A week ago, we saw the body of a dead cat on the road
It is a road where one cannot and should not stop.
So we would keep looking at it as we would pass it
And then
Record rains happened and it swept the body away.
I just hope there is a once in a century sweep over in our political reality soon. Else, the living body of basic civility and secularism will be thrown into a dump, while the body would still be breathing.
Fuckin awesome post Amit. You should write a newsletter you know and then a book you know and then a lot of books you know. You know?
I agree, (may be I'm missing your larger point - forgive me if I am :-)) but I hate to get argumentative for the sake of it...but in this case, on principle I think I must. Your concluding statement declares we're not the rational beings we think we are. Yes, we aren't if we are to rate ourselves based on following things to an extreme irrational precision. But the world operates in shades of grey, so a heuristic helps us efficiently navigate this grey-world avoiding getting bogged down by the search for the ultimate black or white.
The reason why I'm pursuing my point is that it has become painfully obvious to me in the last couple years that sometimes looking for absolute solutions to problems is a bit of a misleading time wasting endeavor while many 'good enough' solutions suffice. Especially in the context of the Indian education system - we (the student body) were regularly castigated and scolded for not coming up with the exact solution that the instructor/professor expected, while in the real world there were many reasonable paths to get to the same favorable outcome, not necessarily the one solution in the mind of the instructor. The US education system (at least at the graduate level) didn't dwell so much on accuracy, but encouraged effort, encouraged the spirit of the pursuer, and the outcomes of this type of an education system speaks for itself.
I read this story in Wilson's wonderful book 'Letters to a young scientist' (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/16234587), but could not have thought about the metaphor. Loved this piece! I'm going to re-read the letters.
But isn't following a reliable heuristic (bad smelling body = dead) reasonable enough to proclaim we're rational beings? I don't see a strawman based on edge-cases being compelling evidence for irrational behavior.
Dead Ant or a Dead Elephant !! Think of us ?
https://youtu.be/FV-d-WoiFzU?si=A1Ref6v9v9vPBvNX
Great article.
Reminds me of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfOW9QrLs0o
Also, what did the Pink Panther say when he saw the title of the article?
A: Dead ant. Dead ant. Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead aaaaannnnt.
I'll see myself out. That is all.
Omg.. the ending!!
I see what you did here!
And I completely agree with you!
We take a set route to the hospital
We are going to Hospital regularly these days
A week ago, we saw the body of a dead cat on the road
It is a road where one cannot and should not stop.
So we would keep looking at it as we would pass it
And then
Record rains happened and it swept the body away.
I just hope there is a once in a century sweep over in our political reality soon. Else, the living body of basic civility and secularism will be thrown into a dump, while the body would still be breathing.
Fuckin awesome post Amit. You should write a newsletter you know and then a book you know and then a lot of books you know. You know?
Odorless, Colorless...Approved for all vitriolic purposes.
Our political masters, akin to Wilson, have figured it out for us.
I agree, (may be I'm missing your larger point - forgive me if I am :-)) but I hate to get argumentative for the sake of it...but in this case, on principle I think I must. Your concluding statement declares we're not the rational beings we think we are. Yes, we aren't if we are to rate ourselves based on following things to an extreme irrational precision. But the world operates in shades of grey, so a heuristic helps us efficiently navigate this grey-world avoiding getting bogged down by the search for the ultimate black or white.
The reason why I'm pursuing my point is that it has become painfully obvious to me in the last couple years that sometimes looking for absolute solutions to problems is a bit of a misleading time wasting endeavor while many 'good enough' solutions suffice. Especially in the context of the Indian education system - we (the student body) were regularly castigated and scolded for not coming up with the exact solution that the instructor/professor expected, while in the real world there were many reasonable paths to get to the same favorable outcome, not necessarily the one solution in the mind of the instructor. The US education system (at least at the graduate level) didn't dwell so much on accuracy, but encouraged effort, encouraged the spirit of the pursuer, and the outcomes of this type of an education system speaks for itself.
So, chemical oleic acid helps in finding out corpse.
Blind faith in chemicals !!!
I read this story in Wilson's wonderful book 'Letters to a young scientist' (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/16234587), but could not have thought about the metaphor. Loved this piece! I'm going to re-read the letters.
But isn't following a reliable heuristic (bad smelling body = dead) reasonable enough to proclaim we're rational beings? I don't see a strawman based on edge-cases being compelling evidence for irrational behavior.