tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.comments2012-02-21T15:28:49.158-05:00Rants of a Homo SapienUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-72774142016469899702012-02-21T15:28:49.158-05:002012-02-21T15:28:49.158-05:00http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/16/stories/2011021663...http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/16/stories/2011021663510500.htm <br /><br />Andhra University College of Engineering (autonomous) received the award of all-India Best Government Engineering College, instituted by the Star News.sjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05007196062530259843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1161672414595915822006-10-24T01:46:00.000-05:002006-10-24T01:46:00.000-05:00When you know you the all these deviations are tra...<I>When you know you the all these deviations are transient. When you know that a deviation is only a deviation. Nothing to you: the observer. </I><BR/><BR/>Reminds me of this chapter from <B>GEB - Ant Fugue</B>: <BR/>Conscious systems perceive themselves on the symbol level only, and have no awareness of the lower levels, such as the signal levels.<BR/>...<BR/>In any conscious system there are symbols which represent the brain state, and they are themselves part of the brain state which they symbolize. For consciousness requires a large degress of self-consciousness ...sjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05007196062530259843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1161330015908319132006-10-20T02:40:00.000-05:002006-10-20T02:40:00.000-05:00Q: How about you make this "deviation from its acq...<I>Q: How about you make this "deviation from its acquired stable state" a challenging task for any external system imposing this change?</I><BR/><BR/>When you know you the all these deviations are transient. When you know that a deviation is only a deviation. Nothing to you: the observer. <BR/><BR/><I>Q: How do you make the above task not just challenging, but impossible?</I><BR/><BR/>When you know you are infinite absolue consciousness. When you know you are "that".<BR/><BR/>Happy Diwali to you (and your family)!ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1148576923886696382006-05-25T12:08:00.000-05:002006-05-25T12:08:00.000-05:00Awesome! Thanks!Awesome! Thanks!ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1142586986893373962006-03-17T04:16:00.000-05:002006-03-17T04:16:00.000-05:00Hello Hellooooo...Is there anybody out thereeeee??...Hello Hellooooo...<BR/>Is there anybody out thereeeee????<BR/>Just nod if you can hearr meeee...<BR/>Is there anyone home?<BR/><BR/>C'mon C'mon C'mon<BR/><BR/>:)ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1142585167408706342006-03-17T03:46:00.000-05:002006-03-17T03:46:00.000-05:00Hello Hellooooo...Is there anybody out thereeeee??...Hello Hellooooo...<BR/>Is there anybody out thereeeee????<BR/>Just nod if you can hearr meeee...<BR/>Is there anyone home?<BR/><BR/>C'mon C'mon C'mon<BR/><BR/>:)ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1140231100694959882006-02-17T21:51:00.000-05:002006-02-17T21:51:00.000-05:00SJ,This is Atanu's article on the freedom to be of...SJ,<BR/>This is <A HREF="http://www.deeshaa.org/2006/02/02/the-freedom-to-be-offended/" REL="nofollow">Atanu's article on the freedom to be offended</A> that I was pointing you to.ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1140157630398120322006-02-17T01:27:00.000-05:002006-02-17T01:27:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1140157351196034162006-02-17T01:22:00.000-05:002006-02-17T01:22:00.000-05:00You are right. Give the freedom of choice. You kno...<I>You are right. Give the freedom of choice. <BR/><BR/>You know what would be another good blog for us, discussing democracy. I find it a good fit for today's times, but it needs refinement.<BR/></I><BR/><BR/>I point you to two blogs I regularly read (the third one is Rajeev's, which I think you know anyway):<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://secular-right.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow">Secular-Right</A>, which gives a conservative, but reasonably open perspective (they accuse the Europeans of bigotry). The posts are: <A HREF="http://secular-right.blogspot.com/2006/02/freedom-of-speech-or-not.html" REL="nofollow">About Freedom of Speech from S-R point of view </A> and <A HREF="http://secular-right.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_secular-right_archive.html" REL="nofollow">Archives of February</A>.<BR/><BR/>The other point of view is on <A HREF="http://www.deeshaa.org/" REL="nofollow">Atanu's blog</A>.<BR/>Go to the sidebar and see the posts on "The freedom to be offended". They are very well written.<BR/><BR/>The third POV Rajeev Srinivasan's (you read it anyway).<BR/><BR/>Please read the posts on the blogs and let me know your views.<BR/><BR/>=============<BR/><BR/><I>What are your views on weighted democracy?</I><BR/><BR/>Regarding what is happening in world now-a-days, I agree with the the liberal point of view (Atanu). "If I have a problem with what you do in your home, then I should stay away from you or protest reasonably. Not threaten you with dire consequences."<BR/><BR/>Though, I used to like to Rajeev's perspective, I think it is a little too extremist. I still read him because, he gives me the "Hindu perspective."<BR/><BR/><I>What are your views on weighted democracy? Can it get us closer to Utopia?</I><BR/><BR/>Now-a-days, I feel, all the current squibbling is about Maya. It is good-for-nothing-squibbling-about-nothing! <BR/><BR/>Can chaos (utopia) in Maya lead us to a lesser understanding of Brahman? I don't know. <BR/><BR/>Can a Brave-new-world kind of world lead us to a better understanding of Brahman-Maya-Atman locus? <BR/>I don't know?<BR/><BR/>What would Shankara Say?ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1137287524563121222006-01-14T20:12:00.000-05:002006-01-14T20:12:00.000-05:00Copied this over from Amar's blog.An year of incom...Copied this over from Amar's blog.<BR/><A HREF="http://weblog.fortnow.com/2006/01/year-of-incompleteness.html" REL="nofollow">An year of incompleteness </A>sjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05007196062530259843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1137286201207878272006-01-14T19:50:00.000-05:002006-01-14T19:50:00.000-05:00You are right. Give the freedom of choice. You kno...You are right. Give the freedom of choice. <BR/><BR/>You know what would be another good blog for us, discussing democracy. I find it a good fit for today's times, but it needs refinement. What are your views on weighted democracy? Can it get us closer to Utopia?sjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05007196062530259843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1137026303589015612006-01-11T19:38:00.000-05:002006-01-11T19:38:00.000-05:00"Hinduism is the only one which gives a choice to ...<I> "Hinduism is the only one which gives a choice to be a disbeliever!". </I><BR/><BR/>Just like democracy is the only form of government that allows 'aggreeable dissent' and free-market is the only one that allows for 'agreeable monopoly'.ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1136498565006481492006-01-05T17:02:00.000-05:002006-01-05T17:02:00.000-05:00Thanks SJ for putting many of my thoughts into con...Thanks SJ for putting many of my thoughts into context. I have added some more comments in my blog. <BR/><BR/>I also think that, Hinduism is more than a "way of life", more than an "organized religion", and more than a "philosophy". Maybe, what we are following is something that is the highest attainable by humanity. <BR/><BR/>Also, I feel that you and me are Vedantists rather than Hindus. In one way this is being more specific, but gives a more precise definition of what we believe in.ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1134443359462323392005-12-12T22:09:00.000-05:002005-12-12T22:09:00.000-05:00Jagriti, Swapna, Sushupti is what everybody compr...<I> Jagriti, Swapna, Sushupti </I> is what everybody comprehends and we are also able to analyze the differences. We tend to relate the Jagriti as the more real part than the Swapna and I think we do it for a reason. It is because we have passed consciously (really!!!)from the real state to the not so real state. We then tend to differentiate them purely on what our senses dictate. While we are vacillating, our senses go completly absent in one mode and then we attach the so called tags of real and illusion to it just using this one meta information, if you will.