Category Archives: Uncategorized

Are they really True?

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  • If people live together then there is bound to be some conflict. The sensible thing to do is ‘learn to make compromises’.
  • If one had enough money, everything would be okay.
  • Happiness and unhappiness are both part of life. It would be difficult to appreciate happiness (harmony) if we did not also experience unhappiness (disharmony).
  • Anger, jealousy, selfishness are ‘natural’ human traits. These are found in everyone.
  • Tiffs between a husband and wife are natural.
  • If one has got a good education, has a good job, married and children, then life is ‘settled’.
  • Everyone cannot be successful. Success is something some people attain at the cost of others.
  • If problems were to finish, progress would stop and life would become boring, stagnant and monotonous.
  • Man can, and has to conquer nature. Technology can solve all problems.
  • The level of consumption is a measure of development , of human progress.  Thus economic development is not only good, it is essential.
  • ‘Development’ would invariably be accompanied with some effects like pollution, displacement, natural resource depletion…It’s a price we have to pay for the ‘benefits’ of development.
  • —Nobody in this world can be Trusted.
  • —World is full of struggle.
  • —Everybody is Selfish.
  • —Without competition there can not be progress.
  • —If you want to survive in this world then be “practical”.
  • Only money makes things work in this world.
  • —Relationships themselves are problems.
  • —Expectations are the root cause of all miseries.
  • I do not give a damn to one who doesn’t care for me.
  • —Without domination there can not be Relationship.
  • —Breaking a relationship is bravery.
  • —Relationships are means to get your things done.
  • —Conflicts are inherent part of Relationships.
  • —Compromises are inherent part of Relationships.
  • —To get you have to loose something.
  • —To survive is to live.
  • —To earn a living is the education.
  • —When we make mistakes then we learn.
  • Live to eat.
  • Eat healthy, think better.
  • Existence is Unhappiness.
  • Life is a struggle.
  • Physical needs of a human being are infinite and resources are finite.
  • Money can make everything.
  • Struggle will give resolution.
  • Money = Success, Progress, Happiness.
  • If we become satisfied then we can not grow.
  • —When we make mistakes then only we learn.
  • For me to win, somebody has to loose.
  • Being confident means others fearing you.
  • When others do not give you the respect you deserve then you have to snatch it.
  • Costly means good quality.
  • Everybody’s Truth is different.
  • Moral values etc. are bookish rubbish.
  • Science and Technology can solve all human problems.
  • Something which cannot be proved Scientifically is wrong.

Are these notions really true or we have assumed them to be true?

जिंदगी और मौत

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जिन्दा थे तो किसी ने
पास भी बिठाया नहीं,
अब खुद मेरे चरों
और बैठे जा रहे हैं|
पहले कभी किसी ने
मेरा हाल न पूछा
अब सभी आंसू
बहाए जा रहे हैं|
एक रुमाल भी भेंट नहीं किया
जब हम जिन्दा थे,
अब शालें और कपडे ऊपर
से ओढ़ाये जा रहे हैं|
सबको पता है की शालें और
कपडे इसके काम के नहीं
मगर फिर भी बेचारे दुनियादारी
निभाए जा रहे हैं|
कभी किसी ने एक वक्त का
खाना तक नहीं खिलाया,
अब देसी घी मेरे मूंह
में डाले जा रहे हैं|
जिंदगी में एक कदम भी
साथ न चल सका कोई,
अब फूलों से सजाकर
कंधे पे उठाए जा रहे हैं|
आज पता चला कि मौत
जिंदगी से बेहतर है,
हम तो बेवजह ही जिंदगी
कि चाहत किये जा रहे हैं|

— कैलाश गुप्ता

किस ओर चली नदी

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बेचैन रहती है नदी
क्यों सागर की खातिर,
मिलना जिसमें मिट जाना है …
खुद खार होना है

अनदेखा करती
चली जाती है
जंगल के प्यार को लेकिन
हरा होता है जो उस से
जिस में वह खुद
हरी होती है|

— नन्द किशोर आचार्य जी

Science of Experiential Validation

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Generally we feel that Experiences of a human being are subjective and we can not talk about them Scientifically. We feel that everybody’s desires, thoughts, expectations, imagination, feelings etc. are different so we can not have a common basis to talk about them. It is said that there is no objectivity in them and it seems that there can not be. Ultimately it leads to the conclusions like everybody’s preferences are different, everybody’s desires, thoughts, expectations are different, everybody’s Truth is different and everybody is different.

