Random Musings on Free-Will, Game Theory, Social Psychology and God

Note: This is hopefully the first of a series of posts on the subject, in which case I sympathize with my readers! :P

Disclaimer: I am an Atheist, a Keynesian Capitalist (Free Markets with Regulation & Intervention) and a firm believer in Free-Will. Also, the topic under discussion is immensely vast, and is of such a scope that every human born into this world contemplates about it at some point of time in their lives, and great philosophers and public intellectuals have pondered on these questions, coming up with their own subtle variations to explaining the nature of life as we see it. I am just presenting a short snippet of my take on the subject and I am trying to stir up some conversation by being a polemicist!

Essay:

As “Neo” tells the “Architect” in “The Matrix”: “The Problem is Choice”. This is one of the most profound self-evident truths in the universe, and yet not only is it under-stated, but also flagrantly contradicted by the corporations, advertisers and by civil society in public discourse.

We are told, again and again, by people, corporations, entities and Governments that the greatest gift of the 20th century has been “Free-Will”. This statement has been sold to the public repeatedly by the entire society, as if it were a self-evident truth, and people who seek to question its veracity (with the best of intentions) are demonized as being archaic, illogical and evil. This often repeated assertion assumes that Free-Will is necessarily a good thing – that man is happiest when he is given the freedom to choose, that civilizations with immense freedom are necessarily the ones which are the most productive.

Lets try to deconstruct that for a moment.

• Assertion #1: Main is happiest when he is given the freedom to choose:

  Psychologist Barry Schwartz, in an acclaimed TED Talk [3], takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied, not clearer but more confused.

• Assertion #2: Civilizations with immense freedom are the most productive:

  It is true that the Soviet Union collapsed spectacularly and this is taken irrefutable evidence of the failure of Communism/Socialism and conclusive evidence in support of Free societies. It is worthwhile noting that the Soviet Union had immense power and influence in the world for almost half a century – its power and influence almost rivalling that of the United States. That its power/influence thrived successfully for four decades is indicative that Socialist societies could indeed be productive and influential. Furthermore, it is also worthwhile noting that the Soviet Union, despite lacking political, economic & religious freedom, made very tangible and significant advances in nuclear technology, space exploration technology and other products and services.

Scientists and biologists have discovered that based on current evidence, it can be concluded that an individual’s sexual orientation is a combination of genetic, hormonal and environmental factors [1][2]. Who is to say that in another decade or so, the scientific community will say the same thing about the tendency of an individual to commit murder or perpetrate violence? This is indeed a scary thought, but it may very well be true – that human beings could possibly be merely biological automatons who live out their lives computing a function (which determines sexual orientation, political beliefs, religious inclinations, compassion/arrogance and other aspects of human behavior), which is encoded not in Binary logic, but the logic of the four nucleotides that constitute the DNA.

I am not saying that Free-Will is a bad thing or that Democracy should be abolished or that we should return to anarchy/totalitarianism (Don’t worry! I am no Noam Chomsky or Naomi Klein!). But we must seek to constantly introspect, contemplate and question the foundational assumptions behind every important assertion (especially if the assertion is held to be self-evident and forms the moral and epistemological basis for modern civilization). And we must admit that our knowledge of the universe and the origin and nature of life is still in its infancy and that as science and technology progresses, we might find alternative explanation models for existing philosophical and moral conundrums.

Now let us say that Free Will exists and that it is a wonderful and noble thing.

Human beings are not strictly speaking universal turing machines, although we are analogous in some respects – we don’t function in a strictly algorithmic way, that is to say we do not function as per a mechanical procedure. Our lives are filled with uncertainty, decision-making, heuristic evaluation and intuitive assessment of goals, rewards and penalties with a streak of irrationality and emotions thrown into the mix. Every choice that an individual makes is predicated upon an inner (partially innate, partially inherited, partially acquired) complex heuristic function, which tries to comparatively assign priorities and subjectively assess various possible decision-paths in life. This heuristic function is individualized and customized to suit the sensibilities and tastes and preferences of that particular individual, and takes into account religious views (Christian/Jew/Atheist), economic ideology (Capitalism/Socialism), political stance (Conservative/Liberal), moral stance on several issues (Abortion, Death Penalty, Euthanasia), and a plethora of other attributes including perseverance, ambition, resourcefulness, etc. The nature of decision making and heuristic evaluation of decision-paths is thus a subjective process, for which there does not exist an objective numerical rating system. Furthermore, there is no universal de-facto standard composition/configuration of the heuristic function, which applies and scales equally well to all individuals.

