"India as a Stochastic Environment", or "Watch Where You're Goin', Buddy"

This first, high-falutin' title actually did occur me during a walking tour of the old ("Pink City") of Jaipur with Iowa Guru. The alternate title, however, is the true take-away line. Let me explain.

The fancy part of the title about a “stochastic environment”, comes courtesy of economist turned health and fitness expert, Art De Vany. De Vany used his skills and analytic train of thought as an economist to think about issues of health and fitness. Somewhere in his writings (this book and this blog), De Vany discussed the idea of Paleolithic man living in a stochastic environment. This is a fancy way of saying the life was very unpredictable. The availability of food was unpredictable; the weather was relatively unpredictable; and the physical environment was rather unpredictable. Of course, in the larger sense, climate is predictable and no doubt Paleolithic humans came to know about their environment very well. But from moment to moment and from step to step, things could be uncertain. Contrast this with daily life in Iowa, where most of our steps are taken on concrete sidewalks smoothed so the no discontinuity greater than about an inch and a half is tolerated on a city sidewalk and where we can check the latest weather forecast with a glance at our smart phone.

Now let me talk about walking in India. The first thing I should say is of the weather here, at least since we have arrived, has been very predictable: sunny, hot, and dry. But when walking, however, you really have to watch your step. Taking our tour of the Pink City, the oldest part of the city, one has to avoid electric wires (on the ground and handing overhead), open sewer lids, and various droppings from the animals of the Jaipur zoo. In other words, you really have to be careful each step you take here in India. Indeed, this lesson was reinforced at the very end of our long walk, when Iowa Guru pointed out that our ride back home was behind us. I immediately made an about-face and took a step forward only to land in a puddle. No harm done, but an inexpensive reminder about the care needed with each step.

As a lawyer who has sued business and individuals for failing to maintain their properties to a reasonable (loaded phrase) degree of safety, I was initially appalled at the thought of such an ill kept and dangerous environment. But the upside of this unpredictable environment is that it does require an alertness that is unimaginable in Iowa or almost anywhere in the US. The trade-off seems to me to be between a rather cozy and predictable environment that has a soporific effect, and a much more hazardous but mentally stimulating environment that India provides. Indeed, Professor De Vany and others who think along the same lines (e.g., I was introduced to De Vany by reading Nicholas Nassim Taleb), the making of an uncertain and unpredictable environment provides challenges that keep us alert and awake.

So if you come to visit India, come with your eyes wide open, watch each step you take, and think of yourself as experiencing life like that of your distant ancestors, who had to learn to thrive in an environment that had more than a few curve balls to throw at you.

Oh, yes, and look up, too. I still have a lot of learning to do, especially regarding low hanging objects. I've scraped my head at least three times on low branches and signs.

India, the great teacher.