Experiences differ from Physical realities in certain way which make their study difficult or different. Experiences can only be observed by the Experiencer i.e. the person who is experiencing them. Experiences can not be accessed by any other person by any means, other than the person who is experiencing them.  Experiences are said to be personal and subjective. Physical realities on the other hand are observable and verifiable through senses. Experiences can not be observed through senses. Sensory observations are relatively easier to observe and validate than Experiences.  This distinction doesn’t make Experiences unobservable, they are just observed differently.

Like, observing a chair in front of our eyes and observing “willingness to live with happiness” (or even “willingness to live”, “willingness to live with Trust”, “willingness to live with Respect”) are two different things. First is sensory, second is not. Second can only be observed within us. It is not unobservable. The way we can make mistakes in observations through senses and in experimentation, the same way there is possibility of making mistakes in correctly identifying and recognizing our own Experiences. For example “willingness to live with happiness” is something which can only be observed within. One may be unaware of it till it is observed within, but when a person who has experienced it within draws other person’s attention towards it and other person pays attention to it and realizes it within then it is validated for that person that it is true for him as well. This is what is called Experiential Validation.

Claim in this post is, internal realities or Experiences are not completely subjective in nature. They are as objective in nature as we feel Physical realities are. It is just the matter of practice that we are not trained to introspect and self reflect so we miss many of the internal realities (Experiences) or are totally unaware of them.

Since these internal realities are not observable through senses so their observation might seem difficult. A person who has “seen” these realities by himself can draw our attention towards them and we can validate by ourselves if that is true. Results in Experiential Validation may not be instantaneous. The observation itself may take years to be correctly made. It also depends on the “need” of the person who is observing. Without “need”, it is hard to make observation within. More strong the “need” is, the more precise observation can be made, and also observation makes “need” for further deeper observations more strong, so in this way it is reinforcing in itself.

A person who has already observed the realities whether internal or external can make the observations for others easy with his guidance, without which the process of observation may become extremely difficult, specially in case of Experiential Validation.

Relationship or Domination?

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Most of our Relationships today are based on Domination and the worst part is, we are unaware of it!

Our intention or willingness is to live with Relationship but we try to fulfill that intention or willingness through Domination. In most of our relationships today, what we try to do is to dominate. In fact our relationships, acquaintances are based on domination. Those who let us dominate them we feel comfortable with them. Those who do not, we feel uncomfortable with them and want to dominate them somehow. Those who do not contradict us, do not speak against us, be polite with us, keep appreciating us, look up at us, feel good about us, have perception towards us the way we want, we feel comfortable with them. Those who contradict us, may even speak against us, may not appreciate us, may even look down at us, we feel uncomfortable with them and want to dominate them with the expectation that after this conditions will be favorable to us. We want to be looked up, we want to be appreciated, we want other person to feel good about us, we want a comfortable environment as per our preferences, we want others perceptions towards us as per our expectations, as per our preferences, as we see ourselves!

This kind of domination can be seen in all our relationships, be it, parent-children relationship, brother-sister relationship, friends, acquaintances or whatsoever. In fact domination in relationships is independent of the name of relationship. Even our caring, responsibilities, which we take  pride in doing are also filled in with the self interest and domination. Most of our interactions with other human beings can fall into this category of domination.

Interesting thing is, none of us like to be dominated but we all like to dominate. When we are being dominated then we feel bad and try to dominate the person who is trying to dominate us.

The question which arises is, why do we try to dominate? What is the basic motivation behind it?

We all evaluate ourselves. We evaluate ourselves on the basis “of something”, like our intellect, beauty, power, position, money etc. Mostly our evaluations are based on popular notions in the society. The way people have perceived us sometime or the other in our life, we start perceiving ourselves the same way and then expect others around us to perceive the same way we perceive ourselves. This is where the problem of domination germinates.

We evaluate ourselves “some way” and then expect people around us to evaluate us the same way. In fact we want those people around us who have the perception towards us the way we want, the way we like, the way we expect. Those who see ourselves the way we want we see them as relatives and those who do not we get a feeling of opposition for them and then we want to dominate them.

In most of the cases we are not even aware that such a phenomenon is happening inside us. We just keep living in reaction without understanding what is happening inside us.

So what is the way out of it?

If we see closely then it is the relative evaluation which is becoming the cause of all these problems. We evaluate ourselves relatively and expect others around us to evaluate the same way. We all have this need to have our right evaluation within ourselves. This need is ever actively present in us. We see that relative evaluation is becoming the cause of problems so there is a need to have absolute evaluation. Unless or until we have our certain and consistent evaluation of ourselves with us the problems which we saw above are not going to be resolved.

