Friday, February 25, 2011

When US changes bet on dictators ? Noam Chomsky


Noam Chomsky is a leading linguist and philosopher. I think he is emeritus now at MIT. He is considered ‘father of modern linguistics’. But it is just a mere one reflection of his personality. He is more than an academician. He is dissident political activist, and harsh opponent of ‘political hypocrisy’. So you might have figured it out, yes, he hits hard on US foreign policy. I am planning to write an entire article on his academic accomplishments but this time I would like to refer his most recent article elaborating why and when US changes its bet on dictators. And as a test case to Chomsky’s theory you may input ‘Musharraf’ and see whether it resonates with the same frequency or not. His website: http://www.chomsky.info/bios.htm, caters for virtually all the information about this giant polymath. Let’s scrutinize it for the heaven’s sake.

Firs thing introduced as a corner stone in this analysis is the notion of ‘stable dictators’. And most rightly so, since dictators have the capacity of ruthlessness in the disguise of benevolence for his indigenous people. Democracy is a process that brings upon a change in people’s favor through evolution and selection. But it doesn’t come in a system where there are numerous back-doors from polling station to the counting table.
Another reason of US support to the dictatorship esp. in Arab countries is because of lack of trust of Arab’s on US and their animosity with Israel. First priority of US is to safeguard Israel’s interests, even if it has to veto (14 favor of it, only US is to veto) a resolution condemning Israel’s growing settlements in the disputed areas.
Although Chomsky didn’t elaborate through what means US is supporting Gaddafi. I don’t see any such thing, though it can be said in case of (disbanded Mubarak, King of Jordon, Monarch of Bahrain, and other top notch Arab dictators and so called ‘his eminences’)

You better read it but I have given you the crux of it.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Column: by Jawed Naqvi (DAWN), gives Alternative Perspective on Possessing Nukes...


I think Jawed Naqvi belongs to an apologist school of thought that presents an alternative perspective on possessing NUKES, in a sense of discouraging them. Just like Pervaiz Hoodbouy, who believes Nukes made us more vulnerable than ever... It is a worth reading, esp. when it cites some near-catastrophic incidents pertaining to developed nations. And when technological giants like US is not immune to this technology glitch than a nation like Pak. or Ind. has a long way to go...
Although I believe, situation in which Pakistan was pushed to the wall, it became necessary to possess such "WMD" but once we own them, we should be fully aware of 'Alternative Perspective'...

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Google Toolbar

Get started with Google Toolbar: IT is a nice addition that comes to your browser. You can share any web page on your FB account, or Blog, or through Twitter, etc. It also comes with Google's page translation utility that is very helpful when browsed page is not sync. your vernacular, along with spell check, Gmail, Google books, Google blogs search, Google Images, Google news and much more...
I have recently used it and its really a bliss, esp. when I have to share a web page, I no longer look whether it has share option for FB/Blogger... On Google's toolbar, it is right there with green color button... :)

When Words Dont Mean It...

Blogging Is Dead Just Like the Web Is Dead: Tech News and Analysis «: "
ITS a nice read, though it doesn't elaborate more on 'statistics' rather than 'arguments' but the notion of 'blog evolution' from macro to micro is entertaining... Face Book is already a well established medium of 'micro blogging' and once upon a time chaps used to play 'games' over it as well and those games became viral to an extent, one of my friend partially attempted mid-term exam (at grad level) because he was harvesting at FirmVille ... ;D

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Column: The wondrous world of science

Column: The wondrous world of science is a weekly dose of high-tech news by our renowened researcher, Prof. Atta ur Rehman. I liked "Machine Intelligence" thing, maybe its a prejudice of my (remote) association with the domain.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Prelude: Introspection

This blog - in a huge virtual space - is a tiny reflection of my existence. I will share my dispositions with you. These dispositions range from the (pseudo-)philosophical subtleties to the burning current affaires, from the art of deception to the art of living; where I will introduce characters from the past that has influenced human thought through out the ages that gives perspective to our observations. I would like to share things from the lighter and brighter spectrum of the life. Some reviews from the movies I believe one should watch. Some personal observations in personality-development and communication. And unlock pictures that dwell thousand words. I believe in evolution; hence, in turn, I believe nature didn’t put everything on the face of this universe from the very first day. Things are acquired and abandoned in a course of a long process... So that’s pretty much the case with this endeavor.
Now let’s see, who am I? If I were to describe the attributes as an entity I have, then they are concisely concluded in the standard proforma, 'ABOUT ME'. Here I would like to write between the lines. I am a graduate science student who has opted "Computer Science" as a professional field of inquiry. Why Computer Science? Well, in those days when I had bestowed upon a career choice, a movie 'The Matrix' was much popular amongst teenagers. It was my sole inspiration and the idea of 'Simulated Reality' inspired me from the very beginning to this day. Though it was a pure work of fiction but I am its firm believer. I will elaborate on this phenomenon in a separate post. This movie was a hit, and secured Rating: 8.7/10 on IMDB. Hence, I was the one looking for philosophical subtleties in the world of Computing. And mind it; the question of the nature of 'Reality' in its core is a classical philosophical question. But soon I realized it was a fumble of reasoning. Study of Data Structures, Operating Systems, Computer Hardware Architecture and subjects alike were no where near my perception of the field. Soon it revealed and It was a hard time. Question of changing career, as once experienced by Prof. Hossein Nasr, was not on the decision table. The opportunity of smooth transition to somewhat more meaningful discipline was lost. So I did a compromise, I opted for AI. And guess what, there a movie Artificial Intelligence: AI grasping Rating: 7/10 on IMDB. Though, discipline of AI is pretty much a science about the machines wrapped into an intellectual disguise of logic and computation but that’s the best Computer Science is to offer. But at the same time this vibrant field has its own wonders to explore. Questions of Intelligence, Ontology, Knowledge, though originated from philosophical circles are debated amongst psychologist, cognitive scientists, computer scientists and engineers. Biological Vision intrigues the leading Computer Vision scientists. Bio-Inspired Computing is an appreciation of what Nature has to offer. Moreover, AI is multi-disciplinary, where one is offered to solve problems originating from as diverse disciplines as economics, genetics, and music, etc. So when AI has this much to offer, how come this humble man is to abstain?
At the same time I live on a piece of land that has seen more turmoil than Afghanistan and Iraq in present times. The phenomenon of ‘suicide-bombing’ has become a common place. It’s common to an extent that one gets up in the morning and the first news is of such an unfortunate incident somewhere in the country. Lamentation is on the aftermath of such incidents where certain factions come face to face in interpretation of the heinous incidents, one’s martyr is other’s foe. Ironically the ideological differences 'amongst' the different fractions of the nation are treacherously fatal. It has psychological implications. I will share my views on these current burning issues as well.
Why should you visit again? I believe my dispositions will be thought-provoking, witty, informative, intuitive and inventive. Where there is much room for alternative reasoning, intellectual accomplishment and academic disagreement but no resentment.
This place favors the instincts of those who have a gifted soul.