Friday, May 20, 2011

I am

I am a big fan of indie movies and I happened to watch a really fun movie today -- I AM. It's an interesting documentary that tries to investigate what is fundamentally wrong with human nature that we have so many problems in the world by asking the following questions:
  • What's wrong with the world?
  • What can we do about it?
One of the many thoughts expressed is that we are all interconnected at a fundamental level and the education system that we grow up in teaches us to forget that and instead encourages to believe in, and to celebrate, our separatedness from everything.

The title of the movie is inspired by the following incident. The Times had invited several eminent authors to write an essay on the subject "What's wrong with the world?" Among those authors was G. K. Chesterton and his response was:
Dear Sirs,
I am.
Sincerely,
G. K. Chesterton.
Here is a Q&A with the author after a screening of the film at Google.  I found it quite thought provoking.