducing transparency and breaking Institutional inertia, makes it possible for that change to be beautiful.

Synapses and selective rationality

2010-12-22T07:17:00.002+05:30

The question is not "Why do I forget?" but "Why do I remember?"

Synapses, neurons that fire together, wire together. We become coherent individuals because of thermodynamics. Because learning is essential for survival. The process of learning and memory are so intertwined, I sometimes think that the old Sri Lankan schooling system isn't that bad. I'm pulling my leg of course.

Having studied self-assembled systems as a Materials Engineer, I shouldn't be surprised. But I am. Thermodynamics allows us to be coherent. At least seemingly coherent. The human brain is not inherently wired for rationlity. It's wired for dopamine-induced reward systems. But sometimes rationality leads to rewards, like science/technology, which is a golden goose of all things dopamine based. Rationality doesn't even need to involve science; things like ethics and morality give men power and social standing. The funny thing is when there's no need for being rational to get such rewards, people stop being rational.

All of a sudden, the economics of Religion, God, Sarah Palin, Fox News, Rajapakse, and Rupavahini make sense. All of a sudden it becomes apparent why my parents are friends with some of the stupidest people I know. All of a sudden it becomes apparent why popularity in facebook has nothing to do with the content you put there. (Twitter is an exception, I know. But that's because the reward system is less based on popularity and more on actual content)

And then I realize something much more frightful; The difference between rhetoric Obama and the pragmatic Obama. The one who talks about transperency but lets his Vice president bash Wikileaks. It's been nearly two years now and there are still 50,000 US troops in Iraq. The number of American soldiers who have committed suicide in the past 3 years in Iraq, is twice of that who have actually died in battle. The war in Afganistan seems unending. Guantanmo Bay is still operational.

The fact is, rhetoric is only rhetoric. You can't ask your body to act properly, if it's not geared for it. If the rewards are not aligned with your rational, what's the point of acting upon it? Remember, rationality in itself is not the reward. So the body asks why it should act rationally, when it can easily cheat it's way to dopamine.

The Human Condition

2010-11-25T02:35:00.001+05:30

The Human Condition

Yesterday I was a happy sailor,
Today I'm a worried captain,
Tomorrow I'll be a drunk philosopher,
And the day after, I'll kill myself and start a new life.

The aim of this post is not to reduce the human condition to a few quirks, but to note down a few indiscrepancies that we tend to look over our daily lives. This post is a tribute to Neuroscience which has made tremendous leaps and bounds during the past 3-4 years of establishing a fine and sensible theory of human-consciousness.

I am not in the mood to dwell deep into the inner workings of neurons so this post will illustrate the concept of the "Synaptic Self", and how it can explain every possible misunderstanding we have about the human condition. To make it easy on the reader I've reduced the human condition into 7 quirks. Quirk number 1 is the primary hypothesis that governs modern neuroscience, you will realize as you reader further, this influences and explains the every aspect of the human condition beautifully. The other 6 quirks are added for the sake of application.

So quirk #1: There is no "I" or "You". Our sense of self is an illusion.

Joseph Ledoux wrote a whole book about the Synaptic Self, where he describes how memories dictate the sense of self and why from a neurological standpoint the constant notion of self is an utter illusion. Why we create personalities for ourselves, limiting our potential and even restricting growth. The personalities we create are not real, we make them real because we need consistency, society needs consistency, to survive, to interact, to predict mutual behavior and build relationships.

But as Heraclitus phrased it a little over 2000 years ago, you can't bathe in the same river twice, and so you are not the same person you were 5 minutes ago. (For the record, Gothama and Lao Tzu, both contemporaries of Heraclitus living half way across the globe, preached the same thing.) The neurons that are firing inside your brain will tell you otherwise, the memories that are deeply engraved in your cognitive processes will be in denial, the organized-morality-establishing-institutions which were in part pervasively responsible for civilization, will beg for consistency - not understanding the virtues of empowerment via knowledge. But the truth is, we are nothing more than electrons passing through dense matter, inhibited, accelerated, and stored with the help of neurotransmitters and a rich array of brain chemical and brain structure that has evolved through millions of years.

When you realize this, you realize that we're not "really" intelligent (as we'll discover and ponder below). We're not "special" as we'd like ourselves to be. We're not that different from other mammals, or even other animals, or even trees and rocks. The difference (or the lack thereof) is what I call the human condition and is just a beautiful configuration of stardust, rising, falling, and dancing to the rhythm of Time [progression].

And perhaps more pragmatically, the subjects of psychology, sociology, anthropology, theology and philosophy will all be explained by models of neuroscience in the following years to come. Rather than making up exotic zoos of names for cognitive-biases and market behavior, these soft-sciences will rather be observational aids to Neuroscience.

And so we come to Quirk #2: The illusion of Conscious Rationality.

Rationality is relative. Some people are more rational (capable of being secular) than others. But there is no such thing as absolute rationality when it comes to human beings. We're always governed to some extent by cognitive biases. Reason itself in the human brain is governed from a shot of dopamine that the brain conjures during a problem-solving process. This explains the seemingly irrational behavior we humans tend to exhibit even during the rational thinking process. Cognitive biases such as confirmation bias, availability heuristics, and anchoring effects are interesting examples of humans not noticing the influence of learned behavior in the so-call abstract process of reason.

Richard Rorty playfully said that "the truth was whatever your contemporaries would allow you to get away with". And in the social context of knowledge, this is mostly the case. Since truths are subjective, the knowledge that is suppressed or heralded with glamour is very political in nature and subscribes to the change or conservatism that people beg from society. For example, the Aristotelian meritocracy was popular because it helped people justify slavery in an era without machines, where the progression of society required manual labour - lots of it. John Locke's utilitarian perspectives became popular in the 17th century because it justified the war against native americans. Heidegger's Existentialism was popular in the pre-WWII era because it paved the way for fascism and Hitler. Note that a meritocracy doesn't necessarily need slavery, utilitarianism doesn't require ethnic cleansing, and Existentialism is by no means fascist. But the philosophies that burgeoned during periods of human history, doesn't necessarily reflect human rationality. Rather it reflects the crude use of philosophy as a justification of unjustifiable things.

But don't underestimate the illusion of rationality. Like the illusion of self, it's a very powerful tool when used properly. We know more about the cosmos than our grandfathers would ever dream of knowing. Intel can fabricate 32nm architecture at the touch of a button. These are the children of reason, logic and great mathematical brilliance. But to think that human beings are capable of pure conscious rationality when it comes to life, politics, civilization and each other, is more or less wishful thinking.

So are we really Rational? Yes, even though our brains are filled with biases, we are rational - in a very difference sense of the word. Not in the logical sense, but in the emotional sense. Not from the conscious sense, but from the subconscious sense. Not from a brain perspective, but from a brain-body perspective.

Quirk #3: You are your whole body. Not just your brain.

One of most pervasive modern naturalistic hypothesis about the human condition is that we are our brain. Compared to the historical notions of "the soul", this is actually a very sensible hypothesis. Compared to the romantics who used to think that are hearts had a mind of their own and that of the mind-body dualists who used to think that there is a soul that goes through out-of-body experiences and after-lifes, the brain as a center of your being actually is kinda spectacular observation.

But it's not without flaw. Because while it is true that the brain is a key hub for neuron transfers, it's not the only one that calls the shots. Reflexes, preflexes, and automatic behaviour might sound innately biological, but they are examples of your body in action without the need brain influence (or partial brain influence). Human decapitation hasn't been experimentally observed that much, but when it comes to cockroaches, the decapitated bodies have been seen to groom the rest of the body even though it's teared off from the head.

There is also living proof that our brain is not the only one in control. Ever felt overwhelmed by love? Or lost in the heat of sexual desire? Ever felt an addiction to MSG rich food? Ever felt the urge to eat something really bad, out of the blue as if your life depended on it? Well, you're brain is no longer control by then. Instead, you're forced to rely on your gut feeling (more literally than we'd like to think), or as some people phrase it as "thinking with your dick". The fact is, it's not only our dicks and guts that do the thinking, our whole body does the thinking.

This concept is a bit hard to grasp for the innately scientific crowd, because we tend to be a bit more reductionist, but in the biology of the human body there's a lot of physiological processes that determine our existence and have equal impact as neurological ones. The brain controls most of the secretion of neurotransmitters, that increases and decreases the resistance of certain neuronal pathways. But we have to give merit to the end-points which govern the bulk of the voltage.

Another very convincing argument for the brain not being the center of your soul is the understanding of the illusion of free-will, which will be our next quirk.

Quirk #4: The illusion of an immediate conscious free-will

This isn't stemmed from a deterministic stand-point of the universe, although I'm open to the idea and can give postulations for both sides of the argument. Rather it comes from the culmination of the above 3 quirks of the human condition, and with the help of the famous Libet's experiments.

Libet's experiments show that our brains "make" the decision, a few seconds after we've already taken the initiative to do so. This tallies well with the Quirk #3 in where we've gone through the fact that our brains are not the only entity that does the thinking. It's also a great foundation for looking at the synaptic self quirk (quirk #1) and the illusion of conscious rationality (quirk #2) in a new paradigm.

As I've already said, the sense of self is beneficial for morality, which establishes a certain consistency that helps civilization to progress. So when Libet says that our brains actually allude us by making it look as if that we were responsible for our immediate actions, our sense (or illusion) of self is empowered and therefore strengthened.

But the lack of free will of our immediate actions, doesn't mean that we should remake policy decisions or recreate laws for crime and punishment, even though the person who's facing the sentence is not the same person who committed the crime. Which in a classical sense is obviously unjust. Daniel Dennet explains why this is not so, and I encourage you to have a look at the talk. Albeit a bit long, it will avoid those that are confused from getting into a depressed state.

There's also been various scientific experiments that shows that the illusion of freewill in human subjects increases moral behaviour and reduces depression. Martin Sieglmann's whole new avenue of psychology on "learned happiness" and "learned unhappiness" took off when he did experiments on dogs that strengthened and inhibited the illusion of freewill, respectively. So it's important that even though we understand the deterministic nature (not absolute determinism) of human decisions, when we come back from the secular self-aware mindset to the absolute present, that we take responsibility for our actions.

Disclaimer: Note that I've been careful not to voice my opinion on freewill. I've just voiced my opinion on immediate-freewill.

Quirk #5: Hot-cold empathy gap

When you're hungry, you think you can eat the world. But when you've taken about two bites of that sandwidch, you know that you may have overestimated your stomach's capacity a wee bit too much. Same is true for sex, love, companionship, security, self-expression, and even self-actualization. Metaphorically speaking, once we take a few bites off the apple, we come back to reality and realize that it might have actually been a sin. In short, the feeling of Excess need is an illusions. George Loewenstein at Carnegie Mellon calls it the hot-cold empathy gap, where it's impossible to understand what it means to be happy when you're ~~in love~~ angry and vice versa.

The hot-cold empathy gap is capable of driving markets, making people strive to change, it's capable of building families, raising civilizations and pushing the human potential to it's limit. Downsides may include (but not limited to) American-Psycho type (compulsive) behaviour, unwanted pregnancies, bitterness/jealousy and downright inability to feel empathy towards fellow human beings.

Quirk #6: The divided and unconscious brain.

In Quirk #3 I tried to describe the divident nature of our bodies and brains. What I'm telling you now is that our brains are also divided. If not for the corpus callosum which connects the right and left hemispheres of our brain, we would be having trouble making decisions like what to wear and what to eat.
Back in the day when neurosurgeons resorted to splitting the two hemispheres of the brain to stop a cancer from growing, patients who had lesions in the corpus callosums reported that when their right hand moved to grab a particular dress, the left hand would stop it from doing so. The reason being is that the right side of your body is influenced by your left side of the brain while the left side of your body is influenced by the right side of your brain. In these instances the patients had to call a caregiver to help them get into an outfit.

Iain McGilchrist has written a book on how the western world has been shaped and influenced by the divided brain. Even though his conclusions are far fetched, it should be read for vast literature review of right-left hemispheric brain that has been compiled.

Quirk #7: The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.

