Sunday, 17 April 2011

The Trouble with Physics

‘The Trouble with Physics’ by Lee Smolin is a very interesting book. Assuming I am a layman, not an expert in mathematics, and I cannot differentiate between alpha, beta, gamma and theta, and I detest pages full of formula and equations, then this book is for me. I can understand the basics of modern theoretical physics by reading this book.

It starts with the five great problems of theoretical physics, problem of quantum gravity, problem in the foundation of quantum mechanics, problem of unification of the particles and forces, problem to explain how the value of free constants in the standard model of particle physics are chosen in nature and the problem of explaining dark matter and dark energy.

He goes on to explain what he calls “The Beauty Myth”, the desire to explain various forces and phenomenon in the nature and universe through one common theory. It came in baby steps, but each attempt at unification gave rise to bigger and bigger problems for further unification of theories. The author takes us to unified-field theory, general theory of relativity and attempts to unification of gravitational and electromagnetic force. Then he briefly visits Quantum Theory and Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). We know briefly of all the discoveries made using particle accelerators. Then we know about the gauge principle, which came into being after a failed attempt to unify gravity and electro-magnetism.  The gauge principle later on led to the model of electroweak force.

Further down this brings us to supersymmetry.  Broadly this is a process in which you can replace one of the fermions ( electron, proton, neutrinos etc.) by a boson ( photon, W and Z particles etc.). Most important discovery of supersymetry is connected with the string theory.  It promised what no other theory had before, a quantum theory of gravity, at the same time a genuine unification of forces and matter. At one stroke it tried to solve at least three of the five problems of theoretical physics mentioned earlier,

The string theorists soon realized that there was now a complicated six-dimensional space and each give rise to a different version of the theory. Also in the revolution of string theories observations played no role, which is not the signature of any great discovery. String theory did not predict dark energy and even the value detected was hard for the string theory to accommodate.

The book also looks at “Physics After String Theory”. One suggestion is we have to find a way to unfreeze time, to represent time without turning it into space.  But in the end we are still searching for conclusive answers to the five problems first mentioned. Has a generation of physicists from 1970 onwards wasted all the time without making any real progress? It is for you to read, understand and come to your own conclusion.

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Women and Law in Colonial India

Women and Law in Colonial India is a social history, written by Janaki Nair. This covers the entire period of British rule, till 1947. This shows how during the colonial rule there was more deprivation  for women, within the framework of deprivation faced by Indian population. At the suggestion of Warren Hastings, by whose orders it had been compiled, Halhed  translated the Hindu legal code from a Persian version of the original Sanskrit. And she quotes “ A man, both day and night, must keep his wife in so much subjection that she by no means be mistress of her own action if the wife have her own free will, not withstanding she be sprung from a superior caste.” Though the British administration, in their own reason to govern India, had developed legal structure and judicial system in the whole of India, they were very much aware of the caste systems and hold of the religious masters and priests on the life of the common men in India, and they gave into many concessions, which had a bearing on the women. It took 40 years for the British to outlaw the Sati Pratha ( widow immolation on husband’s death ) from the start of recording it. Between 1815 to 1824, in 10 years 6632 cases were reported, in Bengal, Madras and Bombay (Mumbai), of which 90% occurred in Bengal, even when anti-Sati law was already enacted. The debate over Sati, bought to the foreground the deplorable position of widows in the upper castes particularly, to whom death seemed to be a preferable choice. Quote “ In part, the terrible conditions to which Indian patriarchy condemned the widow betrayed  deep-seated fear of voracious female sexual appetites, unrestrained by marriage.” The prohibition against the remarriage of widows was therefore only observed against upper caste Hindus. Marriage of minor underage girls were very common in India and even with British intervention the law that was passed was laughable. Husbands who consummated marriage with Girls under the age of 8 ( and later changed to under the age of 10 in 1850) were only punishable. Only in 1891 it was raised to 12.  The society was then guided by the famous principle of Manu “ her father protects her in childhood, the husband in youth, and her son protects her in old age, a woman does not deserve independence.” In 1925, 14 was fixed as the age of consent in extra-marital cases and 13 for marital cases. As per record female infanticide was most among certain tribes in northern and western India.  An 1841 report shows that in entire Kathihar in the Jhareja tribe there were 5760 boys against 1370 girls. Only in 1870, a law was passed introduced by Johon Strachey, prohibiting infanticide in North West Province, Punjab and Oudh. But the penal provision of the law was a paltry, fine of Rs 1000/-, six months imprisonment or both. With the advent of science, and availability of means to know the gender much before the birth, the issue is continuing even today, again in much larger scale in North and West India. The book also throws light on various aspects of labor laws, which gave no inadequate support to women. The two council acts, 1892 and 1909 made no mention of female franchise, as two thresholds, property and literary qualification, worked effectively well to keep the women out of the electoral rolls. Madras was the first in 1920 followed by Bombay in 1921 to have granted specifically the women the right to vote, followed over years by other provinces. There was no universal adult suffrage in India, even in the Government of India Act, 1935. Women as well as men got this right only after independence. Coming to situation after independence from the British rule, the book points out the inherent and subtle inconsistency between  Article 15 and Article 25(1) of the Indian constitution. Article 15 ensures , among other things, indiscrimination based on gender. But article 25 gives freedom to freely profess practice and propagate religion. And the discrimination against women are perpetrated in the name of religion. The book is an interesting reading from cover to cover.  

