the brook

A great book. The author clearly feels that the Indian national character has some fundamental problems - we are free-riders, seek to serve self over society, are way too intelligent for our own good. These traits lead to the phenomena which plague Indian society - things like corruption and it’s general acceptance, unhealthy levels of public hygiene and pollution, the pathetic state of core systems like education, and the tendency to pursue loopholes relentlessly even when they do no good in the long run. These points, while perhaps not representing the complete picture (India has improved a lot, in my opinion) are still very hard to argue against.

He explains this in terms of a game-theory concept called Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD), which is basically a story about how two people have a choice to either co-operate with each other or betray - and it turns out that the overall best case scenario happens to be when both cooperate, although it could be argued that it would seem more self-serving for each to betray. Of course, the link is that Indians tend to betray (society) to achieve personal gains - like throw garbage on the road for personal convenience, or cut queues where ever possible - but which lead to a non-optimal society and thus reduced benefit for all.

The example is used convincingly to address a lot of issues; however the author stops at making any scientific claims (he says in the prologue itself that his ideas are not exactly backed by scientific data but could be valid hypotheses for constructing tests). However, he does talk about studies done to solve PD, and explains that entirely self-serving strategies tend not to do too well.

A classic example that I can think of (though not mentioned in the book) is the use of “water pressure amplifiers” in some communities. As all Indians know, water can be a big problem in India and it’s common for the water pressure to be low during summer. So someone installs this device which, when inserted into the plumbing, amplifies the pressure into your house - at the expense, of course, of slightly decreased pressure to everyone else. Short-term gain for sure - but soon enough everyone’s heard about the device and every household has it’s own. The end result? Back to square one, since there is only so much water pressure available, and everyone is now drawing it equally. Oh, except that everyone has spent a certain amount of money buying the device, and everyone is continuously paying electricity bills for it. And of course, nobody will dare stop using it because if you’re the only one without an amplifier, you can forget about getting any water at all in your house!

In the last chapter, he explains how this modern version of game theory ties in perfectly with ideas conveyed in the Bhagvad Gita. The Gita encourages one to just abide by “dharma” (or right action) - and promises that this will achieve the “highest good” - which is presumably the highest good in terms of society and even the person in the long term. Given a problem like PD, it turns out the most optimal actions are in fact those that are taken in good faith, and not ones immediately self-serving even though plausible arguments can be constructed that one stands to gain more in the short-term by taking the “selfish” action.

A very readable, short book, not only with interesting discussion on game theory but also on the state of India - the work is full of examples of just how much Indians can be self-seeking while ignoring the greater good. At once poignant, humourous and fascinating.

Rating: 4 / 5

The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed and the first of which is coming. Thus it is with time present. Life, if well spent, is long.

– Leonardo da Vinci

Science books are a lot of fun, and this one was no exception though it’s a bit different. It’s themes are Leonardo’s life and the confluence between the fields of arts and science.

It talks about how artistic intuition happens to agree very well with certain numbers (particularly the golden ratio), across generations from the egyptian pyramids to paintings to the Petronas towers. There’s also a discussion of how revolutions in artistic and scientific thinking sometimes take place in tandem.

Throughout the book though, Leonardo’s approach to science, art and learning remains an inspiring background. The reader is treated to an amazing being who excels at whatever he lays his hands to, yet his curiosity and desire for improvement and knowledge lead him to ever greater things. A consumate artist who made only about a dozen paintings, all masterpieces, each way better than the last. An amazing scientist who thought up concepts and experiments that wouldn’t be rediscovered until centuries later, but didn’t bother to publish his findings.

There’s also a bit of standard science history over the last millennium which most avid science readers will be familiar with but it never gets boring. The author writes in a conversational style that is very appealing. I’ve read quite a few science books but the art angle in the book was very refreshing.

I picked up the book totally at random from the library - turned out to be a totally great read. It may be slightly heavy on the mind though, in case you don’t like art or science much!

