In Search of the Answers to Life

testing aax dra

2011-12-01T16:02:00.001+05:30

testing aax dra

2011-12-01T16:01:00.001+05:30

testing aax dra

2011-12-01T15:42:00.001+05:30

Moral policing isn't acceptable, even by the police

2011-01-29T17:36:00.003+05:30

Time: almost midnight. Location: BTM layout, Bangalore. After a delicious dinner, I went to drop off my lady. I parked my bike beside her hostel, and we started talking about something serious. Our discussion was unpleasantly interrupted by a pair of policemen who, for some reason, decided to pull over when they saw us.

"What are you doing here? What is the relationship between you two?" they asked. Not that it was any of their business but I told them what they didn't have the basic intelligence to infer: "We are talking. And she's my girlfriend". "Do you know what time it is? Why don't you talk to her in her room?". "Yeah, it's around 11:30 and I can't talk to her in her room because her hostel has a stupid no-boys rule." Honestly, I don't understand the paranoid zeal with which we Indians attempt to segregate the sexes. We humans think too much of ourselves when we believe we can suppress the laws of nature.

Then the policemen started to show their disdain at what we "outsiders" have done to the image of the city. "Which state are you from?". "Orissa", I said. That's all the ammunition he needed."This is not Bhubaneswar. This is Bangalore. These things are not allowed here. You will have to follow the law". I have a lot of things to say about that statement. First, the way he said it, it sounded like he said "This is not Bhubaneswar, this is a village". Heck, if you can't stay out late in a broad-minded, largely youth dominated metro like Bangalore, where can you? Second, even if this were Bhubaneswar, would that make any difference to his attitude? Third, exactly what things are not allowed here? Is there any law against talking to someone on the streets at night? Last time I checked, roads were public property and there wasn't any curfew in force in this city.

The only argument that the cops could have put forth was societal propriety. But since when did we encharge the police with that task? Their job is to uphold the law. Not safeguard our morals. Let society take care of that responsibility.

"Now get out of here. This is your first warning." one of them said gruffly. I was indignant. What right did he have to speak to me as if i were a wallet thief? Why do people put up with police incivility when it is the people via the constitution from which the police derives it's power? I was about to give him a piece of my mind. But then I decided against it because that would not have served my purpose. You see, cops aren't used to having intellectual debates with the kind of people they usually deal with. I probably wouldn't have been able to bring them over to my point-of-view. I can, however, make the public realize that they have every right to not tolerate moral policing or rude behavior from the police.
After all, the police derive their power from our consent and their salaries from our pocket.

The joys and woes of Software Engineering

2010-05-08T22:02:00.009+05:30

Here I was, cheerfully browsing the web when I came across a post on www.codinghorror.com that mentioned Steve McConnel noting in his book Code Complete that "the average programmer reads less than one technical book per year"This made me stop and think. I have been working as a programmer for almost two years. And how many technical books have I read? None! I felt alarmed and worried at the same time. As if I've been just drifting along. I decided it was time to take some corrective measures. So I did the most obvious thing: Search the net for the best books for developers by finding the common ones among multiple lists. The conceited programmer in me was embarrassed to find out that out of the top 10 or so recommended, I had read only one (K&R). However, the bibliophile in me was delighted to find out that there were so many good books out there just waiting to be read. So then began my mission to get my hands on the 5 most important ones. Here's the list

Code Complete 2

PeopleWare: Productive Projects and Teams

The Mythical Man-Month

Thinking in Java

The Design of Everyday Things

Now, I don't really read a lot of magazines coz frankly, most of them are crap. The only ones I do consider worth reading are Fortune and Digit. But when I got a mail from the company library announcing the arrival of this month's Harvard Business Review, I thought: since it's so respected, let's give it a try. It turned out to be pretty good. It's when I went to return it that my eyes fell on "The Mytical Man-Month" by Fredrick P. Brooks. Imagine my joy when one of the most recommended software engineering books was lying in front of me just when I was searching for it. I pre-empted the book I was currently reading (1984 by George Orwell) and took this one up since I had to return it in a week. It actually took me three weeks to finish because I could read it only one hour per weekday during my commute to office. (When you exercise and do yoga in the morning, work all day, play badminton in the evening and game dota all weekend, you don't really have a lot of free time left).

