Biased Views and Scientific Temper

Sometimes, when I’m walking down a road by myself, I can’t help but notice the things around me. I can’t help but to hear things around me. I see people going by their daily lives, and sometimes, I, by chance, over hear a casual conversation between a group of people, who are perhaps sitting next to me, or walking right behind me.

Usually, it would be a conversation about nothing in particular, something random perhaps, that they derive a little amusement from. But it is the more serious and debatable topic which comes up once in a while, that tends to catch my attention. On occasions, the conversation turns into a heated argument about whose points are more valid, and whose explanation and idea is right. Upon reaching this stage, I wonder, whether it is meaningful to argue in such a violent and heated manner at all. Take any point. It must be based on some logic thought up by the person who comes up with it. There is no way in hell that an idea just randomly pops up in one’s head (unless you would like to consider divine intervention, which in this case I’m not) . Any thought that comes into one’s mind must have a build-up, a series of ideas and steps to arrive at a thought. No doubt someone might have gotten their logic wrong at some point, hence leading to a wrong statement. But the question I ask is “Why will the other person not even consider a SLIGHT possibility that there may be some basis and explanation on which the other person’s view is based?”. Why is it that some people wish to rubbish an alternate view in the blink of an eye, without even thinking? Why are some people so much bent on their own ideas, that the thought of a new idea seems unacceptable?

It is what people call ‘scientific temper’. Though I agree this is a term I can very loosely base this question upon. By definition on the internet, “Scientific temper describes an attitude which involves the application of logic and the avoidance of bias and preconceived notions. Discussion, argument and analysis are vital parts of scientific temper. It is thus necessarily open — admitting every point of view, however heterodox it might be, or where it comes from. Elements of fairness, equality and democracy are built into it.”

One must be able to understand that along with him/herself being right, there are chances that he/she MAY be wrong. Also, one must understand that along with the other person being wrong, there are CHANCES that he/she may be right. In the end, what happens is a different story. One may be right, and the other person may be wrong. But why do we, being intelligent beings, not wish to welcome a new idea? Why do we wish to keep sticking to the views already existing? Is there not a possibility that one new idea from somewhere may be strong enough to over throw a current belief, and lead to a betterment of sorts?

The difference between what we think is right and what is wrong may also be due to cultural conditioning. We may perceive an idea as a wrong one. But we not only think it is wrong, we think everyone should agree that it is wrong. This is not to say that something is wrong just because everyone agrees it is wrong. There is a logical possibility that we are all mistaken and it is just our cultural conditioning that tells us that something is wrong. By a different and perfectly meaningful logic, what we think as ‘wrong’ may be harmlessly ‘right’. I just ask one question. Why do a portion of us not even bother to wonder about the other side of things, and just jump onto our own thought, and stick to it? Why would one want to look at the ‘heads’ side of the coin, and immediately deduce that the other side is ‘tails’? Perhaps the coin you are holding may be biased, and both sides may have a ‘heads’. There is no need to accept anything, but at the least, perhaps one should ask questions, and put an idea through enough analysis first?

:-C.S.Sailendra

Skull Kid - The Beginning

This is part one of a series that I wrote. It is a story of an anti-hero of sorts.....I guess.....which I wrote in the form of a poem.....Lets call it an attempt to write a ballad.

Skull Kid - The Beginning

Skully was an ordinary boy

He was impossible to annoy

A very patient and sweet kid

Not a single bad thing he did

His parents passed away

And he had a step mom, who hated him, in every way

But did not have many people

To talk to, which created a ripple

In his innocent little mind

He tried being kind

But this didn’t help in any way

That was it, there was no ray

No ray of light

Until one day, he got into a fight

Skully was feeling frustrated

And just then, he was irritated

By a teacher who targeted him

His mood became dim

He took too much of this

He got up and slapped that miss

For a second, he went wild

Then he became mild

He ran out of the room

And bumped into a bully

The bully said “What up Skully?”

He lifted Skully and took him into the lab

And Skully made a grab

For a nearby bottle of acid

He was no where near placid

But the bully grabbed it first

He said “Dying of thirst?”

And made it an acid rain

Poor Skully writhed with pain

His face did burn violently

And the bully beat him vehemently

Skully was bleeding bad

It was the worst beat down he ever had

Soon, the bully left, and Skully was crying

He washed his face, and on the floor he was lying

His face searing with pain

His cries went in vain

Soon, he got up, and got out

With pain, he did shout

Even though he looked like a hideous creature

He was charged with hitting a teacher

And was sent home immediately

He staggered home, burnt severely

No one even gave him medical assistance

Still, he showed great resilience

He went to his room

And sat in gloom

He tended to his face

His heart beating at a rapid pace

His clothes torn, his body bleeding

He was in a terrible condition, no where near dreaming

His step mom came home, and helped him to the clinic

She was not at all sympathetic

She left him in the waiting room, and never came back

Not that the boy had courage that did lack

He knew that his step mom liked this

She must have thought this opportunity to be at bliss

His parents dead, and now the house gone

Everything he had from him, torn

That second, he was disowned by the stepmother

The nurse offered help like a mother

She washed his face, but could not do more

He stepped out of the clinic door

And was now an orphan

Straight home, he ran

But step mom just gave him his bags

And some food, water and dirty old rags

After searching, he found an abandoned old house

He took shelter, and soon, his senses did arouse

It happened all too soon

He wanted to swoon

He hated everything!

He no longer had anything

He hated everyone

He decide, something had to be done

He went through his baggage

He did rummage

His face hurt no longer

His body felt stronger

Despite the aid, he needed to cover his face

He thought of different ways

Finally, he found a mask

For which on his third birthday, he did ask

It had a painting of a skull on it

He put it on, and it fit

He went out of his den, and tried stalking a man

When the man noticed, he ran

Skully followed him, and chased him into an alley

The two of them were alone in the gully

Skully pulled out a knife

The man said “Don’t kill me, I have a wife!”

Skully said, “The world will pay for what it gave me

They never let me be

I was nice, but people never cared for me

And now, I don’t care either, I feel free!”

Thus, Skully stabbed the man dead

And stood in a pool of red

From that day, a new killer was born

The teenager Skully was gone

And a psycho killer came out, who never cared what he did

Now he is known as the infamous “Skull-Kid”

.....to be continued......

: -C.S.Sailendra

Ego

With confidence I walk

With pride I talk

With authority I say

“Will I ever give up?…Nay”

With attitude I do

Always trying to conquer the social zoo

People ask “you are…..who?”

I say, “I am a part of you!”

The essence present in all!

Thriving, walking ever so tall!

Whether you think of him or not

Even if you loose everything you sought

Ego will forever be within

Making man’s perspective ever so thin

Not that qualities such as confidence is bad

But a man’s fully exposed ego, drive those around him mad!

: -C.S.Sailendra

Society from the top

Despite having all the materialistic things that are required for the well-being of a man, the net worth of it all comes down to nothing if he does not have his mind in the right place. One may have all the monetary and financial support that he requires to come up in life. But without the proper nurturing of the mind, the end result takes a different course all together. An incomplete or incompetent social circle, a broken family, an unstable state of mind, a sorrowful childhood, and other such causes may cause even the man with the greatest potential to plummet down into nothingness.

But still, despite all the rubbish that may be heaved upon the unfortunate sufferer, he/she may be revived, and may still reach his/her peak, only if the right guidance exists. It may not be an external guidance. But it may be the internal push. It can be the urge from within to get up, gather the courage and strength, and keep moving. For it does not take any effort to lay down where you got knocked out. It is great in itself to revive your senses, use the power of logical deduction of what is to be done, and keep moving.

Let me approach all the possible problems at once. As can be seen, any source that may drag one’s performance levels down has to do with people, and society. One may have had a hard time growing up in his/her home. Or perhaps one has not made any good friends in life. So to speak, it also may have been that a good relation has turned bad. All the factors affect the mind of a weak man, and affect his/her life. And all the factors have one common feature. Needless to mention, it is people.

If one wishes to take a break from it all and rejuvenate him/herself, the one advice that can guarantee his/her rejuvenation is “Get away from people!”

Let’s face it. The only way a person could be maligned, is by the wrong interaction with other people. Words of people could moralize a person to make him rise out of the deepest depths. All the same, those very words could demoralize a man, to such an extent as to drag him of his high position in life, and put him on the streets. People do not seem to realize how deeply they can affect one another’s lives. By simple words or acts of kindness, a man can be uplifted that he may perform tasks he would never have thought possible. But sadly, we live in a selfish society. Every man or woman must satisfy their own needs first. This is a very valid statement. It is true that one must look after one’s self first. But if one could spare a little bit of consideration for a fellow being, the world would be different. Once again, it is not being said that no one in this world is a fair hearted fellow. Such elevated people who see through the fog of selfishness, materialism, and immaturity may exist. But they are few and far. We live in a society where people have the crude tendency of fighting like animals over things that do not even deserve the least bit of attention.

But of course! That is the issue. How many people “think” before they act? Those who do may proudly stand out as an exception to the mass majority of people who mindlessly perform actions without even trying to be pro-active.

The technological development of man may appear very promising. But it means nothing to have a high-tech gadget if one has the understanding of a senseless moron. Similarly, we must see the fact that despite us getting more and more tech savvy, our morals, and common sense has spiralled down to an alarming depth. It is ridiculous to see a group of learned men trample over each other, and elbow one another instead of standing in a line, which may help the entire system be more organized. It is stupid to see an expensive and high end car driving down the freeway, only to tell you that there is an inconsiderate maniac who is ignorant to general traffic rules inside the very car.

In the end however, it is no one’s fault. It is just the course of learning. Only if one meets another person like him/her, and gets a taste of the mindlessness that one indulges in, will he/she truly understand the meaning and importance that exists in living a pro-active life. We can only hope that society doesn’t crumble before there are enough learned and pro-active people who can guide society along the right path, and somehow avoid the seemingly inevitable self-destruction of mankind.

-C.S.Sailendra

Messenger of death

Shattered is the shield of the earth

For comes the devil himself

Out of the fiery hearth

The messenger of death himself

Hot from hell and freshly burning

Comes the flag of skull and bones

The ghosts and evil spirits celebrate his returning

With a purpose of erasing humanity

Comes death himself

To this weak mortal realm

To pack human souls on his ivory shelf

Comes angry, fiery death himself

The burning devil, with his fire chain

Throws chaos, destruction and annihilation

Dead bodies are everywhere, lain

Once alive, now soul-less

The world burns, people die

As the havoc unfurled, works its anarchy

The dogs of hell make the world fry

And when it is all done, the devil,

And his dogs return to the depths of hell

With destruction in his path, and the

Dawning of a fresh corruption-less human era!

:-C.S.Sailendra

Ethical Hacking Seminar

Ethical Hacking Seminar

A seminar on Ethical was held here in Manipal last Sunday. Well, to be honest, when I saw the price for the pass for the seminar, I was almost sure I’d be skipping it. But “somehow”, I did end up attending it, and to put it plainly, R.S.650 was worth it! Now, disregarding all the controversy circling the presenter of the seminar, I could in all fairness say that the information that one could absorb from the 3 and a half seminar was worth the money. And let’s face it, it was a Sunday. And if you think about it, all people do on Sundays is waste the entire day sleeping in late, while away time by doing nothing meaningful (Most of the cases in general. There are people who use their Sundays wisely), and catch the Monday blues before sleeping. Hence, it could be fair to say that learning something on a Sunday is a break to the weak monotony.

But moving on to the seminar, Mr Fadia was definitely a good orator, and he did have a quiet and enthusiastic audience clinging to his presentation. The main theme was meant to be “ethical hacking”, but to be honest; it turned out to be more like a “cracking” seminar, followed up by a talk on ethical hacking. Just to clear a misconception, cracking is basically the job of the people who gain unauthorized or illegal access to the system; whereas hacking is actually what the good guys do to prevent it. Anyway, what ethical hacking is, is basically pointing out the loopholes in a computer security system, so that steps can be taken to remove these vulnerable points, and prevent crackers from exploiting the lapses in security. The seminar started off with a talk on how hackers do what they do: Hack. A few precautionary methods to safeguard him/herself before actually proceeding anywhere else were explained, such as methods to hide one’s I.P, after which methods for getting the I.P of other P.Cs were explained. Other methods to hide one’s self were pointed out too.

Once this has been done, a criminal would be prepared for an offensive move. A briefing on “Trojans” was given, which would allow the hacker access to the target system. A demonstration was given on how a hacker could completely control the host’s system. This included access to data on the host’s memory, and other basic control such as locking the keys on the keyboard, inverting mouse clicks, opening the CD drives, and switching on the web cams of the host system (Extreme violation of privacy indeed). Other techniques such as password cracking, blue-tooth hacking, and data sniffing, USB hacking, SQL injection were also discussed. I’m avoiding putting down any technical details here, mainly because I’m not sure whether I’m allowed to do so.

But all in all it was a successful event hosted by the “IE-CSE”, which ended with a brief question-answer session. After attending the seminar, it really makes me wonder how safe we actually are when we’re browsing the net. The privacy we believe that we have was totally ridiculed. The possibility that you’re being tracked………right now…..is nowhere near low. It really makes me feel insecure nowadays every time I connect to the net. The only thing I can agree with, is that everyone who does browse the net must indeed provide themselves with adequate amount of security, by installing anti-viruses, anti-spywares, and the likes. Trust me; it takes extremely basic knowledge of hacking for one to hack an unsuspecting layman’s computer. On a lighter note, for those of you who considered attending, but missed it, you did miss something worth attending!

C.S.Sailendra

The Leap Of Fate

A day will come in every soul’s journey

When one shall be thrown to the test

A leap of fate after every lesson in life

One that shall put all doubts to rest

A plunge based purely on one’s decisions

And the wisdom one has acquired

A plunge to check the worth of a mind

Whether it has the strength required

To believe in what one trusts

To have a faith in the power one has

And to move forward without a doubt in mind

That this test, he will pass

Indeed results may go both ways

The light of success may caress one

With the utmost sweet embrace

That may leave one with the impression of being “The One”

But one must be mindful that

One glance at the illuminating light at one’s side

Must not send one, plummeting

Into the darkness of ego and pride

Hence let go, fearless of the ground

If one has elevated to his moral heights boundless

And if indeed, these heights he trusts,

The ground below will be soft and harmless

For it is not, but where we land, after the leap

But it is, whether or not where we have landed

Is the spot of our personal choice, for if the heart

Has been followed, true bliss will be granted

: - C.S.Sailendra