In September, I got to read The God Delusions on recommendation by a close friend. A good book but missionary at times and containing a chunk of imperfect arguments. Let me delve into my critique. There are close to no references to the statements about the people before the 18th century that Mr. Dawkins make so confidently. Just saying that Historical Evidence does not point towards so, does not make me any more confident in his judgment disguisedly presented as a matter of fact. I anyway do not like opinionated authors, unless the opinion is well-researched and crafted one with a good objective. What Mr. Dawkins want is to create another cult (of supposedly intelligentsia), who do not believe in God almost as vehemently as followers of various religion do. In short, he wants to further split the already divided world. There is no empirical evidence to suggest that just because people start disbelieving in a personal God or do not have religious differences, world shall be a better place to live in just like there is no empirical evidence to suggest that atheism directly leads to evil. And to have any motivation to change the status quo, we need empirical evidences to the contrary. Nepal is a Hindu country with close to zero religious differences and no conflict there ever had God at its roots, yet can you say Nepal is a better place to live in than UK or France, where religious conflicts have cropped up time and again. The role of church in promoting Science in Europe from 500 AD – 1700 AD cannot be neglected. Rebuffing Dawkins on normative criteria, now I get back to positive rational of disbelieving his flimsy logic. I shall define God into three disparate, but not mutually exclusive alternatives, for the purpose of invalidating Richard Dawkins’s fallacious arguments: 1. Superhuman Intelligence –A being that is more intelligent than humans. It may not have any real power over the nature as we know it. If any being is more intelligent than us, then it shall be our objective to attain that intelligence, and anything that I aspire to attain, but hasn’t been able to until now can be classified as God on both positive and normative grounds. As per some well-researched documents, the idea of personal god percolates from superhuman intelligence that descended on earth some 2 million years ago, when there was sudden transformation in genes of human antecedents like Chimpanzees et al. The cross-breeding between these beings and selected mammalian species gave birth to homo-sapiens. These earliest races regarded these beings who used to come on earth from time to time as God. The evidence of such personal God still lies hidden with Brotherhood societies mistakenly believed to be in possession of some secret related to Jesus’s lineage. 2. Supernatural Intelligence – The definition closest to Dawkins’. A being with full control over nature and thereby on humans. Dawkins relies on the assumption that all mathematical logic holds good in denying the existence of such an entity. A true scientist, before claiming the truthfulness of his claim verifies each one of his assumptions. The limitation of scientific logic is that a few basic assumptions can never be tested. 2+2=4 remains an assumption that cannot be tested as all underlying mathematics is based on this. What our brain perceives as a result of skeptical observation of worldly phenomena is a fact is again an assumption relying on the unbiased and sound human mind. If I start disbelieving in all scientific observations, all hypotheses stand nullified. Scientists know this limitation of Science, and hence qualified in all their judgmental statements. But Dawkins has got the courage to assert him confidently in exploring a supernatural phenomenon through natural observations. An ant asserted that “Man has no intelligence” by observing that man’s movements are random. In her sample of 50 men including Jains and non-Jains, some of the limbs moved exactly opposite to where ants lay, while some moved exactly over them. There was no pattern in the movement. Hence Man’s intelligence is a misnomer. Any such assertion by an ant without even dissecting human brain is as silly as Dawkins’s assertion that a supernatural entity does not exist by observing natural phenomenon. Even with all mathematics and science holding good, Dawkins does not come up with any argument, that actually belies the existence of a supernatural entity. He only criticizes the proofs in favor of God, whose critique already lies in various philosophical treatises. At some points, his reasoning sounds as silly as the arguments he seeks to disprove. The best argument against the existence of omniscient, omnipotent, and all-loving god has already been established by the impossibility of such an entity existing.
