No, it’s Halloween again!

For the most part we are not conscious of time flow. We don’t hear the ever cruel tick tick that brings us our undoing . The kind of ignorance that is a bliss. But then there are these cyclic events that disturb our peace and serve as a reminder that hey another year just gone by and we are one step closer to the grave. Today as I was strolling in the market doing grocery shopping I saw these huge, ugly, orange pumpkins and I thought to myself “No it’s Halloween again!”

Now I know why I have come not to like these events. Halloween and Christmas and the rest.  They act like milestones in life. They are reminders that another year has gone by. These events make the time flow in a circle as opposed to a straight line. If our perception of time was a one dimensional flow, a river so to say with an open or unknown end, that would be easier to deal with. Like running a marathon as opposed to running laps. 

On the question of these events that every culture tries to preserve, like Halloween or our tasteful and colorful nonetheless absurd tradition of “Charshanbeh soory” (jumping over fire the last Wednesday of the year) one has to wonder if they are doing us humans any good. I know they can be fun specially for kids but don’t they contribute to the lasting superstitions and stupidities of sort. You can not be promoting and preserving these  traditions and then blame most of the people for believing in astrology, apocalypse or other such unsavory notions!!

Lord, what was the rush?!

Here is a question that has been bothering me for quite a while. I am sure it has crossed your mind too but you ignored it.

 As you see below around the time that Jesus was walking on earth the population of earth was about 170 million (see below).

So you tell me, walking around Palestine how many people he could possibly reach to enlighten and inform? Let say 1000-2000 people! But what about the rest of the folks.

Chinese, Indians and native Americans etc?! Can we really blame them for being Buddhist and Hindu and “Lord” knows what other religions!

Couldn’t lord have had planned it better to reach every one equally and fairly? Why not bless everyone?

If you look at the table below, had he been showing up a few hundreds year earlier he could have reached  a larger proportion of the population and of course by waiting a meager few hundred years by the time of  the advent of technology he could have reached everyone. Not to mention the age of Internet and satellite communication!!

So while all this discussion about intelligent design is raging all over I can not help but to think what was so intelligent about showing up too early ?!

Not to mention having an educated audience as opposed to bunch of illiterate shepherds would have helped? Or would it?!!

 Here is population of earth vs time (From Wikipedia):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Population_curve.svg

 year   world population (millions)
-10000     4 
-8000      5 
-7000      5 
-6000      5 
-5000      5 
-4000      7 
-3000     14 
-2000     27 
-1000     50 
-750      60 
-500     100 
-400     160 
-200     150 
0        170 -----> Population on Jesus's first visit 
200      190 
400      190 
500      190 
600      200 
700      210 
800      220 
900      226 
1000     310 
1100     301 
1200     360 
1250     400 
1300     360 
1340     443 
1400     350 
1500     425 
1600     545 
1650     470 
1700     600 
1750     790 
1800     980 
1815    1000 
1850    1260 
1900    1650 
1910    1750 
1920    1860 
1927    2000 
1930    2070 
1940    2300 
1950    2400 
1960    3020 
1970    3700 
1974    4000 
1980    4430 
2005    6500 (December 19th) 
2007    6576 

Roulette mirrors life!

Here is my thoughts on Roulette :
(Click here if you don’t know what’s Roulette http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roulette)

Playing roulette is pretty much like life itself. If you stand by a roulette table for a while you realize this. You will see people of all denominations.

Superstitious ones: There was this woman who kept playing same number (11) again and again and kept losing! I asked her, what is it with number 11? She enthusiastically replied, “Oh it’s number of my son’s jersey”!

Spiritual ones: A couple showed up at the table. Man exchanged the cash for chips and wondered where to play. He asked his wife. She said let me see. “Oh.. I am feeling it. 23. Right ..it’s 23. I feel it. Next number was 17.

Rich guys: These are the folks that come to table with lots of money and usually not much brain and just spread their money all over the table. They have no idea what they are doing. Usually they win few rounds before they vanish.

Engineers: These are the folks who look at the rolling wheel and try to calculate the speed and momentum etc. and get a handle of the game. They are gone before long!

Mind over matter folks: They are people who scream a number while wheel is turning. You usually can hear them from a distance. They all call a number or a color. “Thirtyyyyy fouuuuuuurrrr” come on! They will be quite after a while.

Sophisticated folks: These are guys who have a complicated approach to game. They have a formula. Like increase your bet twice every time you lose. They lose everything they have in a flash.

Followers: Some folks have no idea what to do. They are humble. they just follow others, usually someone that seems to be doing well. Sometimes they ask the dealer what number comes next and often dealer would predict the next number with confidence! Not a good way to go either.

Perplexed: These are the hopeless folks that bet on opposite outcomes! Like odd and even or black and red at same time! They can never win and lose if one of the two zeros turns up! 