To have our absolute evaluation with ourselves we need knowledge. Knowledge is Knowledge of Self, Knowledge of Entire Existence and Knowledge of Natural Human Conduct.

Can a Robot feel Pain?

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Suppose we have already made a robot which behaves exactly like a human being. When you talk to him, you do not even realize that you are talking to a robot. The kind of face expressions he makes, the way he talks, the way he behaves makes you feel that he is in reality a real human being!

When you pinch on his hand, he tries to save himself by taking his hand away, with wrinkles on his face, exactly like a human being. This makes you feel that robot is actually feeling the pain. Lets further try to dig into it and find out what is happening inside it. Lets try to see what must/can be happening inside such a robot.

Lets take the case of his behavior when he is pinched on his hand. Since this is a robot which can behave exactly like a human being, so there must be touch sensors spread all over his body. When his hand is pinched, some touch sensors recognize the pressure and send a signal to the operating system installed somewhere in the robot. This signal comes to operating system in the form of an interrupt. There must be an interrupt vector in the operating system which maps this interrupt to a subroutine which is supposed to execute. As soon as operating system receives the interrupt it triggers the corresponding subroutine. In the subroutine it is calculated how much pressure on what location is applied and correspondingly what action need to be taken. This action is also predefined or learned on the basis of past training. In this particular case it happens that robot takes his hand back and makes a wrinkly face. This is all what could be happening inside the robot, an interrupt giving rise to the execution of a program, giving rise to the movements of some limbs. One might say that this is very naive explanation of activities going on inside the robot. I am ready to take any kind of complex processing/model you can bring. You can bring as advanced data mining algorithms as you can, you can bring as complex artificial neural networks as you can, you can bring any kind of “computational” model as you can and make a robot which behaves the way I described and give an explanation of what is going on inside the robot. I am ready to take your version of robot.

The question which comes here is when this robot is pinched on his hand, did it actually feel any kind of “pain”?

I say a strict No. If you say Yes, then you must explain how and where? I could not see any place in robot either hardware or software which may be responsible for the “feeling of pain”. What we have done in above example is, we have made a robot which is “behaviorally” same as a human being, but can a robot be “intentionally” same as a human being? We can simulate the “expression” of pain but can we simulate the “feeling of pain” itself?

There may be a lot of processing happening inside the robot, it may be as complex as you can imagine, but processing doesn’t imply there is some feeling inside it. If there is feeling then our computers, tube lights, fans, geysers any kind of complex devices will start “feeling” different kind of things, but we do not see any kind of manifestation of this.

Here it is implied that any kind of “computational” model is not sufficient for realizing “feelings”. One can simulate the behavior/expression part of it but realizing feelings is entirely a different case than simulating it.

This thought experiment also negates the possibility of Strong AI. Strong AI presumes that a machine can realize all the human phenomenon. In above thought experiment we see that it is not possible. It shows that Strong AI is wrong. A robot is nothing but a feelingless mechanical device. It is not that in a machine feelings are partial or to some percentage, they are absolutely zero. It is also not that with the advancement of science and technology, in future we will be able to develop a robot which will be able to realize all the human phenomenon. A robot can “never” feel pain or anything, independent of how advanced science and technology become. It is “in principle” not possible for a robot to feel pain.

I know it will create a lot of questions and arguments in readers minds for which I request them to comment on this blog. I would like to suggest readers to limit themselves to the machine and then discuss the issue rather than coming to a human being. Believe me discussing a machine is easier than a human being.

Please read following article I wrote later to understand the concept much deeper:

Chinese Room Argument: A Robot Cannot Feel Pain

Dharamveer: To what extent Preconditioning can lead …

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Watch following YouTube video to see what I want to say.

‘Dharamveer’ is a common man at peace. Conflicting and competing ideologies confront him. His innocence and confusion vanishes when he finds himself trapped in an ideological web.

How preconditioning can make a human being to do anything!

There is a need to look within and identify what is preconditioning and what is natural!

Life of a Security Guard

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Almost all of the security guards at IIIT-H are my friends. I planned to talk to one of them today. His name is Kumar Swami. I asked him (In Hindi), “Can I talk to you bhaiyya for some time if you are free?”.

Oh Yes Sure, he said.

I will ask you a few questions, would you like to answer them for me?

Yes please ask.

Why do you want to ask me questions bhaiyya, he asked.

I want to know about you that how you live and I will let others also know about it, I said.

OK bhaiyya ask me whatever you want, he said with a pleasant smile on his face.

What is your name?

Kumar Swami

Which place do you belong to?

Warangal (Parakkal)

Are you married?

Yes, I have two children.

Where in Hyderabad you live?

