Okay, I know "geekhood" is not a word, but bear with me here.
All us people doing Masters and PhD degrees are not in it for the 'A' grades. We're not in it for fear of the real world. We're not in it because we hate our countries and the grad admit is our ticket to Freedomland.
We're in it because we love it.
And we love it because we learn and gain insights into so many things, that we don't feel like stopping. I'm not talking merely about our personal research areas, I'm talking about all the things we learn about just by being in a high-quality learning environment.
The hard part of this is that it's extremely difficult to share our knowledge with others. For one thing, it's hard to explain such things without being long-winded about it, and for another, not everyone is interesting in knowing everything. If I had a penny for every time someone groaned when a geek started on an explanation, I'd be a billionaire.
But today, thanks to the role of media and the effect of technology, a lot of geeky science/tech subjects are familiar to the average person, and people evince more interest in learning about things they are somewhat familiar with. I would love to explain what little I have understood about, say, Nash Equilibria (Beautiful Mind) or Antimatter (Angels and Demons) or Chaos (Butterfly Effect) and so on... and talk about the connections I have made in understanding the Nature of Science, and the Science in Nature. Actually, I wish a more knowledgeable person would do that, so that I can lean back and read, but information on such diverse topics is seldom found in one place and written in a fashion readable to someone in a different field.
Anyway, I have decided to give myself the motivation to read on such things, by starting a separate blog for it. As I was saying, I think people are more receptive to scientific geek-talk these days, so there is a good chance that some people may read it or even contribute posts. I think the key would be to explain stuff in a manner that anybody with a high school education can understand.
I would like to know if there are tech or science people out there reading this, who are enthusiastic about sharing knowledge on technical topics that they think the general blogging community would be interested in reading. If yes, please drop a comment here and I'll be sure to get back to you for an article later. Also do let me know if you are aware of existing blogs with a similar mission. If more than a couple of people are interested in contributing, I'll make it a group blog, else I'll make it a personal blog and absorb it into my little world :)
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Free Speech
I was pleasantly surprised to come across this excellent article in the New York Times: Google's China Problem - and China's Google Problem and felt I had to share it. It talks about the current situation in government censorship of the Internet in China. My personal motivation in reading it, of course, was not any desire to learn about the political situation in China but to find out how Google is doing there and what they are being accused of... I mean, Google seems to be taking over the world, but people don't really have complaints. It's kind of like a benevolent dictatorship, as opposed to, say, a Microsoft Monopoly, which would qualify as something close to despotism. I wake up in the morning and check my GMail, my Orkut scrapbook, my Blogger comments, read Google News, check the weather forecast on my Personalized Homepage, do a quick Google Search or Google Scholar search for some obscure piece of research, update my ToDo list on my Google Desktop bar, .... do I need continue? Your mornings may not be particularly different, either. Now, Google may rule our lives, but we all agree that Google is NOT Evil. Hence my interest in that article. As a bonus, I learnt a lot of things about China I didn't know before.
A poignant excerpt from the article:
"...To take Lee at his word is to take a leap of faith: that the Internet, simply through its own inherent properties, will slowly chip away at the government's ability to control speech, seeding a cultural change that strongly favors democracy. In this view, there will be no "great man" revolution in China, no Lech Walesa rallying his oppressed countrymen. Instead, the freedom fighters will be a half-billion mostly apolitical young Chinese, blogging and chatting about their dates, their favorite bands, video games — an entire generation that is growing up with public speech as a regular habit..."
Cheers,
Prashanth.
A poignant excerpt from the article:
"...To take Lee at his word is to take a leap of faith: that the Internet, simply through its own inherent properties, will slowly chip away at the government's ability to control speech, seeding a cultural change that strongly favors democracy. In this view, there will be no "great man" revolution in China, no Lech Walesa rallying his oppressed countrymen. Instead, the freedom fighters will be a half-billion mostly apolitical young Chinese, blogging and chatting about their dates, their favorite bands, video games — an entire generation that is growing up with public speech as a regular habit..."
