Wow what a movie!

 

The world created through Avatar movie is enchanting and precious. The second part is equally compelling. I am in love with this virtual world they so meticulously lovingly created. Though I must add the story was bit jarring -the usual Hollywood cliché so on nevertheless the intent and compassion was well placed, but my god the colorful wonderful world they conceptualized. Some of the scenes are quaintly sublime in its aesthetics. Please watch and feel alive in this captivating quaint world. Well done. As for James Cameron, ‘Terminator’ was one of my earliest English movies (most likely second English movie after James Bond), and just the right movie for my fertile early teen mind. I was blown away.

Footnote: meanwhile primitive Indians with big money are persistent to gate crash into Oscars. Crude despicable movie is being patronized by usual suspects as exotic and yes ‘representing’, the same old strategy to lower standards for mediocre to sneak in. Last I heard the third-rate crass movie is being shortlisted for song! An unintended gay moment. It would do well in LGBTQ festivals, nothing wrong just that it was unintended! And if they intended, they would mess it up. It’s a unique caliber. Please dump this appalling ‘work of art’ at the earliest. It’s an assault on sensibilities, an embarrassment. I as an Indian (unfortunately placed in same geographical entity) apologize for these mediocres and their lack of self-awareness. Or maybe give them a plastic replica of Oscars so that they can create PR narration back home for the herds to feel special brahmand blessing of unique talent that the world is incapable to comprehend. Nauseating.    

Unfolding the protein universe

 

As the year comes to an end the most significant event, if you really want to capsulate into timescale of a year and year end shenanigans, has to be DeepMind releasing structures of 200million proteins -all catalogued protein known to science. To put it into perspective before DeepMind only 17% of protein 3D structures were known that too after long and costly process. The decision to opensource AlphaFold is a momentous occasion. It will be Cambrian explosion of insights and innovations in multiple fields in the coming years and decades. Protein plays an important role in nearly every important activity that happens inside every living organism on earth. So, the possibility through this new awareness of three-dimensional structures of protein folds, hence its functions, is mindboggling and is set to profoundly impact understanding in fields ranging from fighting diseases to origin of life. AlphaFold is as significant as CRISPRcas9 in its broad span of impact.    

Meanwhile after ChatGPT -that has initiated some amusing online reactions, GPT-4 -OpenAI’s powerful language generative model, is to be released very soon. I read that it is going to make astonishing leaps in performance of memory -retain and refer back, and summarizing -distill essentialities in a text. The issue is Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPTs are running out of training data. There are lots of data generated online but very less is within acceptable quality threshold. They are moving towards transcription of spoken content of formal meetings. I find GPT progress exceedingly interesting. These started in 2017 with iterative machine learning transformers through neural network architecture. I find them very real in the way they acquire language. I got my frame on writing, and ofcourse keep updating, by iterative addition through constant reading. Better writers and incisive writings mean better frame to consolidate. Unlike GPT human brain takes years to work, particularly when there was no frame to begin with. Though I began choosing randomly very soon conscious part of the brain kicked in to evaluate and found the writings wanting in quality, nuance and span of idea. Indian writing -with rare exceptions, lacked the verve and vigor, mostly cosmetic and planted with word play. As also English classics like Austen were too boring and out of my reality or any reality I could fathom. Russian and Latin American writings were where things were happening. I was looking for contemporary writings -and that is how I bumped into Nobel prize writers which seems a definitive reference in a chaos filled world of writing. Ofcourse now I have moved out of fiction -it has become a luxury, into nonfiction -there is so much to catch up in the fast changing world. Without awareness of grammar (not that I didn’t try, I really couldn’t understand at all, as also it starts to intrude into writing and thinking hence I let it go) iterative consolidation is the only way out. I identify myself with GPT a lot. Like GPT I sometimes write fascinating stuff but also make silly embarrassing mistakes since I get into my own loop and brain gets tripped. But unlike GPT human mind has limitations but fascinating possibilities. You are not working on words from models of contexts and references alone but also through experiences and thinking. GPT at this stage is emulating third rate Indian writers who use superficial play of words to impress the system to make easy money and influence. Intermittently impressive but mostly mediocre. GPT can easily be better than most Indian writers (who can be safely taken as benchmark of mediocrity!).  

