The human side of quantum mechanics

Physics at it's core has always fascinated me. I can't say why, just like no-one can actually say why they like something or someone. However, one reason stares me in the face... beauty. Take for instance the mathematical equations describing quantum mechanical systems: they are arcane and to some, a load of bull$#i7 that one couldn't care less about. But to me it seems to prove just how powerful the human brain is... we are thinking, imagining , spinning theories to explain what happens at levels so minute that none of our five senses work ... we actually have no real perception of what goes on, but we still know! To be endowed with such power by nature is not only remarkable, it's sublimely beautiful. Our intelligence is our sixth sense.

Unfortunately my limited knowledge of physics ends by encroaching on some small parts of quantum physics and relativity.. but I hope to read further. So this wild philosophy I put forward here might seem asinine to more knowledgeable readers, who should feel free to criticize.

In quantum mechanics, everything happens in probabilities. Systems of particles obey a set of rules and change position accordingly, but non-deterministically. So in theory, a man can fly, walk through walls or become invisible with a finite (though with a verrrrryyyy small) probability.

Many times I have felt this view taken by Physics seems too detached from the notions of consciousness, life and all such existential questions. And then one day it seemed to fall together for me..

What if "life" is nothing but a localized system so precisely arranged, so well designed.. that it can actually alter those probabilities to some extent? And with evolution, these localized models become more and more efficient, and capable of altering space-time and probabilities in many more ways, and much more efficiently. We, humans, with intelligence are the temporary pinnacle of this process.

Choices we take, every action we commit... every time we do this, each one of us is simply a tiny part of a HUGE system governed by laws, but having enough "power" to actually alter and "push" the entire universe-system to move(at least locally) in a certain direction!

I haven't thought this through completely (that explains why I am not an Aristotle)... there may be dimensions to this universe that we can never perceive.. dimensions that we weren't built or evolved enough to comprehend. But then suppose we have the complete equation in hand. A clever enough person comes along and notices a small variable somewhere that is unexplained, and a generous number of coffee mugs later discovers that altering it could .... (how am i supposed to know, I am not that evil genius.. :P)

And Voila! We could speed up evolution actively!

And thats why I sometimes feel that anything is possible. We have never understood ourselves fully... maybe a couple of thousand years down the line we might be able to pinpoint what makes us "work".. what makes us "alive". And then with the holy-grail of Science in our hands, an infinitude of possibilities await.. things that we cannot even dream of now will then be just an "elimination-of-offending-variable" away.

Or all this is crap and the answer is really 42.

:D.


(P.s. Now this would make a kick-ass basis for a sci-fi novel... won't it.. evil-scientist and all? )

Reload!!

A year since I started posting, more than six months since I stopped... I guess I hit something like those pesky, never-ending traffic signals that seem to materialize out of thin air on a clear road, adding me to the long list of hapless victims of Murphy's laws.

On the other hand, I never really ran out of ideas... just that none of them actually motivated me enough to take the trouble of starting up the engine to keep writing.

Anyway, here's to a new beginning.. and a resolution to keep moving.. maybe shorter posts, but more frequent (hey all there who said "Yaawn, another loooong post..", this ones for you :) ).
And so it is that I embark upon an acclivity to revive this piece of literary finesse.. :P

Cogito, ergo...

Reloaded.

Coupling, Code and Comics

Kinda reminiscent of Bangalore, as I sit here trying to type out some code before the 4th (thats when my presentation is.. ), then the Sweet taste of freedom!

But then Bangalore was a little different, i must say.. I had to sit all day in that cubicle without the vast array of distractions available here.... I sometimes wonder whether I should have gone to Canada after all..
Speaking of which.. maybe a couple of posts titled 'Bangalore Chronicles' wouldnt be such a bad idea..:P should pen it down before time dims out my memories.. some really nice ones, I must add.

Problem is..wherever I am, I always end up watching more TVserials and reading comics than actually writing out some code.. hmm.. and now I am wasting time dishing out an inconsequential blog-post.

Coupling (the TV series) sucks somewhat, .. good in parts but after a while the constant barrage of sex-jokes get to you.. esp. if you watch more than 5 episodes a day like I do now.

And as for comics.. Naruto rocks major time! Fantastic storyline, great artwork.. the manga (no thats not 'mango' mispelled, for the uninformed... wikipedia it .. its a term for a weekly comic from Japan :) ) is progressing at breakneck speed!.. Cant wait till next Thurs for the following chapter... I have to hand it to Kishimoto (creator of Naruto).. a wonderful storyteller.

Whoa.. almost 1:00am..

Gotta code ... gotta show something to the panel on Monday.
More posts after the 4th now..

Lets go, Dattebayo!

When Faith crumbles

Post removed temporarily .. will be put back up in some days.

Bye, Bye, Bangalore..

Last days are always tough to go through.. and this one is no different. You see, today is my last day as an intern at Yahoo.. in an hour or so, my account will be deleted, I will lose my id-badge, and will be denied the free lunches, unlimited juicy apples and free biscuits and tea that I have feasted on for the past two months. No more will I enjoy the luxury of broadband reclining back on on a soft ergonomic chair.. However, it is none of these that I will miss most.

It is this sinking(for want of a better word) feeling that I might never meet the people I have befriended here over the couple of months that is getting me down. Orkut is great in this regard, but personal contact is something else altogether, dont you agree? Pratyush comes back with me to endure two more years at iitb, but Pandey, Pragnya, Ravi and Icy are people who will part ways with us today.. and I guess will drift away slowly as the currents of life take us places. Will also miss the company of Rajesh and Anupam (people living with me in the PG acco here..)..

However, I am going home and that thought alone is good enuf to pep me up. Its human to oppose change at some level, mostly for fear of the unknown. Here nothing is unknown.. but things have changed since I have come to Bangalore.

I do hope to bump into these people sometime later .. isn't it heartwarming to run into an old friend unexpectedly after ages.. and see that not much has changed, after all .. and that we always remain who we are..

Still at 881022 as I write this.. long way ahead..

Les Bleus shake off the blues!

"Zidane back at his masterful best.." thats what the commentator had to say as the balding Frenchman dribbled through three perplexed Brazilian midfielders..
I stayed up yesterday night to watch the match(Brazil v/s France), and it was completely worth it! The French team that began sluggishly in the tournament put up an awesome display, with inspired performances by Zizou and Terrific Thierry, backed up by a strong defence and impeccable marking that kept even the formidable Brazilians at bay. Ronaldinho was not even a shadow of himself.. a disappointment to say the least. I always backed France but didnt expect them to go far, with age weighing against them.. however, here they showed their true colours.. "One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will" .. the Zidane was back.. and like in the 98 cup, was the architect of Brazil's undoing..
If they keep this up, we are in for a treat. Go, Les Bleus, GO!
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Superman Returns is a nice movie.. quite well made. A treat for those who have read the comics and seen the original movies..like myself. The credits and music at the start were evocative of the previous films. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was absolutely b-r-i-l-l-i-a-n-t! He brought a whole new kind of playful menacingness to the character..I enjoyed every scene of his..("Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind") . Must-have scenes like Supes saving a plane, and bullets bouncing of his chest were well taken with great special effects...(I guess having him bring down the cat from the tree for the cute little girl has become quite cliche now..which is why they didnt have it ).. The scene where Lex is left stranded on the island is straight out of the comic book panels..
Those who arent real fans may not enjoy it as much.. although I would definitely recommend it.

They omitted the yellow "S" that he should have on his cape.. dunno why. And the cape was a tad too dark..looked good, anyway.