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Monday, April 24, 2006
The burn-out factor
Another semester drags to an end, and my mind screams for a break. Another two weeks to go before I can afford to, but the conscious mind always loses its battles with the subconscious. My concentration has now waned to the point where I've done zero work in the past three days.
I've finally managed to set aside my holiday plan-making and drag myself back to work, but it looks like I'm going to have to be ultra-efficient in order to do well. In the old days, I always had means to effect a catharsis of sorts when I get burnt out, with a long "binge" of playing computer games or bridge or fantasy novels; but here, novels pass for regular recreation, and I am woefully short of good binge-material of any sort.
In other words, see you all after two weeks with a list of fun-things-to-do-in-the-holidays, and in the meantime, pray for my survival!
Cheers,
Prashanth.
I've finally managed to set aside my holiday plan-making and drag myself back to work, but it looks like I'm going to have to be ultra-efficient in order to do well. In the old days, I always had means to effect a catharsis of sorts when I get burnt out, with a long "binge" of playing computer games or bridge or fantasy novels; but here, novels pass for regular recreation, and I am woefully short of good binge-material of any sort.
In other words, see you all after two weeks with a list of fun-things-to-do-in-the-holidays, and in the meantime, pray for my survival!
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
To tell a story...
I recently watched the movie Vanilla Sky, something that I've wanted to do for a while but got around to doing only a week ago. My reaction, at the end of it, was "Not bad. It's original and in a way, interesting." But I couldn't get myself to say that it was good, or that I really liked it. Coincidentally, that was my exact reaction to the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is similar to the aforementioned movie in other ways as well.
I wondered why I reacted in this way to movies that many of my friends praise enthusiastically. I guess the problem is that I've always been the type of writer or poet who likes to tell stories in a way that people can connect with. When I write a poem, you can follow my chain of thought. Often, it's not even a chain; just a winding, dancing thread that you can trace with your fingers to its conclusion, whatever it may be: a message; an idea; a state of mind; or perhaps a combination of several of those.
In contrast, these movies are meant to be seen as art. One can appreciate the script that keeps the viewer guessing right till the very end; the freshness of thought that went into every aspect of making it; the subtle hints in the picturization; a myriad other things. A movie maker or hard core theater buff might appreciate such things, but what about the regular audience? They come out of the movie confused, rather than entertained or moved or enlightened. It's like looking at a painting. I can appreciate a realistic and vivid nature scene; I can appreciate abstractness, in the way that an artist might construct an environment to reflect the mood or life of a person in the painting, or in other ways. But if you show me some modern art and talk about the philosophy behind some random-coloured whorls, I would say, "I'm looking at the picture, but I am absolutely unable to identify with it."
Mind you, I'm not your average movie-goer who defines fun entirely in terms of tangibles. I drink and breathe creativity. I revel in the power of words to express things that are beyond the understanding of the eye and the ear; just as I adore music, movies and art for the way they can express things that are beyond the means of words. As a person who loves to write, I can understand the nuances of a book, the intent of an author, and grasp the soul of what he or she is trying to say, better than the average reader; yet, I never forget the fact that the complement of write is read. I'm quite sure that it is possible to write in a style that only a skilled writer can interpret, understand and appreciate; but even if I was that skilled writer, I have that side of me that is the reader, and that side will not like it.
One of my favourite authors, Ursula Le Guin, has this to say about telling a story. It's not directly relevant to what I've been talking about so far, but it strikes a chord because she talks about stories being told, for the sake of themselves. It is such a good feeling to immerse yourself in a story, in whichever medium it is being told, without looking for a message or a lesson. In the same way, I feel that movies are best when they tell a story. I like mystery and suspense and plot twists, but I don't want to come out bewildered and having to watch it three times over before I can make sense of it completely and identify the minute "clues". I like being shocked and surprised, if it's part of the story; not if the point of it was merely to surprise and shock the viewer.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
I wondered why I reacted in this way to movies that many of my friends praise enthusiastically. I guess the problem is that I've always been the type of writer or poet who likes to tell stories in a way that people can connect with. When I write a poem, you can follow my chain of thought. Often, it's not even a chain; just a winding, dancing thread that you can trace with your fingers to its conclusion, whatever it may be: a message; an idea; a state of mind; or perhaps a combination of several of those.
