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Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence

Book by Abhijit Naskar · 27 quotes · Civic Duty, Political Science, Social Studies

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Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence Quotes

“Love-Abiding Law (The Sonnet) Love is the master-key to social troubles, Law is but an inferior and cheaper stand-in. Instead of obsessing over cooking up more law, Let's shift the focus on loving and caring. Do you think love is nothing but a commercial object, With your olympian authority which you can legalize! Who do you think you are that you'll legalize order! You can legalize toys, telephones, not love and light. Know your place, o puny apes, on a puny little blue dot, Before standing as authority bearing your badge of law. There are more things in the vastness of time and space, Than dreamt up in your paleolithic construct of law. An ounce of love brings more change than a 100 pounds of law. What we need is not law-abiding love, but love-abiding law.”

“Systemic change is a slow and tedious process, It doesn't happen overnight by vandalizing society. If vandalism and activism were one and the same, Our jungly ancestors would've been the ideal humanity.”

“The world seems like a wonderful place, When you don't know what's going on in it. Witnessing the darkness yet choosing to smile, That's what defines the illuminating spirit.”

“Contrary to popular belief, politics is not the problem, the real bane of a democratic society is partisanism. Because politics involves interest of the people, whereas partisanism involves interest of the politicians.”

“I Hate Guns (The Sonnet) Please don't hold a gun to my head, Because firearms terrify me to death. When I am scared stiff due to stupidity, Nothing can keep the beast from outbreak. I battle everyday to keep it tamed, I dread the moment the beast finds release. Mock me, hit me, I assure your safe return, Hold a gun, and be torn apart limb from limb! So, I implore you, o savage most refined, Please show some mercy, and give up your guns! Or be a stupid moron, and carry in secret, Just not stupid enough to draw at my loved ones. Committing primitivity even God won't escape the Ravager. Bullets work on two-bit terrorists, not natural disaster.”

“Ethics & Prototypes (The Sonnet) Take morality out of science and, All you've left is one big conspiracy theory. Abundance of facts doesn't make something right, If it has no regard for the supreme fact of humanity. Just because we can innovate, doesn't mean we should, Science can no more be measured by the query of could. In future we'll be able to pre-edit a newborn baby, But just because we could, doesn't mean we should. Only a true scientist will realize the truth in this, A mind that can look past the pomp into the purpose, While counterfeit tech giants try to turn the world, Into a giant lifeless robot made of bolts and nuts. So better keep radical designs hidden from public eyes. Some prototypes must never ever be commercialized.”

“More to Technology (The Sonnet) Some prototypes must never be commercialized, Not till we learn to look beyond monetary value. Write some fiction instead without revealing schematics, If you want the possibility to survive through. Technology is a stupidly predictable phenomenon, What one person can imagine another can rig together. All it takes is an infinite supply of persistence, Voila - fiction of today turns reality centuries later! So I say again, ask the question of "should" not "could", If you want some tech to bring light not silent regress. Because once you put the schematics out into the world, All your brilliance will fall short to undo the damage. There's more to technology than startups 'n entrepreneurship. Power without responsibility causes disparity not uplift.”

“Sonnet of Norms It is not patriarchal to hold the door for a lady, It is not cowardly to leave your seat to the elderly. But it is barbaric to harass a breastfeeding mother, And prehistoric to force a woman carry a pregnancy. There are norms that nourish the societal fabric, Then there are norms out of touch with age and times. Beyond both freedom and obedience as a whole being, You ought to realize where and how to draw the lines. The problem is that most do not know when to rebel, They rebel out of boredom to seek adventure not justice. They commit reckless vandalism in the name of activism, And feel proud while committing the most heinous deeds. Norms require careful scrutiny, not headless rebellion. Hence, quite often rebels become the new face of oppression.”

“Vandalism Ain't Activism (The Sonnet) Systemic change is a slow and tedious process, It doesn't happen overnight by vandalizing society. If vandalism and activism were one and the same, Our jungly ancestors would've been the ideal humanity. Change habits, change yourself, submit to no primitivity, The change that you dream of, be the epitome of that change. Obstructing traffic and refusing to let an ambulance pass, You're not fighting any crisis, but being a crisis yourself. Go fly a kite, it is good for the mind as well as body, Get lessons on common sense before appointing yourself king. The line between activism and terrorism is so thin that, Often many go astray without having the slightest inkling. I repeat, systemic change is a slow and tedious process. The more you rush with recklessness, the more you digress.”

“Esperanza Impossible Sonnet 1 Earth is but a bedlam, All the beings are loonies. We are so engrossed in prejudice, Integration feels like blasphemy. We still cannot live side by side, We want it all for ourselves. We won't even move a single inch, When it comes to our opinion and ways. Selfishness, thy name is Sapiens, Upon its norm we philosophize kindness. We invented fancy terms like altruism, Lest we're infected with common humanness. Humanity is too alive to be bound by ism. Dead things can be dogmatized, not expansion.”