Monthly Archive for July, 2007
Dan Dennett develops a powerful and compelling analogy between germs and new ideas. Dan works with Richard Dawkins’s insightful concept of a meme and adds some rich examples along the way. You will appreciate this video especially if you have read Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. Highly Recommended. From ted.
Here’s one of those talks that can change your view of the world forever. Starting with the deceptively simple story of an ant, Dan Dennett unleashes a dazzling sequence of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of “memes” — a term coined by Richard Dawkins for mental concepts that are literally alive and capable of spreading from brain to brain.
I’m doing my Ph. D. in Physics at TIFR. Its a beautiful campus and I’d like to share some photos with you. (The campus buildings are undergoing some renovation. You might see some ugly scaffoldings in some photos…)
Often you would like to see photographs of something. Example: All photo’s of VT (Victoria Terminus) in Mumbai. One way is to do a google image search.
Another nice one way is Flickr. This has the additional advantage that you can search for photographs you can use freely (for your website, blog etc.). Most images are copyright with all rights reserved (you may not use these images for any purpose without consent of the author). Flickr allows you to search for images that are licensed under the creative commons license.
This license allows you to use, modify, commercialize photos in a simple to understand way. Just search for images under advanced search in flickr with the creative commons license check box ticked.
Here is a sample search for “VT Mumbai” under the creative license.
Ever wish you could reach out into someone else’s inbox and snag back a message you regret sending? A new e-mail service gives users the ability to do just that, complete with racking options and self-destruct.
I’m just starting out on my Ph.D. in Physics at TIFR. Classes have not yet started. This week all incoming students have been visiting the physics labs in the institute so that we can get a flavour of the research that goes on here.
Today’s lab visit was to the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. TIFR (with a few other institutes) is building a satellite based space telescope (in this respect it will be like the famous Hubble Telescope). This space telescope will specialize in looking at the x-rays emitted by stars, galaxies and other objects in space. This satellite is called Astrosat. Astrosat is similar to the Chandra space telescope. Our Astrosat will be better than Chandra in some areas.The Astrosat is a biggish project with about 300+ people involved, I’m told. The satellite is supposed to be launched in 2009. Today we saw some prototypes of on-board equipment under testing/construction.
It is heartening to note that India is finally getting into the big league of science/physics research. We have have almost caught up with the developed world in some areas!
Even though I’m not really interested in Astronomy/Astrophysics I found this lab visit inspirational. I was reminded about why I want to do physics: I want do physics because I want to search for answers to deep questions. It also reminded me that experimental physics is the way to go. Only through experimentation can you find out how the universe really is.
This lab visit also clarified the kind of physics I want to do:
(1) I want to do experimental physics
(2) I want to build a complete experiment from scratch. I would rather build a whole system than work on improving a small part of an existing system. I have my whole life to specialize. I want my experimental training to be as broad based as possible
(3) I’d like to be as inter-disciplinary as possible. For example: focussing hard x-rays is a problem in x-ray telescopes. Can I transfer some techniques from accelerator physics to focus x-rays?
In fact, being inter-disciplinary is the secret to success in almost any career. There is an excellent article in the Dilbert Blog that explains why this is the case:
If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:
1. Become the best at one specific thing.
2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try.
The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.
I think I will excel in any interdisciplinary setting:
(1) I have an extremely wide range of interests
(2) I love making connections between different and seemingly disparate things
(3) My approach is broad based rather than narrow
Choice can make you unhappy. Choice is over-rated.
Video review and comments
Different choices lead to different outcomes. Some choices bring you wealth, fame and reward. Others don’t. But all scenarios lead to similar amounts of happiness. This is because the human brain has the incredible capacity to manufacture happiness even if you did not achieve your goals. In other words, all paths lead to similar amounts of happiness. So if you missed out on the opportunity to join Infosys, Google or the Beatles early on…it does not matter…you will be just as happy. You can call it self-justification.
Another interesting concept is developed: People who are presented with choice (e.g. choose one painting over another) will often be unhappier than people who had did not have choice. This is because people with choice will keep wondering about whether they made the best decision or not!
This is a wonderful video. In the spirit of a 20 min talk some broad statements and sweeping generalizations are made. But the central ideas mentioned above do hold together.
What learnings can we apply from this video in our own life? Lets talk about careers. If you believe everything this video says, then any career has the ability to make you happy. Some careers may be able to reward you more than others (money, power, fame etc) but even if you end up in a career that turns out to be non-rewarding, your brain will manufacture “synthetic happiness.”
Another important point in the video: Choice is an enemy of happiness. Coming back to my career example: if you have many career paths to choose from, then you might end up being quite unhappy (if you can always change to another career at a later stage). You mind will always engage in what-if type flagellation once you have chosen. However if your career choice is irrevocable then you will be happy because being stuck allows “synthetic happiness” to be created.
Check out the video for yourself. It certainly taught me a lot. Adam Smith is quoted in the video. I repeat him here: