BILL BRYSON
A Short History of Nearly Everything
ISBN 0-7679-0818-X
http://www.broadwaybooks.com/
1 To begin with, for you to be here now trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and intriguingly obliging manner to create you.
1.1 Why atoms take this trouble is a bit of puzzle……They are mindless particles, after all, and not even themselves alive.
2.1 Even along human life adds up to only about .65 million hours. And when that modest milestone flashes past, or at some other point thereabouts, for reasons unknown your atoms will shut you down, silently disassemble, and go off to be other things.
2.2 … Whatever else it may be, at the level of chemistry life is curiously mundane; Carbon, Hydrogen, oxygen, and Nitrogen, a little Calcium, a dash of Sulfur, a light dusting of other very ordinary elements-nothing you would not find in any ordinary drugstore – and that is all you need. The only thing special about the atoms that make you is that they make you. That is of course the miracle of life.
3. Of the billions and billions of species of living thing that have existed since the dawn of time, most- 99.99 percent-are no longer around. Life on Earth, you see, is not only brief but dismayingly tenuous.
…conceive how any human mind could work out what spaces thousands of miles below us, that no eye had ever seen and no X-ray could penetrate, could look like and be made of..
10.1 And so, from nothing, our universe begins.
10.2 In three minute,98% of all matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe. It is a place of most wondrous and gratifying possibility, and beautiful, too.
11 If you look deep enough into space you should find some cosmic background radiation left over from the Big Bang.
12 They were seeing the the first photons – the most ancient light in the universe – through time and distance had converted them to microwaves, just as Gamow had predicted.
12.2 Tune your TV to any channel it doesn’t receive, and about 1% of static you see is accounted for by this ancient remnant of the Big Bang..
13.1 It was, rather, a vast, sudden expansion on a whopping scale.
13.2 It seems impossible that you can get something from nothing, but the fact that once there was nothing and now there is a universe is evident proof that you can..
13.3 The big bang theory is not about the bang itself but about what happened after the bang.
17.1 You would come back to where you began……The reason for this is that the universe bends….Space curves, in a way that allows it to be boundless but finite.. Steven Weinberg notes, “solar system and galaxies are not expanding and space itself is not expanding.”
29 stars die all the time.
30. Supernovae occurs when a giant star, one much bigger than our own sun, collapses and then spectacularly explodes, releasing in an instant the energy of a hundred billion suns, burning for a time brighter than all the stars in its galaxy.
82 ..At every change in rock strata certain species of fossils disappeared while others carried on into subsequent levels. By noting which species appeared in which in which strata, you could work out the relative ages of rocks whenever they appeared.
121.. E=mc^2 …. Equation says is that mass and energy have an equivalence. And are two forms of the same thing: energy is liberated matter. matter is energy waiting to happen.
122… you will not contain within your modest frame no less than 7X10^18 joules of energy-enough to explode with the force of 30 large Hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point..
122.1In essence what relativity says is that space and time are not absolute, but relative to both the observer and and to the things being observed, and faster one moves the more pronounced these effects become.
134 .. So we are all reincarnation-though short-lived ones. When we die our atoms will disassemble and move of to find new uses elsewhere-as part of a leaf or other human being or drop of dew. Atoms, however, go on practically for ever.
297… cyan bacteria , or blue green algae , learned to tap into freely available resource – the hydrogen that exists in spectacular abundance in water. They absorbed water molecules, supped on the hydrogen and released the oxygen as waste, and in so doing invented photosynthesis.
300.. Mitochondria manipulate oxygen in a way that liberates enegy from foodstuffs.
301 The simple amoeba , just one cell big contains and without any ambition but to exist , contains 400 millions bits of genetic information in its DNA.
303 Every human body consists of 10 quadrillion cells, but about 100 quadrillion bacterial cells.
312 Altogether, only about one microbe in a thousand is a pathogen for humans.
316 Smaller and simpler than bacteria, viruses are not themselves alive….viruses prosper by hijacking the genetic material of a living cell and using it to produce more virus.
373 Your skin cells are all dead…… Most living cells seldom last for more than a month or so/ but there are some notable exceptions. Brain cells last as long as you do.
374.. … it has been suggested that there is not a single bit of us …. That was part of us 9 years ago. It may not feel like it, but at the cellular levelwe are all youngsters.
375…After he reported finding ‘animacules’ in a sample of pepper water………..What Leeuwenhoek had foun were protozoa. He calculated that there were 8.28 million these tiny being in a single drop of water…
376…life cannot arise spontaneously but must come from preexisting cells. The belief became known as the ‘cell theory’ and it is the basis of all modern biology.
379…..When cells are no longer needed, they die with what can only be called great dignity. They take down all the struts and buttresses that hold them together and quietly devour their component parts. The process is known as apoptosis or programmed cell death.
379.1 … The wonder of cells is not that things occasionally go wrong, but that they manage everything so smoothly…They do so by constantly sending and monitoring streams of messages…Most of these signals arrive by means of couriers called hormones….
397… If your 2 parents had not bonded just when they did-possibly to the second, possibly to the nanosecond- you would not be here. ….Go back just 8 generations………and already there are over 250 people on whose timely couplings your existence depends.
398 compare your genes with any other human being’s and on an average they will be about 99.9% the same. That is what makes us a species. The tiny differences in .1% are what endow us with our individuality.
399 Chromosomes constitute the complete set of instructions necessary to make and maintain you and are made of DNA.
402 …correlation between particular characteristics and individual chromosome, eventually proving ….that chromosome were at the heart of inheritance. …….. we are in much the same position today with mental processes such as thought and memory. We know that we have them, but we do not know what, if any, physical form they take. So it was for the longest time for genes. The idea that you could pluck one from body and take it away for study was as absurd to many….as the idea that scientists today might capture a stray thought and examine under a microscope.
409…Most of the time our DNA replicates with dutiful accuracy, but just occasionally – about 1 in million – a letter goes in to the wrong place…A balance between accuracy and errors is affine one . Too many errors and organism cannot function , but too few and it sacrifices adaptability. A similar balance must exist between stability in an organism and innovation.
415 Every living thing is an elaboration on a single original plan. .As humans we are mere increments-each of us a musty archive of adjustments, adaptations, modifications, and providential tinkering stretching back 3.8 billion years. Remarkably, we are even closely related to fruit and vegetables. About half the chemical functions that take place in banana are fundamentally the same as the chemical functions that take place in you…… It cannot be said too often: all life is one.
