tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16658728091307373592024-03-13T07:52:06.650-07:00My Perception of WorldA blog where you can read a myriad of articles from diverse fields such as economy, psychology, philosophy, science, history etc.Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-73631557828620277972016-07-23T09:25:00.004-07:002016-08-06T01:41:55.465-07:00An attempt to understand the human brain and the nervous system<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">From eating, breathing to thinking, analyzing various scenarios and feeling, everything is controlled by your brain. This jelly-like mass of tissue weighs around 3 pounds and is very susceptible to injury. Thus it is protected by the bones of vertebrae and cranium and then by cerebrospinal fluid. As human evolved over generations, the mass of the brain increased tremendously but our skull didn't grow resulting in the wrinkles that one can observe in the human brain.</span><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span> <span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G41hqJpxC7w/V6TNK_3tdMI/AAAAAAAAAKs/csWwSI1O1q85k-tB7PQZz02r4JtDpMEkgCLcB/s1600/brain-anatomy_SurajPandey.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-G41hqJpxC7w/V6TNK_3tdMI/AAAAAAAAAKs/csWwSI1O1q85k-tB7PQZz02r4JtDpMEkgCLcB/s320/brain-anatomy_SurajPandey.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: askabiologist.asu.edu</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Anatomy of brain:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The brain can be basically classified into three region- the hindbrain, the midbrain, and the forebrain. All these parts work together but each part has its own specific function. The hindbrain is located on the upper part of the spinal cord and contains brain stem and cerebellum. The brain stem controls body's vital function such as breathing, heart rate whereas cerebellum is involved in the learned rote movement. The midbrain controls some reflex action and eye movement and other such voluntary movements. The forebrain is the most advanced part of the human brain. It consists of the cerebrum and the structure beneath it. The cerebrum sits at the top floor of the brain and is the intelligent center of the human brain. The cerebrum is divided into two equal halves called hemisphere by a deep fissure. These two halves communicate with each other through a thick tract of tissues that lie at the base of this fissure. Though the two halves seem to be the mirror image, they differ in their functions. The cerebrum is divided into four lobes, the frontal lobe is in action when you think or use a reasoned argument. When you are enjoying a delicious meal, your parietal lobe is in action and when you are enjoying the beauty of a landscape, it's because of your occipital lobe. Similarly, when you are enjoying a melodious music, it's because of your temporal lobe.<br />
<br />
Deep within the brain, lie structure that acts as the gatekeeper between spinal cord and cerebrum. This region is responsible for feeling various emotions such as fear, safe etc. Like the lobes in the cerebrum, they also come in a pair with one on each side of the brain. The hypothalamus, about size of a pearl, is the emotional center of the brain and is responsible waking you up in the morning and getting your adrenalin<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
flowing in a stressed situation. It basically controls various bodily functions by the release of hormones from pituitary gland.Near the hypothalamus lies the thalamus which acts as an intermediary for the information flowing between spinal cord and cerebrum.<br />
<br />
The other important part of the inner brain is the hippocampus, which is used to send information to appropriate part of the cerebrum for long term storage and retrieving them whenever needed.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>How do the brain and the rest of body communicate:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Before we understand, how the communication takes place between various body parts and brain, let me allude to central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). CNS comprises the brain and the spinal cord whereas PNS comprises all the nerves that come out of CNS. Now the prime function of CNS is to integrate various sensory input coming from PNS and then responding to it both consciously and unconsciously.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lkqx701uv-o/V6TOOiRepXI/AAAAAAAAAK0/aTpduYEfeWooOdajqkDkHxe0_gvQ_euOgCLcB/s1600/surajpandey_CNSPNS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lkqx701uv-o/V6TOOiRepXI/AAAAAAAAAK0/aTpduYEfeWooOdajqkDkHxe0_gvQ_euOgCLcB/s320/surajpandey_CNSPNS.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy: publi.cz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Also, all the communication takes place by relaying signals to and from the neurons. These neurons comprise of 3 parts namely cell body, dendrites and axon. Dendrites are called listeners which get the message from the neighboring neuron and pass it towards the axon. Axons are called talkers which in turn pass the coming message to the neighboring neuron. The place where the exchange of message occurs is called synapse. These messages are passed via the release of chemicals called neurotransmitters, these neurotransmitters pass the synapse and attaches to receptors thereby creating a potential difference and hence the new neuron passes these signal further.<br />
<br />
Now any communication can be broken into simple blocks. Input block will be the sensory input collected by the receptors (sensory neuron) in the PNS and then it is forwarded to the spinal cord and then finally to the brain. Now, upon reaching CNS , these information are then processed by the appropriate parts of the brain. Finally, the output is motor output where there is some movement in one or more parts of your muscles, these responses are carried to the muscles through motor neurons.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z511_ltWstw/V6TO_05s6TI/AAAAAAAAAK4/2JqlCAXbu5oYKbZXWlohhsrCMl_AQ1jdACLcB/s1600/SurajPandey_communication-between-neurons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z511_ltWstw/V6TO_05s6TI/AAAAAAAAAK4/2JqlCAXbu5oYKbZXWlohhsrCMl_AQ1jdACLcB/s320/SurajPandey_communication-between-neurons.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: urbanchildinstitute.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Now I will try to illustrate all these points with an example. Suppose you are walking in the garden on bare feet. Suddenly a thorn pierces your skin and you feel a lot of pain. The mechanoreceptors in the skin of your leg are activated and an electric signal is passed via these neurons to CNS. Once it reaches the spinal cord, the spinal cord sends a response via the motor neuron which causes you to lift your leg at once. At the same time, this signal is passed to various parts of your brain like the hypothalamus which makes you emotional and you start to think why did this happen to me, is this the punishment from God for not doing my chores. Finally, the signal reaches to frontal cortex which starts to analyze the situation and then you start to think that you shouldn't have come bare feet to the garden and also start to think of the ways to stop the bleeding.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>References:</b><br />
<br />
1.<a href="http://www.bem.fi/book/05/05.htm">http://www.bem.fi/book/05/05.htm</a><br />
2.<a href="https://owlcation.com/stem/Here-is-what-happens-when-you-accidentally-touch-a-hot-pot">https://owlcation.com/stem/Here-is-what-happens-when-you-accidentally-touch-a-hot-pot</a><br />
3.<a href="http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/know_your_brain.htm">http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/know_your_brain.htm</a><br />
4.<a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9969-introduction-the-human-brain/">https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9969-introduction-the-human-brain/</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/07/philosophy-of-religion-and-god-part-2.html">Previous Post</a></div>
</div>
</div>
Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-43153371265156435962016-07-23T00:21:00.001-07:002016-07-23T09:31:00.326-07:00Philosophy of Religion and God - Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
In my previous post, <a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/07/did-god-create-man-or-man-created-god.html" target="_blank">Philosophy of Religion and God - Part1</a>, we discussed various arguments such as Ontological and Cosmological arguments to prove the existence of God and also their counter arguments. Today we will be looking at a few other arguments.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>Teleological Arguments:</b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sv9eYx5tLjc/V5OYTPlTKrI/AAAAAAAAAKU/kt44bEXxp8syAbTOrnKgmA8QxP8CKOQwACLcB/s1600/surajpandey_Williampaley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sv9eYx5tLjc/V5OYTPlTKrI/AAAAAAAAAKU/kt44bEXxp8syAbTOrnKgmA8QxP8CKOQwACLcB/s320/surajpandey_Williampaley.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy: www.britannica.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><br />
</b> <b><br />
</b> <br />
In 1802, an English Clergyman,William Paley, presented his arguments for the existence of God. He used an analogy, where he took an example of a watch and told as the intelligent design of a watch and its purpose implied the existence of a watch-maker. Similarly, the intelligent design of this world and its purpose implied the existence of a world-maker. To understand the teleological arguments in detail, please refer to my previous post <a href="https://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/understanding-teleological-arguments.html" target="_blank">Understanding the Teleological Arguments</a>. To refute this argument, many people used disanalogy, saying that a watch and world are two dissimilar things and hence same logic can't be used as we can clearly open a watch and see how the gears inside the watch fit to tick the hands of the clock, same is not possible with the whole world. These counter arguments were responded by saying just because you don't understand the design and working of something, doesn't imply it was not created by one. Let's take an example of a TV set, not many understand the interior design of a TV set, but that doesn't mean it was not created by one and it just happened to appear. One main problem with this argument is that as long as we see objects which are complex and seem to exhibit a purpose it works fine but for things which apparently has no purpose that's a flaw in his argument as the absence of any obvious purpose will lead people to create purpose.<br />
<br />
Many people also argued that the complexities that body exhibit is a result of natural selection and random mutation. When there are a lot of objections to the arguments, you either need to reject your arguments or modify your arguments such that it answers all the objections. So the modern teleological argument presented by British philosopher changes the teleological arguments to make the existence of God more probable. He said though there is another explanation for the existence of the world we must go with the one which is highly probable and it is highly probable that god designed this world rather than it came into existence on the pure chance of natural selection and random mutations. These were again countered by claiming we can't make a probability claim when we have only 1 sample set.<br />