The book is quite useful in a few ways:

1. It's like a history lesson of the evolution of software

2. It's a handy guide to managing s/w projects that are built from scratch

However, the reason I'm writing about it is the wonderful insight the author has given about what attracts people to the profession. I am going to use artistic license to reproduce what Brooks calls the Joys and the Woes of the craft. I hope this is as useful to the student contemplating a career in programming as to the seasoned programmer in understanding his profession better.

The Joys of the Craft

1. That surge of euphoria that you feel when you create something.

2. The pleasure of making things that will be helpful or useful to other people.

3. The fascination of creating complex puzzle-like objects and watching them work together.

4. The joy of always learning which comes from the non-repeating nature of the task.

5. The delight in working with such an easily manipulated medium.

The Woes of the Craft

1. The onus of performing perfectly: Human beings are not accustomed to being perfect, and few areas of human activity demand it.

2. Someone else decides what work you are to do.

3. The dependence on other people's programs that are often badly designed or implemented.

4. Designing grand concepts is fun; finding nitty little bugs is just work.

5. Optimism tends to make you underestimate the effort/time required which leads you to feeling awful when you can't keep to even your own schedule.

6. The work you've done becomes obsolete in a very short time.

What is happiness to you?

2009-12-27T19:41:00.002+05:30

This is what I took from the interesting idea but disturbing movie that was Vanilla Sky.

It's probably the most important question everyone needs to ask themselves, yet the one gets asked the least.

It's so important that the right of it's pursuit is enshrined in the American Constitution.

Come to think of it, how can you say that you have truly lived if you don't even know what really makes you happy?

So, what's happiness to you?

2 cents

2009-11-22T22:39:00.005+05:30

The 2 most important things in life (besides health)

1. Doing what you like to do

2. Spending quality time with those you love

The 2 most important constituents of education

1. Curiosity

2. Originality

The 2 most important ingredients of friendship

1. Liking each other's company

2. Spending time together

The 2 most essential constituents of spirituality

1. Peace

2. Silence

The 2 reasons for which you should read a book

1. Pleasure

2. To learn something new (especially a new idea or perspective)

The 2 things that are most helpful in getting over someone

1. Letting time heal

2. Keeping busy

The 2 hardest things to say

1. I love you

2. I've been sleeping with someone else

The 2 biggest killers of all time

1. Religion

2. War

The 2 sources of information you should never blindly believe

1. News

2. People

The 2 pillars of the economy

1. Greed

2. Selfishness

The 2 things that you should never say to your parents under any circumstances

1. Every parent does the same for their kids. You didn't do me a favour

2. I am ashamed of you.

The 2 kinds of things you should never say to your lover/wife

1. Anything that reduces her self-respect

2. Anything that makes her feel like she's not an important enough part of your life.

The 2 things you should never stop doing

1. Learning

2. Having fun

The 2 questions you need to answer at some point of life

1. What do you really want from life?

2. What have you accomplished so far?

How to avoid causing offence

2009-08-12T18:56:00.016+05:30

1. Delay.
This gives you time to think (of the effect of your words) before you speak. Use a niceness filter.

2. Never attack a weak-point.
Every person has a shortcoming that he/she is aware of. Never hit the chink of their armour. For example never tease a short guy about his height or a dull girl about her intelligence.

3. Let go of your ego.
If you stop caring about your own "importance" then you will hardly pay attention to any "affronts" to you - real or imagined. Then there will be no need to retaliate. This is actually the secret to never having quarrels/fights: Not minding.

1 is hard to do and requires a lot of practice.
2 requires that you know the person well.
3 is hard even to accept; it is so contrary to what we hold on tightly to. But imbibing it will make you a much happier and friendlier person.

College days

2009-08-12T18:42:00.003+05:30

This incident happened when we had just joined college. The computer science HOD had changed. The new professor was really thin and short. It was a commonly held belief that no matter what he wore, he'd always look like a peon.

Anyways, so a computer lab class was just over and a first year student from ECE had left his pen among the computers somewhere. He somehow got the impression (probably from his looks) that our new HOD was one of the lab boys. Here's what followed:

Student: "Mera pen kho gaya hai"

HOD: "Haan, toh dhoondh lo na"

Student: "Aap bhi meri madat karo na"

HOD: "Nahi nahi, tum khud hi dhoond lo"

Student: "Kya bhaiyya, aap din bhar bas baithe rehte ho. Kuch karte-warte toh ho nahi...."

Imagine telling the head of the department that he's good-for-nothing!

