Meltdown

Alasdair MacIntyre engaged with Marxism, Liberalism and Christianity. He has written books on these subjects. As a learner and thinker he was open towards available forms of thought and has an unique capability to influence modern ideas and thought. What a philosopher rejects, abandons or eschews should be read and discussed with what they profess and propound? Students, learners and followers were struck by his diagnosis of modernity, and his presentation of predicaments that spawned the emergence and expansion of modernity. The individual and individuality is central to the modern project. The modern relies and rests on individuals who have social roots. The ‘eking and carving’ out of an individual through volition, self-determination and agency severs and loosens the social roots and ties of modern individuals. There is no getting around or away from these modern predicaments. The deficiencies of individual rationality and prevalence of in-commensurable theories a failure of the e...

Once a war begins and hostilities and the hard military options pan out, the other avenues of pursuing interests, ensuring stability while maintaining an order based on principles remains active. Wars, at least immediately, do not bring peace. Once war ensues, a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities is the best bet and the immediate goal. Conflict and war in middle-east Iran-Israel do not share a border but their broader and immediate geo-strategic interests and positions cast them as arch enemies and they had exchanged fire twice last year. It has been brewing for years, but the events of Friday the thirteenth were shocking and caught most by surprise, except of course Israel. A fragile and temporary ceasefire has somehow taken hold. The 1967 Arab-Israeli war lasted for 6 days and 1973 for 19 days, this round of conflict between Israel and Iran for 12 days. Emboldened by the success Israel has with Hezbollah and ongoing Gaza blockade,(tacit acceptance by world) Israel initiated a pl...

Proposition 1 : For short distances fire empty shells at them. Propellant without explosives is the key. Why. Drones may have explosives and you do not want explosions near what you need to protect. Empty shells may deflect or destroy their explosives at distances that are safe. You also do not want bigger explosions so empty shells are fine. Second, they will be cost effective. Easily deployable and available. They are usually used on ceremonial occasions and can be deployed tactically. Some adjustments with the range and you have some defence against them. A range of 1 to 15 km with Mortars, Howitzers, Field guns, Armoured vehicles( tanks), or Naval and anti-aircrafts guns is possible. ChatGPT lists propellant, design of the shell and environment as factors. The weight, shape and momentum of the projectile is the key. Proposition 2 : At very close distance use the rubber and pellet guns. They are also available and with modifications can certainly deflect their trajectory and balance...

Irrespective of where one is located, the bubble of normalcy does not last hours. We had a difficult weekend with war clouds looming over south Asia. Belying predictions, forecasts and expectations wars has reared their head in many parts of the globe, not only in South Asia. Sleep, calm and normalcy has been severely affected and many have been forced to look up in at the sky. 'Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you' and wonder and ponder about what lies ahead? I have been waking up early in the morning for a month or so to see Venus, Mercury and Mars. They are visible with the naked, unaided eye for a month or so in this part of the world. Hazy sky, no stars, Venus visible     Skies over large cities in north India are hazy and thick with pollutants and on clear nights one can see only a handful of stars. Human Light objects which dot the cities  lead to a scattering effect hindering human vision towards the sky. Venus, ...

San tzu's Art of war is old and ancient and the book informs and structures conversation about war and strategy right upto the contemporary moment. Strategic thought and thinking in India as well is ancient. Historical period and authorship issues beset Arthashastra, Mandala theory though shines forth. The circles that surround Vijigeshu works as a bedrock for most of the conventional modern International relations theory. Modern Indian strategic thought, doctrines and capabilities are modeled on western statecraft. IF there is any distinctive aspect it lies in how strategic priorities are factored. Among experts and professionals military first, political second and economic a distant third encapsulates Indian strategic thought. In reality the political goals are prioritized over the military. War as a theater was inaugurated in the early 1990' in the unipolar world led by USA. The disintegration of the USSR and the collapse of the Berlin wall precipitated and opened a space w...

Obviously at one level the prompt is an argument and nothing more. Many readers would not see beyond it. This prompt is also in line with the trend of tailoring discussions and conversation toward 'fixed' outcomes -- I won, you lost. In terms of novelty and imagination, the prompt pleased this author. If the author did not acknowledge his own immediate gratification, it would be dishonest. But it is a bit more. Much more is revealed by this experiment and test. Yes, an experiment and test. AI chat-bots have reasoning abilities and are portrayed as competent to perform complex tasks. In order to test AI chat-bot abilities to respond and reason, three of them were given roughly similar prompts-- Microsoft's Co-pilot, Open AI's GPT-4o, and Google's Gemini. According to numerous independent evaluations, they are the best of the lot. I intend to prompt Anthropic also, but you can do that as well. Here is the prompt : Proposition: Human activity has accelerated and contri...

A 90-day tariff pause that does not apply to China has been announced. This pause acting as a window is to reorganise and redeploy America's global/international financial  operations and reallocate resources? An operation that also avoids and excludes China, possible or desirable? This post will zoom out to the processes and dynamics that create the overall(big?) picture rather than focusing on how tariffs affect particular industries, sectors, or geographical areas. Global trade flows and national deficits are significant indicators and crucial measures to gauge, track and evaluate our movement in this direction. These metrics and indicators demonstrate how, over many years, domestic growth, regional cooperation, and globalization became intertwined. It is and has been a complicated process based on centuries of integration, treaties, trade routes, and established networks. The idea and goal was to lead to a more inter-dependent, prosperous, secure and peaceful order. Simultaneo...