In contrast, these movies are meant to be seen as art. One can appreciate the script that keeps the viewer guessing right till the very end; the freshness of thought that went into every aspect of making it; the subtle hints in the picturization; a myriad other things. A movie maker or hard core theater buff might appreciate such things, but what about the regular audience? They come out of the movie confused, rather than entertained or moved or enlightened. It's like looking at a painting. I can appreciate a realistic and vivid nature scene; I can appreciate abstractness, in the way that an artist might construct an environment to reflect the mood or life of a person in the painting, or in other ways. But if you show me some modern art and talk about the philosophy behind some random-coloured whorls, I would say, "I'm looking at the picture, but I am absolutely unable to identify with it."
Mind you, I'm not your average movie-goer who defines fun entirely in terms of tangibles. I drink and breathe creativity. I revel in the power of words to express things that are beyond the understanding of the eye and the ear; just as I adore music, movies and art for the way they can express things that are beyond the means of words. As a person who loves to write, I can understand the nuances of a book, the intent of an author, and grasp the soul of what he or she is trying to say, better than the average reader; yet, I never forget the fact that the complement of write is read. I'm quite sure that it is possible to write in a style that only a skilled writer can interpret, understand and appreciate; but even if I was that skilled writer, I have that side of me that is the reader, and that side will not like it.
One of my favourite authors, Ursula Le Guin, has this to say about telling a story. It's not directly relevant to what I've been talking about so far, but it strikes a chord because she talks about stories being told, for the sake of themselves. It is such a good feeling to immerse yourself in a story, in whichever medium it is being told, without looking for a message or a lesson. In the same way, I feel that movies are best when they tell a story. I like mystery and suspense and plot twists, but I don't want to come out bewildered and having to watch it three times over before I can make sense of it completely and identify the minute "clues". I like being shocked and surprised, if it's part of the story; not if the point of it was merely to surprise and shock the viewer.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
The Self-Actualization Conundrum
The Maslow Hierarchy of Needs for job satisfaction is this interesting theory that in every job, there is a hierarchy of things that one requires in order to be happy. The factors at the higher level contribute to your happiness only if the ones at the lower level are met. For example, if you don't have a decent-sized cubicle or palatable food, you're going to be unhappy even if you have that cool insurance policy. The theory says that after you have your physiological, safety, emotional and esteem-related needs met, the final thing you need to be really happy is: Self-Actualization.
Self-actualization is a nice polysyllabled word, you say, and people like bandying it around, but what does it really mean? Well, the dictionary defines it simply as:
"To develop or achieve one's full potential."
And I think we need waste no more words trying to look for more in-depth definitions, but try to understand the repercussions of the above definition in the atmosphere of a job. If you think on it awhile, you will hopefully come to the same conclusion as I - that most people do not really feel happy unless they're constantly learning, growing, stretching themselves, trying new things, challenging themselves. Monotony may be comfort in the short run; we all have a natural resistance to change; but in the long run, you will be happy only when you keep exceeding your own boundaries.
These are the things that went through my mind when I came to the startling realization that I seem to be consistently choosing near-disastrously difficult projects for myself. Why on Earth can't I be happy with doing what regular people do and collecting my 'A' grade? Why do I have to make things harder for myself, take triple the amount of time and suffer triple the tension, in doing something that may or may not work, for an uncertain grade? I guess part of the answer lies in what I've been saying about self-actualization. I'm human. I need a new challenge every week in order to be happy.
I may crib and complain about how much time such work takes, and how boring it is to spend all my time in my office, but still I do what I do out of choice. I'm no masochist. I guess I really do love my work. What does that make me?
Self-actualization is a nice polysyllabled word, you say, and people like bandying it around, but what does it really mean? Well, the dictionary defines it simply as:
"To develop or achieve one's full potential."
