Being an Engineer

Today is engineer's day and all of us are celebrating our degrees. But this makes me think and should make every pass out think, what makes us an engineer? Does a formal degree, or four years of college or knowledge of C, Java or PHP makes us engineer? No, they certainly not.

Who is an engineer?

This takes me to another question ‘what an engineer does?’ a doctor treats unhealthy human beings, an architect designs buildings, and a sweeper cleans the floor. (However, it is possible that some of the individuals in these respective professions will disagree with me).  But what an engineer does, does he designs machines, or calculates loads of the building, or creates software, or mixes alloys, or studies complex structures of proteins. All these very unrelated tasks are done by various kinds of engineers. So is the word engineer a vague generalization for different occupations? Work of graduate in computer applications looks much similar to computer engineer, then of a mechanical or civil engineer. Although, the latter are called engineers, but the former is not. Isn’t it inane? No, it’s not, if you know the definition of engineer. Which says, “An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics, and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical, societal and commercial problems”. Here the important words are “develops solutions for problems”. In short, we engineers are problem solvers. The problem can be ‘to provide an online ticket reservation for 10 million people’ or a simple question asked in GATE exam. Whatever a scale or size of the problem, whatever are available tools, whatever time is allocated to the problem and whatever your role in the solution, as an engineer, your aim should be to solve the problem in the most efficient manner.  Another thing if you have noticed, is the deliberate exclusion of the word ‘past experience or practical knowledge’ in the definition. Experience, as to any professional also helps an engineer, but is not the real credit of an engineer. It may be the biggest credit of a craftsman, but not of a scientist.

Engineer: Scientist or Craftsman?

What is the difference between an engineer and a craftsman? Craftsmen have practical knowledge, experience and skill. They also make something. The difference is a craftsman does, what he had known by experience or by training, he does not know core principles or science working in his own creation. On the other hand an engineer knows that. An engineer is half scientist half craftsman. Craftsman because he creates something of practical application, but scientist because his approach is of a scientist. So, if as an engineer if one focuses only on experience in certain technology, he or she will be a top class craftsman of that technology, but will be no longer an engineer.

Great Engineers through History

What one should expect from oneself as an engineer?

The comment was 'GATE score is not important, practical knowledge is'. What we think of ourselves as engineers? What an engineer should know? Does a person with a lot of practical experience and knowledge of PHP or Java or.NET, becomes a computer engineer. I hardly think so. So, what have I learnt in the past 4 years, the syntax of C, Java or PHP? The concepts of OO? How to find the shortest path between two nodes in a graph? How philosophers should dine or how a thief should fill his knapsack?^*  Well, I learned all of that as they are the robust tools or the ‘scientific knowledge’ which needed, to solve problem. But the primary purpose was not to study all those things. The purpose is to develop reasoning, to learn how to solve any problem that is thrown upon your face. As an engineer I should be able to solve any problem, whether it’s of a complicated installation of an OS in 40 pc or a repairing of an Air-conditioner. At least, I should perform better than my past self, which was not an engineer.

Engineering is an attitude

During the four years of my engineering study, I often heard from our teachers and others that “you should learn the latest technology”, or “We will teach you the latest technology with all its features”, but not once I heard “you should learn how to learn and adopt any technology, whether new or existing throughout your career”. And as new technology hits our field so often, that the word ‘latest’ in former sentences ridicules itself. So remember, engineering is not about knowing a technology or a craft and doing it rest of your life, but about finding new challenges and overcoming them with all the knowledge and resources you have. We are explorers, problem killers, the engines of the modern world and pillars of technological advancements. We are the intellectual descendants of Archimedes, Hero of Alexandria, Leonardo DA Vinci, Charles Babbage, Nikola Tesla, the Wright brothers and Alan Turing. So get the right attitude and be proud being an engineer.

-- * ‘Dinning philosopher problem’ and ‘Knapsack problem’ are studied abundantly in computer science to imitate actual computing situation.

