The name of this blog is an encomium to Steven Pinker’s book Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. It’s one of those books that fundamentally changed the way I look at the world. The term Blank Slate, however, is used here in a completely different connotation. In meaning, it has more to do with Mao Zedong’s quote:
A blank sheet of paper has no blotches, and so the newest and most beautiful words can be written on it.
My desire is to keep my thoughts devoid, like a blank slate, of pre-conceived notions, biases and beliefs that owe their existence to the environment and tradition — to something other than my own rational, reflective thinking.
P.S. Make not mistake. I like that quote form Mao, but I am no socialist.
2 Comments
April 16, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Good blog, Vishal. Mao was a smart man, but I disagree with his philosophy.
April 17, 2009 at 10:50 am
Siddharth, I would be putting it very mildly if I said “I disagree with Mao’s philosophy.”