The mere mention of the fact that you are a big fan of Star Trek is liable to catapult you into the classification of the uber geek. I like Star Trek too but I would like to think that I am not the typical geek so I decided to explore why Star Trek appeals to me and maybe some of you will identify with these reasons.
Start Trek is a path breaker in many ways. It is based in a world that is dominated by just the exploration of curiosity. A world where everyone is free to choose what to do. It shows us humans in perhaps our best light as it hints at a civilization where religion and racist cliches have been done away with. The guy driving Captains Kirks Enterprise was Chinese, Lt Uhura was black, Spock was a Vulcan, Data an Android and Troy a Betazoid and yet they blend into the plot and complement each other.
It can be argued that the necessity of survival is perhaps the topmost instinct that we harbor. Hunger is closely linked to it. Even Lord Krishna in the Geeta says that an empty stomach cannot contemplate the divine. In Star Trek we have the Replicator which can magically synthesise what ever we wish for. This seemingly trivial device by itself has the potential to re write human history. Imagine a world without hunger and maybe even money. Wouldn't it be a marvelous place to live in?
The "Prime Directive" which all Star Trek Captains hold so close to their hearts. This directive forbids the Federation from interfering in the development of other worlds no matter what the situation at hand may be. I view this directive not as one of non involvement but one of tolerance. The world is in the state we see it now because all these moronic religious freaks: Muslims, Christians and Hindus alike are trying to prove that their faith is the only valid one. I wish all of them would just drop dead RIGHT NOW. Hmm.. I still see a few people around so guess that wish didn't work. What I am getting at is that if every existing religion on this planet started following the Prime Directive and absolutely stopped trying to convince others that they are the only one following the true God then "maybe" we will see an end to all the religious conflicts that afflict us now.
The Warp drive. With the world feeling the brunt of the greenhouse effect nowadays, being "green" is not a fad but a necessity. Our reliance on carbon based fuels is leading us down the one way lane of global warming, pollution and non sustainability - all at the same time. Star Trek with its Warp drive technology ( presumably based on matter/anti-matter interaction) has the potential to solve this issue once and for all. It represents more than a geeks fancy of tearing through the fabric of the space-time continuum, it represents the hope that mankind is too versatile to be doomed to be dependent on lifeforms that existed several million years ago.
The scientific spirit is so dominant in every aspect of Star Trek that is inescapable. One thing that strikes a chord with me is the way the character "Q" is treated. Now "Q" has powers which by all accounts we would tend to attribute to a divine deity but the crew of Star Trek stands defiant. They refuse to be subjugated by "Q". I view Q as just the manifestation of our ignorance and all things we do not understand. Star Trek teaches us that even in spite of overwhelming odds we should not bow down and acknowledge the easiest solution : GOD. God may or may not exist but the moment this is invoked it is a showstopper bringing an end to any logic or scientific enquiry
The other devices on board like the Holodeck and the transporter spark the imagination of everyone from movie lovers to those bitten by the travel bug alike. However, one of the most important reasons why Star Trek ranks high is because of the depiction of women. Counsellor Deanna Troi for example holds an equal status as any other high ranking officer and is much a member of the team as anyone else. Her calm and composed nature under the worst of circumstances is a testimony to how much patience and understanding women have. She holds a special place in my heart for these qualities.. Okay Okay I lied.. she is HOT.. there you have it. Are you happy now?
Friday, May 8, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Life - The stochastic model
I have often wondered about the meaning of life and the existential questions. I have always drawn a blank. Big surprise eh? For some reason, I just cannot come to terms with the notion that life just "is" and there is no logical reason or higher purpose behind it. If everything in nature stemmed from a few basics laws then it ought to be possible to bring about some semblance of order in the nature of things. I fully understand the problem of algorithmic compressibility and I am not looking for a way to figure out the future. I have always loved mathematics and all my initial attempts at understanding the universe were inherently mathematical.
