2017 History of Ideas Quiz

Rajagopal & Avinash
he History of Ideas Qui
Rajagopal & Avinash

 40 questions in all; some require multiple answers
 +1 for every right answer, no negatives
 No starred questions
 QMs decision is final

Q1. Manifesto of a course being introduced this year by Profs. Carl
Bergstrom (theoretical biology) and Jevin West (information
science) at the University of Washington.
The course begins with the ________ Asymmetry Principle, as
postulated by the Italian software developer Alberto Brandolini.
What’s the good word?

Q2. Clifford Geertz’s _____ _____: Notes on a Balinese ___X___ is
one of the most widely read anthropological essays. In the essay,
he describes how the then (1950s) illegal activity __X___ isn’t just
symbolic of their culture, but is actually the Balinese commenting
on themselves. X represents the strong men in the village, and in
fact, has the same double meaning in both Balinese & English.
The hierarchies and interactions of people involved in this activity
mirror the social networks that govern village life.
The title of the essay comes from the British philosopher Jeremy
Bentham, who defined ____ ____ as a game with risks/stakes so
high that no rational human would want to be involved; Geertz
posits that the large amounts of money & status involved in
betting during __X___ makes it ____ ____.
Fill in the blanks, and tell us what activity ___X___ is.

Q3. There are now a number of different ‘tests’ that examine
gender portrayal in movies, TV, music etc.
The ____-____ test is named after a character in a 2013 movie,
which features a female character with her own narrative arc, and
one that isn’t about supporting the man. Incidentally, the movie
passes the Sexy Lamp test but fails the Bechdel test.
The _______ test is named after a character in a 2015 movie that
passed all these three tests, and went one better by pissing off
idiots on the internet who were shocked at how feminist it turned
out to be.
Just fill in the blanks. (order is important)

Mako Mori
(from Pacific Rim)
Furiosa
(from Mad Max: Fury Road)

Q4. Stewart Lee, that astute observer of human society, turned to
philosophy to try and understand the relationship between the
UK politician Michael Gove and Donald Trump. Relying on the
words of a famous 19th century moral philosopher, Lee wrote the
following –
Identify the moral philosopher and his 1886 work.

Frederik Nietzsche
Beyond Good and Evil

Q5. Based on God’s pledge to humanity, it has long been
associated in Europe with various social reform and peasants’
movements. During the American Revolutionary War, Thomas
Paine proposed that it be used to signify neutral ships.
In South America the design was based on an Incan symbol called
the Wiphala, and can be seen on many buildings in Peru, Bolivia
and Ecuador. It has also long been associated with the
international cooperative movement; symbol of the International
Co-operative Alliance (ICA) from 1921 – 2001, when it was
changed to a similar logo on a white field.
Many people today think of it as a creation of the US artist &
activist Gilbert Baker, who died earlier this year.
Just identify this symbol.

Q6. Aristotle’s idea of ranking organisms was built upon on by
later natural philosophers to make the Scala Naturae – a
hierarchical system where organisms were organized from the
‘lowest’ to the ‘highest’; Man was at the top, and hence the
epitome of complexity & perfection.
Naturally, political and religious philosophers like Thomas Aquinas
got involved saying that the Scala Naturae was just a small part of
the larger _____ _____ __ ______ - a strict, religious hierarchy of
all life as decreed by God. Starting with God at the top, it
progressed downwards to various angelic beings, stars, the moon,
kings, saints/clerics, nobility, commoners and finally the rest of
the Scala Naturae.
What idea/concept?

Q7. Karl Marx recognized that the processes of accumulation &
destruction of wealth were inherent to capitalism; sociologist
Werner Sombart first used the term to describe this process in his
1913 work Krieg und Kapitalismus. However it is now associated
with Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, who described it as
the “process of industrial mutation that revolutionizes economic
structure from within, incessantly destroying the old and
incessantly creating the new”.
In its new guise, the idea underlies much of Silicon Valley thinking,
with Mark Zuckerberg even using it as a motto for his company.
According to him, it epitomizes Silicon Valley’s hacker ethic where
creation speed, and not perfection is key, even if there are
missteps along the way.
Identify the economic concept, and its Silicon Valley
adaptation.

Creative Destruction
Move Fast and Break Things

Q8. Introduced by the military analyst Carl von Clausewitz in his
book Vom Kriege, it refers to the uncertainty in situational
awareness experienced during military actions. This encompasses
not only uncertainty about one’s own capabilities, but also the
adversary’s capabilities and/or intentions.
What term?