Spectators: These are the folks who never play. They just watch others play. They never experience the glory and agony of wining or losing!

Stunningly, we have same kind of characters when it comes to lead a life. The followers, the sophisticated the spiritual and superstitious! In the long run though, everyone is a loser! C’est La vie (Such is life)! It is amazingly similar to how people live their lives and make decisions in face of uncertainty. Life is a gamble. After all, you are the lucky sperm who won the lottery!

Gamble of worst kind at that. The reason is, in roulette you can calculate the odds of something happening. In life you cannot even calculate the odds! If you disagree ask people who bought CISCO stock on Jan of 2001. When you board an airplane do you know the odds of surviving? When you buy a house do you know the odds that market would go up or down. What is the odds of your spouse being diagnosed with a terminal illness?

Another striking similarity is the fact that the winners in life are not necessarily any smarter or more educated than losers. As much as having a Ph.D in mathematics is not any help in roulette. If you argue, show me a mathematician who got rich by playing roulette. As a matter of fact all mathematicians had to be millionaires by now! There is no such thing as smart play when it comes to game of roulette or life. They are just lucky plays.

No one is immune from curse of randomness whether be it life or roulette. Luck has the last word! Of course people tend to brag about how skillful they are. But we know they have been just lucky at least up to that point!

Indoctrinating our children. A crime of mercy & passion!

When placed in a torrential downpour, chickens, dogs and worms were able to seek shelter but human babies were not. Based on similar experiments scientists concluded “human babies long thought by psychologists to be inquisitive and adaptable are actually extraordinarily stupid“. I am quoting this rather complimentary passage from the book Descartes’s baby to make a point.

Here is a scenario:

Get someone to do this cruel experiment on a kid (Sadly this is happening everyday all over the world under different names).

Put a painting of an old man with white beard on the wall. Keep telling the 3-4 years old kid to bow to the portrait every morning before breakfast and later on before going to school. At night ask the kid to say some kind of prayer while having that portrait in mind in order to save himself from nightmare, bad and evil. To enforce the belief make a small replica of the portrait, attach it to a necklace and give it to the child. Ask him to hold tight to it when he is feeling insecure and fearful.

What would you think the child would look like and act when he is an adult?!

 During all those years before college keep warning him about people that would try to diminish his faith and question his belief. Tell him to ignore what other kids and teachers say in school because their soul is stolen by an evil spirit. They are in the dark and can not see the truth. Warn him that if he loses his faith he will lose the guidance and light and be submerged in eternal darkness and filth.

If one of those days kid comes back home to find the portrait fallen and broken, explain to him that the “spirit” “Visha” “sixma” or whatever you want to call it has suffered this damage for you. It’s for your salvation. Now you will be redeemed forever and be forgiven!!

Ofcourse chances are that the kid gets hit by a car a week or two later himself but I guess you can explain that away too!!!

Is this all sounds too familiar?!!! I can assure you out of 6 billion kids on this planet only a handful at one point in their life or another would call your bullshit and rebel against that nonsense. Rest of us would live with that myth till the last breath!!  

Selfish Gene, Horny Gene!

   Congressman from Florida (Mark Foley, R) would get a prison sentence based on the laws he himself helped to enact!! Anti child exploitation law that is!!!

From tales (and traces!!) of a Blow job in oval office to governor of New Jersey looking for and engaging in gay sex in pit stops and now a congressman, a crusader for teenage protection against sexual exploitation being caught doing just that, one wonders how low the ”moral high ground” of this country can go?!!!

Where is the outrage from Falwell and Robertson and alike? Hopefully they are not having their own chat session on the Internet!!! At last we may now know what was behind the ferocious hurricane season and god’s wrath last year in Florida!! ( I am talking on behalf of evangelists! )

Here is congressman with username Maf54 chatting to a teenage boy on Internet:

Maf54: You in your boxers, too?
Teen:   Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late.
Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.

Another message:

Maf54: What ya wearing?
Teen:  t shirt and shorts
Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.

And this one:

Maf54: Do I make you a little horny?
Teen:   A little.
Maf54: Cool.

Obviously the language gets much more graphic, too graphic to be reported by media! 

Federal authorities say such messages could result in Foley’s prosecution.

You guessed it, a committee is investigating the allegations and the cover up!!

 http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/29/congressman.e.mails/index.html

Ayatollah Sistani on Chess, anal sex and everything in between!

   I am speechless! Here is the web site for Ayatollah Sistani and some Q & A:

Question : Why is chess forbidden?

Answer : It is not permissible, because it is a means for Lahv (debauchery) and gambling. Moreover, when we do not know the reason behind the forbiddenness of an act, we are bound to obey in absolute obedience. There is a reason for it, but we do not know it and when we do not know it, it does not mean that we should not abide by it.

http://www.sistani.org/html/eng/main/index.php?page=4&lang=eng&part=4

Loved the question and even more the answer and specially the logic of it! I have some questions of my own:

On behalf of my scientists friends I’d like to ask: Is “Monte Carlo simulation” permitted?  Is participating in “fear factor” allowed?