I pondered over the fact that cause and effect are interrelated and a finite number of causes should always lead to a finite number of effects. Thus, if it is possible to limit the set of inputs, the output set should also be bounded. Under this hypothesis, if I could narrow down the number of factors that can effect a situation I could hypothetically have a very good chance of finding the outcome. Seemed simple enough but turns out that nature is far more complicated. This hypothesis kept me busy for a while and I attributed my failures to the fact that I was not accounting for all the variables.
Enter Chaos theory. It gave me nightmares. It went completely against my understanding of mathematics but here it was. I coded a computer program on one of the equations and nearly wrecked my machine but it was there and it was undeniable. It just stated that a given input can result in a wide range of outputs which seemed essentially random in nature. My initial hypothesis went out the window. Closely associated with Chaos was the concept of fractals and that puzzled me for a while. My initial consternation gave way to curiosity and I started to feel that a deeper understanding was needed to get to what Chaos was all about. It soon began to seem that Chaotic equations did settle down into a "pattern" after a while and though they do not stabilise, they do remain bounded. There was still hope. If the universe is based on Chaos then it has had enough time to settle into a pattern and we should be able to figure out the bounds.
Then came probability and gate crashed my concepts. The mathematical probability struck me as wondrous. It seemed to say that you can try doing something once and it may work, try twice and it may work but try it a zillion times and you will fail "x" percentage of the time. It was a surprising result but it was true because it is verifiable. Could life indeed be a stochastic process? Modern science does treat it as so and so you will see percentages like children in Somalia have 70% chance of survival etc etc. Statistics such as this are a clear indication that there is a probability lurking around the corner. Probability of survival, probability of success... what else? It seems we are on the verge of a scientific and philosophical breakthrough. A point in our history where we realize that there are just too many decisions to be made and each decision has a certain probability of success. The number of choices we see before us are in turn a result of the choices made earlier. So that's cause and effect. After all this, even in spite of good decisions and sound judgement it is still possible to screw up courtesy Chaos.
Which now makes me wonder about the probability of probability describing life... Hmmm... maybe another day.
I pondered over the fact that cause and effect are interrelated and a finite number of causes should always lead to a finite number of effects. Thus, if it is possible to limit the set of inputs, the output set should also be bounded. Under this hypothesis, if I could narrow down the number of factors that can effect a situation I could hypothetically have a very good chance of finding the outcome. Seemed simple enough but turns out that nature is far more complicated. This hypothesis kept me busy for a while and I attributed my failures to the fact that I was not accounting for all the variables.
Enter Chaos theory. It gave me nightmares. It went completely against my understanding of mathematics but here it was. I coded a computer program on one of the equations and nearly wrecked my machine but it was there and it was undeniable. It just stated that a given input can result in a wide range of outputs which seemed essentially random in nature. My initial hypothesis went out the window. Closely associated with Chaos was the concept of fractals and that puzzled me for a while. My initial consternation gave way to curiosity and I started to feel that a deeper understanding was needed to get to what Chaos was all about. It soon began to seem that Chaotic equations did settle down into a "pattern" after a while and though they do not stabilise, they do remain bounded. There was still hope. If the universe is based on Chaos then it has had enough time to settle into a pattern and we should be able to figure out the bounds.
Then came probability and gate crashed my concepts. The mathematical probability struck me as wondrous. It seemed to say that you can try doing something once and it may work, try twice and it may work but try it a zillion times and you will fail "x" percentage of the time. It was a surprising result but it was true because it is verifiable. Could life indeed be a stochastic process? Modern science does treat it as so and so you will see percentages like children in Somalia have 70% chance of survival etc etc. Statistics such as this are a clear indication that there is a probability lurking around the corner. Probability of survival, probability of success... what else? It seems we are on the verge of a scientific and philosophical breakthrough. A point in our history where we realize that there are just too many decisions to be made and each decision has a certain probability of success. The number of choices we see before us are in turn a result of the choices made earlier. So that's cause and effect. After all this, even in spite of good decisions and sound judgement it is still possible to screw up courtesy Chaos.
Which now makes me wonder about the probability of probability describing life... Hmmm... maybe another day.
Shaddi ka Photographer
Of late I have earned the distinction of being a "Shaddi ka Photographer" due to my habit of dragging my camera along for seemingly trivial occasions. It is time I justify the habit.