It is precisely because of these reasons that the study of Social & Cognitive Psychology is so important and critical to eventually find the true nature of Free-will, ascertain the degree and semantics of the choice we exercise, figure out the exact neuro-cognitive thought processes that help us making decisions, and finally to possibly extrapolate these results into formulation of effective Government policies. Furthermore, Game Theory (and certain elements from Mathematics & Computer Science) involve the use of heuristic evaluation functions, which try to objectively assess the utilitarian benefits of a particular decision path, with the intention of finding a reasonably optimized (if not perfectly optimal) decision path. By its very definition, a heuristic is NOT an objective evaluation but is a subjective assessment of the utility value of a given configuration in the search-space, and most heuristics are based on a concoction of rational thought, empirical observations, logical deduction and critically human intuition.

Game Theory seeks to understand bargaining, pricing and competition – but it does so with the assumption that people plan ahead and carefully figure out what others will do, which often results in mathematical claims that are highly unrealistic cognitively. An interesting article [4] suggests a theory called “Cognitive Hierarchy Theory”, that a key part of strategizing by predicting the behaviour of other people (or corporations, or countries), involves thinking about what the others think you will do. One can extend this line of thought to also include the factor of thinking about what others think you think …. And so on. And as can be clearly seen, the intersection of cognitive/social psychology, game theory and neurological sciences is something that deserves celebration and applause, for it will bring forth many critical insights into several aspects of human behaviour.

Finally, as an ending note, I wish to emphasize a point made by Christopher Hitchens about the popular conception of the linkage of Free-Will with Existence of God. The religious dutifully and sincerely believe that Free-Will can only be explained by the existence of God – that He (or She for the feminist-conscious) is the one who grants Man with the capacity of Free-Will and confers upon us the right to choose our own path. But by the very definition of Free Will, if it is granted explicitly by a supreme creator, then it CANNOT be called “Free-Will”. Its like a Database Administrator granting privileges to Database users – the administrator is permitting freedom of access, but has the power to strip away the privileges at any time by a simple SQL command. God (if he exists, which I believe is not the case) too can execute SQL and strip Man of Free-Will – thereby defying the very notion and semantics of the concept “Free-Will”. Who would have thought that the religious unwittingly portray God as a Database Administrator?! .... Lets see if any of you can come up with a metaphor correlating God with Operating Systems, Data Structures, Algorithms or Web Programming! :P

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation
2. http://www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/genomics/2002/pierce/gaygene.htm
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM
4. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090215151809.htm

Also Posted On:
* CS8803 HHH (Spring 2011 Georgia Tech) Class Blog: http://happyhealthyhome11.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/random-musings-on-free-will-game-theory-social-psychology-and-god/

* Facebook Note: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150176561669006

Random Thoughts 1

This is the first of hopefully a long series of short PJ's and amused musings, most of which have originated from the depths of an idle, devious mind. This series is "inspired" from the series of posts of the same name on Crucifire's Blog. So credit to him for "inspiring" me :P


Also, I just want to mention the fact that brevity is not my cup of tea - my skill and my interest lies in the complicating the simple, restating the obvious, expanding the brief and inflating the smallest into one humongous blog post - my archives will bear testimony to this!! That and the fact that 8 semesters, 45 exams later, I have mastered the art of putting random words together!! So, this series is all the more challenging for a person devoid of any succinctness. Here's to brevity!!

Oh! And please do gimme feedback (positive or negative)!


Here goes ....

Q. "What do Shahrukh Khan and Adam Sandler have in common??"

A. They are both wedding singers!!

Links:
The Wedding Singer (1998 movie) @ Wikipedia
Deccan Herald Report of SRK paid as a wedding guest

Testimonial Categorization!

Having been on Orkut now for (the better part of) a year & a half now, I have noticed the spate of the rather meaningful testimonials that give a stunning insight into of the concerned person (all the sarcasm intended).