American Hypocrisy

As 4th of July, the birthday of the most powerful and influential nation of our time passes by, I can't resist but to write something about American way of life. Buy America, I mean the country that sits above those nations of Brazil and Mexico and below our beloved Canada, and has influenced the world more than any country in past century politically, economically and culturally. If a question is raised that what is the most prominent characteristic of that nation you can answer it as hypocrisy. An American TV series named South Park, on their 100th episode on the theme of the Iraq war and its protests showed that a character, and not nay character a particularly nasty one. Goes back in time and learns from Ben Franklin himself that one hand, we will go at war and on another we will support its protesters. Well, it is a comedy series, but the point really is notable. I think throughout history, hypocrisy of America, can be hardly matched by any other. (Well, I have limited knowledge of history)

US has engaged in more war in last 100 years than any country, although they call themselves peace lovers and 'peace keepers'. US believes in open press and transparent administration, but they have more secrets than any other (all other combined) country in the world. They have literally got a 'Fort'ress for that purpose!!!! US believes in freedom of expression at its extreme, but communism was an exception till now. Robert J Oppenheimer suffered a lot, only because his wife and brother had a leaning towards communism. They believe in science and many great scientists of our time has come from us, but over half of its citizens do not believe in evolution even today. They call themselves secular, but 51% percent American said that they would not vote for an atheist (non-believer of God). They believe in system, but haven't accepted the Metric system! ;p

But there is also good things about this hypocrisy, one of them is you can ridicule American hypocrisy on American television. However, what do you blame us for, you won't be crushed by force, however don’t know about diplomacy. And there is, something kind of glamorous about American hypocrisy, which is not found elsewhere. At last, whether it is Beauty, Hustle, Gangster or Pie we love it when it is American, then why not Hypocrisy?

Is technology making us idiots ?

A proof that technology has made us idiots

This post is in accordance to an earlier note  (here post Are They Destroying us ? as this piece come from my personal log ) by me 'Are they destroying us ?'. There I quoted Einstein as the originator of the quote "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots." However I was a little bit skeptic about this quote and its meaning, I didn't gave much thought to it (this quote was viral on social media). But when I searched that quote in Google (so I don’t have to write it!!). An interesting fact came out, that Einstein probably never said something like that. Other thing pointed out was that however it looks great this quote is actually inane(see this link). In the context it is popularize is actually more silly, they show half a dozen picture were cellphone has taken priority over the human sitting next (like a date, or a dinner) and saying that the day Einstein feared has come. Now let me say that most of the people most of the time do chatting on cell, so ultimately it's only a different kind of human interaction. And though if we accept that here technology has taken precedence over human interaction, how the hack chatting (or surfing) on phone make you idiot and listening to your girlfriend's boring talk make you Einstein ??? Actually, fundamental thing that clicks me is our excessive reliance on technology. Before you have to do many task which required knowledge and smartness, which are now taken care by technology (like, a dozen spelling mistakes as I write this). Technology has also served as excellent distraction from the meaningful things (for me at least it has). But it has also given plenty meaningful things in return. Now if people are attracted more toward the idiotic one than the meaningful one than it means that they always wanted to be idiots, there is one trait of technology it doesn't give what is right, it gives what people want (a penicillin and a nuclear bomb both are gift of technology).

I also found a good thought from yahoo answer that, Just because something in the future is different and future people don't know how to do the things we do now, doesn't mean their idiots, just means they have found other means to do the same thing, or this thing is not needed anymore.



At the end of the day

What proves the quote itself (that we are generation of idiots) is the fact that something silly and incorrect became so popular and everyone accepted it without giving a thought on it.

Are they destroying us ?

Sometime earlier this year I had discussion with Krushna, that 'how much technology contribute towards making us dumb ?', there is a famous quote by Albert Einstein that "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.". Today I realize that to some extent. What happened was that power was down due to rain and bad weather. So my pc was down, the lappy's battery was already dead, phone was up but again Wi-Fi was down. So I brought up the book 'Brief History of Time', and read it for about an hour and half. It is since long I read a book for such a long and I enjoyed it. Usually what happens is I fall down for easier options like PC game or a series. However they have and will play a crucial role in making me what I am, I have felt for long that I am not giving enough time for reading and other such kind of activities.

The name 'rational fool'

lOGICal ?

