Rene Descartes

I remember reading Descartes in engineering school, wasn't crazy about him then. But I found a great online source for all classic books and have been reading some of them again.

I think, therefore I am is an awesome concept. I think the myth of the Matrix can be debunked by this one principle of philosophy.


I thence concluded that I was a substance whose whole essence or nature consists only in thinking, and which, that it may exist, has need of no place, nor is dependent on any material thing; so that “I,” that is to say, the mind by which I am what I am, is wholly distinct from the body, and is even more easily known that the latter, and is such, that although the latter were not, it would still continue to be all that it is.
After this I inquired in general into what is essential to the truth and certainty of a proposition; for since I had discovered one which I knew to be true, I thought that I must likewise be able to discover the ground of this certitude. And as I observed that in the words I think, hence I am, there is nothing at all which gives me assurance of their truth beyond this, that I see very clearly that in order to think it is necessary to exist, I concluded that I might take, as a general rule, the principle, that all the things which we very clearly and distinctly conceive are true, only observing, however, that there is some difficulty in rightly determining the objects which we distinctly conceive.

The world is flat.

Just ordered The world is Flat and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. If you read the New York Times you'll know who Thomas Friedmann is. Will post my thoughts once I start reading them.
He also wrote a series of articles while travelling around the globe after September 11, 2001. One of his stops was Bangalore, India and he wrote an intersting series of columns about how the two India's are trying to outpace themselves to catch up with the world. The India of the farmer and the India of the techie.

Engaging India

Just finished reading Engaging India by Strobe Talbott. After reading this book, I will never ever complain or crib that the United States always sides with Pakistan in this little street fight we call 'Indo-Pak Tensions'. Strobe categorically talks about how the pakistanis use every trick in the book to extract benefits from the US. He compares them to a New York mugger who instead of holding you up with a gun to your head, holds it up to his own and threatens to shoot himself if you don't dish out money. Yew...that should hurt the pakistani political ego.(Mind you, I am not anti anything, I am just anti political establishment that runs Pakistan. I have pakistani friends who are great guys). Very well written, shows how the american perspective of India has been changing over the past decade or so.