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
Tag: Philosophy
The Narrow Corridor, the Cage of Norms and the Red Queen Effect
Thomas Hobbes, was born in the year of the Spanish Armada and lived through the English Civil War. When Charles I lost his head, he lived in exile in France and only returned after the monarchy was restored under Charles II. (I had written a bit about this period here). To understand his political philosophy, … Continue reading The Narrow Corridor, the Cage of Norms and the Red Queen Effect
The Melancholia of Edward Hopper
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
On Fandom
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
Beware of the ‘Life as Narrative’ motif
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
Three stories to understand ‘reality’
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’
