Nash's Equilibrium and How it Feeds My Pathological Narcissism

Assumption #1: The popular version of Nash's equilibrium and its applicability to barroom pick-ups is well known amongst today's bar-going population.

Assumption #2: These dynamics are gender independent or at least perceived as such by said population.

Logical Conclusion: I'm the most beautiful bastard at the bar!

I wish I couldn't see the irrationality

Logicians have but ill defined
As rational the human kind.
Logic, they say, belongs to man,
But let them prove it if they can.
 -- Oliver Goldsmith

I'm sick of trying to speak logic to people... And I've finally realised that the statement "Man is a rational animal" has no basis in fact...

Irrationality is the norm... Game theorists have it right... They define the moves in a game that would be most beneficial to the players... But they don't assume that the players would necessarily play in the most logical, beneficial way... There is in fact, built in to their equations, a large probability that only a small fraction of the population would make moves that are optimal for the situation... and people who ALWAYS do the right thing are unheard of... By and large our notion, that people are rational, is wrong... They are as irrational as Pi...

More importantly... in the real world, not only are people wont to act irrationally, they are also liable to hate you if you point this out to them... or act in what you consider to be a more rational manner...

So basically, you may be right... and may even have demonstrated, without any room for doubt, that you're right... but people will continue to do what they've always done and ignore the new method... WHY?? Because... "I've ALWAYS done it this way!" ... And you can do nothing about that... Except continue to be the idiot who wants to do things differently... or the idiot who'd not mind trying things out... even if they may potentially lead to disaster...

Where, pray tell, is your sense of adventure?? Let go! Have fun!! Go out and DO stuff!!! Even if its crazy... MORE SO if its crazy!! If nothing else, you'll have an awesome story to tell your grandkids!!

Expiliation is always a hair raising experience... So to speak :P

I went to the trichologist today... And, keeping with the highest traditions of the Indian barber community, was subjected to the most painfully atrocious radio programming... Infact, i put to you, my discerning and almost certainly mentally challenged readers, that the barber's prowess at hair-styling is best judged by his ability to zero in on the worst radio program traversing the airwaves at any given moment...

My barber chose a radio station called "meow"... This admirably ridiculous station marketed itself as a women-centric radio station... And owing to some vague parallels between the fairer sex and felines, styled itself "meow"... This is pardonable (the media world having committed other, more hideous crimes). What is NOT pardonable is the insistence of the RJ to start every conversation with the word "meow"... THIS i found most trying... Still, i could've overlooked this misguided brand marketing if the content was any good. Sadly, my troubles were not to be alleviated... The RJ, having meowed to her heart's content then proceeded to expound on the question of whether or not the old joke that women never reveal their true age has any truth in it... This disturbed me on various levels... Why should anyone care? Why should SHE care? How dumb did she have to be to go about dissecting the ludicrous "problem" on a public broadcast service? I don't know what disturbs me more, the fact that she was allowed to go on air with such garbage or the fact that there were plenty of people calling in to comment?

All through this i comforted myself by thinking of the wonderful haircut i would get as a direct result of the barber feasting his ears on this awful rubbish. Alas! 'twas not to be... The music played was not half-bad and, consequently, the haircut i got was, at best, indifferent...

Reflections...Not in a mirror.... On life....

Two things happened recently that have somewhat forced me to change my outlook on life a bit... for the time-being anyway.

First... i visited someplace... an orphanage, if you must know. Needless to say... it was a very moving experience. It's funny how people keep saying "needless to say" and then say it anyway...

However, literary and conversational nuances are not the subject of this post. As i was saying, the experience moved me not a little bit... it moved me a great bit... not physically moved me, you understand, but moved me in the metaphorical sense. It made me think of how frivolously i spend my money, my time, my energy, and anything else that is in my power to spend. People who know me would, at this juncture, wonder what i'm talking about because i'm not known to spend much of anything... let alone money and energy... Even so... when confronted with the fate of those less fortunate than me... ANY spending seems rather frivolous to me... So, that being as it is, i've decided to cut down on my expenses, such as they are, by at least 20%... So far i've succeeded...

