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Showing posts with the label History

Decision Making as Output and Bounded Rationality

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  The classical economics theories proceed on the assumption of rational agents. Rationality implies the economic agents undertake actions or exercise choices based on the cost-benefit analysis they undertake. The assumption further posits that there exists no information asymmetry and thus the agent is aware of all the costs and benefits associated with the choice he or she has exercised. The behavioral school contested the decision stating the decisions in practice are often irrational. Implied there is a continuous departure from rationality. Rationality in the views of the behavioral school is more an exception to the norm rather a rule. The past posts have discussed the limitations of this view by the behavioral school. Economics has often posited rationality in the context in which the choices are exercised rather than theoretical abstract view of rational action. Rational action in theory seems to be grounded in zero restraint situation yet in practice, there are numerous restra
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Archeo-Astronomy- A Note

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  To many history might appear boring, yet it is equally fascinating to a number of others. History is about the past. Yet history teaches us about the present and the future. History is about learning the right lessons. History often repeats itself as a farce often as a tragedy. Avoiding this tragedy is something that becomes critical. It is about regressing the past towards forecasting the future. In quantitative methods, regression is a standard tool to understand the future through the past correlations. History too is about building correlations of the past to project the future. History of course differs from statistical tools in terms of its qualitative and often subjective analysis. History is about decoding the conditions that existed resulting in a war for instance. If a war were to be a dependent variable, then the question would be about those independent variables as also the interaction variables while controlling for certain variables that determined the trajectory of th
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The Historian's Trauma

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  To an individual, getting embroiled in an experience that would be unsettling or traumatic would be of one that no one would wish to. Yet, in everyday life, there are professions wherein an individual would get into these experiences. To a policeperson, it would be an everyday affair perhaps to visit the crime scenes, investigate, and talk to those families all of which would perhaps be unsettling. It would be something similar to a doctor or a nurse attending medical emergencies on a daily basis. Something similar would exist for lawyers either as prosecutors or defence lawyers. Yet in many of these instances, the situations are not something you are prepared for. There is essentially a reaction to the events that unfold in front of the eyes. In the corona crisis, the events would unfold and there was very little the doctors or other health care workers could do. As jounralists report from different areas including war zones or terror zones, there is very little they could do as the
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Reclaiming Lost History

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  In a previous post “ Saffron Swords ”, there was an attempt to review the book by the same name. The book sought to collate together the stories of those known and unknown fighters who put their lives at stake in defence of the motherland. They might have fought against the British or they might have fought against the Sultanate and their successors, but they did not shirk away from fighting to protect their independence. As the book argues, contrary to the popular perception, neither the Islamic invaders nor the Europeans had an easy time in managing India. They were faced with resistance at every nook and corner and in many instances, the victory they obtained was perhaps pyrrhic. Interestingly, barring the Mughals, there was hardly an Islamic dynasty that had a long uninterrupted rule either in Delhi or in other regions. Maybe the Bahamans would come close but they never had uncontested supremacy with them being constantly challenged and often outpowered by the Vijayanagara rulers
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Denisovians and Mystery of Vanara and Asura

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Doordarshan is telecasting Ramayana and Mahabharata daily. Apparently, along with other re-runs, Doordarshan seems to regain its mojo. Yet as one watches two epics in their serialised form, quite a few insights does emerge. At one point, they might be reinforcing the value based system. At another level, they are classical illustrations of societal structures and values of the period. They illustrate the life of a royal as opposed to someone a common man. There are political insights too. The intricacies of power play are well charted out. The role of women does not really build on the stereotype though barriers of entry exist. Castes’ too plays certain role but not in a way that society seems to have perceived to it exist for all over the years. In many ways. Ramayana seems to follow a linear society with high degree of order and hierarchy. Deviations would be frowned severely though they do exist. Mahabharata on the other hand, is a good example of complex society full of realpoli
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