Please enlighten me on Bungee jumping, chewing sugar free gum, diet soda, sparkling water, electric tooth brush, use of cellphones while driving, joining myspace.com & blonds in convertibles….

While we are at it, I would love to have your take on this. Anoosheh (you know, Anoosheh Ansari first woman space tourist!) wrote in her blog the other day that since water resources are very limited in space station they recycle their own sweat! Meaning there is a pump that sucks in the moisture and recycles the water!! Not withstanding the enormous issues involved in traveling to space specially for a married Muslim woman without her husband bouncing around few male infidels in weightlessness!! I appreciate your insight on this.

Oh boy, don’t you feel blessed that such an illuminating source is available to us in 21st century. Honestly what would we have done otherwise? Where else to get the answer to these mind bending questions?!!

Democracy or Tyranny? There must be a better third option!

                      

Chumsky vs Snoop Doggy Dog. One man one vote?!!!!

Here are couple of passages from Will Durant’s history of philosophy on Nietzsche’s philosophy: Consequently the road to superhuman must lie in aristocracy. Democracy, “the mania for counting noses” must be eradicated before it’s too late.

Democracy means worship of mediocrity, and the hatred of excellence. It means the impossibility of great men. How could great men submit to the indignities and indecencies of an election?

By no means I intend to advocate Nietzsche’s philosophy but as much as it sounds politically incorrect it’s imprudent to overlook its merits. What he says about elections or “counting noses” holds some truth!!! Even though democracy is much preferred to tyranny of few, I have problem with the notion of “one man one vote”! There must be a better way to enforce people’s right. Specially on matters of grave concern I can not convince myself that a vote by Noam Chomsky is worth same as a vote by Snoop doggy dog!  I also have problem with the “rule of the majority” when we know well that majority of people are irrational and ignorant. Take a look at :

http://undulyinquisitive.wordpress.com/tag/idiots-without-borders/.

Are you sure these are the kind of folks you want to share your decision with and put your destiny in their hands?!! Of course usually people end up electing a group of elite among them who take over the responsibility of legislation, that should diminish my concern to some extent but not in its entirety.

Objective ethics?!

Could we define good and evil without invoking god? Could we define an objective potential and an evolution path for humans as much as a path from a flower seed to one fully in bloom ?

Are there any absolute, objective moral values similar to laws of physics or logic?

It seems pain and suffering are as real as needed to define good and bad and “do” and “don’t”. A star never suffers. An apple does not get hurt by falling from the tree but we humans do suffer physically, mentally and emotionally. So simply to hurt another human being is EVIL.

Do we need more guidance? May be. Consider the case of prostitution. On the surface there is no pain or suffering involved yet it’s considered demeaning and degrading of human dignity.

Even if we succeed in defining the good and evil how do we get the notion of redemption and punishment? What would be the real, objective difference between those wih virtues and those with vices? Beyond social rewards or punishments which incidently has to be defined in terms of pain and pleasure what else distinguishes between them? Has the one with virtues objectively achived higher values? What do we mean by that?

There are certain derives in man that are instinctive for lack of a better term. For example curiousity! Being curious and search for the truth has nothing to do with morality. It’s just in us. If you know the age of the cosmos it does not necessarily make you a better person in moral terms. Or is it? It may make you a more complete human being nonetheless. So how should we define a perfect human?

Too diverse to be intelligent (design)!!

       The sheer magnitude of diversity among living creatures (all kind of shapes and forms and functions) does not bode well with intelligent design!!

Design of so many beasts if anything utterly lacks any purpose so it seems far from intelligence. Just look at all the creatures who live in the oaceans!! Wierd looking, spooky creaatures of enourmus diversity!! Same can be said of pesky insects!! .

A reasonable scenario would be something like a Cellular Automata. Like the “game of life”! Check the game of life by mathematician John Conway:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life

The cruel succession of rise and fall!

We humans, so as lots of other forms in nature start from simplicity, defy the 2nd law of thermodynamics (Tendency of nature to disorder or increase in entorpy) and grow more complex only to succumb to entropy later on in life, perish and die! Why?

The same can be said of an apple, a human and arguably a star. In humans that is true of body and mind equally. Body and brain grow in size and complexity and then decay. We lose our learning ability, memory, vision etc. Our morals and values seem to be immune to such a decay nonetheless. In other words we don’t seem to lie more often or turn our vitues to vices as we grow older. Don’t we?!

2nd law of thermodynamic gives us “death”. Which law of  physics gives us “life”?

Where the tendency of nature to produce complex, evolved structures comes from?

What is behind the never tiring, futile attempt of nature to defy regin of entropy?! This ofcourse we see predominantly on earth.