Collective failure of society

Collective failure of society reminds me of the story of four people: Everybody,
Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There are different versions of the story. This might look like a funny read, but on reflection one is likely to see the tragic outcomes of this attitude as is revealed in a number of instances.

Arunn expresses his anguish at one such instance that he came across in his post - Sad but true.
Mridula records two such incidents in her posts -
A Tragic Death at IIT Kanpur.
More deaths at IITK.

Can we do something about it?

Update on 'Are you rational'

The problems of inadequate research, jumping to conclusions, and the need to meet a deadline are all evident from this post and the earlier one. This has necessitated me to post another separate post with an update.

I wanted to post the earlier post last evening, so to meet the deadline I went ahead and posted with insufficient material (which would have been available had I looked at Arunn's posts a little more in detail.

On a more leisurely look at Arunn's posts, I found that there was a separate link to a post and a site where you could have your worldview 'assessed'. That might have been a more appropriate link than the link to the discussion of rationality vis-a-vis, Godel.

Enough of the blah... here are the links:
What is your Worldview ?
Arunn's Worldview quiz.

Now here is a link that would justify my haste in producing an 'incomplete' post - Worse is Better.

Where do I stand as far as my Worldview is concerned?
My results are given below (on a max score of 10):
Your rating regarding science/non-science: 8
Your rating regarding values & humankind: 7
Your position on the worldview spectrum: (7,8)

Are you rational?

Arty has come up with a dilemma - is she rational or irrational? Have you done any of the things she mentions? .. or anything similar to it. I confess that I have done many similar things. Read Rationed Madness.

A related post by Arunn in nOnoscience, where he asks whether it is possible for a rational being to know whether it is rational or not - Rationality and Gödel.

And The Question is...

All those who have read the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy probably know the answer to the great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. For those of you who don't know anything about it please read the background in the link given above. A must read.

However those of you who know the answer and are now pondering about The Question might have your own hypotheses. Here Arunn gives his own Question, which is a totally plausible and convincing question. And The Question is...Read here

Publish or Plagiarise, else Perish

This is an blogpost by Prof Arunn Narasimhan, a faculty at IIT, Madras. Though this post is related to plagiariam in science, I think it could apply equally well in any other field. The post is about what constitutes plagiarism, and what pressures drive the plagiarist.

Well worth having a look. Read on - Publish or Plagiarise, else Perish.

The post appears in nOnoscience, a blog(?)/site "on Science, Math and related research, educational and social issues, with occasional humor and personal asides and plain blah", maintained by contributions from Arunn and Lakshmi.