There is also research going on to augment data through visual language or multimodal access afterall much of human speech is complemented by visual cues and representations. When I see something, I am acquiring data that is converting the experience through emotions which are then imprinted into memory. Many a times I find it difficult to convert into words, and even if I do, it doesn’t really carry the whole feeling of experience. It seems to be lacking and futile. Even in best of writers it is very much hinged to partial emotions it excites in readers. Ofcourse consensus is high on great writers (is there primal quantum entangling in human brains that aligns emotions? Crazy thought!), but it is never complete, and many a times it could even be readers limitations. It does create diversity of experience but doesn’t address the limitation of language. So, is the language lacking since it is in a linear time frame whereas experience encompass linearity and has input from past and future -oscillating in time, to add to the richness of memory. AlphaZero has exhibited this ability to look deep into time and backforth for possible outcomes. It has accessed reality that human emotions are able to sense but brain is incapable to articulate. GPT is open ended, subjective frame, while AlphaZero is close ended system, clear objective, but the way AlphaZero experience time in limited frame holds lots of potential.                     

The Blessed Lords are on Holiday!!

 Such a fine tradition. Such fine legacy. Such nice people. You may even mistake India to be paradise of justice, and justice system.  

Epic !

Sports at its best

 

Aesthetics will save us

 

Aesthetics of deeper connection with nature and understanding of overwhelming presence in the miracle of life gives insight. Inquisitiveness is being alive to life force. The more we know more it matters, and more it doesn’t. It adds to richer valuation of unfolding meanings. As the body evolves to the chaos of life, mind valuates the patterns into connections and it grows to find more to share and integrate into tapestry of life. Aesthetics of life is aesthetics of matter. It makes us appreciate beautiful, the subtle and discern the valuable. It is in every sense an expression of our being. It will guide us. It will save us.

It is aesthetics that make us sense values and ideals that helps life to express itself. It finds expressions in freedom, goals in equality and meanings in liberty. It is these that nurture democratic institutions and liberal ways. It is these that equips us to face reality and prepare us for challenges. Science advances in this pursuit. Technology helps us to extend our senses into further connections into matter. It helps us refine our life, as also our aesthetics. Whatever prevents this nurturing of life is a threat to humanity and life itself. We must protest, react, respond and ridicule with all our being to any assault on aesthetics or valued space that nurtures. We must beware of systems that dehumanizes and blunt our sensibilities. Ugliness is presented as an assault. We are asked to tolerate ugliness so as to lull us into routine and sap our energy.  It will eventually bleed us of our humanity into isolated exploited miserable life. We will be controlled into fancies of crass. We must be therefore vigilant to devious psychopaths scheming for power, money, prestige and ego as they entrap humans into herds through semantics of concern and meaningless word jugglery. They get brazen in desperation.

There is sanctity of life. There is sanctity of space we live in. There is a sanctity in every action and inaction of us. Sanctity has aesthetics that is connected and expressed through matter. As a human being we are part of that expression. If we lose our aesthetic sensibilities, we lose ourself.  We lose all that we cherish.                    

3rd book on podcast

 https://depalan.podbean.com/

Book discussed is Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment authored by Daniel Kahneman Cass R. Sunstein, and Olivier Sibony

Some questions need answers

 

We live in a world that is quite brutal but infinitely better than what it was even a century back. Socially and individually we are in a better place. Technology has immensely helped to spread egalitarian ideas. More number of people now enjoy freedom and liberty than anytime in the history of humanity. More number of people can aspire to express their will. More and more number of people are walking into the path of equality and freedom. It was only a few decades back that some were deemed less than equal. Such a situation still exists in many parts of the world where fellow humans even now struggle to be recognized as humans with free will and aspirations. The difference now is that we know subjugating and denying other human being equal right and liberty is wrong. The systems, individuals and circumstances which perpetuates subjugation of fellow human being are criticized and severely dealt in international forums by conscientious voices and on streets by ordinary people. We recognize what is wrong. We share ideas of right. Each human is aware that they are as equal as anyone else despite the circumstances and location. Most societies have codified these ideals into rule of law, and those that haven’t face relentless wrath of people. Education and constant interaction with the world through latest gadgets have awakened people across the world. They demand equality, liberty and freedom that they know is indelible part of being a human. They demand nothing less.

