Siri, anastonishing technology

Siri - an astonishing  technology.

Simply, it is a miracle of modern science.

Whenever I come to US, everytime some new technology makes me spell bound.

This time , the technology kept me astonished is Siri, intoduced by Apple in its latest iphones.

What is Siri ?

It is an intelligence personal secretary built into all type of Apple iphone 4S smart phones.

Actually , what is it ?

Speech recognition commuter application. You can ask , it will reply.

Is it a robot ?

No, it is built into latest iPhones. Those who have Iphone 4,5, can make use of  siri.

What it does ?

Read this coversation between an executive and siri. The executive is driving his car.

 Exe : What will be the weather in this area tomorrow ? 

 Siri : Sunny days for coming one week.

What is the share price of Microsoft Corporation to-day  ?.

It is 29.14 $ 

Can you send a message to my friend Naveen ?

Tell me  the mail ID and the message.

Naveen @ yahoo .com , the message ," when are you going to India ?"

Yes, it is done.

What day is Christmas , this year 2013 ?

Wednesday

What is the time in India now ?

Night 9

Is there any south Indian restaurant in this area ? 

I found several restaurants in the area. 5 of them are fairly close to you.

And a list of restaurants with address/phone are sent.

What is the current rate of a dollar in Indian rupees ?

Rs 55

Can you add an appointment tomorrow in my schedule at 9 pm .

Yes, it is done.

I need immediately a medicine.

Go to  Walgreens Medical shop  to buy medicine.  

Where  is Walgreens ?

Go straight half mile and turn right.

What is  the distance from here to Santa Cruz beach ?

40 miles. one hour travel.

How is weather there ?

Good, sunny day.

Where is computer History  museum in Boston?

No 300, Congress street, Boston.

I will dictate a mail, can you send it to my friend sam 0001@ gmail.com

Yes, dictate the mail.................. yes it is done.

Wake up me  to-morrow at 6 am.

OK.

Can you find me a gas station within one mile ?

 I found 15 gas stations fairly close to you and a list of gas stations is shown.

Read my new messages.

1) To-day evening  official meeting at 6 pm is rescheduled for 6 : 30 pm.

2 ) Income tax attorney wants to meet you on Friday at 4 pm.

What is the egagement  on my calender for Friday at 4 pm?.

It is free, no appointment,

Schedule an appointment at 4 pm with Income tax attorney.

Your appointment  has been scheduled

Who won the Oscar  best actor award in 2011

Looking, here's what I found : Jean Dujardin in the film Artist

When is the next solar eclipse ?

I found this: Thursday May 10th at 5:25 pm.

Conclusion :

Siri  responds with answers to your questions, we feel as if a person is by our side.

Wonder, wonder, a great wonder. It is nothing but an  intelligent personal Secretary.

If questions like, causes for heart heart attacks, symptoms of stroke,etc, it sends immediately the links to read.

Last time , when I came to US, GPS was a great wonder to me. 

Before that visit,  the Asimo Rebot at Walt Disney , which walks, dances, claims stairs, plays piano - wondered me.

This time, the  Siri. It recognizes our voice and responds. It is a man made talking intelligent  human.

What does the word Siri means ?

In Scandivinavia, it means," beautiful woman who leads you to victory."

Apple technology introduced Siri, the personal assistant. It gives company to us.

What is next technology the Apple is going to introduce ?

iWatch, it is  a wrist watch , it  can do everything, GPS , time, photo , youTube.  cell phone, email,  etc etc. all are anxiously awaiting to have the iWatch on their wrists.

(Now some iWatches are available,  made by other companies but for the release of Apple iWatch all are waiting )

=============================22nd Apr 2013

Incarnation ( Rebirth ) Revised edition

 I have written many articles under the caption " I am Confused - food for thought " .

I am secular in my thoughts and  believe what Swami Vivekananda said - 

“By the study of different RELIGIONS we find that in essence they are one"

Keeping this in mind, I had written these articles  in an unbiased way.

I believe," no religion is inferior. So  I follow my religion  and equally  respect other religions."

I had studied to the best of my ability the doctrines of my religion and firmly follow it.

Studied equally the doctrines of other religions and   respect them maximum .

I am a student of Einstein, Hawking, Penrose and Carl Sagan, I unable to   endorse  some of the  beliefs.

In forthcoming articles, my respect over  the other religions  and  affinity towards the scientific thinking

could  very well be realized . 

The name of the articles is " I am confused ", The articles are the food for thought.

 I am ' confused  ' on many things,  I discuss on them in a neutral way.

Each article will end with a line," I remain Confused "

Till the last article is read,

Please do not come to  any conclusion on me.

Kindly  remember, these are not my conclusions, only confusions. 

If my confusions are cleared by any one, I will be extremely happy and grateful .

My intellectual hero Einstien once came to a wrong conclusion.

