The closer you are the closer the truth is

The closer you are the closer the truth is.

 

Life seems sometimes to be a dreary set of coincidences stitched together in a way the you desperately hope  is meaningful. But in reality there are too many people in too many places who don’t really care, they just want to look like they’re doing something because that is enough for them apparently. In reality its so pointless. If all you seek to do is create an image, it will be totally illusory.

Henry David Thoreau said”….. , give me truth”. The rest of the sentence adds gravitas to that one phrase, but actually just that one phrase is more than enough. The one phrase tells you everything you need to know about everything you do. All of it is just a meagre effort at the truth. However many problem you solve, however many anythings that you manage to achieve, they are all triumphs towards the truth. What does this enigmatic truth have to be? Does it have a definition, a meaning, some direction perhaps? No it doesn’t and it doesn’t have to. Our life on earth is meagre  the change we induce here so insignificant that in reality every dictator, and every peasant in the timeline of the universe will occupy the same place. The only thing that makes any sense is to try and enjoy every little extra bit of knowledge you get,and to try to find a morsel, a grain of something with a semblance of meaning in it. Something that makes sense. We are all crazy, insane creatures, our ability to think makes us that. I mean sanity would be to just live and reproduce and survive till you did so, any sort of simple justice dictates that the confines offered by that route are sufficient for the continuation of the species. But we are so much more. The very fact that we are so much more means so much more is expected from every single one of us. Why? Because we can. Isn’t that in itself a good enough reason? That our brains can ACTUALLY try to see how the stuff around us works, how there is the truth in the things we see? And to comprehend that, its the literal equivalent of holding nuggets of gold in your hand. It’s worth it, it totally is.

I can see it in my head for once, and it’s a rare moment this. I just imagined myself asking this NASA scientist who was working on some problem -“Is it worth it?” and he said to me- ” I love every bit of knowledge I get, because the closer I am to the answer, the closer I am to the truth”. He didn’t finish that sentence but I understood. It meant that we should keep searching. Always search for more knowledge because that is where truth lies.

The cynics will say yes we’ve been doing that every moment till now, curiosity is our defining feature. But is happiness? DO you enjoy the fact that you have acquired something new – even if it isn’t shiny or glamorous, maybe its just a line of text in your head, a set of symbols or an image? DO you feel happy about it? Does it make you feel like it’s related to how the world goes around and the universe functions? Every single particle is linked to every other. They just are. It’s the way of nature. The more we discover, the closer we are to discovering why they are so inextricably linked. The future of man is definitely bleak, possibly extremely unhappy but that does not mean that our scientific glories will wane, they will only seem all the brighter for the darkness of the environment in which they are spawned. We should all nurse such discoveries, and help them grow. 

 Trust me. The closer you get, the closer you are to the truth. And the truth is the epitome of happiness. Search for it, and every single time you get it, cherish it and understand that moment. Life will become so much more. That timeline on which the dictator and peasant sit together just won’t matter anymore because you’ll realise that you too are among all those particles of nature. YOU are part of the timeline of the universe. 

Rumpelstiltskin

Did I say Rumpelstiltskin? Gosh, I meant language.

 

Language as I see it is a very limited device. While through language we have learned to communicate a massive number of things and thanks to it again we are able to understand the teachings and learning-s of our ancestors, in reality, it’s terribly lacking. 
Why?

1. It allows people to dissemble far too easily. To persuade another’s mind of something that is vague and shapeless while seeming to be terribly clear. This is not a personal attack on people but just a way humanity survives and compromises. We’re a little helpless to it.
2. It’s lack of being able to show the complete picture – any description is incomplete without the authors entire mental state being described – his experiences with whatever it may be, his feelings for it, his thoughts, and ideas. Only a very very very clear headed person would manage to convey all that in words but:
3. There are only a finite number of words, and there always will be thanks to the the limits of human memory. So considering the myriad experiences to be had there will never truly be sufficient ways of expressing everything in clear detail. To be able to paint a proper picture with words. The brush strokes will always be slightly smudged(and at times this may be what is desired so that individual interpretation is possible but not always).

So what should we do?
Well one way would be to tap into the visual area of the brain and try to map outwards what is being visualised in the higher cortical areas. This way at least we get to see what the other person sees, and communication becomes so much more effective. This way we can make sure that the truth is there for people when they want it. There are always situations where the truth might not be a good idea, so this mechanism should always support that conclusion too but in general, dissembling should be pushed out of contention.