Despite severely dented by social media the mainstream media and powerful people still control most of the narrations and institutions. Though there was a vehemence in granting equal rights and liberty to people, and were safeguarded through democratic institutions, the same seems to be lacking in confronting feudal structures. Structures that nurture some as more equal than others. Structures that value ascriptive status. Exceptionalism of few as more equal than others. These narrations of exceptionalism carry the primitiveness of feudal ways, deceit of religion and meaninglessness of traditions. This exceptionalism is not so subtle hint at supremacism, at racism, of some born as special than others. It carries all that is appalling of human dealing frozen in time. It contradicts all that is cherished, all the ideas and thoughts gained through progressive involvement with society by best of human beings. What makes it sinister is the display of aplomb without any signs of regret or embarrassment.     

The Nobel prize week is underway it also coincides with Human Rights Day that commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1948. ‘Human Rights Day focuses on the fundamental rights and liberties to which all people worldwide are entitled to simply by virtue of their humanity’. Scientists are not expected to have social historical sensibilities. They spent their whole life in narrow frame. Admirable as it is the lack of context can be dangerous as was proved by Nazis so on. Economists work to serve certain purpose within framework of the system. So, the question is for Nobel Peace prize and Literature prize laureates -who are expected to be sensitive to tribulation of humanity and matters of society, how do they evaluate presence of monarchy with human rights? What does these structures of exceptionalism symbolize? When they bow to these is it just to be seen as matter of courtesy or that something much valuable is being compromised? What do us common people have to learn that we don’t yet understand? Is there something lacking in us that we are incapable to understand?

Each of the Nobel Prize laureate present and alive is being asked this question. Ofcourse, you do have the free will to ignore. Ignoring doesn’t make questions vanish.                 

Eliminate Ascriptive Status and Institutions

As soon as UN was created in 20th century it called for abolition of slavery and elimination of all forms of discrimination. Discrimination continues in 21^st century despite best efforts by egalitarian contexts and humanitarian concerns. There are many sources of discriminations and all have been securitized and brought under law-and-order machinery in civilized part of the world. Anachronistic religions constantly haggle for exceptions hence presents persistent threat to humanity as it nurtures primitive contexts and degrading values undermining progress made over centuries. Religion must be therefore urgently scrutinized, ridiculed and negated at every available opportunity by sane people and be aware of devious few manipulating to gain through herd savior status for power as also cleverly usurping humanitarian concerns like liberal values. There is also huge money and influence working to convert humans into herds for the ease of manipulation. 

Something, not entirely dissimilar, presents threat to humanity and all the progressive values accrued through centuries of immense effort and sacrifices by amazing people across the world. The issue is of ascriptive status and institutions that nurtures these. In many ways religion too claim humans through birth and seek to control them. Progressive benign societies, and families, must necessarily protect children from these sinister holds and bring them up as free-thinking human beings. Fate of humanity is hinged on it. Ascriptive status are nurtured through birth-based rights, through monarchy, feudal values, ideas of exceptionalism etc. These create unjust and unfair systems. It asks for exceptionalism for uncouth representations and provides space for ugly supremacism. It undermines democratic institutions and egalitarian values. Why are sane people silent on these matters while democratic values are being degraded and are not allowed to be institutionalized into the minds and attitudes of people? Democracy strengthens with grassroot involvement, it’s a bottom-up growth that assimilates in close contact with its surrounding. It cannot be imposed. It must start from families, and most importantly it must become an attitude and way of living. Education plays an important role. Ascriptive status and institutions that nurtures these works against democratic thinking and values. It prevents egalitarian ways and ideas to seep into society and acts to ensnare human being into primitive contexts and traps them in demeaning degrading traditions of absurdities. Such acts also necessarily carry deviance and primitive ways like racism, patriarchy, colonialism, feudal values, spurious entitlements so on, of the past. It also makes progressive efforts in poorer exploited discriminated societies difficult.                

Institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust, wrote John Rawl (who also happens to be one of my favorite philosopher. I have written about him five years back https://depalan.blogspot.com/2017/12/why-justice-as-consensual-social.html). Instead of writing it again I will just copy from my earlier blog:                                                                                          Unfairness perpetuated by systems is not taken seriously because of the vested interest who stand to gain from unjust. As Rawls points out “Rags to rich stories are rare and exaggerated” and “these stories were a deceit perpetuated by powerful forces from the necessary task of reforming society, and to take urgent steps to make it equitable”. But as the last few decades have shown inequity has accentuated drastically, and in countries like India these are severe, and with traditional deviant frameworks it is nothing but inhuman. Exploitation of people and nature goes on with same alacrity all across the world.  To understand the situation better Rawl comes out with a thought experiment. Imagine if you were not you. Rawl asks us to be in a ‘conscious intelligent’ state before birth but without any knowledge into the circumstance we are going to be born into. Our future is shrouded in ‘veil of ignorance’. We are hovering high above the planet earth (needs to add he was fascinated by Apollo mission). We do not know what kind of society we will be born into, to what sort of parents? What kind neighbourhood? What kind of schools, police, judiciary..? How is the world going to treat us? So on. And here he asks a significant question that forms the crux of his argument. If we knew nothing about where we would end up what sort of a society would it feel safe to enter? ‘Veil of ignorance’ will focus us to think about the appalling level of risks in entering a society. If the society is poverty ridden, unjust, corrupt, nepotistic, apathy driven will any sane birth lottery player really want to take the gamble of ending up in such a society? Ofcourse not. So, what will they do? They will fervently insist that the rule of the game be changed otherwise it’s too risky! And you very well know what need to be fixed, and urgently so. You will want an equitable society with good schools, excellent hospitals, fair justice system, decent housing so on to everyone, a society that gives you safety and assuredness to explore your potential as a human to the fullest without any fear. Our focus therefore would be what needed to be done to be adequately positioned in worst case scenario. Rawl concludes that we know we finally made our societies fair if we don’t mind being born under any circumstance in any place. The fact that we cannot take such a challenge is a measure of how deeply unfair society is. A society, ultimately, will have to be hinged on liberty and equality. Basic liberties and rights for all. Distributive justice on resources and privileges.   

An international effort is needed to remove these institutions of discriminations controlled by powerful entities and vested interests. UN must seek to Eliminate all forms of Ascriptive Status and Institutions that nurtures these. It’s an urgent call to abolish monarchy, and set standards for democratic institutions to thrive. Birth based claims, and institutions that thrive on these, have no place in civilized society, it shouldn’t be existing in 21^st century.    

The Blue Sky

 

When you look up the blue sky 

Do you see blue or the sky?

Do you see colors or the flower?

Do you see the thoughts or the human?

Or is it just the blue and the sky

Colors and the flower, thoughts and the human?

There are fractals that reach

Breaths that connect

Senses that jiggle

And embrace all that

Lady Hussey Tho Phassey!

 

Not really this is not the title of some third rate bollywood movie (or dubbed tollywood, or pollywood or whatever despicable wood) that is meant to titillate the herd to part with some money while the mediocres scramble in to pose as artists, the gateway to play for the market, it is a stampede into whatever goes in whatever matters except that they are only limited by their own limitations which ofcourse they are not aware of – a severe case of Dunning Kruger effect that is so spectacularly embodied by likes of Rajamoulis emerging from putrefying pit as a redemption for mediocre society and its delusionary claims of highest possible acclaim!  They could therefore be now actors, directors, singers, dancers, influencers, repository of culture, psychologists for all occasions, experts on all matters that herd joyously seek and what not. They exude positivest purest whitest energy while carrying crass as a precious legacy into wherever blessed fate take them in the perilous journey of entitlements. In these churning grandiosities, with them at the very center, they survey the world and also wonder on nature of universe while an inexplicable itch works into pus filled laceration that can only be remedied as moral overseers to the world. The -mahatma- to humanity. Incidentally this is how caste cannibals refer to gandhi in western media these days, creating an aura of purity through - -. They also migrate to West to appropriate and to play victim, as also to represent us with desultory ease among patronizing whites, monarchists and angst gatherers.   

