Saturday, May 19, 2012

Being Free

i can never be free
from you

unentanglement of
souls
is theoretically
impossible

but

entanglement can change form
from soul to spirit
from love a to love b

i can never be free
from you

even when you're no longer here
with me

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Power vs. Knowledge

It's sad that power and not knowledge rules the world.

The Chinese have always been such a learned and beautiful society. And they're receiving much attention today because of the power they have managed to strategically out on the world.

An Example from the Leiden University Newsletter this morning: Leiden University strengthens ties with China

So when you get the power, people decide to listen to the knowledge. 

But China made a cool science breakthrough today: It smashed the distance record for teleportation!

The Grammar of Happiness

Yesterday I attended a talk by linguist Dan Everett on the Piraha people of the amazon and their special language. In Piraha, the people call themselves Hi'aiti'ihi, roughly translated as 'the straight ones'. Their language demonstrates their straight intentions:

1. They have no present and future tenses. They speak in the now (and nearby in time)
2. They don't have conjunctions
3. They don't have a written form
4. They have recursive reasoning but not recursive language
5. They don't have colors
6. They don't have numbers (but know the names of all their children :))
7. They have 'we' but not 'I'

They call other people the crooked head :)



The point of no recursive constructions is in opposition to Chomsky's running idea of universal grammar (making it a tad bit controversial). There's a missing piece in linguistics. A sort of unequationess between semantics or meaning and syntax or form. We make the natural assumption that there's a code to crack in everything.

But what's more amazing is their way of life. The Piraha's are a hunter-gatherer tribe who have rejected civilized ways for over 300 years now. They don't have houses and don't trade and money is not a concept in their lives. They live within nature and know everything about the plants and animals around them, how to talk to them through whistle and gesture, and how to feel them.

A few years ago, they started to use some cloth from the outside world. And today, the Brazilian government has built some house structures and brought some electricity and water pumps to their living area. After much resistance.

The Piraha's have no concept of God as they don't live in the hypothetical. It's not in their frame of thought and consequently not in their frame of language. Dan went there as a missionary to convert them and to save them with God. After eight years of living in the Amazon and nature, he found himself carrying a different message :)



This is our world. This is everybody's Earth.
Be responsible, please.

(Pictures from search on the internet)

Saturday, May 05, 2012

Sheesh

We're called Human Beings and not Human Doings for a reason.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

"Der Lagi Lekin"

Der lagi lekin, maine ab hai jeena seekh liya
Jaise bhi ho'n din, maine ab hai jeena seekh liya
Ab maine ye jaana hai, khushi hai kya, gham kya..
Dono hi, do pal ki hai ruttein
Na yeh thehre na rukein
Zindagi do rangon se bane
Ab roothe, ab mane
Yehi toh hai, yehi toh hai, yahaan
Der lagi lekin, maine ab hai jeena seekh liya
Aansuon ke bin maine ab hai jeena seekh liya
Ab maine, Yeh jaana hai kise kahoon apna
Hai koi, jo yeh mujh se keh gaya
Yeh kahaan tu reh gaya
Zindagi toh hai jaise kaarvan
Tu hai tanha kab yahaan
Sabhi toh hai, sabhi toh hai yahaan
Koi sunaaye jo hansti muskurati kahani
Kehta hai dil, main bhi sunoon,
Aansoo mein moti ho jo kisi ke nishani
Kehta hai dil, main bhi chunoon
Baahein dil ki ho baahon mein hi
Chalta, chalun yunhi raahon mein
Bus yunhi, ab yahaan, ab wahaan
Der lagi lekin, maine ab hai jeena seekh liya
Aansuon ke bin maine ab hai jeena seekh liya
Hai koi, jo yeh mujh se keh gaya
Yeh kahaan tu reh gaya
Zindagi toh hai jaise kaarvan
Tu hai tanha kab yahaan
Sabhi toh hai, sabhi toh hai yahaan

The irony of the relationship between technology and idleness

One of the purposes of everyday technology (mobiles, laptops, etc.) is to make us more efficient. But we rarely use our 'freed up&...