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Showing posts from December, 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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The idea of 'luxury' and the way in which consumers are manipulated.

Humans really love to stand out from the crowd. They will go to any extent to make sure they are noticed. It is no surprise that we wield materialism like a sword against society. The elusiveness of having something that others don't is commonly noted in a world as materialistic as this. Although it's becoming more evident, it's not new. We've seen crazy feasts, jewelry and other artifacts documented all the way from the reigns of kings and queens. Sure, by analyzing this phenomenon on the surface I can say that the physical appeal is what really entices us, but is it really all of it? No. There's a much deeper, elaborate social and psychological construct at play here, and unless you read between the lines, you will probably miss it. Think about it, why would people pour thousands of rupees into an Armani suit or an LV purse? Sure, you could know the time by staring into a cheap five hundred rupee watch, but no, we want to invest in that lucrative ninety tho...
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The Intriguing Placebo Effect

The Placebo effect has intrigued doctors, philosophers, and laymen alike. If you don't know what it is, it can be briefly described as: " a beneficial effect produced by a placebo drug or treatment, which cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must, therefore, be due to the patient's belief in that treatment. " So, essentially what it is is a belief in a fake treatment that ultimately leads you to being cured just because you believe it. In other words, we trick ourselves back into health, proving that the brain is an extremely powerful entity. My classmates who take Psychology will probably know this already, but the thing about topics like these is that unless you're involved in studying it seriously, it's not something the ordinary person would know. Simply, the placebo effect states that people think something is better just because they are coaxed into believing it. One of the greatest examples of the placebo effect is...
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Let's talk about Aleppo.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. People really don't care as much as they think they do or as much as they pretend to. We take quickly to the internet to change our display pictures to show solidarity with the victims of attacks in Paris, Boston or Brussels. We hashtag #PrayforParis and yet we let a mass genocide happen right in front of us, and that too for five years. Talk about Aleppo. Cry for them like you cried for Paris or New York. Are they not important because they're Arabs? Or is it because they're Syrian? Do they matter less than an American/French person? They post goodbye messages on the internet every day and we don't even know what is going on there. What's going on? Aleppo is a city in north-western Syria. Before the war, it was the most populated city in the country. Now, it's a battleground, between Bashar Al-Assad's government and the anti-government rebels. The eastern half is controlled by the rebels whil...
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The Indian outlook on sports

Reflecting on our disappointing performance at the Rio Olympics just a few months ago, it's safe to say that Indians generally tend to think that sports are not "worthy of being careers". The Rio Olympics began and concluded in August this year, and India managed to only secure 2 medals. In addition to this poor tally, we were also told stories about how our bureaucrats and representatives did everything but what was necessary to support our athletes, from strolling the beaches instead of attending the events and making the athletes sleep in economy. Now I don't want to talk about the whole thing because it'd be a worthless re-run of my blog "India in Rio". The point that I'm trying to make, though, is that these issues are still running strong, whether or not we choose to forget them. I remember how everyone was running around talking about how much of a shame it was that our government didn't invest in our athletes. Now, I'd be surprised...
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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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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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'Kids these days', and Juvenoia.

The phrase 'kids these days', has been used since time immemorial by older generations to express their disappointment in the younger generations. We love to talk about just how different life was 'back in the good old days'. In that regard, you see a huge number of 'only 90s kids will remember...' on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites. George Orwell had a brilliant quote that went along the lines of this: George Orwell (1903-1950), was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. There's a neat neologism for this phenomenon, Juvenoia . The point is, it's an endless cycle. Let's examine this situation. A family is sitting around the breakfast table, all engrossed in their own digital life. It's a common situation nowadays, right? However, in 1907, the Journal of Education deplored, "At a modern family gathering, silent around the fire, each individual has his head buried in his favorite magazine." Let...
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