H O P E

Recently my brother Don and his family, along with 2 other families made a trip to Ladakh to volunteer with a Non Profit, 17000 ft foundation.
www.17000ft.org

One of the major projects of the foundation was its Library Project.
http://www.17000ft.org/library.html

The cost of setting up a library is an expensive proposition. And it has several limitations. Only 1 person can borrow a book, updating with new books periodically is difficult. You need space.You need ...

This set off a thought process. There has to be a better way. And that thought led to HOPE.

HOPE stands for the hope of getting education to the billions that don't have it, a few thousand at a time. HOPE is also an acronym for
"High-speed Outernet Powered Education."

In the era of the Internet and the almost ubiquitous availability of educational content, we seem to have forgotten accessibility. A relatively small % of people have access to the Internet. And a small fraction of that have access to sufficient bandwidth and data to be able to read and view educational material.

HOPE brings the Internet to those without access in the form of the Outernet. Here's a brief presentation on the concept and a prototype.


HOPE - A Brief Presentation

We'd love to have your feedback and support on the project. Please contact me if you'd like to be involved in the HOPE Project and bringing a life changing Hope to the billions.

Illusion of Knowledge

I've been watching National Geographic's Brain Games episodes over the last few months and have been fascinated. Especially about how little I knew. About the Brain. How it works. How we perceive. How we ...

Until earlier today I saw a very interesting episode. All episodes were interesting, but this raised a few serious questions. The episode was titled "What You Don't Know". (Season 2, Episode 6)

It's about the misconception that we understand everything that goes no around us. However science shows that we know a lot less than we think we do.

In fact, psychologists have a name for it. "Illusion of Knowledge"

Shankar Vedantam, a NPR Science Correspondent says,
"
In everyday life, we constantly come across problems we can't solve and if we were honest with ourselves, we'd admit it. But the reality is that we don't. Psychologists call it "Illusion of Knowledge"

The brain is wired to try and provide an answer. Its a survival mechanism to make you feel more in control. Nobody likes to walk around feeling lost and clueless, especially with things we think we should know.

The best way out is to challenge it to get specific details on how a specific object works.
"

2 of the examples it gives is the everyday zipper and cycle. We all think we know how they work. Try drawing and explaining a working model and we'll soon realize, "We thought we knew".

Do check out, not only this episode but others of Brain Games". Its anything but Games.

And whilst on the subject of "Illusion of Knowledge", check out Jason Latimer's take on the "Illusion of Knowledge". Completely different but equally engaging and thought provoking.

Seeing beyond the illusion of knowledge: Jason Latimer at TEDxWallStreet

Problem Solving

This week I'm in San Francisco visiting Freia who's doing her internship. She sent me a link to
"A Quick Puzzle to Test Your Problem Solving". Sounded intriguing, but what was even more interesting was that it was from the New York Times.

Check this out first:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/03/upshot/a-quick-puzzle-to-test-your-problem-solving.html?smid=tw-share


And if you haven't, do spend some time and read the complete article. Explains the reasons why not only why we behave the way we do, but also why Governments and Corporates behave the way they do.

And whats the most interesting is that all of this is based on an experiment carried out in 1960 by English psychologist Peter Wason. That leads us to the next question, "Why don't we learn?"

Reia Graduates: Finally and with a sense of humor

Saturday 20th June was one of the most important days of Reia's life. And mine. 3 years ago when we moved to the US, we weren't very sure what school had in store for Reia. Both of us had very little expectations and were prepared that things may not work out.

Saturday proved that our concerns and fear were ill founded. Not only did Reia graduate, she managed to get honors in each of the 12 quarters she did at her now alma mater "Wilton High School". We know and acknowledge that this does not reflect Reia's or her parents, (read Dad) efforts, but rather the amazing set of teachers and staff at Wilton High School. Thank You.

But I digress. This blog was not about her graduation. But what happened after. As luck would have it, Reia's graduation photograph was on the front-page of the Wilton Villager, the town newspaper.

Reia sent all of us the following e-mail.
"
Subject: Look me, look me

Cover page of the Wilton villager = Cover page of Times of India, so I'm basically on the cover page of Times of India. If you want to speak to me now you have to contact my agent I'll attach her contact details below.

It was nice knowing you common men but now that I've got my big break, Adios.

spicebeth_boom@yahoo.co.uk ( that's my agents email)
"


Freia, responded with a Facebook post aka Freia's Newspaper
"

BREAKING NEWS --- REIA LOBO GRADUATES HIGH SCHOOL!!!!

Contrary to the expectations of the town and the fears of her parents, Wilton resident Reia Lobo (18, right) graduated from Wilton High School. Lobo, a recent immigrant from India didn't speak much English but studied hard while simultaneously working and keeping up with many TV shows. Her parents could not be reached for comment.