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Mike Elgan has written a wonderful piece in MacWorld analyzing the appearance of Safari for Windows. From the article:

The insular Apple universe is a relatively gentle place, an Athenian utopia where Apple’s occasional missteps are forgiven, all partake of the many blessings of citizenship, and everyone feels like they’re part of an Apple-created golden age of lofty ideas and superior design.

But the Windows world isn’t like that. It’s a cold, unforgiving place where nothing is sacred, users turn like rabid wolves on any company that makes even the smallest error, and no prisoners are taken. Especially the Windows browser market.

This is no Athens. This is Sparta.

The Economist explains that companies in America are being forced to go green because of the inevitability of carbon-trading systems: if they want to have a say in the carbon market, they need to be lobbying for emission controls. A quote that cracked me up:

As Mr Rogers explains: “There’s a saying in Washington: if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”

And here’s another priceless jab from another article in the same survey:

There are lots of energy-efficiency regulations in place already, and they are being tightened. Incandescent light bulbs are the top target at the moment. Both the European Union and Australia said earlier this year that they are planning to ban them. But the man in the vanguard of this green revolution is Fidel Castro, who started phasing them out two years ago.

…does it take to change a lightbulb?

The answer is… I don’t know, all I changed this morning was a tubelight.

For the first time since removing “Computer” from their name, Apple Inc. has shown us they mean business, finally releasing MacBook Pros that make my mouth water. How sad is it that I can’t even think of affording one!

Santa-Rosa support has been offered by almost all other manufacturers for a while now, so it was about time that Apple announced it too. But increasing the baseline memory across all models to 2 GB is real sweet.

Even though there’s still no sign of a “real” portable Mac, the 15″ MacBook Pro now is thinner than the Macbook (only an inch thick) and at 2.45 kgs, only 0.14 kgs heavier than the Macbook. Does anyone still want just a Macbook? And it’s only a quarter of a kilo heavier than the 12-inch Powerbook G4 that I’m typing this on!

The upgrade to Nvidia 8600M cards will mean the MBP is now virtually as good a gaming machine as any gaming desktop. Especially since you can actually use Bootcamp to run Windows on this thing. And it probably becomes easier to dualboot it with Linux. Apple is one of the first to introduce LED-backlit screens, I’ll wait for the reviews to evaluate that. There’s a insane 1920×1200 optional screen for the 17″ model which should be good for people who edit photos and have expensive houses to mortgage.

This weekend, by which time the new models should be in Singapore, I will do what I usually do - head down to the Apple store and ogle at them. Now I know why wise people say you shouldn’t desire things too much. It’d sure make life a lot easier right now.

About the only thing I can complain about - besides not having a 13″ MBP model (which would probably compel me to go rob a bank somewhere) - is the lack of an option to upgrade the 15″ screen from 1440×900 to 1680×1050.

Go ogle!

A major distinguishing feature of Buddhism compared to other religions is that the story of the worshiped one is that of a normal human. One not gifted in any particular way or blessed by any God - just of one who tried his hardest to attain the truth. Buddha is the retelling of this story.

And while the main themes of the story are extremely well-known, I haven’t come across as intimate or as beautiful an account of the Buddha’s life as this one. While I’m sure some of the events portrayed were invented by the author, the main story sticks very closely to the actual story as told by the Buddhists.

Deepak Chopra does an admirable job of keeping the story clear and simple. While I find his non-fiction books very well-written, the only other piece of fiction I’ve read by him (The Return of Merlin) was a bit too complex for my liking. For the most part, the book focuses on the struggles that the Buddha goes through while trying to attain enlightenment. Often the observations and anecdotes that are told are profound to the degree that they are nearly Zen Koans.

In short, it’s a wonderful book for anyone interested in spirituality or Buddhism, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Rating: 4 / 5

PS: I realize I’ve not been posting much lately. The blog’s way of saying that you aren’t blogging enough is requiring you to retype your password! Hopefully, I won’t away for too long again.