Author: Sayeeda Pearl

are you a hedgehog or a fox

Interesting Facts / Social Science

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Are you a hedgehog or a fox ?

What would you prefer to be, a hedgehog or a fox? Enter the world of political, economic or any different business arena, where the leadership qualities of the kingpins are metaphorically characterised as, either a hedgehog or a fox. Modern jungle  What are the defining features of hedgehog and fox in the current world? Who is your best bet? Are there any clear winners here? The concept date back to  The Hedgehog and the fox concept  is credited to a parable by the Greek poet, Archilochus, who wrote, a few centuries ago that, A fox knows many things, but a...

Food Habits Hard to Resist

behavioral science / Social Science

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Food habits, hard to resist

Humans don’t seem to be the only species susceptible to the undesirable food habits and lifestyle disorders attributed to it. It looks like we have company here. If given a chance, the nonhuman primates in Savannah cannot say no to the delicious delicacies or to the chair-bound cosy, lazy life. A life that mismatched the evolutionary history  As humans climbed up the evolutionary ladder, leaving the hunter-gatherer life behind and habituated to a sophisticated life, few unsuitable routines were bound to happen. Such as, coping with a fast-paced life, excessive consumption of fatty and sugary foods, round the clock desk-bound...

Comparing our second nature

behavioural economics / behavioural science / Social Science

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Comparing-our second nature

Humans are wired in this way, wired to compare. We are always looking at the things around us in relative terms. We can’t help that. We always compare jobs with jobs, education with education, beauty with beauty, vacation with vacation, relation with relation, life with life. Incessant comparison  That’s the point, everything in life, happiness, misery, accomplishment, education, beauty, intelligence everything is comparative. Paradoxically, the society we live in teaches us to think on relative terms, to compare the miseries, so we feel less miserable and to relate the accomplishment, so we feel more accomplished. The question remains, what standards...

what is up to us what is not up to us

Social Science

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What you do, if it’s not up to you

“ta eph’hemin, ta ouk eph’hemin.” The phrase mentioned above is an age-old Greek stoic phrase that translates to, “What is up to us, what is not up to us”. Inherently unpredictable arena  There are things that you may influence, and then there are things that are beyond one’s control. It’s highly unlikely that you will ever control the unpredictable nature of life. Take a look at our past histories, can’t you see how awful, vicious and unpredictable the world can be.  Can humans ever achieve dominance  During the past few decades, humans have witnessed unprecedented growth in the biotech and...

Roseto Effect

Interesting Facts / Social Science

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Roseto effect, Is social connections best for a healthy heart

Modern life favours egocentric individualist society, where one makes decisions considering their preferences, needs and rights. A collectivist society, on the other hand, perpetuates a set of values in which the well-being of the community as a whole is given priority over individual preferences. Roseto effect is an observation based on such collectivist experience. Roseto during the ’50s Roseto is a town in Eastern Pennsylvania, a settlement area of the immigrants from Southern Italy. Rosetans created a collectivist community by transplanting the peasant culture of Italy to Pennsylvania. An epidemic of heart disease  During 1940-1950, America was witnessing a growing...

Pandora's Box, are you optimistic about hope

Interesting Facts / Mythology

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Pandora’s box, are you optimistic about hope?

The name Pandora’s box itself exudes antiquity, as well as an enigma. People often use it figuratively to refer to something bizarre or messy. As you probably know, this box is some kind of unexpected struggle, but how hope got imprisoned in it? The literal meaning of Pandora’s Box In modern times Pandora’s box means “Any source of significant and unexpected troubles.” or “A gift which seems valuable but which in reality is a curse”.Opening Pandora’s Box means, opening a can of worms. The mythology behind Pandora’s Box In one of the classic Greek mythology, Zeus, the king of Gods,...

Nuclear Detonation

Interesting Facts / Philosophy

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What prompted Robert Oppenheimer to quote Gita

Robert Oppenheimer was the principal architect of the world’s first nuclear weapon and headed the Manhattan Project during the second world war. As he watched the first atomic explosion, he was moved to quote from Gita. Bhagavad Gita-” the song of the lord.” Bhagavad Gita, a small section of Hindu Epic, Mahabharata presents a tussle between two contrary moral positions-Krishna’s emphasis on doing one’s duty on one side and Arjuna’s focus on avoiding bad consequences.  This debate occurs on the eve of the great war, and the doubt about the righteousness of what they are doing is bothering Arjuna, the...

The Vinegar Tasters

Interesting Facts / Philosophy

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Vinegar Tasters, how beliefs shape attitudes

When it comes to attitudes, people generally have different approaches to life. Some are cheerful, some optimistic, few are perennially pessimistic, others have a default complaining mode, some rational and others emotional. The best way forward You can’t claim one approach to be preferable over the other since many factors like culture, environment, and beliefs influence a person’s outlook on their life.A perfect example to show how even the wisest men stand divided on figuring out the essence of life is depicted in the Chinese allegorical painting “Vinegar Tasters”. Vinegar Tasters-The timeless meaning Have a close look at the picture...

Tar baby folk tale

fables and sayings

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Possible implications of folk tales

Any folklore may look like straightforward storytelling, but most of the time, its implications are diverse. The implications I have drawn are, of course, just a partial list. Keeping the past alive. Folk tales across various cultures were created, keeping in mind the prevailing traditions, religious beliefs and sociopolitical situations. The best way to pass on the traditions over many generations is to create stories based on it. It is a time tested strategy widely used before the technological breakthroughs. Don’t throw me in the briar patch. Have you ever come across these two expressions in English,” Don’t throw me...