Divide

Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others were murdered. We got racial equality added in our constitution.

But what about society? Are we treated equally? Has our bias on looks, color, beard or tuban got any better?

We are living in a united country divided by caste, creed, religion and colour. A society where separate plates, teacups serves people from other caste, religion.

We call ourself independent while living in dogma and superstitions.

How easy it is to divide a country and win elections on basis of religion?

Are maulavis and pandits working as agents for the politicians? Or was it written in our holy books to kill people from other religion?

We shoot or lynch people on fake propaganda spread via social media. What has happened to our rationality? Where is our brain and our power of thinking.

A society which turns Inter-religious marriage into a crusade. The leftover division happens over news channels and internet discussions.

Our self consciousness and self knowledge is the only cure. Sending kids to madrasa or temple is not going to make our kids any better.

This divide is turning us into monsters.

Greed

We inherited greed from apes, our ancestors and it evolved.

We fought for food, women, land and supremacy. Later religion came: mercenary killed many.

These days it is about selling more arms, controlling oil fields.

The quest for profit by food giants has given rise to many disease.

The easy access to loan, credit card for all has added race to accumulating more.

Government tax has increased but what about our prosperity?

Healthcare, education system, public transport, infrastructure: has it gone any better?

Greed is part of everyday life and we are all affected by it. It is making us more angry, disease prone and unhappy.

Partner

Finding a partner is a difficult business: our prosperity depends on it.
 
Some factors for meaningful partnership:
 
  • Right set of expectation
  • Trust
  • Respect
  • Support in adversity
 
It is surprising that people find life partners or business associates via internet. How do they end up living together.
 

Running

Advancement in technology guaranteed us prosperity. And sold us hyper-productivity: our quest to become successful in every aspect of our life.

We are competing with everyone on everything.
We are in a slot machine for: growth, relationship, prosperity, happiness, appraisal, love.
We have turned into a robot.
We are copying others.
We are multitasking.
We are wearing a musk.
We have developed many personality of ours.
We are living like zombies: caffeinated, drugged.
We always feel that we are missing out on something.
We are restless, paranoid and sleep deprived.

Socrates said: A meaningful life consists of acquiring self-knowledge, virtue and principles.

Socrates is dead, so are his teachings.

Doer, dreamer, cribber and society

 

Society is a collection of an individuals with different mind set.

Doers are working on shaping our society for good.

Dreamers are forward thinkers.

Cribbers are unique. They have problem with everything:state, government, rules, systems, doers, dreamers.

A progressive society requires more doers and dreamers.

Union of doers and dreamers bring progress, innovation and development.

On marriage

My 33rd birthday made me feel like I was doing a mistake. Friends and family who called to wish me were more concerned about me getting married soon rather than my health or work.

Are our parents right, or is this society created FOMO? Why does everyone around me want me to get married?

Some of my friends in the west got married very late and some are in live-in relationships for decades.

If I go by Indian society paradigm, I am in the danger of dying without a life companion.

Epictetus said: Man should live in accordance to nature.

Benjamin Franklin said : Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

Someday I will reach closer to what Epictetus and Ben Franklin says and settle down. Until then I have to keep my nosy parents and relatives at bay.

A year older and wiser

I recently celebrated my 33rd birthday. I traveled to my hometown and spent the day with my parents.

I don’t have much to crib/complain about my life. I am living it moment by moment.

Epictetus says: Life is a journey and we are like travelers. Every moment has its own share.

At the same time, with all my experiences I can say: Life is as we see it.  

I have realized that as we grow old, we get better with detecting bullshit. We  start becoming more logical and rational. The emotional type:1 brain takes a back seat.

I have realized from various life experiences and through reading philosophy that:

The meaningful life = (virtues + logic + reasoning + principle + living in present + healthy eating + physical and mental well being) – (vices + bias + ego + expectations)

I will keep updating the above “meaningful life” algorithm over time.

Thaler, NFL and Decision making

Richard Thaler is a Nobel laureate and author of the best selling book: Misbehaving. He is a popular figure in the area of behavioral economics.

Last week when I was reading ‘Misbehaving’- the chapter on decision making caught my attention. It talks about how traditional ways of picking NFL players were resulting in losses. The chapter was from one of Thaler’s popular research papers [1]

He observed:

  • People are overconfident

The selectors were keen on going with gut feelings when deciding who to pick and how much to pay.

  • People make forecasts that are too extreme

Scouts were too quick in making forecasts. Their guesses were not accurate. Predicting a player to become a superstar was far fetched.

  • Winner’s curse

Teams were picking players for more than what they deserved.

  • Present bias

Teams were more interested in the now. They were picking players based on recent performance.

  • The false consensus effect

Teams which liked a particular player felt an urgency of buying them. They assumed that the other teams are also interested in buying them.

I would say this paper’s reach is beyond NFL and picking players. Anyone making investment or hiring decisions can make these mistakes too.

I am hoping  that we will rely more on data than gut feelings as we progress over the time.

References:

  1. Overconfidence vs. Market Efficiency in the National Football League

Decision Paralysis

I visited a grocery store last evening to pick some rice. The aisle had over 50 varieties  with different properties and health benefits. To my surprise their in-house label had replaced my regular brand. On top of that, it was offered at a 50% discount as an introductory offer. I came back and ordered my regular brand from an online store instead.

During a visit to a microbrewery, my friend spent 5 minutes to decide what to order from the menu card. He ended up taking the server’s advice instead. He said the items mentioned were too complicated to understand. We had a great evening: food, music, ambience and drink.

I realized I was repeating the same pattern while ordering my coffee. I have now begun asking for black coffee or cold brew without checking the menu.

I was curious on what was going on with the menu at these cafes and bars. My hotelier friend explained this secret. Most of the customers are busy chatting with friends or checking their phones. If the menu is cryptic, they will ask for the server’s advice. The server will in turn recommend the costliest item on the menu and the customers will end up ordering it.

In simple words, I was getting screwed. I was paying the price for not being aware and conscious. Blaming the difficult menu, urge of checking phones or chatting with friends is of no help.

Everyday we have to make a lot of decisions big and small – what TV series to watch? where to eat? what to order? what to cook? and whom to meet?

This constant activity of making these many decisions takes a toll on our brains. Scientists call it “Decision Paralysis”. Remember this the next time you are eating out or ordering online. Being aware will save you some money and sanity.

Barry Schwartz has written a research paper on decision paralysis.

Other people

India’s unorganized sector also happens to be one of its biggest job providers. Our maids, uber drivers, sales girls and servers at restaurants – all of them constitute it. They are hard working, voiceless, vulnerable and key stakeholders to our economy.

They are the invisible robots who drive us for early morning flights. They serve us our food and drinks with smile. But, we notice their existence only when they make mistakes. Forget tipping, we don’t even smile at them. The idiot phone keeps us glued and takes away all our attention.

We were not born equal. Some people were born rich and some were not so blessed. We should be grateful that we can afford an uber ride or enjoy weekend drinks.

We are better off economically than these hard working people, but does this give us extra power to treat them bad?

Please treat them as humans. Be empathetic with them. Exchanging our position with them won’t be easy for us.

Reference: The Exceptional Persistence of India’s Unorganized Sector