Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Money=Friction?

   
Is it possible to live a good life without money? Probably not.  How much money is sufficient to lead a good life? How much money is too much? No answer!!

There are 3 types of people who despise money

1st: Losers; Those who don’t have and also are sure they will never have enough of it. So in other words they are afraid of admitting to themselves that they are losers. So they are just trying to justify their choices, decisions, capabilities, orientations, or even fate.

2nd: Hypocrites; Those who had enough of it and have no charm of it any longer (or at least say so as a fashion statement or to project themselves as gentle, humble, selfless personalities). In other words they traded money for power and respect.

3rd (Unnamed) are supernatural beings who didn't have it but still realized that money is not worth running after. This is a very rare species and it's extremely difficult to distinguish it from 1st category (specially for a skeptic like me)

Can we say "Money is necessary evil" in analogy with quote from physics "Friction is necessary evil", b'Coz you can't live without them and too much is too bad.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

I am right!!

 
Why is it that whatever you do is right? The customs that I follow are always right. My nation is best. My religion is best. My opinion is right. (implicitly it makes the person who shares some of these similarities  better  in your opinion than others in the lot).
Did we ever gather courage to question whether you are really right or why is it so?
Well, its never too late!!

It's fine to respect one's own culture or customs but simply because one was born there in a particular caste/region/religion doesn't make that the greatest caste/region/religion on earth. Is there any scope of application of logic in this world full of emotional people who are largely being exploited by shrewd, emotionally intelligent people (you may call them "smart" or "cunning" depending upon which side you belong to and who you have sympathy for)? Isn't it very easy to provoke someone in the name of state/country/religion/god and exploit them?

Won't it be a better world if we have more emotionally intelligent people who don't hesitate to question  the validity of any emotion/association/attachment? Isn't it better to keep one's belief  to oneself and try to respect/accept/appreciate other's opinion at the same time.
Or is it in the best interest of human race to live in a "leader-follower (exploiter and emotional fool)" mode?

Am I right? :)
 

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Rationality with Empathy?

 
Is empathy always good? Well, one would say that like every other thing, it's good when within limit. But now "limit" itself has very personalized form and definition.

And the worst thing is it affects, interferes and even directs your actions and rational behavior even without you realizing about it. Thinking? Disagreeing? Just think of some instance when you discovered about someone in your circle to be from the same school of thought (may be political ideology, (non)religious view, tradition, region etc), doesn’t it suddenly increase your comfort, respect, attachment for that person? Thinking from pure logical point of view, does being from same school of thought make the other person more trustworthy/useful/productive/capable?

Don't we support some sports teams/players based on our idea of region/country/religion/economic status and ignoring the fact which team has got more talent or which team has put in how much hard work?

What if you are conducting an interview, will you be able to control your bias unless you are aware of your natural bias? Very difficult indeed.

Another extreme is when you realize your natural bias and try to defeat the effect of this bias and being over-cautious, become negatively biased.

Is there any solution? How to maintain balance between rationality(or rationalism) and empathy?
Sorry, I don't have an answer :(
I am myself in search of..