The importance of a peer group

I have to say at the start that people have different personalities, and consequently the kind of interaction that gives them satisfaction is a parameter that varies largely from person to person. I would like to divide people into two classes (neither exclusive nor exhaustive) - one who is extremely sure of what he wants to do, how he plans to do it, and what his opinions are on several issues. Such a person may be charachterised by an environment invariant measure - his thoughts and actions are seldom a function of where he is, or who he is keeping company with. Let us for the sake of simplicity call him a closed set. There is another class of persons, who are amenable (very highly) to draw inspiration from their surroundings. These surroundings mostly inlcude their sphere of interaction, available avenues for recreation and learning, etc. The latter person is in my opinion, one that I identify with closer. I should clarify at the outset, that this persona is NOT one who follows the herd, and has no mind of his own. This has more to do with the psychological metric known as Agreeableness (one of the Big 5 personality traits).
I find that my interests and curiosity are easily triggered by (interests/knowledge) of people i interact with. It is not up to you and I to categorize such behaviour under those broad clasifiers of good OR bad, but it may have its own merits and demerits on varying occassions. This ablity to inspire that a person has, has a very strong correlation with the interests and aptitude of the beneficiary of such inspiration. So, i value my peers very highly, especially those i like to interact with and consequently draw inspiriation , ideas from. Also, it is my humble belief that this interactive exchange of knowledge, ideas and more broadly perspective of opinion that we share - is mutual, and i feel very glad whenever i possess within me, the capacity to shed light on some topic, or obliviate my own ignorance on another.
A toast to all my friends, and a toast to the collective knowledge that we have helped each other attain and enrich.
cheers

(written a week ago i think, was too lazy to post )

IEEE down under

Yesterday I attended an IEEE lecture in bedford street north melbourne. It was evening, i was hungry, and it was raining. When i turned up, i was the youngest attendee, the average age being at least 50 ! I was mentally prepaered for an hour of boredom, reminising about food. The speaker is a certain Dr. Robert Hill, a very senior IEEE member having served in US army and navy as a radar specialist. "what the hell are you doing here on a monday evening in such a beautiful city? When you should be chasing women, or having a glass of wine, You chose to attend a seminar on the autocorrelation function !! the autocorrelation function for gods sake. Well, All i can say is that you all seem to lead pretty boring lives !!"
What ensued then on, was one of the most intersting and lively seminars i had ever attended. Starting from what his 14 year old grandson asked him at the breakfast table, at the end of 60 minutes, we were talking about binary phase coding, and the best ways to use radar systems to identify fast moving targets. In the process, i noticed that some of the portion was basic sophomore stuff : but each and every member in the audience had eyes and ears only for the speaker. Each one of them , so senior - probably knowing the autocorrelation function from the back of their palm, are so eager to take a fellow researchers perspective, and to revell in the basics of the subject - it became clear that these were men who loved every bit of what they did. The lecture also reaffirmed my belief - in the power of the instructor.
Having an immensly short attention span, it requires instances of such magnitude to stir me into action and fill me with a hunger that only the subjects that i love can satiate. There are several things that can be better at my college, but if at the end of my undergraduation - i can sustain an iota of the temperement and curiosity that i witnessed this day, i will be very highly satisfied. A toast to knowledge ! and all those who seek it !
Amen

PS: The melbourne journal is in the process of being written, readers are advised to keep checking this space :)