<br />
<b>Blaise Pascal's Arguments:</b><br />
<b><br />
</b> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2hZ0tshmSwg/V5OYmduA5LI/AAAAAAAAAKY/1znqEa5aq0Uy2v06N94jq57PX_WKhwQigCLcB/s1600/Blaise_Pascal_Surajpandey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2hZ0tshmSwg/V5OYmduA5LI/AAAAAAAAAKY/1znqEa5aq0Uy2v06N94jq57PX_WKhwQigCLcB/s320/Blaise_Pascal_Surajpandey.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: en.wikipedia.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><br />
</b> <br />
According to Blaise Pascal, a french philosopher, believing in the existence of God is more rational. He derives his logic by employing decision theory. His logic can be represented using a two-by-two matrix, either God exists or does not and either you believe in the existence of God or you don't:<br />
<style type="text/css">.nobrtable br { display: none }</style><br />
<div class="nobrtable"><table border="2" bordercolor="#0033FF" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" style="background-color: #99ffff; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr style="background-color: #0033ff; color: white; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 5px;"> <th>Table 1</th> <th>God Exists</th> <th>God doesn't exist</th> </tr>
<tr> <td>You believe in God</td> <td>Infinite Rewards</td> <td>some finite reward</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>You don't believe in God</td> <td>Infinite Punishment</td> <td>somefinite reward</td> </tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
Now for the theist, if God exists they get infinite rewards and if God doesn't exist they get comfort with their faith in God. For an atheist, if God exists they will get infinite punishment and if God doesn't exist they get some finite rewards too. But in case the theist is a hedonist, then the rewards enjoyed by him will be greater than the theist who adheres to all moral beliefs strictly. However, if there is equal chance that God exists, then the infinite reward still make believing in God a more rational decision.<br />
<br />
Hope these arguments provides you the reason for your belief in God and if you are a theist and think you have a better argument for the existence of God, please comment. If you are atheist and have a better counter-arguments to deny the existence of God, please do let me know your arguments through comment.<br />
<br />
<b>References:</b><br />
<br />
1.<a href="http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%203%20Religion/Teleological.htm">http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%203%20Religion/Teleological.htm</a><br />
<br />
2.<a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/pasc-wag/">http://www.iep.utm.edu/pasc-wag/</a><br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/07/did-god-create-man-or-man-created-god.html">Previous Post</a></div></div><div style="float: right;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/07/an-attempt-to-understand-human-brain.html">Next Post</a></div></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div></div>Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-41840306882627853562016-07-09T02:12:00.003-07:002016-07-23T09:30:40.912-07:00Philosophy of Religion and God - Part 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Today I will try to explain what philosopher over the years have said on the existence of God and how other philosophers have refuted that with counter arguments.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8wdYc1w-KfM/V4tL5YWX_RI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/p6dt_Za0IQQQcZtZBPWTCds9ALZchekJQCLcB/s1600/St-Anselm2_surajPandey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8wdYc1w-KfM/V4tL5YWX_RI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/p6dt_Za0IQQQcZtZBPWTCds9ALZchekJQCLcB/s320/St-Anselm2_surajPandey.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: www.archbishopcranmer.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ontological Arguments:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">St. Anslem, archbishop of Cantebury came up with ontological arguments to support the existence of God. The Ontological argument is as follows:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. It is a conceptual truth that God is the greatest possible being and no one can be greater than God.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. God exists as an idea in the mind.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3.Anything which has all the same properties as conceived and does exist in reality will be greater than what exists just as an idea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. Since there can't be anything greater than God, thus God must exist in reality.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">These arguments sound convincing if we think of God as greatest possible being. But there were many who didn't agree with these arguments and when philosophers don't agree with an argument, they present counter arguments. Guanilo of Marmoutier, believed that one could use Anslem's arguments to prove all sorts of non-existent things.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He presented a counterexample to prove the existence of a non-existent island:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1.It is a conceptual truth that piland is the greatest island that can be conceived.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. A piland exists as an idea in the mind.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3.Any island that exists both as an idea in the mind and reality will be greater than the piland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. but as we can't imagine anything greater than piland, thus piland must exist in reality.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iaI7kr_i1Rc/V4tMJXeL8VI/AAAAAAAAAKA/-Sqy0kqR_ZI6T-hMhvpxBNm1kzVnVRWMQCLcB/s1600/Aquinas_SurajPandey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iaI7kr_i1Rc/V4tMJXeL8VI/AAAAAAAAAKA/-Sqy0kqR_ZI6T-hMhvpxBNm1kzVnVRWMQCLcB/s1600/Aquinas_SurajPandey.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: commons.wikimedia.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Cosmological Arguments:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">St. Thomas Aquinas tried to prove the existence of the God through what he observed in the cosmos(universe). Cosmological arguments can be divided into 3 parts:</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. Arguments from motion</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2.Arguments from causation</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3.Arguments from contingency</div><div style="text-align: justify;">His logic is based on the idea that an infinite regress is absurd and logically impossible as infinite regress would suggest that any series of events began with nothing or it never really began but was there always.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>A. Arguments of motion:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. We see the world around us is in motion .</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. This movement is caused by movers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. Everything that's moving must have been set into motion by something else that was moving.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. Something must have started this motion and there can't be an infinite regress of movers</div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. So there must be a first mover, itself unmoved,and that is God.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>B. Arguments from Causation:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here he explores the relationship between cause and event. Everything you are doing now, even reading this article can be traced back to some cause which led you to study this article. There must be a beginning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. Some things are caused.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2.Anything that is caused has to be caused by something else as nothing causes itself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. There can't be an infinite regress of causes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. So there must be something which started this cause and effect and that is God.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>C. Arguments from contingency:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Everyone's existence is contingent upon other's existence. We wouldn't have existed if a certain sperm wouldn't have met an egg and exchanged DNA information and still the world would have existed without us. Aquinas believed that there must be something that prevented infinite regress of contingency. So argument of contingency is as follows:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. There are contingent things.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. Contingent things cause other contingent things.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. There can't be only contingent things because that would mean there is infinite regress of contingency and a possibility that nothing might have existed </div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. So there must be at least one necessary thing and that thing is God.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But many of his contemporary philosophers were unimpressed by his arguments and the most significant charge made against Aquinas was that his arguments were self-defeating. Accepting the premise that everything must have been put in motion by something else and everything must have been caused by something else, shouldn't God also adhere to the same stipulation and if God is somehow exempt from these rules. Why can't other things be exempt from those rules too? And if these things could have been established without God, we wouldn't need God to establish these things in the first place.</div><br />
<br />
<b>References:</b><br />
<br />
1.<a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/ont-arg/">http://www.iep.utm.edu/ont-arg/</a><br />
2.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_argument">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_argument</a><br />
3.<a href="http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%203%20Religion/Cosmological.htm">http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%203%20Religion/Cosmological.htm</a><br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/06/positive-and-negative-reinforcement-and.html">Previous Post</a></div></div><div style="float: right;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/07/philosophy-of-religion-and-god-part-2.html">Next Post</a></div></div><br />
<br />
