Why a omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent God isn’t worth worshipping.

Ever since I was a little kid, I have heard of how God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Accompanying this tidbit of information is how God has control over our destinies and how we should pray to him so that we get to lead comfortable lives. It is also necessary to do good things during one’s life, as at the end of it all, we are all held accountable for our actions and by doing good we (or rather our souls) go to heaven, where all is fine and dandy. If we don’t be good people, then bad things happen, varying from not getting “liberated” from the material world to going to this place called hell, where we learn what it feels like to be on the wrong side of a barbecue.

The above few lines were repeated to me often, usually without further explanation. It therefore summarises my theological training and expertise. Over time I have developed new views which more closely match the title of this post and here is some of the reasoning behind it. If there is anyone who can punch a hole in any of my arguments, I would love to hear their ideas…

Why do it?
One of the first questions that come to mind when thinking of an omniscient and omnipotent God is why would he go through the trouble of creating the universe and us humans and animals as we have been, are and will be?

There can be multiple reasons why anyone would create something so elaborate. One reason for building things their utility. We build houses because it beats living in the rain, snow, wind. Some animals sharpen their claws because it helps in getting food. People invented cars so that they could travel around. So maybe God has a use for the universe as it is, like helping him achieve some goal, or keeping an enemy at bay. That means that God needs us for some purpose and he is therefore not omnipotent, because if he were, he could have just created what he wanted or driven away whatever threatens him without going through this whole rigmarole.

Maybe he is in the process of creating whatever he needs and we are the means to the end. But then the moment we concede that, we are seriously jeopardising his claim to omniscience as well. The fact that he needed to create the universe to get the object X means that he does not know the answer to the question “how to get X without creating the universe?” and he is not omniscient any more. If there are some factors that prevent him from getting what he wanted without creating the universe, then the claims to omnipotency look even weaker and suddenly God realises that he isn’t really having a good day.

Sometimes people do things simply for the mental challenge of it(think jigsaws, crosswords etc) without any specific benefit to oneself. Unfortunately, things can only be mental challenges when we initially do not know how to solve them, but then try to figure out. But we all know what happens if we said that God did not know how to create the universe and wanted to try out a method don’t we? Yep, that’s right, omniscience gets flushed down the hole again.

Very often, things are built to do experiments. Once again, that implies a lack of knowledge and once again, we have omniscience taking a belting.

Which leaves us with just one option, that God created the universe and everything in it just for the heck of it. He knew how to create it. He also knows how to make it perfect, but for some reason he will not. He prefers to just sit back and watch everyone kill, cheat and lie to each other. He enjoys watching the injustice, the violence and the hatred go unchecked for the billions of years before he steps in and one day and decides to make things all right. If he enjoys doing that, then plainly he is a sadist. If he doesn’t care about it, then he is just a shoddy workman who can’t be bothered to do the job right. If he cares about it, but does not do anything about it even when he can, then he is plain lazy.

Either way, it becomes increasingly difficult to look up to him as the paragon of excellence, doesn’t it?

As I wrote this up, I realised I have quite a lot to say on this topic, so more on this later…

Proclaiming Atheism.

Here is the latest in Prof. Richard Dawkins war against religion. Quite an interesting concept wouldn’t you say?

And you thought humans invented the moon walk?

If anyone thought Michael Jackson or any other human being were the first to do the Moonwalking thingy while dancing, heres proof that nature had it going long before us(as usual)

Weekly food consumption.

Here is an interesting photoblog about the weekly food consumption of families from around the world. In addition to the most obvious message of how some countries consume a hell lot more than others, there are other interesting things that the pictures convey about diets across the world. The variation in the amount of junk food, fruits and vegetables is just one of the interesting ones.

Go on and see for yourself

Free textbooks for all!

It was an annual routine when I was in school. At the beginning of school term, all children and parents would go on a high alert and stake out the nearest shops that sold the school textbooks. There were some who were fortunate enough to get some off people they knew in the classes above them, but the rest had to go stalking like a lion does a deer and for quite a while we all the same share of unsuccessful hunts. If someone got a textbook in any shop, news spread like wildfire and probably half an hour later, the status quo of everyone being out of stock was restored.