I have never been a very emotional person ( at least externally), I do get pretty riled up sometimes but over the years I have learnt to hold back my emotions as I have learnt that shortcircuting my brain is not a viable option. Flashback!! My last day in school was the day when almost all the girls and some of the effeminate guys were in tears. I felt no such all encompassing pain for some reason and was rather bemused by people getting their shirts filled with signatures and crying like the Titanic just sank.. hilarious. There were many people who had brought cameras and were taking photographs, I was the least interested and spent most of the time actually taking the snaps rather than trying to be in them. It has been 12 years since that time has passed and I can safely say that I am still in contact with most of my classmates as compared to the camera wielding friends. However, when I look at the pictures that were taken then and find everyone else there but not me it somehow bothers me.. it is as if history has somehow forgotten my existence.
I have spent many a wonderful time with my family in fairy tale like settings in Arunachal, Sohra and other off the map locations. These were places that were hard to reach but once there it was hard to complain about the nerve wrecking journey. I have seen crystal clear rivers, enchanting wildlife, majestic mountains and all at an arms length away. The images are etched in my heart but I have no photograph to share. Is it selfish to hide away such a wondrous part of planet Earth in my mind? I have no option, my literary abilities cannot do justice to the imagery in my mind.
Now I am young and my mind vivid. I can feel the past and sense the passion that I had felt even a long time ago but I know it will not last. How will I savor the past a few years down the line? How will I tell people about the things I have seen, the people I have met when I have nothing but words. In todays modern world, visual imagery is everything, a picture speaks a thousand words. A photo of a small gathering of friends, a video of a thing as stupid as watching the clock set back an hour when DST is applied, a colleagues birthday... all insignificant by themselves but they are an undeniable part of my life and I choose to honor every moment. So yes, I am a "Shaddi ka Photographer" and I carry my camera around. I am not a photographer, I dont know the angles and the light and shadow effects.. I know the people, I know the place, I know myself and I know that every photo I take is a slice of time that I save for posterity.
I have never been a very emotional person ( at least externally), I do get pretty riled up sometimes but over the years I have learnt to hold back my emotions as I have learnt that shortcircuting my brain is not a viable option. Flashback!! My last day in school was the day when almost all the girls and some of the effeminate guys were in tears. I felt no such all encompassing pain for some reason and was rather bemused by people getting their shirts filled with signatures and crying like the Titanic just sank.. hilarious. There were many people who had brought cameras and were taking photographs, I was the least interested and spent most of the time actually taking the snaps rather than trying to be in them. It has been 12 years since that time has passed and I can safely say that I am still in contact with most of my classmates as compared to the camera wielding friends. However, when I look at the pictures that were taken then and find everyone else there but not me it somehow bothers me.. it is as if history has somehow forgotten my existence.
I have spent many a wonderful time with my family in fairy tale like settings in Arunachal, Sohra and other off the map locations. These were places that were hard to reach but once there it was hard to complain about the nerve wrecking journey. I have seen crystal clear rivers, enchanting wildlife, majestic mountains and all at an arms length away. The images are etched in my heart but I have no photograph to share. Is it selfish to hide away such a wondrous part of planet Earth in my mind? I have no option, my literary abilities cannot do justice to the imagery in my mind.
Now I am young and my mind vivid. I can feel the past and sense the passion that I had felt even a long time ago but I know it will not last. How will I savor the past a few years down the line? How will I tell people about the things I have seen, the people I have met when I have nothing but words. In todays modern world, visual imagery is everything, a picture speaks a thousand words. A photo of a small gathering of friends, a video of a thing as stupid as watching the clock set back an hour when DST is applied, a colleagues birthday... all insignificant by themselves but they are an undeniable part of my life and I choose to honor every moment. So yes, I am a "Shaddi ka Photographer" and I carry my camera around. I am not a photographer, I dont know the angles and the light and shadow effects.. I know the people, I know the place, I know myself and I know that every photo I take is a slice of time that I save for posterity.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Once upon a long time ago in Arunachal...