</div>Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-22053412552773061952016-07-02T23:37:00.000-07:002016-07-23T09:27:04.662-07:00Behavioral Economics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Behavioral economics is relatively new and was found to explain the abnormalities in the decisions made by a person. The success of lottery practice where the probability of losing is much higher than gaining, people exacting revenge even though it inflicted more pain to the person exacting revenge all this were the discrepancies which the classical economic theory couldn't explain. In classical economic theory, a man is considered to be rational and self-interested who make decisions after evaluating the costs and benefits and make a decision by maximizing the profit for themselves. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BUeZKypSJZ8/V4C1bowKyYI/AAAAAAAAAJI/BE3mBGExH8gfIxF1Jt1b_uU6LEYgFOfXQCLcB/s1600/surajpandey2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BUeZKypSJZ8/V4C1bowKyYI/AAAAAAAAAJI/BE3mBGExH8gfIxF1Jt1b_uU6LEYgFOfXQCLcB/s320/surajpandey2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Credit: bringyourchallenges.con</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Behavioral economics is a fusion of psychology and economics, it draws on the insight of the psychology to understand the decision-making process of people in a better ways. Behavioral economics focuses on psychological,social and emotional factors that influence a person decision-making process. Our decisions depend on the way the alternatives are framed even if these alternatives have the same value. Framing the alternatives differently can change people perception towards risk. People feel more pain of loss as compared to the joy of gain. To test this theory, an experiment was conducted where the employees of a company were divided into 3 groups. For <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 217, 222, 0.964706);">the first </span>group, things were left as usual. For the second group, a bonus was promised provided they meet the specific goals and for the third group, a bonus was given but with a caveat that they had to return this bonus if they didn't meet the goals. At the end of the year, the productivity of the first and the second group was on the similar lines but the productivity of the third group increased drastically. This result was is consonance with the theory.<br />
<br />
Today behavioral economics has applicability in various fields such as finance, health, workplace productivity etc. So how does behavioral economics operate? As we know that humans can be quite irrational at times and it's very costly and time-consuming process to teach them to make a good decision. So behavioral economist try to identify the psychological issue underneath a problem and then they design a change in order to manipulate the social and emotional factors thereby increasing the probability of making better decisions. Once the change is designed they form a control group where for some people things are left as usual and for others these changes are implemented. Finally, after some time the results of the implemented change on these control group are compared to understand if the designed change was successful or if it made no difference.<br />
<br />
References:<br />
1.<a href="http://harvardmagazine.com/2006/03/the-marketplace-of-perce.html">http://harvardmagazine.com/2006/03/the-marketplace-of-perce.html</a><br />
2.<a href="http://www.createadvantage.com/glossary/classical-economics">http://www.createadvantage.com/glossary/classical-economics</a><br />
3.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0KXhV6TG0c">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0KXhV6TG0c</a><br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/06/does-solitude-foster-creaticity.html">Previous Post</a></div></div><div style="float: right;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/07/did-god-create-man-or-man-created-god.html">Next Post</a></div></div></div></div>Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-16059914562580330212016-06-25T05:42:00.001-07:002016-07-02T23:37:46.336-07:00Does Solitude Foster Creativity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We are now living in an era where many think that the creativity arises out of the gregarious place. So are they right, does solitude even matters when it comes to creativity and if it does how can it be helpful? Before I try to answer these questions let's understand what creativity means. Many people will tell you creativity is thinking out of the box, so what is this box. Can this box be our mind? The answer is no, we can't think out of our mind. This box represents the boundaries that we have created inside our mind as a result of our social environment and where we feel safe and abide by the </div><div style="text-align: justify;">accepted beliefs. So thinking out of the box would be to take risks and challenge the accepted belief. Creativity also arises when you weave together different sorts of ideas from diverse fields. Steve Jobs said:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X6wiMlker9s/V3ffA1GUj9I/AAAAAAAAAI0/Y6m_-nTTJkERZmfw1rGyAm5Uw6Gn2SH6QCLcB/s1600/surajpandey.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X6wiMlker9s/V3ffA1GUj9I/AAAAAAAAAI0/Y6m_-nTTJkERZmfw1rGyAm5Uw6Gn2SH6QCLcB/s320/surajpandey.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now solitude has a positive role in both the definition of creativity. When you are alone, away from the influence of group dynamics and in a peaceful environment. In solitude, one has freedom of thoughts and the constraints of others is not there. This provides a conducive environment for one to connect with one's soul. In most of the world religion, there were seekers who went into the wilderness and experienced an epiphany. Then they brought these ideas with them and helped their community.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Solitude also provides one with a peaceful environment where they can stitch together diverse thoughts and imagery and can come up with unique ideas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Negative effect of being in a group on one's thought process:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a group, there are high chances of one mimicking the opinions of some famous or dominant person. You tend to agree with influencing person for a variety of reasons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Does that mean creative ideas can't be born in a group? No, different people flourish in different types of environment. For some, a group seems to provide more stimulating environment while for others spaces of silence works wonder. Also, the kind of problems such as global warming, unemployment, poverty that exists today requires constant collaboration and information sharing to be resolved. At the same time, we shouldn't forget the power of fertile solitude as there are many who wants quiet spaces to connect their eclectic thoughts and the world needs these people ideas if the strenuous problems of this world need to be minimized.</div><br />
<b>References:</b><br />
<br />
1.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitude">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitude</a><br />
2.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KYU2j0TM4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KYU2j0TM4</a><br />
3.<a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/stevejobs416925.html">http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/stevejobs416925.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/06/artificial-intelligence.html">Previous Post</a></div></div><div style="float: right;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/07/behavioral-economics.html">Next Post</a></div></div></div><br />
</div>Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-31283168754156454202016-06-18T07:43:00.002-07:002016-06-25T05:45:54.931-07:00Artificial Intelligence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most of you are aware that artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machine in performing a task that was once conceived to be only within the reach of a human brain. But this definition of AI evolves over time as technology spreads and some tasks become common. So to put it concisely, AI is whatever haven't been completely achieved yet. Human started building machines initially to help them in their physical tasks but in the past 100 years, humans have embarked on a journey to create technology to enhance their brain and this led to an artificial intelligence race among many top companies. Companies like IBM, Google are pouring hundreds of million dollars in AI technology. Before discussing the role of AI and what it means for the future of human race, let's briefly allude to the history of AI.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Brief History of AI:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the 1940s, Turing's theory of computation suggested that the machine by just shuffling 0 and 1 can represent any conceivable physical laws of this universe. In 1956, John McCarthy and others started writing programs that helped the machines to solve problems in algebra, playing games with human and speaking English. This led to heavy funding of AI related research by US Department of Defense. But they had overestimated the capabilities of AI and hadn't factored the issues such as lack of computing power and lack of sufficient data. This led to a fall in the AI related research. But as the computing power grew exponentially as forestalled by Moore and the advent of big data and the internet and cloud meant that there were a lot of data to be processed and also the computing efficiency was now faster and cheaper and also these data were easily available to any internet connected system.This was pristine milieu for the rise of AI.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HqQ3w9csVvg/V256Gxa9NkI/AAAAAAAAAIg/FAbFLl6a704X9pX3LhCBbEsNtwVXG5UmwCLcB/s1600/AI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HqQ3w9csVvg/V256Gxa9NkI/AAAAAAAAAIg/FAbFLl6a704X9pX3LhCBbEsNtwVXG5UmwCLcB/s320/AI.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: map.norsecorp.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Significance of AI:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So how is AI useful, in this ever changing world one needs to keep track of all the changes in this world to be considered as an expert in a field. Say 200 years back, one could have specialized in 10 fields due to limited availability of data. But with the big data technology, there are huge data being generated per day which is beyond the capabilities of any human to process. Thus nowadays, we see people specialize in a sub-section of any field. AI, thus, help people in being abreast of latest trends and information about the desired field. An example of such AI would be an expert system which can help a doctor treat its patient by recognizing the symptoms. Another example would be when an AI help an e-commerce company to market its product to a specific target group or even individual by identifying the specific target group or individual. These AIs is becoming more and more intelligent at their assigned tasks. In 1997, Deep Blue,an AI developed by IBM, defeated Garry Kasparov ,who is considered to be greatest chess player of all time, by 3.5-2.5 . Google's AI AlphaGo and Deepmind have defeated many legendary Go players. Expert systems are helping many companies to increase the sales of their product drastically. So what does the future holds in store with the growth of computing power and amount of data for the machines to learn?</div><b><br />
</b> <b>Is future with AI a dream or a nightmare for human race:</b><br />
<br />
What will happen once we develop a real AI, in the sense that it can learn and grow itself,whenever there is a change in the situation, it can change itself to better fit. Also, when all the different AIs can collaborate together to achieve certain tasks.What will happen when these super intelligent machines start competing with 7 billion people for resources to achieve a certain goal. Let me present a hypothesis:<br />
