Sunday, December 03, 2006

Astrology .. naaahh .. nt quite

The sentence "You're so predictable!" has such a negative connotation surprisingly. What better than to have someone that you can truly claim to know, that you can predict how he/she is gonna react. Isn't predictability an essential condition to dependability? Favorable predictability leads to dependability.

I seem to use the word "trust" very loosely to mean dependability. But, thats what it is ... I trust people that don't need to explain their actions or thoughts to me and vice versa. Close friends form a trust circle, and its the transitivity, associativity and reflectivity of this relation that provides securities in a social life.

So, how does this "trust" build up? Personally, everyone starts off with a default "trust" value, based upon first impressions. There on, its circumstances and how people react to those, that determine wether it grows or declines. The growth can be modeled as an exponential process where the initial rate is faster and it declines thereafter. In simpler words, its harder to rebuild "trust" after deep initial blows. Does this rule apply symmetrical to both "trust" and "mistrust". Somewhat, in that you would give some benefit of trust to someone who has earned it, rather than letting it fall briskly. Though, generally building trust is harder than losing it.

As a craby cancerian, I have close relationship insecurities. The first blow to trust can really shake things up, unless its mended quickly. There are others, who just so simply fit in that its hard to imagine evaluating them on trust. They simply stay on, till the anger subsides and things needn't be explained. Apologies are optional, either explicit or implicit if at all.

Which brings us to the more important question of all, how dependable are you? Thats something to ponder upon, isn't it :D

- Amar (23rd Nov 2006)


ps: Wrote this when i stepped back rather rudely from potential friendship ... would prefer her understanding this, rather than me being right!

Update: Yeaahhh, I was rite [:D]

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Doors

Poetry meets trance
Lyrics seldom rhyme
Straight from the heart
A stream sublime
Sounds u heard
Whispers unto void
Eyes shut, but light
From deep inside
Time can only mark
Start nor end
Without definition
Interpreted yet again
Free to freedom
Shocking to some
Alive with life, yet
Comfortably numb

Saturday, November 25, 2006

A Clockwork Orange (1971)


Touted as one of Kubrick's best work, A Clockwork Orange plays with the notion of free will as a human right.

Personally, I found the movie less entertaining and without any explicit directions. A mere cinematic rendering of the novel by Anthony Burgess .. What the movie does do, is to provoke thought about the existence of free will and the right to exercise it within the bounds of the world that we perceive.

So, does free will exist? The ability to make a choice when presented with a decision problem is what we call as free will. Randomness and determinism get naturally involved when we discuss free will. Determinism essentially means that events occur as they are 'supposed to' - predetermined - there is no other way. Therefore, free will cannot co-exist with determinism. Randomness is the notion of probabilistic occurence of events, a choice is naturally presented but with no explicit control. Randomness undermines free will, where choice occur by chance. Co-existence is possible but in a mutually exclusive, disjoint space.

So, lets assume a favourable environment for further discussion. We constraint determinism so that given a set of choices, the outcome after a choice is made is deterministic at any given decision node. That is to say that, given the same initial state, if we make the same choices at respective decision points, we would end up at the same final state. We still cannot accomodate randomness, because it cannot contribute to free will in any way, it is way too random!

Free will then allows us to make these choices when we are confronted by a decision. It allows us to evaluate/estimate outcomes for each choice, and optimize some cost function. Lets call this 'logic' for now, drawn out of past association between cause and effect. Our decisions are mostly mere calculations based on our collective 'logic' together with some randomness at points where the scales do not dip at either end.

What was so safely ignored unto this point is the existence of causal interference. We would turn up the same each time (with some tolerance offcourse) but for varied external influences from everything that surrrounds us. So, decision process is now a cost function of our own present state (memory, preferences, senses .. ) together with external variables ( recommendations, reviews, etc.). That hardly leaves any room for free will ...

For me free will does not exist in its truest sense, free will merely abstracts all that is unknown! Moral responsibility as a consequence of free will, therefore debatable, still forms an inseparable foundation of social existence.

Monday, November 06, 2006

RAIN


RAIN, originally uploaded by Um Ibrahim.

Wrapped in a polythene tucked away safe in my mind
A little goodbye maybe or just a passing smile

The birds fly away to the southern sky searching a home
A bunch of paper flowers or a little boy left all alone
Can somebody hear me I'm screaming from so far away
Morning who will calm you now, the evening is eclipsed again

Well does life get any better
More yesterday than today
How I thought the sun would shine tomorrow
But it rained . . .

