On how the Indian economy after independence came to be influenced by one statistician in "... an academic institute in the quiet outskirts of a city far away from the capital...". Excerpted from the book "Planning Democracy: How a Professor, an Institute and an Idea Shaped India", by Nikhil Menon. (Link for story here.)
Good sentences:
Ultimately, the impact of planning on statistics led to a statistician shaping the Plan.
and
The Professor left India in order to be relevant in India.
From 'The cultural evolution of love in literary history' [Bamaurd et al. 2022, Nature Human Behavior]. (Link to paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01292-z)
Abstract
Since the late nineteenth century, cultural historians have noted that the importance of love increased during the Medieval and Early Modern European period (a phenomenon that was once referred to as the emergence of ‘courtly love’). However, more recent works have shown a similar increase in Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Indian and Japanese cultures. Why such a convergent evolution in very different cultures? Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, we leverage literary history and build a database of ancient literary fiction for 19 geographical areas and 77 historical periods covering 3,800 years, from the Middle Bronze Age to the Early Modern period. We first confirm that romantic elements have increased in Eurasian literary fiction over the past millennium, and that similar increases also occurred earlier, in Ancient Greece, Rome and Classical India. We then explore the ecological determinants of this increase. Consistent with hypotheses from cultural history and behavioural ecology, we show that a higher level of economic development is strongly associated with a greater incidence of love in narrative fiction (our proxy for the importance of love in a culture). To further test the causal role of economic development, we used a difference-in-difference method that exploits exogenous regional variations in economic development resulting from the adoption of the heavy plough in medieval Europe. Finally, we used probabilistic generative models to reconstruct the latent evolution of love and to assess the respective role of cultural diffusion and economic development.
Admirable. Though Robin Williams from Dead Poets Society would likely ejaculate: 'Excrement'.
From the pen of the peerless Slate Star Codex:
The Pax Americana playbook for international norm violations is: the US slaps sanctions on the offender. The EU expresses “concern”. The UN proposes a resolution condemning it, which gets vetoed by whichever Security Council member is most complicit. And the CIA secretly gives Stinger missiles to everyone involved.
From the film 'Nafrat ki Aandhi' (tr. 'Gale of Hatred). Composer Bappi Lahiri, lyrics: Indeevar and Anjaan.
...
ही मैन, ही मैन, आए ऐम ही मैन
चाहिए... ही मैन ही मैन ही मैन
चाहिए... ही मैन ही मैन ही मैन
मज़बूत बाहों वाला,
प्यार करने वाला,
मुझपे ही मरने वाला,
अरे प्यार करने वाला
टुल्ल लुल्ल लू, टुल्ल लुल्ल लू, मामा चूमा वाला
टुल्ल लुल्ल लू, टुल्ल लुल्ल लू, मामा चूमा वाला
ही मैन, ही मैन, आए ऐम ही मैन
इज़्ज़त पे मेरी बन आएगी
जब छेड़ेगा रूप का चोर मुझे
दुश्मन से कैसे बचाएगा
उस वक़्त कोई कमज़ोर मुझे
चाहिए... ही मैन ही मैन ही मैन
चाहिए... ही मैन ही मैन ही मैन
...
He man, he man, I am he man
Needed... he man he man he man
Needed... he man he man he man
The one with strong arms
The one who loves
The one who'd die only for me
Oh the one who loves
Tull lull luu, tull lull luu, mama chuma wala
Tull lull luu, tull lull luu, mama chuma wala
He man, he man, I am he man
Imperilled will my honor be
When the thief of beauty accosts me
From my foe how will I be saved
That instant by some weak knee
Needed... he man he man he man
Needed... he man he man he man
...
What is utility? A modern interpretation is mathematical: it is that which is maximized (subject to constraints). This is quite similar to the modern mathematical approach that believes in 'meaning is use' (a la Wittgenstein): a straight line is that which is the shortest distance between two points etc. In the same vein, rational behavior is that which is the outcome of having maximized utilities.
From this perspective, suicide attackers for example, are fully rational. A lot of criticism of economics centered on the so-called 'failure to account for irrationality' feature, simply misses the point.
...
...
...
"We are sorry inform you that your submission for the Journal of Pain and Death has been rejected on account of being too life-affirmatory. We thank you for your submission and hope that you will submit to us again."
From 'Jaan Tere Naam' (1992), lyricist Sameer.
तेरे से मैरिज करने को मैं बम्बई से गोआ आया
पर तेरे डैडी ने मुझको रेड सिग्नल दिखलाया
डैडी से तेरे क्या लेना मुझे?
तू मुझको चाहे मैं चाहूँ तुझे
ये अक्खा इंडिया जानता है हम तुम पे मरता है
दिल क्या चीज़ है जानम अपनी जान तेरे नाम करता है
...
To get wedded to you from Bombay to Goa I came
But your daddy he red signalled me all the same
With your daddy what do I have to do?
You love me and I love you
The whole India knows it that I'd die for you
What trifle be a heart o dear I grant my soul to you
Trivenis by Gulzar [sung by Jagjit Singh]
ज़िन्दगी क्या है, जानने के लिए
ज़िंदा रहना बहुत ज़रूरी है
आज तक कोई भी रहा तो नहीं
है नहीं जो दिखाई देता है
आईने पर छपा हुआ चेहरा
तर्जुमा आईने का ठीक नहीं
आओ हम सब पहन लें आईने
सारे देखेंगे अपना ही चेहरा
सबको सारे हसीं लगेंगे यहाँ
हमको ग़ालिब ने ये दुआ दी थी
तुम सलामत रहो हज़ार बरस
ये बरस तो फ़क़त दिनों में गया
...
What is life, to know this
Staying alive is very important
Till date none have
It is not what it seems
The face printed on the mirror
The mirror's translation is not accurate
Let us all wear mirrors
Each will see their own image
All will find each handsome
We were blessed by Ghalib
May you be preserved for a thousand years
This year though passed merely in days
