Jun 2023

Multiple Truths

My head has always preferred abstract concepts over objective realities.

Because there's always been something about the "objective" that I found simply- off.

Be it our moral codes, or societal norms- every human construct that contextually feels "objective" becomes subjective the moment we allow ourselves to accept nuance and complexity.

This also, somewhat made me hate maths- the flag bearer of "objectivity'.

0 was not a concept, it was "real", infinity- was simply there- there weren't "subjectivities" to it. Turns out Zero was the greatest Indian conceptual feat- Arising from Advaita Vedanta's "shoonya", and there are many types of infinities.

The kilogram was an absolute unit- never to be told that it was based on a piece of platinum-iridium alloy locked up in a basement on the outskirts of Paris up until 2019.

That it is the only SI unit with a prefix because of its bloody history- of feudalism and class. That Lavoisier initially named it Grave(derived from Latin Gravis meaning weight)- which sounded like Graf- a historically "noble" name- wasn't a great choice considering the revolution. Man lost his head eventually.

That a lot of statistical inference is guided by bias- and even major physicists disagree on what the numbers from the same experiments mean. Same for chemistry. Same for Biology.

I was in love with tennis- and so I did not take PCM for my +2, I still wonder if it was because I love the sport more- or I despised the fixation people from PCM streams had with objectivity.

I did not take up PCM because I hated how it was taught- it killed all curiosity in the name of an objective truth- you need to solve these sums, and memorise formulas not because it will help you understand the universe a little better- but because you can crack competitions, get a good job, and amazing "placements".

I dropped out of economics at DU truly out of spite for a single assumption-

All Humans are rational.

The irony speaks for itself.

I made my choices out of spite, and dislike for the obnoxiousness that "hard sciences" had as a culture in India- of status and money.

I live for curiosity and stories. I live for multiple truths.