I haven't been asked any question about the name 'rational fool' or 'logical fool', because of the limited audience of blog. But I am going to explain it anyway. First of all going backward the word 'fool', now a point should be noted that at micro level it  does not mean lack of intelligence. I know that, I am not less fortunate in terms of intelligence. Robert J. Sternberg states that "Foolishness is the lack or failure of wisdom and of making proper careful choices. In this sense, it differs from stupidity, which is the lack of intelligence". But the major dilemma here is not that about how an intelligent person can be fool, it's how a rational person can be a fool. Any rational decision taken with pure logic, can be wrong horribly wrong as we human are not omniscient, we have a limited view of environment and so any rational decision can be wrong. A superb example was found in the our reference book of Artificial Intelligence(Russel-Norwig, Pearson 2e). If I am walking on the pavement of the road and on the other side I see and old friend also walking. I do not have any hurry and he also seem to be relaxed, so its rational to go on the other side and meet him. I check on both the side before crossing the road, its empty. Now crossing the road is a fully rational decision. But as I start crossing the road, a aero plane flying 35,000 feet above me loses a cargo. Which eventually falls on me at the middle of the road. Needless to say, what happens to me. Now this decision to meet an old friend and crossing the road, however horribly wrong(we will define right decision as the one beneficiary to me, and wrong the opposite) was not 'foolish'. But in real life, sometimes decision made with logic and rationality in mind turns out to be foolish, or feel foolish afterwards. Another meaning which was not exactly in my mind when acquiring this name, is ardent enthusiast about something. But it can be relevant here.

Whatever doesn't kill you...

Once Nietzsche famously said that 'whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stronger.' However true it is I feel it is in incomplete.  Yes, the most challenging and hard experiences do make you stronger. But many times they also kill something inside you. The hardship helps you develop a strong shell outside, but the damage already done inside will remain with you for lifetime. And this damage will define who you are for rest of your life.

Goodbye my sweet heart, Hello Vietnam. A still from 'Full Metal Jacket'

Actually hardship can have strange and vivid effects on person. A best example is young men going for war. They experience more hardship in a few days, than of their all previous life. Actually a ruthless training is given to him to make them stronger. And of course it makes them stronger, but is it free of cost? No, it take something out of them. Someone can survive that and someone cannot. When I first saw the film 'Full Metal Jacket', I didn’t realized this thought. Like many other thoughts, this one was also not emphasized much. The name refers to the standard type of ammunition used by soldiers in war. The film is situated at marine corps training center in the first half and in Vietnam for the second. But now,  it occurs to me that the name 'Full Metal jacket' may have a hidden meaning of developing a strong jacket or shell. So that the hardship of war, when you see your colleagues die in front of you, do not impair your ability to react, to fight. It surely have a meaning of turning a man (or boy), in to a killing machine. If trauma caused by pain and suffering is at the core of this movie, another movie, 'The Hurt Locker' explores a completely different situation; where pain and suffering of war becomes an addiction and one cannot leave without that any more.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="970"] The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug.[/caption]

To sum it all up , it is true that suffering and loss makes one stronger, while happiness and love makes one weak. As Nikki Lauda says in 'The Rush', "Happiness is the enemy, it weakens you. Suddenly you have something to loose". A man with nothing to lose is unbeatable. But here the important thing is, life is not only about being strong, it's about enjoying it. It's good to be weak, if you enjoy it.

Windows XP, You will be rememberered a lot

Sounds Familiar ? No, then u haven't seen a computer

Today as Microsoft officially stops support for Windows XP. When I heard this news, a lot of things came to mind. Its' not like all XP machines are going to be vanished overnight. But gradually its popularity will fed and one day you will only study in books about windows XP a very successful x86 based operating system. But what XP meant to us, Millennial (born 1980-2000). It was the first OS that touched our hearts. Many of us, when first time pressed the power button of a personal computer, first thing we saw was that screen with the windows XP written in it. However in my case when I first did it on my first pc, it was that 'flying in the sky' windows logo with windows 98, written in it. But my love for computer flourished on those XP days. And like many of us, for long I used that legendary OS(vista in 2006 was a failed OS, I remember we were taught how to change Disk mode from AHCI to IDE in order to boot XP, when laptops were distributed in our college in 2009, yes our college does that on subsidized cost). Actually my contact with it lasted till the starting of the previous year(2013). I was using XP in my PC to keep graphic memory free for high graphics games. XP was the most loved and hated OS of our time, we hated its vulnerability to virus, we hated its crappy hangs. But at the end of the day we could not live without it. XP would work decently on resolution of 1024x800 in a computer with 128 MB of RAM with a hard disk of 5 or 10 GB and still you can play a lagging GTA Vice City on it. (no, I am not joking). For all these things you will be missed, dear XP.

