Identity: Part 1

Everyone living in this world in any time, has had to face their "Identity." This two-part blog post is an exploration of both physical and digital identities, and how they have come to drastically change the way we build our identity.

One part of our Identity is thrust upon us, leaving us with little or no choice. Another part of our identity is something we can build and increase our control over. Today, the societies permissivity to free ourselves from the 'identity' that was thrust upon us is (in the first part) is far greater, than several centuries ago. 

Several unchangeable parts will cling on to ourselves until we find ways to exercise change and control over it if necessary. 

The second part of our identity (covered in the follow-up to this) will be one that we can shape and control even today or perhaps at any point historically. It is that part that has to overshadow the former and help us define us far better by action rather than circumstance & causality.

What follows is an exploration of key parameters that differentiate us, with viewpoints borrowed from different sources to help us understand "identity" better ...

Can we revive India?

At first when we transact with government officials, we experience a lackadaisical attitude, one devoid of all human care, intent on something else, their own. These are today's people - not merely the public "servants", but the public too. We go to a local store to buy groceries and either break queues or find others doing so for impatience is how most live.

The first time you pay a bribe, you are only encouraged to follow, as you "seem" to have saved precious time. The law takes its own course, which in semantics means at least 10% of your life-time (and that is relatively a high cost of time.) It doesn't stop here.

Human Learning

I have been reading recent articles debating that the earliest Homo Sapien fossil over 1.5 Million years old, contrary to popular assumption. The most intact one dates back to almost 30,000 years ago. New evidence seems to point to the fact that we lived alongside several other members of Homonidae and Australopethicus including some ancestral species who did not evolve into newer species.

For Administrators, Lecturers, Students and Teachers who believe that the capacity of the Human Brain to learn and understand is variant across different people, I have created a presentation clearly showing that the physiological capacity is (almost equally) existent for all humans, but behavioral aspects may influence styles or patterns of learning - and the perceptions of a need to learn.

Learning and therefore Education itself has to undergo the next revolution. The Institutions that are Schools and Colleges today will have to progress and permit learning-from-home, apprenticeship, certification reducing the need for too much infrastructure. This is to allow everyone choose their own patterns of learning and consulting authorities. At the same time, the infrastructure required is only going to increase, but its usage collectively or in volume is going to be less regular - in the interest of propagating actual Skills and Knowledge.

Here is the presentation for Download [FilesFlash]
Human Learning.pptx - 4.61 MB (Use Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 or Higher for Best Experience)

For a better experience in reading the presentation, you could read my prior blog entry on the "Ascent of Man" which has an infographic which shows the scholarly accepted dates for several evolutionary events specific to Humans.