Skip to main content

Posts

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
5 comments
Read more

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...
3 comments
Read more

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...
1 comment
Read more