Yes, this was Einstein. But more importantly this is us. One synaptic self cannot feel to comprehend another synaptic self. Earlier we called this the hot-cold empathy gap. Not only can't we fathom the notion of happiness in times of depression, we can't even predict our own behaviour in circumstances that we haven't been through.

Thus, when we are in a certain state of thinking, we are limiting ourselves to that specific synaptic state, rather than embracing change.

The best way to peer into the limitlessness of ourselves is to dream lucidly. If you've ever "woken up" during a dream, you would've realized that your mind is capable of conjuring intricate dialogues, and elaborate stories that your conscious self would've never been capable of doing. In fact most of the good ideas that we have occur during the REM part of sleep, where synapses are random, chaotic and spontaneious. (Another reason why you should put your ipod on shuffle, rather than listening over and over to your favourite band.)

But this doesn't affect us only in the emotional and cognitive level, it affects us to the core. In the process of changing ourselves to meet external threats and opportunities, we compromise our perspectives, values and moralities. We become completely different people under our own noses. Not only is the water in the river different, but the river flows in a completely different direction. Alas, given the right circumstances we are all everyone else.

If we are everyone else, how is there so many conflicts in the world? How is there so many problems that are stagnant without resolution? Are we not fighting ourselves? Are we not commiting suicide instead of homicide?

Since questions are inherently stronger than answers, I will end here.

Epilogue:

I apologize for making this post long. But there are many common misconceptions that I had to address, and so many traditional thought processes that I had to fight. If not, this post would've been a lot shorter. Actually there wouldn't have been a post at all. I would just be silent. What I'm trying to say is, the above text is not the truth. Rather it serves as a purposeful deconstruction the way that we are brought up to think about the human condition.

Don't take my words literally. They were meant as a guide to the right path. The words themselves are not the right path. There's a nice Zen Buddhist analogy that describes this; when you point to the moon with your finger, you don't expect the other person to believe that your finger is the moon. You expect them to see pass your finger and see the moon. In the same way, I hope dear reader you will break pass my words, my koans and my metaphors and will be able to see the light.

The only thing that survives decapitation is vanity..

2010-11-10T08:14:00.003+05:30

link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ_f3Fc0ZRA

This innately naturalist talk stirred up some inner conflicts so I thought I'd jot them down.

1.) The body carries information through electrons.

This sentence says a lot. Even though the speaker was inclined towards deterministic view of the brain, we quantum physicists know that the behavior of electrons are inherently random and probabilistic. I'm beginning to wonder if we're living in the Newtonian age of brain chemistry, and whether the mechanics of freewill will ever be discovered during my lifetime.

2.) The critic is not always great.

Self-consciousness is a bitch. Not only are humans capable of being unhappy, but we're capable of being unhappy about being unhappy. Stuttering is caused by over self-consciousness of one's words. It develops into a habit later, but it starts out -as with so many social anxiety disorders- with self-consciousness. Erectile dysfunction is also a cause of self-consciousness. There was a talk by Philip Zimbardo that explained the latter eloquently, but I'm too lazy to search for it.

So how can one overcome it? Well, you have to be conscious about of self-consciousness. Not in a way that we'd be able to be unhappy about being unhappy over being unhappy. No. That's not it. Rather it should be an awareness that gives power back to the actor. Some people call it living in the present moment. The absolute present moment.

3.) I have to learn to be a bit more brutal.

This talk was excellent. The rhythm, the power, the deliberate control that he had over the audience was a joy to watch. We post-modern scientists rarely have that gist in us. We tend to be a bit more, well you know, post modern. Quoting Russell, which leads to a world where the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

Marriage, love and human relationships

2010-10-08T00:04:00.001+05:30

Never trust girls who let themselves be touched right away. But even less those who need a priest for approval. - The shadow of the wind

The concept of marriage has always been a distant thing. Even as a child I felt the whole charade of dressing up in front of people and posing for the camera, a little too absurd for my taste. I remember the first time I went to a wedding, around 5 or 6, I asked my father what the whole commotion was about. He said that this is what they do when two people realize they want to spend the rest of their lives together. Being a practical man, I thought long and hard about who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and decided that it was going to be with my best friend. Innocently, I asked my father if two men could marry each other. His face curled up into a frown and sternly he replied "No, don't even think about it." I wasn't well versed in the art of conversation at that time, but I knew that that was the end of our small father-to-son talk.

Even though I've grown quite a bit afterwards, my outlook on marriage hasn't changed that much. I still think weddings are a charade, and marriage is a mere agreement where love comes to die. The reason why I'm writing this however, is not to convince myself or anyone else the (f)utility of marriage as a lifestyle choice, but rather to ponder upon the intricate yet simple nature of human relationships.

One of my friends said today that her boyfriend has lost interest in her. They had been together for more than 7 years now, and she feels that their relationship is held together because he doesn't want to upset their parents. Yes, in Sri Lanka (as well as in many conservative villages throughout the world) marriages don't happen between boys and girls. They happen between extended families. And escape is not an option. Unless you like domestic disputes between in-laws, which are faboulous in their own little way - lots of fireworks and all - but it drains out all your energy, and you feel miserable at the end of the day.

But yes getting back to the institution of marriage - it is a wonderful set-up if you want to have children, reduce your taxes and want to blend in with society. All equally worthwhile endeavors that people shouldn't be ashamed of striving for. But there is a looming myth behind the institution of marriage - and that is the promise of a happily-ever-after. I'm no expert on the subject, but I'll tell you this - happiness is not a destination, it's not a journey either. Happiness is a market phenomenon that makes people buy stuff. Have you ever considered the fact that you're already happy? No, because that's not how the market-driven world allows you to think. You always need to be better, you always need better clothes, better electronics, better education, better children, a better life. This is not to say that the market-driven world is bad, on the contrary it's the best thing that humankind has come up with, after of course raspberry cheese-cake. But there needs to be a coexistence of the pursuit-of-happiness (which guarantees a steady future) and present-moment-enlightenment (which guarantees a kingdom of heaven on Earth) inside our brains.

So where does modern marriage stand in this respect? I'll cut to the chase and say that it's more inclined towards the pursuit-of-happiness mindset. Unconditional, romantic love shatters in the face of any sort of agreement just because it brings the element of justice and expectations to the equation. The death of spontaneity becomes evident when marriage counselors tell you to keep these expectations explicit as much as possible. But they're right - you can't sign an agreement without knowing what's in it.

I wouldn't however go as far to say that the agreement of marriage is similar to prostitution. There's much more clarity in prostitution - the client and entrepreneur each know what the other wants from them. And there's no time for mutual growth or rediscovering the universe in each others arms, so the conflicts remain at a bare minimum. But what's life without a little conflict/coexistence? And for that reason marriage is a little better social choice than prostitution.

But it's not the only choice. Especially if you're not obsessed with having children of your own. But that's a story for another time. Right now, I should get back to that apple-crumble that's looking at me suggestively from across the table.

It's the whole brain we're missing!

2010-09-15T04:25:00.000+05:30

Some say that society today is too rational. That it's not creative enough.
Some say that society today is irrational. That too much of it is based on impulse.

The truth is, rationality and creativity are not polar opposites.
In fact, creativity does not arise in the absence of rational thinking.

The truth is, acting on impulse doesn't mean that someone is irrational.
In fact, the most successful humans are rational and can act on impulse.

It's just most people have forgotten how to think, reason, and envision.
At the same time they've forgotten how to feel. empathize. live, and love.
So it's not a lack of the left brain or the right brain as some people say.
It's the whole brain we're missing!

A Requiem to Consciousness

2010-09-08T18:42:00.000+05:30

Libet's experiments have proved that our conscious mind is 0.2 seconds late to "decide" our actions.
It's already done for us by the time, we decide to do it.
So yes, consciousness is merely a myth. An optimistic world-view.

Most of our reactions are unconscious.
So I've stopped trying to explain myself
sometimes to others, but especially to myself.

But no, I can't remain in society if I don't explain my actions.
So for the benefit of others, I rationalize. And I do that pretty well.
In fact, it changes my future unconscious behavior.
(So yes, we do have free will. Just not for the present moment.)

My rationalizations are not flawed, nor are they deceptive. And it's not self-serving either.
Altruism, which is engraved in the homosapien brain as much as the desire for sex and food,
ensures that my ethics and morality are "human".
I don't need a religon or a God to tell me what's right and what's not.

As I watch with awe as my body finds it's own way.
This mind feels less and less inclined to claim itself for it's own.

The case against Racial/National Identity

2010-09-02T23:32:00.001+05:30

(Elif does a much better job, so listen to her first)

Living in a different country adds quite a number of quirks to everyday life, but perhaps the most articulable and the most intellectually stimulating one is that of identity.

For most people, I'm an "Indian". An Indian (when the noun is pronounced with an air of arrogance) is someone who's good at math, knows how to cook curry, is usually a vegetarian, has a horrible/funny accent, and someone who bargains a lot before buying something. And I don't mind, for all I care, what people think about me is none of my business. Occasionally I get the, "so which part of India are you from?", to which I would answer politely, and promptly accompany it with a lesson in geography. People usually stop there but if they're a bit more knowledgeable and curious, the rest of the conversation will briefly touch on Black Tea, Rubies and Civil Wars.

I don't mind that either. I've lived in Sri Lanka for a long time, and have invested quite a number of neurons to understand and appreciate the culture there. But there is a fine line between appreciating a culture and identifying with it.

It seems the more people I talk with about Sri Lanka, the more they want me to behave like a "Sri Lankan". And Russel Peters and Maz Jobrani are doing the opposite of helping.

Surprisingly this happens more when I'm talking with other "Sri Lankan" people. Or people from Sri Lanka who like to identify themselves by their country. Relatives, friends, acquaintances, even university professors! They want me to succeed because I'm a Sri Lankan. Hilariously irrational when you think about it, but nonetheless frightening. Because when I talk to these people, it seems that our whole relationship (irrespective of the past we've had) is built up on this clan-mentality.

I usually don't elude to my sexual orientation, my marital status or my [lack of] belief systems. Not necessarily because I'm uncomfortable with those things, but because things get too stereotypical and generic to a point of pervasion. When I was little, I used to think that sex was the act of intercourse, where a penis enters a vagina. But now as I mature, I see that the boundaries of sex are not so definite or even physical for that matter. I'm certainly a better human being for it. The argument for eluding martial status and belief systems, is that they are simply irrelevant. My worth as a human being to society is neither augmented nor diminished on the basis of having a spouse or a belief system.

It should be and will be the same for racial profiling. I will not let myself, identify myself with a certain cast, culture or creed. Whether it be Sri Lankan, American, Western, Eastern or "multi-cultural". As for others, well, I will continue to not make it my business to think about what they think.

The endless search for content

2010-08-04T19:03:00.002+05:30

We see things as we are.
Our brains reward the ideas that are planted in our heads.
When we search for the meaning of life, we search for those ideas that strengthen our own.
They are not necessarily true or false. Just memes.
And when we do find something similar, dopamine and seratonine rewards us.
And we think we've achieved something

Dreams seem real because the brain throws random thoughts at us.
Just like nature.
Even though it's incoherent, absurd and ghastly unrealistic,
Our egos want to make it real. And that makes it real.

To escape is to deconstruct. To percieve without judgement.
To be in the moment, with your senses blazing and the brain set in cruise control.

And thus you will stop the endless search of content.

Solving the riddle of Biology

2010-07-19T17:37:00.001+05:30

We're just two decades away from a century of Quantum Mechanics, and it's suprising that we haven't found macroscopic quantum effects in nature. There's been speculation of plants using entanglement in the photosynethsis process, and philosophical arguments of quantum mechanics playing an active role in the higher brain functions.

Yet we haven't quite nailed it yet. It'll be amazing if we did. And I'm sure nature's capable of exploiting macro-quantum effects. She was millions of years ahead of us with exploiting plasma (fire) and electricity. So why not entanglement and uncertainty to do her bidding?