<br />
<i>Suppose an artificial intelligent system is created with a task to maximize the production of diesel cars, now to produce these cars it will need all the raw materials. Now there are a lot of practical issues like trade barrier and environmental concerns that need to be accounted for. In an ideal scenario, it would want to take control of the entire world to have indefinite resources available to produce these cars and it can turn against humans whose values doesn't align with its values.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CK5w3wh4G-M/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CK5w3wh4G-M?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><i><br />
</i> <br />
Also, with these AI residing on clouds and distributed across various systems around the world, it wouldn't be easy to shut them down. Also, if we are able to build a single kill switch, these machines being super-intelligent would find a way to protect it.<br />
<br />
Recognizing these potential threats, many AI researchers have started building machine ethics which teach these AIs about human ethics and values so that the control remains with humans.<br />
<br />
<b>References:</b><br />
<br />
1.<a href="http://d27n205l7rookf.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DUP_1030-Cognitive-Technologies_MASTER.pdf">http://d27n205l7rookf.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/DUP_1030-Cognitive-Technologies_MASTER.pdf</a><br />
<br />
2.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence</a><br />
<br />
3.<a href="https://www.irpcommerce.com/en/gb/IRPStrategyCenter/ReadArticle.aspx?TopicID=139">https://www.irpcommerce.com/en/gb/IRPStrategyCenter/ReadArticle.aspx?TopicID=139</a><br />
<br />
4.<a href="http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/artificial_intelligence.html">http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/artificial_intelligence.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/06/positive-and-negative-reinforcement-and.html">Previous Post</a></div></div><div style="float: right;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/06/does-solitude-foster-creaticity.html">Next Post</a></div></div><br />
</div>Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-6277673650416433652016-06-11T04:11:00.001-07:002016-06-25T05:42:53.998-07:00Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">As we know that psychology is the science of both behaviors and internal mental process. This article deals with behavioral part of it and involves associating our own behavior with consequences. Like when you see an animal performing circus trick or a child cleaning his room due to the rewards he/she receives for it. In both these above cases, operant conditioning is involved. So let's understand what does this operant conditioning mean.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iJ5sPHqPC3E/V2VQcmTEvNI/AAAAAAAAAII/EUbPvKJ_UEEz_t5Nw3rrxUaTm6q5qoJAwCLcB/s1600/Reinforcement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iJ5sPHqPC3E/V2VQcmTEvNI/AAAAAAAAAII/EUbPvKJ_UEEz_t5Nw3rrxUaTm6q5qoJAwCLcB/s320/Reinforcement.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy:ed.ted.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Operant Conditioning:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Operant Conditioning is a type of learning in which the strength of a behavior of the operant (object under consideration) is modified by its consequences. To comprehend this in a better way, let's return to the example of an animal playing a circus trick. Suppose we desire for a monkey to stand on 2 legs and balance a ball on its head. Now to increase the likelihood of this behavior in future, whenever a monkey does balance a ball on its head, he is given a reward ( say some cookies). Now as we know a monkey is not going to stand on its two legs and balance the ball, so we need to shape this behavior. Operant conditioning often involves shaping a behavior, which involves not only rewarding the desired or target behavior but also rewarding successive approximation of the target behavior. So for every time a monkey touches the ball or lifts the ball and/or stands on two legs, he is awarded as the trainer thinks it to be closer to his desired behavior. Finally, Once the monkey exhibit the desired behavior, henceforth he is awarded only when he exhibit the desired behavior.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
In our everyday life also, we are continually shaping and refining each other behavior both intentionally and inadvertently. We do this through reinforcement as well as punishment.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>Reinforcement:</b><br />
<br />
Reinforcement procedures are adopted when we try to increase the future frequency of the desired behavior by delivering a stimulus immediately after response behavior is exhibited. Reinforcement is further categorized into positive and negative reinforcement.<br />
<br />
<b>Positive Reinforcement:</b><br />
<br />
Positive can be associated with addition and negative with subtraction. So positive reinforcement is adding something (Favorable Stimulus) that will motivate the individual to increase the likelihood of repeating that behavior in future.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Examples of positive reinforcement:</span><br />
<br />
1. When a child finishes his/her homework on time(desired behavior), his mother gives him ice-cream( positive stimulus).<br />
2. When you complete a project on time (desired behavior), your manager gives you a compliment(Positive stimulus).<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>Negative Reinforcement:</b><br />
<br />
Negative reinforcement is when an averse stimulus is removed once we exhibit a particular behavior. Here avoiding or escaping from this negative stimulus acts as a motivating factor which increases the future frequency of the desired behavior.<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #0b5394;">Example of negative reinforcement:</span><br />
<br />
1.When a child cleans his room in order to avoid his/her mother nagging. Here mother nagging acts as a negative stimulus which is avoided by the child by cleaning his room on time.<br />
<br />
2. When a car alarm stops beeping(negative stimulus) once you put on the seat belt(desired behavior).<br />
<br />
Negative reinforcement should not be confused with punishment as reinforcement is to increase the frequency of the desired behavior whereas punishment is to decrease the frequency of an undesired behavior.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>Punishment:</b><br />
<br />
In punishment, the stimulus which follows the undesired behavior decreases the likelihood of repetition that behavior in future. Like reinforcement, it can be either negative or positive.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>Positive Punishment:</b><br />
<br />
It works by delivering an averse stimulus when an undesired behavior is exhibited, which decreases the probability of repetition of that behavior.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Example of positive punishment:</span><br />
<br />
When a child doesn't do his homework, his/her teacher reprimands him/her. Now the reprimand of a teacher acts as averse stimulus here and this makes children not doing their homework less likely to happen in future.<br />
<br />
<b>Negative Punishment:</b><br />
<br />
Negative punishment happens when a favorable stimulus is removed when a certain undesired behavior is exhibited, which makes such behavior less likely to occur in future.<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #0b5394;">Example of negative punishment:</span><br />
<br />
When a boy/girl arrive late at night, his/her cell phone privilege is taken away by their parent. Here cell phone privilege is a favorable stimulus which is removed in order to decrease the probability of their child coming late at night again.<br />
<br />
A simple diagram to explain the above concept:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l17HHYUGnMs/V2VNhDwC0MI/AAAAAAAAAH8/HoDSBF82vwMGSKAerM0Jc1vIWL4aNDN4ACLcB/s1600/ReinforcementnPunishment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l17HHYUGnMs/V2VNhDwC0MI/AAAAAAAAAH8/HoDSBF82vwMGSKAerM0Jc1vIWL4aNDN4ACLcB/s320/ReinforcementnPunishment.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> Image Courtesy: twogunkennels.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Now watch a small video from Big Bang Theory on the execution of a few of these procedures.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Mt4N9GSBoMI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mt4N9GSBoMI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LhI5h5JZi-U/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LhI5h5JZi-U?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br />
<br />
If you have your own experience with reinforcement and punishment, feel free to share using the comment section.<br />
<br />
<b>References:</b><br />
<br />
1. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning</a><br />
2. <a href="http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html">http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html</a><br />
3.<a href="http://bcotb.com/blog/2013/02/05/the-difference-between-positivenegative-reinforcement-and-positivenegative-punishment/">http://bcotb.com/blog/2013/02/05/the-difference-between-positivenegative-reinforcement-and-positivenegative-punishment/</a><br />
4.<a href="http://www.twogunkennels.com/dutch-dog-blog/archives/10-2015">http://www.twogunkennels.com/dutch-dog-blog/archives/10-2015</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div><br />
<div style="float: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/06/comprehending-capital-markets.html">Previous Post</a></div></div><br />
<div style="float: right;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/06/artificial-intelligence.html">Next Post</a></div></div></div>Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-21319963561359102492016-06-04T07:54:00.000-07:002016-06-12T04:18:32.193-07:00Comprehending Capital Market<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We know that everyone, be it individuals, businesses or governments needs capital for their day-to-day activities. Entrepreneur may need capital to establish a business, to run it , to modernize it or to expand and diversify. Government may need capital to build infrastructure, support its federal institutions or to spend on military.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now there are always two kinds of people in any economic system, one who saves money called as saver and one who needs money for its productive use. The question is how these two interact with each other. Capital market acts as as a link between these two. It facilitates this function by acting as an intermediary between savers and borrowers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Capital market is the part of financial system which is concerned with raising medium or long term capital funds by dealing in investment instruments such as equity or stocks, bond and mortgages.<br />
<br />
Capital market consists of development banks, commercial banks, stock exchange etc. It can be further classified into primary market and secondary market.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M9eGU5zXAyw/V1v2HHgl4tI/AAAAAAAAAF0/d8PgA3n6cBgYiRGX7tF0UsgMnFpo6M6zgCLcB/s1600/Capital%2Bmarket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M9eGU5zXAyw/V1v2HHgl4tI/AAAAAAAAAF0/d8PgA3n6cBgYiRGX7tF0UsgMnFpo6M6zgCLcB/s320/Capital%2Bmarket.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Coutesy: Successfulworkplace.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b>Primary Market:</b><br />
