Trying new things is scary: City Planning

Trying new things is scary. You're out of your comfort zone, you don't know where to start and you generally lack any "Knowledge by induction"in that field. But it also presents to you an opportunity one that you wouldn't have had if you learnt it formally. An opportunity of bringing fresh perspective.

City planning has always been of interest to me. I remember an assignment my brother was given a long long time ago. He had to plan out what an island should look like where the roads should go and everything down to the last detail and he was supposed to present it. This memory has stuck on since I was in Grade 1 or 2. I've always tried to make drawings and plan thereafter, some attempts being more successful than others.

But I believe this time, it's worth trying as a complete project. A new project, something that is absolutely novel, for me at least. I have no knowledge of the field whatsoever and am studying as an undergraduate that doesn't directly present an opportunity to take up a job in this field. It just seems like an interesting challenge to take up; something to do from the ground up. Designing a city and thinking of ideas down to their finest details. I hope you do join me in the effort, I'm open sourcing it and I'll be publishing updates as and when I am able to think of them.

I'll use git as a tool to make it easier for multiple people to work on it at once. I'll be laying down the formal beginnings in the article I publish there. Please do check it out!

For those of you not well versed in technology, I'll be publishing a PDF version on the blog, do go through it and recommend changes that you think should be made at paaras12 [at] gmail [dot] com!

Okay's the worst

Okay is the worst. It is the worst reply that you could give to someone. If someone sends you something, anything. A document, a text or whatever else that could be sent, the worst reply the person could receive is just "okay". It infuriates me whenever I receive one without anything following it. This is why. A person, a living feeling person, who's taken the effort to type something, used his time and focus (which is in very short supply) to send you a document for you to read and respond to; the absolute minimum, nadir equivalent reply effort that you could send is 'okay.' It lacks any insight.

Absolute minimum effort meaning that you barely used any of your cognitive effort at all. Now this implies one of two things:

1. You really don't want to do the work that the person might have asked you to do and hence you simply respond with the word. Or,
2. You deem the document sent to you by the person not worthy enough to receive your time. A person who (obviously) believes that you're worth theirs. 

So as a kind gesture, instead of merely sending 'Okay.' as a response, you might as well experiment with newer, slightly more effortful replies to the person who made it obvious that you are worth theirs. 

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I was given this realization by my brother, how much ever I hate it, that at times I too fall for this. And fall hard. I shall attempt to rectify. If you catch me falling for this (And you happen to read this) send an 'Aaaand?'. I'll try to make it up to you.

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This time I was listening to Bach while I wrote. I thought I'd give classical music a shot; I enjoyed it a fair bit. 

Creative Thinking

I have come to respect the process that goes into writing and orating anything. Influenced by a philosopher by the name of Alan Watts, I too have attempted to write a 3,000-word long essay, which needs a bloody ton of work to be done on it even to finish (I've written ~500 words, and it's already descended into utter chaos.) The more I think about the process of thinking of something new, and expressing it in words, the more I realise that it is a herculean task. Alan Watts had some inspiration to draw from in the form of the philosophies of the eastern books that he espoused. On the other hand, philosophers of the likes of Kautilya and Aristotle would think of something entirely new. Now, the more I think about that, the more I respect them. They had undertaken the truly daunting task of making new arguments; arguments that became the foundation of the topics they talked about. The breadth was just astounding. They would talk about everything from philosophy to Math and Science. And they'd be at the cutting edge; they thought and expressed what we take for granted now.

This line of thought eventually leads me to think about creative thinking itself and the how the process eventually leads to the unique identification of a creation to the creator. Each invention has an inventor or a set of inventors who inevitably leave a mark on whatever it is they created. And eventually, through the invention, they'd leave their mark on the world. This, this is something that astounds me. And as is clear from the previous paragraph. It isn't necessarily just physical devices that they create. In fact, more often than not, these physical devices are forgotten, while the arguments and the expressions given by such greats live on.

One of the toughest part of creation for me has always been the part where we have to vocalise it and need to put it in words to tell others what I'm thinking of. I somehow have a picture in my head, which I'm not necessarily able to adequately put in words ( Part of the reason why this blog is necessary)

The process of creation requires a tremendous amount of focus. For first you have to think of the thing, and eventually put the damn thing into words. Which isn't very easy once you start thinking about it.

The talk of creation and invention reminds me of one of my physics teachers. When asked how Newton came up with his laws, or questions on similar lines, questions that inquired about the origin of a theory; he'd respond with "They dream it up." And I'd always think I want those dreams. But in retrospect it requires deep insight through focused work. Work that needs effort and a considerable amount of time. I guess this is where I start.

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I generally write listening to a song on repeat, I've been listening to this one, while I finished up with this post. A very nice rendition of the song. 

Freshman year

Freshman year of college is over, and I still feel like I came here yesterday.

Side note: I ought to write more. There's a lot to write about. 

Freshman year was all that I expected and a lot more, there are a lot of stories to share, some of which will come in the following days. But first, you'll need an introduction. It's been quite some time since I had an actual post and for quite a good reason (That's what I like to tell myself). I was am studying in India. I was studying for a centralised exam that's supposed to judge whether you're good enough to enter one of the "Premier Institutes of Education."

I was studying for it for two loooooong years, not many stories from that time, but plenty of memories and lessons. That finally got over sometime in May 2017. It was a relief. Even though I enjoyed studying the material, it was quite a bit of stress and the text to cover across two years was insane. But once it got over, I finally started doing the things I really really wanted to do!