3. Self as God – Dawkins refuses to delve into this all-encompassing definition in his half-heartedly researched book. Self as God concept is the central tenet of Hinduism, and it includes all sort of superhuman and supernatural intelligence. It proposes that God lies within, not without. Self is God concept is an extension of personal god concept; hence validation of Self as God concept shall automatically validate personal God. Attaining God is just like attaining your-self. Dawkins deny the existence of spirit, implying that we are just toys meant to live until the time we can survive determined on the basis of laws of natural selection. If we are such toys in the hands of some esoteric laws, I believe not in the existence of human, and the question of God’s existence becomes irrelevant. There are sufficient proofs in the Upanishads that through a combination of free will and spiritual intelligence proves the existence of a spirit within a body. When we attain that spirit, whole universe merges into us, and all bounds on our intelligence gets lifted and we become all too aware of the oneness of the whole universe, a universe that terminates in us. As per one of the best interpretation of Upanishads that I read, When you cut your limbs from your body, your mind loses control over them. If you are capable enough of endowing your limbs with a little intelligence, they may live a life of their own, oblivious of their oneness with you (imagine a split tail of a lizard vibrating on its own). It may conspire against your other limb or try to harm that. However, if by some mechanism you reunite your limb with yourself, it may feel ashamed of its microscopic view of the world. In the same way, we are aimless wanderers in this world with our spirit having lost control over us. We fail to recognize our oneness with every animate and inanimate thing in the world. The purpose of our life shall be to seek reunion with our spirit and aid it in consummating that reunion. That lays to rest my critique. |
Sep 11, 2008
The God Delusions: A Critique
Jun 24, 2008
To Bombay and Back
Digest 3 – Lull before the storm The lush hotel room and relatively stable life on plastic money (something that I am a staunch opponent of, but a heavy user of) provided me a convenient escapade from my travails that suddenly started looking like a thing of remote past. On the internship front, a honeymoon week was to be followed by a hectic workweek, where much was demanded, but less was conveyed. In between I moved from my plush accommodation to a Churchgate hostel. Immediately thereupon, I lost my mobile somewhere over there. I did get it back in 24 hours (may be because it was not an ideal set to be stolen), but not before I had purchased a new handset with a 5 MP camera, apparently to click some forgettable moments in Mumbai. Nehru Place exhibition, Atria Mall, Marine Drive, Haji Ali Juice Corner, Juhu Beach, Chowpatty, Phoenix Mills, and Gateway of India were some of the locations to which I paid my obeisance during the initial half of my stay. A particular incident related to electricity ……. In May, Bombay went berserk. Scorching sun coupled with seething humidity boiled me in and out. Shirt getting drenched at just the thought of getting out was norm rather than an exception. In such inhospitable circumstances, we managed to visit Elephanta caves; a small island situated almost an hour’s boatride (at 10-15 kph) away from Mumbai. Scaling the rocky terrain along a circuitous tent-covered route behaving more like a green-house furnace, we transformed into anorexics from a bunch of well fed gluttons. At the end of our safari encompassing Caves 1 & 2, and two canons atop the hills (which one of our friends was hell bent in not missing), we stayed put at a Maharashtra-State-Tourism’s restaurant for grabbing a quick bite. The washroom inside the restaurant was kind of what you expect from a government owned enterprise, but so untypical of this age of capitalism – an uncouth yellowness encircling practically everything white and shallow whiteness over everything un-white. A foreign couple along with their kid also stopped by to have a meal at the restaurant. The kid visited the washroom and was so unused to Indian hospitality that after using all his perseverance to control his bursting emotions in the washroom, blurted “Disgusting” as soon as he stepped out, making our group laugh arousing a set of disparate emotions. A trip to fashion street also deserves mention. I purchased a watch from the Street as well as a belt. The belt – procured for Rs. 50 was quite a bargain, and the watch too – for Rs. 100 modeled on Titan Fastrack range was lethal. As I walked a few steps ahead after purchasing the watch, I noticed it was showing wrong time – 1 PM or so at 6 PM in the evening. So, I adjusted the time and again a few steps ahead, I noticed it was now showing 10 PM. “Gorgeous Watch!” I exclaimed. “I am yet to see something that can suddenly creep 4 hours ahead so subtly.” Anyway, we went back to the vendor, got it exchanged for a piece of crap that I never wanted and that anyway became useless after a couple of half-hearted sportings. A trip to Alibaug was privy to some secrets that I do not feel like divulging at this point in time. |
To Bombay and Back
Digest 2 – Nightmare Continues With a desire to make the rest of the journey eventless or rather fruitful, (an event more often than not, turns an ordeal for meJ) I climbed on board the 07:00 PM flight and was welcomed by a sari-clad elegant hostess. At close to 09:00 PM, I got out of the Bombay airport (ouch; Mumbai for the purists), and found a rather ominous site of people queuing up to get a taxi. A taxi driver approached me and offered to take me to Worli for a princely sum of Rs. 500 where I had the hotel booking. The taxi was well maintained privately owned Esteem. The AC was kept on for the duration of the journey. After a few hiccups, we reached the E. Moses Road, the location of the Four Seasons Hotel. As I got out of the taxi, I put a --- rupees note in driver’s colleague’s hand., who was sitting on the front row. “Saar, aapne sau ka note diya hai” Translation – Sir, you have given a hundred rupees note “Oh! Sorry” I remarked with lost abandon and pulled out a Rs. 500 note and put it on