Unreal Blog

Here is an unreal look at the what and why of time. Why do we have a sense of time when none of our five senses can sense it?

Read the rest of "Only a Matter of Time"

When philosophers look at anything, it becomes a bit technical. Their technical analysis may sound boring and irrelevant. Here is an attempt to tilt things in their favor.

Read the rest of "Half a Bucket of Water"

What do we mean by rationality? Why do we think it is a good thing to be rational?

Read the rest of "On Rationality and Delusions"

Blind-sight is an interesting neurological syndrome, and a philosophical conundrum. It shows how we may have senses that we are not consciously aware of. If there are senses that we can be unaware of, how sure can we be of the “sensed”? Or of our “delusions”?

Read the rest of "Blind-Sight"

Here is a concept of God that doesn’t violate the known principles of science, and should therefore be consistent with the so-called scientific worldview. Mind you, plausibility of the concept says nothing about its veracity; but it may say something about it being a delusion.

Read the rest of "A Plausible God"

An unreal review of the book The God Delusion. [...]The book gave me a strange feeling of dissatisfaction. You see, you may believe in God. Or you may not believe that there is a God. Or you may actively believe that there is no God. I fall in this the last category. But I still know that it is only my belief, and that thought fills me with a humility that I feel Dawkins lacks.[...]

Read the rest of "The God Delusion"

If hard work does not entitle us to fat bonuses, perhaps our “talent” does? This is the third in the series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – III"

Of truth and beauty — in physics and philosophy

Read the rest of "Change the Facts"

An unreal look at global warming. Are we a virus on the earth? And is the global warming a bout of fever? Published in the Singaporean newspaper, Today, on 1 Dec 2008.

Read the rest of "Global Warming and the Flu"

Another post in the latest blitz of physics/philosophy articles, this one presents an idea that the significance of the speed of light a la Special Relativity is a consequence of our perception rather than an assumption.

Read the rest of "Why the Speed of Light?"

This unpublished article is a sequel to my earlier paper (also posted as Are Radio Sources and Gamma Ray Bursts Luminal Booms?). This blog version contains the abstract, introduction and conclusions. The full version of the article is available as a PDF file.

Read the rest of "Light Travel Time Effects and Cosmological Features"

This post is the blog version of my article published in the International Journal of Modern Physics D (IJMP-D) in 2007, soon to become the Top Accessed Article of the journal by Jan 2008. Although it might seem like a hard core physics article, it is in fact an application of the philosophical insight permeating this blog and my book.

Read the rest of "Are Radio Sources and Gamma Ray Bursts Luminal Booms?"

Morality is considered a cognitive manifestation. Can we find some genetic basis for what we consider good and evil? Could the philosophical domain of ethics come under the purview of evolutionary biology?

Read the rest of "Genetics of Good and Evil"

Does evolution still work among human beings? Or, have we messed up the potential genetic advantages of random mutations to such an extent that we have stopped evolution on its track?

Read the rest of "End of Evolution"

Evolution is one of those funny things — since we are its end products, our thought processes are not quite big enough to grasp all its implications. At least, not right away. Here is a look at what logic means, and what beauty means in terms of evolution.

Read the rest of "Evolution–Inverted Logic"

Are you really sure that you have free will?

Read the rest of "Zen and Free Will"