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Showing posts from September, 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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Wartime affairs: India vs Pak/China

Considering I've studied quite a fair bit of history in the last two years, and the fact that it's my subject of Higher Level study for the next two years, I think it puts me in a good position to write on war affairs. With tensions heating up along the LoCs and LACs (Line of Control/Line of Actual Control) with Pakistan and China, the Indian army is ramping up its forces in massive proportions. So I'll start this sensitive topic with a rundown of the types of war assets that are deployed at wartime. Infantry: Perhaps the most common type of war assets since time immemorial, the soldier has been the symbol of war since the dawn of war. For most of human history, wars have been fought with soldiers. Depending on the period you choose to focus on, infantry have been equipped in different ways for different things. Nowadays, infantry are used for quick deployment, for areas that cannot be accessed by other types of units, and for deploying a wide variety of tactics ...
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Why programming is becoming fundamental

So we all tend to throw the word 'hacking' around, pretending to know what it is or how it's even done. How much do we know about it, though? Well, hacking is a  popular example of technology being misused. While hacking isn't always done with malicious intent, most times it is, resulting in news headlines everywhere. Let's consider for a second, the possibilities of everything we can do if we put our home technology to good use, and that's with programming. Most people don't really understand how the computer works internally, and this is one of the greatest tragedies of our generation. If everyone actually knew how to develop things using a computer, we could have been virtually 50 years ahead in terms of technology. Contrary to what people seem to think, programming isn't hard. Everything you need to begin programming is just a click away, and depending on which language you choose to learn, you can download the respective resources. One of the...
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Air travel: Why it isn't as bad as it sounds

The last few years, mainly 2014 till the present haven't been the most 'ideal' years for aviation. From the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 to the deliberate German-wings crash, incidents like these are enough to make even the most avid travellers ponder about the safety of air travel. Admittedly, the last few years have seen some serious crashes, but when you look at things comparatively, aviation's safety record is getting better, not worse. Statistically, in the year 2015, there was only one commercial plane incident in every 4.5 million flights. Those odds are very slim, and generally mean you're not going to get into an accident anytime soon. On average, you would need to fly every single day for approximately 55,000 years to be involved in a fatal accident. Let's understand this better. How about we put the odds of everyday activities and them killing you in perspective? Being assaulted by a firearm: 1 in 358. Being electrocuted: 1 ...
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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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Our growing dependence on technology may be our greatest weakness

Here's an essay I had written for my Grade 10 assignment. I think it's still pretty relevant, and before it gets lost in time on my hard drive, I'd like to share it with you. Our world has grown over the past hundred years in an unimaginable direction. Even though we still have to discover plentiful about this planet, we have managed to supply ourselves with bare necessities, such as food, water, shelter and security. Matter of fact, not only bare necessities, we have managed to provide ourselves by using our wit with most of the luxuries available at our disposal. However, the increase in machines within our homes themselves has a large impact on how we live our lives. Some aspects of technology have become household items, such as the television, or the fridge. Even though it seems that some are necessary to survive in this world, we may have crossed the line between necessity and luxury. In a fast-paced world such as ours, technology is present everywhere. From...
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