They justified the cause for which Daddy might give up his life
It's been so long, so long a time, still I miss Daddy at night
The ache is long gone but the never keeps staring along
The waters in the seas are high
and all the sand castles have drowned

Well does life get any better
More yesterday than today
How I thought the sun would shine tomorrow
But it rained . . .

Thursday, October 19, 2006

The Gateway of India

I love this monument, I love Colaba and I definitely love
Mumbai !!

spoken behind my back


spoken behind my back, originally uploaded by raspberrytart.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me."

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Oktober Blume


Oktober Blume, originally uploaded by schuetzerp.

Wow, very beautiful ... cold too

Friday, October 13, 2006

Just Landed


Just Landed, originally uploaded by Paul Sparks.

Calm .. may the weekend be so .. amen!!

Monday, October 09, 2006

Self Referential ..


patrick, originally uploaded by erinwaters.

nice :D

Sony reproductive system


Sony reproductive system, originally uploaded by fd.

High Fidelity. Play with it.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Lazy bones ..

My bro .. a total kiddo .. has grown miles in the last couple of years. This daadhi on him, is just a physical manifestation, a reminder perhaps .. that time passes by .. so quickly.

Be good, stay awake and enjoy ur stay dude!!

Cain & Abel


Cain & Abel, originally uploaded by • Felipe Mercado •.

Binge Drinking!!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Rebel


, originally uploaded by Peetey.

I am not a rebel, just a free thinker
Unshackled by yesterday ..
I don't give a damn u care
I came, I saw and here to stay

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Sound Waves ..


ratatatum, originally uploaded by .elena..

Meta Evolution ..

Does the process of Evolution itself evolves?
Well, history suggests that it does .. through the lengthy biological evolution, to the technogical advances of today. So, an important question to ask would be --

"How do you quantify this change in evolution?"
Through time and space, what else!!

To elaborate, consider the time required for each such evolution under observation. The time for a single-cell Amoeba to transform into multi-cell organisms was much larger than that for neanderthals to evolve into homo-sapien-sapiens(us). We took much more time to learn how to make tools than make technological advances in mass communication. So, basically the period of evolution seems to be reducing.

"What about space then?"
Aaaah, the effective area of change .. From planetary births/changes to the living life, from human race to disparate political units.

"What next then, smaller and closer?"
Precisely, individual evolutions .. quicker .. maybe a year, day or a nano-second. The evolution and meta-evolution theory is an active quantum research thread.

"So, its just these two parameters? Evolution could not evolve just so simply!!"
Hmmm, its a little more complicated :) .. For example, we can see a paradigm shift in the way things evolve -- from 'Survivor of the fittest' to 'Progress through colaboration'. And there's much more to analyze ....

"I wanna read more .."
http://www.cus.cam.ac.uk/~rva20/MetaEvolution.html
http://www.amazon.ca/Meta-Evolution-Future-Life-Unified-Evolution/dp/0738814636
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243017/

Hahahhaha ..

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Classy blue .. thr u are :)


blue tea, originally uploaded by monitorpop.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Love, Life and Alike ..


Love, originally uploaded by noqontrol.

if Life would only be so simple. Love - a key stroke away - with all its undo's and redo's :D

What other keys wld you have on ur magical keyboard, huh?

*wink* *wink*

Whr r my blues?


Fall Foliage, originally uploaded by lawatha.

Shades of love O! flames of passion
The color of truth, blatant so ..
Always furious, but calmness vicarious
With silver lightning or pure white snow.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Delicate ..


cosmos, originally uploaded by kayon.

So frail, yet beautiful
Pure as void, and alone
Unwithered and content with
Life and presence ..

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Wings of Change ..


wings on the wind, originally uploaded by highwaygirl67.

Spread your wings, pump your veins,
March ahead like never before
Trust your flight into the night,
Ride the storms, swim the shores!

Minimalistic Pleasures!!


vancouver 274, originally uploaded by Rick E Dick.

What makes a good picture for me?

Well ... Colors ... Angle ... Light .. and a good title :D

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Imperfection


imperfection, originally uploaded by davidmmcneil.

Not all that we do be perfect, not at this moment possibly. But every step takes us to our final goal - The Horizon ..

Footprints


Footprints, originally uploaded by Joshua Davis (articnomad).

Leave your footprints, make a difference. But don't worry too much about the waves that may wash them away one day!

To know that you have been there, and enjoyed every moment of it. No one knows how a flap of a butterful wing might trigger a storm somewhere ..

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Sunday, September 10, 2006