HOD(SHOUTING): "I AM THE HOD OF THE COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT !!! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT...."

Poor guy got a good dressing down. And we just couldn't stop laughing when we heard the story...

House Hunting

2008-12-07T23:12:00.000+05:30

There is hardly anything that gives you more tension than having to look for an apartment to rent or having to plan a house to build. My friends are amazed at how cool I am - in the sense that "mein load nahi leta". Even I myself don't remember the last time I was worried. But this house hunting business has sucked out all my peace of mind.
Among the things that you have to look out for in an apartment are:

Power backup
Steady clean water supply
Proximity of office
Proximity of shopping area
Accessiblity to main roads and rest of city
Size of rooms
Number of rooms
Number of bathrooms
Furnishing
Furniture
Locality
Rent

It's really hard to find good values of all the above variables in the same house. When that does happen though, another value throws you off balance: the advance required immediately to seal the deal. So while house hunting, like in life, you can't have everything. You'll have to compromise on something. But compromise on which one? ................ That's for you to decide.

The most important quality

2008-09-11T20:34:00.002+05:30

If I were asked "What is the most important quality that a person should have?" I would invariably say: "The desire to learn, improve and change". Every other quality can be procured by this quality. It is this quality that has proved to be the most useful to me and it is this quality that allows me to increase and expand the set of good qualities that I have. But for that there are certain pre-requisites:

1) You must realize the necessity of improvement.
2) You must reduce your ego to the extent that you accept your shortcomings.
3) You must recognize opportunities to improve or acquire a trait.
4) You must try to imbibe those qualites wholeheartedly.

how reservations should be done

2008-03-30T01:48:00.000+05:30

The whole concept of reservation is not only outdated, it reeks of vote bank politics. Consider this: The reason politicians give for having reservations in the first place is to uplift socially-neglected groups. If that is so then why are they using an economic approach rather than a social one?* And if they are trying economic upliftment then why don't they uplift the economically disadvantaged? Why are they targeting the socially backward?

If the policy-makers really wanted to uplift the downtrodden this is how they should have done it:

Instead of focusing on castes, they should focus on the economically-deprived. Because lack of opportunity is what we are trying to take account of. And money is much more a limiting factor (think of books, proper schooling) than caste is. Is there any point in reserving seats for a SC/ST candidate who's dad is an IAS officer? How about a brahmin who's dad sells vegetables?

Also seats should not be "reserved" for any group. What should be done is take into account the lack of opportunities a person has based on his family's income and increase his score by a percentage based on how low his family's income is. This way we ensure that meritocracy doesn't suffer because the increase in percentage represents lack of opportunity and not of merit.

This is also a good idea politically, because there are way more number of poor people than SC/STs. Also the support of those who are really concerned about the underprivilleged will be gained.

*i consider reservations in elite institutions economic in nature because of the evident job opportunities

why is so much expected from the youth?

2008-03-17T22:42:00.001+05:30

Pick up any magazine and you'll find surveys about what the youth think, feel and believe. Read any newspaper and you'll find editorials filled with hope in the young of our country. Why are they given so much importance? What makes the youth different from the others?

Idealism
Youth is a time of believing and pursuing ideals. It's a time where you see things that aren't supposed to be, but are, and take it upon yourself to set things right. To fight for a cause is one of the defining moments of youth.

Conviction
When you are young, you believe everything is possible. You are not weighed down by years of failure and experience that tends to make you practical and compromising. When you want to do something, you go about doing it. You don't think about whether you'll be able to do it. " Of course I'll be able to do it", you hear yourself say, "There are no limits to what I can achieve".

Energy
When you put your heart to something, you tap into an inexhaustible supply of enthusiasm so characteristic of that age. Nothing can stop you, nothing can discourage you, nothing will make you doubt yourself even for an instant. You can work for hours without tiring in persuance of your dreams.

Unity
This is the age where most of the youth either study at the same place or live together. Their spending a lot of time together and same age results in them being very closely knit. A strong force for driving a movement is a sense of belonging.

Fearlessness
When you are young, you have nothing to fear. Simply for the reason that you have nothing to loose. You haven't yet created a life for yourself that you'd be averse to jeopardize. You haven't created a career, a familiy, a home. So those you are up fighting against can't put you to ransom - because you don't have anything that they can take away.

Change
When you are past your youth, you finally accept that the "system" cannot be changed. But the youth will not accept that untill they have first fought to change it. And frequently, they are the only ones who stand any chance of suceeding.

