Objectivity vs Subjectivity

I've been thinking about it quite a lot of late and this is one of those questions which may not have a well defined answer or everybody may have an answer of their own. As far as I am concerned I am not yet able to make my mind up. Objectivity versus Subjectivity, objective thinking versus subjective thinking. I, in my own life try to be as objective about things as possible, objectivity for me is to be able to quantify things, to be able to explain the logic behind them, to be able to give a solid reasoning and to be able to take a decision based on facts, in other words it is the quest to explain the world around you in terms of mathematics, logic and science. Subjectivity, on the other hand is that fuzzy thing, the glue which holds the objective pieces, that undefined phenomenon which fills the gaps left by objectivity. Subjectivity is everything which is beyond logic, everything which cannot be explained.Although I try to be objective, my conscience is subjective, subjectivity comes naturally to me. I try to be a good person,I try not to hurt people, I try to do good things, but I don't know why. It just makes me feel good.

This was why this debate started wrenching my mind. Objectivity and subjectivity are totally contrasting things, and although I am an objective person, I cannot just disregard the subjective side of life. The conclusion I could reach, was when you are looking for a unified theory of everything, a theory which attempts to explain each and everything in the universe these two contrasting things will have to go side by side. These were my thoughts; I would like to know what others think about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ahh ... so the thanksgiving break is finally here. This feels good ... The weather is fine, it's supposedly a holiday, and I am getting comfy in my little corner of the lab, sipping on the cup of coffee which I had left here yesterday night. Well fresh coffee is always great but I am good as long as it’s caffeine. I already have my To-Do list ready for the holidays which I am looking at right now. I have everything worked out, what to do, when to do, how to do. Hmm my holiday schedule looks pretty packed, so much so that its making me wonder whether it really is a break and if I already have a schedule what am I so excited about ..Duh. Maybe it’s because of the holiday season feeling or maybe because of the fine weather, maybe something good is going to happen or maybe something else, who knows. The thing is I am getting a teeny tiny break and that’s good. J

So.. have a happy thanksgiving folks.

Two random questions

I will try to answer a couple of questions in this post, the first one was posed to me by someone and the second has been making me use my rusted brain again. Not very important but questions of life which make you understand more of yourself. Here they are.

How important a good conversation is for you? I was asked, and I wasn’t sure of the answer, moreover I w as in a hurry to be actually able to answer it. I thought of pondering over it later but as luck would have it, the answer brought itself to me. I had a couple of good conversations, let’s make it one and half, the second one was cut short in the middle, but they made me realize how much I like a good meaningful conversation, where people open up their mind for you, and show you a whole new perspective on any given thing. I found that I like it so much so that it gives me joy of an orgasmic level or joygasm as I call it.

The second question was how much do circumstances affect your behavior when you meet a person for the first time. In my opinion the set of circumstances does have a lot of say on how you behave with a certain person when you meet them for the first time and that first interaction, if not last makes a lasting impression. Think about it, recall the first time you met one of your acquaintances and recall the set of conditions and circumstances, now change those conditions altogether, imagine meeting the same person under a totally different set of circumstances. For me, it changes the whole equation, which makes me wonder, whether temporal feelings can be totally dominated by the surroundings. For you, it might not be so, nevertheless an interesting question.

Think

Hope

Hi blog, I know I owe you an apology, but I’ve been busy with something really important. You know it and you understand it I know. Doesn’t it amaze you, how sometimes people leave all logic behind and try to make things happen, even if they are certain of a failure? Hoping for a miracle probably, but miracles don’t happen and hope is a pleasant delusion. Still, we hope against hope, we hope against logic, we hope in the face of all adversities, that’s us the humans. Human nature is sometimes more mysterious than Bermuda Triangle. If you have read “The Alchemist” or at least saw “Om Shanti Om”, you would know this quote “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it”. This probably may be the answer to my question, an unseen force pushing you, to go beyond what you think is possible, but it depends on how bad you want it, what you are prepared to loose, and whether you have your heart into it and at this point of time, I am looking towards the universe.

