Unreal Blog

Mind and matter is a problem in philsophy — how does a non-material mind make changes to the material world around us? Of course, it is a problem only in philsophy. We all know how to move about and do physical stuff, no mystery there. Still…

Read the rest of "Mind over Matter"

What is the purpose of philosophy? And why are philosophers paupers?

Read the rest of "Love of Wisdom"

On what is important in life. And what is not.

Read the rest of "Midlife Crisis"

Some beliefs are superstitions, while some others are scientific theories. What exactly is the difference between them? Let’s listen to what Pirsig has to say about it.

Read the rest of "Ghost of Gravity"

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"

On my strange and funny dreams.

Read the rest of "If Time Died Now, I Would Be Happy"

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"

The story of Helen Keller is the story of the dark reality that traps you in the absence of your senses. It is also an illustration of the role of language in breaking out of that darkness.

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In this post, I get into the risky business of interpreting scripture. Why is it that we do not appreciate others interpreting our beliefs? Well, that is fodder for another post.

Read the rest of "What is the Word?"

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"

What does it mean to say that something happened if you cannot remember it?

Read the rest of "Of Dreams and Memories"

This brief look at possibly the best book I have ever read is perhaps my last post in the book review series. At least for a short while, as I’m beginning to find it a bit hard to keep up with all the demands on my time now, what with my next book efforts and everything. Besides, the books have already said it all better, haven’t they?

Read the rest of "The Razor’s Edge by W Somerset Maugham"

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I did not realize that Catch-22 was caricature, the first time I read it. I thought caricatures are visual. I was wrong, of course. Here is an unreal review of this masterpiece that needs to be more widely read.

Read the rest of "Catch-22 by Joseph Heller"

This post is a collection of reviews of my first book The Unreal Universe. As I’m beginning to work on my second book (Principles of Quantitative Development, commissioned by Wiley-Finance), I felt that these thoughts on my first book might be of interest to some of you.

Read the rest of "The Unreal Universe – Reviewed"

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, reviewed here more from a philosophical rather than a literary perspective.

Read the rest of "Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse"