The little book of Flow

I generally don't post an entry here about something I read somewhere else unless I have something to say about it. But this time I am writing this just so that you guys and read it too. I read this 'essay' "The little book of flow" by Nick Smith, based on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's celebrated work - " Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience"

It seems as though you have your entire life's purpose described here. Just have a look. And yes, I don't really have anything to say about it except that its just too awesome.

Of modelling Human beings and pseudo random number generators

While have a chat with my friend Abhishek over my previous post on irrational behavior of humans, I started thinking on how and if humans can be represented by random numbers (Afterall each one us is unique and essentially random).

I believe (as do a lot of evolutionary scientists) that our reaction to any stimulus depends on a lot of factors, like the genes we carry, the natural environment we have lived in, the kind of thoughts we have, our experiences, stimuli from the recent past etc. Evidently, there are far too many variables that can affect our decisions.

So is there a way to this apparent madness ? Can we call these effects totally random? Abhishek sure seems to think so. But I doubt it. If everyone had totally random characteristics, then we would have had a zero (neutral) average reaction to any stimulus. But, on the contrary, masses behave more in unison. So the seemingly random "personality trait numbers" have a non-zero mean. But this mean can only be seen in a "large enough" group.

So can traits of human beings be thought of as being generated by a pseudo-random number generator? After all, these can have a mean, are random for all practical purposes but everyone knows that these have been derived from some determinstic method. I really dont know. But the idea itself seemed too good not to be posted

Sanity & Insanity

For the past few days, I have been pondering over the question of Sanity and what it means to be sane or insane.
Havent really got an answer right now, but here are some of my status messages and responses to it.
Hope it makes an interesting read.

Ankit Ashok believes sanity is overrated
- Prithvi Raj likes this.

Ankit Ashok believes that calling someone sane is euphemism.
- Shweta Satish at 10:39pm April 19
y all this obsession wid sanity all of a sudden?
- Ankit Ashok at 10:48pm April 19
because I just realised that sanity is trifling and insanity is the only route to salvation
- Shweta Satish at 11:01pm April 19
y do u always talk like ur Socrates' Godson? =P
- Ankit Ashok at 11:05pm April 19
I am not, I was Socrates in one of my previous incarnations.
- Tanvi Sinha at 11:32pm April 19
looks like u having serious issues with sanity
- Ankit Ashok at 11:36pm April 19
Thats what sane people like you think, dear Lady.
Leave the constricted spaces of sanity, come plunge into insanity - and experience the tranquility.


Ankit Ashok is wondering who determines what's sane and what's not?
- Mohinish Sinha at 6:25am April 20
Sanity is the concept developed by the mediocre to protect themselves.. so u can guess for urself the answer to ur question !



- Shweta Satish
Shweta Satish at 7:36pm April 20
@ Ankit : Thanx dude :) That puts me in which category? sane or insane? =P
- Ankit Ashok at 8:03pm April 20
@Shweta : If you seek acceptance for your work, it sadly puts you in the sane category. But the creative types generally have the honor of being called insane.

So it really depends on how you look at this achievement.

- Shweta Satish at 8:07pm April 20
Wow Ankit!! I hereby name u my DEFINITION GUY!! u've got an uncanny way of givin the perfect definition for anythin under the sun!!
- Ankit Ashok at 8:24pm April 20
@ Shweta : To define is to constrict, this is like attaching fetters to the idea to insanity.
I only enunciate, I let people think for themselves. I never confine, I only give people a thought to ponder.
The god's goodness encompasses all that is under-the-sun and beyond , so does the tranquility of insanity.


Ankit Ashok is experiencing the calm that is insanity.

Ankit Ashok just realised that Creativity and Sanity are mutually exclusive.

Ankit Ashok just realised that people will call you insane if they dont have the brains to understand what you are doing.

Ankit Ashok is dangerously sane.

Irony - as (or do ) we understand it

I had heard this classical hindi song called "पानी में मीन प्यासी | मोहे सुन सुन आवत हांसी ||..." - when I was kid - when translated to English, it reads "I find it really funny that the fish feels thirsty despite being in water..." . It somehow surfaced from my subconscious to the 'everyday-mind' a few days back. And from there on, I could always recognise some irony that reminded me of the song.