470 … the divine and felonious nature of the human being – a species of organism that is capable of unpicking the deepest secrets of the heavens while at the same time pounding into extinction , for no purpose at al, a creature that never did us any harm and was not even remotely capable of understanding what we were doing to it as we did.
471. … Nobody knows quite how destructive human beings are, but it is a fact that over the last 50 thousand years or so wherever we have gone animals have tended to vanish, in often astonishingly large numbers.
473 .. A great deal of extinction, has not been cruel or wanton ,but just kind of majestically foolish.
477 It is unnerving thought that we may be the living universe’s supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously….Because we are so remarkably careless about looking after things, both when alive and when not, we have no idea about how many things have died off permanently. ….. What we do know is that there is only one planet to do it on, and only one species capable of making a considered difference.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
THE QUEST : SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
The Quest:
Prof. D.S.Kothari once mentioned to me that Physics and Metaphysics merge at the higher realm. This set me on a quest. We think of space-time rather than space and time since Einstein. This perhaps resolves the dilemma of time as an independent existent in Jain theory. The atom and quark also seem to be compatible with the Jain concept of ‘parmanu’ and ‘pradesh’. I have attempted to prepare the end notes from ‘The History of nearly everything’ by Bill Bryson. It is perhaps possible to place harmonious construction between the state of art science and Jain theory. However there is no convergence of the methodologies. Science is based on Experimentation and Jain theory is based on experience of the enlightened one. My quest led me to meet George Sudershan of UT Austin.
I understand from his book ‘Doubt and Certainty’ as follows:
1. Science in its current format is unable to provide the spiritual backbone
to the humanity at large.
2. Any claim by scientist to provide the ultimate understanding of happiness is untenable
3. We may arrive at the understanding of theory in science only by questioning the assumptions about reality.
4. The universe can be explained through the theories, principles, and models in science. In the realm of spirituality it is a matter of experience, may be, by faith and practice.
5. Science demands that a theory is experimentally testable and the result is reproducible.
6. Hypothesis in Philosophy is a matter of preponderance of probability.
7. Mathematics has a more universal character than any other language but is not the ultimate tool for understanding the reality.
8. The attempt to reduce thermodynamics to particle physics has not been successful. The behavior of gas can not be understood by Newtonian mechanics. The question of merger of Physics and Metaphysics based on diverse methodologies may not arise.
The spirituality:
Prof. Kothari made efforts to link science with spirituality based on theory of Jainism but the practice of Bhagvad Gita.
Jain theory:
The constituent of this universe are
1. soul
2. matter
3. motion
4. rest
5. space-time
Soul has the properties of vision, knowledge, bliss, and energy. These properties remain with even after the death.
Matter consists of atoms. Even Karma consists of subtle particles.
Motion and rest are medium.
Space-time provides the arena
Nine fundamentals
Good
Evil
Living
Non-living
Inflow of vibrations
Art of stoppage
Art of cleansing
Bondage
Liberation
The purpose of human life is achieve liberation
Twelve paradigms
Impermanence of the form
Unprotected world
cycles of birth and death
Proactive
Differentiation between soul and other matter
Impurity of body vs purity of soul
Observing the inflow of vibrations
Stoppage of the inflow of vibrations
Art of cleansing
Awareness of the universe
Self awareness
Practice with faith and equanimity
Ten rules for the householder:
Refrain from violence
Refrain from Lies
Refrain from stealing
Refrain from illegal sex
Refrain from delusion for possessions
Restrict activities to a self specified area and direction
Impose own limits to consumption
Avoid addictions and unwholesome activity
Practice equanimity for 48 minutes at a stretch
Follow rules of limiting enjoyment as daily routine
Fasting and studying philosophy on specified days
Offer food, residence, medicine, and books with humility to learned persons
Shrimadbhagvadgita
The essence of Gita is captured in Chapter 18 Shlokas 1 to 53
To qualify for oneness with my own soul to reach the perfection of Truth, Consciousness, and Bliss, the tranquility of heart and discarding of meum are the conditions precedent. The rules for the simple program are as under:
Maintain untarnished intellect
Partake light, regulated and pure diet
Live in unpolluted and lonely environment
Reject sound and other objects of senses
Control Mind, speech, and body
Restraint breathing and senses with determination
Take resolute stand on anger, greed, ego, and deceit
Get rid of attachment and aversion
Devote on meditation
Give up violence, arrogance, lust and luxuries
The new kind of science and the Individual
The globalization and the Internet have provided the tipping point in favor of computations to provide the backbone to spirituality. The approach of the new kind of science is given in the form of end notes based on the book ‘A new kind of science’ by Stephen Wolfram.
The current complex behavior of human beings in the name of religion has the potential of extinction of the human species. It is hardly possible to eschew violence with violence. Do nothing is also not a viable option. The rules that govern any religion are designed to promote justice, equity, fraternity, and liberty. Yet in practice the results are often complex. There is an urgent need to monitor, measure, and collate the initiatives, at the level of individual worldwide.
Every existent has a substratum with properties that undergo continuous modification.
I am an existent recognizable through the soul.
The soul has the properties of Perception, Gyan, energy and bliss.
These properties manifest in the environment in which I operate.
The purpose of life is to remain liberated.
The body deteriorates and yet the soul may get purified through the right path.
The properties of the soul stay with me when I discard the decayed human form.
Perception, Gyan, energy and bliss determine the state of my being at any point of time.
I ought to work ceaselessly in purifying my qualities.
Acquiring things beyond what keeps my body, the vehicle, functional serves no purpose.
Perception is the clarity in understanding the fundamentals of the LIBERATION.
It is the understanding of deeds, control of impurity and shedding/acquiring of fetters.
The Gyan of reality is in terms of existents and their understanding as the part of the universe viz. Soul, particles, Motion, Rest and Space-time.
The particles have the properties of shape, smell, taste and touch.
You may create a mixture of the existents but not a compound.
Energy is the capacity of the soul to manifest Perception and gyan at a given moment. The energy is also the cause of the attraction and repulsion of particles that may obstruct or facilitates deeds.
Bliss is that happiness which does not depend on possessions or other persons but is intrinsic to the self.
Efforts to acquire material things or relationships bind me.
The strategy to make efforts that do not bind me guides me to the purpose of my life.
Strategy
The deed is performed through the vibrations of Mind, Speech and Body (MSB).
Pure causes bliss, Good results into happiness and Evil generates unhappiness.