Leave it to the Supers

I seem to be caught up in a lazy muck nowadays that I find myself incapable of wading out of.. which is why i dont think a decent(read serious) blogpost is due anytime soon .. although there are a few topics in my mind.
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Oh yeah, had been to Coorg, a hill-station nearby last weekend..with Chinmay and Duks.. a beautiful place. Not as commercialised as Ooty, and has great sights and places to visit. Again, will write about it later.. [:D].. Its funny how a simple analog camera can confound the "cream of the nation", so as to say...
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Been reading a lot of my fav Calvin n Hobbes lately... heres the incomparable Calvin's take on early birds and worms.. :

Anyway, incentives aside , whatever happened to "Slow and steady wins the race(to the worm.. :P) "?
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The man in red shorts worn over skin-tight blue clothing is back.. Superman Returned yesterday to the big screen.. I booked tickets for Saturday evening show on Wednesday itself.
I have been a big fan of these superheroes since my childhood.. I recall how I used to take hours to sketch him flying, and get the "S" symbol on his chest just right.. long time since I drew some such stuff. Have had a lot of fav men-in-tights through the times... will try to recall some:
He-Man: undoubtedly the best of the lot.. great background music.. still feel the childlike enthusiasm wash through me on watching him draw out his sword and thunder "By the Power of GraySkull".. :D . Pestered my grandfather into wrapping plastic swords in silver paper (I offhand remember atleast 5 swords), and almost threw a tantrum when my grandmother refused to buy fish from the market despite my harping on how "He-man ate it and became strong"!
TMNT : (Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles, for the uninitiated): They are green, have shells, do kickass ninja stuff, and love pizzas. Inspired me to persuade my parents to buy me a "pizza"(they didnt know what it was exactly .. neither did I :D) from a local restaurant,.. pizza outlets were almost non-existent back then.
Superman : The great American dream come to life.. the movie made me believe man could fly.. After watching Superman-2, I jumped off the sofa in hope of catching onto my aunt who was about to pass by(If I had managed to do that, I would have been on the Indian long-jump team ).. I missed and hit my head on the almirah nearby. Woke up groggily to a number of blurry, anxious heads staring down on me. Supes eventually lost out to the more realistic Batman and Spiderman, ironically due to having too much strength.. and because there were no other movies after the Reeves' one.
Batman : The superhero with no superpowers and one of the most complex/dark characters.. read some really nice stories from the local library (the ones with Azrael, if you know them).. and managed to actually slip out with 2 of those comics unnoticed.. still have them tucked away somewhere.. :P
Spiderman : This web-singing friendly-neighbourhood wall-crawler was the reason I went hunting for red shirts with a netted texture.. didnt have much luck though. Still recall a few dreams vividly when my web-shooters would fail to fire at the most untimely of moments (Murphys law in my dreams too!!). In the comics, he has a wry sense of humour that the movies have failed to show...
Phantom : Also right up there with He-Man, this Mr.Walker** who shot faster than the eye could see, and moved quieter than a cat according to old jungle sayings was the secret Head of the jungle Patrol. The 21st in his line, this masked-hero (one who sees the Phantom's eyes will die at once,horribly) living in his skull-cave deep within the jungle captured my imagination. I fought with my friends at my birthday party so that I was the only one with a phantom-mask ... they could have all the Mickeys and Donalds they wanted, but no Phantoms... will try to scan and put up that pic of mine in the mask as soon as I am back in Bombay!
Mandrake: This magician could hypnotise anyone with a "Mandrake gestures hypnotically.. " .. his encounters with his evil half-brother Cobra and musings with his father Theron were the best parts. I myself have never been able to hypnotise anyone, despite trying sincerely on more than a few occassions...

PS: Check out: http://thecomicproject.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_thecomicproject_archive.html for one of Phantoms' comics.. not a very good one,esp. the artwork but brings back memories of some good ones.

My friend is troubling me to start out for the movie, so got to wind up this post without checking for typos or inconsistencies.. early bird, huh!

Quiz for the enthu: name the creators of each of the above Heroes without googling! Let me know how many you know of off the top of your head..

**for the Ghost-Who-walks, nemesis of evildoers everywhere!

When the Kings wore Pink

At some point or the other, I am sure most of you have got really attached to a song and couldnt stop humming it day in and day out. Walking down the road, or staring out of the window or sitting down to (a quiet session of) work, it just coaxes itself onto your lips.. and before you realize it, you are tra-la-la-ing to yourself, blissfully immune to hostile stares from your not-too-amused neighbours.

