I stumbled upon an interview with Daniel Dennett* on google video. I didn't care much for the interviewer, Robert Wright, because he kept trying force his own viewpoint on Dennett (he seems to have a fundamentalist/dogmatic understanding of religion and philosophy), rather than ask smart questions. Nonetheless, the interview was enlightening, and should prove interesting to other people attracted to philosophical ruminations.

It turns out that Robert Wright has been going around for the last five years talking to philosophical thinkers of all ilks - philosophers, biologists, psychologists, physicists, religious leads and so forth. and the videotaped interviews are available on the website MeaningOfLife.tv. The interviews are organized by interviewee\topic (column on the left) or by topic\interviewee (column on the right), which is convenient, since the whole interviews run for 45 minutes, on average. I haven't watched all the interviews yet, but I'm sure we can assume that they are equally enlightening.

Unfortunately, the website doesn't work well in Firefox, but you could use IETab or watch the series on GoogleVideo (without the benefit of topically organized clips). If you like any specific segment, you could probably download it using VideoDownloader. Keep in mind though, that all the material is copyrighted. (For more interesting Firefox extensions and tips, see here)


*A more interesting interview with Daniel Dennett by Bill Moyers, about Dennett's book - Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

- Chinmay

Categories - ~World~

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Skepticality

and

Point of Inquiry (the Richard Dawkins interview)

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Science~ ~World~

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There's a very informative seminar* [1 hr. 42 min.] available on GoogleVideo regarding the science and policy related to climate change.
"[Dr. Stephen Schneider and Thomas C. Heller] have helped steer the international course of policy, scientific verifications and the overall consensus on the existence of climate change. They both have plenty to say about what the failures and successes have been along the way, and what their predictions for the future of climate change policy will be."

The March 24 issue of Science magazine also has a lot of articles focussed on climate change. For a quick summary, see here [\\Ars Technica\Nobel Intent]

*The seminar is a part of the TechTalks at Google. A whole bunch of these TechTalks are available at Google video.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Environment~ ~Money~ ~World~

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Keep an eye out for Guns Germs and Steel coming to PBS (sneak peek) on July 11, 18 and 25 as a TV series. I suspect the series website will have more interactive stuff soon, and once it has aired, probably a webcast of the series too. I haven't read the book yet, but it has won a Pulitzer, among other praise; so definitely worth putting on the reading list.

Also see: an interview with the author here.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Environment~ ~Science~ ~World~

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Read the Joint science academies’ statement: Global response to climate change. It's the gist of our scientific understanding about how global climate is going to change ofver the next few decades, and how we should respond.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Environment~ ~Science~ ~World~

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An uncharacteristically thought-provoking and cogent article in El Reg about the real risks from Avian Influenza.

Interesting quote - "By definition, 'news' means that it hardly ever happens. If a risk is in the news, then it's probably not worth worrying about. When something is no longer reported - automobile deaths, domestic violence - when it's so common that it's not news, then you should start worrying." - Bruce Schneier

Also see the Nature Focus collection of articles on the same subject.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Science~ ~World~

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Just acouple of days back I was thinking about the need for unlimited economic growth - in the context of a world with limited resources - that human (western?) civilizations feel ; and what would happen if we all decide to bump down 'growth' on the priority list for a few years and pay attention to shoring up the rear.

(On a related note, I remember reading somewhere that the ideal inflation rate is not zero, but around 2% - if inflation dips much below that, it can trigger deflation and recession).

In any case, since I'm not that smart in Global economics (nor did I have too much time to think about it :), I didn't figure out the answer to the original question. Serendipitously though, I came across an interview with Jared Diamond* in which he raises some very thought provoking (although not entirely novel) points about the issue.


*Faculty at UCLA, and the author of 'Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'; 'Guns, Germs, and Steel : The Fates of Human Societies' and 'The Third Chimpanzee : The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal'

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Environment~ ~Money~ ~World~

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An excellent observation by BBC's Washington correspondent Justin Webb -

"America is fast becoming a nation of faith not fact. A nation where the unpleasant aspects of human existence are simply airbrushed away."