Good is the stepping stone to pure deed.
The performance is dependent upon the environment and the paradigm at any moment. Good deed is the first step of the long journey and leads me into the virtuous cycle.
The evil tends to entrap me in the vicious cycle.
What is therefore, the methodology for me?
I must decide my priorities in the roles as learner, householder, social being and the saint. The week has 100 working hours after allowing for sleep and chores.
I decide to allot 40 for learner 30 for saint 20 for social and 10 for householder deeds.
Effectiveness in any role depends upon the congruence in MSB.
Deed may be the result of either my doing or getting it done or even approving.
MSB are the means and the deed is the result in one of the three forms.
I sow what I reap. Pure deed liberates and the Good makes me happy but still binds.
Evil must be given up if I do not wish to be unhappy.
The deed undertaken through ignorance, without the concern for bottom/top line, injury to others and beyond my capacity is evil in terms of Gita chapter 18 shloka 18..
Anger, Greed, Ego and Deception, (AGED), result in the evil deeds that bind me. Prevention is better that cure.
Forgiveness, Contentment, Courtesy and Simplicity are the powerful antidotes.
How do I convert preaching into Practice?
Positive Actions
Forgiveness commences with making up the mind to dump the past for the hurt caused to me and seeking actively the forgiveness of others whenever the opportunity arises.
The important point to remember is that it is in my own interest to do so.
I should keep a target of uttering one SORRY per interaction to develop the habit.
Contentment has to be monitored, measured and managed from mundane to sublime.
I lay limits to food, clothes, vehicles, travel, real estate and all forms of consumerism? Can I stay away form luxuries to begin with? Can I avoid showing off?
Can I live a need-based life once a week giving up comforts even?
To inculcate the habit I must lay down the limits in respect of each item of consumption.
If I wish to buy a new shirt I must give away two to the deserving in charity.
Courtesy may appear to be flattery and often feigned. Who do I cheat/impress?
Ego has to be canalized. The canal from the river may provide irrigation to a farm. How many canals do I target? The antidote to Egotism is the 80:20 rule.
In any conversation listen for 80% of the time and speak for 20% of the time.
Quality of speech has to be evaluated by the impact through random survey.
The habit of saying THANK YOU needs to be inculcated and measured.
Pride arises because I am doubtful about my qualifications.
The demand for recognition shows that I need some support to feel that I am somebody. This demand arises from an inner sense of emptiness.
A lack of readiness to accept myself as I am.
I secretly fear that what I am not good enough.
Although I assert my qualifications, I am really all too conscious of my limitations.
I am afraid to acknowledge limitations or have them recognized by others.
I do not want a response from others to my limitations but only to my qualifications.
Hurt is the usual end result of the demand for respect.
Hurt is possible only when there is a bloated ego.
Any form of hurt if analyzed, is found to be only pride, inflated ego.
Inflated ego is a disproportionate, excessive significance attached to what I know, what I feel, what I possess, what I do, how I look.
With this overemphasis on a Knower-doer-I comes the expectation of a response from others recognizing my importance seeing me as I want to be seen.
When that response does not come, it hurts.
It is fine to have abilities, but abilities should be allowed to speak for themselves.
Attitude towards accomplishments should be like a flowering bush towards its blossoms. In the wilderness, seen or unseen, praised or unpraised, the bush puts forth its blooms. No publicity circulars are sent out to announce the blooming.
Whether appreciated by someone or not, the blossoms come forth, colorful and fragrant. The bush blooms because it is meant to bloom. It asks no respect and claims no glory.
It blooms because bloom it must.
Pride is born because I do not understand the nature of accomplishments.
I claim the honor for my accomplishments as I consider myself the author of the acts, the producers of skills or gifts. It does not take much analysis to smash this illusion.
When I look at achievement, I find that it is there because of certain opportunities I had, as well as because of my personal effort.
I cannot claim to have created or commanded the opportunities; they were given to me.
I happened to find myself in the right circumstances so I could grow and learn from what I needed to learn. I met with the right person; I happened to read the right book; I enjoyed the right company; someone came forward with the right guidance at the right time.
There is no place for Pride when I see the nature of accomplishment for what it is.
For whatever abilities I seem to have I should be grateful.
My demand for respect from others will go away when I see its foolishness.
If I assume the position of a dispassionate analyst, ready to spot and analyze Pride every time it pops up, recognize it for what it is at the time it appears, examine it carefully then it will begin to lose its value.
To be effective, I must conduct my analysis of Pride without self-condemnation or regret: just try to see things as they are.
Simplicity as an antidote to deception may be achieved by shedding pretence.
Pretence is a mental attitude that manifests self-glorification.
However, between the pride and pretense the foundation for expression differs.
Pride’s conceit is an expression based on real achievements and abilities.
The claim to fame by Pretence stems from fabricated accomplishments and abilities.
Pretence means feigning. One who claims achievements that are not his.
He pretends to possess abilities, which he does not have.
Pretence arises because I do not feel good about myself.
There is no way to compel others to respond favorably to my accomplishments.
Pretence is absurd because it brings a big load of tension.
A mind committed to falsehood cannot be a happy, quiet mind available for learning.
A mind, which expresses Pretence, is non-receptive to the teaching of spirituality.
When I suffer from Pretence, I do not accept myself but commit myself to an image I know is false, whereas the whole teaching of spirituality is to own up myself as I am.
I should be able to accept myself and be willing to present myself to others as I am.
I may like myself as I am but at the same time have a desire to find absolute freedom
I should be free of self-condemnation. I should simply like myself but long to be free. When pretence goes, the mind will enjoy the state of simplicity.
Simplicity is the absence of phoniness and the absence of hypocrisy and pretence.
With such a mind I become a real person. A real person is a simple person.
The complex person is a false person. A simple person may not be without problems.
He may get angry. He may make mistakes.
However, in his simplicity and straightforwardness he is able to learn from his reactions. For the false fellow committed to pretence there is no learning – only hiding and tension. No scripture and no master can help a person with a mind ruled by pretence.
Simple and factual mind is ready to discover the truth of self.
I must install a system to monitor measure and manage the pretence.
How do I reduce the gap between the thought, speech and action?
I must confess the numbers of breaches daily and follow up rectification.
Conclusion.
An individual is capable of following definite rules that generates simple program. The power of computation to analyze the massive data to be captured at the level of an individual may result in better understanding of the complex behavior of humanity. UNO may therefore have one point plan to take the power of Information Technology down to every individual. Prescription has the value only if the diagnosis is right.
