Monday, April 13, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Logical Convenience
During the course of discussion a friend, an intellectual, said "what I hate most is people stick to an example given in support of an argument.......
They don’t get the point but go on to split and destroy the example."
I wondered what he said was correct or not. The basic point of a debate or an argument is, if a party gives an example to support his statement one has to defy the example to establish the incorrectness.
Logic goes mathematically on this, the underlying mathematical principle is -
‘A thousand examples given to prove something holds good are not enough, but to disprove a single example is’.
Will come back to it some other time, I thought, as my pointing it wasn't going to bring his faith in what I say, so I joined the discussion again.
As he continued with is theory suggesting learning to 'generalize' the things as and get the gist and not to kill the example. This statement again made me think- Aristotle says that is a way towards the destruction of an argument. Extending the statement to its limit will always make it fall as it is the area where its applicability is of question and it is by the alteration of these limits that people debate.
Take the example A says : Australians are the best in drama.
The opponent, B, can argue by saying : In recent competitions Europeans have more accolades of classical singing, dancing and operas.
A’s statement has fallen due to 'generalization' from drama to all theater oriented arts. Sticking to the example is the best way to defend for A. Say by saying that he had commented about drama and not theater.
As the discussion continued and I sighted examples and he tried to destroy them to approve his statement. How convenient? And yes what about the suggestion to get the gist…. did I miss something. Only this time we had switched sides and he is on the side with mathematical advantage. I wonder how one who doesn’t approve of a method, still uses it when it is to his benefit. Either the principle of argument (The Logic) has never been observed or it is just the matter of convenience.
I bet its both, as for the convenient one doesn’t need a reason, it’s the inconvenient that needs a good reason - a Logic -to go with.
It’s the ‘Logical Convenience’ that we look for. Our life is full of choices.... decisions..... questions .... Do we always choose the Logical ? Similarly do we always choose the Convenient ?
Its the 'Logical Convenience' that one follows. It always has been.
They don’t get the point but go on to split and destroy the example."
I wondered what he said was correct or not. The basic point of a debate or an argument is, if a party gives an example to support his statement one has to defy the example to establish the incorrectness.
Logic goes mathematically on this, the underlying mathematical principle is -
‘A thousand examples given to prove something holds good are not enough, but to disprove a single example is’.
Will come back to it some other time, I thought, as my pointing it wasn't going to bring his faith in what I say, so I joined the discussion again.
As he continued with is theory suggesting learning to 'generalize' the things as and get the gist and not to kill the example. This statement again made me think- Aristotle says that is a way towards the destruction of an argument. Extending the statement to its limit will always make it fall as it is the area where its applicability is of question and it is by the alteration of these limits that people debate.
Take the example A says : Australians are the best in drama.
The opponent, B, can argue by saying : In recent competitions Europeans have more accolades of classical singing, dancing and operas.
A’s statement has fallen due to 'generalization' from drama to all theater oriented arts. Sticking to the example is the best way to defend for A. Say by saying that he had commented about drama and not theater.
As the discussion continued and I sighted examples and he tried to destroy them to approve his statement. How convenient? And yes what about the suggestion to get the gist…. did I miss something. Only this time we had switched sides and he is on the side with mathematical advantage. I wonder how one who doesn’t approve of a method, still uses it when it is to his benefit. Either the principle of argument (The Logic) has never been observed or it is just the matter of convenience.
I bet its both, as for the convenient one doesn’t need a reason, it’s the inconvenient that needs a good reason - a Logic -to go with.
It’s the ‘Logical Convenience’ that we look for. Our life is full of choices.... decisions..... questions .... Do we always choose the Logical ? Similarly do we always choose the Convenient ?
Its the 'Logical Convenience' that one follows. It always has been.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Spending Model
After a tiring day I am in the balcony, leaning against the wall, trying to relax and fell the breeze. I wonder whether these are the moments that recharge me and keep me going in this restless city. Was just about to wade in the deeper thoughts when a repeated thrashing sound caught my attention, as usual it is the train rushing past the apartment building. It is the neighboring station which makes the apartments costly and the same train balances the cost by its noise.
Any way it is a great service which keeps the city going. A great invention but takes a whole lot to build. Even burdens the governments which we often see rescuing institutes in trouble. How should the government spend its money? After all its not its own money it belongs to the people it comprises of, people it is answerable to, people who trust it. How should decision be made to spend even a single penny.
Should it spend a lot as it is its spending which mobilizes the markets, puts dispensable money in the pockets, or should it always operate at break even spending just the right amount so as to serve the very cause it was made for. Well savings can also come in handy to support the rest and keep the fund for the calamities.
Every spent penny can be seen as an investment the government makes in the society. The decision making, I feel, should have assumption of perpetual operation, as is done in case of organization of strategic importance. Say the military many portions are never audited but still the decision has to be made and it should be justifiable.