So, when the godmother (seriously, wtf is that?) of british monarchy turns out to be racist to the core there is masturbatory consternation among the audience -the ever charming witnesses to medieval theatre of absurdities. White men and women hanging onto grandiosities of entitlements as kings and princes while being indulged by decent intelligent adult human beings as if they are in some elaborate trance as they perform their part. Come on Mr. Charles stop this nonsense. Abdicate and abolish monarchy and ask them to elect a titular leader as they do it in India, ofcourse with less feudal pomp. Probably because you are surrounded with sycophants and knuckleheads that you don’t realize how embarrassing this whole charade is. Continuation of monarchy is detrimental to progressive egalitarian effort all across the world, it’s a glaring anachronism that acts to undermine democratic institutions. It’s a compromise that degrades as also allows leeway for other degrading systems to enter without scrutiny.

So, when an African origin (or black person) anywhere in West is asked pointedly about “where you come from” it’s an attempt at purposefully ignoring the horrible history of slavery and inhuman exploitations that brought them to West. It’s an attempt to establish proprietorial right as also to put ‘them’ in their place by reminding of their lowly status despite they having encroached into proposedly civilized space, now all these words are as understood from the point of racist West and perpetuated through narrative control. What is also implied in this racist scrutiny is the psychopathic sly. From your skin color we know where you came from. We know that despite your attempt to be like us you were (indeed, are) brainless slaves who were tied and bundled to West for our service. Don’t you ever forget that. You can claim to be british citizen but you will still be from somewhere in jungles of Africa. This is exactly what it is to be effortlessly racist, and it comes quite easy for someone nurtured in theatrics of monarchy. It will be shocking if it doesn’t.

This also brings into question the clever appropriation of black narration by Asians, specifically south Asians in West. These gross attempts to obfuscate black experience -intrinsically connected to the horrendous history that is not even a century old, must be stringently dealt. Most Asians are racist, it is part of most cultures, so primitive they don’t even realize. Even when they realize they don’t acknowledge. In case of caste cannibals, they deal it with inbred dexterity of myths and meaningless collections of words devoid of its original meaning and contexts that some in west are susceptible to and find compelling. Caste cannibals carry it in their name hence the question ‘where you from’ becomes meaningless, as everything is settled in order in the satisfying waft of putrefying pit (and yes if the stench is not as expected then sniffing mami will be activated into the scene!). In desperation to establish pecking order that satisfy primal urge of primitives they ask “where are you from” in uncouth big cities to classify your economic class so as to immediately estimate the worth (so if you are located in congested shitholes you will be dropped halfway through the conversation, as it is name depalan burned a deep hole in their pus filled soul).  Therefore these attempts to bracket black with ‘color’ people must be closely scrutinized. To put it in perspective most south Asian in West (particularly in UK) are byproduct of feudal values, caste cannibalism and yes corruption, greed and nepotism. They weren’t exploited at all, indeed during colonialism most of them were conduit to exploitation even those posturing as freedom fighters. They identified much with racist exploiters and strived to match with them, and were appalled to be equated with Africans. Hierarchical minded primitives sought pecking order from racist colonial masters, indeed that truly was their struggle. If you look at grainy videos of colonial atrocities against Indians it was mostly done by Indians. Britishers wouldn’t have controlled such vast land with large population without active support of Indians. The embryonic ties of racist colonizers with caste cannibals, and how it degraded society, as also how feudal values perpetuated by monarchy indelibly infected the foundation of fledgling democracy and sidelined egalitarian native values across the world is understandably not studied much. History is only used to control narration.

Importantly, monarchy degraded democracy, Christianity infected secularism, and feudal entrenched parliament, of Britain doesn’t really inspire much confidence on its deals with egalitarian intends and progressive paths to challenges of future. It is in this same context that juvenile debating club patronized ideas of religions as race finds traction hence must be resisted. Religion is not race, and can never be. Race cannot be ridiculed. Religion can be, and must be, ridiculed. Black African is a negroid race that faced centuries of brutal atrocities and discrimination that is difficult to even imagine, and cannot be compared or even attempted to be equated with anything else. Western monarchy actively captured Africa and committed heinous crimes (indeed the phrase 'crimes against humanity' originates from Belgium king Leopold II massacre of millions of people in Congo). This is recent history. Therefore these attempts at presenting monarchy as benign benevolent presence is a cruel joke on humanity.