Its raining outside and the weather is what most people would describe as gloomy and correctly so. I however have been born and brought up in Shillong where gloomy days are the norm. Let me assure that once you have spent 16 years of your life waking up to a dull day and then mustering the courage to get to school/college, you are set for life. I digress. What this day reminds me of is my trips to Arunachal where my dad was on a "punishment" transfer for not having stooped to the general level of lowlifes as exist in India's government institutions.
He had to stay in Arunachal while we were in Shillong and it was not an ideal scenario. The bright spot in all of this however was that we had our winter vacations in Arunachal. The first few days there were mind numbing for us city folks.. no TV, a small town with absolutely nothing worth talking about, dumb people all around speaking a language we did not understand. That was not a great start to any vacation but we soon settled into a routine. My routine being the following.. wake up, mild exercise , break fast, swinging from rope to pole (yes, I tied a rope to a pole so sue me), lunch, sleep, read a few old comics, play cards, dinner and sleep. Don't get me wrong, I loved to laze around like that but what I hated most was the lack of ANY intellectual stimulation.
My dad had become friends with a few town folks and we decided to go on a picnic once. Its then that I realized that entire Arunachal is just a BIG, BIG picnic spot. You can drive you car through the trees and through dried up river beds and within a couple of hours you will be away from any sign of civilization. The only sounds being the steady rhythm of a sparkling river broken occasionally by the chirping of a bird. The rivers, with water so clear that you could drink it straight without any apprehension, seemed straight out of a poets dream. It was just awesome but the best part was the feeling that this was just the tip of the iceberg... that feeling was justified when we went to a place called Diban.
Diban, a place which was pretty far off from our place and we had to travel via car for quite some time to get there. The motivation for the trip was the trip itself and that beats any other motivation any day. The roads ( where they existed) were horrible and in most places we were just driving around rocky river beds, sand dunes, forests and what not. My family is pretty travel hardened so we endured pretty well and surprisingly even our dog who was the unfortunate passenger in a Maruti Gypsy's rearmost interior remained intact. Then came a bridge which seemed to have been constructed out of twigs.. yes twigs not logs. That's not all, entire sections were missing and there was a raging river some 1000 feet beneath. Hold on.. and there was an over turned truck right down there which looked like it had fallen off the bridge a couple of hours ago AND to top it all there was a sign "CROSS AT YOUR OWN RISK". That bridge was our only way and as the car edged along I remember just looking ahead. No one spoke a word. The car hobbled along. If God was impressed by prayers we would have got the Nobel prize for praying that day. We got off that bridge in one piece.
The next hurdle was a mountain road, just wide enough for a car, no crash barriers and a 1500 feet drop. Unfortunately, that was not the scary part. The scary part was the fact that there was a freaking waterfall gushing straight over the road and it looked powerful enough to jolt the car right down the precipice. Our driver ( who I regard as the only guy on the planet who can give Vin Diesel a run for his money) put the gypsy in the 4 wheel drive mode, asked us to get down and crawl to the other side of the waterfall while he tried to drive "through" the waterfall. Crazy right? Ha.. WRONG. We did a quick back of the envelope calculation and figured out that a lighter car would be easier to topple over so we decided to stay put in the car and drive through the waterfall. Whoa!! Was that Einstein running out of his grave?? Anyways, we did get through in one piece but we were completely shaken by the journey. No one spoke a word but we knew that everyone was thinking the same thing... nothing is worth taking such a big risk for.. least of all a pleasure trip.
Then we saw Diban. To be precise we saw the resort that we were to put up in. One look and then we just looked at each other. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I only remember thinking that if I had died and woken up in that place I would have taken that to be heaven. It was just that, a slice of heaven tucked away in a God forsaken place. Irony is the divine sense of humor and I have learnt to appreciate it. The resort looked something like a old Mogul era building but the wondrous part was that it was situated on an island. An island formed between two rivers, one river was the Digaru and I forget the name of the other. The striking feature of the rivers was that one was deep blue in color while the other was green and they merged just a few miles in front of the resort and then continued flowing around it. Forests all round and the distinct feeling that the forest was filled with tigers and wolves was just so exciting (Diban is a Tiger reserve). It felt so good to be alive. It was a short and sweet trip for us but one that I will remember for ever. It is funny how the things that leave a lasting impression on you sometimes have such humble beginnings.
