Dummies' world

Why do we read history and teach it in our schools? Choose from the options below:

1.    It’s good entertainment

2.    It makes us understand who we are and where we came from

3.    It makes us understand mistakes of our past generations so we may learn from them and avoid repeating them in future

You will agree that we don’t consider the last option when we read or teach history.

It may come as no surprise to know that most of our current problems are of our own making. Name any problem – hunger, poverty, sickness, war – you will find that our behavior is the root cause of most problems.

For example, we produce enough food to sufficiently feed the current world population. But we goof up in food distribution – with waste, protectionism and price distortions. Our current economic systems have not served us well, as evident from the fact that majority of the world’s people are poor. Our current political systems have not served us well either, as we draw imaginary borders around us, declare war on other humans and kill each other, as if they do not have a right to live. We pollute the environment with little regard to the adverse impact on our future generations.

All such problems are of our own making. We also have the ability to make everything so incredibly complex, that with the passage of time, we lose sight of our original intentions in doing any particular thing.

What distinguishes us from other species is that we are self-aware. With our intellect, we have the ability to unmake our problems, only if we make conscious choices to do so. Our intelligence is far superior than is reflected in our current state. We have learnt to become individually brilliant and accomplished. We have to do the same collectively.

The purpose of our lives

No one surely knows our lives’ purpose, but, these thoughts may seem rational:

The first thing to know is “who are we?” As Stephen Hawking, the brilliant physicist says “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star.” In the universe’s scheme of things, we are not even specks of dust. It is very sobering for us to know that collectively, we don’t matter. The universe may not care if we exist or perish. Earth, in its 15 billion years of existence, may have seen many species evolve and go extinct and may not care if one more species turns extinct.

We dominate all the other species on Earth and behave as if they don’t matter. The reality is that, even we don’t matter. But don’t get depressed – each one of us also has a special existence in this universe, each one of us mean a lot to people who are close to us – our family and friends.

In comparison to the billion years’ life span of the world around us, our life span of a few decades is not even a nanosecond in the history of time.

We, the human species, exist for our own sake. Each of us not only lives for his or her own self, but also for other fellow humans. Our collective behavior not only impacts our current generation, but future ones too.

The primary objective of our lives is to perpetuate the existence of our species. We have to continue the cycle of human life in the foreseeable future. As a corollary to this thought, we also carry the responsibility of leaving this world a better place than when we entered it, so that our future generations not only survive, but also live a better life than us and evolve into superior beings.

Do you agree? Select one of the options

- Yes, I agree

- No, I don’t agree

- DUH – what was that?

About this blog

This blog is meant to be a ‘community blog’. As compared to a personal blog, where one person’s views are carried, a community blog has participation from many like-minded people, who have equal opportunities to publish their thoughts and views.

The dominant theme of this blog is to look at ourselves in retrospect and view our thoughts and behaviors with a long term perspective. While acknowledging that individually we can be brilliant, we will see how collectively, we are stupid. Our collective behavior affects us individually and thus individually too, we may seem stupid. The objective is to acknowledge our follies; study the rational choices available to correct them and find what it takes to exercise those choices. To find the right answers, first we need to ask the right questions. The belief is that with clear perspectives; most people will opt for rational choices.

Let’s be rational and accept that one blog amongst millions, cannot change the world. But even if thoughts of a few people start changing, it can make a lot of difference. Most of the time, you may find serious stuff, but occasionally, fun posts too. If people find this blog interesting, it will evolve over time.

Now is the time to read, comment and blog away. And you are invited to join.