<BR/><BR/>Blessed are those souls who are able to oscillate between <I>turiya</I>, the fourth state of consiousness, and <I>Jagriti</I>. Same as what Escher is portraying in these pictures right. You need to switch to the <I>i</I> mode to really look through this. <BR/><BR/>I would love to see a blog or a series of them which can elaborate on this theme. I will look forward to it ....sjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05007196062530259843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1134357837212904012005-12-11T22:23:00.000-05:002005-12-11T22:23:00.000-05:00SJ,Nice pics.In some of his drawings, one single t...SJ,<BR/>Nice pics.<BR/><I><BR/>In some of his drawings, one single theme can appear on different levels of reality. For instance, one level in a drawing might clearly be recognizable as representing fantasy or imagination; another level would be recognizable as reality. These two levels might be the only explicitly portrayed levels. But the mere presence of these two levels invites the viewer to look upon himself as part of another level; the viewer cannot help but getting caught up in Escher's implied chain of levels, in which, for any one level, there is always another level aboe it of greater "reality", and likewise, there is always another level, "more imaginary" than it is.<BR/></I><BR/><BR/>I take it that you are impliying non-duality in the pictures. Wonderful!!!<BR/><BR/>In daily life, We regularly see two levels of reality: the waking-state and the dream-state (apart from the dreamless-sleep state). What makes us think that waking state is more real than the other? What made the Upanishadic seers conjecture a fourth state?ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1134356971565907722005-12-11T22:09:00.000-05:002005-12-11T22:09:00.000-05:00All consistent axiomatic formulations of number th...<I><BR/>All consistent axiomatic formulations of number theory include undecidable propositions.<BR/></I><BR/>I also like the following:<BR/><BR/><I>Any axiomatic system of number theory is either incomplete or inconsistent.</I>ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1134286245817457162005-12-11T02:30:00.000-05:002005-12-11T02:30:00.000-05:00My PC was down with virus for more than a week (it...My PC was down with virus for more than a week (it couldn't have chosen a better time since I am devoid of any of my PC tools). <BR/><BR/>Anyway getting back to the topic, first thing first <B>"Congratulations AU"</B>, you deserved this graduation. This one was a long time coming. <BR/><BR/>Now given a choice, I graduated from IIT Andhra sounds more gratifying than IIT Vizag. But then the contentious issue is what will Osmania, the other IIT from Andhra, be called. If we can maintain the austerity just as IIT Bombay and Madras did, then it makes perfect sense to stick with Andhra, else its better to stick to the standards set by the others.sjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05007196062530259843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1133627831572627912005-12-03T11:37:00.000-05:002005-12-03T11:37:00.000-05:00>subject: IIT~status~for~7~tech~institutesQ: Where...>subject: IIT~status~for~7~tech~institutes<BR/><BR/>Q: Where did you did your undergraduation?<BR/>A: Andhra University<BR/><BR/>sounds charming enough. doesn't it? why? there is magic in the 'Andhra' part of the university. I always felt so.<BR/><BR/>I would have preferred the new name to be <I>IIT-Andhra</I> instead of <I>IIT-Vizag</I>. Somehow, <I>IIT-Andhra</I> gives the feeling of coming from the best university from Andhra. The 'IIT' prefix is good, it gives a (inter) national status, but if we lose the name 'Andhra', I believe, we are losing something.<BR/><BR/>Would like to know your thoughts.ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1131936282587929872005-11-13T21:44:00.000-05:002005-11-13T21:44:00.000-05:00I took a cue from your blog and had to write this....I took a cue from your blog and had to write this. I just had to vent this out. I know we had discussed many of these things during our last 11 years (heck, its been a long time) but even today their approach continues to be misunderstood often. <BR/><BR/>How, my heart, still wishes we could go back and attend Prof. Govind Rao's lecture you were talking about, Prof. Ratnam's adhoc lectures. Even better we could have preserved them in digital format so that the whole department could benefit from it. They were truly the masters of their art. <BR/><BR/>A lot of times I draw inspiration from these Professors. I owe them all a bunch for whatever I am today. <BR/><BR/>We were indeed, lucky.sjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05007196062530259843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1131764016923105772005-11-11T21:53:00.000-05:002005-11-11T21:53:00.000-05:00SJ,I cannot emphasize how much I empathize with ea...SJ,<BR/>I cannot emphasize how much I empathize with each sentence, word, heck even the punctuation in this wonderful post of yours.