End notes: (1) Stephen Wolfram: A new kind of science. Excerpts in two page
(2) Bill Bryson: A history of nearly everything. Excerpts in three pages
STEPHEN WOLFRAM: A NEW KIND OF SCIENCE
www.wolframscience.com/nks/permission
author website: http://www.stephenwolfram.com/
ISBN 1-57955-008-8
Chapter1 The foundation for a New Kind of Science
An outline of basic idea
My purpose in this book is to initiate another such transformation, and to introduce a new kind of science that is based on the much more general types of rules that can be embodied in simple computer programs……There is in fact no reason to think that systems like those we see in nature should follow only (such) traditional mathematical rules.
But today we are surrounded by computers whose programs in effect implement a huge variety of rules.
For all it takes is that systems in nature operate like typical programs and then it follows that their behavior will often be complex. ……But by thinking in terms of programs the new kind of science that I develop in this book is for the first time able to make meaningful statements about even immensely complex behavior… But just how these components act together to produce even some of the obvious features of the overall behavior we see has in the past remained an almost complete mystery.
And what this suggests is that there are quite universal principles that determine overall behavior and that can be expected to apply not only to simple program but also to systems throughout the natural world and elsewhere. ….Indeed, I even have increasing evidence that thinking in terms of simple programs will make it possible to construct a single truly fundamental theory of physics, from which space, time, quantum mechanics and all the other known features of our universe will emerge.
…rules for any system can be viewed as corresponding to a program, so also its behavior can be viewed as corresponding to a computation. …there are systems whose rules are simple enough to describe in just one sentence that are nevertheless universal. … phenomenon of universality is vastly more common and important ….. Principle of Computational Equivalence: that whenever one sees behavior that is not obviously simple-in essentially any system- it can be thought of as corresponding to a computation of equivalent sophistication.
For like other processes our own process of perception and analysis can be thought of as computations. But though we might have imagined that such computations would always be vastly more sophisticated than those performed by simple programs, the principle of computational equivalence implies that they are not. And it is this equivalence between us as observers and the system that we observe that makes the behavior of such system seem to us complex.. And it leads us to an explanation of how we as humans – even though we may follow definite underlying rules – can still in a meaningful way show free will. …when it comes to computation or intelligence we are in the end no more sophisticated than all sorts of simple programs, and all sorts of systems in nature.
….there is a basic equivalence that makes the same fundamental phenomena occur, and allows the same basic scientific ideas and methods to be used. ….Most immediately obvious is a very high level of complexity in the behavior of many systems whose underlying rules are much simpler than those of most systems in standard mathematics textbooks.
PHYSICS. …simple program seem able to capture the essential mechanism for a great many physical phenomena…
BIOLOGY. Programs can reproduce many features of biological organisms-and for example seem to capture some of the essential mechanisms through which genetic programs manage to generate the actual biological forms we see. …SOCIAL SCIENCES. …better chances of capturing fundamental mechanisms for phenomena by using NKS … based on SP.
COMPUTER SCIENCE. …..system with extremely simple construction can yield behavior of immense complexity. PHILOSOPHY. …..QUESTIONS ABOUT ULTIMATE LIMITS TO KNOWLEDGE, FREE WILL, THE UNIQUENESS OF HUMAN CONDITION
ART, even a program that may have extremely simple rules will often be able to generate pictures that have striking aesthetic qualities…..
TECHNOLOGY. …Using the type of rules embodied in SP one can capture many of the essential mechanisms of nature. And from this it becomes possible to a whole new kind of technology that in effect achieve the same sophistication as nature. …..extremely simple underlying rules – that might for example potentially be implemented directly at the level of atoms-are often that is needed.
Chapter 10 Processes of Perception and Analysis
· 547….we need to consider not only how phenomena are produced in nature, but also how we perceive and analyze these phenomena.
· 548 In everyday life we are continually bombarded by huge amount of data, in the form of images, sounds, and so on.. To be able to make use of this data we must reduce it to more manageable proportions. And this is what perception and analysis attempt to do. Their role in effect is to take large volume of raw data and extract from it summaries that we can use.
· 549 And in modern Information technology the problem of data compression, feature detection, pattern recognition and system identification all in effect revolve around finding useful summaries of data…
· 550 But in perception and analysis we start from behavior we observe, then try to deduce what procedure or program will reproduce this data.
· 551 But the point is that if one starts from some particular piece of behavior there are in general no such simple rules that allow one to go backward and find out how this behavior can be produced.
· 557 Defining complexity ….we have not managed to find any simple description of it
· 623 In many respects one of the primary goals of all forms of perception and analysis is to precisely to pick out these features of data that are considered relevant, and discard all others.
Prof. D.S.Kothari once mentioned to me that Physics and Metaphysics merge at the higher realm. This set me on a quest. We think of space-time rather than space and time since Einstein. This perhaps resolves the dilemma of time as an independent existent in Jain theory. The atom and quark also seem to be compatible with the Jain concept of ‘parmanu’ and ‘pradesh’. I have attempted to prepare the end notes from ‘The History of nearly everything’ by Bill Bryson. It is perhaps possible to place harmonious construction between the state of art science and Jain theory. However there is no convergence of the methodologies. Science is based on Experimentation and Jain theory is based on experience of the enlightened one. My quest led me to meet George Sudershan of UT Austin.
I understand from his book ‘Doubt and Certainty’ as follows:
1. Science in its current format is unable to provide the spiritual backbone
to the humanity at large.
2. Any claim by scientist to provide the ultimate understanding of happiness is untenable
3. We may arrive at the understanding of theory in science only by questioning the assumptions about reality.
4. The universe can be explained through the theories, principles, and models in science. In the realm of spirituality it is a matter of experience, may be, by faith and practice.
5. Science demands that a theory is experimentally testable and the result is reproducible.
6. Hypothesis in Philosophy is a matter of preponderance of probability.
7. Mathematics has a more universal character than any other language but is not the ultimate tool for understanding the reality.
8. The attempt to reduce thermodynamics to particle physics has not been successful. The behavior of gas can not be understood by Newtonian mechanics. The question of merger of Physics and Metaphysics based on diverse methodologies may not arise.
The spirituality:
Prof. Kothari made efforts to link science with spirituality based on theory of Jainism but the practice of Bhagvad Gita.
