Entertainment Podium

KISS – Keep it Simple, Stupid

“This is a principle that stresses on simplicity and unpretentiousness than ostentatious complexity!” – if I were to write this I’m not following KISS! It can be considered to be a cynical and sardonic mockery aimed at the multitude who believe that complication and intricacies are the way to go. The application of this basic but powerful principle could range from daily life to disciplines like engineering, software development, photography etc..

To illustrate this principle vividly, lets consider a case study based approach. The place is Russia where a soap manufacturer got frequent complaints about the boxes not containing a soap inside them! The problem had to be addressed seriously, for which the management hired experts from the R&D wing of an American major. The solution offered was to place infra-red sensors beside the conveyor belts (or the assembly line) and use a computerized system to manually see if the boxes did contain soaps. This proved to be burdening the financial state of the firm leading it into dire straits. Then came the prudent Russian. This guy placed a huge fan beside the assembly line at a particular distance such that the boxes with soaps would pass and the empty ones would just get blown off the line into a basket! Not to degrade the credibility of Americans, its rumored that the American spent huge sums of money and manpower to develop a pen that would write in outer space in 0 gravity, when the Russians used a pencil!!

To support these arguments Albert Einstein himself once said – “everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler”. He was also thought to have said that nature cannot be so complex as his theory of relativity supposes!

So when in deep trouble, keep you cool and KISS!

Tags: keep it simple short, keep it simple stupid, KISS, KISS principle, principle

Divide and Rule

“United we stand, divided we fall” is a thumb rule and the order of the day. Divide and rule is a proven and effective means of administration. The very thought of this aspect of sociology sparks in our mind, the strategy employed by the British in India. They systematically turned one kingdom against another, turned brothers into arch rivals and over time annexed total empires under the British rule.
The first large scale application of this golden rule was observed around 150BC when the Romans and Greeks, quickly after conquering Macedonia split it off into 4 parts and ruled them separately. From that day’s Kings to this day’s politician, every ruler has consistently applied this principle to effectively administrate vast lands.
Unity is strength. When the unity or structural integrity is lost, weakness begins to creep in. Smart administrators and bureaucrats have tapped right at the heart of this infirmity to better achieve their political needs.
For the geek to take from this, a dedicated algorithm exists in the name of divide-and-conquer. In this method of problem solving, you would split the problem continuously into its most atomic level thus making the problem in hand a large group of very small instances. You would then independently solve this minute instance and combine it with other instances of similar sorts to yield a solution to the original problem.
This wonderful strategy of “divide and rule” can be judiciously applied to economics, politics, software; rather to any walk of life so as to arrive at an optimal solution.

Tags: divide and conquer, divide and rule, principle