Vinay Kumaran

What I believe: I believe our planet has the resources for us to live comfortably and sustainably if we control our population and share our resources. I believe we should try and provide everyone with the basic necessities of life. These include shelter, food, clothing, healthcare and education. I believe morality and ethics vary from society to society but there are some basic foundations which should be common to all. These can be arrived at by the use of the 'Categorical Imperative'. As Kant said: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." In other words, when considering a course of actions think about what would happen if everyone were to follow the same course. I believe both Capitalism and Communism have failed. Capitalism concentrates wealth into the hands of a few and leaves many in poverty and suffering with no means of emerging from their circumstances. Communism failed because it ...

He looked quite striking, sitting on a chair in the corridor outside my room. He was wearing robes in the manner popularised by Vivekananda and more recently Adityanath. He had 3-4 rudrakhsha necklaces. I wondered what had made him visit a modern hospital instead of trusting in the ineffable wisdom of Ancient India. I was somewhat surprised later when he was brought into my room and introduced to me as a VIP. He walked in regally and posed in the manner of the Shiva statue near the Delhi Airport. I suspect I was supposed to make a dive for his feet but I'm a bit dense about these matter of etiquette. I only figured out the protocol later. He handed me a small box of Prasad, which, on later investigation turned out to be somewhat stale Barfi. He then handed me some reports and told me the sad story. The patient was a relative/ friend/ devotee (I didn't quite pay attention to what he said since I was reading the reports). In any case, someone close to him. He broke into te...

We seem to do too many things at the same time. We're having dinner, watching TV, reading the newspaper and having a conversation with someone on the phone all at much the same time. We do not focus on the food, do not realise when we have had enough and get into the habit of eating far too much. To gain our attention, albeit briefly, the food is strongly flavoured, the TV is trying to make us listen to the ranting maniac shouting at 6 different people, all trying to say what they came to say, none listening to the other and the newspaper creates flaring headlines trying to catch our attention. This excess of 'input' means we do not focus on any one thing for long. The TV, of course, has its own version of ADHD interrupting the programming for advertising so frequently that there is little continuity of narrative in the program. Shifting focus from one thing to the other, never following a train of thought to its logical conclusion, we have become a distracted people, d...

As I watched the news today, looking at footage of 44 ill-educated people who had been sequestered at a resort to prevent them from being bought and persuaded to support another party, as I noted that an emotionally labile, narcissistic bigot with an ill-informed disrespect for science wants to promote coal mining on protected lands, it seems clear that democracy is not working. In theory, democracy seems like the best form of government we have tried so far. Certainly it is better than being subject to the despotic notions of a dictator or a monarch. However, the only aspect of democracy which seems to be working is the ability to remove from power a particularly disastrous government. Ideally, we would elect competent people who are honest and have a good working knowledge of economics, politics and history. Unfortunately, it is clear that what wins elections is not the ability to lead but the ability to fool people. It seems increasingly incidental that leaders like Nehru, Ob...

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