Friday, August 11, 2006
Great Minds ??
“Democracy is a commons, not a market”
-Garrett Hardin
(A commons is an unregulated public resource—say a public pasture on which anyone may graze his cattle. It is in the interest of each herdsman to graze as many of his own cattle as he can, since the resource is free, but too many cattle will result in overgrazing and the destruction of the pasture. So the pursuit of individual self-interest leads to a loss for everyone.)
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/07/09/070709crbo_books_menand?currentPage=all
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"A Government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul"
- G B Shaw
Notes : Espcially important in the context of the recent controvery on the reservation policy (India)
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"The path to hell is paved with good intentions"
-Karl Marx
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My favourite 'Calvin and Hobbes' quotes
There is an inverse relationship between how good something is for you and how much fun it is.
Life is much simpler if you keep everybody's expectations lower
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If you stay too far away from the fire, you will not get any wamth
If you get too close to the fire, you will be singed...
-Mr. Ramalingam in Seemabadha (Ray)
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We are not defined by how much ability we have but by the choices we make.
-Dumbledore in Harry Potter II
(in other words, ability is secondary to ambition)
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"I lead a small but valuable life" (You've Got Mail)
"Never underestimate the power of a well-written letter" (Jane Austen's book club)
"Do not confuse strength with stubborness" - Advice to Young Victoria
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Capitalism does not protect you like a mother protects it's child. There are no guarantees.
- Todd G. Buchholz
Those who can make you believe absurdities can also make you commit atrocities.
-Garrett Hardin
(A commons is an unregulated public resource—say a public pasture on which anyone may graze his cattle. It is in the interest of each herdsman to graze as many of his own cattle as he can, since the resource is free, but too many cattle will result in overgrazing and the destruction of the pasture. So the pursuit of individual self-interest leads to a loss for everyone.)
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/07/09/070709crbo_books_menand?currentPage=all
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A Government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul"
- G B Shaw
Notes : Espcially important in the context of the recent controvery on the reservation policy (India)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The path to hell is paved with good intentions"
-Karl Marx
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My favourite 'Calvin and Hobbes' quotes
There is an inverse relationship between how good something is for you and how much fun it is.
Life is much simpler if you keep everybody's expectations lower
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you stay too far away from the fire, you will not get any wamth
If you get too close to the fire, you will be singed...
-Mr. Ramalingam in Seemabadha (Ray)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We are not defined by how much ability we have but by the choices we make.
-Dumbledore in Harry Potter II
(in other words, ability is secondary to ambition)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I lead a small but valuable life" (You've Got Mail)
"Never underestimate the power of a well-written letter" (Jane Austen's book club)
"Do not confuse strength with stubborness" - Advice to Young Victoria
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capitalism does not protect you like a mother protects it's child. There are no guarantees.
- Todd G. Buchholz
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First do no harm. Then try to do good. (example of the monkey trying to save the fish from drowning)
- Gautam Buddha
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You are what you read.
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It used to be about what you did. Now it is about who you are...
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The five aspects of wisdom
1. Willingness to search opportunities to resolve conflict
2. Willingness to search for compromise
3. Recognition of the limits of personal knowledge
4. Awareness that more than one perspective on the problem can exist
5. Things can get worse before they get better.
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Experience is not what happens to you but what do you do with what happens to you.
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In life, pain is mandatory, suffering is optional
The robber of your free will does not exist.
You are different from the things that are happening around you.
At the end of the day "You are the captain of your own soul"
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A Great cook is a person :
Ne who respects mother nature
Tells him as a person
Tells him of the place he belong s to
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It used to be about what you did. Now it is about who you are...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The five aspects of wisdom
1. Willingness to search opportunities to resolve conflict
2. Willingness to search for compromise
3. Recognition of the limits of personal knowledge
4. Awareness that more than one perspective on the problem can exist
5. Things can get worse before they get better.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Experience is not what happens to you but what do you do with what happens to you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In life, pain is mandatory, suffering is optional
The robber of your free will does not exist.
You are different from the things that are happening around you.