The perpetual decision making should assume the infinite life of the investor or at least greater than the effective life of the investment. Thus making every investment which pays back over its life time as a valid investment.
To put it mathematically....
If Return over the life time of the investment/ Investment >= 1 ;
investment should me approved, and vice versa.
It seemed like a prety good option for evaluation but then these organisations which use this method are not supposed to make any revenue or increment in value over time. But the nation as a whole is expected to progress with time and not be stagnant. To remove this fallacy a slight modification in the equation will be needed it.
If Return over the life time of investment/ Investment >= 1+ Inflation proof Govt. bond rate ;
then the investment should be approved and vice versa
All these investments will improve the social standards at the same time keeping pace with the targeted growth rates of the national economy.
Any way it is a great service which keeps the city going. A great invention but takes a whole lot to build. Even burdens the governments which we often see rescuing institutes in trouble. How should the government spend its money? After all its not its own money it belongs to the people it comprises of, people it is answerable to, people who trust it. How should decision be made to spend even a single penny.
Should it spend a lot as it is its spending which mobilizes the markets, puts dispensable money in the pockets, or should it always operate at break even spending just the right amount so as to serve the very cause it was made for. Well savings can also come in handy to support the rest and keep the fund for the calamities.
Every spent penny can be seen as an investment the government makes in the society. The decision making, I feel, should have assumption of perpetual operation, as is done in case of organization of strategic importance. Say the military many portions are never audited but still the decision has to be made and it should be justifiable.
The perpetual decision making should assume the infinite life of the investor or at least greater than the effective life of the investment. Thus making every investment which pays back over its life time as a valid investment.
To put it mathematically....
If Return over the life time of the investment/ Investment >= 1 ;
investment should me approved, and vice versa.
It seemed like a prety good option for evaluation but then these organisations which use this method are not supposed to make any revenue or increment in value over time. But the nation as a whole is expected to progress with time and not be stagnant. To remove this fallacy a slight modification in the equation will be needed it.
If Return over the life time of investment/ Investment >= 1+ Inflation proof Govt. bond rate ;
then the investment should be approved and vice versa
All these investments will improve the social standards at the same time keeping pace with the targeted growth rates of the national economy.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Including Imperfection
If I ask a question - Can any thing be perfect, or say Ideal ?
Most certainly the answer will be NO
But we as a society are obsessed with perfection
we define perfect situations, people, emotions and even a perfect society
Deep in our hearts we all know that what we define, or plan for a perfect is bound to fail when applied to real situations. Even then we try to modify the actual scenario to fit the desired perfect. In doing so we forget that the perfect never has, is or will exist. There is a need to allow the imperfection in all aspects if we want to document, to preserve, our time. As history is not something written by the memory of the new generation about the past but it is the picture painted by the people for their own time.
Look at ourselves, the history that we read did not come form our memory but from the documentation of the present by the people of the concerned generation. Where ever the documentation is not available the history remains hidden.. unknown or even not true .. as one has no way to identify whether the interpreted is the true form or has imperfections embeded in it either deliberately or by mistake.
We, our generation, at least will never want to be lost.... no generation ever will, for that matter. In order to achieve that we will have to make our documents realistic and not impose our ideals on them.
The field of science and research seems to have realized it sooner than the rest of us. They have also devised a method for the documents to be realistic and still not loose their ideology. This I think is very important as a third person will find it too tough, and will be lost in the details if complete realistic picture is presented to him at once.
The beauty of the method has been felt by each one of us. May be we donot realize it but bear with me as i unviel the devil of the detail slowly enough to see it comming.
As a chield one is told that the matter is composed of solids - liquids and gases
Step 2 : They are composed of smallest particle atom
Step 3 : Atoms are composed of smallest particles P N E
Step 4 : P N E are made of even smaller particle they are the smallest
Step 5 : The smaller is to be found by you .. we don't know for sure
Had it been told to the child on day 1 that what complexity he was getting into he would have lost interest. Moreover the interested one might have lost track. The lie about the smallest particle prevents him and lets him learn the secrets of matter learned by the mankind over a centuries. But the point is by the end when the child finishes his lessons he has learnt the imperfection of the subject under consideration. And that is what lets the knowledge live and to get enhanced.
A similar treatment should be given to our regular documentation. It can moderate the burden of history writing and improve our daily life. For each one of us has suffered due to the poor form of documents that we maintain. They are poor because of the missing details and the true reasons being dropped out in the first place to keep them ideal.
We as a society and the people in the government should understand this and let loose our love for the ideal forms and leave some space for the actual. This friendly devil of the detail should be wrapped in, thus preventing the much hassles of the modern times. It will also result in minimizing the man hours lost in re-doing the same work.. avoiding accidents.. and so on and so further.
