The Purpose

Finding Purpose in a purposeless Universe
(a frequently asked question to Atheists)

It is a beautiful thing, purposeless Universe. Looking at workings of my hand, rivers of blue veins on its surface, decorated by sun spots, fearlessly dancing on my laptop computer, and knowing there is no need to be any purpose whatsoever behind why I am here and why I am capable of constructing complex sequences of information using another machine.

I am here and I am capable as such, because I am a biological machine that its clockworks survived a mindless process called Evolution by Natural Selection, a process which has absolutely no intelligence, no purposeful rules whatsoever.

It is not just beautiful, it is startlingly beautiful, an insight only few of us can have.

Beautiful, because it is so simple.

All you require is to apply laws of Physics and conditions sufficient to construct things at any moment in time, say now. Extrapolate and test the same laws under different conditions back in time, supported by evidence such as fossils and strata, until you reach to a point where you find a single cell organism that could make copies of itself.

Not knowing how the first single cell organism came about does not prove there was a purpose then, as we know so little about the conditions that led to it. So rather than embracing an implausible exception to a theory that worked so well for so long, we can safely assume that there was a point in time when conditions were sufficient for the first single cell organism to come about using the same laws of Physics.

Purpose implies subjective intent, a human construct. There is not a single Physics law in this Universe that implies intent. It is pointless to search for a grand purpose beyond the realm of human intent. It is also pointless to talk about ordinary, personal purposes such as finishing university, or winning an Olympic medal, as clearly this is not meant by the original question.

Atheism is not an ideological stance, but rather a natural conclusion derived from humble recognition of a purposeless Universe.

There is nothing I feel obliged to explain the state of my thoughts ideologically. Atheism argument is not even strictly necessary, other than making it easier for Theists to begin their argumentation process, which I don’t mind aiding.

I am happy and content as I could fully focus on living my life, a fluke in the sea of destiny, devoid of any philosophical baggage let alone a grand purpose.

Team Branding

Since the dawn of Humanity tribes used the contemporary concept of “branding”. The tribe had its own dress-code, totems, songs, dances, icons and signs. Branding allowed them to claim their territory and enjoy a secure sense of belonging. It led to stronger tribal bonding that increased their chance of survival in the wild.

Nothing much changed in modern corporates. Same concept. The modern businesses use branding to secure their competitive position.

But why stop there?

Agile teams around the globe perhaps instinctively employ similar tools in order to strengthen member bonding and team presence. The coffee meeting surely is a tribal meeting, so as having a geeky team name and logo.

One aspect of team branding however may not be so obvious and that is its effect on Engagement. I strongly feel the security provided by tribal bonding has a big effect on Engagement.

Letting the team continuously maintain and strengthen their branding can be a smart win for the organisation. Let them have a newsletter, let them have a billboard, let them have t-shirts with team logos, let them organise meet-ups, hackathons and watch how heavily they will be engaged.

A tribute to my father

 

From a continent far away, I see your feeble smile. As  you sit solemnly in your armchair, with your memory thorn into pieces, I know one of those pieces must have me and you hang on to it.

Today is Father’s Day, a tribute to fatherhood, a title I will never bear. Yet I do appreciate what it means for you.

When you took me to school for the first time there was a drawing in our book which fascinated me. ‘A family, the unit of society.’ or so the title said. A father still wearing his office suit, reading his newspaper in an armchair, smiling and puffing his pipe. A daughter and a son playing on the carpet, smiling. A mother making the dinner table, smiling. A grandma in her rocking chair, knitting and smiling. A cat next to a fireplace, having a nap.

This was the picture in my mind that laid out the grand plan for my life. Yet the life had its own agenda. The children were drifted to different parts of the world. We never had a grandpa or grandma around us, regrettably I have never owned a cat.

However I don’t think we have ever stopped being a family. On the dusty shelves of our minds we still cherish the days we spent together. That family picture is somehow engraved in our minds albeit in different forms, happy moments stitched one another. This is of course an enormous privilege in this strange random world.

I could never remember I thanked you enough. For taking me to that soccer game when I was six. For making a perfect paper kite in that freezing Spring day. For sharing every fun occasion with your children, taking us to picnics, to summer holidays, telling us funny stories making me giggle for days. For not taking life too seriously. For not lecturing us. For letting me smoke sitting next to you. For being momentarily upset but not angry even when I crushed your car bought with your life savings. For saving me from trouble whenever I needed you, especially that horrible day when a bomb exploded killing one during a protest and the Army circled our Uni’s dormitory. For letting us read anything, study anything we want. For not brainwashing us with bullshit. For letting us have inquisitive minds. For letting me be me. Thank you my good man.  I don’t think I could ever be half of the man you were. I love you Dad.
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A pile of bones

Native Greek children standing by the bones of deceased soldiers who died during the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign they have collected on Hill 60, Anzac Cove in 1919.

I was born in Turkey and I now hold dual citizenship of Australian and Turkish.

Back in Turkey I was raised up at school and at home with stories of our ancestors’ heroism.

Gallipoli War was a decisive Turkish victory no one could take away, a war thorn nation’s determination against aggressors, despite being defeated in other fronts. It is also our D-day for the coming Republic, birth of a magnificent leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and a test that checked our confidence to challenge the World, a world determined to see us as “sick man of the Europe”. In Gallipoli a nation was born.

Settling in Australia made me realise to see the other side of the coin. There were similarities. The official history and stories spoken at home. Gallipoli had been a defeat in military terms but out of ashes a new identity, an independent sense of belonging emerged among ordinary Australians. In Gallipoli a nation was born.

During the Gallipoli campaign Ottoman Empire had 174,828, British Empire 187,969 casualties including dead, wounded, missing, not including illness.

The question remains for us, why do we glorify wars?

Is it simply out of respect to dead, or soothing our sense of guilt? We are the lucky ones born in the right time after all.

Is it the primal instinct of close kinship our genes instruct?

Or is it really an absurd arithmetic equation?

Two nations equal to a pile of bones.

Minimalism at Workplace

Minimalism is simple, reduce your stressors by eliminating them. Minimalism will relax you, it will allow you to focus on the essentials.

- Clean your desk.
- When conveying your ideas do not exceed a single A4 page.
- Never organise a meeting longer than one hour. If you think one hour is enough, ask yourself why not half-an-hour?
- Never spend more than 15 minutes to draw a design diagram.
- Never spend more than 30 minutes on a new design wiki page.
- Favour talk to IM, IM to email.
- If you have to, never write long emails, not longer than three paragraphs.
- In your written communications use short sentences;

• Avoid jargon.
• At most two sentences per paragraph.
• Leave an empty line between paragraphs.
• Follow the two-phase structure:

• Background
•   Question or Solution

- Never broadcast emails to unrelated employees.
- Never Reply All to an email.
- Let your actions make you, not your talk.
- Talk less, tell more, listen more.
- Treat everybody equal.