Obviously this was happening because the government had the bright idea of monitoring the number of students enrolled in different classes across the state and then ordering the exact number of textbooks so that everyone can get one for a decent price. Noble intentions, I concede, but a project of such huge magnitude that there were great chances of failure, which usually materialised.

The first signs of things improving when the internet came along was when the NCERT textbooks appeared online for people to download and use. This was a wise move by the NCERT but the state boards(except maybe the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka boards), which still set the curriculum for a majority of children in the country are lagging behind. Also, while the availability of the textbooks online may ease the burden for those who have access to the internet, those without access to a computer still have to stalk the local booksellers and hope to get lucky. I am also not sure if NCERT is willing to allow local businesses to print and sell their books, something which will not only create a faster response to the local shortages but will create more local jobs, eliminate the need to transport and in general help the environment and the local economy.

The next step in the right comes from an organisation which calls itself the FHSST or the “Free high school science texts”. I read about this movement and went exploring their website. These guys are like the linux of textbooks. they create science textbooks through a large collaborative approach. These texts are then made available in the digital format to whoever that wants to use them. It could be students who use it for classwork, local businesses who decide to print copies to fill the shortage in the market or teachers from a different place who tailor it to their own syllabus.

The FHSST movement is currently tailored to the South African syllabus, but it could be easily duplicated for the Indian education scene, as the whole effort in setting up the collaborative infrastructure has already been done and tested. It would be a good idea to make sections of the textbook as school projects, with the students in the senior classes writing for the textbooks of the junior classes. I am sure there will be students who will react with great enthusiasm, especially if they are granted some sort of recognition in terms of their names mentioned in the credits or something. It will serve the purpose of creating the textbooks as well as giving the students some experience in formal textbook writing, a skill which will be useful in their future careers. When the books are made easily available for people to freely examine, use, print and sell, they will go down the same kind of route that all the Linux has, with quality improving steadily and whole load of businesses spawning from the growing body of knowledge.

Wouldn’t that movement be a worthy accompaniment to the open source software one?

Liberating research.

Here is a story of how Australia is at least thinking of making some of it’s publicly funded research fully available to anyone who wants to use it.

Being currently based in a University campus with a University subscription to the largest journals can spoil a person, because we get used to simply clicking on a link and getting to view the article. But it is surprising to encounter the number of hurdles which one has to go through to gain access to this information while outside university environs. A look at some of the prices makes me shake my head with incredulity, as I have seen journals charge something like $30 just to view a 3 page paper online.

The general mechanism of a paper getting published in a journal is that the author(s) send their manuscript to the journal editor, who then removes the names (and probably other identifiable marks) and sends it to some reviewers whose opinion he trusts. The reviewers go through the paper, try to punch holes in it and send it back with their comments to the editor. Depending on the comments, the editor will either accept the paper, or will send it back to the authors asking for corrections or will reject it. It is a fairly involved process, but a necessary one given that findings have to rigorously examined before they can be marked as trustworthy. It also means that in the days when all this happened with printed sheets of paper and snail mail, there was someone who had to take the effort of mailing the manuscripts back and forth, keeping tabs of who can review what etc. Obviously this is where the publishing companies stepped in and being the capitalistic setup that we are, they extensively tried to control the content so that they could then make their money by charging for subscriptions and for sale of individual articles. The great thing for the journals was that they practically gained ownership of the published article, despite the fact that the work was done by a researcher and paid for with public money. Even more hilarious was that the journals did not pay for these articles, they got them for free, but sold them for a price.