Some authors are poetic in their expression, preferring to write poems & sometimes songs in praise of the fellow. The colourful, sometimes-cryptic-sometimes-descriptive words sewn together to form lines & then stanzas ring out so rythmically & with such rhyming, that the heart soars when it reads! :P

Other authors prefer a more philosophically engaging way of expressing themselves, as they choose a recursive mode of writing. A generic example of such a recursion would be : "this is a blog post" OR " this is a testimonial" - a careful scrutiny of the statement reveals such hidden information & philosophical implications that you will be stunned by how so much can be implied in so little! :P .... Truly, brevity & recursion is the soul of a testimonial! :P .... The authors of such testimonials are usually philosophers, sears or computer programmers who understand the philosophical dichotomy of recursion!

Be it in poetry or prose, both testimonials have one thing in common - they are mass manufactured & copy-pasted/submitted/accepted in bulk - quite like that Archies card you gift some-one. Even that is a tad more original & authentic! This is not to say that the authors mean anything less than a sincere friendly testimonial - but many unfortunately haven't been blessed with the gift of the pen ;)

Then we have authors, who not satisfied with a mass-propagated material, make sincere attempts to be original & creative. While their efforts are valiant & appreciable, the result unfortunately is hardly flattering. But, atleast these guys make an effort to write something unique & different - its not just the end-result, but the gesture that counts.

And then, there's a category of committed love-birds, who choose to let out their feelings for each other via multiple testimonials, each of which read out like a Mills & Boons novel :P - okay mebbe not that bad! But its bad enough! Some of them divulge in such great detail the small nuances/idiosyncrasies and incidents that established their relationship, that would satisfy the apetite of even the most voyeuristic amongst us.

And finally, there are authors like me, who use a dozen adjectives & so-called "hi-funda" words (I like to think of them as illustrations of my linguistic mastery - yea, call me pompous & grandiloquent :P) .... Of course, it comes at a price - such testimonials are beyond the comprehension of the general orkutting masses and defy the very purpose of having a testimonial! People get more pissed when they receive such testimonials than when they have none - the reason? they don't understand half of it!

In the end, there are two ways of looking at it - that testimonials are tools for self-gratification and peer-approval on the internet in a manner that is as frivolous as it is dangerous/delusional OR testimonials are just a funny, light-hearted (and often copy-pasted/badly written) perspective on near friends/family that is meant NOT to be taken too seriously. Which one is the case, I leave it to you guys to decide.

Jeepers Creepers! Lord save us!

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Himesh Reshammiya Song! :P
"India's First & Only Rockstar" - Truth is stranger than fiction! :P

At the time of writing this post, my hands are shaking, my legs are tapping the floor with such enthusiasm & frequency so as to match the fundamental frequency of vibration of my building, hence bringing about resonance ..... my mind is numbed in awe & my heart fluttering with eagerness .... all this in nervous anticipation of the 'bonanza' that is going to take place on 31st December, 2006 .... my informant - an ad in the movies section of Bombay Times

Yes ladies & gentlemen .... Himeshji will be lending his soulful voice & sing his melodious tunes to usher in the new year and he has invited all of us to join him in his nasal renditions of his most melodious tunes :P

And what better venue than a 5-star premium hotel like Renaissance, Powai? Really, I admire Himeshji's tastes! Its another thing, that I disapprove of Renaissance's taste! :P

To remind us of his apparent (yet thoroughly undeserved) greatness, the ad stresses on the fact that Himeshji is afterall India's first & only true rockstar .... such is his apparent greatness that the ad proclaims this as "THE MOST PHENOMENAL NEW YEAR'S EVE" ..... And like the central-attraction in a circus, Himeshji is being touted as "SPECIAL ATTRACTION" .... Ofcourse with his unshaven, unkempt appearance coupled with a wardrobe that consists of all things animalistic - Himeshji could well perform in a circus as well :P


I am not at all surprised that brands such as Provogue are sponsoring such an event .... after all Himeshji is the GREATEST singer/composer to have graced the earth :P .... Mozart pales in comparision & Beethoven is like a piss-in-a-bucket when compared to our Himeshji :P .... and ofcourse, Provogue seems to have found a great ambassador in Himeshji to sell their products - most of which will now come equipped with those great caps Himeshji keeps sporting. See, Himeshji is now India's first & only fashion icon!! :P

Now I am one among the Anti-Himesh brigade - one among those who give hope to the rest of the tormented mankind .... why would I be waiting in anticipation for this event u ask? well simple - I forgot to mention that I plan to place a whole-sale order for 200kg of tomatoes which I plan use as projectiles against Himeshji & co .... Now, THAT surely would be "THE MOST PHENOMENAL NEW YEAR'S EVE"! Don't u agree? :P


PS:
Somebody please hack this site!!
Himeshji_performing_in_Mumbai - From THE Himeshji's very own nasal Blog

J&K Flip-Flop

At the time of writing this post, Mr. Pervez Musharraf may have yet again flipped on his own statements and issued vehement denials of his own claims. This flip-flopping is characteristic of the General. So it comes as no surprise that the General wrote down one set of claims and ideas in his 'memoirs' and then refuted his own written claims, even going to the extent of feigning ignorance of what was written in his own book!!

