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Showing posts from March, 2011

Marx, Class struggles, knowledge workers and my life!

[ A Primer on Class Struggle by Michael Schwalbe Michael Schwalbe is a professor of sociology at North Carolina State University. He can be reached at MLSchwalbe@nc.rr.com . http://www.commondreams.org/ view/2011/03/31-4 ] My thoughts in response: An excellent erudite perceptive analysis of the hidden class struggle in any given society, influencing our day to day life. The one difference I observe from what Marx considered in his treatise as well as what Prof. Schwalbe brought out in his competent analysis, is that both of them consider capitalists of Marxist variety and transformed and rechristened as modern Corporates by the author, as well as the working classes represented by trade unions have some kind of unity of purpose among themselves and act in unison. Corporates too work to get at the throat of each other to strangle while driving the process as described by the author. This factor adds an additional dimension. Further the new knowledge based service sector which evolved

Cosmos and my cup of coffee!

Traveling along with thinking and exploring minds is always full of excitement. Just a passing thought at this moment: any thing solid or living around looks so real even though impermanent and is constantly transforming every second which includes you and me. Look deeper and deeper with your minds eye, to find smaller and smaller particles reaching invisible state for naked eye. But as we go deeper and see further with deeper jnana or equipments like electron microscopes you will find another strange world. Still further go closer and closer to molecular atomic and subatomic levels, there is hardly any mass but only vast spaces where gravitational principles too do not operate!! Gravity is every where as a weak force but depends on huge masses to manifest itself. But at this subatomic space level we have just space. Go further closer and you find just mass less charges and a frequency domain pervading but just empty and empty universe at the same scale as we find our stars and galacti

Fission Nuclear Energy - an irresponsible initiative of scientists and engineers endangering humanity!

We cannot stop disasters from occurring . But the post disaster management is the issue. In case a bridge falls, or a building collapses or a flight drops in ocean, the damage is limited to that event only. Unlike these, the nuclear disaster, is without remedial measures. The radiation troubles go on and on and with only 4% enrichment the uranium once triggered has shown what it can do us. The great nation Japan is humbled. Tap water in Tokyo cannot be consumed. Further apart from wringing hands and praying all the nuclear experts have left the matter to those brave poor workers who still keep going on to the FUkushima work site....the scientist who designed I see sitting in his offcie and looking quite grim. Humans when they design, the safety case analysis and clear risk assessment and education to all concerned must be there. Nuclear case is there is no remedy post disaster. It is said rightly, disasters occur. But here is the glaring case where nuclear experts have thought themselv

Superstition and Science---matters of perception?

May be each one of us should do dhyana... as detailed by Lord Krishna in Bhgavad Gita. May be my superstition? One gets introduced to a different world than what we perceive. But it is useless to present the same in the current physically bound frameworks of scientific approach and rational limits. Superstition and blind words are difficult to understand when used together. Superstition means strong and blind belief in apparently un-connected cause and effect post hoc ergo propter hoc type. Further adding blind is superfluous, I feel. A computer scientist like Prof Rao, will have a hard time to convince a simple uninitiated illiterate villager , how he is able to remotely through wireless networks and satellite imagery able to see the current status of his fields very far away and tell him a broken dam was flooding his fields just as he is sitting with you and chatting, after making every thing secure for the day , resting after day's hard work. He will not believe until you show