We have the basics of Quantum Mechanics on writing. But I guess we're missing the mathematics to link the complexity of biological systems to the physics we know. The whole success behind Materials Science and Silicon Technology is that it's implemented to increadibly simple systems. We deal with single-crystals which have uniform crystal structure. And it's just text book analytical calculus to Dirac's bra-ket mathematics to solve problems. Numerical systems and epic computing power has accelerated us to new heights, although it still falls short to tackle the implementation of Quantum Mechanics to biological systems.

Maybe something like Mandelbrots fractals might do the trick. Hmmm....

Imagine what would happen to biology. You wouldn't need to memorize all those latin names. Just a few simple equations would suffice. Man, even I wouldn't mind reading biology books if that happens.

The Truth [Nirvana]: A personal Voyage

2010-07-18T19:06:00.002+05:30

1.) Start with Nothing. And stay there.

The post-modernists call it deconstruction. Religious fanatics call it immorality and the path to hell. But the whole idea of living in the present-moment is to dis-identify yourself from the [mind] noise coming from past experiences, cultural baggage, genetic preconditioning, biological tendencies, sexual orientation, and circumstantial/selective morality. Being aware of these things will open up your mind.

This does not mean you should suppress emotion. By all means Dance. With style. Entertain yourself.

1.5) Choose the red pill.

Truths are not optimistic.
Civilization will tell you that Truth is bad. But conforming to a profoundly sick society is not Intelligence.
Self-help gurus will tell you Truth's are good. But in real life, most of the people you meet will not be ready to handle it.
The fact is truths are neither bad nor good. They are neutral.

2.) Nirvana is not permanent.

Deal with it. It's a state of mind, which too shall pass. The whole notion of "attaining" Enlightenment is a big fat joke, which you'll realize when you've attained it.

3.) Escape thought loops.

4.) Don't defend what you already know.

People willing to learn will learn. People who are not willing to learn will not learn.
Webs of self-deceit are build for a reason. Remember the introduction to Absurdisim? When people are at a crisis, it's natural for them to choose physiological suicide.

5.) Don't underestimate the power of personal choice.

Avoid people, groups, events, thoughts and practises that hinder progress. Spend more time with the things that are progressive.

The burden of Justice

2010-07-15T03:18:00.002+05:30

Statue at FallingWater, PA

We are not born equal, and we do not die equal.
Yet, we demand justice from one another.
Not just "don't kill me and I won't kill you",
but also, "love me forever and I will take care of you"

As if forever is a tangible thing.

Relationships between lovers, Parents and children, sibilings and friends,
Even our bond with the universe, is raped by the tyranny of Justice.
We quarrel not because there's a reason to quarrel,
but because the we think the other person is not committed enough.

We don't love each other, we love a future filled with love.

Let go of this burden of Justice,
Let go of this constant notion of Self, which demands Justice,
And let yourself grow.
Let the people around you grow.

The world is beautiful, when it's viewed without the glasses of Justice.

The hypothesis of Self

2010-07-08T02:57:00.003+05:30

"Why does it always happen to me?"

- The quintesential quesion of the Self.

Of the most intricate webs of deceit our brains have come up with over the millenia,
The Self has been the most persistant and successful.

Why? For progress. For survival.
What else could it be for, when time is involved?
Everything that's constricted to the forward arrow of time,

is goverened by natural selection.
Survival of the fittest. Not neccasarily the strongest. And not neccasarily the truest.

Time is a pimp. And we're her whores.

We've built empires and shrines that worship the self.
and memes that decorate it further.
Love, hate, war, peace, entire relationships, and complete biographies.
Webs of deciet, built upon the hypothesis of a constant self. Or an ever changing one.

It doesn't matter whether you believe in Self, the change of Self,

or the rate of change of Self.
Believing in a truth about a lie, doesn't make the lie any real.

It's ironic, because we search for Intelligent Life in space,
when we ourselves are far from Intelligent.
And the funny thing is we will never find it,
because we haven't the slightest clue what we're looking for.

Change: Do it now.

2010-06-30T20:32:00.000+05:30

Expose yourself to less noise. Make every moment meaningful, which reduces the time constant (dead time) of the brain. Bringing your attention to absolute focus.

The brain needs to be exercised, and more importantly, maintained. Although earlier the better, brain plasticity (development) can be triggered at any age.

Engage in broader and diverse brain exercises, and try to attribute immediate physical and emotional rewards as much as possible. This might sound like raw Classical or Operant conditioning, but the truth is our brain (our mind) is a part our body, and unconscious stimulus in terms of physiological rewards can lead to tremendous results. We all know the placebo effect and how physiological conditioning can lead to miracles

So stop listening to traditional morality arguments. Reward yourself for growth. Immediately. Use the present hedonistic aspect of the brain for your advantage, not self-stagnation.

Shutter Island, Schrodinger, Fairy Tales and Consumerism

2010-06-23T03:45:00.004+05:30

Random Internet Meme: to go with the randomness of this post

Watched Shutter Island. T'was Masterpiece. In every sense of the word. The story, the characters, the build up, the plot twists, the [anti]-climax, the last laugh, the psychological depth behind every single scene.... almost everything in Shutter Island defies the common notion of a Hollywood film. It's probably the only film that I've watched in my adult life that I wouldn't mind watching again.

Learned to solve the Schrodinger Equation in a bloch wave formalism for a perfect crystal. Using Fortran. That's the easy part, now I have to come with my own assumptions and hypothesis and defend it against three darn good scientists.

Fairy tales for girls is like porn for men. The greater issue is that fairy tales have been around and influencing culture for thousands of years. Pornography, not so long.

Trying to rebel against consumerism is like trying to rebel against your ego. You only strengthen it by trying to let go. You can try to stop letting go. But then you'll have to stop stop letting go. And this is unfortunately is a good example for a recursive thought process.

So the answer, lies not in thought, but somewhere else.

Mass-awareness

2010-06-16T06:13:00.000+05:30

(At Ohiopyle State Park)

I Listen. to her words. to her story. to her heart.
I know I will never feel the way she does.
She's a woman. I'm a man. Our neurotransmitters have evolved to trigger at different moments.
Yet I listen. And try to understand.

I Listen. to his words. to his fears. to his dreams.
I know I've felt the same when I was his age.
He's younger. I'm getting old. I can't quite get into his shoes. At least not now, knowing the things I know.
But I listen. And try to feel the same way.

We're all the same. At some point in our lives.
Rarely do we find someone at the exact same time and space.
But never stop looking.
Or stop empathizing with our other lives.

I sometimes wonder..

2010-06-14T00:00:00.002+05:30

කපා බිම හෙලා ගහ කොල, තනා මහ විමන් මිහි මත
පුරින් පුර දනන් දෙව් පුර අසිරි මවනවා.
ඒ මැවුම් දකින දෙවියෝ බියෙන් සැලෙනවා!
~සුනිල් එදිරිසිංහ et al

What would've happened if the Ionian Scientists won instead of Pythagorean Philosophers?
What would've the human race achieved in 2500 years of science instead of 500?

Would we be interstellar travellers? Or even time travellers?
Would our minds have evolved so that we could comprehend relativity intuitively?

Would our morality be finally free of religious (imaginary) constructs?
Would commerce be free of government?
Will humans realize that the mind is a part of the body, and not something foreign?
Will we realize that production line labour should be left for the machines,
and our minds with creativity and innovation?

What I'm not..

2010-06-09T07:39:00.005+05:30

Photo credit: Giampaolo

"I'm not an atheist", I say to an unconvinced friend. "I'm a scientist."
There's no need for a God hypothesis. (with apologies to Laplace)

"It's not that I don't believe in love," I say to a unconvinced girl. "I believe in greater things than what society calls love."
Why can't people love each other right now, instead of loving a future filled with love?

"I'm not an escapist," I say to unconvinced anthropoligist. "I just like to avoid confrontration with incompatible human biengs."
Personal choice (even silent avoidance) makes a huge impact in capitalistic markets.

"I'm not routing for the opposition party," I say to an unconvinced Sri Lankan. "I just don't like the policies of the current regime."

Criticizing giving feedback of the government is an essential part of controlling Democracy.

"I'm not an absurdist," I say to an unconvinced philosopher. "I'm an existentialist."
Why try to attribute a meaning to life, when we well and truely know that there isn't one?

"I'm not an anarchist," I say to an unconvinced citizen. "I'm a libertarian."

Good Governance: less=more.

But go ahead and call me an atheist, tell me that I don't believe in love, label me as an escapist and brand me as absurdist and anarchist. Because I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't know the difference.

Science is not a religion

2010-06-02T01:32:00.002+05:30

Left picture shows an experimental Electron Backscatter Diffraction Pattern (taken by a Scanning Electron Microscope). The image on the right is a scientific simulation (drawn by a computer program) that shows our current understanding of Electron Backscattering is pretty good. (Source: Winkelmann, Cambridge Journal of Microscopy and Microanalysis)

Most of us are aware that,

1.) Science is not a belief system
2.) Science is not a philosophy
3.) There are no scientific truths. There're only hypothesis and postulations.
4.) Science may not solve the riddle of the Universe, but it's the closest thing that the human mind is capable of

But how can we deal with people who don't?

Throughout my travels I have befriended many individuals with different backgrounds. Some from the basic sciences, some from the applied sciences, some from arts and mangament, a few from philosophy, and quite a number from no educational background at all. And I've learned to love the different perspectives on life and the universe that a majority of people bring to the coffee
table.

And irrespective of their educational background, I end up explaining the above four, usually without much success.

The problem that most people face I think is that the notion of science described to them by their old science teachers (or given to them by popular media) is so pervasely strict and unyielding. Facts are fed into rational minds without giving reason, experimentation or the history behind a discovery. Of course these teachers and journalists are not real scientists, so we can't blame
them. The only thing that we can do is build awareness, atleast among our friends who were not properly introduced to science.

I guess the first step is to let them know about the scientific method. How hypothesis are made and concurrently tested by experimentation while theories are proposed to explain the observations. Obviously there will be things that people will not appreciate (like the application of geometry or calculus to build and simplify beautiful theories) but they might understand the process behind
the scientific method, and realize that science is a self-correcting mechanism that tries to understand the world we live in. People have a natural tendency towards stories, so historical tales
like the ones in Lady Tasting Tea or Hawking's God Created Integers, might help people who have little or no mathematical background. Reccommending documetaries like Carl Sagan's Cosmos or Michio
Kaku's Physics of the Impossible might also help to people who are too lazy to sit and read.

But perhaps the most significant thing, we as scientists can do is to wear our uncertainty without shame. When we talk in day-to-day life, we can use English Prime rather traditional English. We can be a little post-modern and existential even if stupid comedians don't get it. Even if we know that a hypothesis is 99.999999% correct, when talking to a layman who doens't know about the
subject, we can treat it as a postulation rather than a truth. This does not by any means boil down to teaching Creationsim or Intelligent Design in a high-school physics. That would be validating
ignorance instead of distributing knowledge which schools are supposed to do.

Last but not least, we should not philosophize our scientific findings. Leave that for the cocktail party philosophers who trample over their inflated egos, or for people who crave attention and drama. Philosophying science gives a false sense that science is but a mere tool of philosophy. And that scientific conclusions boil down to philosophical ones. Which of course is not true.

So what I merely suggest is to change ourselves, and the way we interact with people who have not yet learned to appreciate the capacity of the human mind.

There might be a lot of patience involved, and in the beginning you might feel like it's a loosing battle or a waste of time and effort. But sometimes you have to surrender to win.

A Nation of Fear

2010-05-20T22:14:00.002+05:30

සබඳ අප කඳු නොවෙමු, උනුන් පරයා නැගෙන. සුනිල දිය දහර වෙමු එකම ගඟකට වැටෙන...

~කපුගේ et al

It seems that we're still at war,
Not with the otherside, but with ourselves.

It seems that we've created a nation of fear,
Not of terrorism, but of of racial extinction.

It seems that we're still not independent,
Not from the British, but from our own feudal lords.

It seems that we're a nation of illiteracy.
Not of grammer and language, but of emotional intelligence and empathy.

It seems that we're a nation of denial.
For we seek salvation in the past, and not in the future.