<br />
A company issues shares and/or debentures to establish new business or to expand it, the market where this company gets listed for the first time to issue new securities is called primary market. Since only new securities are only traded, it is also known as "new issue market". The investors in this market consists of bank, financial institution, insurance companies, mutual funds and individuals.<br />
<br />
A company may use following methods to issue securities in the primary market:<br />
<br />
<b>1. Initial Public Offering (IPO): </b><br />
<br />
A company may issue its securities to the public for first time through various methods such as through prospectus, offer for sale or through private placement.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">a. Through Prospectus:</span> In this method, companies provide prospectus which give details of the company and then invites public to apply for the securities offered. Companies reach out to public through advertisements in newspaper or magazines.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">b. Offer for Sale:</span> In this companies don't directly sell their securities to public but sell it to the intermediary, known as Issue House. These intermediaries sell these securities to the public at higher price. This method provides a swift way to raise capital for the company.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">c. Private Placement:</span> In this companies sell their securities to a selected few wealthy individuals or institutional investors.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Right Issues:</b><br />
<br />
Under this method, new shares are made available to its existing shareholder commensurate with the existing shares. The shareholder may buy these new shares or assign a part or all of these shares to another person. These new shares are generally offered at a price below the market price.<br />
<br />
<b>Secondary Market:</b><br />
<br />
Secondary market is often termed as stock market or stock exchange. It is a place where existing securities such as shares, debenture or bonds are sold and purchased regularly. It is the secondary market which determines the price of a stock as most of the securities are traded here.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>Functions of Secondary Market:</b><br />
<br />
1. It facilitates purchasing and selling of already listed securities regularly and conveniently. It gives investors an opportunity to buy and sell these securities as and when they want, this leads to high degree of liquidity.<br />
<br />
2. Determines the price of the securities based on fundamental law of demand and supply.<br />
<br />
3.Maintains and provides regular information on the the prices and sales volume to press and other media. This helps investors make an informed decisions on purchase and sell of interested securities.<br />
<br />
4.Stock exchange transactions are conducted among its members only with adequate transparency and established legal framework, thus providing high degree of security from fraudulent practices.<br />
<br />
5.As stock market channelize savings into most productive investment avenues. This leads to economic growth in a country.<br />
<br />
Now let me give an example for better understanding of all these procedures. Suppose an entrepreneur needs to expand his business, he needs capital to buy assets like machinery, factories, trademark, patent, technical expertise as well as to run day-to-day operations. So he can sell its securities by getting listed with at least one stock market. Once he sell its financial securities to the investors either in the form of stocks or bond, it raises the required capital. Now these financial securities can in turn be sold on secondary market. Assume that the company is doing well and there is an anticipation of upward movement in the stock price. More people will now like to buy its stock and a few willing to sell. This leads to high demand and low supply scenario. To buy these stocks buyer need to bid a higher price to match the asked price of the seller. This increases the stock price of the company. On the contrary, if the company is not doing well. More people will like to sell its stock and a few will be willing to buy. This leads to high supply and low demand scenario. This decreases the price of its stock.<br />
<br />
<b>References:</b><br />
<br />
1.<a href="http://www.investopedia.com/walkthrough/corporate-finance/1/financial-markets.aspx">http://www.investopedia.com/walkthrough/corporate-finance/1/financial-markets.aspx</a><br />
<br />
2.<a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capitalmarkets.asp">http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capitalmarkets.asp</a><br />
<br />
3.<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/snehajc10/capitalmarket-130722112611phpapp01?next_slideshow=2">http://www.slideshare.net/snehajc10/capitalmarket-130722112611phpapp01?next_slideshow=2</a><br />
<br />
4. <a href="https://anilrazb.wordpress.com/capital-market-types/">https://anilrazb.wordpress.com/capital-market-types/</a><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="float: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/islamic-world-history.html">Previous Post</a></div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="float: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/06/positive-and-negative-reinforcement-and.html">Next Post</a></div>
</div>
<br /></div>
Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-23235924738976106812016-05-28T04:09:00.002-07:002016-06-12T04:19:19.976-07:00Understanding the Birth of Islam and its Five Pillars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Birth of Islam and story of Muhammad:</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Before understanding Islam, we need to understand the society in which Islam was born. The Arabs at that time believed in polytheism. In fact, the Quraysh tribe in which Muhammad was born into practiced pilgrimage trade in Mecca where statues of many gods had been collected in a temple like structure called Kabaa.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VwRSPbqv4rI/V1v3Mmuwu4I/AAAAAAAAAGA/J6afb5szJJ48vb6U-owIGzRzkIgEKAobACLcB/s1600/Birth%2Bof%2BIslam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VwRSPbqv4rI/V1v3Mmuwu4I/AAAAAAAAAGA/J6afb5szJJ48vb6U-owIGzRzkIgEKAobACLcB/s320/Birth%2Bof%2BIslam.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: Slideshare.net</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Muhammad, the final prophet of God, was born in the year 570 CE in the city of Mecca. In his early youth, he became a camel driver, then a caravan leader and then a merchant. When he was around around 40 years of age, he was visited by an archangel, Gabriel, in his dream. The revelations that Muhammad received from Gabriel were subsequently collected and codified as the Quran. Since these revelations doesn't include the views of the people, Quran seen as the actual word of the God. Initially though there were many people claiming to have been visited by God in their dream, so Muhammad decided not to speak of these revelations to the public. It was his wife who encouraged him to spread the words of God, now as Islam was strict monotheistic, this didn't bode well with the leaders of Quraysh tribe as they practiced polytheism. If all the gods in the Kabaa were false as Muhammad was preaching, it would have been an economic disaster.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This made the Quraysh tribe people to force Muhammad and its follower out of Mecca in 622. They headed to Yithrab, also known as Medina. This journey , also called hijra, is so potent that it marks year 0 in the Islamic Calendar.In Medina, number of people who believed in these revelations, also known as Ummah, grew significantly. Muhammad, besides being a prophet, was also a good general. In the year 630, Muhammad along with the his follower conquered Mecca. After conquering Mecca,</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
the first decree of Muhammad was to cleanse the Kaaba of its idols and dedicate the shrine to Allah.One important thing to note here is that Allah is just an Arabic word for god irrespective of whether you are a Muslim or Christian or Jews.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
By the end of 7th century, Islam was as powerful a political force as it was a religious one and for this very reason, there is no separate tradition of civic and religious laws like there is in Christianity, Judaism etc. Once Muhammad died in 632, there was a need for a political leader who will guide the Ummah. Muslims were then led by a series of four Caliph who continued to spread the message of Islam. The first Caliph was Abu Bakr, Muhammad's father-in-law and was commonly known as the The Truthful. Many people wanted Ali ,Muhammad's son-in-law, to lead the community, though eventually Ali did become the fourth Caliph, the initial disagreement sown the seeds of division between two major sects of Islam-Sunni and Shi'a.<br />
<b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br />
</span></b> <b><span style="color: #0b5394;">Death of Muhammad and spread of Islam:</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Abu Bakr started a series of successful military campaigns against the Byzantine and the Sassanian empire. All the Caliphs followed this tradition of conquest and sadly also assassination. Though Ali finally got his turn at Caliph, his ascension was very controversial and finally led to civil war.This eventually led to rise of Uthman's tribe, the Umayyads, as a dynasty that would rule over an ever expanding Islamic world for more than a hundred years. Many people believe that the words of Islam was spread based on swords. Although the truth is a little bit more complicated, Islam was not forced on the people but rather people who practiced different religion had to pay higher taxes. Now as higher tax on a product leads to reduction in consumption of that product similarly higher taxes for worshiping other gods led to a vast number of converts. Also, Islam gave many rights to women, orphans. There was no racism practiced in Islam and everyone was treated equally apart from the one with political stature. All these factors resulted in many people opting Islam without any military campaign.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Five Pillars of Islam:</b></span><br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>1. Shahada: Faith</b><br />
<br />
It is declaration of faith. It reads as " There is no God but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God." It is important to recite these words to become a Muslim and to convert to Islam.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>2. Salat: Prayer</b><br />
<br />
It is ritual prayers five times a day- at dawn, noon, afternoon, evening and night. All of these prayers are recited while facing in the direction of Kabaa in Mecca.These prayers are obligatory unless you haven't hit the puberty or are too sick or are menstruating.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Sawm: Fasting</b><br />
<br />
Three types of fating is recognized in Quran. Ritual fasting, fasting as a compensation for repentance and ascetic fasting.<br />