Jain theory:
The constituent of this universe are
1. soul
2. matter
3. motion
4. rest
5. space-time
Soul has the properties of vision, knowledge, bliss, and energy. These properties remain with even after the death.
Matter consists of atoms. Even Karma consists of subtle particles.
Motion and rest are medium.
Space-time provides the arena
Nine fundamentals
Good
Evil
Living
Non-living
Inflow of vibrations
Art of stoppage
Art of cleansing
Bondage
Liberation
The purpose of human life is achieve liberation
Twelve paradigms
Impermanence of the form
Unprotected world
cycles of birth and death
Proactive
Differentiation between soul and other matter
Impurity of body vs purity of soul
Observing the inflow of vibrations
Stoppage of the inflow of vibrations
Art of cleansing
Awareness of the universe
Self awareness
Practice with faith and equanimity
Ten rules for the householder:
Refrain from violence
Refrain from Lies
Refrain from stealing
Refrain from illegal sex
Refrain from delusion for possessions
Restrict activities to a self specified area and direction
Impose own limits to consumption
Avoid addictions and unwholesome activity
Practice equanimity for 48 minutes at a stretch
Follow rules of limiting enjoyment as daily routine
Fasting and studying philosophy on specified days
Offer food, residence, medicine, and books with humility to learned persons
Shrimadbhagvadgita
The essence of Gita is captured in Chapter 18 Shlokas 1 to 53
To qualify for oneness with my own soul to reach the perfection of Truth, Consciousness, and Bliss, the tranquility of heart and discarding of meum are the conditions precedent. The rules for the simple program are as under:
Maintain untarnished intellect
Partake light, regulated and pure diet
Live in unpolluted and lonely environment
Reject sound and other objects of senses
Control Mind, speech, and body
Restraint breathing and senses with determination
Take resolute stand on anger, greed, ego, and deceit
Get rid of attachment and aversion
Devote on meditation
Give up violence, arrogance, lust and luxuries
The new kind of science and the Individual
The globalization and the Internet have provided the tipping point in favor of computations to provide the backbone to spirituality. The approach of the new kind of science is given in the form of end notes based on the book ‘A new kind of science’ by Stephen Wolfram.
The current complex behavior of human beings in the name of religion has the potential of extinction of the human species. It is hardly possible to eschew violence with violence. Do nothing is also not a viable option. The rules that govern any religion are designed to promote justice, equity, fraternity, and liberty. Yet in practice the results are often complex. There is an urgent need to monitor, measure, and collate the initiatives, at the level of individual worldwide.
Every existent has a substratum with properties that undergo continuous modification.
I am an existent recognizable through the soul.
The soul has the properties of Perception, Gyan, energy and bliss.
These properties manifest in the environment in which I operate.
The purpose of life is to remain liberated.
The body deteriorates and yet the soul may get purified through the right path.
The properties of the soul stay with me when I discard the decayed human form.
Perception, Gyan, energy and bliss determine the state of my being at any point of time.
I ought to work ceaselessly in purifying my qualities.
Acquiring things beyond what keeps my body, the vehicle, functional serves no purpose.
Perception is the clarity in understanding the fundamentals of the LIBERATION.
It is the understanding of deeds, control of impurity and shedding/acquiring of fetters.
The Gyan of reality is in terms of existents and their understanding as the part of the universe viz. Soul, particles, Motion, Rest and Space-time.
The particles have the properties of shape, smell, taste and touch.
You may create a mixture of the existents but not a compound.
Energy is the capacity of the soul to manifest Perception and gyan at a given moment. The energy is also the cause of the attraction and repulsion of particles that may obstruct or facilitates deeds.
Bliss is that happiness which does not depend on possessions or other persons but is intrinsic to the self.
Efforts to acquire material things or relationships bind me.
The strategy to make efforts that do not bind me guides me to the purpose of my life.
Strategy
The deed is performed through the vibrations of Mind, Speech and Body (MSB).
Pure causes bliss, Good results into happiness and Evil generates unhappiness.
Good is the stepping stone to pure deed.
The performance is dependent upon the environment and the paradigm at any moment. Good deed is the first step of the long journey and leads me into the virtuous cycle.
The evil tends to entrap me in the vicious cycle.
What is therefore, the methodology for me?
I must decide my priorities in the roles as learner, householder, social being and the saint. The week has 100 working hours after allowing for sleep and chores.
I decide to allot 40 for learner 30 for saint 20 for social and 10 for householder deeds.
Effectiveness in any role depends upon the congruence in MSB.
Deed may be the result of either my doing or getting it done or even approving.
MSB are the means and the deed is the result in one of the three forms.
I sow what I reap. Pure deed liberates and the Good makes me happy but still binds.
Evil must be given up if I do not wish to be unhappy.
The deed undertaken through ignorance, without the concern for bottom/top line, injury to others and beyond my capacity is evil in terms of Gita chapter 18 shloka 18..
Anger, Greed, Ego and Deception, (AGED), result in the evil deeds that bind me. Prevention is better that cure.
Forgiveness, Contentment, Courtesy and Simplicity are the powerful antidotes.
How do I convert preaching into Practice?
Positive Actions
Forgiveness commences with making up the mind to dump the past for the hurt caused to me and seeking actively the forgiveness of others whenever the opportunity arises.
The important point to remember is that it is in my own interest to do so.
I should keep a target of uttering one SORRY per interaction to develop the habit.
Contentment has to be monitored, measured and managed from mundane to sublime.
I lay limits to food, clothes, vehicles, travel, real estate and all forms of consumerism? Can I stay away form luxuries to begin with? Can I avoid showing off?
Can I live a need-based life once a week giving up comforts even?
To inculcate the habit I must lay down the limits in respect of each item of consumption.
If I wish to buy a new shirt I must give away two to the deserving in charity.
Courtesy may appear to be flattery and often feigned. Who do I cheat/impress?
Ego has to be canalized. The canal from the river may provide irrigation to a farm. How many canals do I target? The antidote to Egotism is the 80:20 rule.
In any conversation listen for 80% of the time and speak for 20% of the time.
Quality of speech has to be evaluated by the impact through random survey.
The habit of saying THANK YOU needs to be inculcated and measured.
Pride arises because I am doubtful about my qualifications.
The demand for recognition shows that I need some support to feel that I am somebody. This demand arises from an inner sense of emptiness.
A lack of readiness to accept myself as I am.
I secretly fear that what I am not good enough.
Although I assert my qualifications, I am really all too conscious of my limitations.
