I am not sure if this is an offshoot of market liberalization and the concomitant trading based on stock indices, but we are certainly obsessed with numbers. Just as we keep fiddling with the formulae to ever more accurately quantify the market sentiments, we try to put a number against most things that philosophers would tell us are intangible.
We define the monetary value of a life, whether in insuring it or in compensating for its unforeseen loss. You can, perhaps, reasonably estimate the financial deficit to a family's fund upon losing one of their own, especially if she was the prime earner. But how do you put a price on the void she leaves behind in her roles as a parent, an offspring, a sibling, a spouse? She, arguably, sustains her loved ones as much, if not even more, in these roles as she does by sourcing their sustenance. Yet, we scantly know of how she impacts the lives of those round her. When you do not know what are the components of her influence, how can you hope to rein in her impact through statistics?
We define the monetary value of a life, whether in insuring it or in compensating for its unforeseen loss. You can, perhaps, reasonably estimate the financial deficit to a family's fund upon losing one of their own, especially if she was the prime earner. But how do you put a price on the void she leaves behind in her roles as a parent, an offspring, a sibling, a spouse? She, arguably, sustains her loved ones as much, if not even more, in these roles as she does by sourcing their sustenance. Yet, we scantly know of how she impacts the lives of those round her. When you do not know what are the components of her influence, how can you hope to rein in her impact through statistics?
Marriages might be made in heaven, but to enter into a wedlock you need to know the combination - a measure of how compatible the prospective bride and groom are, be it based on the planets that govern their personality, stars that shine their path to destiny, or modern, 'scientific' assessments rooted in human psychology. Yet, going by statistics, the number of divorces is on the rise.
Then there's that hoary bane of dowry. If you believe education is the cloud cluster bearing the magic bolt of enlightenment that dispels all social evils, perhaps we aren't being educated. Dowry, despite being derided into slinking in darkness, is - like the illegal betting operations - guided by the market maxim of translating worth into currency count. Apparently, it is your education that dictates the dowry quantum into which you fall: the more the redeemable number of degrees to your name, the greater can be your demand. Maybe, the clouds aren't charged enough?
Then there's that hoary bane of dowry. If you believe education is the cloud cluster bearing the magic bolt of enlightenment that dispels all social evils, perhaps we aren't being educated. Dowry, despite being derided into slinking in darkness, is - like the illegal betting operations - guided by the market maxim of translating worth into currency count. Apparently, it is your education that dictates the dowry quantum into which you fall: the more the redeemable number of degrees to your name, the greater can be your demand. Maybe, the clouds aren't charged enough?
With the corporate sponsorship of sporting teams and events, it is no surprise that feats in the stadia are analyzed numerically, ad nauseam ad infinitum. The number of runs a batsman scores on average before being dismissed, the speed at which he does it, how often does he get out to each mode of dismissal available, and what have you. We keep arguing about a particular player's being the greatest batsman ever based on an array of such figures, including the span of his career and the seemingly insuperable amount of runs he has amassed through the exceptionally large number of games he has played. Numbers tell a story all right, but a different one to each person based on how she chooses to make sense of them. And a former English captain linked the aforementioned longevity to the panoply that protects the modern batsman, even when he is hit on the head by a fast bowler.
The liberalization also saw the advent of cable television, and the subsequent evolution of news into more than a government bulletin. The new media houses and news channels run by private enterprises had to foot their own bills. And metrics came in. Who was being read more? Who was being watched the most? How high could a publication/channel price the advertisement spots/slots? During their market research, these news carriers must have found that numbers could help them boost their sales, given the dislike for absorbing complex, sometimes long, dialogues on even important matters. Numbers would be easier for the consumer to ingest. We now have a plethora of infographics seeking to represent by means of numbers everything from prevalence of crime to economic growth and progress, irrespective of the subtext being lost on the recipient.
Come the elections, the surveys and polls crowd in on us, intending to enlighten us about the mood of the country. Is mood measurable? Go figure! News items, even editorials, have a political slant. Yet, no political party was worried by the wordy commentaries of observers, for surely there wouldn't be many people tuning into these dreary data storm. But numbers, unlike words, don't numb us. They mould our opinion, as they do in informing us of what line of education we should pursue, whom we should marry, and whom we should worship. Invariably, they will impact electoral fortunes, too, if the voters are allowed to imbibe the moods of one another through numbers. As one of my teachers used to say, mathematics needs no language. So, numbers could, theoretically, reduce the losses due to translation and curb the equivocation of the eloquent orator. Numbers, indisputably, are an odds-on threat, especially in a country that speaks so many languages and dialects.
The liberalization also saw the advent of cable television, and the subsequent evolution of news into more than a government bulletin. The new media houses and news channels run by private enterprises had to foot their own bills. And metrics came in. Who was being read more? Who was being watched the most? How high could a publication/channel price the advertisement spots/slots? During their market research, these news carriers must have found that numbers could help them boost their sales, given the dislike for absorbing complex, sometimes long, dialogues on even important matters. Numbers would be easier for the consumer to ingest. We now have a plethora of infographics seeking to represent by means of numbers everything from prevalence of crime to economic growth and progress, irrespective of the subtext being lost on the recipient.
Come the elections, the surveys and polls crowd in on us, intending to enlighten us about the mood of the country. Is mood measurable? Go figure! News items, even editorials, have a political slant. Yet, no political party was worried by the wordy commentaries of observers, for surely there wouldn't be many people tuning into these dreary data storm. But numbers, unlike words, don't numb us. They mould our opinion, as they do in informing us of what line of education we should pursue, whom we should marry, and whom we should worship. Invariably, they will impact electoral fortunes, too, if the voters are allowed to imbibe the moods of one another through numbers. As one of my teachers used to say, mathematics needs no language. So, numbers could, theoretically, reduce the losses due to translation and curb the equivocation of the eloquent orator. Numbers, indisputably, are an odds-on threat, especially in a country that speaks so many languages and dialects.
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