Q9. In the 1920s, Dalits and other marginalized people in the
subcontinent began to identify as an indigenous population who
had been conquered and suppressed by Hinduism, which was an
alien religion. Although the evidence for such conquest was
lacking, it lead to the rise of many Adi-Dravida movements across
India.
To counter this, Brahmins began to use the term _______ to refer
to Dalits, which further infuriated them and solidified their position
outside the Hindu caste system.
What event was the spark that lit the Adi-Dravida
movement? And what derogatory term did Brahmins come
up with?

Discovery of the Indus civilization
(Harappa/Mohenjo-Daro sites)
Panchama

Q10. Picture on the next slide shows a poem from Alice Duer
Miller’s 1915 satirical book Are Women People? A Book of Rhymes
for Suffrage Times.
The word that has been blanked out is something that has long
been contentious in the world of fashion. Essays have been
written about why they exist for some, but not for others; and
when they do exist for these others, how they are so awkward or
pointless to use.
Fashion historian Barbara Burman has even argued that the
“frustrations and limitations of access to money, and ownership of
property were neatly mirrored in the restricted scope of ______”.

Q11. Following the financial crisis of 2008, Zhou Xiaochuan, the
governor of the People’s Bank of China, proposed that the US
dollar should be replaced by the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights.
This was because the US government’s efforts on maintaining
domestic monetary policy goals conflicted with the dollar’s use as
the global reserve currency.
Multiple analyses since then from the UN, IMF and independent
economists have argued that a ‘true’ global reserve currency is
essential for financial reform. In this, they all hark back to
something John Maynard Keynes advocated for at the post-WW2
Bretton Woods conference.
What was Keynes’ idea?

Q12. According to Urban Dictionary, a ________ ______ is
someone who cannot express his anger through physical violence
in real life (due to lack of prowess, courage & conviction), but
manifests said emotions by harassing/trolling people online.
China’s People’s Daily used a similar term to refer to people who
took to the internet to voice dissent, saying
“having a double standard will not contribute to a harmonious society. The
________ men who call for justice and good Samaritan acts on the internet
would not act as they promised in reality. They blame other people’s apathy
while finding excuses for themselves to avoid taking action."
What two-word phrase is this?
Also, give me the name of The Guardian’s social media
column about internet faux pas which puns on this phrase.

Keyboard Warrior
Keyboard Worrier

Q13. It is an expression denoting ad hoc attempts to make a
theory confirm to observation/experimental evidence, which end
up making the theory needlessly complicated. It is the fastest way
to make sure Occam’s razor renders your theory implausible.
Originally an idea of Apollonius of Perga, it was formalized and
extensively used by Claudius Ptolemy (Ptolemy of Thebaid) in his
Almagest while explaining the model shown.
What idea or concept am I talking about?

Q14. This critically acclaimed 2015 work attempts to solve the
Fermi paradox, but by using an 18th century philosopher’s ideas
about the nature of reality. The philosopher believed that there
exists a true reality – the Ding an Sich – but one which we cannot
directly perceive. Constrained by our senses, we can only
experience reality by using a structured series of a priori
categories (unity, totality, causation and so on).
In any case, this dazzling work of literary genius goes on to
demonstrate how this philosophy was used to ‘solve’ the Fermi
paradox, while at the same time, paying tributes to John
Campbell, John Carpenter, James Joyce and Thomas de Quincey.
Who is the 18th century philosopher?
Also identify the 2015 work which the author says is “an
atheist’s argument for the existence of God”.

Immanuel Kant
Adam Roberts’ The Thing Itself

Q15. In a 1997 book, Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont argued that
the postmodern Left immensely damaged science (and academia
in general) because of –
a) the incompetent and pretentious use of scientific concepts by a
small group of influential philosophers
b) cognitive relativism, the idea that “modern science is nothing
more than a myth, a narrative, or social construction” and so, is
no more a valid method of ‘seeing the Truth’ than others
What was the two-word title of their book?
NN Taleb is increasingly showing signs of belonging to category A,
one example of which can be seen in the picture.
What three-word phrase has been blanked out?

Intellectual Imposters
Intellectual Yet Idiot

Q16. In his book The New Landscape, he decried the state of cities
in the country. Grandiose concepts of what cities ought to look
like, all of which borrowed from the industrialised North were to
blame for this.
According to him, every civilisation/society had evolved not only
the architecture, but also urban development that best suited its
climate, topography, economics and social relations. Cities
therefore, cannot be planned, but have to grow from the organic
needs of its people. A city planner’s job is not to police the growth
of a city, but to guide it – naturally, such a person will favour
small, decentralised communities, and not vast centralised cities.
He maintained that this was possible despite the revolutions in
industry, transport and health that had completely changed the
nature of cities.
Identify this person, and also tell me the phrase he used to
describe Indian cities.