Serious programming is mental torture, the one I have seen a lot today

As world chess champion Garry Kasparov has said 'chess is mental torture', above line was the first to come on my mind when I went out from the final round of 'CodeJam' event. Not only me but most of them(all who were serious), selected by 2 previous rounds, the best 20 of the lot; tries to overcome a grand challenge problem. You can sense the heaviness in the air, you can feel these persons touching their minds, often using pen and paper as a tool. Then I also see participants walking out of the room, with face like they are beaten to hell. When I myself came out, for some time all I wanted to do was to do nothing, just giving rest to this little brain. However first, thing I did after that was to write in my phone 'programming is a mental torture'. I have done programs like this before, but first time in a competitive environment with time limit and a prize at stack.

This is my payday

I just scored 36.33 (normalized 34.22) in GATE exam, AIR 5039. It is not a bad score given i had only prepared for 1 or 2 weeks seriously. But if some one says i got that for free or by luck, that is not true. Like, Mr. Angier in 'The Prestige', "I also have made sacrifice, i also have paid the cost". May be i have not attended hefty coaching and gave a dozen of mock tests, but for 2 years (sem 4,5,6,7) I have tried to learn the subjects, to embrace the logic behind it. I have spend hours struggling with a program, which was not even in syllabus. I am not saying i didn't enjoy it, I enjoyed it a lot, but I also paid a price, like being a social pariah all the time.

Not bad, huh !!

Today is my payday. I am not taking admission on this marks anywhere, but may be it will help me in getting a tutors job, while I prepare for my post graduation. And last thing I am not going to remain a social pariah any more; I know I will never be a social butterfly, but a social caterpillar will suffice.

It is good only for the rational minds

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="596"] where do they lead to ?[/caption]

The great thinkers of past age like Buddha, Mahavira, Mohammad or Christ, they all gave a doctrine of thought to people in form of simple rules. They did it because it was easy for common man to understand it. Pure thoughts are hard to understand for common people. But what they failed to see was that with time this rules will become obsolete, insignificant and even dangerous in hands of irrational minds. Every man who will dare to ask questions about this rules will be trashed. They thought this simple rules would be periodically revised by wise men and will provide  better leaving for common man; but it didn’t happen. Actually what happened that wise men , rational minds learned the thoughts given by the Holy man and irrational minds followed the rules; so when rules became non-contextual or misinterpreted, the wise men told that this is not the truth. But the followers of rules were irrational minds, closed minds; they didn’t listen to the logical argument presented by wise few; instead they bullied them and punished them for challenging the rule. This way after generations the essence of doctrine died and only a skeleton of original thoughts remained, claiming to be the original thoughts obstructing the little creatures trying to grow on their own (the thoughtful ones). This is the tragedy of today's religions.

Immortal Coils

I don’t know how many times I have, wondered about 'how the first living organism in the world came to place ?' , I knew there is no final answer for that question yet, and may there never will be (unless we make a time machine....). But what will suffice me is a logical explanation of the phenomenon. On the second chapter of the book 'Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins I got that answer and as I read ahead other shocking ideas, which were undeniably logical.

Long Reach of Gene

The core of the book is  "We (and all living organisms)  are machines, a vehicle programmed by our genes, to ensure their survival" and that these genes are selfish, all they 'care' is about their survival. It denies an individual as an unit of natural selection. It says that our conscientiousness, our survival instinct and our love or altruism for relatives, all are part of the genes programming for their survival in the long race.

Why start blogging ?

I have been writing personal log for about one and a half year, and I have thought more than once to make a part of it public as web log or blog. But I never did it, partly because I thought it was not worth the effort  of hosting the site and choosing domain (i will not go with blogger.com or something like that, i am an engineer) and partly because i am lazy. But a few days ago i accidentally landed in a blog called themangoman (aam aadmi). It was not an active blog, last posts were about two year old, but what i loved there was the integrity of the author. I thought let me also do this, if one guy (or girl, preferably) in the whole wide world (or world wide web) enjoys my writing as i did his, it will be worth the effort.