Let us accept formally that the works we do as humans are most of the times behind the perfection as defined by us. At the same time we must develop respect for the real and the real natural perfect. This idea not only applies to the documents and history making but to us in general, it is about accepting imperfections in all humans .. the document was mere deception, as the lie about the smallest atom of the child's step 2.
Most certainly the answer will be NO
But we as a society are obsessed with perfection
we define perfect situations, people, emotions and even a perfect society
Deep in our hearts we all know that what we define, or plan for a perfect is bound to fail when applied to real situations. Even then we try to modify the actual scenario to fit the desired perfect. In doing so we forget that the perfect never has, is or will exist. There is a need to allow the imperfection in all aspects if we want to document, to preserve, our time. As history is not something written by the memory of the new generation about the past but it is the picture painted by the people for their own time.
Look at ourselves, the history that we read did not come form our memory but from the documentation of the present by the people of the concerned generation. Where ever the documentation is not available the history remains hidden.. unknown or even not true .. as one has no way to identify whether the interpreted is the true form or has imperfections embeded in it either deliberately or by mistake.
We, our generation, at least will never want to be lost.... no generation ever will, for that matter. In order to achieve that we will have to make our documents realistic and not impose our ideals on them.
The field of science and research seems to have realized it sooner than the rest of us. They have also devised a method for the documents to be realistic and still not loose their ideology. This I think is very important as a third person will find it too tough, and will be lost in the details if complete realistic picture is presented to him at once.
The beauty of the method has been felt by each one of us. May be we donot realize it but bear with me as i unviel the devil of the detail slowly enough to see it comming.
As a chield one is told that the matter is composed of solids - liquids and gases
Step 2 : They are composed of smallest particle atom
Step 3 : Atoms are composed of smallest particles P N E
Step 4 : P N E are made of even smaller particle they are the smallest
Step 5 : The smaller is to be found by you .. we don't know for sure
Had it been told to the child on day 1 that what complexity he was getting into he would have lost interest. Moreover the interested one might have lost track. The lie about the smallest particle prevents him and lets him learn the secrets of matter learned by the mankind over a centuries. But the point is by the end when the child finishes his lessons he has learnt the imperfection of the subject under consideration. And that is what lets the knowledge live and to get enhanced.
A similar treatment should be given to our regular documentation. It can moderate the burden of history writing and improve our daily life. For each one of us has suffered due to the poor form of documents that we maintain. They are poor because of the missing details and the true reasons being dropped out in the first place to keep them ideal.
We as a society and the people in the government should understand this and let loose our love for the ideal forms and leave some space for the actual. This friendly devil of the detail should be wrapped in, thus preventing the much hassles of the modern times. It will also result in minimizing the man hours lost in re-doing the same work.. avoiding accidents.. and so on and so further.
Let us accept formally that the works we do as humans are most of the times behind the perfection as defined by us. At the same time we must develop respect for the real and the real natural perfect. This idea not only applies to the documents and history making but to us in general, it is about accepting imperfections in all humans .. the document was mere deception, as the lie about the smallest atom of the child's step 2.
What's important
Its often worth wondering what stuff is really important
most of the time one starts working keeping in mind a certain goal. But by the time he is seriously involved in his means towards achievement of the goal and is very close to the achievement or has achieved his initial motto he probebly has lost track of it.
For if one had to wonder how the society came to its current form he would have to find need in an individual to associate with another.
The very basic of the need comes form the assumption that one man is not perfect for all kind of activities and thus they identify their best virtue and trade for the others. As we start form the very basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing which he, the subject- the individual, was looking for at the start of the collaboration once having achieved them tends not to stop but to improve and to add luxury and more and more professions build up in course of time. The present situation and still there is no stopping for there will always be the need for luxury. Moreover the luxury of one generation has become the basic of the other. For it is the human nature never to be satisfied, always enquiring, and the need to keep oneself occupied. If we look again at the start we are bound to enquire was it the imperfection or the enquiry that led us to bond... What's important of them?
Money which was created as means of transaction of the initial traded skills has now evolved into another need, an addiction, a thirst so compelling that even having it all will not end the desire to have more. Whats important?
most of the time one starts working keeping in mind a certain goal. But by the time he is seriously involved in his means towards achievement of the goal and is very close to the achievement or has achieved his initial motto he probebly has lost track of it.
For if one had to wonder how the society came to its current form he would have to find need in an individual to associate with another.
The very basic of the need comes form the assumption that one man is not perfect for all kind of activities and thus they identify their best virtue and trade for the others. As we start form the very basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing which he, the subject- the individual, was looking for at the start of the collaboration once having achieved them tends not to stop but to improve and to add luxury and more and more professions build up in course of time. The present situation and still there is no stopping for there will always be the need for luxury. Moreover the luxury of one generation has become the basic of the other. For it is the human nature never to be satisfied, always enquiring, and the need to keep oneself occupied. If we look again at the start we are bound to enquire was it the imperfection or the enquiry that led us to bond... What's important of them?
