Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "understanding"

People often assume that science is only about empirical research - that it's merely about facts and figures, which happens to be nowhere near the truth. Facts are the fundamental building blocks of science, but bringing those facts together to have an insight of a certain phenomenon requires a rational, conscientious and creative mind. It's only through rigorous analysis and observation, as well as, creative contemplation, of the empirical evidence, i.e. facts, discovered through decades of research, that we can understand a certain phenomenon. Science cannot exist without empirical evidence, but evidence alone can't take science ahead and upwards, for that, we need some rather naïve and conscientious minds who can pierce through the evidence in order to have a practical insight of the big picture of a certain phenomenon. In short, there's more to science than facts and figures. Think of facts and figures as bricks and cement, and science or scientific understanding as a building. Without the vision of the architect, it's impossible to construct the building no matter how much bricks and cement you have.

Only a few understand the language of intellect,
Then most of them arrogantly boast and trod.
But from the tallest mountain to tiniest grass,
Everyone understands the language of love.
I've practiced all faith 'n ideology for a brief period,
And I accept all of them to be equally human.
That is why everyone thinks of me as their very own,
Everyone thinks, I am their own school’s person.
I have no sect of my own, yet I am in every sect,
I have no school of my own, yet I am in every school.
One who loves, loves all no matter their label,
And finds a reflection in all beings including the fool.
There is no two, but only One that there ever is.
All separation is the sign of a spirit selfish.

Truth is the pandemic,
Truth is the terror.
My truth versus your truth,
Your truth versus another.
We speak of truth as if it’s a constant,
We chase it as antidote to our insecurity.
Most of our truths bring not understanding,
We cook up truth to fan our self-centricity.
Truth, in truth, is the opposite of stagnation,
Contraction repels all hope for understanding.
Truth is not a fixed point, but an act in motion,
Truth is the courageous act of a mind expanding.
Hence, to seek security one must not seek truth.
To seek truth, with security you must cut all truce.

If your perception doesn’t evolve with time,
It’s not a sign of conviction but cowardice.
So in this sonnet I take it upon myself,
to correct my own early follies.

In one of my early works I called America,
“a great country, built by great people,”
while the harsh humanitarian fact of earth is,
America is a terrorist nation, built by criminals.

I once naively asked to ‘appreciate the soldiers’,
while unintentionally undermining peace-activism.
That one line has been eating me alive, until
in 2023 I declared, “military is legal terrorism.”

Own up your follies, use them to sharpen your conviction.
Mistakes acknowledged are the beginning of illumination.

Kainat** is my qaum*,
Universe is my aum.
Carrying **cosmos in my chest,
every *community is my home.

Sat* is my nam-e,
*Honesty, my identity.
I am the one who is,
reflection of all humanity.

Bodhi* and dharma** are key to life,
lifting us high above the animals.
*Awareness wakes us to divine vision,
**Duty is the seed of civilization.

Valley of life is without elite divide,
Science, philosophy, divine, all are one.
Scientist, Poet, Dervish, or Philosopher,
Adjectives though plenty, noun is but one.

Coming from a childhood passion for
electronics, initially I fostered a
favorable outlook on Artificial Intelligence,
but as further implications are beginning to
unfold, I’m developing an ominous distaste.

There is no question about the computational
capacities of AI, but humans are not equipped
to fathom, how to apply such power positively.
Then there is the question of instant garbage
generated by lazy prompts, passed as creativity.

It took 3 years of sweat and vision
for Michelangelo to sculpt David,
today AGI can do that in mere hours.
Does such instant cosmetic art have
any value! AI art is just fancy knockoff.

Human mind seeks understanding,
AI seeks data – lots and lots of data.
AI’s hunger for data is matched only
by the billionaire’s hunger for power.

How much power is enough power,
particularly now when data is power!
What’s the point of power and data,
if they just empower criminal behavior!

Perception is not a measure of reality,
perception is a measure of distance –

from afar the sun is a dot,
from farther the milkyway is a dot,
from farther still the universe is a dot.

Likewise, from afar God is an entity,
from up close, God is a state of mind,
get closer still, and you are God.

Perception is like an oscillator circuit,
alter the value of the resistor or
capacitor, and you change the oscillation.

Likewise, truth changes based on the
resistance, ie. ignorance, and capacitance,
ie. awareness, of your vantage point.

The way apes understand what’s cultured,
I’m not that sort of cultured –
I’m humanly cultured – which means,
I live as cure for tribalism, not coddle;

I abolish chains, not worship them,
I do not entertain stereotypes –
I question and denounce prejudice,
both external and internal.

MAGA, Zionism, Hindutva, Prima gli Italiani,
Khalistan, Islamism, Türkiye Yüzyılı,
these are proof, we come from the monkeys;
while humans take a snooze, monkeys roam free.

Dogma is barrier to understanding,
blind faith is obstacle to holiness.
Assumption is obstacle to communication,
stereotypes are obstacle to awareness.

God of the gaps cannot
be God of the world,
and God of the world should not
be abused as god of the gaps.

As puny apes on an insignificant blue rock
in a tiny backwater of the galaxy, we know
nothing about the origin of the universe,
but I can tell you one thing for a fact of
earth biology, it has nothing to do with the
anthropomorphic god of all the scriptures.

If all it takes is a couple of burning bushes,
magic tricks and fairytales to quench your
quest for truth, you have neither the brain,
nor the backbone, or the heart to explore truth.

Fairytales provide nourishment for the mind,
but only as tales of fantasy, not of truth.
Myths are crucial part of the social fabric, but
they must never become the backbone of society.