Greetings Readers,
I want to present to you further analysis to a previous piece of mine titled "Things We Control". To those who haven't read it I will give you'll a gist of it.
"Things We Control" was about how we overestimate your own attempts to control our lives. It further proposed that we are given direction to lives by random events like our birth, and are just pushed along by a mixture of time and place. A logical inference made from this was that your decisions are inconsequential. I think that I should further highlight this aspect of the topic as it is very debatable.
A very strong defense to this misunderstanding that our decisions don't mean anything in the "bigger picture". In fact, common consensus is that single events are often of no consequence to our lives. What difference does it make if you chose Science or Commerce after the 10th grade? (If you chose Commerce, High Five!) Does my involvement in the Fight Against Corruption really matter? (They didn't really accomplish much anyway, did they?) Does my vote in a local election matter? (Since all candidates are equally screwed in the head)
If you closely analyse your own lives a realization comes forth. One person's decision is very important but it holds more power when it is put into the context of the decisions of the people around him/her.
Lets begin with our career choices. Our decisions are based on our abilities and job requirements, etc. But we rarely take into account the number of existing and projected professionals in the same career. Simple logic. More competition there is in a field, the harder it is to make it in that field. The current fashionable choice is management. We have people flocking to do courses like BMS. But 5 years down the line there is going to be a number of Management graduates but a limited number of management jobs. Sure these graduates are smart enough to adapt but why do a course if you know that it will be difficult down the line? (This is not to say that Management is not a good choice, I have kept it as a choice too, but merely to highlight that the herd mentality is at play here and our own control has been lost)
Next I move on to social causes like the Lokpal movement. The initial responses to this movement was overwhelming. But when they decided to move the movement to Mumbai, it went limp. In August at the height of the movement the attendance at Mumbai gathering were really high but a mere 4 months later we have a loss of interest with attendances not even 10,000. What happened here? Did people lose interest? (Honestly, the stunt that Ramdev dude pulled at Ramlila maidan in Delhi really put me off the whole thing) Were people scared of the government? (In the sort of "Let's Make The Change" attitude in the air at the time I don't think this was an issue) I think people got too frustrated with the lack of actual difference the Movement made. We couldn't bear to see our attempts at controlling the government bringing little to no effect! This time, "Control" was a mass illusion.
Talking about our right (and duty) to vote, that is the closest to actual control we can have when it comes to our government! That's all I have to say on that for now.
To further emphasis, let me introduce you to the concept of "Alternate Histories". Imagine at every point in your life where there was a decision involving multiple viable options, the world split into as many universes where all possible possible options play out. Basically, there are parallel universes where your life is panned out totally different just because one choice you made was done differently. I think I've spoken enough for now and will further propound on this in a later piece.
For now I take your leave, dear readers and hope to have you'll grace this little blog again soon.
I want to present to you further analysis to a previous piece of mine titled "Things We Control". To those who haven't read it I will give you'll a gist of it.
"Things We Control" was about how we overestimate your own attempts to control our lives. It further proposed that we are given direction to lives by random events like our birth, and are just pushed along by a mixture of time and place. A logical inference made from this was that your decisions are inconsequential. I think that I should further highlight this aspect of the topic as it is very debatable.
A very strong defense to this misunderstanding that our decisions don't mean anything in the "bigger picture". In fact, common consensus is that single events are often of no consequence to our lives. What difference does it make if you chose Science or Commerce after the 10th grade? (If you chose Commerce, High Five!) Does my involvement in the Fight Against Corruption really matter? (They didn't really accomplish much anyway, did they?) Does my vote in a local election matter? (Since all candidates are equally screwed in the head)
If you closely analyse your own lives a realization comes forth. One person's decision is very important but it holds more power when it is put into the context of the decisions of the people around him/her.
Lets begin with our career choices. Our decisions are based on our abilities and job requirements, etc. But we rarely take into account the number of existing and projected professionals in the same career. Simple logic. More competition there is in a field, the harder it is to make it in that field. The current fashionable choice is management. We have people flocking to do courses like BMS. But 5 years down the line there is going to be a number of Management graduates but a limited number of management jobs. Sure these graduates are smart enough to adapt but why do a course if you know that it will be difficult down the line? (This is not to say that Management is not a good choice, I have kept it as a choice too, but merely to highlight that the herd mentality is at play here and our own control has been lost)
Next I move on to social causes like the Lokpal movement. The initial responses to this movement was overwhelming. But when they decided to move the movement to Mumbai, it went limp. In August at the height of the movement the attendance at Mumbai gathering were really high but a mere 4 months later we have a loss of interest with attendances not even 10,000. What happened here? Did people lose interest? (Honestly, the stunt that Ramdev dude pulled at Ramlila maidan in Delhi really put me off the whole thing) Were people scared of the government? (In the sort of "Let's Make The Change" attitude in the air at the time I don't think this was an issue) I think people got too frustrated with the lack of actual difference the Movement made. We couldn't bear to see our attempts at controlling the government bringing little to no effect! This time, "Control" was a mass illusion.
Talking about our right (and duty) to vote, that is the closest to actual control we can have when it comes to our government! That's all I have to say on that for now.
To further emphasis, let me introduce you to the concept of "Alternate Histories". Imagine at every point in your life where there was a decision involving multiple viable options, the world split into as many universes where all possible possible options play out. Basically, there are parallel universes where your life is panned out totally different just because one choice you made was done differently. I think I've spoken enough for now and will further propound on this in a later piece.
For now I take your leave, dear readers and hope to have you'll grace this little blog again soon.
Yours Truly,
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