As times change, so do people. And the youth are representative of the change in beliefs, values, ideals, aspirations and desires of people. Looking at them, you get a peek into where the world is heading. Because they are the ones who are going to take the world forward.

solitude

2008-03-11T14:06:00.003+05:30

There are certain feelings that you know you can't share with anyone. There are certain thoughts that no one can contribute to, or you can't let anyone know. There are certain journeys that you know you have to make alone .......... and only in going alone will you benefit from the journey.

why does sex have negative connotations?

2008-02-27T23:41:00.000+05:30

Have you ever wondered why sex - particularly premarital sex - is considered bad? Why is something that harms no one but gives so much pleasure (not to mention heralding new life) considered paap? You can enjoy great food, cool bikes, stylish clothes, fun games but sex? Noooo......that u aren't allowed to do. But why? What makes sex different from all the other means of pleasure? I'll tell you why. (I wonder why I keep reverting to anthropology to form my theories. I have absolutely no background in it.) Anyways, here goes:

At some point during the course of the development of civilization, people realized that free love (yes, it is not a modern concept) had it's huge disadvantage viz. uncared-for-children. You see, when people go about mating with each other without any responsibility for the outcome of their actions, what you end up with is pregnant females with no one to look after and feed their young ones - except maybe the females most in demand (maals). The male had no way of knowing whether the child was his or not and hence he had no interest in it's rearing (and hence propagating his own genes - if they were his in the first place). So to ensure that the male would take care of the child the bond of marriage was created and called sacred and pre-marital sex was forbidden and labeled immoral. Therefore, the actual reason for making pre-marital sex a taboo was to ensure the proper upbringing of the child.

Now fast-forward to the 21st century. Unwanted pregnancies can be avoided by condoms and birth control pills, among other methods of contraception. So the problem of the uncared-for-child doesn't arise at all. Considering the reasons for the labelling of sex as immoral and the technological advancements of our age, shouldn't we re-think our assessment about the morality of sex?

the grass is greener at another time

2008-02-24T16:12:00.000+05:30

We are never satisfied with where we are in life, are we?

When we are children we want to grow up so that we can do whatever we want.
When in college we detest is so much that we want to get out of it as soon as possible.
When we start working we want to go back to our carefree college life and hang out with friends.
On getting to middle age we long for our childhood when we had no worries or stress.
And when we retire we fondly remember the times when we had something to do.

propriety vs speed of execution

2008-02-23T03:11:00.002+05:30

A few days ago, my prof told me to write the whole question in the index of my AI lab file. What I do is write just the gist of the question in about 4-5 words. The idea is that the only people that are going to read it are students or profs and both are familiar with the questions. So it only needs a few keywords to remind them of what the question is about. Writing the whole question is like defeating the whole purpose of an index - which is to find out the contents of a file with minimum time and effort. And if she still isn't sure what an entry is she can look it up inside. The complete question is written inside anyways. So i told my prof that writing the whole question is a waste of time of both the writer and the reader that's why i won't do it.

This case is just an example of a greater malaise in the thinking of the people of our country. We give more importance to what is "proper" than to what will speed up execution and save valuable time. We think it more important to show all the information rather than only that which is relevant and necessary. I believe this is one of the biggest differences between the thinking of people from developing and developed countries.

koi lauta de mujhe woh bachpan ke din ....... woh kagaz ki kashti ....... woh barish ka pani

2008-02-23T02:01:00.003+05:30

This was the status message of Varun on gtalk. It touched something deep inside me. Kind of made me long for my childhood days. The funny thing about being in the final semester of engineering is that u don't spend your nostalgic moments remembering the stuff you used to do in college but rather the things you used to do when you were a child or when you were in high school. Maybe you'll think of the former once you finally do pass out. However I do regularly remind myself that the privilleges that I have now (lots of free time, no worries, the luxury of being able to meet a friend at any time of the day - or night) will be something i'll long for years after passing out. Hence I try to enjoy them as long as I can.

Before I had got a job offer, my seniors used to tell me that once u're placed, life at college is boring. I used to think "that's not gonna happen to me". I was always doing something or the other. I always kept myself busy. So there seemed no way that I (the great me) would be bored. Par jab mera number aaya, I found myself in the same desolate land I was warned of - boredom. That's not because I didn't have anything to do - it was because I didn't feel like doing anything. Mann nahi lag raha tha. So while I was right that not having something to do wouldn't be the cause of my boredom a whole other reason popped up that I hadn't even thought of. Talk of Murphy's law.