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Blink

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is about ‘The Power of Thinking without Thinking’. A part of our brain leaps to fast conclusion, based on observations of a few seconds. Very often, but not always,  such decisions turn out to be right, which is based on a very small and instantaneous sample. This is called the adaptive unconscious   and this is quite a new field in psychology.  And this is not the unconscious as described by Sigmund Freud, which is a dark place filled with desire fantasies and past memories, which are too disturbing for us to think consciously. Adaptive unconscious, which the writer is sometimes naming as ‘thin slicing’ is a very busy subject of research in modern psychology. We make connections much more quickly between pair of ideas that are already related in our minds, than we do between pair of ideas that are unfamiliar to us. On this the psychologists have developed the idea of Implicit Association Test ( IAT). This is not only a measure of attitude but also a powerful predictor on how we shall react in a certain spontaneous environment.

In practice, this snap judgment, can be very helpful, if right, for example,  to a car salesman, if he can measure up a customer and his needs, in the first thirty seconds of his entry into the show room. And this makes the difference between a good salesman and a great salesman.

Consider the well known jargon ‘less is more.’, which basically says you need to know very little to find the underlying signature of  a complex phenomenon. The writer has shown this to happen from experience.

The writer has also partially answered the question, when to blink ( i.e. when to trust our instincts ) and when to thinks ( i.e. do a detailed analysis to come to a conclusion). This book is simply outstanding, with lot of examples, stories and riddle thrown in.

Sunday, 10 April 2011

Connect the Dots

"Connect the Dots" by Rashmi Bansal is a fascinating read, having biography and business details of 20 entrepreneurs, who had no formal training in business. They are not MBAs and mostly first time entrepreneurs.

Persons covered include Prem Ganapathy ( Dosa Plaza), Ganesh Ram (Veta), Sunita Ramnathkar ( Fem Care Pharma), Hanmant Gaikwad ( Bharat Vikas Group), R Sriram ( Crossword ), Chetan Maini ( Reva Electric Car Company) etc. Very interesting are Saurabh Vyas and Gaurav Rathore, who run PoliticalEdge, advising politicians and doing research for them. Another inspiring profile is that of Kalyan Varma, a successful professional Wildlife Photographer who left a very rewarding career at Yahoo to persue his dreams.

 The book also serves as an interesting guide on how to scale up business. Absence of right scaling of start up businesses are very often the cause of their early demise.

The core theme is business is not a rocket science, any one can be successful in it with proper observation, experimentation and application of mind.

  

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