At the end of the day "You are the captain of your own soul"
A Great cook is a person :
Ne who respects mother nature
Tells him as a person
Tells him of the place he belong s to
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Strategy can compensate for talent. But talent cant compensates for strategy.
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Perfection is a lot of different things done well.
We want autonomy for ourselves and safety for the ones we love.
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can also make you commit atrocities.
Acute stress better than chronic stress.
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The indication of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time. And retain the ability to function.
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We tend to compare our insides with other people's outsides.
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We do not know how will we react unless pressured.
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Between what is said and not meant and meant but not said there is a great loss of love.
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Eat less. Mostly plants. At the right time.
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For the number of final ends is not infinite. Aquinas usefully suggests that the ultimate objects of human longing can be sorted into only eight enduring categories. If we want to understand where we’re headed, we should ask ourselves these questions: Am I interested in this opportunity because it leads to wealth? Or am I aiming at praise and admiration? Do I want enduring glory? Or power — to “make an impact”? Is my goal to maximize my pleasures? Do I seek health? Do I seek some “good of the soul,” such as knowledge or virtue? Or is my ultimate longing to come face-to-face with the divine?
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You can know a single culture very very deeply. You can speak to that population in that idiom with brevity and impact.
Or you can be a citizen of the world. Knowing bits of a wide swathe of cultures.
I am of the second category.
For certainly I have calculations. For uncertainty I have prayer
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You develop good instincts by making a few mistakes.
If you are lucky to survive a few mistakes, and take lessons from them, maybe you develop good instincts
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psychologists and their message in one line:
1. Sigmund Freud - your unconscious is running the show, not you.
2. Carl Jung - the parts of you that you hide end up controlling you.
3. Abraham Maslow - you cannot find purpose before you find safety.
4. Viktor Frankl - suffering becomes bearable the moment it has meaning.
5. B.F. Skinner - your behavior is shaped by what follows it not what causes it.
6. Albert Bandura - you become what you consistently watch and repeat.
7. William James - your habits are literally rewiring your brain every single day.
8. Ivan Pavlov - your triggers were trained into you long before you noticed them.
9. Erik Erikson - every stage of your life has one question it needs you to answer.
10. Alfred Adler - most of what drives you is the need to feel that you matter.
11. Karen Horney - anxiety is not weakness, it is what unsafe childhoods produce.
12. Leon Festinger - when your beliefs and actions clash, your mind will lie to fix it.
13. Daniel Kahneman - you have two minds, the fast one makes most of your mistakes.
14. Martin Seligman - happiness is not the absence of pain, it is the presence of meaning.
15. Erich Fromm - the greatest human fear is not death, it is the freedom to choose your own life.
1. Sigmund Freud - your unconscious is running the show, not you.
2. Carl Jung - the parts of you that you hide end up controlling you.
3. Abraham Maslow - you cannot find purpose before you find safety.
4. Viktor Frankl - suffering becomes bearable the moment it has meaning.
5. B.F. Skinner - your behavior is shaped by what follows it not what causes it.
6. Albert Bandura - you become what you consistently watch and repeat.
7. William James - your habits are literally rewiring your brain every single day.
8. Ivan Pavlov - your triggers were trained into you long before you noticed them.
9. Erik Erikson - every stage of your life has one question it needs you to answer.
10. Alfred Adler - most of what drives you is the need to feel that you matter.
11. Karen Horney - anxiety is not weakness, it is what unsafe childhoods produce.
12. Leon Festinger - when your beliefs and actions clash, your mind will lie to fix it.
13. Daniel Kahneman - you have two minds, the fast one makes most of your mistakes.
14. Martin Seligman - happiness is not the absence of pain, it is the presence of meaning.
15. Erich Fromm - the greatest human fear is not death, it is the freedom to choose your own life.
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Critical thinking is not a free standing skill. It is unlocked by what you already know. Critical thinking is the application of meta-cognitive stategies on top of the domain knowledge. You cannot think critically about epidermiology, finance or AI policy without internalized facts and concepts in those areas.
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# posted by Abhijat @ 11:31 PM 
