Matter and Information

Embedded in this universe are laws which govern it. Newton and the classical physics based its presumptions of future on sets of information which existed in the past. The practical and experimental evidences proved this idea, were based on inaccurate and lack of deterministic measurement as support. Newton’s physics helped us send satellite around the earth, explain motion of solar systems, fall and rise of tides. In scientific community, judgment is based of experimental measures and axioms which exist. Information creates a belief, which is the truth and way of universe. With new set of measurement, new laws are written. So does the truth.

In cybernetics, information exchange is controlled by communication and control. If I have to control, I will have to create a logical protocol of codes which are in form of stimulus. This is called as message. A message is coded information, structured in set of rules such that any human or machine can decrypt it with shared set of knowledge. If I have to increase the efficiency of my information exchange, I will have generate a command and control the environment (medium of information). Every message has tendency to loose the information which it carries, in transit. This is the fundamental entropy, which is measure of randomness in system in form of noise. Information if opposite to entropy. It is a measure of organization which exist in the system.

Minimization Of Light – Light is a major source of information. Fermat concluded that for short distances, light travel through shortest path between 2 point.

Huygen’s Principle – It states that wave of light (waves?) is consist of secondary waves. **Not exact definition**

Leibnitz monad – System can be commanded to work in predetermined manner with other system.

If I replace the above word : light and system with information, I can conclude that Information tend to travel through shortest path between 2 point or information consist of secondary information.

I also wonder if time is also a set of information. Or it creates information?

Leibniz Computing Machine

 

Universe, God, Dance, Everything

The music is on, your feet tap in sync to the tune. You move, react, resonate with vibrations that plunge in your ear canal. What is this reaction? Is it act of balancing one action with another? Dance is an action, for spirituality it is creation, for the universe, it is the law of existence. Universe always dances, for sake of the equilibrium and to calibrate the entropy.

Universe at time of its birth was blog of gases. It was formless, fluid and homogeneous. Fundamental forces and energies shaped the universe into clumps of masses. Here we see the order from chaos as the child slowly matures, with new arrangements, perspectives and varieties. It was transition from nebulae to galaxies which signifies rules, order, arrangements and civilization. All this drama progresses with each step taken by the dancer, for dance is the celestial art of creation.

Shiva is the master of this art. He is a Hindu god of creation and destruction of universe. He is the cosmic dancer, and each of his steps will determine the fate of you and me and everything that exist. I ponder over this fact that why did Hindus related actions at cosmic scale to movements of dance. And why did they choose Shiva to act the bridge which knit the opening to conclusion, narrating a story, whose sentences act like a step of dance?

“I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.”  Friedrich Nietzsche

Some of the 108 Karanas of Nataraja at Kadavul Hindu Temple, on Kauai, Hawaii. (wikipedia.com)

Physicality of Nothing

A vessel cannot remain empty, women’s womb cannot remain empty, land which can flower cannot remain empty and time at hand cannot remain empty. We pray for ourselves. We wish for betterment. Wishes should be fulfilled or man will struggle to make it true. There are men who believe in worldly actions. They have sole purpose of filling up the vessel. The men beyond the boundaries of acceptable actions are ascetic, or sadhu (maybe from sadha meaning plain/ tasteless). He is a person who is in process of renunciation, trying to empty his physical being.

Western philosophers had always associated emptiness with negative depiction of god, mostly reinforced by christian theology of creating as means to fill the nothing with things and nowhere as a space.

As Heidegger said

The fact that what is threatening is nowhere characterizes what Angst is about. Angst ―does not know‖ what it is about which it is anxious. But ―nowhere does not mean nothing; rather, region in general lies therein, and disclosedness of the world in general for essentially spatial being-in. Therefore, what is threatening cannot approach from a definite direction within nearness, it is already ―there – and yet nowhere. It is so near that it is oppressive and stifles one‘s breath – and yet it is nowhere. In what Angst is about, the ―it is nothing and nowhere‖ becomes manifest (Heidegger 1963, 186; Stambaugh 1996, 174-5).  

I ask you something, can nothingness be a reality or is it just experience. If it is nothing, can it be felt.

Indian yogic philosophy orders the existence of universe into suksham (miniscule), stula (matter), shunya (nothing) and shiva (god). For yogi, it is the ladder to reach the god. For he had realised that universe is nothing larger as your fist. He will scrounge both inside and outside, to experience the nothingness. An means ‘not’and Anu means ‘atom’. And Rutherford found out centuries later, that most of the atom is in fact empty.

 

 

You the Star, Away from Heart

There are many theories about evolution and creating of universe. Universe is born, from hands of gods. It was lifted from depths of sea. It is will and it is the means. And many assume that universe is nothing but a cosmic dance.
None have called out how it will end. It is beyond the comprehension of intellect, or analogous to rationality and reality. And science is still in chase of this being of the future. Yes, universe will end. But this end will not be a glorious one. It will end like an ancient thing of sorrow. It will dissolve into its own existence, still act as an boundless space in boundless void. Every matter is moving away from each other. You and I and this earth are moving in this ever expanding universe.