The fact is that we are so obsessed with our own understanding of the world and its accompanying prejudices that we tend to ignore/discredit things that do not fit into our instinctive model. Like the other day, I was talking with my friends about the potential for extra-terrestrial life - and almost everyone seemed to believe that they will need an organic photosynthesis (or its sillicon analogous compound). But why cant it be that case that they derive their energy not from a external sun- but from its core itself. We tend to ignore this possibility simply because we assume that life will not be sustainable at those temperatures. When I first proposed this, the audience was startled and started rubbishing it even without thinking. Then when we discussed it with some cool head, it turns out that everyone was convinced that it could indeed be the case. This is a classic case of prejudices blocking our vision.

In a general case, just because others covet a particular thing, it does not mean that the person having it will find it of any or much use. A typical case would be that of abundance - if someone has more money than what he/she finds sufficient, any incremental money has very little potential for making the person happy. Same could be the case with the protagonist fish in the afore mentioned song. Its our own inability to judge the drive of others that induces laughter at the situation - so in a way we are mocking ourselves.

serenity

For the past few days, I have been on the lookout for a truly relaxing moment. True. I have not been doing any work(not that I ever did) , but the feeling of restlessness was persistence.

Then in a flash, i felt all noise died down, all lights turned white, all of the world seemed to make sense.

Though it was all lost the next moment, but the moment was amazing. In a spontaneous reaction. I uttered the word serene!

I dont know what possessed me that moment.

I have tried to recreate that moment, but failed.I tried to go to the same place, think about the same thing, but it dint help.

The failed endeavor got me thinking, why is that we feel differently in different situations? How is it that our feelings are dependent not only on our present but also our past.
Why is it so difficult to recreate our emotions at another time?

Afterall, we did experience it at the first place. I think what I am thinking of right now is the idea that emotions should be re-creatable. Which seems logical, but I havent been successful in doing so.

May be its the way we are wired. But doesnt the re-creatability of emotions important make sense in the light of evolution? A man who got scared for the first time on seeing a lion, should pass on the gene for the same to his future generations. and also should get scared the second time too. Also a couple who fell in love, should be able to feel the same love the second time they meet too, else the whole concept of couples and bonding doesnt make sense.

So why is it that humans in our age find it difficult to recreate the exhilarating emotions? Is it because we are too disconnected from our souls? We generally are too busy in the nity gritty of life that we fail to listen to our soul. We tend to ignore or postpone listening to our inner voices. Its only when we look around and feel the disconnect that we realize what we have been doing.

May be if I could connect to my soul in a more primitive way, then I can realise the state of serenity that I long for.

Random thoughts

First things first - Holi Hai !!! I wish all of you, a joyful and colorful Holi.

Quizzes are almost over , and I am back to one of those phases when my thoughts develop a philosophical overtones (and foodological too !!).

The below mentioned thoughts tried to occupy the same space-time coordinates as my brain .So these had to enter it.The list is in the order of me recollecting them.


Everyone lives for a fixed number of steps from start to end.
The step size is equal to the capability of the individual * his or her lifetime /No of steps.
I postulate that the no of steps would be fixed to 7 , for it the only number that all religions hold sacred.And since these claim to be a link to God, I think , 7 will be "THE CHOSEN ONE".
A person who works hard will go on increasing his capability.so when i mentioned capability in step size, i meant the instantaneous capability.


These cute things with yellow tops and long legs drive me crazy.
No You pervert, I wasnt referring to one of those hot females u hear all to often but get to see equally rare.
I was in fact thinking about capacitors . Those little things that come with long legs and a yellow top never function as we want them to , and then the circuit doesnt function properly , and then we break our head over it repeatedly.Though as a matter of fact , capacitors work better that some of the other components we use, like ICs .You will have absolutely no clue if an IC is working fine until you get the desired response. If it does behave properly, IC is fine.Else it could be a million of reasons u dint get the desired output, of which IC cupping is one.


After finishing a good meal , You know what is heaven.
Food is the basic reason for everything a human does.No one can work hard if one does not get proper food.In fact until you know what good food tastes like , you will not know what you are missing .Like after coming to IIT , I roamed around nearby and then decided that one doesnt get very good food in Chennai . So I was kind of ok eating at mess.But 3 years and numerous treats hence, I realize that one indeed gets good food at this place, One just need to know about the right restaurant .Since we are physically close to Besant Nagar area , I definitely know that you can get good food at fair price at at least two places there.One is Dawat - a small shop specializing in non -veg items. and other is Eden - a veg restaurant.Both being mind blowing !!! Any one in Chennai , who hasnt visited any of these places, you have missed something.