koolhead17
For the past few days, I am back to the Ruskin Bond books. I think I am trying to escape from reality or day-to-day happenings on social media, news. I liked the below quotes from the author about our shadows. I felt like sharing.
We three,
We’re not a crowd;
My echo,
My shadow,
And me.
We take our shadows for granted, don’t we? There they are, the uncomplaining companions of a lifetime, mute and helpless witnesses to our every act of commission and omission.
I was reading up some papers [1, 2] and this about earlier Pandemics. It was more about trying to understand if the current pandemic had some similarities with the past ones, especially the Spanish flu of 1918.
How it affected our life? I have not been a student of economics, zoonosis, or medicare. It was more of my itch. A few things which Spanish Flu had:
Many mortalities happened because of limited medicare availability in limited hospital care.
One of the newspaper reporting implications on the economy.
If you can recommend me some book, paper on the subject, it will help.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
― Leonardo da Vinci
Simplify life, product, and relationships. Easier said than done. Most of us live in a zigsaw, complex social dynamics. The same goes for developing a new product. We hope appreciation and accomplishments will come from doing things differently. We end up building a puzzle and, the press glorifies it as a masterpiece. When the real user gets to use it, it confuses them more. As a result, users avoid using the product or start looking for an alternative.
Simple things scale, AB; kept reminding us in the early days of product development at Minio.
Our urge to do things differently has ended up building a Frankenstein.
How do you save yourself from a Bully? He or She could be your friend, manager, or partner. Time and again, in my short life, I have come across such a persona. Someone too dominating, I am always right or, It is your mistake kind people.
Are bullies broken from within, too insecure about their public persona? Did they had a troubling upbringing? Is acting bully: a sense of pride or ego boost for some?
I picked up the psychology of money by Morgan housel; last week. The summary of the book happens to be two things:
I could relate to the book because most parts made me realize I am reading recycled philosophy books of Seneca and Epictetus.
The author cites many books and many short stories iterating his observation. I particularly liked the example of the guy who lived a frugal life but donated 6-8 million USD to the hospital and library. He died wealthy not rich. He believed in compounding his wealth.
I would especially recommend this book to people in their early 20’s just starting their career. They are the ones most easily fooled by the glamorous, Instagram life and consumerism.
Why do we have to live like a TODO machine? I hear from friends how they are missing their timelines related to work or personal leisure.
Taking control of our life means prioritizing life. It means being aware of our actions and what we need from them.
We have to de-crowd our minds and accept the reality of our limitations. The era of multi-tasking and decision paralysis is making us more confused and, we are acting like a TODO machine.
In the dictionary of professional coaches, we can do anything, conquer anything. In short, we are limitless.
Is it the same in our real life? Are we all limitless or, we have limitations? Are these limitations self-induced because of our bias and blindspot? Can these professional coaches help us in overcoming these?
We, humans, are like wild animals. Our brain got developed with centuries of conditioning. We are still irrational, full of our perceptions. Some of it is results in making us superhuman while others a pest.
I was watching Hannah Fry Aeon’s video title: Should computers run the world. After watching the video, I bought her book title: hello world. The book is a collection of real-world events driven by algorithms: medicine, crime, art, music, and legal: to mention a few.
The more I read: one part of my brain pointed towards the surveillance dystopia. The other part gave assurance about the better world.
Our human mind is irrational. Our decision-making takes account of our limited knowledge, emotion, and bias.
Algorithms depend on data. They can get biased, racist, and incorrect with the decision. If we leave ourselves at their mercy, we are doomed.
The middle ground is a mix of both: human consciousness + algorithms, the author suggests.
The more I watch the news, the more I feel sad about the overall state of our country. Death rate increasing, oxygen shortage reported daily, election rally continuing, and holy dip practiced.
We had so much time to prepare ourselves and, we took it lightly; we took nationalism and our nationalism over this catastrophe.
Are our illiteracy, ego, stupidity, confidence, and misgovernance all playing together? How many more deaths are we waiting for in the coming decade to prepare our country for the future?
We will continue bhagwaan bharose like our previous generation. Our leaders will blame each other and, we will go back vote for caste/religion/region.
We are all clueless; we are all trying to live with the fear of who will die next because of COVID19 and helplessness. Sadly, it is not a Hollywood movie with the story around zoonotic pathogens but the life of every other Indian currently.
Remote, isolation, loneliness is the new normal. It is also the time when we are closer to ourselves. It is the time to self introspect.
I had a call with a friend after two years. We have been closely working on an open-source project 6-7 years back. It was like yesterday, talking about everything from personal to professional life. We felt grateful to be alive and living life.
As we age, the only thing matters is a company of a few friends. I have decided to reconnect with many other friends with whom I have worked in the past. I think it is time to reconnect.