Charles Correa
Great City, Terrible Place

Q17. This singer is derisive of ‘fusion’ music because
a) Carnatic is a raga-based music system, and hence X is
predominant
b) ‘fusion’ music attempts to marry Y with X; why do this when
Carnatic hasn’t had any use for Y?
c) ‘fusion’ requires musicians to know X and Y equally well, and
most don’t know both
d) more than 90% of ‘fusion’ music is crap anyway, so why
bother?
In contrast, another Carnatic musician has created an avant-garde
form called XY, which composer Robert Morris further developed
using Western musical theory.
“XY is a paradigm-changing approach in music that aims to create Y
based on X progression. In other words, XY explores new chords & Y
anchored on the rules and aesthetics of evolved X systems.”
Identify both musicians, and tell me what XY is.

TM Krishna
Chitraveena Ravikiran
Melharmony

Q18. A is probably the most significant work of guerrilla art in the
world. A Sicilian immigrant named Arturo Di Modica spent 2 years
and $350,000 of his money to make it, saying that it was his
response to the market crash of 1987, and represented “the
strength and power of the American people”. Ironically, to most
people it represents the brute forces of capitalism and patriarchy.
On the surface, B also appeared to represent guerrilla art – but
it’s not. It was commissioned by an investment fund called State
Street Global Advisors as part of an advertising campaign
developed by McCann. The bronze plaque at the foot of B (which
has now been removed) wasn’t making a political statement, but
actually referred to the NASDAQ ticker symbol for an investment
fund run by SSGA.
What am I talking about?

Q19. Climate contrarians and conservative economists always put
forth this argument when the debate turns to how technology can
be used to combat global warming. This 19th century economist’s
rule simply states that
“as technology enables us to use an energy source more efficiently,
using energy consuming products becomes less expensive, which in
turn leads us to consume greater amounts of energy”
Environmental economists have long argued that this effect is real
only in controlled environments. In the real world, increased
efficiency doesn’t directly increase energy use, increased
efficiency leads to a better quality of life, and in any case, energy
use is determined to a large extent (and hence can be regulated)
by various other economic policies.
Give me either name for this idea.

Jevon’s Paradox
or
Rebound Effect

Q20. The idea has existed since Antiquity, but its most famous
iteration is associated with a melancholic named Jacques.
The sculpture in London is by one Richard Kindersley, and the
painting is by William Mulready.
What idea is so represented?

Q21. Yanis Varoufakis argues that financialization, ineffective bank
regulation, greed, globalisation etc. were only proximal causes of
the 2008 crisis, and its roots lie in how the global economy was
setup post WWII.
The United States emerged from WWII as the major power with
budget & trade surpluses. It rejected Keynes’ proposals at Bretton
Woods to retain hegemony, and created a global ‘surplus
recycling’ mechanism from the centre to the periphery [Marshall
plan in Europe, to economies of Japan, Korea etc].
Varoufakis says this plan collapsed in 1971 because of one key
event. The US was transformed into a nation with significant trade
& budget deficits, which it maintained because capital flowed
from the periphery (rest of world) to the centre.
What was this 1971 event?
What metaphor/mythological story does he use to describe
this transformed state?

Delinking of the US Dollar from
the Gold Standard
The Minotaur of Crete

Q22. The Native American Party, later renamed The American
Party was a short-lived political party in the United States in the
1850s. The were rabidly xenophobic and anti-Catholic, claiming
that immigrants – who then were largely Irish or Italian – owed
their allegiance to the Pope (who was an autocrat & anti-
democratic), and so couldn’t be trusted to assimilate into society.
The party got its nickname from what its members were
supposed to say when asked about its activities.
Despite fading out of existence, echoes of this movement occur
repeatedly in US public discourse & culture. For example, Daniel
Day-Lewis played a real ____ ________ in Gangs of New York; the
rise of the Tea Party was blamed on such nativists, and more
recently, the far right and Donald Trump have been called this.
What is this nickname?

Q23. The agricultural term used to describe the dominant plant
variety in a biotype was borrowed by sociologist Basssam Tibi to
describe certain cultural values that he felt Europe needed to
have (Europa ohne Identität, 1998). Since then it has been used as
a counter to the idea of multiculturalism, raising its head
whenever there is a debate about immigration. Its appropriation
by the far right has lead to a lot of heat & dust whenever the
subject of “What it is to be German” comes up.
German minister Thomas de Maziere wrote that it an ear for Bach
& Goethe, a willingness to shake hands, and pride in Europe were
just some measures that make you German. Journalist & author
Nina Pauer says a hatred of drafts, love for crusty bread, coffee
and cake, and an obsession with punctuality are more tangible
measures.