Interview with God (10 mins)

2010-05-09T07:49:00.000+05:30

Alan Watts - the Entertainer

Buddhism, for people living in isolated islands and think pompously highly of their 2500 year old culture, is just a religion.

Buddhism, for the unscientific mind provides the ultimate philosophical loop-hole to argue incessantly at cocktail parties.

Buddhism, for the child monk who was ordained even before puberty is a cruel law that subdues his sexuality.

Buddhism, for the typical western Self-help-Guru is the ultimate mode of self-actualization. (Emphasis on the self)

Buddhism, for the God-fearing Fox-News-watching-conservative-tea-party goer, is Atheism.

Buddhism, for the militant-jihadist is blasphemy.

Buddhism, for me, is just a set of words. Interpreted by many for their own ends.

Post-secret at Carnegie Mellon

2010-04-27T16:53:00.003+05:30

It was a dark and rainy evening. The colours of spring flowers and green grass were vibrant in the diffuse light. The sound of rain -ever-so-soothing- slowed me down, made me reflect, made me aware and still.

Frank Warren, the world's most trusted stranger, spoke for an hour. Twas not a performance, not a spectacular staged event where people cried or laughed compulsively. It was an ordinary man, talking about an extra-ordinary movement, and how the journey has been both personal and transformational. And also a brave bunch of people who stood up and told their secrets to a crowd full of strangers.

I was introduced to post-secret when I was living in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Yes, it is a global phenonmenon. The poetry, graphic art, real people, real secrets..I mean, how can it not be a global phenomenon? And it was kind of nice to actually have attended a live event, which I would never have even dreamed about an year ago.

There are two kinds of secrets; ones that you hide from others, and one's that you hide from yourself. Although post-secret is filled with the first kind, there's the occasional trascending secret that leaves you in a state of Nirvana, that doesn't easily go away...

But the first kind of secrets, the one's that you hide from others, are sometimes equally important in the self-transformation process. Randy Paush used to say, "If there's an elephant in the room, introduce it." Transperency and opening yourself to others is not always considered a virtue. But, in this age where personal is political, and social networking is accessible to everyone, it might be the time to change.. And as Frank so eloquently puts it, "hopefully people will stop victimizing themselves and set themselves free."

And one of the ways to stop victimizing oneself, is to tell your secret to a total stranger. Someone who won't judge, someone who won't act as a "father-figure", someone who will laugh at the secret, but not at you. someone who will not be threatened by change. Someone who realizes that you are not a sum of your experiences, but a human being with infinite potential.

Wait, is that too much to ask?

An evening with Jorge Cham (PhD Comics)

2010-04-24T08:23:00.005+05:30

Jorge Cham is not your typical Mechanical Engineering PhD, that's for sure. If the guy is any good at writing comics, he's superb at giving talks. The hypothesis which was defended came in the lines of "procastination is not necessarily a needless thing". He kind of cheated by changing the subjective definition of the word, but in the end managed to prove that graduate school does make you excellent at giving 1 hour talks about random subjects, like for example...procastination.

At one point an audience member asked "Do you draw the comics yourself?", to which he calmly replied "I have a bunch of undergraduates who work on that." Seriously, there were hundreds more utterly hilarious moments, that I cannot do justice to by jotting it down here.

A Friday evening with Jorge Cham, free food (courtesy CMU and UPitt GSAs), and reminding yourself why you chose a path in higher studies in the first place...What more can a stressful graduate student with an identity crisis ask for? :)

Meh. Now, back to the lab...

Doctor Who?

2010-04-19T04:04:00.007+05:30

"You are the Daleks. And I am the Doctor. Your worst enemy!"
~Rhetorical words from The Doctor - the last of the TimeLords - while he bashes defines his worst enemy to death life.





Yes, I find myself watching this hilariously absurd British-sci-fi-comedy-tragedy which's captivated the hearts and minds of teenage girls for the last forty odd years. 

For educational purposes, of course..

It involves an all powerful time-travelling ego-maniacal lonely super-human who likes to take human females as pseudo-platonic companions as he travels through all of time and space, saving the Universe and bashing evil-do-gooders. Nothing too stereotypical... just the unconscious human mind feeding its desire for an idealistic platform to stand on.

Also London is the center of world, rather than New York, which reminds my unconsciousness that I am allowed to be happy about not watching a typical Hollywood soap...  

To misquote Ralph Waldo Emerson, this moment cannot be described more phenomenal than any other, if only we know what to do with it. The following verse from the second episode almost makes me want to disagree.

In bed above or deep asleep
what greater love lies so deep
this dream must end, this world must move
we all depend on the beast below

The pervasive misuse of Language

2010-04-07T08:54:00.002+05:30

Image Credit: pvf

Words mean different things to different people.
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias are there for kicks.
After all, they're just words describing words.

The real meaning of words arise from popular culture.
Or from indie culture. Whatever you're into.
From experience, from prejudices, from preconcieved notions,
and from our own bleeding hearts.

To be defined as a victim or as a hero,
To be a friend or a foe,
To be a lover or to be a cynic,
You are allowed to use a set of words,
But not all of them, and especially not in random.

If you are happy you cannot be sad,
If you are enlightened you cannot be ignorant,
If you are ruthless you cannot be bothered,
If you are fucked up you cannot be awesome.

If you're an "innocent" girl in a red hood you'll be abused by a big bad ~~man~~ wolf,
If you're a 30-something bachalorette in Manhatten your life is a effin chick-flick,
If you're a "patriot" and a "believer" you deserve to live in this country,
If you're a venture-capitalist/goddamn-socialist you will rot in hell.

"Science is a religion."
"My religion has a scientific basis!"
"No! I am right, you are wrong."
"Your god is false, our god is God!"
"You're not human, you are Hitler!"

Life is but a Melodrama...

2010-03-29T04:31:00.002+05:30

Image shamelessly stolen from Athena's facebook

A few days ago I went to see a melodrama at Carlow and came to realize that CMU is not the only university with an awesome theatre group.

I'm not a pundit of theatre (nor am I a pundit of any form art for that matter) so I'll reserve my judgements of the play for the time being. Yet it's impossible not to give credit to the wonderful set of actors who enacted their sterotypical Victorian roles pretty well. The high-pitched-evil-step-sisters, the moustache-twirling Snidely Whiplashs, the damsels in distress, the gallant platonic gentlemans of the yesteryears, and the self-victimizing-helpless female protaganists were all inacted with vigourous enthusiasm. Phew, that was a lot of words in one sentence.

To me however the whole experience was kinda liberating because I've never really been to a melodrama before. A play where its politcally correct to laugh at the sadness and emotional drama of the story. It's true that we're just making fun of the Victorian age sterotypes but it dawned on me that a couple of decades from now, our children might be laughing at our self-inflicted suffering and the sterotypical drama we create for ourselves.

Lately, I've also become aware of the pervasiveness of the Hero's Journey, which is ever present in almost all popular films, books and biographies. I watched a random Harry Potter movie with a friend recently and even though I enjoyed the moment, the theme lay heavy on my heart - because the drama was agonizing but also tempting enough to make you want to identify with it.

But I know now what to do when watching a movie that exploits the Hero's Journey. Laugh. Laugh at the evil step sisters, laugh at the personification of pure evil, laugh at the fools who are trapped with their learned-helplessnes, laugh at the portrayal of idealistic white knights in shining armour, laugh at the protaganist who thinks that happily-ever-after is a destination.

Life is but a melodrama, if we let the roleplaying seduce us.

Nirvaana...

2010-03-27T08:38:00.002+05:30

Image Credit: Palojono

Happens when you stop searching for it.

When you realize that being sad about being sad can be just as harmful.
When you realize that time is an illusion, and the only moment is the present.
When you realize the way you feel is the only way you should be feeling. No exceptions.
When you realize that the ego likes emotional pain, roleplaying and never-ending drama.
When you realize the voice in your head is not you.
When you realize the thoughts in your head are not you.
When you realize your accomplishments, aspirations and morals are not you.
When you realize that your past does not amount to who you are.
When you realize the only thing you can hold on to, is change.
When you realize letting go is the only way out.
When you realize Nirvaana is easier done than said.

When you realize that the mere act of realization is enough.

Self Confidence

2010-03-12T02:45:00.003+05:30

Image credit: blythe_d

If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve. - Lao Tzu

Someone recently asked me "How can a person be self confident when they are constantly trying to fix themselves?"

The question is not surprising because what society calls self-confidence is usually arrogance and nothing more. In mainstream fiction and popular films, you'll often see the protaganist feeling inferior at the begining and then after a stupid mishap on part of the villian the hero feels superior and all is well in the land of the hero's journey.

Superiority in actuality has nothing to do with self-confidence. It's merely an ego trip that our minds indulge in. No one is superior or inferior to anyone else. With all the roles we play in our daily lives, it's almost impossible to remember this. I try my best to be the same person and to feel neutral when dealing with my parents, my professors, my friends and anyone I meet on the street. But old habits die hard, and I find myself falling into temptation. It's always nice though being able laugh at myself and move on. Doing so has given clarity to a number of unhealthy interpersonal relationships.

Men like Gothama, Jesus, and Lao Tzu were some of the earlier humans to understand this. They realized the futility in subscribing to socially induced superiority roles like social status, castes, and creed and they became social mavericks in the process of disconnecting with such roles. Gothama told his disciples not to sit high chairs, so that people who came to seek guidance did not feel inferior to the "Gurus". But unfortunately the message of these awakened beings are misinterpreted so pervasaly today that people even treat them as gods (or sons of gods) - the exact opposite of what they taught us.

Confidence also does not have anything to do with uncertainty. It's a scientific fact that the world is uncertain. The quote from Lao Tzu above stresses the importance of coming to terms with this uncertainty. Eckhart Tolle perhaps gives the most elegant description of uncertainty. "Saying 'I don't know', is not saying that you're confused. Saying 'I don't know and I should know' is saying that you're confused. "

Getting back to our early question, so how do you build self confidence?

The answer is you don't. The more you pursue happiness, the less you find it. The more you seek love, the less you recieve it. It's the same with self confidence. Like happiness, love, and peace, self confidence is not a noun. It's a verb. It's something that happens in the present moment. If you're at peace right now, you'll feel it.

Vagina Monologues & Gender Mosaics

2010-03-01T04:16:00.006+05:30

Image Credit: nickyfern

I did a piece on gender when I was in Moratuwa, but the topic never gets old. And at Carnegie Mellon after a three sessions of intense word-play and a theatrical performance of Vagina Monologues and Men's Story Project I felt that even here in the US, though people are comfortable with sexuality they still have issues with appreciating the diversity and flexibility of gender. After all, why build awareness if everyone's aware of the issue?

After a brief history lesson I learnt that the topics of Gender Equality and Gender Neutrality seem to be the highlight of the feminist movements. Quite right so, because there are many policy level changes that have to be made and laws that need to be amended. The second or thrid wave of the feminist movement -if I remember correctly- was a little more mature and involved the expression of individual voices and beliveing that personal is political, and believing in living the way you want can have significant political impact than anything else.

The issue of chivalry was raised by a good Samaritan and was met with a very proper gender neutral answer, saying that irrespecive of whether it's a woman or a man carrying a heavy package we should offer help. I wished it was discussed a little more because I myself never know whether it's offending or being inconsiderate to help or not to help a damsel in distress. But hilarity aside...

Some of the feminist issues that were brought up in my opinion are psycological issues that are misinterpreted into the realms of sociological issues. Feeling bad about menstruation and feeling bad about men feeling bad about menstruation cycles is pretty psychological to me. Maybe I'm just an introvert who doesn't really give a fuck about how people sterotype me. But by stressing on these psycological issues, the feminist movement seems to be digressing from their main focal point.Kinda like treating the symptoms rather than the diesese. Though it's good to take painkillers and reduce fever now and then, if you don't take antibiotics you won't be cured.

So what's the real diease? To me the real diease is identifying ourselves and creating an ego with our gender characteristics. I'm a hetrosexual man who has both masculine and feminine behavioral patterns and thinking patterns. But I try not to be obssesed with those patterns. Whenever I find myself drenched in testosrone (not literally of course) I step back, build a self-awareness that laughs at my own behavior and move on. If I let myself identify with that gender, I know that I'll be a victim of my own sexuality.

