Monday 28 May 2007

Pinker and optimism

Steven Pinker writes in 'The Decline of Violence' in response to the question 'WHAT ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT? WHY?'

...the most important and under appreciated trend in the history of our species: the decline of violence. Cruelty as popular entertainment, human sacrifice to indulge superstition, slavery as a labor-saving device, genocide for convenience, torture and mutilation as routine forms of punishment, execution for trivial crimes and misdemeanors, assassination as a means of political succession, pogroms as an outlet for frustration, and homicide as the major means of conflict resolution—all were unexceptionable features of life for most of human history. Yet today they are statistically rare in the West, less common elsewhere than they used to be, and widely condemned when they do occur.

...as far as I know, every systematic attempt to document the prevalence of violence over centuries and millennia (and, for that matter, the past fifty years), particularly in the West, has shown that the overall trend is downward (though of course with many zigzags). ...

Anyone who doubts this by pointing to residues of force in America (capital punishment in Texas, Abu Ghraib, sex slavery in immigrant groups, and so on) misses two key points. One is that statistically, the prevalence of these practices is almost certainly a tiny fraction of what it was in centuries past. The other is that these practices are, to varying degrees, hidden, illegal, condemned, or at the very least (as in the case of capital punishment) intensely controversial. In the past, they were no big deal. ...

What went right? No one knows, possibly because we have been asking the wrong question—"Why is there war?" instead of “Why is there peace?" There have been some suggestions, all unproven. Perhaps the gradual perfecting of a democratic Leviathan—"a common power to keep [men] in awe"—has removed the incentive to do it to them before they do it to us. Payne suggests that it’s because for many people, life has become longer and less awful—when pain, tragedy, and early death are expected features of one’s own life, one feels fewer compunctions about inflicting them on others. ...

My optimism lies in the hope that the decline of force over the centuries is a real phenomenon, that is the product of systematic forces that will continue to operate, and that we can identify those forces and perhaps concentrate and bottle them. "

Of the few responses posted on the edge.org site, this is one I really liked and at the same time it saddened me for much of the world cannot share this optimism with Pinker. Most people of the world remain deprived of basics in life and for them 'pain, tragedy, and early death are expected features of one’s own life, one feels fewer compunctions about inflicting them on others' holds very true.

Sunday 27 May 2007

more rains.

rains rains and more rains.
Being inside suffocates me. I come out and breathe in quantites of fresh air, walk a bit and then get tired of the cold.
lonely street.
Right opposite Royal Fort garden. Green leaves.
What a privilege.

Spent a few hours yesterday with a young student from Italy who wants to spend time in India. Young man - listened to him talking continuously, full of dreams.

Saturday 19 May 2007

a privilege

What do you do when you come from a place that was 42 degrees and land in a country where its rainy and cold. Work, and on the weekend just pray for a better next week. Thanks to remnants of the welfare state I could borrow some videos from the library and watch them in the cosy warmth of my room. In the last two weeks, I watched a Kurosawa – Drunken Angel, the classic Carnes – Les Enphants du Paradis, Caligula (re-viewing after 30 years and unfortunately a sanitizied version), Visconit – Ossessione, and a couple others.

Being alone is a privilege. Less worries for now. The Hindi-Hindu world remains quite disturbing. My Hindi blog mentioning the MSU Baroda incident brought some reactionary comments.

Monday 7 May 2007

Yes, finally. A blog in English.

Yes, finally. A blog in English.
I have been trying desperately to write regularly in Hindi but typing in Hindi is tiresome, I am not really used to it.
This is not my first attempt to write a blog in English. I have tried before, but gave up eventually mostly because I am a bit self conscious about writing in English. I never accepted it as a language native to me. The other reason is that there are few people writing in Indian languages, so it seems important to write in Hindi.

Anyway, this then another beginning.
Interesting that I begin this time after arriving in London - perhaps more because after a long time I have had a day of reprieve. From tomorrow work occupies my mind again.

For now, I just came back from a drizzle on a Southall street. Back from the library declared closed due to the bank holiday.