It's a small world after all...

The limitations of machine hermeneutics

What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of inquiry --Werner Heisenberg

Consider this scenario: A client approaches a lawyer and says, "My friend has cheated me!". In response to which, the lawyer asks two questions: "Why did your friend cheat you?" and "How did your friend cheat you?"

Clearly, they are two different questions and requires two different answers. The first one asks about motives and intentions behind the cheating, and the second one asks about the mechanism of the act.

Dec

Designing for educational outcomes

A large part of the formal education landscape across the world, and also in India, is based on what is called Outcomes Based Education, or OBE for short (nothing to do with the British Empire). But the way it gets implemented on the ground is sometimes mind-numbingly tedious and only promotes a toxic compliance-driven culture, rather than nurturing a culture of inquiry.

Oct

Understanding "subjective" and "objective" statements

A common source of confusion that we often encounter is regarding the terms "subjective" and "objective" statements.

The term "subjective" is often defined to mean as expressing an opinion or sentiment, while the term "objective" is defined to mean statements that are factual or unbiased.

But there is a problem with such definitions. How do we know that what we are stating is indeed factual? We may believe it to be a fact, while it may not actually be factual.

Jul

In defense of Maya

Purva paksha:

When we study Advaita Vedanta, we learn about the impermanent and transient nature of existential reality that is called Maya. Our daily experience of reality comprising of matter and interactions among them are in a continuous state of flux. Vedanta posits that the underlying substrate of all of our experience is an unchanging reality (that is called Brahman), that is the only reality that exists.

Apr

Science, and the game of science

In an episode of Young Sheldon, young Sheldon who is supposedly a genius and a budding scientist, is listening to the live broadcast of the Nobel prize ceremony live from Stockholm. He had invited several of his friends to listen to this live broadcast, even tried to engage in debates with them on who ought to be winning the Nobel this year, and also arranged for snacks for them to have a listen-party-- but no one turns up.

Mar

Financial inclusion in rural Malawi

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit several locations in rural Malawi in southern Africa, to study different initiatives towards financial inclusion. This was part of my collaboration with a UK based organization called Rural Inclusion, and its implementation partner, CADECOM (Caritas Malawi). This activity was supported by a grant from the Frontiers Programme of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering.

Nov

Thing, Nothing, and No-thing

In order to truly understand the core of Indian thought, it is important to understand the ontological difference between "Nothing" and "No-thing".

The idea of a "no-thing" is unique to Indian worldview, and to the best of my knowledge, is found nowhere else in philosophies across the world.

The "no-thing" refers to the core of our subjective experience, or pure awareness, or consciousness.

Jul

Hermeneutic lock-in

The way we approach our inquiry into the universe is called hermeneutics. Hermeneutics refers to the way of thinking, and the underlying approach we use to make sense of what we experience.

Our hermeneutics is so deeply ingrained within us that we are often unaware of its existence and the way it biases our thinking.

Jul

Logical implication and causality

Judea Pearl, one of the prominent researchers in the logic of causality, argues that current-day mathematics and logic does not have mechanisms to represent causality. And this has caused great confusions in several instances.

Let us consider how causality is represented in current day mathematics and logic.

One of the most common situations where we interpret causality, is in a mathematical equation.

May

The Web and Dharma

Almost everyday as I drive to work, I witness this episode. In one of the traffic signals on the way to work, there would inevitably be this one guy, dressed as Hanuman, and begging for alms from the vehicles that have stopped at the signal.

I have witnessed this for the past several years, and it is quite clear that the aim of his activity is to get some money for himself or the racket that he is part of (unless of course, he is some kind of an undercover agent pretending to be a beggar).

It's a small world after all...

Isn't it fascinating and unsettling to note that the more we try to be independent, the more interdependent we find ourselves to be?