I am afraid to acknowledge limitations or have them recognized by others.
I do not want a response from others to my limitations but only to my qualifications.
Hurt is the usual end result of the demand for respect.
Hurt is possible only when there is a bloated ego.
Any form of hurt if analyzed, is found to be only pride, inflated ego.
Inflated ego is a disproportionate, excessive significance attached to what I know, what I feel, what I possess, what I do, how I look.
With this overemphasis on a Knower-doer-I comes the expectation of a response from others recognizing my importance seeing me as I want to be seen.
When that response does not come, it hurts.
It is fine to have abilities, but abilities should be allowed to speak for themselves.
Attitude towards accomplishments should be like a flowering bush towards its blossoms. In the wilderness, seen or unseen, praised or unpraised, the bush puts forth its blooms. No publicity circulars are sent out to announce the blooming.
Whether appreciated by someone or not, the blossoms come forth, colorful and fragrant. The bush blooms because it is meant to bloom. It asks no respect and claims no glory.
It blooms because bloom it must.
Pride is born because I do not understand the nature of accomplishments.
I claim the honor for my accomplishments as I consider myself the author of the acts, the producers of skills or gifts. It does not take much analysis to smash this illusion.
When I look at achievement, I find that it is there because of certain opportunities I had, as well as because of my personal effort.
I cannot claim to have created or commanded the opportunities; they were given to me.
I happened to find myself in the right circumstances so I could grow and learn from what I needed to learn. I met with the right person; I happened to read the right book; I enjoyed the right company; someone came forward with the right guidance at the right time.
There is no place for Pride when I see the nature of accomplishment for what it is.
For whatever abilities I seem to have I should be grateful.
My demand for respect from others will go away when I see its foolishness.
If I assume the position of a dispassionate analyst, ready to spot and analyze Pride every time it pops up, recognize it for what it is at the time it appears, examine it carefully then it will begin to lose its value.
To be effective, I must conduct my analysis of Pride without self-condemnation or regret: just try to see things as they are.
Simplicity as an antidote to deception may be achieved by shedding pretence.
Pretence is a mental attitude that manifests self-glorification.
However, between the pride and pretense the foundation for expression differs.
Pride’s conceit is an expression based on real achievements and abilities.
The claim to fame by Pretence stems from fabricated accomplishments and abilities.
Pretence means feigning. One who claims achievements that are not his.
He pretends to possess abilities, which he does not have.
Pretence arises because I do not feel good about myself.
There is no way to compel others to respond favorably to my accomplishments.
Pretence is absurd because it brings a big load of tension.
A mind committed to falsehood cannot be a happy, quiet mind available for learning.
A mind, which expresses Pretence, is non-receptive to the teaching of spirituality.
When I suffer from Pretence, I do not accept myself but commit myself to an image I know is false, whereas the whole teaching of spirituality is to own up myself as I am.
I should be able to accept myself and be willing to present myself to others as I am.
I may like myself as I am but at the same time have a desire to find absolute freedom
I should be free of self-condemnation. I should simply like myself but long to be free. When pretence goes, the mind will enjoy the state of simplicity.
Simplicity is the absence of phoniness and the absence of hypocrisy and pretence.
With such a mind I become a real person. A real person is a simple person.
The complex person is a false person. A simple person may not be without problems.
He may get angry. He may make mistakes.
However, in his simplicity and straightforwardness he is able to learn from his reactions. For the false fellow committed to pretence there is no learning – only hiding and tension. No scripture and no master can help a person with a mind ruled by pretence.
Simple and factual mind is ready to discover the truth of self.
I must install a system to monitor measure and manage the pretence.
How do I reduce the gap between the thought, speech and action?
I must confess the numbers of breaches daily and follow up rectification.
Conclusion.
An individual is capable of following definite rules that generates simple program. The power of computation to analyze the massive data to be captured at the level of an individual may result in better understanding of the complex behavior of humanity. UNO may therefore have one point plan to take the power of Information Technology down to every individual. Prescription has the value only if the diagnosis is right.
End notes: (1) Stephen Wolfram: A new kind of science. Excerpts in two page
(2) Bill Bryson: A history of nearly everything. Excerpts in three pages
STEPHEN WOLFRAM: A NEW KIND OF SCIENCE
www.wolframscience.com/nks/permission
author website: http://www.stephenwolfram.com/
ISBN 1-57955-008-8
Chapter1 The foundation for a New Kind of Science
An outline of basic idea
My purpose in this book is to initiate another such transformation, and to introduce a new kind of science that is based on the much more general types of rules that can be embodied in simple computer programs……There is in fact no reason to think that systems like those we see in nature should follow only (such) traditional mathematical rules.
But today we are surrounded by computers whose programs in effect implement a huge variety of rules.
For all it takes is that systems in nature operate like typical programs and then it follows that their behavior will often be complex. ……But by thinking in terms of programs the new kind of science that I develop in this book is for the first time able to make meaningful statements about even immensely complex behavior… But just how these components act together to produce even some of the obvious features of the overall behavior we see has in the past remained an almost complete mystery.
And what this suggests is that there are quite universal principles that determine overall behavior and that can be expected to apply not only to simple program but also to systems throughout the natural world and elsewhere. ….Indeed, I even have increasing evidence that thinking in terms of simple programs will make it possible to construct a single truly fundamental theory of physics, from which space, time, quantum mechanics and all the other known features of our universe will emerge.
…rules for any system can be viewed as corresponding to a program, so also its behavior can be viewed as corresponding to a computation. …there are systems whose rules are simple enough to describe in just one sentence that are nevertheless universal. … phenomenon of universality is vastly more common and important ….. Principle of Computational Equivalence: that whenever one sees behavior that is not obviously simple-in essentially any system- it can be thought of as corresponding to a computation of equivalent sophistication.
For like other processes our own process of perception and analysis can be thought of as computations. But though we might have imagined that such computations would always be vastly more sophisticated than those performed by simple programs, the principle of computational equivalence implies that they are not. And it is this equivalence between us as observers and the system that we observe that makes the behavior of such system seem to us complex.. And it leads us to an explanation of how we as humans – even though we may follow definite underlying rules – can still in a meaningful way show free will. …when it comes to computation or intelligence we are in the end no more sophisticated than all sorts of simple programs, and all sorts of systems in nature.
….there is a basic equivalence that makes the same fundamental phenomena occur, and allows the same basic scientific ideas and methods to be used. ….Most immediately obvious is a very high level of complexity in the behavior of many systems whose underlying rules are much simpler than those of most systems in standard mathematics textbooks.