On the other hand, Rob Watson, also a Brit journalist, says to his Beloved US of A -

"... the rest of the world has far more to learn from you than it has to fear."

- Chinmay

Categories - ~USA~ ~World~

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People, there are barely three weeks left before the US election. I'd have to agree with George Soros that "a second Bush term would unhinge the future of the world."

Spread the word.

Here are some stuff to start out with -

The Soros speech

An NYTimes article detailing Kerry's foreign policy [which is, rather unfortunately, still undeclared]- specifically for controlling terrorism.

Watch The Choice on your local PBS station tomorrow [Tuesday, Oct. 12, 9pm]

The Bush Archives by Sierra club and RAW Archives

Finally, I quote Rick Bass from Orion Magazine -

"Forty years from now, young people will be calling upon us to tell them what it was like, in this crucible-forged time when democracy was attacked not just from abroad, but from within. What was it really like, they will ask. They will want to know how close and intense it was, and how we achieved our victory, their victory.

"We sharpened our knives, we will tell them. We were frightened, and we were fearless. We chose courage rather than silence. We turned our backs forever on the myth of pure self, on the myth of utter independence and disconnectedness. That myth, we will tell them, was no longer compatible with the genius of democracy.

"We were frightened -- terrified -- of the seeds, the sprouts, of dictatorship arising in our own homeland, we will tell them, but we cut it down, just barely in time, by throwing everything we had at it -- body and soul, intellect and intuition, everything. We rose above our fears, we will tell them and chose action.

"It was terrifying, we will tell them. It was glorious."

- Chinmay

Categories - ~USA~ ~World~

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Say a guy makes some changes in an IC engines so that they burns 20% less fuel, run cooler, and almost completely removes knocking and stalling, what do you think will be the response? Awards? Royalties? Admiration and recognition?

Not so for Somender Singh. Since May 2001, he's been trying to get some attention of the industry to his US patent, without much luck.

Here's a Popular Science article on Singh and his engine. [which I got to from this GoodNewsIndia page] [Incidentally, the whole August issue of PopSci is dedicated to the 'Future Car']

[At last call, it seems Tata Motors might be looking at this with some seriousness.]

- Chinmay

Categories - ~India~ ~Science~ ~World~

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Editorial in Nature reviews the Indian election results and the chanllenges for the new government.

Quoting some of the interesting points:

• During [BJP's] rule, according to some estimates, 250,000 expatriates returned home, many of them scientists and engineers drawn into the booming biotechnology and information-technology sectors.


• The BJP government increased the amount that India spends on research and development from 0.6% of gross domestic product in 1999 to 1.1% today — and it claimed that this would rise to 2% by 2007. It also supported ambitious industrial ventures, including the beginnings of a civilian aircraft industry, the arrival of telemedicine in remote villages, and the expansion of higher education.


• Support for scientific research is likely to be largely maintained by the incoming government. The Congress Party's traditional rationalism will also be welcomed by many scientists, who may be glad to see the back of former BJP science minister Murli Manohar Joshi, who sought to persuade universities to teach astrology


• India also holds a pivotal position on the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, which is supposed to harmonize patent rules. India is due to comply with TRIPS by January next year. But it will be interesting to see how the necessary legislation fares in the new parliament, given that Congress's supporters will be hurt by reforms that could undermine India's generic-drugs industry and increase the cost of healthcare.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~India~ ~World~

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Interesting lecture transcript [pdf] - "FUTURE FIRE: CHALLENGES FACING INDIAN DEFENSE POLICY IN THE NEW CENTURY"
Conclusion paragraph -

"Where does all this imply in terms of conclusions about India's capacity to develop the defense capabilities that would make it a great power in this century? My argument essentially would be that its capacity to master the creation, deployment and use of military instruments is still not assured at this point in time. Whether it will succeed in this endeavor will depend greatly on how it resolves the three macro (Economic growth rate, National Vision, Exploiting the existing international system [i.e. unipolar world]) and five micro (Neutralizing Internal Security threats, Preserve effective external defense, Provider of regional security, Effective and economical Nuclear detterent, Policy on indegenous/external Defense Industry) problems that I have identified.