What does this imply to? Does this mean there will a time when we will never see the stars? In short the answer is No!
Expansion of the universe was always part of this celestial dance. Universe was expanding faster than the speed of light since its creation (or is creation a proper word for it?). Hubble sphere is the threshold distance within which the galaxies does not recede faster than speed of light. If a galaxy is beyond this sphere, it will recede faster then light could travel. So a photon of light will not be able reach us if it is emitted beyond the Hubble sphere.

But there is a twist. Expansion of universe is not a literal expansion, but a relative expansion of scale of the universe. So with increasing distance, the radius of Hubble sphere is also increasing. This also means that the observable universe is larger than hubble sphere. So we can see the light from distant galaxies, in fact we have detected frequencies from our embryonic universe. This is known as particle horizon and universe turns dark for us beyond this. I always saw something mysterious about the universe end. And does that end actually exist. Universe is infinite. So I hope it never ends for us. As for the big crunch, just wait and watch.

A Universe of Balance….Everything will be fine

It doesn’t matter how much you want to blame your luck, universe has everything for you. Now I want you to think about  consequences, in form of punishment and rewards and share them on the comments. Did that reward or punishment actually helped you?

There are instances where they may had worked or might had not. Think about the last time when you were lauded, did it improved your performance next time. Or did you improve when you were mortified by your failure.

Punishment And Reward

An Israeli fighter pilot when praised for his combat maneuver failed in the test the next time. And when he was reprimanded for his failed attempt, his scores actually improved next time he performed his maneuvers. Punishment have a drastic psychological effect on us. We suffer and realized that we must never to repeat a mistake. At the same time, it may also tend to demoralize and we question our inner talents. In the same way, rewards motivates us in some cases and in some other, it instills a fear for meeting the expectations, which we may not. So I think it works based on type of person we are or the thing that we do.

Regression Toward Mean

Louis is a gambler. He had placed 5$ on a coin that it will land on head when flipped. But when flipped, it was a tail and he lost. He played again hoping that next time it will be a head based on a 50% probability. He lost again and played again for the third and the fourth time. He lost everytime he placed his bet on heads. He thought that mathematics have gone bonkers.

Here is a sample space for this event: E={T,T,T,T}

Now what is the probability that next event will be head. Is it less than 50%, more than 50% or exactly 50% as was earlier. I have taken more than 1 case so that we can analyse it in terms of ‘change’. Louis thinks that the probability is less than 50% because there are no heads in the sample space. To his surprise, the probability is still 50% or more than 50%. This is because the regression towards the mean will bring the shift in overall probability of sample space to stabilize at 50%. This means as more and more tails turn up in the sample space, the probability of next head will increase. It may be possible that next 4 events will be heads so that overall probability will be 50%. Now problem lies that total number of events are infinite. We can go on and on recording the frequency distribution of heads and tails and sample space will continue to grow! The solution of the problem lies in the problem itself. If the mean is 50%, then the practical outcome can vary but it will get closer and closer towards the mean. It means, the greater the number of events, more accurately can we predict the mean.

In a pack of card, if our first draw is a queen, then the next card drawn will more likely be a card less than a queen.

Rewards and punishments play a little role in performance in the long run. In some case incentives work and in some they do not. So performance is mostly skill based. Next time you have a bad day, cheer up, regression towards mean will turn everything right.

Deduction And Argument in Philosophy

What is philosophy? Is it fundamental? Is it true and universal? Or does it mean seeking the truth.

When philosophy is not true- There are times when the actions we perform or questions we answer are without any platform to be based on. I believe that these actions are response to intuition or instincts which we are programmed by default.

When philosophy is true- Actions which we perform are based on questioning. We step back, overview and meticulous on our deeds. These responses are not permanent in the sense that we may respond differently to the same situation due to change in our philosophy.

A Paradox Of The Past

I put forward an argument…. That we do not have a free will.

Justification: We all have a past, even if we do not have memories of it. The past actually controls the present and the future. World itself have a history (is history same as past?), which we are part of. We cannot dictate or change how past was, and in turn the present and the future. Therefore we cannot control the world of how it is in present or future.

Hume and the right way of thinking

David Hume believed that this notion of Right way of thinking does not exists. Exist in the sense that we are never completely aware of the total number of events that are taking place in a sequence. All we observe is the initial and the final terms of the process.

In a game of pool, we believe that a ball hits another ball, and the second ball moves and hits the third and so on. But in the end, what we witness are the balls at various places. So we are not observing the cause and rather observing balls at various instances. So the observation which I will call as “the cause” is something which our mind interprets as an add on. Secondly, we do not observe self. Though we observe the feelings or thoughts that crosses our mind.

This is what he said …..‘The observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy, and meets us at every turn, in spite of our endeavors to elude or avoid it.”

To be cont.

 

 

High Rise in Architecture….

