Crossing the divide: A website about Literature, Art & Philosophy by Venkat Ramanan

This was originally posted on   LinkedIn Pulse  on January 17, 2016. The most important lesson we can learn from observing these insects is that we need to know the mosquito better before we can build a better mosquito trap - and this applies perhaps to all our challenges. I am convinced that even if there is only one mosquito left in the world, it is sure to come and get me. Because of this dread, I have always grudgingly admired the single-mindedness and efficiency with which genus anopheles unfailingly zooms in on someone like me. It is perhaps this curiosity which piqued my interest in a recent report  in the The Atlantic magazine about the quest to find a better mosquito repellent. This article not only explained to me why mozzies think of me as their Lord Voldemort. But after reading it I felt also that there may be a few lessons too for the corporate world apparent from the life and times of the humble mosquito. Know your customers, the marketplace Lesli

This was originally posted as a "viewpoint" at  Aeon Conversations A lot of us take a pragmatic stance and are happy to use the fruits of science and technology, to better our understanding of the world, including nature, around us. A scientific understanding of nature, moreover, may even improve our respect or reverence for nature. Image Credit: CCO Public Domain via Pixabay n his excellent essay Gene Tracy mentions how anthropologists would point out that there is no clear line between a story and a testable theory of the world. Another anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss distinguished between a “functional” and “statistical” and model of societies. An example of the former is the way human societies operate. Each individual assumes certain responsibilities which, as Ilya Prigogine explains, “translate at each level different aspects of the society as a whole.”  An example of the latter model is a termite colony where there is no “global mastermind” at work. The