In my opinon this is perhaps the ultimate way to tackle the conflicting nature of Gender Neutrality and Compartive Advantage. With Comparative Advantage playing a major role in the evolutionary boost in homospaiens, it's impossible for the feminist community to ignore it and say that men and women should not take gender roles seriously. So a gracious way of bringing people to realize that gender roles can be rediscovered and rewritten every now and then, is by building awareness that you don't need to permanantly identify your ego with sexuality or gender.

To put it in simpler terms it's roleplay 101. We do it all the time while having sex. Being submissive or dominant has nothing to do with our personality or your identity as a human being. We just get off easier one way or the other.

There were many other things that grabed my attention including how feminists view pornography (empowering vs degrading), the thin line between fetishizng something and being attracted to it (I still fail to comprehend the distinction), the entropic and pervasive view of theatre by the mainstream community and also the various kinds of orgasms performed by the extremely talented girls who acted out Vagina Monologues.

Kudos to the organizing committee for aranging a wonderful set of thought provoking sessions that captured my imagination and got me thinking.

Imperfections & Entropy

2010-02-24T07:21:00.007+05:30

Image: The grave of Ludwig Boltzmann, Philosopher and Scientist.

"Imperfections within matter is what make it special". I was cited. Not in a scientific journal. But in a personal journal. And I am all the more humbled by it.

The imperfections that I was referring to are Entropy-induced defects that makes semiconductors... well semi-conducting. Entropy for those of you who do not know, is a measure of disorder. For example, a crystal that has no defects is said to have zero configurational-entropy.

Such perfect crystals do not exist in nature. Maybe because the Universe does not like perfection. And I mean that literally. The disorder or the Entropy of the Universe keeps rising; we've developed mathematics that says exactly how it rises but we have no clue as to why it keeps rising. And we see this not only in a quantum scale but also in a cosmological scale. It's one of the few laws of the Universe that was discovered well before Quantum Mechanics and Relativity, but is still valid irrespective of the scale factor of the system.

This natural tendency of the Universe to create imperfections has been a blessing and a pain-in-the-ass at the same time. Ask a metallurgist who wants to make a stronger and harder steel about imperfections and he'll tell you they suck. Ask a Materials Engineer who wants to make transisters and she'll tell you that they're totally awesome.

So in the world of Engineering we don't really care about philosophy. (Which reminds me, I should create a facebook group against the rise of cocktail-party-philosophers.) We only care if it works or not. And frankly, imperfections and perfections both work just fine. If we could make perfect crystals we certainly would. There are many uses for them. But the laws of the Universe make it quite impossible, and we are left with imperfect crystals. And that's ok, there is an infinitely larger amount of possibilities that can be attained with imperfect crystals than perfect ones.

There are two types of imperfections in Materials Science. Entropy driven defects like voids, and non-entropy driven defects like dislocations. It's important to stress the difference between Entropy-driven imperfections, which I like to call positive imperfections and non-Entropy-driven imperfections which I like to call negative imperfections.

Positive imperfections rise out of non-conformity and challenging tradition. Like a void in a crystal that's tired of all the perfect crystal sites around it, and wants be imperfect for a change. Negative imperfections like dislocations on the other hand arise from conforming too much. Negative imperfections like dislocations for example are created due to inability of dealing with external pressure. And yes, that is a literal statement.

The Universe in fact treats these two kinds of imperfections differently. The positive imperfections are at Chemical Equilibrium, meaning that they are a natural state of matter. The negative imperfections are not at Equilibrium, meaning they are unstable and need not necessarily be a part of nature.

The world of biology also tends to prefer imperfections. Perhaps the diversity of life and the variety needed for evolution stemmed from Entropy and imperfections. If we had a perfect genome without any mutations now and then, we would not have adapted to the world and we would've have gone extinct a long time ago. But bare in mind again not all mutations turn out to be good. Unfortunately I'm not an expert in biology to differentiate between entropic and non-entropic imperfections.

If you look closely at the human condition, it's filled with imperfections as well. Mark Twain eloquently said that "Go to Heaven for the climate, and to Hell for the company." Again, I see a distinct difference of non-entropic imperfections and entropic imperfections in the human condition. Imperfections that arise from non-conformity and conformity. It's up to you dear reader to figure out which ones are which. Perhaps realizing the difference between them and motivating ourselves only with the positive ones will determine whether we annihilate ourselves or become a Type I civilization.

As an ending note, I'd like to honor Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the fathers of entropy and thermodynamics. He himself was a non-conforming scientist and philosopher who stood up against convention in his era. His peers often ridiculed him for his theories. Some say he committed suicide for this reason, but we won't know for sure. One thing we do know is that his contribution to science left humanity with a higher understanding of the Universe we live in.

The rise of a Utopia...

2010-02-18T23:55:00.012+05:30

Image credit: peterc8800

“The best things in life are available to everyone. Like truth, imagination, creativity, love, kindness and compassion.” – Yanni on describing his father’s philosophy.

Most free thinking individuals are afraid of China. I’m not, I’m rather sad.

The current government of China is ruthlessly paternalistic, ignores basic human rights like the freedom of speech and bullies its own citizens as well as neighboring countries. Of course I’m not against Chinese people- my three office mates are from China and I absolutely adore them. It’s the policies of the Chinese government that I’m against.

I’m not afraid of China because its success is going to be short lived if it does not change. China’s economy thrives from cheap labour, from their population advantage and the current Economic and technological climate of the world.

But things are about to change. In the next few decades there will be a second Industrial revolution based on nanotechnology and biomedical engineering. Nanotechnology will revolutionize machines, and human labour will inadvertently be replaced by cheaper and possibly self cleaning, self repairing and self-metamorphasizing machines. Biomedical Engineering, when it becomes affordable will question our conservative ethics, coerce society to think about questions that are even taboo to think about and encourage us to rediscover ourselves without the burden of culture and convention.

This will bring down a heavy blow on paternalistic governments. The freedom of speech and a transparent dialogue will be invaluable to get nations through the Bio-medical revolution. Individualism, creativity, imagination combined with rational thinking are possibly the only human traits that will help us survive a nanotech-mechatronic rise of the machines.

And it’s not just countries like China; But most developing countries including the one that I was born and raised in will have to undergo a significant change to accommodate the future. They need to take the concept of the Individual seriously. They will need to get rid of their outdated fear of colonialism and realize that freedom of speech is not a western concept. They’ll need to reinvent their economies, which may mean letting go of 2500 year old traditions and livelihoods.

Even developed countries like the US and Japan will need to take care of their brewing fundamentalism that's mostly seen in their poor and rural communities. Flexibility and adaptability should be encouraged rather than consistency and inertia. David Cameron articulates the role that transparency and Information technology plays on giving the power to the people here.

I assure you that as long as I live and as I long as practice science, I will make sure that these revolutions happen within my lifetime.

Die Fear Mongers, Die....

2010-02-16T09:38:00.002+05:30

....oops.

sometimes it's ridiculously hard to be the good guys. *Sigh.*

Agora. Watched it. Loved it.

2010-02-15T10:32:00.004+05:30

Witnessed a time when men were succumbed to belief,
A belief that herald faith without question or reason,
A faith that moved the masses for the benefit of a scoundrel,
A faith that killed and slaughtered hundreds,
Yet in the eyes of men was as pristine as the words of God herself.

Witnessed a time when politicians were afraid of the masses,
The masses who were hypnotized by the allure of an omniscient faith,
A faith that twisted the purest of minds into cultists of a dogmatic credulity
A faith that told grown men how to live, think and feel,
Yet when I come back to 2010, it seems that nothing has changed.

With perhaps the only exception of our taste in fashion.

Pride is not a goddamn Virtue!

2010-02-11T10:26:00.012+05:30

[Image Credit: contexts.org/socimages/2007/08/19/post-secret-confessions/]

Pride is not a goddamn Virtue!

It's funny because I have to tell this to my Buddhist friends. Or at least my friends who call themselves Buddhists. Who come to think of it don't actually have the slightest idea what self-awareness means, and who worship Buddha as a god, and chant completely foreign mantras to a tree which is also worshiped like a god. So I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.

There is a very thick and distinct line between Pride and 'being comfortable in your own skin'. Here in Pittsburgh I happen to be one of the only two Sri Lankan doctoral students at Carnegie Mellon. I am more than comfortable with that situation and I don't try pose as anyone but myself. But I certainly do not go boasting about my culture and heritage. For one, no one will understand the eloquence of Veedagama thero's epic poems. Second, even though I was born and bred in Sri Lanka why would I want to restrict myself to my culture alone? And third and perhaps more importantly, who the fuck cares?

Even if someone does care, it's not a reason to be proud of. Race, culture and creed are things that you inherit from birth. You don't need to do anything on your own to inherit them. There's no need for hard work, no need for skill. You're automatically rewarded or disgraced for things a group of people did. Maybe that's why it's so seductive for scoundrels.

I believe if someone is proud of one of their countryman winning an Olympic Gold Medal, they should be equally proud of a serial killer who happens to be born in the same country. It's only reasonable. If America is proud of Barrack Obama as a nation, they should also be proud of George Bush and Sarah Palin.

This reminds me of a story from my school days. When I was a jolly old school kid in a patriotic-sinhala-buddhist-sexist public school, I was a member of several clubs that all wanted to be recognized as the best club in this patriotic-sinhala-buddhist-sexist public school. And you wouldn't believe me if I told you the extremes they went to to achieve this goal. That would certainly require another blog post. But the funny thing is they all told me not to tell on any of their members, because it will ruin the reputation of the club in the school.

"It would be like spitting while looking up at the sky," they told me. Which was a sign that they knew how gravity works. I was impressed.

So I never told anyone of the misuse of money, or the way the seniors skipped class, or how they used club property for their own entertainment, or how the club treated their members. Because alas, I would be spitting straight up at the sky. And I would be the one who will be humiliated because I am after all, a part of the club.

At the time of course, I was too naive to realize I was too selfless for my own good. And my life at this patriotic-sinhala-buddhist-sexist public school, like many others had become depressing, self-conflicting and self-destructive. If not for cognitive dissonance, I would've had a nervous breakdown.

This is why the concept of individualism is so important to understand. And why patriotism, nationalism, racism or any kind of groupism is virtually hazardous for their own health. Not only does Individualism bring Clarity to a number of embarrassing situations that our egos try very hard to suppress, but it also gives us the power of self-correction through transparency and due process of criminals even though they belong to "our group".

I cannot stress how much a utilitarian society crumbles due to it's own weight. If this story was not enough for you, I'll explain it in simple psychologically terms. There is no such thing as Ethical Altruism. Even acts of pure Altruism are selfish because it's a basic human need much like food and sex. The only sustainable acts in a human society are Ethical Egoistic in nature.

It's high time the world understood this.

Of Patriots, Politicians and Rockstars...

2010-01-28T08:19:00.011+05:30

(imagecredit:postsecret.blogspot.com)

I like to describe myself as a world citizen, rather than a Sri Lankan. Not just to piss off the self-righteous-patriotic-nincompoops that seem to be multiplying by the minute, but also because I believe that you should not be proud of your country. Your country should be proud of you.

But my parents still live in Sri Lanka and they seem to be quite disturbed by the current political drama going on there. So this post is kind of dedicated to you, mum and dad....

Politics never solved anything. Simply because the people who go into politics are not the kind of people you want to have tea parties with. It's a simple case of neuroscience. Politicians don't consider themselves as people. They consider themselves as rulers of people. In the case of Sri Lanka the term king should be used I guess. (As Rohan points out, it's not entirely their fault either) And when human beings cannot relate to each other, their moral bond towards one another become severely torn.

Let me illustrate this with the famous Harvard-Fat-man moral dilemma published in the 24th volume of the Journal of Social Philosophy. Imagine that you were on a train in a collision course with five railway workers. The only way to save those five lives is to turn the train to another track, but there's a catch. There's one railroad worker working on that track and he will obviously die. What would you do? ....just think about it for a minute.... A staggering 90% of humans irrespective of their culture and upbringing have answered that they will turn the track to save 5 people instead of just 1.