And then the results started coming. Things weren't looking quite good; I wasn't getting the results I was hoping for, and not due to lack of effort, I was plain unlucky (Yes, a very bold statement I know), nothing else. This was till I got into IIM Indore! (Which happens to be a premier institute) And boy did things change.

Side note: IIM Indore is the only IIM in India that grants an undergraduate degree and the education provided in itself is unique if you want to read more, the course is called IPM and is linked here; I'll be writing about this as well. If you want to contact me or want to know more feel free to connect, send me a mail at paaras12 [at] gmail [dot] com.

The weeks after the admission were a whirl, parties, pure joy and whatnot. Finally, the day came, and I went to IIM Indore. The first term was absolute bliss. I got whatever I'd hoped for during the two years of JEE (This was a fairly critical time, up till now at least so you might see the JEE reference quite a bit in the near future.) and more, besides the course structure fit what I wanted to learn. There are a lot of stories to tell from this point on, I've had a staggering number of changes in my life in this past year and many experiences that I would want to share. And since I have my summer holidays coming up, I think I'll be able to manage at the very least five posts over the next 45 days. 

So I'll be seeing you soon, hopefully after my last exam which is on the 29th of May. Till then!

RE: The Security Function

For some context read this article. 

My brother wrote in August 2017 about how a One Plus 3T got stolen from his office and derived an equation that justified whether securing an object was worth the effort. I've been meaning to give a response for quite sometime now, a day before my exam seems like the best time to do it :P

Now, I disagree with his equation at multiple places but first I'll put this statement forth, "Security is justified only if it creates value", it seems pretty obvious, but a problem arises when you try to quantify what one means by "creating value". We obviously have costs associated with the purchase of the product and the security, but we also have implicit ‘costs’, those being the value produced by the object and the value missed by having the product stolen you from you prematurely. Using this as a basis I derived a new equation.

 (Securing Justified) = 

 Value(precious_object) 

 - Price(things_bought_to_keep_it_safe)

+ Value(value_by_object)  

 - [ Value (daily_time_spent_to_keep_it_safe) x

(days_used) ] 

The justified value then remains the same, i.e.:

If (Securing Justified) >> 0 then securing the object is definitely worth the time and effort

If (Securing Justified) ~ 0 Maybe worth the effort? Depends on how optimistic/pessimistic you are.

If (Securing Justified) < 0 Forget it, let it be. You might as well ask someone to steal it from you.

Now to define the terms:

Value(precious_object):  This is distinctly different from the equation offered in the article because here I simply consider the value of the object left, meaning that since every object has a limited life span you should only consider the value left of the object either through depreciation or more simply a linear curve till when you expect the object to go kaput, when the value goes to 0. As an analogy would you spend more on securing a packet of biscuits or one biscuit.

Mathematically –

Value(precious object) = Price(product) - [Price(product)/lifetime]*(Time till stolen)

Price(things_bought_to_keep_it_safe): This remains the same as what my brother gave. “This could be a lockable drawer, a lock and key, maybe even the initial charge of finding a security guard to protect the valuable.”    

Value(value_by_object): Here is an important variable he didn’t consider, each object you own creates value (or so I hope) and that’s why you own it. The cycle made the commute time shorter and saves you money you otherwise would’ve spent on a cab ride.  Or in the case of the mobile how it would benefit the company by the software developed using the mobile; though a bit less tangible, it is easy to calculate in retrospect. Let’s just assume we know it ex ante.

The next variable remains the same, that being:

“Value (daily time spent to perform security operation): Convert the amount of time you spend on locking into a more measurable form like money. If you charge $30 per hour of work, locking might be worth a minute's value a day = $0.50. This could also be the running expense of daily wage of the security guard.”

Days_used:  Days till theft could also be interpreted as days of useful life, whichever comes first will be take as the value of the variable. To maintain consistency with my brother’s article I shall assume it to be T/2.

Another variable that might be worth considering is the cost of the replacement but I don’t see how we could place that in the equation, if you do please do help me out.

To the examples!

Days used = I'll be using this bicycle for 3 years, so let's say it gets stolen after 1.5 years.

Value (Bicycle) = Rs 21,000 – {[21,000/(3*365)] *( Days_Used)}

Price(Bicycle) = Rs 21,000

Useful life ~       3 Years

Hence, Value left with bike = 21,000 – (21,000/(3*365)) *(365*3/2)

                                        = 10,500

Price(Things bought to keep it safe) = Rs 1,000

Value(Value_by_Object) = ((20 mins/day)*(Daily wage) + Money_saved_on_commute)*(Days_Usage_left)

          Rs. [(10 + 30)/day] * (3*365/2) = Rs 21,900

Value(daily time spent to keep it safe) = 2 minutes (to lock and unlock) = Rs 1 [Indians work at $30 a day]

∴ Security Justified = 10,500 - 1,000 + 21,900  - 1 * 548 = 31,752.

You SHOULD lock it.

Price(OnePlus3T) = Rs 30,000

Price(Things bought to keep it safe) = Rs 1,000

Value(daily time spent to keep it safe) = Rs 500 [Security guard paid that much per day] {Assuming that’s all he was protecting}

# days from purchase till theft = We assumed we'll use the phone for 2-3 years, but we lost it 3 months from purchase.

Value(Value_by_object) ~ It’s safe to assume that if a company has invested 30,000 on a device, it expects at least twice the return.

Hence Value(Value_by_object) = 60,000(3*365 – 90)/(3*365) = 55068.49

∴ Security Justified = 30,000 - 1,000 - 500 * 90 + 60,000 = 39068.49.

I’d say that the effort put into security is justified.

I'm dead tired right now, I'll write a post script later. Later. 

PS. Formatting is screwing me over. I'll look into it later. Later.