Expand the ways we can use language. Make more forms of language possible, start exploiting our metaphorical understanding of the world better to make language more useful. Memory is a crucial aspect of communication so if memory can be supplemented or recall improved it would be of tremendous benefit to communication if it were used only in such cases. I’m sure there must be more ways to manage this but for now this is all I can think of doing.

Language is definitely beautiful for it’s capabilities but it’s time we considered it’s faults and made some concrete effort to improve it.

Autobiography of an Idiot

Every single person who writes an autobiography is in my “respectable and highly appreciated” view, an idiot. Now the respectable and highly appreciated is put in there because every one of these people who seeks to inform the world about their life story believes that is how the public perceives their view. To me, a memoir is nothing more than the ultimate self flattery- you are convincing yourself that you are amazing, you are great, you did so many amazing things in your childhood. However, all of it, or at least a major set of facts is, if not completely fabricated is at least a stretching of the facts.

Here’s why:

No one has the ability to remember their whole lives. Those who do generally don’t write an autobiography because they end up living far too much in the past. Now here’s how we store our memories- we remember the best part about them, and even negative things start taking a positive light after some quantum of time. Now once this happens you are conveying a rosy eyed view of your life in an autobiography, you can check this by tallying up the number of good, happy things that happened in someone’s life versus the bad, negative things. In most cases the first always outnumbers the second. However, we all know that a bad thing has a much stronger impact on us than a good one, quantitatively it’s about twice as prominent in our memory. This would mean then, that the number of bad things people remember should be twice as much. But this never seems to be the case. Thus by method of contradiction I have proved that most autobiographies or even biographies are falsified on some level.

That had a very “prove this” feel to it, but what I have stated provides clear enough logic on why it’s quite stupid to believe in ANYTHING someone says in a bio, you might as well read a fictional account of some person-at least it doesn’t try to fool you into believing it’s the real story.

Is the Human Species Special ?

216 bones , zillions of cells , miles of epithelial tissue : this may describe the average human , but would any sensible member of the human race be satisfied with it ? As one member of this highly acclaimed race of animals , I would tend to disagree considerably . We are classified into what we are by one very special piece of mass so highly complex and wonderful one HAS to wonder whether any alien life form stuck it into the cranium to see what’ll happen (just like we do to animals smaller than us isn’t it ? a rather frightening analogy). The human brain is what gives us , to put it at its crudest , our power , over other animals , resources , over Planet Earth. And those aliens are sitting there and saying “ Ha-ha , look at these idiots , don’t they screw up themselves so wonderfully “.I want a much much better brain , one which while being able to handle our levels of complexity is also capable of using its OWN capabilities to a far greater extent and can detect its foibles; what I’m asking for is an inhuman human .

We speak of developed and developing countries , and it may be in whatever sense of the word , but we will never truly be developed until we can THINK better , such a crucial aspect of all our lives , but how many sit down you actually analyse it ? In the future , I don’t see humans present any longer , I see a purely robotic society which is viral and self replicating and evolves on its own level to give us far far better insights into the world. They possibly will integrate our characteristics into them , imbibing those things that will help them in whatever quest they are on. I’m no fatalist , but I want that day to come soon , if only for the sake of development and being able to show those stupid aliens the finger .  

Believing

The mind has a way of making sure that what it believes is what IS and nothing else, so it looks for the proof for what it thinks is true and right and neglects all the other sources of information. This is a major hindrance to any sort of scientific enquiry , suppose you believe some animal is dangerous , you would make sure to prove just that and nothing else . You would never mention that the possibility of even finding it is enormously rare or that it exists in non-inhabitable areas. How many scientific discoveries have been coloured by this idea? . Is it ever possible to have a completely objective view or is it ALWAYS flexible and superposed with the solution to the quandary that we have already hypothesised.

Holmes said it best when he mentioned that he never thinks about a case before he has the facts . Are we as humans that judicial though ? That careful and methodical while being as detached as the scientific mind of Holmes allowed him to be ? I should think now . We are after all , HUMAN , and I say that with a slight air of disgust, not for our faults but for our utter refusal to acknowledge them . It would take an apocalypse or a revolution of a different kind , one that assaulted everyone not physically but mentally . It would barricade everyone from looking anywhere but inwards upon themselves and contemplating the true nature of their own existence and clarifying their ideas about everything . Every memory we have is false , every thought we have unoriginal , every single thing we do based on a level of predictability that any child would frown upon had he the realisation of how fake all of this is .

It will take a new world , a more evolved and sophisticated one to truly make progress in all the areas that we have failed , and there are far too vast areas where the magnitude of our failures never fails to astonish me .

