Opposable thumbs and opposable minds!

So today, being a "writing day" break from the hectic production and post production schedules on the two films, it will take great restraint not to disappear down the 140-character-wisdom rabbit hole. Social media debates are informed largely by the same set of principles that pump the adrenaline in any sport - a sense of belonging, an idea of the "other", the sharpening of skills that seem necessary for survival, a competition between the kin and the "outsiders", a race to claim resources of survival, the preservation of your "own", an intention to leading "the team" towards a more sustainable choice, and even avenge insult or injury with a "lesson taught well" to stave off further risk of intrusion.

If I indulge in this notion beyond the obvious parallels, it would be at my own peril. The consequences of an idea can go far beyond the earliest participants exchanging it or engaging with it. While we enjoy the life sustaining and life enhancing effects of good ideas, world transforming and enlightening effects of great ones, we also suffer the repercussions of bad ones for generations. (Of course, good ideas can also have seen/unforeseen detrimental consequences). Like the appendix and the wisdom tooth, some ideas are vestigial – could have had some evolutionary benefit thousands of years ago, but have lost all reason to exist. At their best, they can be mostly harmless, at their worst, fatal.

We know now that ideas, like genes, mutate, fuse, vary, replicate themselves, inherit traits, co-evolve, and die off. Ideas are “selfish”. They can be symbiotic or parasitical to their hosts, and the paradigm that reflects the nature of this relationship is “cui bono?” – the question, “to whose benefit?”

How do we negotiate our way through this? Can we chart out a “quantum” constitution, a “manual to spaceship earth” that is in a constant state of flux, varying, evolving, contextual, while having a (more or less) solid preamble? A preamble that distills thousands of years of “good” intention into a singular aspiration – equal rights, equitably distributed resources and opportunities, future proof collective sustenance (?), prioritized anthropocentrically (?), but extending to all life.

The world exists in the continua of contradicting forces. The opposable thumb sped up the evolution of the species and so did the “opposable mind”. Here’s a wonderful thought experiment created by Loren Carpenter in 1991, examining swarm intelligence and the continuum effect of contradiction –

http://vimeo.com/78043173

(You can also start with the newer replica of the experiment here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9eVz4wBBgU )

This brings me back to my little twitter experiment in this morning. Sharing here -

Well, so much for an opposable thumb without a firm grip!

An appeal...

(Disclaimer: This post is only an emotional appeal. It does not welcome any party propaganda, so political rhetoric will be deleted. Share, if you care.)

Just one final appeal to everybody to make a truly informed decision. Your vote will count, even if you think it's one against a million, because you never know what is truly burning in the heart of your fellow citizens, till you honestly, deeply engage.

All of us want a fairer, nicer and cleaner, a more progressive and a more civilised country with better and equal opportunities for all. We want to uphold our right to speak and ask questions. We want to retain our right to seek information and justice. We want our natural resources to be mined and used for a better and sustainable life, while remembering they are borrowed from our future generations, and are not to be sold off to political sponsors.

We don't want to see criminals representing us in the parliament - we want to rehabilitate them, and engage them in social responsibility, help them readjust their worldview. The same goes for the corrupt - they, like us, are victims of a corroded machinery - we want to help build better systems. We want representatives who welcome our participation in policy thinking, and not decimate it. We want a government that is not hard of hearing, and educates and empowers communities to participate in short term practical decisions like road repair and water supply and annual local fund allocations for building schools and parks - and while at it, we want our representatives to do everything in their power to protect our fundamental, inalienable rights as living beings.

Let's remember that we are not working against each other. Let's work against this constant, convenient manufacturing of the "other", and let's work towards cleaning the mess we have created or inherited, together. And let's look at the Preamble to the Indian Constitution one last time, before we cast our vote -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preamble_to_the_Constitution_of_India

The Facebook mirror post is here - 

https://www.facebook.com/recyclewala/posts/10152138513412621