Social impact of marketing

While on a trip recently, an interesting thought occurred to me about the impact of marketing on society. On the night of May 5, we had a bonfire which was accompanied by singing and games. Since most of it was in another language, I took solace in delving into my philosophical thoughts. And what I observed during that night added some new directions to my thought process. I had always been an avid supporter of marketing, but am no longer sure about the real impact it has on society. From the company perspective, marketing is essential to maximize profits. But seen from the point of view of the society, the repercussions now seem to be far from obvious to me.

The world is not enough

If you can't trust a Swiss banker, then what's the world come to?  

I wonder if these lines would have been there in the movie if it was made after the financial market collapse of 2008. An example from the Swiss side of the story is that on 18 February 2009, United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) agreed to pay a fine of $780 million to the U.S. Government and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States by impeding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). For the greed of man, the world is surely not enough! Oh, grow up, double-O Seven!

Dalai Lama: The modern Vibhisana

There is a very interesting analogy between the story of Ramayana and the modern world.

In Ramayana, there are two main characters: Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, and Ravana. Ravana, the king of Lanka, abducts Rama's wife, Sita. In order to rescue Sita, Rama gathers a huge army to fight a battle with Ravana. But Ravana is very powerful and cannot be defeated so easily in battle. To Rama's help comes Vibhisana, who is Ravana's younger brother. Vibhisana pleaded before Ravana many times and asked him to return Sita to Rama, but to no avail. Finally, Vibhisana decided to join Rama's camp and help him in securing a victory in the battle with Ravana. And, of course, Rama won the battle and Sita was rescued!

Teaching: Past, present and future

In ancient India, education was imparted in Gurukuls, and teachers were called Gurus. To translate the word Guru as teacher, would, however, be a gross misrepresentation. The Guru of ancient India not only imparted education to the kids but also stood as the symbol of knowledge in the society. The Guru was also the adviser to Kings and other people in the society. The concept of Guru in ancient India is beautifully depicted in this well known Sanskrit sloka:

Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnu

Guru Devo Maheshwaraha

Guru Saakshat Para Brahma

Tasmai Sree Gurave Namaha

Guru is verily the representative of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

He creates, sustains knowledge and destroys the weeds of ignorance.

I salute such a Guru.

As time went by, the above verse met the same fate as that of many ancient things. The words remained, but the meaning was lost.

Free Will, Destiny and D-Will

While delivering a lecture in New York on Jan 10, 1896, Vivekananda said:

There cannot be any such thing as free will. The very words are a contradiction, because will is what we know, and everything that we know is within our universe. Everything within our universe is moulded by the conditions of space, time, and causation. Everything that we know, or can possibly know, must be subject to causation, and that which obeys the law of causation cannot be free.

The Paradox of Difference

Everybody claims to be different from others, and yet we are all so much the same!

Religion : A statistical property

Creationists have surely given a very hard time to evolutionary biologists. This is not because the arguments of creationists are rational, but simply because of the opposite reason. And given the important positions that many creationists occupy in the social ladder, it is not even possible to just ignore them and move on. Creationists are, basically, religious people who like to adhere to their beliefs in all circumstances irrespective of the fact that exists evidence that falsifies their beliefs. However, all religions of the world are not opposed to the idea of evolution. This fact tempts one to conclude that religions belonging to one set are more scientific than the religions belonging to another. But, as of now, there is no data available to verify this statement. Also, in the history of mankind, many great scientists, specially mathematicians, were actually very religious.

Bushisms and Obamatrix

It is great injustice that Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize before Bush. Bush had also done exactly what Obama did. Both of them gave the world so much reason to laugh. And Bush deserves it more, because to laugh on Obama's statement, one has to do some research and realize the comedy. It takes some time and effort. But don't worry Bush, you will get it in 2010. May be both should also get the Nobel Prize for Medicine, because laughing keeps a person physically and mentally fit. Now, if you think that my previous statement was a poor joke, I am just trying to catch up with the PJ talent of The Nobel Foundation. I am afraid that the Nobel Foundation will beat me hands down in the competition by awarding the Nobel Prize for Economics to Obama too for his policies (no comments!) to bring back the US financial sector from the abysmal state it has been since the Lehman collapse. All the best, Mr. Prez!

3-Iron

3-Iron is a Korean movie directed by Ki-duk Kim. I watched it a few days back with one of my friends. The movie is fabulous. Just great!! Alongwith the rest of the movie, I also really loved its ending. I mean, not just the story part of it, but the way it was shown. A clip of the ending is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9D5PADmrrU. The sound track is also awesome!! Since I found this clip on YouTube, I have watched it more than 10 times in 2 days!!

What we truly are

"It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices."

Objective Subjectivity

The debate between an objective view and subjective view has been going on in my mind since a long time. I have never been able to decide which is better and ought to be followed. In Indian Philosophical thought, though we have the idea of one Absolute entity, but there are so many different paths one could follow. There are so many schools of thought viz. Advaita, Vishistadvaita, Dvaita, and may be more. Which one of them is the best? Some say that its a matter of preference. And some try to prove the supremacy of their own convictions. So, is it completely left to the individual to decide? If thats the case, then he/she may choose any of these or may come up with a belief system of his own and this may contradict the existing systems. It would also not be correct to say that an individual is free to choose as long as he chooses something from the existing ideas and does not start his own new theory. When there is no clear 'best' philosophy, then how can we prevent others from coming up with new ideas? It is quite possible that there is a 'best' philosophy waiting to be discovered. But allowing complete freedom to an individual could also be dangerous, because a person who is not bound to anything may get easily misguided by others or his own mind. So, there is a need for an objective idea also.

Eyes to see and Legs to run

One of the most commonly asked questions in modern times is, "Which will win in the end: Science or Spirituality?"

Life in a Metro

Recently, I watched the movie "Life in a Metro". Really nice movie. Depicts the "modern" aspects of the lives of people who live in metropolitan cities. The characters that I am going to talk about are Rahul, Neha and Shikha. But there were also a few more who played a very good role. This movie raises some issues that need to be addressed.