I am going to read “The Alchemist” again; I hope it works as a revitalizer. That word “hope” again, I don’t know how many times I’ve used it today, but then it’s become a part of my life for quite some time now. If by chance you’ve survived all the crap above and you’re still reading it, Congratulations!! You have the ability to go through nuclear winter and come out alive. By the way, if you havn’t heard Jason Mraz yet, you’re missing something. Surprisingly simple music and beautiful lyrics, the guy is amazing. Yeah, and I have moved in to a new place and I’m liking it here so far :). I’m really bad at concluding and I don’t know how to smoothly end what I’m writing so I’ll just stop here. c ya blog, c ya people.

Palau Islands?? ...what is that?

Do you know what Palau Island is? Chances are, you don't or you didn't, before you heard that Obama administration was sending 17 of its guantanamo bay detainees to Palau Island. I am not much into world politics, but Palau Island? surely doesn’t ring a bell so I decided to search it a bit on the net. I first heard of it on google hot trends where it was the sixth most searched item today. Googled it and read some stuff on wikipedia and other places. Turns out, somewhere in the middle of Pacific the Palau islands is an archipelago of hundreds of islands, some of which have been inhabited by humans much before the Europeans started settling in US and Australia. It has a 4000 year old history. One of youngest nations of the world, it is a tourist place and has been the location of one season of the TV series Survivors. While I was looking up the map, I found quite a few such archipelago nations; Marshall Islands, Micronesia etc , quite an addition to my geography knowledge. Pacific is one place on the map I didn't pay attention to in my geography classes and its interesting when you come to know, that there are countries existing, you never knew.

Pittsburgh ...yippie

Here I am in Pittsburgh CMU and I must say its a nice city . Looks more so, if you are coming from Rolla :D. The downtown is beautiful, and if you believe people here the view is second to none in US. Travelling from Rolla to Pittsburgh was quite interesting I decided to catch a greyhound to St. Louis (big mistake), woke up a little too early on Sunday morning, and reached the bus stop on time only to find that the bus was late. Finally the bus arrived and just as I picked my bag up, the driver opens the door and speaks in a Mexican accent, sorry sir, the bus is full. It took me a while to comprehend what he said, because not even in my most pathetic dream, I could have imagined that. Sorry, sir the bus is full, please take the next bus, at 7.10in the evening. In the next few seconds, my brain processed all my options and the result of what could happen if I missed the bus. "But I have a flight to catch in the afternoon; I can't possibly wait till evening." "Well, then sir, if you don't mind standing, I can take you to St. Louis." I had no other option, so I covered the 2 hour greyhound ride from Rolla to St. Louis standing, and the DTC experience back in Delhi came in handy. Since I wanted the receipt of the ticket, the driver drove me to downtown from where I had to take a Metro, back to the airport. While I was waiting at the station for the metro to arrive, a "shady" character came up (you know what I mean here) and started asking for money. Not knowing what to do, I searched my pockets and found a quarter and a dime, I gave that to him saying thats all I had. Thankfully, apart from a little confusion at the airport nothing else happened, rest of the day. I arrived at Pittsburgh in the evening and thanks to Shreyas, didn't have to wander around much. Found the dorm room pretty easily and so far so good. :) . Will come back with more updates later.

btw ... do leave your comments ;)

I dream blogging

Its certainly not a time for a blog post, but I can't put it off any further.Last night I had a dream that I was writing my next blog post, which I think is the sign that one is due for sure.The dream was unusual because I still remember what I wrote. I think this happens to everybody sometime or the otherwhen you get this creepy feeling that you remember what you dreamt. Although I do remember a lot of my dreams but the details with which I remember this one is scary. Contrast this with that I often dont remember what I had for dinner last night.

On a lighter note, I recently got the honest scrap award from vaibhav. Thanks to him, coz I dont think my blog is good enough to have recieved anything like an honest scrap award. Thanks VB