On Personal Energy

Time is more valuable than money: if you have time you can always earn more money, but not vice versa, a saying goes. All it says is that having access to a generator is more valuable that having access to generated objects only. In the same category, there are sayings like, better to know how to catch fish, rather than having fish. Also we have: having a chicken is better than having eggs (Did I just made up some saying?). Anyway what I wanted to say that sometimes I find myself with an ample free time, but with no power to do anything. For this reason, energy seems to matter. Having energy allows one to pursue dreams and aspirations, while a lack of thereof makes it difficult even to get up from bed. Having experienced different levels of energy I have observed few things about what and how changes my energy.

Positive feelings boost energy. It has to do with a simple fact that emotional parts and physical parts of the body are connected. By pumping up the emotional part, one could add to one's energy. Any positive feeling seems to work, like: love, understanding, thankfulness and much more. 

Negative feeling deplete energy. Most of the time I found myself exhausted was not because I did some extra-challenging work, rather it was due to unnecessary worries and regrets. Negative feelings such as envy, fear, regrets crushed my energy resources many times. The strangest thing is that I kept falling at the same trap of negative emotions knowing their danger. At the same time, I thought myself as a quite intelligent entity. Turned out I was not so right. These days I try to avoid negative feelings whenever possible. In doing so I have observed that negativity of other people affects me much less than before. Previously I was thinking that negativity is highly contagious feeling, however it might not be the case.

Finally, levels of energy depend very much on usage. By nature, human beings are pretty weak. Any inconsistency in our body could send us onto a deathbed. Our emotional parts are not resilient as well. For this reason, energy is a scarce resource, and should be used wisely. 

On Commitments

Commitments shape our lives. Commitments can have rather different forms. A young couple can be committed to each other. A single mother can be committed to raising her children. A teacher might be committed in providing the best education for the students. A father can be committed to providing for his family and ensuring their well-being. Not all commitments are as positive as ones I have mentioned. Some people might be committed in doing crazy things. But for the purpose of this essay I wish to focus on positive commitments and how they change over time.

Commitments bring heavy weights with them. A committed person might realize the need to act on this commitment, however it might be extremely difficult at times. A part of this challenges come from society that we live in. Take for instance an example of aspiring teacher, a fresh gradute from local teaching program. She might might have high aspirations on educating future generation and contributing to society. However, as she tries to do what she loves the most, there would be numerous people who would discourage her by making nasty remarks about low-pay, lack of respect for teachers and lack of jobs. When she arrives home in evening, news agencies are always ready to tell her about numerous bombings, killings and other crazy things around the world. A single such day might not affect the level of commitment in our aspiring teacher much, but continuous bombardments with all this negativity will have its effect. As time goes on, our teacher might question very foundations of her commitments and convince herself of futility of her situation.

Let us understand what we have observed in our story. Why did our teacher lost her initial commitments? I believe that it has to do with social dynamics. Any person who observe nature for sometimes would realize that dynamics of a single object is vastly different form that of multitude objects. Group factor, or social factor in case of humans, add extra layer of complexity on that of individual behavior. In general a social movement can be a source of abundant good as well as evil. Take for instance peaceful movement of Gandhi and Nazi regime of Hitler. Both were massive and influential, however qualities of the influence were completely different. A movement of Gandhi was constructive and contributed to independence of India, while that of Hitler was destructive and contributed to devastation of the world. But one could ask what prevented people led by Hitler from recognizing their wrongdoing? A part of answer lies with social dynamics. When a large number of people are engaged in certain kind of behavior, it might become a norm in that society, even thought it might contradict to the basic tenets of human conscience.

To make the point clearer, let us consider few more examples. Take for instance, mass riots. Sometimes peaceful riots might turn violent, where cars get burned and glasses get shattered. The cause of such behavior might not be barbarity of the protestors. But the cause might have to do with group dynamics which involved at that particular place. On the other hand of fence, we might have policemen shooting rioters. Again these policement might not intend to seriously harm people, but when crowd is running person's ability of reasoning might undergo significant chages. This examples seems showcase a group dynamics in action.

Does all of this mean that we are just social robots, who are not capable of individual decision making? I hope not. What I wanted to convey is the fact that society exerts much influence on commitment of people. On the brighter side, one could use social component in positive ways by joining communities which facilitate action of one's commitments. Finally, I wish to remind that a commitment by definition is a personal thing. A society can influence person's desire to fulfill commitments, however it is up to every person whether he or she will pursue those commitments. 

On Days

Days carry me like a river. I have no control over their passage. Whether I wish it or not, sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. Some days are full with happy moments and they make me feel rich, while others appear to make me poor. Some days I can't do any research, nor can I write. On other days, ideas come pouring and I can't write them all down. Each day is so different, yet days themselves come and go as one. This an example of balance between constancy and variance. I like both. It would be hard to live on the planet where days and nights come with complete irregularity. On the other hand, living each day in the same manner would be boring. I have seen many sunrises and much more sunsets. Yet most of the time they still manage to struck awe in my eyes.

I feel tempted to divide days into good and bad ones. But I know that each day is a good day, or rather the best day. No matter how hard things can get in a given day, hardships are bound to go away. On the other hand, no matter how happy I am given any days, that happiness is also bound to go away. Everything goes away in the flux of time. Steve Jobs once mentioned that there is a benefit in living each day as if it was last, because one day it is going to be so. So no matter what given days gives, one could be thankful, for each day is a gift. 

On differences of opinions

People tend to have differing opinions on lots of things starting from trivia and ending with the most critical issues. This difference can be used constructively as well as destructively. Different opinions give rise to all sorts of cool ideas, which help to improve our daily lives. A group discussion plays an important role in both religious and secular lives. In this kind of brainstorming sessions differences are encouraged, understanding and mutual respect prevails. People are not driven by their egos, rather they are driven by well-being, development and success. On the other hand, negative usages of differences are also quite widespread. In this kind of environment, new ideas are shun and people do not show any willingness to listen to others' viewpoints. Mostly these people are driven by personal or sectarian ego, which makes them sacrifice long-term success. People have been using differences of opinions in both ways since a dawn of civilization. I do not expect that all kinds of discussion turn constructive overnight, but I hope that more discussions would be constructive rather than destructive.

Let us now focus on current difference of opinions on Artificial Intelligence or AI. Since an exchange of comments on AI between Zuckerberg and Musk, all kinds of people shared their views on the topic and sided with one of mentioned technological entrepreneurs. Both of these figures, who contributed immensely to the technological advancements, should be deeply aware of what they are saying. Let us try to understand their standings. Zuckerberg seems to view AI as a kind of tool which helps to improve lives, say by discovering new drugs. On the other hand Musk sees a danger in ever-developing AI which might pose a threat to the very existence of humans. These views seem to be in a wild contrast. So, is AI a source of good or evil?

As with majority of things, AI is neither inherently good or evil just as nuclear fusion, ships and cars. However, it can be used for a good as well as evil. Zuckerberg envisions its good use, while Musk is concerned with its evil implications. In this sense, both of them seem to be correct, where Zuckerberg's comments concern short-time horizon, while that of Musk mostly deal with a long-term future. The real question is what does each individual going to do about this issue. How can we ensure that AI is used for good, and not for evil? Should we rely on our previous experience of dealing with technological innovations like steam power or electricity? Can coming AI innovation be different from all previous ones? How should we design new economic landscapes for such a change? And can we? These are all questions that need to be addressed. Hopefully, humanity will be able to benefit from forthcoming effect of AI.