Posts from the philosophy category.
There are some books you finish and immediately know what you think about them.And then there are books that leave you sitting with a question.A Republic Reimagined: A New Economic Model for a New Age by Joshua Schmude belongs to the second category for me.I didn't agree with everything in the book.But I kept thinking about one question.Who owns the future when machines begin doing more of the wor...
There is something almost absurd about a life being reduced to ten inches.Twenty-two years of pouring tea.Twenty-two years of remembering who wants extra ginger, who will pay tomorrow, who needs a cup on credit and who comes to the cart simply because there is nowhere else to go.Then someone draws a chalk line on the pavement.Ten inches.And suddenly those ten inches matter more than everything tha...
1. AbandonedLeft on the street with no guide or map,I picked myself up and closed the gap.They said I was done, said I’d fall and break,I built from the ashes for my own sake.Storms tried to pull me under the tide,I learned to swim with the hurt inside.Scars on my back, but fire in my crown,They left me to sink. But I did not drown.2. UnbrokenThey tried to bury me under the weight,I turned the dir...
There is something slightly uncomfortable about Finish What You Start.We have been taught to admire people who never quit.Finish the project.Complete the course.Stick to the goal.Keep going.Somewhere along the way, finishing became proof of character.Peter Hollins's book examines why we struggle to do exactly that.We start with enthusiasm. Then the excitement fades. The work becomes repetitive. Di...
I think one of the criterion for someone to become a politician is they have read Rush lyrics. I don’t care about a college degree. Basic literacy, common sense and ethics are much more necessary. And if they don’t get it, they are rejected. They can ask for help, that is great. But until they fucking understand the meaning behind and between the lyrics, they have to keep at it. Or give up. If the...
“What’s your price?”It is an uncomfortable question because we are used to putting prices on almost everything. A house has a price. A car has a price. A company has a valuation. Even our time is increasingly measured in money.But what happens when the question is directed at a human being?That discomfort is precisely where Dr. Manjit Hans begins in What’s Your Price? Understanding Your Worth. The...
What if having it all is not about getting everything?What does it actually mean to have it all?More money? A successful career? A happy family? Good health? Inner peace? Meaningful relationships? Freedom from regret?We tend to imagine these things as items on a checklist. The more boxes we tick, the closer we are to a great life.Gaur Gopal Das’s You Can Have It All made me question that definitio...
A crown is supposed to be a symbol of power.But what if it is actually a debt?That was the thought I kept returning to while reading Rajesh Mehta’s Bleeding Crown: Protector of Sivi.Set in 726 BC, long before the familiar chapters of Indian history that most of us encounter in school, the novel takes us into the kingdom of Sivi, where a young prince is expected to inherit not merely a throne, but ...
They tried to bury me under the weight,I turned the dirt into a door and a gate.Every word that cut, every lie they said,I wore them like armor and moved ahead.I fell to my knees but I learned to stand,Took every scar and built with my hands.What was meant to break me only made me stronger,They wanted me shattered. But I lasted longer.
Most of us have heard of the double slit experiment.As a refresher, here it is - You fire electrons, one at a time, at a plate with two slits cut into it. Behind the plate is a screen. Common sense says each electron goes through one slit or the other (its a particle), and you should end up with two bands on the screen. Like spray paint through two open windows.That is NOT what you get. You get ma...
