Besides the obvious food for the body, lunch time for me is the time the mind gets food too. Almost everyday we find a new topic to talk about sometimes philosophical, sometimes technical and sometimes purely random. Yesterday MG generally asks as to what would be the top 5 things in the past 50 years that have changed the way we live. The obvious answers were:
1. ICs [Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed a patent for a "Solid Circuit" made of germanium on February 6, 1959.]
2. Internet
3. Mobile phones
Well... Since we couldnt think of anything else that was as dramatic, I put the question forth for you to answer. :)
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The ethics and the Sutta
The other day over the lunch Mallaya bidding for IPL players came up; and with Mallaya came his wealth, the way he made money, MG said was unethical, the reason being he was selling alchohol. This basically set the mood for the day's afternoon debate :) which I found entertaining enough to blog about. The topic then formally was, "Should the goverment interfere in the operations of cigerattes/daru companies?". Interestingly I was against the topic... [Interesting because I am a non-smoking tee-totaller :) Infact the only selfish reason I have to be against the motion is that I own ITC(Indian Tobacco Company) stocks ;)]
Anyways, in brief the best points for/against the motion were:
Against :- It hampers the freewill of an individual, we are born with the right to choose for ourselves
For :- If all were to have their freewill then there should be no legal system, let people steal/rape/kill
Against :- Stealing/Rape/Murder affects somebody else's freedom Govt is doing right in protecting it. Drunk driving should be banned because it can cause an accident leading to somebody's death. We accept that drinking is bad because the chances that a drunk person would do something he would regret or cause others harm is much higher then when he is sober but so is a person in anger. The point we are trying to make is, what the Govt CAN do and SHOULD do is to educate people about the ill-effects of Alcohol and Cigerettes instead of trying to stop them from doing it.
For :- Society as a whole takes a course over time, the Govt's role is to shape the course, if alcohol is not available much lesser number of people will drink and consequently they will contribute positively in the society's direction ahead.
Against :- People who dont know what is good or bad for them or who cant control their actions knowing something is not good for them are not the kinds who will take the society anywhere.
For :- [By far the best argument :)] The govt has social responsibilities towards people. It has to ensure that everybody gets proper health treatment/facilities, now drinkers/smokers being worse off than non-smokers and non-drinkers take more money to mantain [>:)] hence economically, for the good of the larger population, the govt should stop the people from being high-mantainence [Credit goes to BS for the wonderful argument]
As you might have noticed that since I was arguing against the motion, the post is biased towards my viewpoint :)
Thoughts?
Anyways, in brief the best points for/against the motion were:
Against :- It hampers the freewill of an individual, we are born with the right to choose for ourselves
For :- If all were to have their freewill then there should be no legal system, let people steal/rape/kill
Against :- Stealing/Rape/Murder affects somebody else's freedom Govt is doing right in protecting it. Drunk driving should be banned because it can cause an accident leading to somebody's death. We accept that drinking is bad because the chances that a drunk person would do something he would regret or cause others harm is much higher then when he is sober but so is a person in anger. The point we are trying to make is, what the Govt CAN do and SHOULD do is to educate people about the ill-effects of Alcohol and Cigerettes instead of trying to stop them from doing it.
For :- Society as a whole takes a course over time, the Govt's role is to shape the course, if alcohol is not available much lesser number of people will drink and consequently they will contribute positively in the society's direction ahead.
Against :- People who dont know what is good or bad for them or who cant control their actions knowing something is not good for them are not the kinds who will take the society anywhere.
For :- [By far the best argument :)] The govt has social responsibilities towards people. It has to ensure that everybody gets proper health treatment/facilities, now drinkers/smokers being worse off than non-smokers and non-drinkers take more money to mantain [>:)] hence economically, for the good of the larger population, the govt should stop the people from being high-mantainence [Credit goes to BS for the wonderful argument]
As you might have noticed that since I was arguing against the motion, the post is biased towards my viewpoint :)
Thoughts?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
My birthday
Birthdays are so very weird.... It seems so childish to celebrate one. Though I never have a lot of expectations that I would get a whole lot of wishes but still, somehow it brings joy when someone calls to wish a genuine wish... This time around there were only a few wishes but almost everyone of those was a genuine wish...
I had my first birthday cake.... [With my name on it] Got FLOWERS !!! [From an Aunt!!!!].... A replacement gift [Definition: A gift given with the intention of replacing an older gift which may have been tattered due to continuous use :)].. Books [My... I do give out the ghissu vibes!!]... And friends calling at 12 their local time [Globalization!!!]
All in all it was a nice day and I felt great to have friends caring for me. Little drops of water make a mighty ocean... Little gestures... make us so happy... A few years down the line... when we look back... what we remember are those small moments of joys that someone brought to us... And the moments of joy that we could bring to someone.... And as MS would say, people come and people go... What remains is the footprint they leave in our lives.....
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