Mental Models and Magic Potions

Over the last one week the two major influences on my existence have been a class on behavioural finance and my fourth re run of harry potter and the half blood prince.

That is when I made a queer observation. There is a visible common ground between mental models and magic potions, both flatter to deceive.

Mental models are as much an expression of our whims as are magic potions, If we were able to actually make models to map human thought it would be a worthless exercise.

The whole beauty of a human brain is its unpredictability, if we were able to actually deduce behaviour then human beings would end up becoming nothing more than zombies.

Magic potions on the other hand are accepted whims of our imagination but if they were actually true they would in essence suggest the presence of mental model. This can be deduced from the fact that magic potions cause a particular behavioural reaction in human beings and if that were true then the person would be abiding by a mental model.

The one thing I did learn rather re-learn in the behavioural finance class was the concept of proof by contradiction, which I have done above , if you have not understood it yet then let me elaborate.

Theory to prove: mental models don’t exist

Contradiction to proof: mental models do exist

Parallel: magic potions exist

Fact: magic potions don’t exist

Deduction: Magic potions cause mental models

Contradiction: If mental models are caused by magic potions and it is a fact that magic potions don’t exist then mental models don’t exist .

melancholy princess

She may be beautiful

Yet is so vulnerable

She may be smart as a tack

Yet she never watches over her back

She may be radiant

Yet she withers away

Her motions vibrant

Yet she has her melancholy way

Often she sits and wonders why

Her heart’s happiness she does deny

Wild spirited and serene she wishes to be

Yet she is too bound and rooted to free

Her thoughts all scattered

Her confidence shattered

Her memories all tattered

But none really mattered

She blossoms again and burgeons on

She is the beautiful flower with the poisonous thorn

Spinning yet another web of hope

Yet another tragedy she wishes to cope

Invites trouble like the neighbourhood fairy

Lest her life should become dreary

Fights against her own mind and heart

As she goes back to the start

Identity Crisis

Hi my name is Venkat Siddarth rather it is Gudiseva Veera Venkata Surya Satya Vara Siddhartha.

All these 44 characters usually get reduced to 3-5 letters when I am being addressed by friends ,family etc. Most commonly it reduces to "Sid" or "Venki".

"SID" is a very common name I observe.

And sometimes some people forget that it is my name as well and when they see a folder by the name "Sid" on my desktop they think it has something to do with the various other "Sids" around and question my motives.

I m used to being called by other names which have nothing to do with the seven names given to me by my fore-fathers.

But when people question my usage of the one name given to me by my beloved parents it pisses me off.

Over the past twenty four years I have amassed more than twenty nick names all from extremely creative people which necessitates that they have nothing to do with my real name. Hence I am now programmed do respond to many words some of which also have a derogatory connotation.

It often happens that two people are arguing and indulging in name calling and out of the blue one of the flowery words they use is similar to one of my nick name.

Hence now I am stuck in the world with innumerable names but none I can call my own. Not one name which makes me stand out and this has lead to a sort of identity crisis recently. It is only today that I have realised all these names are my identity. I am a person with many identities. There are Jacks of all arts. I am the Sid of all names.

Leisure

My Days at MDI :

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

I couldnt have described my days any better than this!

SM = Sleep Management

Drifting in and out of sleep
Management studies are profound and deep

Crouching and hunching to hide one self
Looking for comfort around ourself

Battering comments and a blabbering professor
each one more boring than his predecessor

Yet we find solace in class and benches
For our lack of boredom it now quenches

Imaginary objects looming overhead
All images white blue and red

Now the lecture becomes even more unbearable
the professor trying to entertain us with a fable

Even less blood pumping to the brain
hand over eyes now I cannot refrain

Slowly head held at half mast
Damn only half the class has gone past

Now the time for examples and anecdotes
Irritating interjections by the dumb rotes

Now the feeling is full and whole
I guve up and sleep with a steady systole

The Absent Minded Author

As most of you may be knowing , a very very close friend of mine is an Author.
Recently he released a best selling novel which was well received by all the mast ram and savita bhabhi fans across the nation.The above description may not be entirely true but the book does have its bit of adult entertainment which has been handled tastefully. The book has an excellent story line and a very good speech by one of the characters which makes it a must read.

The original title for the book was "A theory of intelligence". Which is a very apt title according to me . The author himself is an extremely intelligent human being . If there is anything he lacks, it is a memory. He is more absent minded than most of the seventy year old professors who teach us here. He has managed to loose almost all of his personal belongings except the only thing he actually wanted to loose.

He has managed to loose innumerable number of items including spectacles, car keys , bike keys , wallets ,laptops, watches,tennis racquets, books and the thing which hurts the most "a girl's phone numbers". It is a very rare and auspicious occasion when he manages to get the phone number of a girl and he worships that slip of paper as if it were a God send and yet he manages to loose it.

My dear friend here is some advice for you
1) If you were ever to murder a person please make sure that you return to the scene of the crime before any one else for you are sure to have forgotten some identification mark there.
2) Observe and learn from squirrils. Squirills as you know suffer from an extremely short term memory and hence when the move they usually retrace half their part so that they remember where they are coming from.
3) Always take down a girl's phone number on your hand as it is a little more difficult to loose it.
4) Maintain a journal so that once you loose your complete memory , which might be pretty soon you atleast have something to right about.
5) Use hair gel.

Football

There is football in my blood

There is football in my veins

Football on my head

Football in my brains

Jumping for the ball

Tumbling for a foul

Running through the flank

Converting defence to attack

Setting up a free kick

With an impressive back flick

Rising for the header

High over the defender

At last here comes a chance

Take a side way glance

Aiming for the goal

Hit the bloody pole

Screaming in agony

Shouting at the referee

Calling for a penalty

Promising by fidelity

Set the sights to the top corner

The keeper is now a goner

Kick it as hard as you possible

And shout goal goal goal!