That was probably justifiable given the cost and the effort of sending manuscripts for review, printing journals and then again sending them to subscribers but given the presence of the internet, this model of a select few (publishers) having complete control over the results of publicly funded research sounds quite ludicrous and I guess some governments are waking up to the fact. The internet allows the whole operation to be done almost free of cost. A network of academics/industrial researchers could easily be built on a model like any of the social networking sites where everyone can list their areas of expertise. A soft copy of every new paper desiring publication can be put up on a forum, where anyone who is interested can read and make comments. The person doing the job of the editor can then consider the comments and make a decision on whether to allow the paper to be published or not. “Publishing” the paper will involve making a soft copy available for download and probably updating the RSS feed letting subscribers know that there is a new article up. The whole thing can be done completely digitally with no need of any kind of printing and mailing necessary and therefore can probably run by a few people from their garage using a storage service like Amazon’s web services. The printing is now done by the readers who like to read from paper, while others(like me) who prefer soft copies can read directly from the screen, Either way, it sure has the potential to save a hell lot of resources.

The hiccup to this has as usual been the paranoia of the group which would look their control-advantage from such a move, namely the publishers in question. There have been reports of a similar move being stymied by the publishing lobby in Britain and though I cannot substantiate the claim, the fear behind the publishing companies motives for doing so is quite understandable. No one would like to lose control of their cash cow, but for the betterment of society, I think such moves are necessary.

Watch your content!!

I came across the news of the Times of India plagiarising photographs from blogs after reading Atanu’s post and following it up with Sudipta’s post on the matter and Shrinidhi’s first hand account of how one of his photographs was “used” by TOI.

Using someone else’s work without even acknowledging the source is quite a despicable thing for a major newspaper to do and the bloggers mentioned above are calling for a blogathon (I believe thats what it is called) on Oct 2 against plagiarism. Since this blog is pretty much devoid of pictures, I do not have any specific cases of plagiarism to report, but if anyone who is reading this does, then make sure you blog about it.  Some public defamation should make the likes of TOI think twice in the future before they try to copy blatantly from the internet.

If you have not experienced any plagiarism, do add your voice to the blogathon as well. And make sure you watch out for your content

Google Android is here!

Google and T-Mobile have this week announced the launch of the G1, the first Android based phone. Technical review has a review of the G1 in comparison with the iPhone, it’s most famous, if not closest competitor.

It is interesting to contrast the two styles at work here. Apple undoubtedly makes pretty products, not always cutting edge technology, but pretty to look at with the flashy icons and the nifty animations schemes like having some fireworks whenever a window is closed etc. What I absolutely abhor about Apple is how it tries to force it’s own choices on it’s customers. Apple knows best and so will choose the one single network carrier with whom customers can use the iPhone. Apple also knows best and therefore all apps which people write for the iPhone need to get an approval from Apple to even think of being on the iPhone. In fact, Apple and the iPhone are pretty much the same as Microsoft and Windows, except that Microsoft gets booed everywhere it goes and Apple has people queuing outside their stores at 4 am on cold mornings to get their hands on the “first” iPhone. That is a marketing coup that is, but to me it still reeks of a domineering, “I know better than you” attitude.

Google’s approach is much simpler and is one which has given great results in a wide variety of situations, not just technology. The idea is simple, Google’s job begins and ends with providing a robust and open operating system(OS) along with tools and documentation that enables third party developers to make use of it. Not an inch more and not an inch less. There are two major advantages to this method. Firstly, Google can focus on maintaining a high quality OS, app developers can focus on high quality apps and handset makers can focus on high quality handsets. Everyone specialises and where required work together to build a fantastic product. Secondly, being an open source OS, third party app developers and handset manufacturers can tweak the system as they like. The tweaking may result in a direct improvement to Google’s Android, or it may result is a different “distribution” based on Android (as has happened to the various Linux distros) or a tweak may just be used in specific phones. Either way, the structure sets up a vibrant community, with the freedom to do almost anything and which in some way will benefit the original OS, either through technical development or through an extended reach. Google’s decision to stay away from the Android apps market would also put the user community, and not the parent company, at the centre of deciding which apps are worthwhile and which are not, which is how it should be. To be convinced that such an approach really works, one simply has to look at examples such as the internet, Linux, Project Gutenberg and MIT open courseware. Providing a strong platform on which individual creativity can thrive has always had and will always have a pretty darn good chance of succeeding.