"

And not to be outdone, Reia responded with:
"
I would like to thank my mother, father and sister Freia Lisa Lobo for always bringing me down and telling me I couldn't do it. It really helped my self esteem. I would also like to thank the Kardashians for teaching me English and for letting me keep up with them. Last but not the least I would like to thank my 7th grade math teacher for giving me 12 out of 80 and making me leave and go to the U.S
"

And finally: To Reia and Freia, from me

"
Its great that you'll graduated High School, but its even greater that you'll found a sense of humor. Keep laughing and the world will laugh with you. Cry and even I might not be there :-)
"

The Debate over Rascism

Lately the debate over Racism in America has become heated and just as the debate seems to wane a bit, another incident takes place, that brings it back at the fore-front.

I've been a guest of the American people for several years and have spent a significant amount of time in the last 3 years. I've traveled and worked in over 25 countries and have no hesitation in saying that the Americans have been the most welcoming and friendly with the least amount of discrimination.

I was therefore of the opinion that just because a few random individuals committed heinous acts that cannot be justified, a complete group of people be accused and held responsible. This seemed extremely unfair, especially since it was my opinion that the large majority, like you and me stood alongside the grieving families, filled with sympathy and hope that tragedies such as these would not happen again.

I thought of these as isolated incidences which we should look at reducing if not completely eliminating by a higher level of policing and other effective measures such as enhanced background checks for gun ownership.

I decided to check some of my thoughts and was amazed to find that not many people seemed to share my point of view. I'm giving below some of the points of view I found that were interesting, compelling and sometimes disturbing.


Jon Stewart and Trevor Noah Compare Racism in America Versus Africa

Kids speak their minds about race
In CNN's Anderson Cooper's special report, kids give honest feedback on racial and social issues.

The Huffington Post has almost 50 articles that directly and specifically address the issue.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/racism-in-america/


PBS has an extremely thought provoking article on the subject - The hidden racism of young white Americans
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/americas-racism-problem-far-complicated-think/

After going through all of the above, I'm no longer absolutely sure of my own thoughts on the subject. I still believe that an overwhelming majority of Americans are non racist and believe in the inalienable rights of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" given to all human beings.

It seems like I'm wrong, since not too many non-white Americans seem to agree.

Perfect. The enemy of Good.

Perfect is the enemy of Good. The Wikipedia article on the subject summarizes it much better than I ever could.

Quote

Perfect is the enemy of good is an aphorism which is commonly attributed to Voltaire, who quoted an Italian proverb in his Dictionnaire philosophique in 1770: "Il meglio è nemico del bene". It subsequently appeared in his moral poem, La Bégueule, which starts

Dans ses écrits, un sage Italien
Dit que le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.

(In his writings, a wise Italian
says that the best is the enemy of the good)

Aristotle, Confucius and other classical philosophers propounded the principle of the golden mean which counsels against extremism in general.

The Pareto principle or 80–20 rule explains this numerically. For example, it commonly takes 20% of the full time to complete 80% of a task while to complete the last 20% of a task takes 80% of the effort. Achieving absolute perfection may be impossible and so, as increasing effort results in diminishing returns, further activity becomes increasingly inefficient.

Its sense in English literature can be traced back to Shakespeare. In his tragedy, King Lear, the Duke of Albany warns of "striving to better, oft we mar what's well" and in Sonnet 103:

Were it not sinful then, striving to mend,
To mar the subject that before was well?

Watson-Watt, who developed early warning radar in Britain to counter the rapid growth of the Luftwaffe, propounded a "cult of the imperfect", which he stated as "Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes." Economist George Stigler says that "If you never miss a plane, you're spending too much time at the airport."

Unquote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good

We seem to go through life constantly waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect opportunity, the perfect project, the perfect ...

And end up missing on good and mostly great moments, opportunities, ... We spend too much time worrying about how whatever we're doing is just not good enough. And end up doing nothing. Thereby proving our initial assumption that "It wasn't good enough".

It makes great sense to do the exact opposite. I'm a fan of the Chesterton philosophy of "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."

http://www.chesterton.org/a-thing-worth-doing/

And so if you think this article or the blog itself could be written much better, you're absolutely right. And as soon as you let me know how, I will definitely make it better.

But think about it. Had I not written this imperfect piece or had a blog at all, neither you nor I would have ever known how imperfect I was. And then I could never close the gap between perfect and imperfect.

Interesting Gurus

Many of us and definitely I have normally avoided spiritual Gurus and their preachings. This was because I was under the impression that Gurus mainly preach spirtual discourses that have very little practical use or application. And revolved around religion.

I found out how wrong I was, thanks to Whatsapp when a friend shared a small clip. It was interesting and lead me to explore more. It was impressive. And fascinating. And insightful.

Here are 3 examples the modern day Guru. They make you smile, sometimes laugh and most importantly Think.


In Conversation with the Mystic
Sadhguru

Inspiration
Gaur Gopal Prabhu

Secret of Karma
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar