Musings from Jay (blog site permanently frozen 11/05/2024 morning)

It is interesting that Harris has changed horses. At one time she had talked about banning fracking and penalizing emissions but not anymore. While it is crucial to figure out a safe non disruptive way to transition to a future economy that emits much less, her change is quite startling. There is little talk of climate change on the campaign trail. So, what gives? What is my take?  Biden locked in a lot of gains with the decade-long bills he got congress to pass including the inflation reduction act and turbo charging nuclear power use in US. These initiatives include funding for a variety of climate initiatives, and I have small writeups on the key ones further below.   Many states are also making good progress with renewables. Also, EPA rules to cut power plant emissions, and EPA rules to cut methane emissions have been formed and they have not been blocked by the supreme court. Also, some actions have been locked in for emissions from agriculture. These are the ...

I looked at consciousness a bit and wrote 4 essays in my blog. But I did not really find the subject illuminating or thinking about it too fruitful, and it did not grab my interest as a subject worth further study on my part using methods I use.  Here are the 4 essays.  Consciousness 1: The neural correlates of consciousness (neurological perspective) (v1.0) Consciousness 2: Evolution and consciousness. (Evolutionary perspective) (v1.0) Consciousness 3: Who am "I"? (Psychological and Eastern philosophical perspectives) (v1.0) Consciousness 4: What is self-consciousness? (western philosophical perspective) (v1.0) What is the understanding I personally took away? I personally think that only you subjectively can know about your consciousness.  Deducing consciousness, say of a dog looking at a mirror and gauging its reaction to his image to make inferences about its consciousness is far less persuasive.  Is AI conscious? A google AI researcher was fire...

I spent a lot of time in the past understanding politics, govt, economics, finance, and international. Once I understood what I wanted to know, I dropped it. I think age 70 is a good time to let go of politics, economics, govt, finance and international if possible. They disturb your mind, and this is the age for calmer thoughts and endeavors. One should continue to observe these things but with much more detachment. No interest in discussing such topics with anyone going forward. These blogs are it on such topics. We are retired in Hawaii.   These days I am disconnected from the job market, stock market, bond market (a non-callable FDIC insured CD held to term behaves very differently than ordinary bonds), real estate/mortgage/loan market (your home is where you live possibly for life), and largely unaffected by interest rates until close to the end of the next president's term. Debt is 125% of GDP. A number of other countries are in worse shape, and they don’t have the uniqu...

This essay is roughly in the realm of epistemology (closest I could find in philosophy). It describes the “algorithm” I use to acquire knowledge. Conversing with friends is not a knowledge acquisition exercise but an exercise in having fun or a social interaction!! Information is strings of zeros and ones. Knowledge is information which is the closest you can get to the truth. How do you know if a result, finding, or statement is true? You do that by examining the source and method and judging your confidence in that. You are not going to independently ascertain it. You accept it if you accept the source and method used in arriving at it. Logic has an extremely solid foundation, and you can accept a logical statement or reasoning. Science is based on the scientific method which is an extremely solid foundation, and you can accept that. Political science and economic science are also sciences and can be accepted. Math has an extremely solid foundation and can be accepted. Your sense...

There are many perspectives on how values form. Here is my perspective.  Value form when you are younger, and they tend to really stick.  Nobody taught me hard work and integrity. I learnt it by observing dad. I observed how he climbed his way up from a poor PWD officer in Nagpur to the head of south India sales region in Kirloskar. He did it with hard work and integrity and determination.   I also saw how he interacted with everyone - never bad mouthing anyone and handling himself with integrity in all his interactions.  I observed everything he did and processed it. I adopted that in full. That was my role model. I learnt it.  Nobody taught me self-responsibility. I learnt it at IIT (collage). I was alone and independent far away from home staying in a hostel. I learnt and internalized and concluded that your parents sheltered you in the past but going forward I was an independent agent and whether I succeeded or failed or achieved happiness depended sole...

As one experiences life, everyone changes to some degree. You know more, you get wiser, you use new tools and techniques, you have more experience, and you acquire new skills. Does it affect your attitudes, behavior and personality? I believe so. But I think your core values do not change because I think they get incorporated into you as a bedrock early in life.  Although my wife and I have very different backgrounds and personality, surprisingly we have, or evolved to have, some very similar values. Let me try to list the common four most important ones (there are others that we have).  1. There is no free lunch. You have to work hard and smart and make the right choices. You are primarily responsible for your own wellbeing.  2.  You are responsible for your own actions and the consequences are yours.  3. Be compassionate and generous to the less fortunate/in need to the extent you can (earlier in life - much less so now since we are retired).  4. Integrit...

Chat GPT returns the following on what is creativity.  --------------- Creativity is a fundamental human trait that sets us apart from other animals. It enables us to develop new ideas and solve problems innovatively. Creativity is also considered as the most important soft skill of the 21st century. It help us express our feelings and ideas about all kinds of things and allows us to share our ideas with other people. When we look at a problem in a new way, we can sometimes find a solution we hadn't thought of before. Creative people can look at a problem from many angles, solve it, and still have something left for the next problem. Creative people don't always find solutions to problems; sometimes, they just find ways around them. Creativity is also important in education, as it allows us to push boundaries of what is possible, imagine new worlds, and find solutions to the most pressing problems facing our society.   In summary, creativity is important because it al...

This essay discusses inter family relationships from my perspective. It primarily focuses on the existence of and challenges due to family spread in Indian origin families and some ideas on what might help.  For a long time in India, family relationships were very integral to society. Many families lived in joint family units. Family dynamics and relationships were very important. This is still true today in some families. There are still extended families and joint families. There are still dispersed families that are tight knit.  Today some Indian families have scattered. One member may be in one country while the other member could be in another country. Family relationships today typically sink right down to the nuclear family of typically parents, husband, wife, and kids, even if dispersed. Some nuclear families are splitting up too but that is not the focus of this essay. Relationships due to blood with other members of the extended family (beyond nuclear) is weaker. Rel...

I decided to write this due to a readers comment in another blog asking my position on this. It was not preplanned.  Over 35 million lawful immigrants live in the US (most of them American citizens). About 1 million unauthorized people with temporary permissions live in US (through DACA or TPS). Estimates are about 11 to 14 million other unauthorized immigrants are living in the US. There has been a surge in illegal border crossings in recent years.  The US has a problem with the southern border right now. Conditions in the southern countries are forcing people to migrate to the US in large numbers. It is estimated that 7 million people have left just Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela due to terrible conditions there, for other countries. It is a hard journey with no guarantees of success. They are robbed and raped on the way, and scalpers take what little money they have. It is really sad. There is a good case to be made for humane treatment of these people (humane treatme...