gods debris

I'm not used to reading soft copies of books. I had to start reading this because a friend of mine from next cubicle mailed it to me and started discussing it. So, I couldnt help starting it at that time and I was sure Iwouldnt complete the book. But I finished it owing to the small size of the book and of course it was interesting.

The author, Scott Adams of the Dilbert fame says the book can be described as a thought experiment. It is a dialogue between two persons, an old man, who knows everything and a delivery boy who shortly will. The old man presents a theory and explains concepts of God, free-will, will power, skeptism to the theories of gravitation, light, mutations and personal relationships. According to him god had disintegrated and formed into matter and probability. Hence everything in this world including men, is gods debris.

He explains everything with probability, which he says is an infinitely powerful force, omnipotent and omnipresent. He says "probability is not limited to coins and dice and slot machines. Probability is the guiding force of everything in the universe, living or nonliving, near or far, big or small, now or anytime".

In the words of the delivery boy - "He described what he called the five levels of awarenessand said that all humans experience the first level of awarenessat birth. That is when you first become aware that you exist.In the second level of awareness you understand thatother people exist. You believe most of what you are told byauthority figures. You accept the belief system in which youare raised.At the third level of awareness you recognize thathumans are often wrong about the things they believe. Youfeel that you might be wrong about some of your ownbeliefs but you don’t know which ones. Despite yourdoubts, you still find comfort in your beliefs.The fourth level is skepticism. You believe the scientificmethod is the best measure of what is true and you believeyou have a good working grasp of truth, thanks to science,your logic, and your senses. You are arrogant when it comesto dealing with people in levels two and three.The fifth level of awareness is the Avatar. The Avatarunderstands that the mind is an illusion generator, not awindow to reality. The Avatar recognizes science as a beliefsystem, albeit a useful one."

Towards the end of the book there is a small but interesting chapter about relationship between a man and a woman. The old man says that for a woman, value is created by sacrifice. She thinks that the more a man can give up for her, the more he loves her. This also explains why rich and famous men get all the women. It is not just that women go after money. Giving up a holiday in goa could mean more than giving up a night of television for her. The more you sacrifice, the more you love her. For men, value is created by accomplishment. If a woman loves him, she meets his objectives which he wont tell her and ofcourse she wont tolerate if he sets objectives for her. He adds "A woman needs to be told that you would sacrifice anythingfor her. A man needs to be told he is being useful. When the man or woman strays from that formula, the other loses trust. When trust is lost, communication falls apart."

The book can be downloaded for free from http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/

I'm looking for the sequel to this book, "The Religion War", but couldnt find a free soft copy. If anyone knowswhere I can get this please let me know.

my bike is back

My bike is back with me now. I just cannot describe how much I missed it for these 6 months. I have some understanding with my bike. I've heard of man and horse making friends and understanding each other. I also share a similar relation with my bike. My batchmates know how difficult it is to start it. They used to call me to start the bike in front of the hostel and once hot it wouldnt give any trouble. Of course it was always the last option for anyone to borrow my bike.
The bike and the college remind me instantly of many ppl. Amal used to call it 'the all problem bike', khare found a new method of blowing into it with his mouth before starting the bike - it worked most of the times, ranta and venki had a small accident, I myself had a few of accidents - one on the chilkur road in the morning at around 5am, one with bavs while going to ims and once I fell on the turning to motorola school near the iiit main gate. vamsee and I were racing to agrids. he was on a karizma. I was losing as expected, but I was in an excited state and didnt slow down near the U turn there. "my favourite turn in iiit", I used to tell my friends. I was not hurt but ended up with torn pants. The bike tore at least 3 of my pants in the 3 yrs it was with me. But still, I love it. All these days I used to go to office on my dad's bajaj chetak(16 yr old) or in the car. But today I realized that both dont match my bike in comfort or speed. Car is comfortable but if there's a jam, I am usually the last person to get out of it, coz of my poor driving skills.
I'll have the bike with me only for a month and after that my brother is taking it away :(( After all it is his bike :((. My parents told me they wont allow me to buy a new one. I have to wait for my brother to upgrade to a car or something and then I can have his bike. Till then I have to adjust with dad's scooter and car, worse if I have to use my sister's scooty which shez planning to bring to hyderabad shortly.
Being the youngest in the house has it's own pros and cons. But I feel there are more of the latter. One is having to use many things that my brother used. Even at school I didnt get to buy a bicycle. I had to share my brother's. Sharing with my brother only meant that I get to use it only on sundays and sometime not even that. It was only after he finished his schooling that I got to own it.
hmm.... For now I am happy my bike is with me and it is all that matters to me now.