The second thing that happened recently happened when i was returning home from the abovementioned orphanage (which had moved me so)... I was in a local train compartment... I was sitting there, reflecting on life's tragedies, minding my own business... when suddenly i heard music... Well, it could be called a good approximation of what we generally refer to as music. It was a guy playing the harmonica (which, as i've pointed out to many, is different from a harmonium)... The Harmonica happens to be one of my favourite instruments... And this man happened to play some of my favourite (old hindi) tunes on it... Needless to say, in a movable state as i already was, i was moved yet again. I gave the chap 10 rupees... i thought it wasn't enough....but, forced by a long standing habit of not giving, i didn't give him anymore. I'm not quite sure, why this particular incident had an impact on me... I'm not even sure WHAT impact it had on me... But i've been thinking about it ever since... none of my thoughts make sense or are in the least bit coherent ofcourse... but the fact remains that i'm thinking about it... and i can feel some madness coming on...

Life... as i've oft stated... is not funny... But i've realised that, however un-funny life may seem, we must never take it seriously... That's just suicide... or atleast a giant key to crazy-town...

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.

- Voltaire

So there you have it... Voltaire agrees with me... But there's another voltaire quote which goes "A witty saying proves nothing"... But, then again, a witty saying DOES add spice to conversation :D

Anyway, like i keep stating... Life is much like a stand-up comedian's act except that in this case, it isn't funny. It's not funny that i can talk quite to my satisfaction when i'm talking to someone i DON'T have a romantic interest in... But the minute life puts in front of me a girl i like... and that's it... i babble on and on and on and on and on and... you get the picture.... It is also not funny that i can think of no more examples of what is not funny... except maybe the red+yellow+white t-shirt that i recently purchased... it's quite chic and NOT funny(OR weird OR stupid) in the least!!

Moving on... i find that i have nothing to move on to... and that isn't funny either...

An incomplete essay on an ill-defined subject

I sometimes wonder about who we are…. Yes i know that many people wonder about that and that many people have written about their wonder…. But that doesn’t stop me from wondering and i write about it because….. well, because….. Because I CAN!!

Anyway, moving on… who ARE we??? Are we what we believe we are? or are we what OTHERs believe we are??? OR do we start believing and thus BECOME what others think we are?? This line of philosophical questioning ofcourse has been done to death and the debate is endless…. And so, having found no enlightenment with the philosophers i looked towards the scientists (who are only barely removed from philosophers in their ability to confound and confuse)…. well anyway, turns out there is quite a lot of concrete science that’s been done and is being done with a view to answer questions about the brain, behaviour, and the big question “what does it mean to be conscious??”

Now… it’s not my place to try and explain to you about the work of these scientists… I just wanted to share with you the (fairly useless) bit of information that there exists a body of work in this field which is slightly better than the certifiably insane reasonings of philosophers…. Slightly better in the sense that its not certified insane…. though many believe it to be quite mad….

For those of you who are interested in the science of cognition and behaviour…. A good place to start might be Dr. V.S. Ramachandran’s book “Phantoms In The Brain”…

For an insight into genetics and behaviour… Try and get any book that might give you info on Seymour Benzer’s work…. There’s a book called “Time, love & memory” which is quite good…

BRILLIANT!!!

A student once asked his teacher,

"Master, what is enlightenment?"

The master replied,

"When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep."

And THAT my friends is the mystery of life explained. We spend too much time thinking about trivial issues and doing things we don't want to... Maybe it's time for us to change... Maybe it's time for us to be happy... I think i'll go shoot someone ;D

Zen Story

Came across this zen story recently... Found it quite moving... especially since it brings out what i've always thought is true... There is nothing to be gained from reasoning with people when their mind is obscured with emotion (anger, hate, doubt, etc)... It is better to silently accept their actions and let THEM reach a conclusion about their behaviour on their own... They all realise their mistakes... tis only a matter of time... Of course... sometimes it may be too late... but then no one said life was fair...

Is That So?

A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded to know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin, the Zen master whom everyone previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents confronted Hakuin with their daughter's accusation, he simply replied "Is that so?"

When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. "Is that so?" Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.

For many months he took very good care of the child until the daughter could no longer withstand the lie she had told. She confessed that the real father was a young man in the village whom she had tried to protect. The parents immediately went to Hakuin to see if he would return the baby. With profuse apologies they explained what had happened. "Is that so?" Hakuin said as he handed them the child.