PHYSICS. …simple program seem able to capture the essential mechanism for a great many physical phenomena…
BIOLOGY. Programs can reproduce many features of biological organisms-and for example seem to capture some of the essential mechanisms through which genetic programs manage to generate the actual biological forms we see. …SOCIAL SCIENCES. …better chances of capturing fundamental mechanisms for phenomena by using NKS … based on SP.
COMPUTER SCIENCE. …..system with extremely simple construction can yield behavior of immense complexity. PHILOSOPHY. …..QUESTIONS ABOUT ULTIMATE LIMITS TO KNOWLEDGE, FREE WILL, THE UNIQUENESS OF HUMAN CONDITION
ART, even a program that may have extremely simple rules will often be able to generate pictures that have striking aesthetic qualities…..
TECHNOLOGY. …Using the type of rules embodied in SP one can capture many of the essential mechanisms of nature. And from this it becomes possible to a whole new kind of technology that in effect achieve the same sophistication as nature. …..extremely simple underlying rules – that might for example potentially be implemented directly at the level of atoms-are often that is needed.
Chapter 10 Processes of Perception and Analysis
· 547….we need to consider not only how phenomena are produced in nature, but also how we perceive and analyze these phenomena.
· 548 In everyday life we are continually bombarded by huge amount of data, in the form of images, sounds, and so on.. To be able to make use of this data we must reduce it to more manageable proportions. And this is what perception and analysis attempt to do. Their role in effect is to take large volume of raw data and extract from it summaries that we can use.
· 549 And in modern Information technology the problem of data compression, feature detection, pattern recognition and system identification all in effect revolve around finding useful summaries of data…
· 550 But in perception and analysis we start from behavior we observe, then try to deduce what procedure or program will reproduce this data.
· 551 But the point is that if one starts from some particular piece of behavior there are in general no such simple rules that allow one to go backward and find out how this behavior can be produced.
· 557 Defining complexity ….we have not managed to find any simple description of it
· 623 In many respects one of the primary goals of all forms of perception and analysis is to precisely to pick out these features of data that are considered relevant, and discard all others.
NEW KIND OF SCIENCE WOLFRAM AS UNDERSTOOD
STEPHEN WOLFRAM: A NEW KIND OF SCIENCE
www.wolframscience.com/nks/permission
author website: www.stephenwolfram.com
ISBN 1-57955-008-8
Chapter1 The foundation for a New Kind of Science
An outline of basic idea
My purpose in this book is to initiate another such transformation, and to introduce a new kind of science that is based on the much more general types of rules that can be embodied in simple computer programs……There is in fact no reason to think that systems like those we see in nature should follow only (such) traditional mathematical rules.
But today we are surrounded by computers whose programs in effect implement a huge variety of rules.
For all it takes is that systems in nature operate like typical programs and then it follows that their behavior will often be complex. ……But by thinking in terms of programs the new kind of science that I develop in this book is for the first time able to make meaningful statements about even immensely complex behavior… But just how these components act together to produce even some of the obvious features of the overall behavior we see has in the past remained an almost complete mystery.
And what this suggests is that there are quite universal principles that determine overall behavior and that can be expected to apply not only to simple program but also to systems throughout the natural world and elsewhere. ….Indeed, I even have increasing evidence that thinking in terms of simple programs will make it possible to construct a single truly fundamental theory of physics, from which space, time, quantum mechanics and all the other known features of our universe will emerge.
…rules for any system can be viewed as corresponding to a program, so also its behavior can be viewed as corresponding to a computation. …there are systems whose rules are simple enough to describe in just one sentence that are nevertheless universal. … phenomenon of universality is vastly more common and important ….. Principle of Computational Equivalence: that whenever one sees behavior that is not obviously simple-in essentially any system- it can be thought of as corresponding to a computation of equivalent sophistication.
For like other processes our own process of perception and analysis can be thought of as computations. But though we might have imagined that such computations would always be vastly more sophisticated than those performed by simple programs, the principle of computational equivalence implies that they are not. And it is this equivalence between us as observers and the system that we observe that makes the behavior of such system seem to us complex.. And it leads us to an explanation of how we as humans – even though we may follow definite underlying rules – can still in a meaningful way show free will. …when it comes to computation or intelligence we are in the end no more sophisticated than all sorts of simple programs, and all sorts of systems in nature.
….there is a basic equivalence that makes the same fundamental phenomena occur, and allows the same basic scientific ideas and methods to be used. ….Most immediately obvious is a very high level of complexity in the behavior of many systems whose underlying rules are much simpler than those of most systems in standard mathematics textbooks.
PHYSICS. …simple program seem able to capture the essential mechanism for a great many physical phenomena…
BIOLOGY. Programs can reproduce many features of biological organisms-and for example seem to capture some of the essential mechanisms through which genetic programs manage to generate the actual biological forms we see. …SOCIAL SCIENCES. …better chances of capturing fundamental mechanisms for phenomena by using NKS … based on SP.
COMPUTER SCIENCE. …..system with extremely simple construction can yield behavior of immense complexity. PHILOSOPHY. …..QUESTIONS ABOUT ULTIMATE LIMITS TO KNOWLEDGE, FREE WILL, THE UNIQUENESS OF HUMAN CONDITION
ART, even a program that may have extremely simple rules will often be able to generate pictures that have striking aesthetic qualities…..
TECHNOLOGY. …Using the type of rules embodied in SP one can capture many of the essential mechanisms of nature. And from this it becomes possible to a whole new kind of technology that in effect achieve the same sophistication as nature. …..extremely simple underlying rules – that might for example potentially be implemented directly at the level of atoms-are often that is needed.
Chapter 10 Processes of Perception and Analysis
· 547….we need to consider not only how phenomena are produced in nature, but also how we perceive and analyze these phenomena.
· 548 In everyday life we are continually bombarded by huge amount of data, in the form of images, sounds, and so on.. To be able to make use of this data we must reduce it to more manageable proportions. And this is what perception and analysis attempt to do. Their role in effect is to take large volume of raw data and extract from it summaries that we can use.
· 549 And in modern Information technology the problem of data compression, feature detection, pattern recognition and system identification all in effect revolve around finding useful summaries of data…
· 550 But in perception and analysis we start from behavior we observe, then try to deduce what procedure or program will reproduce this data.