<br />
Ritual fasting is an obligatory act during the month of Ramadan in which Muslims don't eat or drink during daylight hours.Since Ramadan is a lunar calendar month, it moves around the year and is most fun during winter when days are small and obviously least fun in summer as days are both hot and longer.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Zakat: Charity</b><br />
<br />
It is practice of charitable giving to the community from which the wealth was accumulated. A non-poor Muslim is required to give some percentage of their income to the poor. If a person doesn't have enough money, he should compensate for it by other means such as good deeds and good behavior towards other.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>5.Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca</b><br />
<br />
The Hajj is a pilgrimage that occurs during the Islamic months of Dhu al-Hijjah to the holy city of Mecca. A muslim is obliged to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives provided they are healthy and have enough money.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>References: </b><br />
<br />
1.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Pillars_of_Islam">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Pillars_of_Islam</a><br />
<br />
2.<a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/isla/hd_isla.htm">http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/isla/hd_isla.htm</a><br />
<br />
3.<a href="http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-rise-of-islam/">http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-rise-of-islam/</a><br />
<br />
4.<a href="http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/The%20Rightly-Guided%20Caliphs.htm">http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/The%20Rightly-Guided%20Caliphs.htm</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="float: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/stereotype-prejudice-and-discrimination.html">Previous Post</a></div>
</div>
<div style="float: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.com/2016/06/comprehending-capital-markets.html">Next Post</a></div>
</div>
</div>
Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-48876591324734561052016-05-21T04:25:00.002-07:002016-06-12T04:19:56.399-07:00Stereotype, Prejudice and Discrimination.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Have you ever judged someone just by looking, on what their belief are or what they are capable of doing? If yes, what trigger these thoughts? Before we examine the thought process, let's understand the underlying factors.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
These factors might cause us to help another person or harm them or even fear them. People often judge others based on their group affiliation through stereotype, prejudice and discrimination. Let's take a closer look at each.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fBsQXgxowRE/V1v6KdHiYbI/AAAAAAAAAGY/Ov6ti8hsBmou2JESQsLl2Cj81_LW2MhVQCLcB/s1600/Stereotype.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fBsQXgxowRE/V1v6KdHiYbI/AAAAAAAAAGY/Ov6ti8hsBmou2JESQsLl2Cj81_LW2MhVQCLcB/s1600/Stereotype.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: Youthvoice.net</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br />
</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Stereotype:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Stereotype is a pattern which we assign to a group. It may or may not be true. Stereotype can also be positive or negative.Let me cite an example:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Many people associate intelligence with glasses. Now this is positive till we don't expect all people with glasses to be intelligent. Another stereotype can be teenager love to play video games. Issue arises when this pattern becomes an expected behavior. Just because someone wears glasses doesn't mean he/she is intelligent. Similarly just because one is teenager doesn't mean he/she loves to play video games.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Prejudice:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We all have been unfairly judged in our time and at the same time we too have done uninformed judging. Prejudice is a common human condition. Prejudice is formed of two words 'Pre' and 'Judge'.It basically means forming an opinion on someone or something before having all the facts and evidences.It's a thought or feeling that you hold internally and doesn't always leads to an action. For example, let's assume you have a stereotype belief that women can't fly an airplane. Now you form a prejudice that men are better suited for the job of pilot. But you may not act on it and hire anyone based on their talent irrespective of their gender. But if you decide not to hire a woman pilot because of your prejudice, then it becomes discrimination. Prejudice attitudes are often directed along the lines of gender, ethnic, socioeconomic status, culture or age etc.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Discrimination:</b><br />
<br />
This means you go so far as to treat people differently based on your prejudice. Discrimination ,basically, involves putting group member at a disadvantage or treating them unfairly as a result of their group membership.The formal apartheid system of racial segregation in South Africa, the Nazis' mass killing of Jewish people and other group and centuries of bloodshed between Protestants and Catholics are all extreme examples of violent form of prejudice and discrimination.<br />
<br />
<br />
Prejudice and discrimination can be non-conscious. These are based on your implicit thoughts. To understand these we have implicit association test (IAT) . This test was implemented in late 1990s to try to gauge the implicit attitudes, identities, belief or biases that other people are unwilling or unable to report. You can take the IAT online and measure your implicit attitude in all kinds of topics.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/india/takeatest.html">https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/india/takeatest.html</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
So that's one way to measure subtle,implicit prejudice. But these implicit prejudice is far from dead and thus discrimination studies are prominent is social psychology research. Discrimination studies sometimes predict with accuracy how discrimination might show up in broad social patterns like wage inequality, job opportunity gap or unfair justice system. According to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, blacks perceived racial biases to be much more greater in criminal justice system than other institutions. Seven-in-ten blacks said that black were treated less fairly when dealing with police compared to whites. In comparison, 37% whites held that view. Also, 68% of blacks told that the court system was unfair to them, far more than whites(27%).<br />
<br />
Now it's too easy to give examples to demonstrate how people are prejudiced but the real root of the issue lies in why they are prejudiced. Some of the possible answers might be that prejudice can be seen as a way of justifying social inequalities. This happens when people on both sides of spectrum starts believing that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. This is called the "Just-World Phenomenon". This ideology is pervasive across countries. Prejudices can also be driven by "Us" vs "Them" or as psychologist call it ingroup-outgroup phenomenon. When many people think of casteism or racism or any other form of bias, they tend to think it's chiefly because of negative feelings towards other group. But research since 1970s have shown that many group biases are more a function of favoritism towards one's own group than negative feelings towards another group. The tendency of people to favor their own group is known as ingroup bias and has been found across cultures around the world. One of the startling fact regarding ingroup bias is how easily it's triggered. There were a series of experiments conducted between 1970 and 1981 by Henri Tajfel in Briston, England. In these experiments, people were divide into two groups based on minimal information like a preference for one type of painting vs another, or even just the toss of the coin. What Tajfel discovered that within minutes of diving into groups people tend to see their own group as superior and frequently seek to maintain an advantage over other groups. Soon enough, each group has inflated itself and derided the other group, even though division between the two was meaningless to begin with.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>So what's the solution:</b><br />
<br />
Some of the things that might help are:<br />
<br />
1. One-on-one interaction: If you get to know someone as a person, you get to see beyond those stereotypical things that you have formed in your mind. You will start thinking, hey this isn't "them" this is my friend, I know about him.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2.When you recognize your prejudice and stereotype you can act on them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
3.When you starts celebrating the fact that people being different is a good thing. It adds to "Us" rather than taking anything away.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>References:</b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.<a href="http://www.understandingprejudice.org/apa/english/page2.htm">http://www.understandingprejudice.org/apa/english/page2.htm</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2.<a href="http://study.com/academy/lesson/prejudice-discrimination-stereotypes-definitions-examples.html">http://study.com/academy/lesson/prejudice-discrimination-stereotypes-definitions-examples.</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
3.<a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/12/vast-majority-of-blacks-view-the-criminal-justice-system-as-unfair/">http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/12/vast-majority-of-blacks-view-the-criminal-justice-system-as-unfair/</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4.<a href="https://www.verywell.com/what-is-the-just-world-phenomenon-2795304">https://www.verywell.com/what-is-the-just-world-phenomenon-2795304</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="float: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/economic-significance-of-indian-ocean.html">Previous Post</a></div>
</div>
<div style="float: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/islamic-world-history.html">Next Post</a></div>
</div>
</div>
<br /></div>
Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-72571152454440028162016-05-20T07:41:00.000-07:002016-06-12T04:21:15.721-07:00Economic and Strategic significance of Indian Ocean Region.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Indian Ocean is one of the most concerted area where global economic activity and political activity conjoin.Prior to expounding the economic and strategic significance of Indian Ocean Region (IOR), I need to digress for a while to give a picture of the geography of IOR.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V7nKpjFbI8k/V0BSsV7FvcI/AAAAAAAAADA/jsvB7GwlyP0-p6g7UqmPL9_raxRmYxsnACLcB/s1600/indian-ocean-map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V7nKpjFbI8k/V0BSsV7FvcI/AAAAAAAAADA/jsvB7GwlyP0-p6g7UqmPL9_raxRmYxsnACLcB/s400/indian-ocean-map.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is the third largest ocean of the world being proximate to Asia in its north, Africa to its west, Australia to its east while Antarctica in the south.It extends from the Bay of Bengal in north to Antarctica in south covering a range of 9600 kilometers and from Southern Africa in west to Western Australia in east with an estimated range of 7800 kilometers. The Indian ocean total area includes Andaman sea, Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal, Flores sea, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Java sea, Mozambique Channel, Persian Gulf, Red sea, Timor sea and other tributary water bodies. It also contains many small island nations such as the Madagascar, the Seychelles, Reunion island, Maldives Mauritius and Sri Lanka while a group of islands forming Indonesia is located in its east.<br />
<br />
So, why is it considered to be of significance from economic and geopolitical perspective. Answer lies in the enormous trade that occur through the IOR. The economic development and population explosion of the littoral countries has led to an increase in the trade through this region. The major products commerced through this route encompass iron, coal, rubber, tea and crude oil. Iron ore from Western Australia states, India and South Africa is exported to Japan, while coal is exported to UK from Australia through this route. Processed sea food is emerging as a major export item, though petrolium dominates commerce as IOR is chief throughway for transport of petrolium products to UK, America and East Asia.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
This trade route is also known for being dangerous due to the presence of a number of critical choke points. A few of the significant choke points are Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca and Bab-el-Mandeb. More than 80% of the world's seaborne trade in oil transits through Indian Ocean choke points. Strait of Hormuz is the only waterways which gives an outlet to the major oil producing nations such as UAE, Oman, Iran etc. It is very narrow with two 3 km channels exclusively used for inbound and outbound of vessels. Any disruption in the Strait of Hormuz may lead to jacking up of oil prices causing inflation. It may also lead to non-availability of energy resources altogether in a number of countries.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Edpn9WWTjkU/V0BSAzeib4I/AAAAAAAAAC8/ldCYiUHMtA06prfiBt2kB2ZMjUNvSHZUwCLcB/s1600/outline-oil-transit-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Edpn9WWTjkU/V0BSAzeib4I/AAAAAAAAAC8/ldCYiUHMtA06prfiBt2kB2ZMjUNvSHZUwCLcB/s400/outline-oil-transit-.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Percentage of the World oil shipment through Indian Ocean choke points.</b><br />
Courtesy : wsws.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Strait of Malacca is a strait that lies between Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. This route is the shortest routes that connects the Persian Gulf and its market in Asia. This strait connects the Indian Ocean with the South China sea and the Pacific Ocean. Thus, it carries the crude oil coming from the Persian Gulf by crossing Indian Ocean through the Strait of Malacca to the South China sea and Pacific Ocean towards China, South Kora, Japan and other Pacific Rim states. Again, any disruption in this channel will lead to rise in the freight cost and also delay in shipping as alternate route is substantially very long.<br />
<br />
Bab-el-Mandeb is the third most busiest and crucial throughway after Strait of Hormuz and Strait of Malacca. It connects Indian Ocean with the Red Sea by the way of Gulf of Aden. This strait carries most of the European crude oil imports as it allows the tanker to carry oil from the Persian Gulf through the Suez Canal and then through pipeline to Europe and USA. In the event of closure of Bab -el-Mandeb, all the tankers have to be routed through Cape of Good Hope to Europe and America. This will again jack up the shipping cost besides adding 4750 nautical miles and 12-14 extra days.<br />
<br />
Apart from all the trade that occurs through this region, Indian Ocean is becoming increasingly important with discoveries of oil and gas reserves. Recently, China has proposed India for joint exploration of Indian Ocean with its deep sea mining technology.<br />
<br />
From all this, we can posit that Indian Ocean is becoming hub of global economic activity and hence this route is also of strategic importance with many major countries having their naval bases in this region. US uses the island of Diego Garcia as a major air-naval base.France, meanwhile, maintains a significant presence in the Indian Ocean with naval bases in Djibouti, Reunion and Abu Dhabi. India has a huge military presence in Andaman and Nicobar island. India also has established listening posts in the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius. India has also included Maldives under its security grid.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_T0-m6kyAD4/V0BTRKIjmgI/AAAAAAAAADI/ts07E-Egjs0O2odzuQNHYrdg1ev61KBqACLcB/s1600/competition-in-the-Indian-ocean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_T0-m6kyAD4/V0BTRKIjmgI/AAAAAAAAADI/ts07E-Egjs0O2odzuQNHYrdg1ev61KBqACLcB/s320/competition-in-the-Indian-ocean.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy : cimsec.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In a nut shell, with rapid increase in energy demand across the globe and Indian Ocean being immensely rich in that, Indian Ocean is going to be more significant in global politics and economic arena than it has ever been before.<br />
<br />
<b>References</b>: <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.<a href="http://thediplomat.com/2011/03/why-the-indian-ocean-matters/2/">http://thediplomat.com/2011/03/why-the-indian-ocean-matters/2/</a><br />
<br />
2.<a href="http://www.britannica.com/place/Indian-Ocean/Trade-and-transportation">http://www.britannica.com/place/Indian-Ocean/Trade-and-transportation</a><br />
<br />
3.<a href="http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/csas/PDF/5%20Qamir%20Fatima_30_2.pdf">http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/csas/PDF/5%20Qamir%20Fatima_30_2.pdf</a><br />
<br />
4.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean</a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/import-export-and-exchange-rates.html">Previous Post</a></div>
</div>
<div style="float: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/stereotype-prejudice-and-discrimination.html">Next Post</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-50533560027346154642016-05-06T12:19:00.001-07:002016-06-11T04:42:17.632-07:00Understanding the basics of International Trade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We all know that our stuffs are from everywhere. Bangladesh, China, US, South Korea and the list goes on. But what does it tell about the global economy and who stands to benefit from this? Before I put forward my perspective to these gripping questions, let me illustrate what International Trade is with an example.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k41TUuPlGhw/V1v49w8Z2JI/AAAAAAAAAGM/rsmj5lPbtAsBbbD8pmeXzJNoHQyFZsQzACLcB/s1600/International%2Btrade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k41TUuPlGhw/V1v49w8Z2JI/AAAAAAAAAGM/rsmj5lPbtAsBbbD8pmeXzJNoHQyFZsQzACLcB/s320/International%2Btrade.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: Investopedia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Let's say Country A is a world leader when it comes to exporting of defense products and services. Export is basically when a good or service is shipped to another country for sale or trade. Country A also <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/import.asp" target="_blank">imports</a> a lot of goods (say shoes).Now, though country A can produce enough shoes on its own, it focuses on producing defense equipment that it is better at. Country A buys shoes from other countries because it can get these shoes cheaply from other countries.This is the advantage of international trade. It doesn't make sense to produce everything on your own if you can trade with other countries that have a comparative advantage.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The annual difference between a country's import and export is called net export. If the total worth of a country's export exceeds its total import,it is said to have trade surplus. If the reverse is true, it is said to have trade deficit. It may seem like exporting will make a country wealthy while importing will make it poor. After all, if we buy products from other countries, we are shipping jobs overseas. right?Well, it's not necessarily true.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Assume you have a choice to buy a dress which is made in India or in Nepal. Now because of lower wages in Nepal, the imported dress will cost you less.Say, you end up saving 500 rupees, now what do you do with that money? You may either invest this money or spend on some other products or services like going to a restaurant or for a game of cricket. This in turn creates job in those sectors.So, basically international trade reshuffle jobs, though the quality of these jobs may differ.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Trade between countries depend on demand for a country's goods, political stability, interest rates, but the most important factor is exchange rates. Exchange rate is basically how much your currency is worth when you trade it for other country's currency. Lets consider a scenario, assume 1 yuan (Chinese Currency) is equal to 10 rupees. If a Chinese tourist in India wants to buy a shirt that cost 3000 rupees, he needs to pay 300 yuan. Likewise if an Indian tourist in China wants to buy a cell phone which cost 900 yuan, he would have to pay 9000 rupees. Now lets think about what will happen when exchange rate goes up i.e 1 yuan now equivalent to 15 rupees. We say yuan is appreciated. Now to buy the same shirt, the Chinese tourist would just pay 200 yuan. Similarly, now the Indian tourist in china needs to pay 13500 rupees for the same phone. It works the same way with import and export. Once yuan appreciates, it gets cheaper for the Chinese consumers to import goods from other countries and its export to other countries become more expensive. This results in the rise of import and a fall in export.<br />
<br />
Most currencies, like the rupee and the dollar have floating exchange rate that change based on supply and demands. If India buys goods from US , it exchanges rupees for dollars. This creates a demand for the dollar and the dollar appreciates. At the same time, rupee depreciates. There are a few countries that peg their currency to another currency. This is when the central bank wants to keep its currency value in a certain range. It buys or sells currencies to achieve that. The Chinese government was well known for buying US dollars to keep the Chinese currency depreciated. When US would buy goods from China, Yuan would appreciate, then the Chinese government would buy dollars which kept the exchange rate about the same. This kept the Chinese import cheap for the Americans.<br />
<br />
Now a little information on who stands on top when it comes to exporting and importing. China is the largest exporter overall and US is the largest importer based on the World Trade Organisation. India is positioned at 20th when it comes to exporting but is positioned at 8th when it comes to importing.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>References:</b><br />
