Viswanathan K's Thoughts

“We behave better when we believe we’re being watched”, writes Brian Klass in Corruptible . Today, that line brings to mind CCTV cameras that are all over the place, and government systems that could get info on our online habits. But long, long ago, when policing systems were practically non-existent, how could one make people follow basic rules? This wasn’t just a law and order problem for kings. As we know all too well, if we can’t trust people and there are no systems in place to penalize and punish wrongdoers, then economic activities (and associated prosperity) never get going…   Until policing and judicial systems could be built, the way to build some basis for trust amongst people in most places was the concept of religion: “The world’s major religions are overflowing with reminders that God is watching.” Religion helped build some degree of trust, as long as everyone believed that one would pay, “either in this life or the next”.   Klass humourously calls...

Words matter. Even in science. When Darwin came up with his theory of evolution, he used the phrase, “natural selection” to describe what was going on. Unfortunately, that phrase led to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the theory, as his colleague Wallace pointed out.   In a letter to Darwin, Wallace wrote that “the term itself (“natural selection”), and your mode of illustrating it, however clear and beautiful to many of us”, was leading to misinterpretation among others. The problem was the word “selection”: some thought it meant there was “thought and direction” involved. Others, esp. those of the religious type, were happy with that prospect: there was a role for God in the theory!   Wallace, therefore, suggested that it might be better to switch to a different phrase from that point onwards, including future editions of The Origin of Species . And what could that new term be? Wallace suggested going with the phrase that the philosopher, Herbert Spencer’s ...