Rumi Nations

Taking the Drake Equation forward or modifying it, researchers have attempted to find out — estimate — the total number of intelligent civilizations that have ever existed in the visible universe since the Big Bang. In their words; Abstract: In this paper we address the cosmic frequency of technological species. Recent advances in exoplanet studies provide strong constraints on all astrophysical terms in the Drake Equation. Using these and modifying the form and intent of the Drake equation we show that we can set a firm lower bound on the probability that one or more additional technological species have evolved anywhere and at any time in the history of the observable Universe. We find that as long as the probability that a habitable zone planet develops a technological species is larger than ~10-24, then humanity is not the only time technological intelligence has evolved. This constraint has important scientific and philosophical consequences. The paper . ...

Einstein was so unlucky. He never saw Koffee With Karan. Or the wonderful strokemaking by the Sehwags, Tendulkars and Yuvrajs. But we are all lucky. We have spent countless hours and hundreds of hours watching celebrities and cricket on television. I suspect our interest in these activities wanes as our age (and waistline) increases. May be we realize that these are futile, time-wasting activities — or, may be we encumber ourselves with various responsibilities such as kids and we get busy making a living and buying groceries, masalas and vegetables and do not find time in our long commutes to watch celebrity talk shows. Some people — say, Feynman, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs — perhaps get lucky and never spend time watching TV shows or cricket. But everybody cannot be geniuses like them. Every new generation in India reliably grows to become cricket aficionados and becomes celebrity-crazed. Is there a cure for this? Is there a way to wean adolescents from adolescent-like activiti...

In 20 years, all of us will be old. And I wonder if I'll remember the news item where Saif Ali Khan hits a guy or so it's alleged by a gentleman. In 20 years, Saif will be old too. Kareena will be old as well. I'll be old. I won't have grandchildren to bore to death with tales. Perhaps, I'll just relieve the memories by myself. Recall the days of my youth when Tiger Pataudi was old and I used to watch him on TV. The inexorable passing of time and the flow of time and generations is a mysterious thing. I don't know anyone who has escaped these things. The Eventual decay and ending of all things would have been quite unbearably sad. Luckily, we live life day-to-day. The human body is an ancient and ungainly, clumsy machine that has its inescapable idiosyncrasies. We need food once every few hours ... munch, munch, munch. We need to drink water at intervals. We BREATHE. Blink too. Then there's the business of ... what goes in must come out. If only, some...

A movie about fly fishing that somehow manages to make one ponder about what it means to be alive. A kid who wants to grow up to be a fly fisherman. Another kid who wants to be a boxer. A preacher who's devoted to his calling of inspiring and soothing his people through the power of words as revealed by his God. The kids grow up. The elder one turns into the responsible one while the younger is more adventurous. Love and a stable career are the ambitions for one. The other aspires to and enjoys taking life on. But risk taking can exact grim reapings. One can get killed. This is almost inevitable. But perhaps that's precisely part of the allure of this kind of life. In time, the kid grows old. And reflects on the meaning of it all. The river meanwhile is the one constant. What a wonderful metaphor for life a river is! Always flowing, never stopping. With hidden dangers lurking beneath the surface. We are responsible for the decisions we make in our lives. The cons...

Or, the Big Bang Pope. Whichever ……………… What I’m referring to here is of course the Pope’s comment or opinion that God is apparently the ‘mind’ behind the Big Bang … oh well, who would have known that … except the Pope of course. It occurs to me though that neither the Bible nor any of the other religions have explicitly talked about the theory of the Big Bang and God being behind it. It’s only a theory that Physicists here on planet Earth came up with in the twentieth century … imagine what a very specific situation that is !!! Scientists here on one planet around one star in some ordinary, insignificant corner of this one galaxy, the Milky Way … I wonder what else knowledge the Pope is privy to on account of his ‘special’ relationship with God … why doesn’t the Pope share all his knowledge in a proactive manner rather than wait for science to come up with something and only then reacting to that. Science is far from complete of course and does not brag about itself — part of the very...