A lot of the times, it happens to be a good song, one that you actually want to sing out. One that atleast you, if not the ready-to-throw-tomatoes-bystanders, can enjoy. However one is not always that lucky.

So you know that your day is half-ruined when a typical Anu-Malik-esque song fevi-quicks itself into your lips. Add to that the vivid imagery of Govinda prancing about in his trademark pink-shirt-lemon-yellow-pants getup, and you start to get an inkling of what I went through around 10 (edit: thats 10 , not 12 years, as I had wrongly posted earlier ).. years ago while writing my history exam in the 7th standard (or was it the 6th..).

It was some time before that (maybe a year or two) that a very controversial song had come out .. in which Govinda proclaims in no uncertain terms to the already distressed world that his pant, shirt, baal, gaal, chaal and rumaal are all sexyy...And he wasnt alone. In typical bollywood group-dance tradition, there were these enthusiastic group of dancers behind him, going gung-ho about this. Now that I think of it, they were mostly male.. hmmmm... how inappropriate was that! (I hope you have got the song now, please). More than the music (which was given by none other than the redoubtable Anu-saarr ), the lyrics were what made the public take notice. Innocent, innocuous Indians not yet exposed to the Ways of the West found this ummm..errr... "sexy"(then usually uttered with a wince in a manner similar to a band-aid being peeled off quickly) word downright unacceptable.

That, I assume, was precisely the reason why the song chipko-fied itself into my head when I sat down to watch TV after a big mug-up session for the dreaded history exam I had to face the next day. Finding myself wiser on the doings of the Cholas and the Rajas, I subjected myself to around half an hr of Govinda-isms before my parents returned back home that night. Before I knew it, I was immersed in the song.

The next day came, I still couldnt get the song out of my head. As I went to write the exam, I tried to remember all I could about the dynasties... but in the background I kept humming...

There cant be a worse exam you give in school. Which year did the Battle of Andu-gundu take place?...As I racked my brains, what I got back was..

Meri pant bhi sexy...

Maybe it was 1350 odd.. or maybe 1377..

Think harder.. you can get this.. you had by-hearted all the dates twice over..

Meri shirt bhi sexy..

What would the Rajas have sung.. ?

And all of a sudden there was Govinda.. leading his troops to battle. A formidable foe faces him, but he seems supremely confident. His Pink body armor sparkles in the sun, and his yellow-pants (or whatever they call what they wore below the belt then) stands in good, stark contrast to the fashion sense of the 1300's. The knight in shining (,blinding and nauseatingly pink) armor is ready to fight. The horns of battle blow, not surprisingly sounding out.. "Meri dhaal bhi sexy... "

He wins the battle. His sexiness quotient rises as women of the other kingdom swoon over him. There is no stopping him now... There and then to the rhythm of clanging armors and amidst approving nods from the crowd, he whips out a blue hankie and goes.. "Yeh rumaal bhi....... ".

1377.. surely.

Why does he always have his teeth out while dancing...?

Of course, as this great epoch in Indian history's wartime-fashion played out in my head, I was battling to come to terms with the questions posed in the paper. Thankfully, they didnt require too much thought, and by the end of the paper, I had envisioned every single personality of note mentioned in the questions in pink'n'yellow disaster-suits.

I dont remember how that song got out of my head. Maybe it was when I realized that I had got a couple of answers wrong, or possibly heard a comment passed by a hapless listener (which I should add, could have been nowhere close to a compliment).

But I do know why I recall that day, and have subjected you to this mind-numbing piece of rubbish. Its because I have this song by Shaan in my head now, that I havent been able to stop humming since yesterday. Thankfully it has a nice tune and good lyrics.. Tanha dil, tanha safar.. dhoonde tujhe phir kyon nazar..

Hope you still return to my blog after this torturous session.. no more pink'n'yellows, I assure you. :)

Personal Note to myself: You'd have better luck solving a 4-D rubiks hypercube in your head.. give it up.. there no way you can understand whats going on in there..