During the Peloponnesian War, the strategy adopted by Pericles was to barricade the city of Athens and the route to the port of Piraeus behind walls. The belief was that while the Spartans would ravage the hinterland, the Athenians would win the war from the sea. (Piraeus is today the Shipping capital of the world … Continue reading Diogenes the Cynic
In my line of work, I attend (often, forced to) a lot of panel discussions, workshops and conferences. Most of these have a set pattern. It’s usually around a global issue or something that affects at least a few hundred million people; and the respondents in 3 minutes pontificate on how the problem needs to … Continue reading A Conflict of Visions
Feminism, like all isms, brooks no dissent. For this reason, Louise Perry’s argument against the sexual revolution, brought about and cheered largely by the feminist movement from the 60s, requires a wider reading. While I disagree with her conclusions, her courage to stick her neck out and make her arguments makes this an important addition … Continue reading The Case Against the Sexual Revolution
Freedom of Speech is a concept that I’m familiar with. Almost every day, you see some manifestation of this principle in our polity and society. But what does the ‘Freedom to Think’ encompass? Susie Alegre educated me on this and had some hooks to anchor my thinking on this topic. Article 18 of The Universal … Continue reading The Freedom to Think
I’m someone who has always found train journeys to be magical. It’s not the swanky berths, fancy catering or the air conditioning that draws me in but the melancholy of dark vistas, remote hamlets, headlights of cars on lonely highways and tiny deserted railway stations in the middle of nowhere. Watching these sights appear and … Continue reading The Melancholia of Edward Hopper
Despite growing up in the nineties, I never managed to understand the brouhaha over the phenomenon called Shah Rukh Khan. For me, he was one of those Bollywood superstars, acting in over-the-top melodramatic movies and never really showcasing real talent that would make you sit up and take notice. All this changed during the pandemic. … Continue reading On Fandom
In my line of work (development), I often come across stalwarts. The defining feature of a stalwart, in most cases, is a grand narrative arc that explains their lives. There’s drama, chance encounters, promotions, higher studies, periods of wilderness, feathers in their caps and a culmination in the position they find themselves in today. If … Continue reading Beware of the ‘Life as Narrative’ motif
Philosophers have a nice skill of taking a random emotion or a word and then analyzing it in the form of a book. The Oxford University Press has a seven-volume series covering the Seven Sins, Agnes Callard wrote about Aspiration, Annie Duke on Quitting, de Botton on Love and so on and so forth. Nick … Continue reading Understanding ‘Awesomeness’
I’m midway through David Chalmers' "Reality+" and I’m happy to report that I haven’t understood much of it! Chalmers' fundamental question is : “Are we all living in a simulation?” While he’s written a whole book to explain his arguments, I found his opening examples to introduce his framework of inquiry quite captivating. For Chalmers, … Continue reading Three stories to understand ‘reality’