And I think we need waste no more words trying to look for more in-depth definitions, but try to understand the repercussions of the above definition in the atmosphere of a job. If you think on it awhile, you will hopefully come to the same conclusion as I - that most people do not really feel happy unless they're constantly learning, growing, stretching themselves, trying new things, challenging themselves. Monotony may be comfort in the short run; we all have a natural resistance to change; but in the long run, you will be happy only when you keep exceeding your own boundaries.
These are the things that went through my mind when I came to the startling realization that I seem to be consistently choosing near-disastrously difficult projects for myself. Why on Earth can't I be happy with doing what regular people do and collecting my 'A' grade? Why do I have to make things harder for myself, take triple the amount of time and suffer triple the tension, in doing something that may or may not work, for an uncertain grade? I guess part of the answer lies in what I've been saying about self-actualization. I'm human. I need a new challenge every week in order to be happy.
I may crib and complain about how much time such work takes, and how boring it is to spend all my time in my office, but still I do what I do out of choice. I'm no masochist. I guess I really do love my work. What does that make me?
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Case of the jinxed elevator
My lab is located on the side of the building where one can find a rarely-used elevator. There are only a handful of labs on each floor that are close to this elevator, so I suppose the people using that elevator are used to being the only person in it. Me, I'm not used to riding that elevator in the first place. This *probably* explains the weird things that have been happening...
- I step out of the elevator and turn left and take three steps towards the wall before I realize my lab is the other way.
- I get on the elevator with some guy (Korean, probably) who presses the button for the third floor; I then reach in front of him and press the button for the second floor. My floor arrives and the other chap gets off the elevator with me! I smile and tell him that this is the second floor and he gets back in with a sheepish grin.
- Above scenario repeats itself exactly, except with a different person: a chinese woman!
- This time I get in on the third floor with a totally different person; I'm going to the second floor, so he presses the button for the first floor (that's what these crazy Americans call the ground floor). And, you guessed it, he started walking when the elevator reached the second floor until I gently reminded him that he'd wanted to get out on the first floor.
This is simply too much of a coincidence to happen so many times in a span of three days. That leads me to believe that my cousins were right all along: people like me ("me" enclosing God-only-knows what kind of stereotype they had in mind) are the type who do PhDs and become professors and so on. And people like me have no space on our minds for mundane things like noticing which floor the elevator is on, or which direction you're supposed to turn from this elevator; we're absorbed in our own (apparently complicated) thoughts. That is why there is a phrase "absent-minded professor", and no other vocation has this distinction of being associated with absent mindedness - unless you count mad scientists, who are not particularly different.
It is comforting, however, to find so many people having the same quirks as I do. Time was, when I thought I was the only person who behaved in such a weird fashion. Guess I've finally found a place where I fit in - with the people who are either doing PhDs or have have already done PhDs! Three cheers for non-medical doctors. To top it all, Jorge Cham of PHD Comics gave a talk in our university today. I laughed so hard for an hour that my jaw hurt! Unfortunately, grad school humour is extremely hard to share with regular mortals :P so I'm not going to elucidate.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
- I step out of the elevator and turn left and take three steps towards the wall before I realize my lab is the other way.
- I get on the elevator with some guy (Korean, probably) who presses the button for the third floor; I then reach in front of him and press the button for the second floor. My floor arrives and the other chap gets off the elevator with me! I smile and tell him that this is the second floor and he gets back in with a sheepish grin.
- Above scenario repeats itself exactly, except with a different person: a chinese woman!
- This time I get in on the third floor with a totally different person; I'm going to the second floor, so he presses the button for the first floor (that's what these crazy Americans call the ground floor). And, you guessed it, he started walking when the elevator reached the second floor until I gently reminded him that he'd wanted to get out on the first floor.
This is simply too much of a coincidence to happen so many times in a span of three days. That leads me to believe that my cousins were right all along: people like me ("me" enclosing God-only-knows what kind of stereotype they had in mind) are the type who do PhDs and become professors and so on. And people like me have no space on our minds for mundane things like noticing which floor the elevator is on, or which direction you're supposed to turn from this elevator; we're absorbed in our own (apparently complicated) thoughts. That is why there is a phrase "absent-minded professor", and no other vocation has this distinction of being associated with absent mindedness - unless you count mad scientists, who are not particularly different.