The day,  he realized that  it was wrong , he  openly said , " That is the greatest blunder in my life."

I am prepared to say  in memory of my hero, at any time,  '  it is the greatest blunder in my life " .

I request to come and share with me,    

"THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT- I AM CONFUSED "

Revised edition

I am confused series-

a) Incarnation ( Rebirth )

There are several religions,

Every religion has its own doctrines or dogmas.

Hinduism has no founder, it has evolved with the life of people.

It preaches  ' art of living ' . It divides life into four stages.

Brahmacharya for learning ( till  the age of 25 ).

Grihastha for married household life ( 25 to 49).

Vanaprastha for detachment  from worldly responsibilities ( 50 to 75 ).

Sanyasa for total renunciation of worldly pleasures ( after 75 ).

Hinduism prescribes four goals of life,

Dharma  demands righteousness in every deed.

Artha is the wealth which should be earned in accordance with dharma.

Kama is the pleasure in life, Moksha is the liberation from the rebirth.

Hinduism  strongly believes in rebirth ( theory of karma ).

Christianity and Islam reject rebirth theory.

On rebirth,  Hinduism stands one side and other two in opposite side. 

' Which theory  is correct ? is there rebirth ? '

Many persons have claimed to record memories of their past lives,

But Parapsychology departments of various universities,

Till to-day have not come out with a firm answer.

Inspite of several researches., they say, ' it is a  Psychological stuff '.

But in Tibetan tradition, Dalai Lamas are Gurus.

The present Dalai Lama ( Year 2011) is the 14th  Guru  ( Name :Tenzin Gyatso )

These Dalai Lamas are  believed to  reborn ( incarnation ) after their death.

The reborn Dalai Lama is identified by the High Dalai Lama. 

( Lama is any Tibetan Buddhist monk, Dalai Lama is the  Tibet's spiritual leader, holding the highest spiritual position )

They have several methods, sometimes the High Dalai Lama experiences in  a dream,

Sometimes, when the dead Lama is burnt, the direction of the smoke indicates. 

Once a boy believed to be  the incarnation of a dead Lama was identified, 

In front of him a mixture of artifacts of dead Lama and common artifacts were placed.

The boy chose the belongings of dead Lama.

I has seen it in TV, this  boy less than three years of age selected correctly.

All the incarnations of previous Dalai Lamas are identified in this way.

It is a six hundred year of Tibetan tradition, to believe it or not ?

Departments of Parapsychology which is a branch of regular Psychology,

Present in leading universities of the world

Conduct a number of researches on paranormal phenomena including incarnation,

But  unable to prove scientifically  the rebirth theory.

Islam , Christianity, Sikhism and  Bahai faith reject the rebirth theory.

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism  accept rebirth theory.

The Tibetan tradition declares a dead Lama is reborn. 

Department  of parapsychology remains silent.

Which is correct ? Which am I to believe .

Rebirth or no rebirth ?

I remain Confused..

Cosmic Dance of Lord Shiva

Living and non- living beings undergo the cycle of birth and death.

Continuous creation and destruction  are the laws of nature.

Lord Shiva's dance is considered to symbolise the eternal life and death rhythm.

Hindus believe that this creation and destruction rhythm goes on for ever.

" Shiva's dance " is considered to be the dance of sub-atomic matters,

It is a continual dance of ' creation ( sristi ) and destruction ( samhara) '.

Shiva is called ' Nataraja ( king of dancers )' .

During Chola period ( 880-1270 AD) artists  came out with a beautiful bronze statue.

This bronze statue of Nataraja depicts Ananda Tandavam ( dance of bliss )

It is the dance associated with the creation of the universe.

Rudra Tandavam of Nataraja depicts the destruction of the universe.

Both the Tandavams of Shiva alternately go on for ever.

When Brahma , the creator goes to sleep, Shiva starts his Rudra Tandavam.

The universe starts to get itself destroyed, it shrinks and goes to the zero size.

When Brahma awakens, Shiva goes for his Ananda Thandavam,

Then Brahma starts his assignment of ' creation' .

The bronze  statue of  dancing Shiva of Chola period is considered as a great marvel.

The four hands represent the rhythm of unity of life.

Upper hand holds a drum to symbolise the primal sound ( Om ) of creation.

Left hand holds  a flame  to symbolise the destruction.

Lord Shiva's statue also symbolises the dance of sub- atomic particles in an atom.

An atom is the net work of its sub- atomic particles- electron , neutron and proton.

The sub-atomic particles cannot be separated. They are performing energy dance in an atom.

If this atomic energy dance is disturbed by destroying it, enormous energy is released.

Shiva's dance is the dance of cosmic energy. It is a dance of sub - atomic matter.

It is a continual dance of creation and destruction involving the entire Cosmos.

