Thought Travels

All in all, not too many changes, but let me do some self-analysis. What are the things that have continued...

Firstly, the belief in the existnece of fundamental "duality" of the world. In my view, the world is manifested through binary opposite constructs and their balance defines reality. Duality manifests itself in several forms and it is a fallacy to believe we can hope to re-concile the two. We have to accept their independent existence intrinsically. Life is perhaps a quest to search the "Golden Mean'... In this tradition, i am rejecting the Hegelian view that there can be infinite 'Synthesis'.

And this duality waxes and wanes. It is always in 'creative tension'. Reality is a sine curve which is moving and yet gives the notion of a 'standing' wave (see figure). The sine curver encompasses both the straight line (the symbol of the linear western philosophy) and the circle (the symbol of circular occidental philosophy).There is both a crest and trough. There is both movement and stillness. And though it is an extremly symetric figure, the equilibrium points of the curve are virtually none. It posits the fundamental truth 'what goes up has to come down'. It may seem to us that one of the entities has an 'upper hand'. Well that may happen at if we look at a short-enough duration. Over shorter periods, it may seem to us that there is asymmetery in the crests and troughs but over long periods (even centuries) they are almost equalised.



In the last five years, the examples representing this reality has grown stronger :-
1. The foremost example is the non-reconciliation of the relativistic and classical theories in physics. The search of the holy grail in physics (the grand unified field theory) will in all probability come to a naught.
2. The second good example is the inevitability of the business cycles. There is no getting away from it. Millions of variables lead to a proven global phenonmenon where there are contractions after expansions. Waxing and waning impacts even the most complex interplay of human institutions globally.

And yes there is a second premise : Yes there is a pattern to the world but this pattern is not all-powerful. It is, can and will be continue to be shaped by individual influences. In some ways, both 'determinism' and 'free will' are an intrinsic part of reality. Again duality.

Lets take darwinism. There is a very definite determinism in the process of 'natural selection'. But what does natural selection select ? Well, it selects the most beneficial of the 'random mutations' in a species. The important thing to note is that these random mutations are not always 'beneficial'. But natural selection always selects the only the most survival-enabling mutations. Here natural selection can be likened to the deterministic process and the random mutations to the individual 'free will'. All of the living world is the outcome of the duality of the opposing forces.

Or lets take 'the Group' and 'the Individual'. What a group of ordinary people working harmoniously together can never be achieved by a single person. The Group is more than the sum of it's parts. Nevertheless, the power of individuals to influence groups through a single powerful idea is formidable (think Marx, Hitler, Gandhi). Again I see this as an interplay of duality.

Some of the beliefs that have not changed till now also include the absolute nature of values, a belief in personal responsibility of actions, a tendendy to fiercely hold on to my point of view, belief in the scientific method an endevour to contribute to the human experience etc.

So much for similarities. Where have i deviated in my thoughts in the last 5 years ? Well i used to believe that thoughts should not be controlled but one must limit actions so long as they do not directly cause physical harm to others. I have definitely deviated from the view somewhat. I have come to realise that it is quite naive on our part to separate thoughts and actions. Today i hold people responsible for both their thoughts and actions. Stupidity/Ignorance is no longer an excuse. Everybody is responsible epistimologically.

Also, I had viewed the state a necessary evil, tolerating it for it's own sake. However the view today is certainly more nuanced. I believe the state has an important role to play on a variety of fronts including economic policy making. Govts play a crucial role in sustaining modern human life. I still remain very skeptical about the "Big Brother" style govt but the lazzie faire and market fundamentalism is not as rabid.

Another assessment pending in a few years...