Now, in the next scenario imagine that you are on the top of a bridge and you see the same train going to hit the five railroad workers. If you can push a heavy weight on top of the track you will be able to stop the train. But the only heavy weight you see nearby is a fat man also on the bridge looking at the train. Will you push the fat man on to the train track and save the 5 railroad workers? Think about it.... Here 90% of the people say no, and that they will not push the fat man over the bridge.

So can you see the moral responsibility that we tend to have for fellow human beings that seem to share our own situation? You and the fatman were both bystanders, and that simple bond made you reluctant to risk the mans life for the greater good.

When people are herald as kings and queens, rockstars and superstars, they loose their sense of moral responsibility. Their Mirror Neurons cease to accept that other humans are worth mirroring. And to some extent they believe that they are ethically entitled to do whatever they want. The classic American examples this year are the scandals of David Letterman and Tiger Woods.

But I do admit that with power distance and increasingly hierarchical societies, this phenomenon gets worse. And I offer my sincere sympathies that you happen to choose to live in a country of that nature.

But my point is, politics never changed a society. It might help get things done in the short-term and avoid awkward power struggles between you and your politically appointed boss, but in the long run, countries are governed by Economics, trade and commercial interests rather than by cultists who create propaganda, control the masses, and foster groupism such as Nationalism or Patriotism.

And that's why I still have faith in this world.

It's true that rockstars are famous and are loved by the masses. And lesser unfortunate men will end up worshiping and idolizing these false saviors. But rational people will always know that they are frauds and are merely shadows of real musicians like Pachabell or Queen.

History will be written by the victor, as it always has been. Dutugamunus will always be portrayed as heroes, and Elaras will also be portrayed as the villains. Even when the 20 year old "hero" challenges the 80 year old "villain" to a duel, when he's loosing the battle... But don't be put off by it.

Humanity is best observed without the burden of Justice.

Vlog #1: Purpose

2010-01-01T01:46:00.004+05:30

On the purpose of life. So to speak. Enjoy.

Kottu...

2009-12-28T07:54:00.002+05:30

Are you still syndicating my blog?

I'm starting over... Building an alter-ego without getting involved. Without subscribing to the memes I help distribute, and without the burden of self-actualization.

On blogging and killing

2007-12-12T09:00:00.000+05:30

There’s an old saying that "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."

As far as the Sri Lankan blogsphere goes I’m just a newbie. But already it’s been apparent that blogging has some severe side effects that seem to consume the blogger from within.

First it comes as asserting your own opinions and establishing grounds for an online ego. But it doesn’t stop there. These opinions and established grounds slowly creep up to have an impact on real life. Of course, blogging is a reflection of thoughts and feelings in a given instant, not necessarily a glimpse of the blogger herself.

But the problem is; writing these thoughts and feelings down, not only makes them immortal but it also make them seemingly real. Absurdly real.

It’s kind of like building and sticking to a business brand, doing a PhD or worse yet,
getting involved in a long-term relationship.

There are a lot of things to do in Sri Lanka (i.e. reverse engineer modern fabrication processes to accelerate industrial development, build standards for safety inspections and non-destructive testing, establishing a fully fledged forensics division for the Sri Lanka Police, facilitating policies to help grab a portion of the offshoring R&D markets like nanotechnology etc etc etc etc)

And if I ever feel bored or alienated there’s plenty to do in the world as well….

Quite frankly I cannot afford to let myself be trapped in a cage that I have conveniently created for myself. It's time to commit suicide and start a new life.

Lions in a cage & Abortion

2007-11-26T05:59:00.000+05:30

The Story:

While listening to a radio news broadcast, heard that a doctor was taken into remand custody. Apparently the husband has lodged a complaint to the police after the death of his wife during an abortion.

The Fact:

Abortion is illegal in Sri Lanka. Imposing our own moral values upon others is also a favourite pastime of ours.

The Irony:

I was reading the following on the Internet when I heard the news.

[glowsun] : I heard about this guy who broke into a lion's den at the zoo
and got mauled
and people were talking about how there should have been better defenses put up to prevent people getting into the cage
a friend of mine suggested setting up some kind of deterrent
for example, putting some sort of fierce animal in the cage, which would attack anybody who climbed in

Hundred Years of Irrigation in Sri Lanka: A Pictograph

2007-11-24T09:54:00.000+05:30

Had the privilege to design this back cover for the “100 years of Irrigation” book which was published around a month ago. There were several publications that were unfolded to commemorate the centenary of IESL, and this was just one.

The book has a rare collection of photographs, drawings and maps that have not been published any where else.

Bawa, the Parliament and Butterflies

2007-11-19T14:45:00.000+05:30

While waiting upon the obvious results of Judgment Day, the mind wandered to a “what-if” moment.

What if Geoffrey Bawa made the Parliament 'seating arrangement' a little differently? Perhaps a round table? Perhaps something like the big octagon? Anything to break the group mentality of the MPs.

Of course this wouldn’t have any effect on crucial decisions like today’s budget vote. But it would certainly reduce the probability of raping each other in public.

We all know the Robber’s cave experiment and the Stanford Prison experiment, and the utter madness that lies when humans divide into groups. So anything at all to disturb the gangbang mentality of Party Politics would be nice. You never know...Butterfly Effects do happen.

Ahh…. A little wishful thinking a day, keeps the frustration away.

Pissu Women and Paranoid Men

2007-11-14T14:33:00.000+05:30

I for one love working with women. Stereotypically speaking, they’re good at several things that most men back away from.

Today we were searching relentlessly for a dimension in a concrete column that was impossible to find in the plan. While we were busy discussing the improbability of an estimated value, she walked in and said “50mm”. When asked how she derived it; she simply beamed and said “I called the contractors and asked.” A moment of awkward but profound silence followed.

There are other obvious reasons that I love working with women. But to illustrate it here would be digressing from the point.

The topic for today is exactly the opposite; why men don’t like working with women. I sincerely cannot formulate a solid theory thus far, but this particular trait observed especially in the senior staff is worth documenting.

“Me pissu genuth ekka nam monawath karrana be!” is one of the favourite lines of our divisional head. [Translation: Can’t do anything with these mad women.]

He’s a fairly young chap (40-something), married with two kids and definitely not gay. Hence the distance between him and the female co-workers is unclear.

The CEO is worse. He has a beautiful secretary by his side but chooses to type his own letters and file his own documents without bothering the girl. To him the secretary is more of a nuisance on the grounds that 'she always complicates things'. The lucky girl therefore has the freedom to do nothing all day and gossip around at the reception.

It’s been observed that this tendency to avoid any contact with women is directly proportional to the attractiveness of the woman in question and the hierarchical gap between her and the paranoid male.

The result is a decrease of the gender dynamics of the organization (and therefore the decline of efficiency) and the increase of confused females.

According to Geert Hofstede’s classification, Sri Lanka is a feminine society. But is that the sole explanation, or is there any other sociological factor that I’m overlooking?

Fields of Gold - Roads of torture

2007-11-03T17:59:00.001+05:30

Lamasooriya is a village 40km from Kandy that you will find before the Randenigala reservoir.

The village has no roads. Thus no transport. As seen in the last photo, the villagers use thawalam to transfer goods from the village to the outside world.

Everything from plain groceries to cement bags are carried on the backs of cattle (bulls) and sometimes humans. (Both men and women, depending on the load.)

Walking 2km can be considered good exercise, if not a good recreational activity. For the villagers, it's just life. Perhaps an inconvenient reality.

Who needs Engineers when we have Audits?

2007-10-31T06:54:00.001+05:30

I don’t have any personal grudge against auditors. After all, they are human beings most of the time, and how ever one puts it, they are just doing their jobs. Obedient blokes with a creative sense of humor....

Last week the audits came and gave an order to suspend the life insurance of the scientific officers in the Non-destructive testing section. Their reason was pretty straightforward; the officers had not sustained any injury so far, and thus there was no point in paying for insurance.

(For those who are not aware of non-destructive testing; it’s a profession which involves contact with X-rays, Gamma rays, and radioactive sources as well as handling potentially harmful chemicals. We also run the risk of fatality when doing a field inspection. Especially when it involves climbing heights.)

We were thinking of nominating the audits for the next Nobel Peace Prize in Rational Thinking but later decided against it when we heard another incident:

The auditors have recommended a “cheaper” safety switch to the engineer who had designed the power grid for a reputable authority.

Damn, such innovative and brilliant solutions! These guys/girls should be promoted to presidential advisers. Their talents are clearly going to waste.

Zen (I hope I don't dance)

2007-10-28T10:30:00.000+05:30

Too lazy to be ambitious,

I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days' worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.

-- Ryokan (Zen master)

Tales of Blind Obediance

2007-10-19T15:22:00.002+05:30

I schooled at a so-called Sinhala-Buddhist National school. At that time, like any other obedient, creativity-suppressed and over-disciplined student I was eager to become a part of the system, uphold the law and carry responsibility. So I become a prefect.

Soon enough I was happily shouting away at the younger lads, doing chores for the teachers and lifting heavy weights at every major school event. But by far the favourite thing we had to do was to jump unannounced into classes when teachers were absent and search the bags of students. Most often than not, we would find pornographic magazines that would come in a wide array of categories. Softcore, hardcore, English, Sinhala, black & white, color, local foreign, etc etc.

We would take all the magazines and compile it in a confidential file in the Prefect’s room, notoriously named as “file-13”. Prefects had a very strict hierarchy and there were levels of access granted to the file according to seniority. (Yes, not only were we a bunch of sad wankers, we were also an organized bunch of sad wankers)

One day, a very senior prefect (let’s call him Hasanjith) happened to capture a magazine with incestuous references. It was clear that he was pretty amused by the storyline due to his excessive reference time with file-13 and by his subsequent urges to check the same classroom for similar material.

We didn’t have any suspicion when he called upon the student who brought the magazine to the prefect’s room. Usually a little ragging and a little pep-talk is a part of the procedure.

The poor boy came into the room with his hands and knees shaking. Hasanjith told the boy to sing a song. His voice clearly shaking, the boy managed to utter two or three lines of twinkle twinkle little star. Hasanjith, a little offended, kept his cool obviously wanting to humiliate the boy further. He then asked all the family details of the student.

But the room’s full attention was captured by Hasanjith when he started to read out some of the parts from the incest story. The boy was nearly crying. His eyes filled with tears, and he tried his level best to keep his jaw from trembling. Having achieved his goal, Hasanjith stood up from his seat and came close to the boy. I really wish that the following events didn’t happen, and somehow I had the guts to stand up that day and question Hasanjith’s authority. But I didn’t. Strangely enough, I kind of believed that Hasanjith was doing what was necessary to uphold the discipline in our great school.

Hasanjith was not satisfied. He started to get physical. He slapped the boy twice and then continued to read the story. Then slapped him again. This continued probably until his hand’s were sore.

The poor boy didn’t utter a sound. Maybe he was too scared. Maybe he was too shocked to feel the pain.

Hasnjith then went for the broom. He took it by the root and aimed two hard blows at the boy’s stomach. Before the third strike, one of Hasanjith’s peers decided it was time to stop and let the boy go.

The next few words that the boy murmured to his rescuer, and the way he said it would haunt me for the rest of my days.

“Thank you Aiyya. I am sorry.”

Hasanjith later gave a heroic speech on the wrongness of pornography, saying it was brought by the Westerners as a conspiracy to corrupt the minds of Sri Lankan youth.

This memory was one that I did not ever want to remember. But it was the first thing that came across my mind when reading this article on the Third Wave.

I can attribute this “blind obedience for the greater good” to many fragments of Sri Lankan society including political parties, Institutionalized corruption, and organized crime by people with power. But why should I point out the obvious, when you dear reader, can easily think for yourself.

The Way of the Wizard (Deepak Chopra)

2007-10-15T04:50:00.000+05:30

Warning: The following video is TLFW (Too long for work)

Stumbled upon a video by Deepak Chopra on the levels of consciousness that he describes in his book The Way of the Wizard. This was kind of a spiritual hit way back in 1995.