India may not succeed in this endeavor for many reasons, the most important of which may be, in the final analysis, its lack of, in Sunil Khilnani's phrase, "an instinct for power." At one level, however, that may be what is most attractive about India: its innate tendency towards moderation and its reluctance to resort readily to the use of force to secure the political outcomes it desires. India still remains, in my judgment, a deeply conservative, relatively inward looking, state that has focused more on "satisficing" rather than "maximizing" military power. But that also implies that as far as military instruments go, India might be condemned to remaining a middle power for at least for some time to come, as opposed to becoming a true great power in the Kennedysque sense of the term. And if that be the case, then perhaps the "bridging strategies" that Sunil Khilnani spoke about may turn out to be even more important than the votaries of a strong Indian military capability might be willing to countenance today."

- Chinmay

Categories - ~India~ ~World~
Edited on: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 5:11 PM
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There was a news article in IndianExpress about the Rothschilds visiting India, which set me thinking, we all hear their name as 'The Intenational Bankers' but I've never heard anything more about them! So did a little search. Here are some of the better results -
A Wikipedia article.
An official Rothschild Archive. [which pretty much does not tell you anything...]
A conspiracy theory type description of "THE ROTHSCHILD DYNASTY"
A BusinessWeek piece, on the other hand, gives a radically different picture [from the conspiracy theory]

Interesting...

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Money~ ~World~
Edited on: Friday, April 09, 2004 2:08 PM
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Interesting discussion on /. Stemming from news reports about spantaneous fires related to electrical equipment, the trail goes on to discuss religion and science...

Lately I've myself been thinking about why humans need/want religion/god. Maybe I'll do a post on that as and when I get time to organize and elaborate my thoughts...

- Chinmay

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An excerpt from Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War
and
Interview with the auther of the same.

And, The Wal-Mart You Don't Know, on how the world's largest company is driving US manufacturers [not to mention other retailers] out of business.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Money~ ~USA~ ~World~

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Two thought provoking articles:
The Greater Middle East Initiative: Off to a False Start [full text pdf] on the US lead initiative for democratization of the Middle East.
and
Why Nation-Building Fails in Mid-Course after U.S. Intervention

- Chinmay

Categories - ~World~

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freecycle.org - Hand me downs get new life on the net! [NYTimes article]

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Environment~ ~World~

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Enjoy some nice Irish music [Playlist] for St. Patty's day!

... and don't forget the Guinness either! ;-)

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Arts~ ~Fun~ ~World~
Edited on: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 1:27 PM
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	U.S.A.	India
Percent of world's population	5% (~270 million)	16% (~980 million)
Use of world's non-renewable resources	25%	3%
Creation of world's trash and pollution	25%	3%
Production / consumption of goods and services	21%	1%
Exports [Billions of USD]	687 [# 1]	44.5 [# 33]
Imports [Billions of USD]	1165 [# 1]	53.5 [# 25]

Source [Indiana University] [Statistics from ~ 1998]
Source for trade statistics [Indian - 2001, USA - 2002 est. ]- CIA Factbook.
Total world trade in 2002 - 6.6 trillion USD. So [Ex+Im/World] is 28% for US and 1.5% for India. Not sure that's the right way to calculate it though.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~Environment~ ~India~ ~USA~ ~World~
Edited on: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 11:53 AM
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Preity Zinta, Ahmed Rashid, Kaushik Basu and Rohit Brijnath talk about matters south asian, on BBC.

Morgan Spurlock offers himself as a human guinea pig in 'Supersize Me' - a documentary about McDonalds, that wins him best director at the '04 Sundance.

- Chinmay

Categories - ~India~ ~World~

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