· 551 But the point is that if one starts from some particular piece of behavior there are in general no such simple rules that allow one to go backward and find out how this behavior can be produced.
· 557 Defining complexity ….we have not managed to find any simple description of it
· 623 In many respects one of the primary goals of all forms of perception and analysis is to precisely to pick out these features of data that are considered relevant, and discard all others.
www.wolframscience.com/nks/permission
author website: www.stephenwolfram.com
ISBN 1-57955-008-8
Chapter1 The foundation for a New Kind of Science
An outline of basic idea
My purpose in this book is to initiate another such transformation, and to introduce a new kind of science that is based on the much more general types of rules that can be embodied in simple computer programs……There is in fact no reason to think that systems like those we see in nature should follow only (such) traditional mathematical rules.
But today we are surrounded by computers whose programs in effect implement a huge variety of rules.
For all it takes is that systems in nature operate like typical programs and then it follows that their behavior will often be complex. ……But by thinking in terms of programs the new kind of science that I develop in this book is for the first time able to make meaningful statements about even immensely complex behavior… But just how these components act together to produce even some of the obvious features of the overall behavior we see has in the past remained an almost complete mystery.
And what this suggests is that there are quite universal principles that determine overall behavior and that can be expected to apply not only to simple program but also to systems throughout the natural world and elsewhere. ….Indeed, I even have increasing evidence that thinking in terms of simple programs will make it possible to construct a single truly fundamental theory of physics, from which space, time, quantum mechanics and all the other known features of our universe will emerge.
…rules for any system can be viewed as corresponding to a program, so also its behavior can be viewed as corresponding to a computation. …there are systems whose rules are simple enough to describe in just one sentence that are nevertheless universal. … phenomenon of universality is vastly more common and important ….. Principle of Computational Equivalence: that whenever one sees behavior that is not obviously simple-in essentially any system- it can be thought of as corresponding to a computation of equivalent sophistication.
For like other processes our own process of perception and analysis can be thought of as computations. But though we might have imagined that such computations would always be vastly more sophisticated than those performed by simple programs, the principle of computational equivalence implies that they are not. And it is this equivalence between us as observers and the system that we observe that makes the behavior of such system seem to us complex.. And it leads us to an explanation of how we as humans – even though we may follow definite underlying rules – can still in a meaningful way show free will. …when it comes to computation or intelligence we are in the end no more sophisticated than all sorts of simple programs, and all sorts of systems in nature.
….there is a basic equivalence that makes the same fundamental phenomena occur, and allows the same basic scientific ideas and methods to be used. ….Most immediately obvious is a very high level of complexity in the behavior of many systems whose underlying rules are much simpler than those of most systems in standard mathematics textbooks.
PHYSICS. …simple program seem able to capture the essential mechanism for a great many physical phenomena…
BIOLOGY. Programs can reproduce many features of biological organisms-and for example seem to capture some of the essential mechanisms through which genetic programs manage to generate the actual biological forms we see. …SOCIAL SCIENCES. …better chances of capturing fundamental mechanisms for phenomena by using NKS … based on SP.
COMPUTER SCIENCE. …..system with extremely simple construction can yield behavior of immense complexity. PHILOSOPHY. …..QUESTIONS ABOUT ULTIMATE LIMITS TO KNOWLEDGE, FREE WILL, THE UNIQUENESS OF HUMAN CONDITION
ART, even a program that may have extremely simple rules will often be able to generate pictures that have striking aesthetic qualities…..
TECHNOLOGY. …Using the type of rules embodied in SP one can capture many of the essential mechanisms of nature. And from this it becomes possible to a whole new kind of technology that in effect achieve the same sophistication as nature. …..extremely simple underlying rules – that might for example potentially be implemented directly at the level of atoms-are often that is needed.
Chapter 10 Processes of Perception and Analysis
· 547….we need to consider not only how phenomena are produced in nature, but also how we perceive and analyze these phenomena.
· 548 In everyday life we are continually bombarded by huge amount of data, in the form of images, sounds, and so on.. To be able to make use of this data we must reduce it to more manageable proportions. And this is what perception and analysis attempt to do. Their role in effect is to take large volume of raw data and extract from it summaries that we can use.
· 549 And in modern Information technology the problem of data compression, feature detection, pattern recognition and system identification all in effect revolve around finding useful summaries of data…
· 550 But in perception and analysis we start from behavior we observe, then try to deduce what procedure or program will reproduce this data.
· 551 But the point is that if one starts from some particular piece of behavior there are in general no such simple rules that allow one to go backward and find out how this behavior can be produced.
· 557 Defining complexity ….we have not managed to find any simple description of it
· 623 In many respects one of the primary goals of all forms of perception and analysis is to precisely to pick out these features of data that are considered relevant, and discard all others.
TIPPING POINT SUMMARY AS I SEE
· 7.. Ideas and products and and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do. Mbpi
· 78 .. The first is that little things can,….. make as much difference as big things
· 79.. Non verbal cues are important. Physical movements and observations can have a profound effect on how we feel and think.
· 92… And the specific quality that a message needs to be successful is the the quality of “stickiness”
· 97 and once the advice becomes personal and practical, it becomes memorable.
· 108 .. human eye is capable of focussing on …. Perpetual span. .one word and 4 characters on left and 15 on right
· 160 Funda. Attribution error……mistake of overestimating the import of character trait situation and context
· 167 peer influence and community influence is more important than family… how children turn out
· 233 smoking was never cool.smokers are cool.
· 255 it is possible to do a lot with little
· 256 band-aid solution…..Minimum amount of effort time cost. best
· 257… trouble estimating exponential/dramatic change.
· 257 going from 150 to 200 is huge problem
·
· 78 .. The first is that little things can,….. make as much difference as big things
· 79.. Non verbal cues are important. Physical movements and observations can have a profound effect on how we feel and think.
· 92… And the specific quality that a message needs to be successful is the the quality of “stickiness”
· 97 and once the advice becomes personal and practical, it becomes memorable.
· 108 .. human eye is capable of focussing on …. Perpetual span. .one word and 4 characters on left and 15 on right
· 160 Funda. Attribution error……mistake of overestimating the import of character trait situation and context
· 167 peer influence and community influence is more important than family… how children turn out
· 233 smoking was never cool.smokers are cool.
· 255 it is possible to do a lot with little
· 256 band-aid solution…..Minimum amount of effort time cost. best
· 257… trouble estimating exponential/dramatic change.
· 257 going from 150 to 200 is huge problem
·
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)