The truly hilarious side to all this , is that I’m hoping to pretend that I myself am not human , and I’m guessing I could actually have fooled a number of people into feeling as though this article was written by someone who actually isn’t human , which shows just how susceptible we are to our mind’s quirks , heuristics as they are called . However the reason this article itself is a true catastrophe is because I too am human and I have no option but to say my whole view on this matter has been overly derogatory and plain mean; there not 2 sides to any story , there’s an infinite number of sides to it . It’s up to us to make sure we choose the right one to listen to.

How to be happy ?

This is not a self-help article , this is a very selfish , self retrospective , externally critical article ,which could very easily offend you considerably. If , like me , you have a weak psyche , I advise against proceeding further . For the , uh , strong hearted ( whatever that means, because how well your heart pumps blood hardly affects how well you can handle what I’m going to write) we shall forge ahead on a path never before established. I’m not sure what has altered my consciousness the most , the downright destruction of my academic standing or all the hanging around people who laugh at ‘he CAME’ jokes. Its a surprise to me,myself, that a weak thing like me , filled with squishy things manages to get up every morning , and breaks out into a smile when it sees the sun.

First of all , I’m homesick . I miss you Bangalore , all your restaurants and everything else.I’d never ever thought I’d be forced to admit that to myself , albeit everyone else. Food somehow tops my list of things I really really want more of . I don’t mean some forgettable food I gulp down to survive, I mean , food that makes me feel like I’m on cloud 9 , like there’s nothing better , an indescribable high. I need to go to more restaurants . I want to experience a place which gives me food that’s a feast for all the senses , flavourful and aromatic , and looking better than the most beautiful girl(kind of shows you where I rate what on my list of important things ) .

And then its over. And you wonder the sensibility in buying another 1000 rupee dish . Now this is what I don’t want , I don’t want to be sensible. With a world filled with critics and idiots (hard to differentiate) it’s very tough to explain you don’t want to be sensible . Nature is a mean mean female , forcing you to behave however it seems right to her , without letting you really design things in your own fashion . It’s impossible to break out from under her clutches, its like denying your very humanity , something I would love to do . As I already mentioned, I am NOT ‘gaga’ about humanity and the way things work in society.

‘A life unexamined is a life not worth living’- Socrates . So examine and re-examine until you are satisfied with how things stand , YOU, and not someone else should be satisfied.

My last and final way to be happy is the most (well to my friends it would seems so at least) senseless. I want to study . Its the simplest way I’ll feel more happy , nothing can possibly raise my spirit  the way knowing more can make me feel . That was why my 12th was so jubilant despite the obvious consequences from all the exams .
I sincerely hope all this works . No one’s saying that you cant screw up your life, you have the sole right to do so , but remember that when you retrospect after 20 years , you might not feel so satisfied. So do what feels good now , and what WILL , even after 20 years .

End of the Universe

No this is NOT a doomsday article.

I was contemplating the possibility of the universe having an end to it .

Say you’re in a room right now, you see a 3 D system of walls and doors and possibly windows with clear partitions, clear demarcations, clear ENDINGS . There are corners to the room . What’re the corners of the universe ? Does it have a corner ? Or is it a mindboggling endless amount of Space; a very confounding idea . How can it go on forever ?

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending” , so where’s the ending of the universe ? . Maybe it merges into another universe that’s there on the border, a second one that possibly mirrors ours, allowing thus for the thought of parallel universes. Again that incorporates infinity , because there can be an infinite number of parallel universes. That’s an idea my mind can never properly fathom, how can there be an infinity when all we experience and are exposed to has some ‘finity’ to it, or at least in our understanding and perception of it it does. Now check the contradiction of that , suppose the universe DOES have an ending , one that we haven’t yet detected because information of it is still travelling to us. Then the obvious question that arises is , what’s there beyond it ? Space itself is nothingness, so there MUST be something after the ending , which within itself contradicts the very possibility of an ending to the universe . So I guess I can safely (or dangerously) conclude that there really IS no ending. VERY dissatisfying i can tell you . Either I want to understand the concept of infinity or the possibility of an ending . Neither is well defined and it nags me like crazy…. since right now sleep IS a possibility I can understand I think I’ll accept it and contemplate on infinities and non-infinities later.

(as an extra note, EVERYTHING is intrinsically infinite- no ending of finding smaller and smaller particles, and since the universe is based on them , looking outwards from inside we see that even the universe is definitely infinite , at the same time, if we find there is a smallest particle beyond which there is nothing , something we’ll never definitively prove actually, then the universe DOES have an ending 🙂 )