Industrial revolution was the major turning point which created ripples in architecture. Industrial revolution saw massive structure which repeated the moments and streamlined the concept of self sustenance into a mass sustenance. The whole human society came to viewed as a large machine with individuals capable to perform single specialized function.

High rise structure came to prominence when second world war ended. The primary purpose was to accommodate the large migration of people which were required in the cities for development. It later became part of cities skyline gradually because of growing population demand.

In India, the concept of high rise structures were introduced much later and now these structures have evolved drastically, each trying to grow on and on in the never ending race of verticality. It consist of the certain set of codes which are implanted and replicated in order to created a structure of similarity. And problem with similarity is that it can never compete. True democracy does not lie in creating copies but coping the idea (?) and interpreting it in more human way, rather than the machine.

The money which is poured into one consolidated built form can be divided to create multiple built form and remaining true to the entities. Architecture often manifests itself in form of community based activity in olden times like creating a barn or digging a well. In India, villages have Panchayat. These were the decision making bodies were the members were decided unanimously by people of villages. Their judgement is recognized even today by Judicial Body of India. What is important is that the development model should be lead by the citizen. The job of an architect should be to address to the solution. Ultimately a building can be most expensive way to deal with the problem. For example, why do we need schools when one can attend classes through internet.

High rise which were once solution to the problems now lay the seed of problems of ever changing scale of urban cities. It core issue is in determining “how high is high”.

Less Is More……Miles Van Der Rohe

MIES VAN DER ROHE

Miles Van Der Rohe adopted a univalent form of system to depict his architecture. His statement “LESS IS MORE” portrayed his philosophy and the language of Modernism. Buildings for Miles is “almost nothing”. They were mere boxes which were made out of single or very few materials and a consistent right angled geometry. This buildings were reduced to their simplest form and wore a veil of grand simplicity.

This reduced form was considered to be rational and universal. He created huge sky high structures of steel and glass which later on became one of the most common notion of an ‘Office Building’. Miles became so obsessed with material and the consistent geometry that the core issue became irreverent. The issue was – Is steel beams and glass panels appropriate for housing? Miles disregarded this fact or kept it secondary to visual consistency.

House with use of steel and glass

This metaphor is depiction of his thought of minimalist form of architecture devoid of complexities, paradoxes and imbibed simplicity. He gained enormous recognition as his ideas became pervasive. The architecture was “LESS” in terms of ornamentation and influences of craft so that material remains true to itself. The functional aspect of the building was given more preference than form which gave his architecture “MORE MEANING”

 

Realities Of Indo Islamic Architecture

Islam has its roots in central Asia from where it spread all over the world. Islamic emperor from Persian and other parts of the world invaded the rich land of India initially and later made this country their home. They ruled here for some centuries and were defeated at the hands of British empire later.

I was with my friend Nishant Saxena at Qutab Minar complex on 22nd June, 2013. Our sole purpose was to study Indo-Islamic structure which were a resultant of amalgamation of Hindu architecture represented in Islamic style. And Qutab Minar is finest example of architectural wonder created by slave dynasty in Delhi.

Apart from the tower, there were many other tombs and monuments inside the complex. Mehrauli Archeological Site is also nearby. One can always visit these structure from sunrise to sunset.

Our sole purpose was to explore what was discovered. But what we discovered, unfortunately could not be explored. It was destroyed to grounds, pulverized, fragmented or left to ruins.

Qutab Minar at the backdrop

Qutab complex stands on what could be a Hindu Temple Complex. This is evident from the fact that we can still witness the remains of the intricate carvings of floral patterns and sculptures on walls and columns. Here take a look.

Door keepers of temple carved on Lintel

This idol of Ganesh at Qutab Minar Complex

Ganesh Idol

This was quiet unexpected. I wonder why was the idol kept hidden from the public’s eye. It was wonderful of lord to grant me his ‘darshan‘ as I bow down in gratitude to take his photograph.

Most likely to be 10 avatar of vishnu

Lintel Carving

Yaksha at Column’s Capital

God Narayan with Brahma second from right, Indra fourth right, Skanda fifth right, Shiva sixth right

I think that this temple was dedicated to lord Vishnu. His temples were more ornamented than those of the hermit god Shiva.

Lintel Carvings

Half Man half Animal…. probably a Naga……

The Idol above depicts an individual with human head and torso and lower body of a serpent. This could be the asur Ketu, one who caused lunar eclipse.

Temple column

Underground Passage Near Khilji Tomb which is now closed.

I can visualize the era when this temple complex displayed the grandeur which speak in the name of the God. If it had survived to this date, it would be at par to those temples of southern India. The relics of the temple are enough to say that Indian architects already knew of what the world said that they don’t know.

We ended our time witnessing the sunset at victory tower which man has erected over the chest of God. I have been here many times before. But this was the first time I saw God residing at this place.

Not Great…. But First Time…….

Some of you guys might be a better painter than me…… And I seriously need guys like you…….. Help me in any way possible…. tips, corrections, appreciation, flaws…….. This is my first attempt…….Thank You guys…….