Such an unregulated structure could cause problems for security/stability etc, but those will soon be removed because most of the operating system is open source and quite possibly some of the apps will be too. If there does not exist a suitable app for a certain purpose, it will get written. If an existing app causes a stability problem or has a security threat, it will be replaced by one that does not. Alternatively, if the instability was a fault with Android, the app writer can debug the Android code and submit a patch that will improve the OS. The reason he would do so is simply because he wants his app to sell and if he is convinced of his application design/implementation, he will be prepared to take the plunge and debug the OS. The net result will be that the OS gets stronger, the apps multiply and compete till the best remain and the handset manufacturers and networks will be able to pick and choose the apps they like, maybe even customising the OS for their own specifc phones.

Unfortunately, a good product is not a guarantee for success, so we cannot be sure if Android will be a success. I am also not highly infatuated with mobile connectivity and I am not a big user of mobile phones. But if I have to choose between the iPhone or an Android based phone, I will take the Android one and Apple can keep its domineering attitude to itself.

“The final Solution” on the Gujarat riots.

This Saturday afternoon was spent in watching the movie documentary “The final solution” by Rakesh Sharma, which I obtained from a blog titled Kalabaaz. It was not the most pleasant way to spend part of the weekend, but it definitely was thought provoking.

I will not claim that the movie tells us what “really” happened in Godhra and Gujarat, as the whole matter is a bit too complicated for me to decide what reality was from some newspaper articles and a documentary. It has interviews of people who were affected by the riots, some recording of hate filled speeches and rallies by the VHP and other goons and some more interviews of people who lost their family members in the burning of coach S/6 of Sabarmati express in Godhra. What the movie does accomplish is to expose the scary face of Hindu fundamentalism, which I find as revolting and dangerous as its Islamic, Christian or any other religious fundamentalism there is around.

It cannot be denied that Islamic rulers have in the past targeted people of other religions because they did not follow Islam. It is also undeniable that the current mood of fighting fire with fire and launching a campaign of hate against Muslims is not the right way to go. If people set about avenging every act of violence in history, we would probably still be gassing the Germans, shooting the Japanese, colonising the British and the French and nuking the US. We will have the ex-lower castes warring with the higher ones and the women warring against the men, in short, we would be in a huge mess. It may sound flippant of me to sit around and ask people to forgive and forget when I have not undergone the horrors they have, but nevertheless, I feel it is necessary to have more directed action towards curbing violence than having a bunch of armed people running around like headless chickens slaughtering anyone who comes in their path. Islamic terrorism must be countered by hitting the terrorists and hitting them hard, but not while targeting the Muslim corner shop owner who probably does not care two hoots about religious conversion and would just want to go about his business. The ideal would be a nation built with laws that do not favour any particular religion and people should either follow the laws or if they do not like them, then they should be free to leave and go wherever they want.

This new brand of Hindu fundamentalism is scary because it is a bunch of people with swords and more testosterone than brains. The people who have the brains sit in the political office and make speeches inciting the rest of the testosterone filled crowd to go and do their bidding. The result is that we have the 9/11 attacks, incidents in Godhra and when religion no longer provides enough mileage, the MNS “standing up” for the Marathi speaking people in Mumbai. Hindu fundamentalism is scary because for Hinduism there is no concept of conversion. Caught in an authoritarian Hindu state, you are either a Hindu or you are in trouble, with no choice of conversion to save oneself.

