Some foresight

Since time immemorial,man has had a certain kind of fixation with predicting the future.We predict every moment,every day and every year.Some will draw a purely statistical inference from the past.A rare few of them will entrust
neural nets and genetic algorithms to do that job. Some will be paid for weaving their esteemed intuition into their vision.Some will simply paint their favourite picture and be fanatic about it.Some will consult the stars,astrologers and Gods(apologies for mentioning the three in the same breadth).A few will announce something apparently incoherent and then initiate forces towards realisation. But I this is my take on how this eccentric,moody man sporting dark sunglasses -Mr Future looks like:

Language: No colloquial word will be longer than more than seven syllables.The number of chat acronyms in the oxford dictionary will be closing in on the rest of the words.Kindergarten exam papers will ask you to expand ASAP,BRB,etc. USA might go in for its own official alphabet and phonetic system which will be readily adopted by the rest of the world and my descendants vill raaete der haart out.Spellchecks will become obsolete.Calligraphy courses will be highly sought after as hand-writing will be as aesthetically pleasing as painting.

Sexuality:Gay and lesbian rights will be recognized all over the world. Religious texts will look absurd for their opposition.New sects and religions which support homosexuality will take birth and flourish. As women get more independent and powerful,they will take a more conscious and thoughtful approach towards things and somewhere down the line,population would stop growing.India too like Germany and Australia will offer incentives for having children.

Religion: Richard Dawkins says,"We are evolving irrespective of religion.Things like gay rights and gender equality have been clearly and vehemently opposed in the Bible and other texts.This evolution will continue through novels,editorials and blogs.We will all evolve,though at our own individual pace."So,as we proceed,religion will reduce itself to a dimension of life that must be preserved as a legacy and our actual belief system will heavily contrast the sacred texts.This fact might provoke a few of us to think that most of humanity is engaged in blasphemy and that liberalism should be renounced.So,here's the hard irony,fundamentalism is not only here to stay,but to grow and flourish.

I could have chosen to deliberate on technology as well but I strongly agree with Kevin Kelly that technology is a species on its own right,deserving a post of its own.Besides,it is still language,sexuality and religion which form the fundamental bonds between individuals.

If my predictions ever come true,I hope Blogger's servers would still be holding this post.

Lets get back to the future.

I am,therefore I think

I live.I see people cry and die.I am happy and I live.Its good to think that I am different,once in a while,but what does being different mean anyway.Its sad to know that the Universe is not aware of my existence.No,I did not deduce that by the number of people I expect to turn up at my cremation if I die tomorrow.I mean,in a more fundamental sense.
.It is sad to know that God is no more than a metaphorical shorthand for unexplained reality.Its a rude shock to realize that the process of my conception was so random and sudden,like the lottery ticket which becomes precious only after the draw.Its devastating to realize that all my physical features and character traits can possibly be encoded and stored like dumb computer programs.Craig Venter says ,"that any two humans differ from each other by about 1-2%, not the 0.1% that we thought was the case when we sequenced the first draft of the human genome earlier in the decade. This data is much more comforting as it is clear to me that we are all much more individualistic than previously thought".Thank you,Craig ,so I AM DIFFERENT,in some small way,atleast.Lately ,its a torture for me to think that my thoughts,one of the few things I can so proudly call my own are the manifestation of the interplay between different neural circuits.So,what makes us so proud,we were created by chance,we are in some intangible,but sure means,controlled.As we grow up,we become,more and more,a reflection of our surroundings.
Man is a part of nature,an element in his own surroundings.He is a self-proclaimed genius.Unaware of this,he fails to give other species an equal status.The first man learnt the art of making fire from nature,he liked the pace at which round objects moved and the wheel was born.We have learnt from nature.Knowledge has been shared between individuals and passed to future generations.So,even as I am performing the action of typing away my thoughts,I am enjoying the fruits of millions of years of evolution.Bio-inspired design is perhaps man's most fitting tribute to nature.
I had been profoundly moved by some lines from Saren Kierkegaard's Repetition, where his protagonist Young Man ponders, "How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it and why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought by a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn't it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager—I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint?"
It is indeed true that any journey of self-discovery is humiliating .
Nevertheless,it still feels liberating to know that you are closer to truth.