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Showing posts from August, 2016

School of Thought: Existentialism | Hri-Write

Existentialism is a philosophical school of thought that deals with human existence, trying to explain the purpose of a human life. Existentialism, like many other schools of thought, is of course only a speculation and something we made up, take what you read here with a pinch of salt ( after all, I don't know any more about life than you do! ) If I were to try to explain existentialism easily, I'm afraid I'll lose out on its intricacies, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Existentialism, at its most fundamental level, says that every person is responsible for defining their own purpose in this world and that we are governed by our free will. Existentialism says that we are not here to 'find purpose', but rather to 'create our reality and purpose'. It sounds simple, but that's because I've tried to break down roughly a few centuries worth of study and philosophical evolution into four sentences. Existentialism originated as a school o...
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Why global warming is a real problem

I'm sure you've heard enough of this garbage. Blah, global warming, that one thing you learned in school and keep hearing from time to time. Ask yourself, how many times have you taken it seriously? Probably not many. NASA says the current trend of climate change is significant to note because it is the fastest rate of C02 (carbon di-oxide) emission rate in the last 1300 years. That's a lot of years. Fortunately for us, in the 21st century we have these amazing things called satellites, ever heard of them? Probably not. You guys most likely spend your time doing weird things like paying your bills and breathing oxygen. Boring life. No, but seriously, advanced satellite technologies have allowed us to analyse earth like never before. We have satellite data from the last 20-30 years that has made us much more capable of understanding and dealing with the situation. NASA says, "The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the ...
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India in Rio

If you've been following the Olympics, you probably know it's not been a great year for India. At the time of writing this post, we've won only two medals, a silver and bronze, respectively. In fact, looking at the numbers, this is India's largest contingent of athletes being sent to the Olympics. From athletes being offered only peanuts for food to Indian politicians strolling around on Rio's beaches, it's been a tough and disappointing year. Antics like Vijay Goel's social media blunders, which include mixing up athlete's names, photos and misspelling star athletes' names are just few of the things going wrong this year. Meanwhile, a nine-member team representing the state of Haryana arrived in Rio “to encourage the Haryana players.” However, the group, led by the state sports minister Anil Vij, has been noticeably absent at key events—even those involving their state’s athletes. Instead they were found sight-seeing and frolicking on Rio’s ...
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A beginner's guide to Astronomy

Around this time, last year, I bought my first telescope. It was a fascination that was brewing inside me for quite a while before I dived into actually ordering it. If you've been keeping up with this blog from the beginning you can probably infer that I love space. I've often shared many images that I've taken and other people's work too, and they have always elicited the reaction 'I would love to come over and see that on a telescope!'. I've been writing space blogs and articles for a while, long before this blog existed, too. As much as I try to sell Astronomy as a hobby to others, I hope that one day I'll have a group of people to go stargazing with! Well, if you've been trying to get into astronomy, this blog should help you out with the basics. Too many newcomers to astronomy get lost in dead ends and quit in frustration. It shouldn't be that way. Perseid Meteor Shower that happened on the weekend of 13-14th August 2016 ...
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Why your digital footprint matters

Every second you spend on the Internet, you're actively involved in painting a digital picture of yourself. This portrait helps companies target content at specific markets and consumers, helps employers look into your background, and helps advertisers track your movements across multiple websites. Whatever you do online, you might be leaving digital footprints behind. ( http://www.internetsociety.org/your-digital-footprint-matters ) In short, your digital footprint is everything you do online. Social media activity, app usage, email records. Watching videos, visiting adult sites, using certain plugins, everything goes into this piece of art. Whether you like it or not, everything you do on the web can be tracked. A lot of people seem to think that using incognito features on browsers or routers does any good. It might hide data locally (on your system) but it does nothing to completely hide your presence on the web. A diagram of how your internet works The abov...
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Popular posts from this blog

Where is all the 'alien life?' - Fermi Paradox and other theories

My first blog, ever, was about understanding the odds of alien life. I've gotten much better at writing blogs since then (or so I like to tell myself), and it would only be right if I reinstate the legacy of that one. We should openly admit that when we happen to be under a starry night and see a sight similar to this, we all have a react in a different and interesting way. Some people are left boggled by the immense size of the universe, others by the sheer glamour of the scene and if you're anything like me, you're paralysed by the sudden realisation that you have a negligible impact on the universe. The point is, we all feel something . When he looked up at the sky, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi too felt something, a thought that lingered around this question, "Where is everyone else?" It's been half a decade since Fermi passed on, but he left us with a fundamental query and idea. Fermi realised that in a universe as old and vast as this, there s...
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The Psychology of External Validation

A recent conversation intrigued me to explore this topic, and I find it perhaps one of the most relevant ones I have written about. So, here goes. I've known people who always get hundreds of likes on their posts hours within posting them. I have never been one of these people. I've never received many likes or shares, and when I was in my younger years, it was hurtful, in a way. I used to see my posts and shares sit on my wall for days with only a few likes, and back then, it was painful for me, so to say. It made me doubt my worthiness, and created a feeling that no one cared about what I had to say. I used to post a lot on Facebook just to see how many likes/shares/comments would accumulate in a few hours. I would be disheartened when that number didn't live upto my expectations. I'm sure some of you have had this feeling, and it's okay. Why? Why, just why is it like this? Why do we doubt our worth, why do we feel so bad just because someone didn't press...
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Why doesn't anybody talk about the ISRO?

Mangalyaan. It's a word you've probably heard a lot the last few years. That's because it was one of the world's cheapest space probes to reach Mars, collect data and relay it back to Earth, even more efficiently than NASA. Who was the genius space institute who developed this? None other than India's ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization). Why didn't we hear about it as much? Because the ISRO isn't NASA. Or so we think. On a budget nearly 9 to 10 times tighter than granted to NASA, the ISRO launched the Mars Orbiter Mission to Mars orbit in late 2014. With this, India became the first nation to complete the mission in its first try, and only the fourth one to venture to Mars. Remember back when water was discovered that there was water on the moon? Who contributed to that astonishing revelation? Chandrayaan-1, India's first lunar mission. Why did NASA take credit? Technically, it was their gadget aboard the mission that picked up the data...
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