Q24. SF/F writer Anil Menon had this to say when asked what
Indian SF could contribute to literature –
“It’s still early in the day but I see two distinct contributions that
Indian/South Asian SF can make.
The first has to do with importance of place. Western SF has a reasonably
good track record at predicting THE future – but would it have predicted
anything like X’s ________ scheme? An idea that’s repeatedly been proven
effective at moving millions – entire generations – out of poverty. It’s as
simple as the throw of a dice, and just as subtle too. I don’t think so.
To imagine something like X’s ______, one needs a close-to-the-ground
understanding, a worm’s eye-view as X put it. It is much easier to imagine
technological miracles than something with no collateral, minimal
paperwork, and relying solely on social pressure. It requires what James
March called the technology of foolishness.
Two, could western SF have imagined a Gandhi?”
Identify X and his Nobel prize winning scheme.

Mohammed Younus
and
Microfinancing

Q25. The writer about something he created in collaboration with
artist Shan Swaroop Boudh.
“She is a symbol of Dalit resistance. She holds a pen in her right
hand, showing that she is literate. She is dressed well and sports a
huge hat – a symbol of defiance that she is rejecting the traditional
dress code. In her left hand, she holds the Constitution of India
through which Ambedkar gave Dalits equal rights. She stands on top
of a computer, which means we will use _______ to rise up the
ladder and become free forever.”
Identify writer and his creation.

Chandra Bhan Prasad
English Goddess/English Mata

Q26. Historian Christopher Beckwith traces the roots of this
philosophy to one Pyrrho of Elis’ travels with Alexander the Great
into Asia.
By comparing Pyrrho’s teachings, and also accounts of
Megasthenes, Beckwith shows that Pyrrho travelled to Gandhara
where he was exposed to at least 8 different philosophical schools
– including early Zoarastrianism, early Bramhinism, and several
forms of early Buddhism and Jainism. Beckwith argues that this
exposure not only shaped Pyrrho’s thinking, but in fact, he
incorporated many ideas from these schools into his own school
of philosophy.
Pyrrho’s ideas immensely influenced Western thought, first in
Antiquity, and later during the Enlightenment on that self-
proclaimed Pyrrhonian, David Hume.
What school of philosophy did Pyrrho found?

Q27. Oxfam economist Kate Raworth criticizes establishment
thinking saying that – growth doesn’t measure well being;
economics has lost its ability to articulate its goals and instead,
has become dependent on the flawed portrait of the ‘rational
economic man’.
She argues that the aim of economics should be to meet the
needs of all within the means of the planet, and that we need
“economies that make us thrive, instead of just grow”. The goal
should therefore be to move everyone out of the ‘basic needs’
inner zone, but well within the exploitative outer zone.
Her ideas have been criticized as being unoriginal, too focussed
on the West, that it doesn’t recognize cultural rights etc .
Just tell me what Raworth calls her model of economics.

Q28. It was 1997 and quantitative ecologist Peter Turchin was
having a mid-life crisis – all the major ecological questions about
population dynamics had been answered. Turchin decided that
history was the next frontier & ripe for mathematisation – instead
of just finding patterns, he decided to collect data spanning
centuries or even millennia – and then use mathematics to
determine how all the different variables interacted. He named
this new field of study after the Greek muse of History.
Academic historians view the field with deep scepticism – after
all, there has been a century & more of grand theory – and have
abandoned the quest for general laws. They also contend that we
are better off constructing detailed narratives of what happened,
and in what context.
What was the name of this new field of study?
Turchin’s efforts reminded people of a character from a
famous SF series. Who?

Q29. The author wrote this book while living in academic
obscurity in New Zealand during WW2. A strong defence of liberal
democracy, the book is a critique of teleological historicism, i.e.,
the idea that history unfolds inexorably according to certain
general laws. The author calls Plato, Hegel and Marx false
prophets – and indicts them as totalitarian for relying on such
historicism to underpin their philosophy
Identify this philosopher who is more known for his work
on science.
Also give me the name of this 1945 work.

Karl Popper
The Open Society & its Enemies

Q30. Graphical representation of a concept from consultancy
company Gartner that represents the maturation & adoption of
certain technologies.
What two word name does it have?

Q31. Images from an animation explaining a philosopher’s ideas.
Just identify the philosopher.