It’s easy to fall in love with Chopra’s intrinsic vocabulary filled with subtle words that express a universe of thoughts. Perhaps his secret lies in his ambiguity of expression and his abstractness of philosophical reflections.

If I watched this five years ago, I would’ve surely branded this as hocus-pocus or spiritual-rubbish and flush it drown the drain. Today with a fair amount of knowledge in NLP, Cognitivism and Zen, I would still brand this as hocus-pocus and spiritual propaganda.

As hard as it may seem to apply Chopra’s teachings to day-to-day life, the video gives the reader a glimpse of the power of self-awareness. Most people will go on to say that better self-help Gurus like Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, Robert Dilts or perhaps even Lama Surya Das would be more ideal to help breakaway from the frames & habits we tend to unconsciously hold on to.

But Dr. Chopra’s reference to the evolution of the mind got me thinking.

Is it truly possible for a society to exist with a bunch of yumans running around with absolutely no ego? (Maybe sitting down would be more appropriate I guess) Is it possible for a society filled with jealousy to transform into a one that of unconditional love? Any polygamist nearby will probably say yes, but that’s not the topic of discussion here….

If the answer to both questions is yes, then there in front of you would be instant brewed Utopia.

We’d all be suspended in perpetual bliss. No pun intended.

But the quantum probability of a Universe existing with transcended yumans void of ego would be very minute. More tangible would be the probability of a society elevated with the help of technology. Technology and systems tend to be much more stable than the swaying minds of a Gaussian society.

Much like what ICT is doing today to build a better community; nanotechnology might elevate our society one step close to Utopia tomorrow. And the subsequent technologies might elevate us further.

As for this video, watching it might not change who you are, it might not be influential enough to shift your flow of habits; but it may give you a moment of harmony, and maybe a foretaste of what society could become with a little help from Time. Provided that your imagination can keep up.

Overzealous wordpress spam blocking

2007-10-08T21:30:00.000+05:30

It all started with a comment made on Cerno's blog. Which didn't appear. Wrote it again. Still no luck. Moved on. Twas the same with Kanabona. Then again with Mia. Java Jones was to be next. Cerno and Mia later resurrected the comments. But it sure was uncomfortable to sit in the dark and wonder whether the last minutes of the already wasted life were spent in vain.

Was really pissed when a long comment written for Lirneasia wasn't published. Same happened with indi.ca. It's unfair to ask these huge traffic generating sites to check the spam box everyday, but on the other hand a lot of comments by people like RD, Jack Point, and Janusis have been blocked by wordpress as well. Kind of glad that I'm not the only criminal around here...

Not much of a computer geek but perhaps something like this would work, instead of spam blockers?

I could just stick with commenting on blogger blogs, or change my email and name and go on happily commenting for another two weeks before being blocked again or I can grab on to a great chance of ShuttingTFU. All seems to be very healthy options at this stage.

Upper Kotmale Power Plant Progress

2007-10-02T09:28:00.000+05:30

Initiated by the CEB, the upper Kotmale hydro power plant was meant to generate 500GWh/annum of Electricity by sacrificing 4 waterfalls when it was first proposed. So you can easily imagine the degree of resistance received from environmentalists, ecologists, politicians and the local residents. In fact the project was completely stalled for quite some time after being proposed in 1994.

Thankfully, compromises have been made and according to the officials in about 3-4 years the powerplant will be up and running.

The 4 waterfalls have been stripped down to 1, but the engineers have manged to design it so that it will retain the bulk of the power which will roughly amount to 400GWh/annum. The St. Claire waterfall will receive water on an hourly basis, and the waterfall will flow for an average of 20 minutes. The CEB is even making a special viewing platform to admire the waterfall from, which according to them will take 20 minutes to trek, so quite conveniently the waterfall will be visible to us humans.They say that the natural flow of the waterfall will not be disturbed and hence the animals won't be affected as well.

There was a large tunnel being built by a Japanese firm. And the women were not allowed enter. In fact, even the Japanese women engineers are not allowed to enter. They believe that a tunnel is a woman, and that she will get angry in the proximity of another woman.

The project is underway with heavy environmental regulations. Even the dust from the trucks are washed off before they make their way to town.

An old wooden and deteriorated film hall which was going to be demolished by the construction will be rebuilt with all the facilities adorned and fully furnished. The same will be done for the Provincial Council and other town buildings that will be re-built.

The local residents are being resettled, each of the residents getting a proportionally larger and better house than they had. The residents also get to choose their own neighbors, whenever possible. Resettlement was also done in a way that would not disrupt the electoral sections. That had relieved much of the resistance.

So it's a healthy dose of regulation, resistance met with engineering and development to ensure that everyone benefits. Win-win situation all-round.

The Answer to Life, the Universe, Kottu and Everything...

2007-09-28T13:08:00.000+05:30

There has been much debate after the consortium of psychiatrists (who were afraid that they might loose their jobs) conspired to destroy the world after finding out the research on life, the universe and everything will be published in Planet Earth.

As with after any fruitful debate, nothing has changed and we carry on with our ritualistic lives excused by our doctors from saving the Universe on the grounds of chronic infections of malformed public duty and natural deficiency of moral fiber.

But some of the third most intelligent beings on our planet [the second most intelligent beings being dolphins and the first being mice] have moved on to a higher realm to find out the actual question to life, the Universe and everything which supposedly reduces to the value 42.

Some of these beings happen to be very divine, while others appear to be [not quite] cynical, mostly drunk, self-righteously mad, and possibly capable of taking down the world’s economy.

While most people are angry and widely regard the creation of the Universe as a bad move, most of these beings on the other hand dwell on the more subtle things in life like first love or what women want or even the seemingly obvious – what men want….

Sex and violence [not to be confused with sexist violence] is perhaps one of their most entertaining topics. But advice such as ‘why you shouldn’t be flirting or why you shouldn't be dating dark girls’ are passed around in a very polite manner too.

Politics, education, trishaws and monks are also favourite topics of discussion, as well as the civil war and whether or not it has any ethnic roots. While quantum entanglement might produce proof to the above argument it’s unwise to jot it down here or add a link because bad news, or in this case news of treacherous blog posts, travel faster than the speed of light, and retaliate aggressively obeying only physical laws that are pan-dimensional in construction.

In any case, their intentions are quite humble, and no one seems to be that interested in buying a reconditioned MIG-27….

Disclaimer: I’m too tired to write anything original. So this a tribute to the wonderful guys at kottu/achcharu and Douglas Adams for his infinitesome creativity.

Kajuwatta - mass-scale agriculture venture in Sri Lanka

2007-09-22T22:08:00.000+05:30

Starting off as a BOI project, the Infomatics Agrotek farm (fondly referred to as the Kajuwatta) in Dehiattakandia is perhaps one of the largest farms in Sri Lanka. Over 500 acres of cashew, 200 acres of coconuts, bananas, papaw, and lemon are grown. One of their specialties is the drought resistant crop of Weta Endaru – used to make bio-diesel. They also make and distribute buffalo curd on a small scale.

Using South Asia’s largest pump house to pump water (above), the farm employs a drip irrigation system (below) to administer just the right amount of fertilizer and water for the crops to acquire an optimal harvest.

The battle between wild elephants and man is prevalent and the farm uses high voltage electric fences (below) to keep the elephants at bay.

The quality of the plants are quite good, as they are grown by tissue culture in laboratories and brought up in a horticulture nursery under a controlled environment. The beauty is that everything is mass produced and the economy of scale brings down the marginal cost of production to an extent that can never be achieved by small farmers.

There were some labour problems when I visited the place sometime back, but then again, going on strikes can be considered a national sport of sorts in our country... With the slow but steady decrease in the power distance and hierarchical culture, this will eventually diminish altogether, but the problem is 'when?'...

The bio-diversity and nature of Kajuwatta is unparallel. I had the pleasure of going on a “night safari” across the farm and was pleasantly treated with the spectacle of several wild animals including a gigantic night owl, a green leopard, and a herd of deer.

Just a simple Car Crash

2007-09-19T11:55:00.000+05:30

[Tuesday - 4.30pm - Aththidiya.] The car in front applied brakes, and so did I. We gently came to a halt but a weird intangible feeling passed through me that something dreadfully wrong would happen; a good 3-4 seconds later a screeching noise was heard from the back and a van hit the car from behind. My head hit the windscreen and the glass was fractured. Luckily I wasn’t badly injured, but the same cannot be said for the car.

Only have third party insurance, so had to go to Police. One of the places that I dread the most. Maybe even more so than going to the temple. The van was fully insured and apparently to claim Insurance I have to again file a case in the Civil Court after the police make a case in the Magistrate court. Fuck the Insurance scheme. (Where are the regulators when you need them?) So I decided it would be productive to use the time I’d have to spend in court to search for unobtanium in Sri Lanka’s mineral abundant crust.

The driver (who was not the owner) was partially drunk, was broke, and had no sense of guilt what-so-ever. Looking at the van it was easy to deduce that he was a competent and skilled veteran who’s had countless experiences of these sorts before.

Thanks to the very quick and efficient police service that was rendered, I had ample time to think over WTF was wrong with this guy. Was he really drunk? Was he not concentrating on the road? Was he depressed? Had the inflation rate got to him? Or was he just plain retarded? If it’s the latter, I’m definitely in favour of genetic engineering and avoiding harmful genes. Even if it poses a threat to natural selection and even if it’s not dumb enough to meet “moral and ethical standards”. Anyway, I digress…..

The thing that bugs me the most is that this is not an isolated incident. My dad faced a similar (but less severe) accident when a trishaw hit his car from behind. And that was about two weeks ago.

The roads in Sri Lanka are definitely getting dangerous by the minute. And I advice anyone who reads this to be extra careful while you drive, cos it certainly can turn out to be a matter of life and death.

I love Rice........But

2007-09-18T06:30:00.000+05:30

If you happen to bump into a farmer at this time of the year, chances are that you’ll be treated with an undeniable air of hospitality and a smile that extends from ear to ear. The optimistic attitude, the beaming enthusiasm and the deviant congeniality, all which are common to this period, reflect one phrase that is silently uttered; “Yay! It’s harvesting season!!”

Unlike most of us who earn a monthly wage, farmers –especially the ones that depend solely on paddy- get paid only twice a year. The first bounty they receive is cleverly mingled with the festivities of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in March-April. The second is in October- this time of the year.

Because of this awkward timing, farmers are forced to plan out their annual income and mange their expenditure accordingly with a sense of discipline. Which leads to the farmers being broke most of the year or miserably in debt to mill owners who in turn give them a lesser price for their next harvest which is usually bought by means of passive force.

Throughout the years, a lot of farmers have evolved and have started growing secondary crops such as bananas, corn and even breeding aquarium fish. But most farmers are not capable financially (and emotionally) of going through the learning curve of planting a new crop. And there’s always the fear of not being able to sell a new crop for the first time. Rice of course is a secure crop; if they can’t sell it, they can always eat it. The same cannot be said to Gherkin or Bananas.

And sometimes the reasons are political. There are parties who would benefit if the farmers were to stay as farmers. Addressing farmer issues is pretty easy, give a little fertilizer subsidies and you win the hearts and votes of a whole community; Where as if the farmers were to venture into trade, their needs would be far more complicated and cheap words and short term candy wouldn’t do any good.

In a broader perspective there are many reasons for why paddy cultivation is a tiring venture when dealing with small farmers. The crop itself is a water thirsty daemon. For 1kg of rice, more than 6000 liters of water is needed. The government spends a lot of money directly and indirectly on Irrigation (kind of like free education) which yields a very minute harvest.

When farmers complain that 2¹/₂ acres (10,100 m²) of farmland is not enough to make a living, you have to agree that there is something terribly wrong somewhere.

I’m not suggesting anything in particular. Because frankly, there are a lot of things to be done. The first and foremost would be to create awareness on the fact that migrating from rice to another crop doesn’t necessarily make them a traitor to the nation. And secondly, that engaging in trade or business is not a criterion for Satan to open the gates of hell in their after life.

