How useful GRE really is?

As I am setting up for another round of practice tests for GRE, I am really doubtful about how useful all this time investment is going to be after I have been admitted into a graduate school. I could have been using all this time to read up on various books on cognitive science but something like GRE is deemed more important than how much knowledge one has of a particular subject that is going to be part of his/her thesis in graduate school. If GRE is all about analyzing how flexible and adaptable graduate students can be in different challenges, then one might as well give IQ tests rather than studying up for GRE. At least IQ tests will be more fun and useful to prepare for.

Something out of nothing

It drives me crazy this idea about how everything came to be. I don't think it is possible for human mind to comprehend how everything came to be, but conceptually there is something highly illogical about the state of affairs of the universe. I mean, how can something come out of nothing. I am agnostic when it comes to religion, but even if one were to believe in some sort of creator, how exactly did the creator came to be? The creator has always been there, that doesn't make any kind of sense. Science is not of much help when it comes to this idea either? Even if there are ten or eleven dimensions and this universe came out dimension of another universe, how did that universe, or the universe at the highest level came to be? And this are not pointless musings like human suffering, morality, role of government, global warming and all that stuff, because these are all things that are of a concern for beings that are going to live for such a short period. The possibility of end and of death is such a big source of these concepts and conflicts in the first place. Plus, most people don't think about the big picture. Something is not right. Something doesn't make sense.

Using a laptop

It feels strange to be using a laptop keyboard for typing. The spaces on the keyboard are not consistent with the traditional desktop keyboard, thus feeling a little strange and alien. But I am highly impressed with how much pragmatic validity there seems to be in support of Mohr's law. In just a span of 2 years, my laptop can match in cpu and gpu power what my desktop can do. What's more, all this technology is present in such a compact space,as opposed to my massive hulk of a machine whose fan sounds drive me crazy if I engage in GPU intensive task for a long time. My new laptop has provided me with the opportunity to express my thoughts and ideas through the comfort of my bed, so I am planning to make my blogs much more common. Plus, its fun to read one's own thoughts expressed out in a coherent way as opposed to keeping everything in the head, jumbling up all types of ideas.

How fragile human life is

Marx on historical materialism

The idea of communism has been greatly understated and defamed by our popular culture. Only by understanding Marx's notion of historical materialism can one have a grasp of when the communist revolution is supposed to take place. Marx talks about capitalist system and how it is built into the system spending money on R&D to make the means of production more and more productive. And a time is going to come when because of all this research and improvement, when supply is going to get ahead of demand. But at this time, there is going to be an imbalance of spending power as the majority of people are simply not going to have money to buy stuff. It is then when the communist revolution is supposed to take place in the form of labor unions coming together. The problem of supply and demand still hasn't been met in the modern world. Thus, any nation trying to become communist is simply acting in futile. It is going to fail.

Ferdinand and Inquisition

History of Inquisition is really terrible and it goes on to show how the ugly aspects of human nature can show up at any point in time if the circumstances permit for it. Ferdinand wanted control of not only political power but religious power as well. It was by attaining total control of mind and body he thought he would be able to control the spanish empire, and it was a super power at one point in time. He created the Inquisition to find and destroy the heretics. And Inquisition operated on roman rules where testimony obtained through torture was more reliable one. They picked up Jews from small villages and even if they had slightly different way of behaving from the norm they were tortured until they said they were indeed not christian, perhaps only to stop them from torturing, but this resulted in public burning. This mindset of total submission also effected Latin America that at one point in time were part of the Spanish empire. It was good fit for some parts of the Latin Americas such as the Aztec Empire, which itself was built on Mayan empire, public sacrifices were a common aspect of this civilization. Another idea that was entertained in the lecture is the myth that if you have democratic values in one country the neighboring nations are also going to adopt such viewpoints. How many latin american nations can we name today that are truly democratic. Not many.

Ottoman Empire and Mustafa Kemal

This specific portion of history I am least familiar with, but the calibar and contribution of Mustafa Kemal (Kemal Ataturk) cannot be denied and is worth learning about. The Otttoman Empire was glories during the middle ages but like any other grand empire, it declined as well and by the 20th century it was a shell of its former self. But a man by the name of Mustafa Kemal really turned the Ottoman Empire around. European powers tried to defeat this Empire but they were unsuccessful. Kemal was able to rewrite the treaty agreement with them and the nation of Turkey was given independence. While he was in power he also took efforts to secularize the nation such as forcing the women not to cover their faces and dress like westerns. In just one decade he was able to turn around the face of Turkey and because of his efforts, Turkey is one of the most stable and modernized nation in the middle east. And Mustafa is still recognized for what he was able to accomplish as he is revered as the father of the nation today.