<BR/><BR/>Considering about the transition in the faculty: our batch was lucky in the sense that we could see the difference between the good and the other faculty. Our juniors, I think, could never feel that they were in classrooms where the essence of EE was taught in a couple of lectures. <BR/><BR/>This reminds me of an anecdote about the Network Analysis course in 2nd year. Recently, I had commented that Prof. Govind Rao that he did not teach too many classes. This was true. However, he was so good that he taught all that was required for network analysis in one class by giving three kinds of signals (impulse, step, ramp), two kinds of generators (voltage, current) and three kinds of circuits (pure resistor, pure inductor, pure capacitor) and asking us to show the output signals of each of these. It is my feeling that I got the most out of that course in that particular lecture. A saying from Telugu: <I>Gangigovu palu garitedu chalu ...</I> aptly fits in (I can quote similar examples from other Professors too!).<BR/><BR/>This is, but one example of how you can learn from the masters of the knowledge. I donot find some of those teachings different from the teachings religious masters give in a pithy way. <BR/><BR/>I think we were simply lucky!ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1131553682173774252005-11-09T11:28:00.000-05:002005-11-09T11:28:00.000-05:00Even though I am no computer scientist, I am sure ...Even though I am no computer scientist, I am sure I would run into one of those logicians with my idea of recursion. But nevertheless, with a view of correcting myself, I would like to read the notes.<BR/><BR/><B><I>Also, we can reason about the termination of a recursive program iff the call is made on a provably (strictly) smaller problem. Of course, the reasoning whether a program will halt or not is the crux of the decidability theory, by Turing's halting problem.</I></B><BR/><BR/>You are exactly right and that is what GEB too does and we will reapproach this topic when we get to that chapter (it is chapters, if I am not wrong). I think Hofstadter makes a strong case by putting forth Godel's theorem, TNT, Turing's thorem to address <I>decidability</I> and/or <I>termination</I>.<BR/><BR/>The dictionary meaning of <I>Recursion</I> would term is as an expression obtained by repeating a pattern/principle/operation over and over again. As mathematicians, logicians and good part of humans, we don't like undecidability. (Not to digress, Eastern culture doesn't resent the unknown as much as Western culture does.)<BR/>Hence we always embed a terminating condition, which might not be the pristine <I>recursion</I>.sjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05007196062530259843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1131494070043577522005-11-08T18:54:00.000-05:002005-11-08T18:54:00.000-05:00SJ,Thanks for the post. Nice one to begin with: re...SJ,<BR/>Thanks for the post. Nice one to begin with: recursion.<BR/><BR/>I have a few thoughts: the terms that we encounter in reasoning about programs: <I>programs that are recursive</I> and the terms that we encounter in the decidability theory, namely: <I>recursively enumerable</I> and <I>recursive</I> have their etymological roots in mathematics and logic. I donot rememer exactly who, but some logicians protested the use of the terms -- loosely as they called -- by computer scientists when referring to programs.<BR/><BR/>Also, we can reason about the termination of a recursive program iff the call is made on a provably (strictly) smaller problem. Of course, the reasoning whether a program will halt or not is the crux of the decidability theory, by Turing's halting problem.<BR/><BR/>Thanks!ramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164267.post-1131163433646008712005-11-04T23:03:00.000-05:002005-11-04T23:03:00.000-05:00Yes Surya, I am ready to take the journey! Lead us...Yes Surya, <BR/>I am ready to take the journey! <BR/>Lead us through the maze of self-reference of GEBramakrishna uhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901176795841707101noreply@blogger.com