The story thus far is that Musharraf has claimed in his 'memoirs' that the C.I.A. paid the Pakistani Govt millions of dollars in return for the 600 or so suspected 'terrorists' that are now spending their time in the confines of detention centres around the planet (not to speak the *care* with which they are handled). Such a monetary renumeration by any agency of the United States Govt is not permissible as per U.S. law. Not that the current U.S. administration isnt capable of flagrantly violating its own laws! :P .... Anyways, Musharraf then went on to refute his own claims during an appearance on Wolf Blitzer's show on CNN, by saying that such a remark was never made in the book and that he may have to review some changes in the book. He implicitly said that the Pakistan Govt was not a recepient of any monetary rewards given by the C.I.A.

One can see the same pattern of flip-flopping in the J&K issue as well. Musharraf has on several ocassions offered conflicting views on Kashmir and its role vis-a-vis Indo-Pak relations. Today he says, "Pakistan is willing to sit at the table and discuss all possible alternatives for seeking a solution to the J&K and other problems". The next day, he does a flip-around and says, "Pakistan cannot ignore the aspirations of Kashmiris to be independant and hence cannot stop our support to our brothers fighting for that freedom. Kashmir MUST be an independant state" or something to that effect. Its this constant flip-flopping, which by the way is also the Indian Govt's story, that is so frustrating - given that both countries have many other issues such as poverty and globalization to deal with.

In the light of all this, the many other claims and so-called 'facts', which have been 'revealed' in his 'memoirs' have also fallen to suspicion. He has made some very disturbing and rather controversial remarks about the Kargil conflict, its premise, its conduct and its outcome. Some of the claims Mushy has made are:
1. Pakistani Intelligence suggested that India was planning an incursion along the L.O.C., to capture key Pakistani posts - it fails to mention the magnitude of this alleged Indian 'plan'
2. In light of these Intelligence reports, Pakistan had no choice but to pre-empt India, by launching its own incursion along the L.O.C. and this is what happened
3. Pakistan with remarkably less manpower was able to stage a war for such a long duration
4. Pakistan with the help of strategic planning compelled the Indians to deploy a maximum strength force, which included many columns of the Army and Air Force and yet 'persist' for such a long time
5. Official figures regarding Indian casualty of about 600dead is undersated. Musharraf says it is actually double of that. Pakistan, on its part, suffered remarkably less casualties in a war of such duration. Thus, he implicitly indicates that Kargil was a failure for India and success for Pakistan.
6. Much of the progress made on the Kashmir issue (btw, I dont see any) can be attributed to the operation of Kargil

These facts obviously dont seem to have gone well with the Indian polity - the corridors of power in New Delhi have chosen to either vehemently deny or ignore altogether the General's sensational claims. How much of it is truth and how much fiction can perhaps only be revealed by Mushy himself, as he flip-flops his way to hell! :P

On the Flypside, the General does seem to have a good sense of humour and is definitely 'kool' by the standards of a military dictator! Uploaded here is a video of Musharraf appearing on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart(which is a very popular Fake News Show hosted by Jon Stewart, that is an excellent satire on American & International politics):




If the video is anything to go by, Musharraf just got a huge P.R. boost in the U.S. of A. Ofcourse, where he really needs such a positive P.R. is in his own homeland, where by the day, he seems to be making more foes than allies.

So much furore over a song!

This past week was rather unusually eventful - with once again murder, corruption, sleaze and vote-bank politics dominating headlines. Ho hum, NEWS has become so damn boring, with the exception of Avantika Singh ofcourse! :P .... But as I said, never before have I seen so much of votebank politics (Vande Mataram controversy), murder-cases(Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Matoo, Prof Sabharwaal), etc within the span of a week.

Anyways, coming to the point, the one issue which really did bother me was the Vande Mataram controversy. Read these artciles from Mumbai Mirror - Report1 and Report2. Also read Times of India's Page on the controversy - its a great read.

Now, there seems to be a furore over this song, that to the average man seems completely unjustified. I mean, what is going on people?! Here we are - a supposedly independant and democratic country, a supposedly future "super-power" - and we are fighting on whether Savarkar's portrait must be given place in Govt buildings and on whether we make recitatioon of Vande Mataram compulsory for all citizens!!


I mean, to the politicians, a couple of points -
1. We are short of more than 1,00,000MW of power
2. We are rated 127th in the 2005 U.N. Human Development Index (below Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, etc - but thankfully for our politicians above Pakistan - thats the only thing that seems to matter to our netas)
So you see, dearest Netas, we have some REAL issues on which to discuss and debate!!


The BJP, however, seems to have found an amazing consensus over the song, so much so that the song could prove to be the saving grace for a party that has become the laughing stock of the country - they call it the 'baniyan' party. Obviously, it wants to milch the cow when its giving all the milk. But just imagine when more than one BJP MP was asked by CNN IBN and TimesNOW and NDTV to recite the song and they floundered! They couldnt even get past the 1st line! Ditto with the Congress ke netas! :D

But what really was the nail in the coffin was when BJP MP and former I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was asked to recite the song, his response was so evasive that it transgressed the limits of hypocrisy. Another "sample" among our politicians is the Muslim BJP MP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who conjured up a word or two of his own while reciting the 1st stanza of the song, all this with lots of prodding by the journo - what was absolutely hilarious was the journo prompting Naqvi to recite words/phrases which were manufactured and totally out of context. What a great nation we live in! Our netas make mountains out of molehills - thats tolerable - but when they dont know a f**k about what they are making an issue of! Then well, what can I say!


Then there are the Mullahs from the Darool Uloom of Deoband and many other associated Madrassas - they object to recitation of the song because it "goes against Islam". They say that Muslims are allowed to consider only Allah as worth worshipping, that they can only sing praises for Allah - I mean no offense to anyone, but how in God's name (or Allah's name) is the recitation of a beautiful song that praises the motherland be in violation of Islam?! But I am not singing BJP's tune of enforcing it upon anyone (coz they dont know the damn song in the 1st place!), but to offer an excuse by saying "it violates Islam" is not something I can fathom.


But I am indulging in meaningless ranting .... See, I should be coming up with concrete solutions - Infact I have. You know what - Chuck Vande Mataram! Thats right - chuck it - throw Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's beautiful creation out of the window!

Instead of Chatterjee, you know what - we must pick a song from our own Himesh bhai! His songs have an uncanny and hidden reference to our motherland. And besides, Bankim Chatterjee with a beard and a baseball cap can pass of as the great Himeshji! :P


So, here are some suggestions for prospective Himesh tunes that could be adopted as an anthem:
1. Aashiq Banaya Aapne - Himesh bhai is praising the motherland for arousing the Romeo within him! :P

2. All day All Night, Teri Yaad Sataye - Himesh bhai recites his 24/7 brand of Patriotism! :P

3. Zara Jhoom Jhoom - Himesh bhai is calling upon all Indians (be it BJP/Arjun Singh or Congress/YFE :P) to unite and 'Jhoom' in the glory of India

4. Yeh Meri Meri Zohrajhabi - Himesh bhai refers to India as "Zohrajhabi" and then uses words like 'furkat' with his melodious (nasal) voice to confess his love for his motherland :P

5. Naam hai Tera Tera - Himesh bhai confesses that 'India' resides in his heart and sole :P


Just imagine these songs being sung by 10year old school-children in schools across the country, as they recount their love for their motherland! Just imagine these songs being played in Theatres accompanying a fluttering tricolour on the screen! Just imagine Kajol's son singing these songs Phirangi style in K3G!! :P .... I sure have made the national song either a lot 'kooler' or very corny! :P

I am sure that passions and tempers will once again rise in the country. And the BJP and Congress will make Himesh the ringside joker, who gets all the bouquets and brickbats, as they indulge in a political slug-fest that aims at achieving nothing in particular. And the Mullahs will be quite happy to sing along Himeshji's wonderful tunes. Ofcourse, there will be an open war between Himeshji's loyal fans and the Anti-Himesh brigade, which will threaten peace and stability within the country (quite literally by the playing of his songs). But atleast that way, we dont make a mockery out of a beautiful song called "Vande Mataram".

