Category: General musings
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Vaccine nationals
Having seen only anti paired with it forever, my first reaction to seeing vaccine preceding national was relief. Something that was foreseen by a few shrewd observers in summer 2020 has become a major topic of discussion six months since. Should vaccines be made available for everyone equitably? The answer…
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A binary problem
About a year or so before Trump’s rise, I had a conversation with a collegemate about the lamentable state of conservatism today, especially in the US. There is much merit in being skeptical of attempts to constantly reform institutions and practices, especially those that have stood the test of time.…
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United?
The calm after a four year storm in America is palpable, but this reversal of the adage might be premature. Almost half of this country voted for an inept and idiotic incarnation of malevolence, and the tide may easily tip the barge if someone only slightly more capable comes along.…
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The Devil’s workshop
For the Greeks, idleness and repose were the highest aspirations. Only in states of inaction, free from the needs and workings of the body, could the mind be free to reflect and introspect on life and one’s surroundings. In marked contrast, modern life frowns upon those that do not have…
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To mask or not to mask
Tocqueville’s Democracy in America famously anticipates the suppression of minority interests and individual liberties by the “tyranny of the majority”, but a delectable subtlety of his diagnosis of American democracy was his fear that the majority may in fact tyrannize society into an individualist and selfish culture. He recognized that…
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Mathemagics
Someone claimed quite grandiosely on Twitter that “mathematical sense is normal human sense” and that “fear of mathematics is always the teacher’s fault”. Is it though? I’ve always done well at math and had regular crises driven by an intense fear of mathematics; this has led me to believe for…
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Casting pods
I’ve found another reason to believe that later generations are cooler at the same stage than older ones – some IIT juniors of mine have started a podcast. I’d been invited on, and the episode is available on Spotify, iTunes, and Google Podcasts.
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On inequality
Inequality is an unavoidable consequence of human society. One section of society shall always be more advantaged than the other. This does not justify inequality, but rather, provides one with a starting point to arrive at the best method to combat it. Inequality may reveal itself in a host of…
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