Ideas We Believe

The world today is 281 trillion in debt to itself. There is no science more mysterious than that of money. What drives my enthusiasm for finance is its underlying devotion to mathematics, just like most of the pure sciences. This pride in being extremely logical and putting rationality before empirical bias is what makes it worthy of a Nobel (though not the original one). But its influence on daily life is enormous, a genuinely distinct feat in pure sciences. So let's delve into the unapparent philosophical side of the currency. 281 trillion is a significant amount. If everyone called on their cards, we would have a lost game of poker. In fact, we have such a bluff on the table that we can't risk calling it. It is horrifying that this accounting deficit makes no difference to the world. Has there ever been a scam this benign? Or do we need a piece of the puzzle? The latter seems rational. The reason for this debt is simple, sovereigns have printed more and more money over the y

I found myself in a rare situation this April. Had things stuck to their schedule, I would have completed my graduation curriculum and would have been ticking off any college goer's dream check-list, which did include a few travel and adventure. But, the situation as of 2020 has a different story to tell. With no end to this quarantine insight, the check-list became an impossibility.  So I took the Coursera COVID offer for colleges and started my odyssey to various areas of studies, my mechanical engineering syllabi had prevented me from. So without much ado, here are the "Gems" on the courses platform, each one must give a shot at.  Model Thinking This course gives an unusual approach to what we have accepted as complex socio-political phenomena. With simple logical and mathematical principle, Prof. Scott E. Page recreates results which have puzzled global leaders. He argues that this approach to reality is a must for all in this 21st century, and I could not agree mo

Yeah, money. Wealth is a reflection of specialisation in society. As the roles get complex, its often required for a common and standardised means of exchange; that correctly values the services given, and rewards to be received in return. For a long time in the history of humans, the unit of wealth was something valuable, collected farm produce, or special pottery or maybe even rare metals. Even our mythos, often speak of the horses and cows being used as a unit of wealth. All of these related to something that was physical, useful and limited. But the potential of wealth goes beyond the basics of security and exchange, relating to the abstract concept of power and dominance. Over time this soft control that comes along with wealth has gained more and more importance. And with power comes, the insatiable lust to remain powerful. Governments and kingdoms attempting to accumulate the methods of wealth generation, keeping it, out of reach for the public. And social hierarchies came in

Corruption as in itself carries a lot of philosophical matter, but the one we see in everyday life is quite simple to explain. Or is it ? I had a discussion with an elderly couple who were on their way to their children in Bangalore. As the discussion turned to they voiced their concern on corruption becoming a hindrance to nations growth and why we need to uproot it. And his idea was.... "Lets stop the inheritance of property across generations. " Seemed a wonderful idea at first. It solves a lot of issues on the go. It would work as an  heavy blow to the rich lads who aim to survive on their dads bank account . Bringing in accountability into the system. It would also kill the attempts to pool all money for a better life of the children. It would simply  kill the desire to pool money  (if it is not for you …) Then when things were such rosy, I thought then why not. The answer was subtle and linked much to the organisation of our society. If you look deep,  its