See, now thats a solution!! Here's looking forward to Himeshji's wonderful compositions as our nation's anthems!! :P

PS: I am not a Himesh fan. Infact quite the opposite - I belong to the "Anti-Himesh Brigade". I chose to satirize Himesh(ji) by offering him my"respects".

PS2: I have provided Himesh fan link so that we (the United Alliance of Anti-Himesh Associatons) can bring it down :P

The Paradox of Techological "Progress" - Chapter I

This is my first on a series of posts on present day Life/Technological "Progress" and my take on it


A quick glance through the history of Human Evolution reveals that the authors seem to have neglected the most important development in recent times - The practice of distancing oneself from other human beings (and hell! Other living things as well :P) and adopting a third-party, non-living and virtual channel of communication.

Human beings have come a long way - beginning with the Stone ages which saw humans employing some of the most primitive methods for survival, onto the Copper/Iron ages, where life wasnt only about survival, and now finally to the Industrial era, where life has assumed a high degree of sophistication but also a pace that is both blistering and unbelievably restricted.

And now, in the early days of this new millenia, human beings have made a transition into the "Information" era, where all communication happens through the medium of the electronic media.

A new phenomenon, ofcourse are social-networking sites like Orkut, which have experienced tremendous volumes of registrations in the past couple of years. Now, it seems, there isnt a single soul on this planet, who doesnt have his/her own space in the annals of cyber-space (either through Orkut, MySpace, Blogspot or other such services)

Orkut seems to be the rage, with the entire of our college being "connected". I must admit that Orkut is a great place to "connect" with others, to meet new people of similar thought-processes(In this regard, I hav not had much success in locating an equally eccentric and delusional procrastinator :P).

Besides, its a great platform which enables a very conducive environment for Bird-watching, of the non-avian variety ofcourse! :P .... Birds of rather rich varieties visit the place, making it one of the biggest open-air sanctuaries in the world! :P .... And we sure aint complaining!

But, on a serious note, beneath all this hi-tech networking and the blistering "progress" we claim to have made, isnt it an irony, that we started with very little than "Survival" in our minds and here we are, with the same thought of "Survival" and little else. I mean, sure we can "connect", but that connection refers to the superficial bond between two machines linked to a massive and emotionally detached network that we call the Internet.

The Stone Age was all about surviving and in many ways, the "modern information age" is all about survival. Our educational institutes produce an astronomical number of Engineers/Doctors etc, who are all brainwashed into taking up these courses/jobs by a society which has tasted the fruits of economic liberalization too soon, too fast and which now pursues money as a major objective of life. We live in a world, that seems to have lost its value systems and exists more on political spin and marketing than on concrete evidence and/or content. Human life has become a kind of a packaging, where presentation assumes greater importance than the content within. We choose to hide the naked truth under cloaks of sophisticated lies about how technology has helped us to evolve and connect.

Amid all the technological sophistication, isnt it ironical, that more and more people are taking on suicidal tendencies. A recent U.N. report indicates that more people die of suicides than of muders! Now thats a statistic which shocks! In the process of making life "simpler" and the world "smaller", we seem to have forgotten that life is after all a pursuit of one's principles and ideals and that its all about seeking happiness. How can you explain the increasing number of people taking recourse to modern-day 'spiritual gurus/babas', in an effort to seek the "meaning" of life in a terribly fast-paced and at the same time, a seemingly absurd world.

In more ways than one, the pre-modern era had a much more enriching and wholesome view of life than today's computerized and impassionate world. Yes, one might say that those were the days of violent rituals and absurd beliefs, but they were also the days of simple but profound living.

In many ways, there is a need to revive old value systems - lets do away with the superstitions, but adopt the wholesome and simple ideologies that make life a whole lot simpler than current technology would ever be able to achieve.



Some notable quotes that parody technology:
"The drive toward complex technical achievement offers a clue to why the U.S. is good at space gadgetry and bad at slum problems." - John Kenneth Galbraith

"Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons." - R. Buckminster Fuller

"I like my new telephone, my computer works just fine, my calculator is perfect, but Lord, I miss my mind!" - Author Unknown

"I think I should not go far wrong if I asserted that the amount of genuine leisure available in a society is generally in inverse proportion to the amount of labor-saving machinery it employs."
- E.F. Schumacher

"If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger." - Frank Lloyd Wright

"The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers." - Sydney J. Harris


And My favourite - the Best of 'em all:
"Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it."
- Max Frisch