1.<a href="http://study.com/academy/lesson/importing-and-exporting-in-a-global-market.html">http://study.com/academy/lesson/importing-and-exporting-in-a-global-market.html</a><br />
2.<a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/export.asp">http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/export.asp</a><br />
3.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_imports">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_imports</a><br />
4.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports</a><br />
<br />
<b>For further info:</b><br />
1.<a href="http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/tariff-trade-barrier-basics.asp">http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/tariff-trade-barrier-basics.asp</a><br />
2.<a href="http://trade.gov/fta/">http://trade.gov/fta/</a><br />
3.<a href="http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-world-trade-organization-definition-history-purpose-members.html">http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-world-trade-organization-definition-history-purpose-members.html</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="float: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/mysterious-dark-matter.html">Previous Post</a></div>
</div>
<div style="float: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/islamic-world-history.html">Next Post</a></div>
</div>
</div>
Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-14264797226811052702016-05-06T11:58:00.002-07:002016-06-12T04:21:48.079-07:00Mysterious Dark Matter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m6XzCxo8PZg/Vyzou6sNzGI/AAAAAAAAACY/_vN6QREj7iknrafEZ2hF5FbEISD7m2oBQCLcB/s1600/Dark_Matter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m6XzCxo8PZg/Vyzou6sNzGI/AAAAAAAAACY/_vN6QREj7iknrafEZ2hF5FbEISD7m2oBQCLcB/s320/Dark_Matter.jpg" title="Credit NASA/ESA" width="320" /></a></div>
For thousands of years, we looked up and believed that the illuminated matters was all that made up our universe. But, one of the puzzling discoveries of the 20th century has revealed the fact that this illuminating stuff just accounts for 5% of the mass of the universe.<br />
<br />
Before I dig deep on the story of dark matter, let me elucidate how gravity affects the motion of stars in universe. Say a star is revolving around a galactic center where most of the visible matter is concentrated. At any point of time, there will be two force acting on the star. One is the gravitational pull of the galactic center which tries to pull the star towards itself and other will be the tangential force. Tangential force is basically because of the velocity of the star. The resultant force at any given time will keep the star in orbit. If the velocity was to increase, tangential force will increase and the star will fling off from its orbit.</div>
<br />
In 1933, Swiss astrophysicist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Zwicky" target="_blank">Fritz Zwicky</a> looked up to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_Cluster" target="_blank">Coma cluster galaxy</a> and observed that the stars at the edge of the galaxy orbited at more or less the same speed as the stars near the galactic center. He calculated the mass of the illuminating matter and was perplexed to find out that the gravity effect of the visible galaxy was not sufficient to support for the rapid rotation rates and hence the mass must be hidden from view. He termed this unseen mass as dunkle Materie (Dark Matter).<br />
<br />
Scientists have not yet directly observed this dark matter as dark matter does interact with ordinary matter, made up of neutron, proton and electron. It doesn't even interact with any form of electromagnetic spectrum. But scientists are compelled to believe its existence because of the gravitational affect it has on visible matter and light.<br />
<br />
From Einstein theory on space time continuum, we can say that the more massive an object is, the more gravity it exhibits and the more space it warps and the more it can warp the path of a light beam. You know what else bends light, lens. Thus, this phenomenon of bending of light beam by gravity is known as gravitational lensing. By tracking the beam of light coming from multiple source of lights in the space, scientists have plotted a 3D map of the dark matter.<br />
<br />
Scientists now believe that the dark matter was created at the moment of big bang and played a critical role in the formation of the stars and planets. Basically dark matter which doesn't react with ordinary matter acted like scaffolding upon which ordinary matter could attach itself. Scientists had long wondered why universe formed in a random pattern, now they know it is because of the gravitational pull of the dark matter.<br />
<br />
There are many contesting ideas about what the dark matter could be. One of the most widely accepted hypothesis about dark matter is that it could be composed of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weakly_interacting_massive_particles" target="_blank">weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs)</a>. The others posit that dark matter effects could be explained by modifying the existing theory of gravity. They propose for multiple forms of gravity and propose that large scale gravity differ from the gravity that we are accustomed to.<br />
<br />
<br />
References:<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1.<a href="http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/dark-matter/">http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/dark-matter/</a><br />
2.<a href="http://www.cfhtlens.org/public/what-gravitational-lensing">http://www.cfhtlens.org/public/what-gravitational-lensing</a><br />
3.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter%C2%A0" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter </a><br />
4.<a href="https://einstein.stanford.edu/content/relativity/q411.html">https://einstein.stanford.edu/content/relativity/q411.html</a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="float: left;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/understanding-teleological-arguments.html">Previous Post</a></div>
<div style="float: right;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/import-export-and-exchange-rates.html">Next Post</a></div>
</div>
Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665872809130737359.post-17662127928986028052016-05-01T04:35:00.003-07:002016-06-12T04:22:25.547-07:00Understanding the teleological arguments:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<body bgcolor="#E6E6FA"><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleology" target="_blank">Teleology</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;"> (from Greek telos, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">meaning</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;"> end or purpose) is the philosophical study of nature by attempting to describe things in terms of their apparent purpose, directive principle, or goal. A purpose that is imposed by a human use, such as that of a fork, is called extrinsic.Natural teleology, common in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_philosophy" target="_blank">classical philosophy</a> but controversial today,contends that natural entities also have intrinsic purposes irrespective of the human use or opinion.</span></span></body></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">Let me cite an example of a tea cup, we see the tea cup is perfectly designed to hold tea without allowing the liquid to leak. Its handle is designed to fit our fingers and how it holds the liquid hot without burning our fingers. So we wouldn't assume that a tea cup was simply there to be exhibiting these attributes designed for its function without someone having created it that way.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ndADsKmYBMA/V1v62PwXKjI/AAAAAAAAAGk/4n9p1Z5WsBskBf0FCnRuMskZgebB9HCdQCLcB/s1600/Teleological_Argument.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ndADsKmYBMA/V1v62PwXKjI/AAAAAAAAAGk/4n9p1Z5WsBskBf0FCnRuMskZgebB9HCdQCLcB/s320/Teleological_Argument.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy: pursuedfaith.wikispace.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">William Paley, an English clergyman and philosopher, to make case for his belief in the existence of God gave his arguments based on the concepts of analogy. This kind of arguments invites us to consider two form of events ( say situation A and situation B). Situation A is where we already have certain kinds of knowledge and then he gives his arguments for his belief and then he correlates it to situation B where we are less familiar and then he states, in the interest of consistency, whatever conclusion we draw about situation A would have to be similar to situation B.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">We can use this argument by analogy for anything, but Paley used it to prove the existence of God in what came to known as the Watchmaker Analogy. He describes the situation A as follows:</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">Imagine one day, you find a watch in the jungle. Would we assume that watch was always there on its own or would we see the complexities in its parts and how they fit together in a particular way to accomplish a goal? If so, wouldn't we think that watch must have been designed by someone on purpose.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">Paley was arguing that the teleology demonstrated by watch would lead us to conclude that it was designed was an intelligent designer with ends on his mind. So, in the same way as teleology of a watch implies the existence of a watch maker and the teleology of a cup implies the existence of cup maker, the teleology of the world implies the existence of a world maker.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">He continued his analogy by comparing watch to a living organism. Look at the complexities of a human body. Heart and lungs working together, producing sweat to keep our body from overheating and the breaking of food to release energy. Look at how the elements of the natural world operates according to the complex laws that sustains a beautiful harmony. Paley said that this couldn't have possibly just have happened any more than the design of a watch could just have happened. There must be a designer. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">If you accept this analogy then you accept that as the purposefulness of a watch implies the existence of a watchmaker so does the purposefulness of world implies the existence of a world maker. In the book, the language of God, Francis Collins tells that the conditions that allow life in the universe can only occur when certain fundamental physical constants are in very narrow range.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.2px;">References:<br />
1.<a href="http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/the-teleological-argument/">http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/the-teleological-argument/</a><br />
</span></span></div>
2.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy</a><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="float: right;">
<a href="http://surajenigma.blogspot.in/2016/05/mysterious-dark-matter.html">Next Post</a></div>
<br /></div>
Surajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07745284894462555988noreply@blogger.com0