And while I am on the topic of life @ my college, let me tell you what I think the biggest problems among the students here are: arrogance and narrow mindedness. Most of the guys here were once among the toppers of their class while in school. So all the respect that they got probably got into their head. Being proud of yourself is acceptable ........ but to the extent that you refuse to appreciate someone else's capabilities? As for narrow mindedness, if a guy talks to a girl in class just casually, he is teased by his male friends. What kind of perversion is that? It's interesting to note that the one's who tease are the same ones that don't have the guts to go up and talk to a girl. The girls are no better. They never take a conversation forward. Instead they look at you as if you are going to rape them. Gawwar sab ke sab. At least this was the case for our branch in the first two years. Needless to say, things didn't improve much in the following years. Last sem when we were to present our projects, a female classmate asked me whether the next one to go in was Remish. I said "I don't know. Why don't u go ask Remish?" To which she replied "How can i do that? I've never talked to him before." What? If that's a reason not to talk to someone then logically she can't have talked to anyone since she was born. How can anyone talk to new people if the prerequisite to talking to them is to already have talked to them before? And if u can't go and talk to your own classmate in your final year then that does not indicate a healthy level of interaction among students of your class.

(This article was written in a moment of weakness when i gave free reign to my feelings. For those who complain that my articles are impersonal, relish this one, coz u're not gonna catch me getting personal very often)

in the end.............it doesn't matter

2008-02-06T01:51:00.000+05:30

This was Manisha's gtalk status message. It made me wonder. Really it does kinda make all that you do in your life seem pointless. You're gonna die anyway.So what's the use of anything you do if it's not lasting? If you're not lasting?

Wait a minute. This logic is based on the presumption that for something to be worthwhile, it has to persist - to remain in existance. But the only thing constant is change. So nothing else can persist. So does that make everything worthless? Of course not. But if persistance is not what makes something important then what does?

Survival Instincts

2008-01-21T20:01:00.001+05:30

You will be surprised to know that most human behaviour and instincitve likes/dislikes (the one's common to almost all people) can be explained on the basis of

Survival and the propagation of one's genes

Well, at least the reasons linking certain behaviour or instincts to the above objective was valid at the time when we were but hunters in the jungle. Somehow after all these years, we haven't yet grown out of a few of them that have become ........."less necessary" shall we say? For example:

Fear of the dark and sudden loud noises:
Our most developed sense is that of sight (relatively). In the dark, a human being is helpless. If something attacks him (a snake or panther), he won't be able to defend himself. So fear of the dark was a nature's way of ensuring man didn't unnecessarily risk his life. Now a predators strike is usually accompanied by a sudden loud noise. So fear boosts man's reflexes/attention and prepares him for flight. Even when man becomes too frightened to move, he becomes harder to see (if camouflaged or in dim light) owing to the fact that moving objects catch the eye better than still ones - which is again a necessity because moving prey and predators are more important than still plants and rocks.

Men desiring beautiful women:
Beauty - especially skin texture, radiance, hair quality, proper weight (neither emaciated nor too much overweight) is a sign of health. A healthy body is necessary to ensure the viablity of offspring.

Women desiring men of power/ men who are caring and understanding:
When mankind lived in tribes, power (think of the tribal chief) brought better promise of safety and food. Today power holds the promise of luxury and social-respect. Men who are caring and understanding have more chances of sticking around when a chlid is born - vital to the future of the child.

Desire for peer approval:
Cavemen who didnt' blend in with the pack weren't welcome. For a pack to stay together solidarity is important. Now members of a pack were mostly an extended family and hence had a lot of common genes. Common genes means common characteristics. That's why instinct made them hostile to outsiders. And that's why today lots of people find it hard to trust other people who are of different ethnicity, religion, colour, language giving rise to communalism.

Parents giving more priority to thier children's needs then thier own, children not reciprocating:
The propagation of life and one's own genes demands that the newer generation be given more preference than the older.

Altruism as a natural calling:
Back in the days when man was part of a pack, the survival of the individual depended on the survival of the whole group. Here, Nobel Laureate John Nash's Game Theory applies: Everyone acting for the common benefit will produce results that are better for everyone than those when each acts for what is best for only his own interests. So if each person on the detection of an enemy (say a predator like a tiger) ran off and alerted the rest instead of running as far as he can from it,this would increase the chances of survival of everyone.