The film has a short section in which Hindu and Muslim men have a go at each other (verbally of course) on what ails each other’s communities and what should be done about it. The discussion shows that there are issues with both parties and it is impossible to say that only one of them is to blame. The civilised way would be that the leaders of the two communities to take an active role in finding the bones of contention and trying to resolve the differences, by improving their own communities and by cooperating with the other party to remove prejudices. They would encourage people to get educated, or push for education facilities where they are not available. They should encourage people to think for themselves instead of blindly following the hate mongers. They should also play down parts of the scriptures that promote violence and subjugation and put in in perspective that maybe that enthusiasm was acceptable in the dark ages but not now. That is the only way I see this whole problem going away. Unfortunately, the leaders in question are probably themselves filled with hatred and they merely transfer the hatred to the testosterone filled idiots who then go around waving saffron/green flags and feeling important. They play up the differences instead of erasing them and fracture the electorate, enabling them to hold on to power. Uptil sixty years ago, the British had the same divide and rule policy and it is quite a shame to see it still being used with such success. Religion and casteism has been such a huge success for dividing the Indian people that the thought does creep into one’s mind that maybe the policy of the early Chinese communist government of banning religion is a smart way to go. But then, can’t expect the politicians to give up their cash cow so easily can we?

The scariest part of the movie was the short interview with a young boy in the Shah Alam refugee camp who witnessed his relatives being murdered during the riots. This boy wants to be a soldier when he grows up, so that he can avenge his family by killing the Hindus. He is ripe for picking as a future Jihadi and one can almost feel the glee of the recruiters for Islamic terrorism when they watch this boy speak. If this boy does grow up to become a terrorist(which I hope he doesn’t), he will not be a product of Islamic aspirations of world domination, but the product of Hindu fundamentalism.

As the movie ends…”In the hope that such madness never recurs”. Also in the hope that the fanatical Hindu zealots never get to run amok again.

p.s For all those interested, the movie can be downloaded from here or can be watched from the Kalabaaz site. In my opinion, it is worth the time downloading this movie, even over multiple sessions if you have a slower net connection. Following a ban from the then BJP government, the Film director Rakesh Sharma had to follow a “pirate and circulate” policy for the film. So point any of your friends to this link, just so that they may get thinking about this whole issue.

Make typos, increase blog hits.

Yesterday I wrote a post with the title “Lemon brothers”. This was NOT a typo and was intended to be a pun (I enjoy this kind of stuff) on the latest financial situation of the bank. That title had an interesting consequence though.

When I wandered over to my blog after about a couple of hours, I realised that this punny title had brought me a truckload of hits simply based on search engine terms. Spurred on to do an experiment, I tried creating another dummy post with the title “Layman brothers” to see if that gets any hits as well. After giving the two posts a day to run their course, here are the final results…

Search Terms	Hit(s)
lemon brothers bank	15
lemon brother bank	6
lemon brothers	10
lemons brothers bank	3
layman brothers	1
lehmann brothers fate	1
lehmann brothers	1
lemon brothers usa bank	1
bank lemon brothers	1
lemon brother september 2008	1

Including the name of the person/celebrity/firm that is currently hot news is a sure fire way of getting blog hits from search engines, as I first realised when I wrote about a certain footballer’s wedding with his name in the title and watched the post catapult to the “most read” status in a matter of days. In case I ever decide to try and make money out of blogging, I for sure am going to put loads of celeb names in titles, maybe even use a title like “nude celeb pics” and then hope that out of the millions who follow the link, at least a few will read what else I have to say on the more mundane issues of life. But this blog is not a commercial one so let me not digress any further on the topic.

What came as a surprise from this post though is the amount of traffic that can be had by using wrong spellings of the currently hot news person/firm. A google search for “lehman brothers” will probably put my blog on the millionth page or so, but a search for “lemon brothers” has it first one (go on. give it a try. While you are there click on my blog’s link ). Obviously, I am missing out on a huge section of people who spell the word right, but then I still have access to the sizeable number who spelt it wrong and I have a higher chance of being seen because most other sites may stick to the proper spelling. If your writing is interesting, then you may still hold on to a lot of the people who come over.

So here is wisdom…if you are looking to increase blog hits from search engines, then knowing common typos can be helpful

p.s for those who got here by searching for “lemon brothers”, its spelt “lehman brothers”, but thanks for visiting anyway and hopefully you will be back.