his palm. “Saar, sau rupees aur de dijiye, kaafi ghoom phir ke ye jagah mili hai” Translation – Sir, please give us Rs, 100 more as we had to follow a circuitous way to here. Before I could give a convincing reply, he took off the car, and I smiled as if I had made him realize his guilt for asking in addition to 500, without saying a word. I entered the hotel. Gate Guard: “Good Evening Sir. You can head left for the reception.” At the reception, a white lady with a heavy Australian accent, “Sir, your room no. is …. You have to pay for a day’s rent in advance. That is Rs. XXXXX” Almost took me by surprise as it exceeded my wildest expectations. “Sir, you get a discount of --- I hope you enjoy your stay o’er here.” I entered the room, took my wallet out and just had a cursory peek at the currency inside, enough to make me realize that a 500 Rs. note is missing from it. And in the flash of a moment I realized what kind of guilt was responsible for the taxi driver to take a flight even before waiting for my reply. “Oh God! Why does it happen only with me. What sort of city is Bombay, full of scoundrels.” I cursed all but me for what was purely my fault. |
To Bombay and Back
Digest 1 – Nightmarish Start One fine morning on Saturday, March 29th 2008, I rose from the drunken state to board the Shatabdi Special from Lucknow to Delhi. The scheduled departure was 05:30 AM and I reached the station by 05:00 AM. From Delhi, I was to board the Jet Airways flight to Bombay at 04:30 PM. Definitely a circuitous way to go to Mumbai, when there was a direct flight from Lucknow to Bombay for much less. As I descended on the platform down the expansive stairs, a Shatabdi arrived on the adjacent platform apparently from Delhi. Keeping myself aloof, I asked a vendor “Is Shatabdi scheduled to arrive here?” “Yes, but it has just now arrived from Delhi, must be running late by 5-6 hours.” “What is the normal time of arrival” asked I in a sinking voice. “11:00 in the night.” I waited with bated breath for an announcement with a mighty hope that it must run before 08:00 at least as not more than 3 hours are required for getting it cleaned. If it did start at 08:00 I had more than a fair chance of catching my flight. At 05:35, the announcement did come, just after Gomti express departed from an adjacent platform, “Shatabdi Express to Delhi will be running late by 6 hours and shall depart for Delhi at 10:30 AM. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.” What?? 6 hours for cleaning. What kind of professionalism is this? I left the Railway station with a sunken heart and caught an Auto for IIML. At 06:00 AM, I cancelled my e-ticket, and fired an email to Railway authorities to reimburse me my full ticket as the delayed departure made my trip completely useless (I am yet to get a reply from them). Then I booked a Jetlite ticket for Sunday evening flight to Mumbai. |
Oct 21, 2007
Alonso stays Youngest Champion
Hamilton's hopes of becoming the youngest F1 champion were dashed in Brazil as Massa cleverly shielded Raikkonen and Ferrari walked away with Driver's title too. |
Sep 29, 2007
Talking Sense....
An Article from Kim Fletcher. Very a few times, I get an aha feeling after reading something. It was one of those times. When was the last time you called your spouse into the kitchen to make a presentation about the “challenges to the family going forward”? You haven’t? Of course not, for this nonsense is talked only in the office. These phrases mangle language. Going forward? That would be instead of backwards? Your colleagues talk like this for three reasons: first, it makes them feel part of a club. How they love discussing EBIT and what sounds like its father, EBITDA. But you can thwart them by looking up the terms on Google. Soon you will know all about LBOs and IPOs. Second, why discuss nasty things clearly when you can make them sound friendly? That is why sacking became redundancy became downsizing became “rightsizing”. That last one sounds as if employers aim for a Goldilocks-style balance, rather than to cut costs by whacking half the workforce. Businesses also try to exude optimism, even as bankruptcy looms. So problems become challenges and challenges — naturally — opportunities. But when did you last ring the repair man and say you had a challenge with the washing machine? You can get ahead by translating these euphemisms into English and gaining a reputation for “telling it like it is”. Third, executives use irritating language because it fills in uncomfortable pauses. Just as courtiers developed an elaborate language for use in front of the king, so executives use circumlocutions to oil wheels. That’s why they don’t say “Here are the figures” but, “I would like to share some numbers with you”. Soon, phrases such as “going forward” become nervous, vocal tics, the equivalent of “at the end of the day”, which is the favourite of footballers on the telly. Be brave and vow never to use any word that you wouldn’t use in real life. The secret is, you will be the only person in the office talking sense. |
Sep 28, 2007
From Divergence to Convergence: Back to Epistemology
Wheel has come full circle since the time earliest. The Journey of mankind started with an earnest attempt to analyze knowledge. What does it mean to know something as opposed to knowing it. It was the first real step away from Barbarism though people might disagree remarking that invention of fire was. Everyone knows something or the other – even the animals; it is the analysis of that knowledge itself – its limitations and weaknesses – that draws the fine line between Neo-Barbarians and Barbarians. Lately however, in our mindless pursuit of newer lands and unknown riches, we derided epistemology, as a pursuit of Jobless alcoholics. Times change – and as usual, with the advent of a thousands branches which were meant to explore the raw knowledge itself, the branches themselves became unwieldy, inapplicable. Enter Convergence – the combining of two or more branches to devise the process of analyzing amassed knowledge and systematically use it to unlock the combination of other such branches. Epistemological pursuits are in vogue again – though with changed names and facades. And we are back to the Golden Age of the discovery and analysis of knowledge. |