Money which was created as means of transaction of the initial traded skills has now evolved into another need, an addiction, a thirst so compelling that even having it all will not end the desire to have more. Whats important?
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Idle brain on telecom industry
The Indian telecom industry is the fastest growing and one of the most competitive sectors presently. Currently call rates in India are among one of the lowest in the world, but still this industry is sitting on a huge opportunity. The call rates can be pulled down further by allowing VOIP.
This radical change can change the face of telecom industry completely in India.... with call rates so cheap communication would be even more affordable and would give a boost to the industrial sector. Some of the analysts have claimed that with VOIP call rates can go as low as 10 paise/ minute.The ever funds thirsty Govt. can also capitalize on the not only by the licensing fee but it can also collect per call charges say 10 paise/minute giving a constantly increasing revenue source to the govt.
The consumers will still be happy as the call rates in the country are around Rs 1/min it will be a win win win situation for the telecom industry consumers and the Govt.
This fund so generated can be utilized in tuning up and building core telecom connectivity which would further lower the costs to the companies. A major part of this fund should be used to develop infrastructure like public transport and roads in the area form where the revenue is generated ...... making the country a better place and providing a much needed push to the slowing growth.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Idle brain on Construction industry
It is vacation again and i am idle at home just to kill some time i was thinking about the construction industry in India
In India construction industry is organized to a very low extent and that too in the few class I cities. The majority of construction now a days is taking place in the smaller cities and villages, if the industry has to grow really fast it will have to integrate the rural and class II , III and IV cities in its activities.
So the question is how to penetrate into these markets where the sector is dominated by the local contractors and builders who are trusted by the people but often cheat them inspite of this trust by costly and poor quality construction.
The first step in the move could be the ready-mix concrete, most individuals in the smaller cities know that they are being cheated by the contractors on quality grounds, thanks to the media which regularly reports construction scams in govt. contracts, but they have no choice as the larger companies are reluctant to enter the stream leaving hardly any choice for them. The ready-mix concrete can capitalize on this by an Advertising campaign questioning -- "Do u trust your local contractor's skills in mixing the cement ?? dose he make a proper mix?? Is he compromising on your safety??......... Ask him to use ready-mix concrete only, mix made by international standards .. ... no cracks.... no leakages.... a safe secure dream home"
Such a campaign might work extreamly well in the small cities where every one (the growing middle class) is trying to build his dream home. Providing the companies a gateway to the large rural and small cities market. Once the people trust the ready mix concrete they will be addicted to its quality , time saving and clean procedure and the cement industry can expand at a faster rate. The ready mix can also compete with the on site mix on pricing owing to its large scale and fast work.----- get your moulds ready and we will be there to finish the concreting in just a few hours... Such a design would be good for both the ready-mix industry as well as public as they will get better quality and prices. Moreover the bad quality woes in the smaller cities govt. contracts can be minimized leading to a healthier infrastructure and rapid growth.
In India construction industry is organized to a very low extent and that too in the few class I cities. The majority of construction now a days is taking place in the smaller cities and villages, if the industry has to grow really fast it will have to integrate the rural and class II , III and IV cities in its activities.
So the question is how to penetrate into these markets where the sector is dominated by the local contractors and builders who are trusted by the people but often cheat them inspite of this trust by costly and poor quality construction.
The first step in the move could be the ready-mix concrete, most individuals in the smaller cities know that they are being cheated by the contractors on quality grounds, thanks to the media which regularly reports construction scams in govt. contracts, but they have no choice as the larger companies are reluctant to enter the stream leaving hardly any choice for them. The ready-mix concrete can capitalize on this by an Advertising campaign questioning -- "Do u trust your local contractor's skills in mixing the cement ?? dose he make a proper mix?? Is he compromising on your safety??......... Ask him to use ready-mix concrete only, mix made by international standards .. ... no cracks.... no leakages.... a safe secure dream home"
Such a campaign might work extreamly well in the small cities where every one (the growing middle class) is trying to build his dream home. Providing the companies a gateway to the large rural and small cities market. Once the people trust the ready mix concrete they will be addicted to its quality , time saving and clean procedure and the cement industry can expand at a faster rate. The ready mix can also compete with the on site mix on pricing owing to its large scale and fast work.----- get your moulds ready and we will be there to finish the concreting in just a few hours... Such a design would be good for both the ready-mix industry as well as public as they will get better quality and prices. Moreover the bad quality woes in the smaller cities govt. contracts can be minimized leading to a healthier infrastructure and rapid growth.
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