Masid Banda.

How much IIIT-H gives you (salary)?

7500 Rs per month.

How much is your house rent?

1500 Rs.

What are your work timings?

It is 12 hours a day. Sometimes day shift and sometimes night shift. 8 to 8.

How many days a week you work?

7 days a week.

I was amazed! I was thinking he will say 6 days, but 7 days a week, 12 hours a day duty is too much!

In which class your kids study?

One is in 1st class and other is in 2nd.

Which school they are in?

Shri Rama Public School.

What is their school fees?

2000 Rs per month for both.

Your wife also works?

Yes, she does stitching.

How much she is able to earn?

1000 Rs per month.

What your parents do?

They are in agriculture.

How much land you do they have in warangal?

A big piece of land.

Why did you migrate to Hyderabad?

No job available in Warangal.

How do you manage your family with money you and your wife earn?

In total we earn: 7500 + 1000 = 8500 Rs.

Out of which (per month expenditure), 1500 for rent, 2000 for school fees of kids, 2000 food expenditure, 500 Rs for travelling in public transport, others and around 1000 to 2000 Rs I save in bank.

Are you happy doing this job?

Not really. In this job I have very less time to sleep, very less time to take care of my health, my eating habits and timings have gone bad, I eat at 6 in the morning and come here and sometimes I have lunch in the afternoon otherwise directly dinner, I am left with no time for my family and other things even if I want to do them.

How are you relationships with your family members at home?

They are good.

Do you smoke or drink?

No

What did you want to become in your life?

After I completed my studies I wanted to settle in life, wanted to do a job or businness.

What would you like to become in your next birth?

A big officer.

How students, staff, faculty etc. treat you here?

They treat me well. Students call me bhaiyya and staff and faculty are also good. Faculty and staff call me “Security”.

Do they give you respect?

Yes.

What do you think about people? How do you find students and faculty here?

Everybody is good.

Here I stopped asking anymore questions. I said, “I am very happy to talk to bhaiyya. You are  an inspiration for us in many ways “.

He was sitting on his chair, I requested him to get up and then I gave him a “Jadoo ki Jhappi”.

He was quite happy, my eyes were also slightly moist.

This is where we finished our conversation.

I will not write my personal views or interpretation on this conversation. It is left on the reader to read and interpret their ways.

दुनिया बहुत बड़ा पागलखाना है

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सरल सहज जीवन है भैय्या,
इसे मत उलझाओ रे ..
जीना बहुत सरल है उसको
समझो और समझाओ रे …

देखो सरल अस्तित्व यहाँ ..
सरल सहज सहयोगी ..
मानव को छोड़ यहाँ, हैं सब निरोगी ..
संबंध भी कोई वस्तु है इसको
समझो और समझाओ रे …

सरल सहज जीवन है भैय्या,
इसे मत उलझाओ रे ..

सदा सुखी जीवन जीना ही
हर मानव की  प्यास है ..
बिना समझ के व्यवहार कार्य से ..
सभी यहाँ उदास हैं|
पहचानों अपने आप को रे भैय्या ..
और सुखी हो जाओ रे ..

सरल सहज जीवन है भैय्या,
इसे मत उलझाओ रे ..

मिटटी पानी पेड़ पशु ..
सभी हैं तेरे सहयोगी ..
इन सबका है आचरण निश्चित,
हैं ये सब सच्चे योगी …
समझदार हो मानव धरा तो ..
स्वर्ग पाओ रे …

सरल सहज जीवन है भैय्या,
इसे मत उलझाओ रे ..

सब संबंधी सभी सगे हैं ..
है यहाँ नहीं कोई ढोंगी ..
संबंध में ही होता है मानव सुखी …
बस मान्यता से ही है रोगी ..
मान्यता से मुक्त हो कर रे भैय्या,
संबंध के सुख को पाओ रे …

सरल सहज जीवन है भैय्या,
इसे मत उलझाओ रे ..
जीना बहुत सरल है उसको
समझो और समझाओ रे …

Teachers’ Day: A note of Thanks

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Dear All,

Kindly allow me to express my sincere gratitude towards you for all the things I learned, received from you directly as well as indirectly. I can never forget your kindness, generosity, patience and love which I received in past. It helped me in growing in all the aspects of life and is in fact still helping. I find myself a fortunate person that I this got opportunity of being around all of you in last few years.

All the things I received from you, have made an indelible mark on my heart. I am in your debt.

I seek your forgiveness, for all those mistakes I made knowingly or unknowingly in past. I can assure you about my intention but I must confess I lack the competence.

Thanks a lot.

Devansh