One of the books says, " Hundreds of years ago Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shiva

------The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies mythology, religious art and modern physics ."

Fritjof Capra had a written book which is an  International best seller by name,' The Tao of Physics ',

He writes , " Every subatomic  particle not only does an energy dance, but  also  is an energy dance  

pulsating process of creation and destruction...without end..for modern physicists, 

then Shiva's dance is the dance of Sub-atomic matter."

He writes ," The dance of Shiva is the dancing universe, the ceaseless flow of energy going through 

an infinite variety of patterns that melt into one another."

In 2004 , The European Centre for Research In Particle Physics ( CERN ), Geneva had unveiled

A two meter tall statue of Nataraja (  Dancing Shiva ) representing the cosmic cycle of creation and destruction.

Carl Sagan (US) , the great American astronomer drew the metaphor between the cosmic dance of the Nataraja

and the modern study of cosmic dance of sub-atomic particles.

Rush Peel writes-

The source of all movements,

Shiva's dance.

Gives rhythm to the universe.

He dances in evil places,

In sacred,

He creates and preserves,

Destroys and releases.

We are part of this dance,

This eternal rhythm,

And woe to us if, blinded

By illusions.

We detach from ourselves,

From the dancing cosmos,

This universal harmony.

The  bronze statue made during  the Chola kingdom  about  thousand years ago is associated with modern physics.

How the  great sculptors of those days of Tamil Nadu were able to bring  symbolically the modern physics into it ?

Where did they learn modern physics ?

I am confused.

 

The marvels of Genetic Engineering

The marvels of genetic Engineering

In modern days, genetic engineering is doing wonders in many  fields. Very recently in US, one blood cancer Patient was cured in ten days  by using Genetic engineering techniques. 

In the blood, T cells fight against the diseases.They make up a part of immune system in the body. But these T cells should be strong enough to kill all the disease creating cells or cancerous cells. The T cells from a blood cancer patient were separated  and reprogrammed to fight the cancer cells vigourously.Then allowed to mix with the blood. This was done by using genetic engineering techniques. The patient was totally cured within a week.

What is blood cancer?

In the blood, there are red corpuscles and white corpuscles. If the white corpuscles are produced in large numbers in bone marrow,  then the  red corpuscles which carry oxygen  to the  body cells become very less , it is blood cancer. In the blood of the blood cancer patients, the  white corpuscles will be more than the  red corpuscles. Blood cancer is known medically as leukemia ( Leuk = white, aemia = blood, leukemia means whitening of the blood. Leucoderma= whitening  of the skin )  

What is genetic engineering?

The technique of altering original genes makeup of the body is genetic engineering. Human cells have 23 pairs of chromosomes. On the chromosomes, the genes are located.They carry the hereditary diseases like BP, Diabetes, etc.

Can these hereditary diseases  be cured by genetic modifications.

Researches  are going on, to some extent it is successful. If the disease causing genes are identified, these genes are removed from the body, this  is called,' Knockout treatment ' .( knocking out the troublesome genes)

In what way these techniques are useful in agricultural field ?

By  doing genetic modification, the plants are made strong enough to fight the common diseases. The insects do not eat away the leaves of  genetically modified plant's leaves.Big sizes vegetables are  the result of genetic modification. Even animal genes are added with plant genes.

What are the  uses of  genetic modification ?

Using this technique, for the  use of diabetic patients, genetically modified human insulin is manufactured, novelty items such as blue roses, glowing fishes, etc are created. Cows are genetically modified to give milk with more protein.

Can human beings be genetically modified for some bigger challenge ?

It is prohibited, Human genetic modification is not allowed by the world countries. But there is a rumour that the USA had developed super soldiers by using this technique.

Who are these super soldiers ?

DARPA ( Defence Advanced Research Project Agency ) of USA is working  on this project.These soldiers who are genetically modified as trans humans ( either male or female).They can live without food for many days,  carry heavy weight,  run faster than Olympic Athletes,Their cut off  of limbs can grow by themselves,. They can remain without sleep for many days, etc.In simply words , they are metabolically dominant beings.

Are they really living  in US military secret training camps ?

We are not sure, but developing these super soldiers is very easy for USA.These kinds of secrets will come out  only during the  war times.Only during second war, other countries came to know  about  the atom bombs possessed by USA.

Is the genetic engineering technique is similar to Stem cell therapy ?

No, both are totally different. In stem cell therapy , for a blood cancer patient, Stem cells obtained from a healthy bone marrow is transplanted in the diseased bone marrow. This helps for the normal  production of cells in the diseased bone marrow. In many modern hospitals , stem cell treatments are used for various diseases.For damaged retina, in certain cases, transplantation of  a stem cell helps to regenerate the retina functioning.At present , the Stem cell treatment or therapy is in the developing stage. In future,  it will be very helpful to cure many diseases.

===============1 April 2013, US