There are more. These are just the ones that come to my mind right now. I'm sure if you try you can think of many more. Please tell me if any occur to you. I hope i've helped you get an insight into the reasons for some of our basic desires, preferences and instincts.

Good and Evil

2008-01-10T00:51:00.000+05:30

In my previous post the assertion of God's apparent apathy towards good (assuming he exists) makes one think that maybe God's notion of good and evil is different from ours. Or maybe he never did make a distinction between the two. Maybe there is no absoulute classification into good and evil. Maybe they are social constructs created by man.

A few good qualities are kindness, modesty, justice, honesty, truthfullnes. If you examine each of these, you'll find that all of them serve one purpose: the common good i.e. the benefit of all. For e.g. being unkind doesn't benefit you but being kind benefits the person you are kind to. So if the whole society practices kindness then everyone is benefited. Same for modesty.

Now for justice. The nature and origin of justice is beautifully explained in Plato's Republic:

"They say to do wrong is naturally good (profitable), to be wronged is bad (causing loss), but the suffering of injury so far exceeds in badness the good of inflicting it that when men have done wrong to each other and suffered it, and have had a taste of both, those who are unable to avoid the latter and practice the former decide that it is profitable to come to an agreement with each other neither to inflict injury nor to suffer it. As a result they begin to make laws and the law's command they call lawful and just. This, they say is the origin and essence of justice; it stands between the best and the worst, the best being to do wrong without paying the penalty and the worst to be wronged without the power of revenge. The just then is a mean beween two exremes; it is welcomed and honoured because of men's lack of the power to do wrong. The man who has that power, would not make a compact with anyone not to inflict injury or suffer it. For him that would be foolish."

That forms the basis of justice. All the rest of what constitutes justice is but an extension of this central concept. Same goes for honesty. Similiarly everybody lying serves nobody's purpose. Better uphold truthfullness as a virtue.

So anything beneficial to society was encouraged and anything detrimental to society was frowned upon. This is how classification into good and evil was carried out. And this is why you are exhorted to do good and dissuaded from doing evil.

And on the sixth day, Man created God

2008-01-07T01:37:00.000+05:30

After all these years of being uncertain of what to think of god and what my feelings for Him are, i have finally arrived at the conclusion that God is nothing but a concept: a creation of man. The questions that led to my doubting His existence are the age-old inconsistencies viz.

"If god is almighty and wishes only good for mankind then why is there suffering in this world?"

So that we may not forget Him? God chose to give us free will? Because we can't appreciate the good without experiencing the bad? Yeah right !!! Couldn't they have thought of something that sounded less defensive?

"Why is it that dishonourable people are rich and powerful and honest people struggling to live?"

Materialism is not what is important, they say? No wonder Karl Marx wrote, "Religion is the opium of the masses". I say that if god exists then he should be relieved of his services for negligence of duty.

"If Earth has previously been a witness to divine manifestations before (as Avtaars or The Son of God) to rescue mankind, why isn't He coming now, when the world needs him the most?"

It's said He'll come when the time is right. I just hope God doesn't follow IST !!! Face it. Accounts of His coming before are just fake stories. No historical evidence whatsoever.

"Why does God have manlike appearance? And why should God be biased towards man, of all animals?"

Ummmm. Because only man had the intelligence to make him up? That and a little bit of ego on man's part.

Even before the earliest civilization existed, the concept of God started out as a manifestation of the fear of the unknown and unexplained. Natural events like the travelling of the Sun across the sky, eclipses, death, disease all were attributed to the divine. But Man had to allay his fears. So the powerful and punishing God turned into powerful and benevolent God.

This fear/high regard of God and consequently power attributed to His "messengers" was what was exploited by organized religious bodies like the Roman Catholic Church to wield power over men. Not to mention the horrible misuse of that power (Witch-killings and suppression of scientific inquiry - remember Galileo?).

Then came all the wars and communalism so prevalent in our times in which people kill each other in the name of God. I'd say that the biggest murderer of all-time is none other than God Himself.

Now this is not to say that the concept of God should be done away with. I think that the concept of God is a useful one. It helps during meditation to focus on something all-bliss and totally calm and serene. However, i also think that the concept of God is a relic of our caveman days.

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”
- Richard Dawkins