Ending note: Like industrial development, agriculture also needs to find its niche to flourish. Rice is a bulk crop and is best suited for countries like China that can afford cheap labour. We on the other hand need to diverse the little land and minute labour we have, and make the most of the resources available.

Blending In.....

2007-09-12T13:43:00.000+05:30

Somewhere in the suburbs of Colombo a young chameleon is trying to blend in. Maybe to stay out of harms way, maybe to get away from the cruel world, or maybe out of fear of herself than anything else…..

We are not quite sure yet, but it seems that it’s working quite well for her.

When water turns agaisnt you........

2007-09-07T18:08:00.000+05:30

The results of the drinking water tests we did for the village of Sooriyapokuna is not at all good. We did a coliform and faecal coliform test and both tests were positive.The villagers were told not to use the water without boiling, but I doubt whether it'll be taken seriously.

The results for hardness was way beyond the expected level. Usually they say that very hard water has a hardness level of 120ppm. Out of the five samples tested, the average hardness was around 1800ppm!The World Health Organization says that hardness in water is not a health hazard. And the doctors also agree that a little calcium in drinking water might even do some good. (Apparently the kidney stones which occur due to Calcium being deposited in the kidney cannot be related to drinking water)

But with the increase in number of villagers falling ill due to unknown causes, it's hard not believe there's nothing wrong with the water. So we've arranged another water sample to be taken this Sunday, and hopefully further study will shed some light into the real problem.

There was a recent research done in Anuradhapura that concluded drinking water and pesticides were not the reason that the villagers were getting sick; but rather it was the Aluminum pots and pans that were contaminating the food and water.

So if any of you are using metal pots and pans, check to see which material its made of. At least check whether they're made by a well-established brand. Using clay pots rather than metal might also help...

Young Love

2007-09-02T19:35:00.001+05:30

Disclaimer: This story happened 13 years ago. Characters are not fictional, but they’re probably quite different today.

Her name was Lily. She was blond, was slightly taller than me and had the most remarkable lips that I’ve ever come across. She was stubborn, creative and energetic. She was not the girl that all the bad guys wanted, but she wasn’t exactly the teacher’s pet either. She always had a sparkle in her light blue eyes that that quaintly reminded me of all the good things in life.

Me, on the other hand; I was the class nerd. I spent most of my time daydreaming about being a great man but never-the-less got beaten up by the class bullies on a daily basis.

Even though I used to pick up flowers and flick the petals to see whether she loves me or loves me not, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. Rather it was a progression of admiration and fondness that grew in my heart for a steady 12 months.

She was undeniably creative. Once we had a lesson in digital art (back then it was DOS based and we had to enter the coordinates to draw a simple line) and while I was trying hard to draw a complete square, she had drawn a portion of the Australian flag flawlessly.

She played the recorder, and was a great artist and painter too.

But most of all, she was a care free girl, who skipped through life and stood up for what she thought was right. I was profoundly moved when she stood up for me when Julian was teasing my poor self for not knowing the word ‘plantain’. She broke up into a big fight, which I watched silently but with beaming pride.

We were good friends, and because of that I was too afraid to express my feelings towards her. Even when one of her friends made a suggestion, I refused it bluntly and ended the conversation rather forcefully before she came into hearing proximity.

But somehow, when time forced us to separate, I gathered all my courage and left her a letter. Four months later she replied, but at that time my courage was nowhere to be found.

13 years later, I still wonder what would’ve happened if we were not separated…..

But most of all, I wonder whether I could muster the innocence to love a woman to the same extent today.

Ending note: Love is truly beautiful when combined with innocence. I’m kind of sad that most kids in SL don’t get the chance to experience it. What our benevolent adults fail to comprehend is that education (like life) is a journey, not a destination.

Made in Sri Lanka – The elusive brand

2007-08-30T08:12:00.000+05:30

Loadstar, a Sri Lankan company partnering with Belgium’s Solideal, happens to be the largest solid tire manufacturer in the world. It also ranks fourth place in air tires, and is now the world’s second largest equipment manufacturer of both rims and tracks. Nippon Maruchi, another Sri Lankan company (with the parent company situated in Japan), processes 55% of the world’s cell phone sensors. Believe it or not, 100% of Motorola’s actuators are processed in here in Sri Lanka.

Haycarb, yet another Sri Lankan company is the world’s largest Activated Carbon manufacturer, producing over 18,000 Metric tones of activated carbon each year. Dankotuwa Procelain, Noritake and other ceramics manufacturers in Sri Lanka have been able to tilt a portion of the world market of ceramics from China to Sri Lanka.

MIT with their stock market software, WS02 with their open source initiatives, Virtusa and all the other IT companies that have sprung up have redirected the flow of software outsourcing and have created a strong name for themselves and Sri Lanka in the world of IT.

Of course, textile companies like Mas Holdings and Brandix need no introduction.

So these examples clearly show that in spite of our industrial sector being comparatively small when compared to the service sector, we have been able to score strong points by concentrating on niches that matter.

Nothing lasts forever though, and with the current turn of events of the country it’s hard to predict what will become of the markets that we hold today. Mr. Shelton Fernando, Managing Director of Nippon Maruchi points out that everywhere we look, we see half completed jobs. Roads without pavements, a capital city without a proper transportation system, an electricity grid that cannot be relied upon, a water supply that is never consistent, etc etc etc. His argument is with an environment as flawed to this extent, how can companies reach out to make products that need nanometer precision?

But perhaps the deciding factor of further industrial development [or the lack there of] would be the reluctance to change the historic brand of Sri Lanka. We love to dwell on the fantasy of a self-reliant agricultural nation that can survive on it own. We live in our glorious past and fail to realize a realistic future. We still believe in the independence of a nation rather than the inter-dependency of a global village.

To create a successful country brand, it should first be created in the minds of the people. India’s authentic brand of culture, America’s brand of freedom, and Australia’s brand of multi-nationalism was instilled in the minds of the people long before they became realities.

I think it’s high time to start.

Ending note: Patriotism and country branding are two different things. Understanding this difference goes a long way. Perhaps even towards worldwide peace & prosperity.

An ingenious sluice.

2007-08-25T12:18:00.000+05:30

Wonder whether the brick was included in the original design by Mahaweli.....?

For those who are wondering WTF:
The brick is an easy but effective way to decrease the turbulence and ensure the concrete lasts for a few more years. (ie, the farmers do have a knowledge of Engineering, they're not quite aware of it yet.)

5 things I love about the teacher-strike

2007-08-22T20:52:00.000+05:30

The parents are pissed

Ours is a die-hard family-centered society, and children are the sole reason that parents live, breath and sometimes die. So naturally when the second biggest event of their child’s life is about to get fucked up by a bunch of white collar bureaucrats and good-for-nothing union representatives, suddenly the Universe becomes a dark and cruel place full of opportunists and blood sucking vampires.

The students are lost

They have just sat for the supposedly “world’s hardest exam”, and they’re not sure whether they’ll have to sit for it again. Day by day stress accumulates and what we metallurgists call as “fatigue failure” is bound to happen.

In fact it’s a very beautiful sight to see from the naked eye. The initiation of doubt, the progression of stress and the final fracture is worth writing a paper about.

Teachers will have to redefine the word “dignity”

In school, teachers always harp about the useless strikes, picketing and protests that doctors, nurses and University students carry out. I’m wondering if perhaps they would add another profession to their list as well….

Universities are dysfunctional

Last year due to a mix up with the Chemistry paper, the students came about 3 months late. Likewise the University calendar has always been one of the greatest examples of Macrolevel uncertainty (even which Heisenberg couldn’t match).

But University authorities have tried their level best to bring the calendar together and functional. Right now the so-called “June Term” is in August. Can’t wait to see what happens this year.

Industrial research is all but a dream

Due to Universities having different calendars for each and every batch, the professors and other academic staff have to come every day, for every month, for the next few years. (Yippee!)

Sabbatical leave is not an option. Industrial research projects and University-Industry interaction is a tiring venture. And as for vacation work…… there’s no such thing as a vacation.

(Hooray for all the considerate teachers!)

Women & Productivity – How damsels-in-distress can Save the world

2007-08-18T15:24:00.000+05:30

It’s usually hard to talk about women, without getting slapped in the face (or raising a set of eyebrows) from both worlds. But putting aside the debate of women’s rights and gender specific roles for another day, I thought I’d talk about something that rarely receives significant attention.

In traditional organizations, the involvement of women in work is either for ornamental reasons (receptionist, secretary etc) or on the rationale of cheap labour (garment workers, proof readers etc). Since women do spend a lot of time decorating themselves and since society doesn’t expect them to play the role of the breadwinner of the family, this works well enough. But society also expects women to look after the babies, which usually doesn’t work very well for them in career development.

Yet we all know the positive sides of the feminine brain. There’s this thing called Intuition, there’s the ever popular Maternal instinct, and last but not least the beloved ‘blonde innocence’ that almost always manages to take the seriousness away from death-defying moments.

Women are therefore great for managerial positions in any organization. We recently visited Loadstar, the largest solid tyre manufacturing factory in the world [surprisingly situated in SL], and even though most of the heavy work was carried out by men, there were women involved in the higher and middle management.

I’m generalizing here, but most women have an uncanny knack for public relations and have the ability to get things done- quickly and effectively. They are not afraid to be wrong, and they’re not afraid to stop and ask for directions; which also makes them flexible leaders.

Most of all, women bring the important factor of gender dynamics to an organization. There was an interesting presentation by Prof. (Mrs.) Ratnayaka on real life examples of how active participation of girls in the Moratuwa University boosted the overall performance. Interestingly enough this is also portrayed by the relationship between our National GDP and women employment in the past years. Have a look at the statistics if needed.

But women in general, do have their weak points. They are not very skilled at analytical thinking. Don’t get me wrong, they’re superb at lateral thinking, seeking out patterns and building up stories. But their strong creative Right brain, usually suppresses their analytical Left brain, and hence discourages them to engage in tasks such as mathematics or heavy scientific reasoning.

This is one of the grounds that you don’t find many girls opting to do mathematics for A’Ls. And one of the many reasons you don’t find many women engineers among the decision making positions in the country. But why should something very insignificant like mathematics be hindrance to learn Engineering? (After all, not all of us are specializing in rocket science)

So, we thought we’d try to make a difference. Starting on the first week of September we’ll be conducting a programme called “Inspiring Prospective Women Engineers” for the Grade 11 students in five girls’ schools in Colombo. The Women Engineers Forum of the IESL will help us by giving their resource persons.

Hopefully we’ll inspire some of the girls to follow upon a path of Science & Engineering and perhaps persuade them to get actively involved in the development of the country. Even though we won't be able to make a huge cultural paradigm shift, we'll at least give hope to the young women who want to escape from the typical damsel-in-distress stereotype and explore the unknown.

Dian Gomes and Niranjan De Silva on one stage….

2007-08-15T19:22:00.000+05:30

Thinking is not some thing that Sri Lankans are very fond of. We love to blame, talk, and choose not to act. But when it comes to conscious thinking, it’s usually considered a severe hell breaking sin.

Well, come to think of it, Lucifer and the fallen angles were sentenced because of their excessive thinking and questioning of God, so I guess technically, thinking is a sin.

But the problem is we are a so-called Buddhist country, and inadvertently we are supposed to have awakened and lucid thoughts that transcend the society to a plane peace and prosperity. (No irony intended, but who am I to think on behalf of my readers…)

A bunch of young men and women are trying to turn the tables on this matter. On a very humble level they are organizing a one-day session on "Think on your feet". It's all for a good cause too; in aid of enhancing communication skills of engineering undergraduates.

The organizing committee is the Gavel Club (affiliated to Toastmasters International) of the Moratuwa University.

The topics are as follows:

Mr. M. Z. Saleem –General Manager of SLT: "Think Differently"
Mr. Dev Wijethunge –Professional Trainer: "Communicate with Confidence"
Mr. Dian Gomez – Managing Director of MAS Intimates and CEO of Unichela:

"Leadership and Building World Class Teams"

Mr. Niranjan de Silva –CEO of Metropolitan Computers.: "How to do a winning corporate presentation".