He had to stay in Arunachal while we were in Shillong and it was not an ideal scenario. The bright spot in all of this however was that we had our winter vacations in Arunachal. The first few days there were mind numbing for us city folks.. no TV, a small town with absolutely nothing worth talking about, dumb people all around speaking a language we did not understand. That was not a great start to any vacation but we soon settled into a routine. My routine being the following.. wake up, mild exercise , break fast, swinging from rope to pole (yes, I tied a rope to a pole so sue me), lunch, sleep, read a few old comics, play cards, dinner and sleep. Don't get me wrong, I loved to laze around like that but what I hated most was the lack of ANY intellectual stimulation.
My dad had become friends with a few town folks and we decided to go on a picnic once. Its then that I realized that entire Arunachal is just a BIG, BIG picnic spot. You can drive you car through the trees and through dried up river beds and within a couple of hours you will be away from any sign of civilization. The only sounds being the steady rhythm of a sparkling river broken occasionally by the chirping of a bird. The rivers, with water so clear that you could drink it straight without any apprehension, seemed straight out of a poets dream. It was just awesome but the best part was the feeling that this was just the tip of the iceberg... that feeling was justified when we went to a place called Diban.
Diban, a place which was pretty far off from our place and we had to travel via car for quite some time to get there. The motivation for the trip was the trip itself and that beats any other motivation any day. The roads ( where they existed) were horrible and in most places we were just driving around rocky river beds, sand dunes, forests and what not. My family is pretty travel hardened so we endured pretty well and surprisingly even our dog who was the unfortunate passenger in a Maruti Gypsy's rearmost interior remained intact. Then came a bridge which seemed to have been constructed out of twigs.. yes twigs not logs. That's not all, entire sections were missing and there was a raging river some 1000 feet beneath. Hold on.. and there was an over turned truck right down there which looked like it had fallen off the bridge a couple of hours ago AND to top it all there was a sign "CROSS AT YOUR OWN RISK". That bridge was our only way and as the car edged along I remember just looking ahead. No one spoke a word. The car hobbled along. If God was impressed by prayers we would have got the Nobel prize for praying that day. We got off that bridge in one piece.
The next hurdle was a mountain road, just wide enough for a car, no crash barriers and a 1500 feet drop. Unfortunately, that was not the scary part. The scary part was the fact that there was a freaking waterfall gushing straight over the road and it looked powerful enough to jolt the car right down the precipice. Our driver ( who I regard as the only guy on the planet who can give Vin Diesel a run for his money) put the gypsy in the 4 wheel drive mode, asked us to get down and crawl to the other side of the waterfall while he tried to drive "through" the waterfall. Crazy right? Ha.. WRONG. We did a quick back of the envelope calculation and figured out that a lighter car would be easier to topple over so we decided to stay put in the car and drive through the waterfall. Whoa!! Was that Einstein running out of his grave?? Anyways, we did get through in one piece but we were completely shaken by the journey. No one spoke a word but we knew that everyone was thinking the same thing... nothing is worth taking such a big risk for.. least of all a pleasure trip.
Then we saw Diban. To be precise we saw the resort that we were to put up in. One look and then we just looked at each other. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I only remember thinking that if I had died and woken up in that place I would have taken that to be heaven. It was just that, a slice of heaven tucked away in a God forsaken place. Irony is the divine sense of humor and I have learnt to appreciate it. The resort looked something like a old Mogul era building but the wondrous part was that it was situated on an island. An island formed between two rivers, one river was the Digaru and I forget the name of the other. The striking feature of the rivers was that one was deep blue in color while the other was green and they merged just a few miles in front of the resort and then continued flowing around it. Forests all round and the distinct feeling that the forest was filled with tigers and wolves was just so exciting (Diban is a Tiger reserve). It felt so good to be alive. It was a short and sweet trip for us but one that I will remember for ever. It is funny how the things that leave a lasting impression on you sometimes have such humble beginnings.
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