It is comforting, however, to find so many people having the same quirks as I do. Time was, when I thought I was the only person who behaved in such a weird fashion. Guess I've finally found a place where I fit in - with the people who are either doing PhDs or have have already done PhDs! Three cheers for non-medical doctors. To top it all, Jorge Cham of PHD Comics gave a talk in our university today. I laughed so hard for an hour that my jaw hurt! Unfortunately, grad school humour is extremely hard to share with regular mortals :P so I'm not going to elucidate.
Cheers,
Prashanth.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Caffeine blues
Till the age of twenty or so, I used to be extremely proud of the fact that I didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't drink coffee or tea, and rarely had aerated drinks or sodas.
And then I realized that I could no longer afford to sleep in class, or worse, at the company I was interning with. Even if didn't technically sleep, I wasn't quite as sharp as I would have liked to be. There's something about this age... around the time you're twenty, your competitive spirit roars challenge at life and flings tradition into the trash can. And the mind may be strong, but the body can't always cope up. Sadly, the solution lies in... caffeine!
I still don't smoke or drink... partly because I'm no major fan of either, but mostly because I know my parents would lose their pride in me if I did. Before you ask me what is the connection to caffeine, let me expostulate. I categorize all these things under "vices involving artificial chemicals affecting the human mind and body". I've always maintained that the human body is best left to its natural way of functioning; things like illnesses are a different matter, but when there's nothing wrong with you, you should take nothing artificial that could affect your mind or body in any way.
But now, I simply need my daily caffeine boost if I'm to work long enough hours. If its too troublesome to get a cup of coffee, I settle for a can of Coke or something similar. Its surprising how a swig of cold Coke can pep you up... it has quite a bit of caffeine in it!
And with the consumption of caffeine, comes the price... addiction! It seems to me that each cup of coffee goes less farther than it used to. I have no doubt that before long, I'll be sipping two cups of coffee a day rather than one, then three, and so on.
You may be thinking this very moment, "What is the big deal about a cup of coffee? It's not like you're doing heroin!" but the point is, it is the principle of the thing. I consciously traded my convictions, and in a convoluted way, a bit of my treasured independence, in order to do my work better. It's a fair trade. But somehow it doesn't feel like I'm doing the right thing. What say you?
Cheers,
Prashanth.
And then I realized that I could no longer afford to sleep in class, or worse, at the company I was interning with. Even if didn't technically sleep, I wasn't quite as sharp as I would have liked to be. There's something about this age... around the time you're twenty, your competitive spirit roars challenge at life and flings tradition into the trash can. And the mind may be strong, but the body can't always cope up. Sadly, the solution lies in... caffeine!
I still don't smoke or drink... partly because I'm no major fan of either, but mostly because I know my parents would lose their pride in me if I did. Before you ask me what is the connection to caffeine, let me expostulate. I categorize all these things under "vices involving artificial chemicals affecting the human mind and body". I've always maintained that the human body is best left to its natural way of functioning; things like illnesses are a different matter, but when there's nothing wrong with you, you should take nothing artificial that could affect your mind or body in any way.
But now, I simply need my daily caffeine boost if I'm to work long enough hours. If its too troublesome to get a cup of coffee, I settle for a can of Coke or something similar. Its surprising how a swig of cold Coke can pep you up... it has quite a bit of caffeine in it!
And with the consumption of caffeine, comes the price... addiction! It seems to me that each cup of coffee goes less farther than it used to. I have no doubt that before long, I'll be sipping two cups of coffee a day rather than one, then three, and so on.
You may be thinking this very moment, "What is the big deal about a cup of coffee? It's not like you're doing heroin!" but the point is, it is the principle of the thing. I consciously traded my convictions, and in a convoluted way, a bit of my treasured independence, in order to do my work better. It's a fair trade. But somehow it doesn't feel like I'm doing the right thing. What say you?
Cheers,
Prashanth.
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