Q32. It is a movement that arose from technological changes and
growth of cities in late 19th and early 20th century. Also affected by
the horrors of WW 1, it rejected enlightenment and religion.
Manet is one of the earliest painters associated with this. Writers
such as Marx, Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche and later Pound, Joyce
supposedly brought it from visual arts to writing.
While the beginning of it is hard to pinpoint, Virginia Woolf
famously wrote ““On or about December 1910 human nature
changed. All human relations shifted and when human relations
change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct,
politics, and literature”.
What are we talking about?

Q33. The Semmelweis reflex is named for a Hungarian-German
physician and is “a metaphor for a certain type of human
behaviour characterized by reflex-like rejection of new knowledge
because it contradicts entrenched norms, beliefs, or paradigms”.
Semmelweis observed that a particular practice reduced mortality
from childbed fever / puerperal fever to below 1%. But this was
vehemently rejected/ridiculed by the best scientific minds of the
time, including Rudolf Virchow. The response ultimately led to
Semmelweis being committed to a mental institution and his death
2 weeks later. X’s hypothesis was later confirmed through the work
of Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister.
What radical practice did Semmelweis advocate?

Doctors washing hands in a
chlorinated solution

Q34. “X Y Z Award" is awarded by the American Chemical Society
to speakers who present original views that are at odds with
mainstream scientific understanding. The winner is selected based
in the novelty of the viewpoint and its potential impact if it were to
be widely accepted.
X Y is the name of a physicist and historian of science, while Z is a
famous concept phrase associated with X Y.
Just give us X Y and Z.

Thomas Kuhn
Paradigm Shift Award

Q35. The existing millennia old practice in mathematics has largely
been replaced by what is called the tombstone or the halmos, after
the mathematician Peter Halmos, who introduced it to
mathematics. He said of this in his memoir I Want to Be a
Mathematician,
..[it] is definitely not my invention — it appeared in popular
magazines (not mathematical ones) before I adopted it, but, once
again, I seem to have introduced it into mathematics.
Its graphic form varies and may be a hollow or filled rectangle or
square. It denotes the end of an article in magazines.
What practice has the tombstone/halmos replaced or where
would you find it?

"∎" is used in mathematics to
denote the end of a proof,
in place of the traditional
abbreviation "Q.E.D."

Q36. The phrase X state was coined by socialist Ferdinand Lasalle in
1862 as a derogatory term to described the limited government
state. He compared the state to a X, whose sole duty was to
prevent theft.
Minarchists have used the term in a positive context to describe
their version of a state which performs minimum necessary
functions to maintain laissez faire capitalism. 19th century Britain is
cited as an example of such a state.
X is something all of us would have heard of in a cricketing
context. What is X?

Q37. The word now literally means ordinary/run of the mill/not
unusual, and is a translation of the Latin locus communis.
It is also the name given to a type of notebook used to collect
knowledge/sayings/observations related to a particular theme.
They are not diaries or journals, and have no particular chronology.
There was a long tradition of keeping such notebooks in Europe.
Darwin had one to collect his thoughts and hunches, modelled on
one his grandfather Eramus Darwin had maintained. Priestley,
Locke, Bacon, Milton all maintained such ___________ books.
What?

Q38. X, Y or Z? is a variant of the game 20 questions where the
object in question is identified as belonging to X or Y or Z kingdom.
The game takes it name from the 3 kingdoms Linnaeus proposed in
his book Imperium Naturae, name Regnum X, Regnum Y and
Regnum Z.
David Attenborough started his career with BBC as a production
assistant on a program with this name in 1955.
X Y Z? (no part points)

Q39. When the Soviets launched Sputnik, they wanted everyone to
know it was real and not a hoax, and so they had Sputnik transmit
a constant tone within 1khz of 20mhz frequency.
Two scientists at the Applied Physics Lab in Johns Hopkins
University were able to use a receiver to access this signal.
Analysing the Doppler shift signal they were able to identify the
orbit and the location of the satellite when it was closest to their
lab. The lab director then asked them to work on the inverse
problem for a military application.
What was this inverse problem, OR what did it lead to?

Identifying a ground location based
on trajectory of satellites
OR
The Global Positioning System (GPS)

Q40. X is a theory in macroeconomics that emphasizes the role of
money supply and amount of money in circulation and the role of
Government / Central Banks in controlling the supply.
This theory is most associated with Milton Friedman since the time
he proposed it in a 1959 work and pushed for it to be adopted by
central banks. Another Nobel prize winning economist Robert
Solow said about Friedman and this theory, “Everything reminds
Milton of the money supply. Well, everything reminds me of sex,
but I keep it out of the paper”.
What is X?

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