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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

How God used fuzzy logic!!!

In this post I will be pointing out how Lord Vishnu has used basic ideas from the fuzzy logic theory (that if a point lies on the fuzzy boundary then is not a member of any of the sets that share the boundary) for solving his problem. The article is based on a Hindu mythological story.


The Story:
There was a king named Hiranyakashap. He undergoes many years of austerity and penance. Bramha appears in front of Hiranyakashap and offers him a boon. Hiranyakashap asks for immortality. Bramha says that he will not be able to grant such a wish as everyone has to die one day. Then Hiranyakashap ask that- he should not be killed by any creature created by Bramha. He should not die within the residence or outside it, neither during the day nor during the night; neither on the ground nor on the sky; neither by a human nor by an animal; neither by any demigod nor by a demon nor by a weapon.
Hiranyakashap now considered himself to be god as it was virtually impossible to kill him. He wanted everyone to worship him. To his dismay his own son, Prahalada, was a devotee of God Vishnu which he did not like. He tried to kill Prahalada a number of times but was always unsuccessful. One day the he got very angry and asked his son if the god was there in the pillar he was pointing to. To which Prahalada answered that god Vishnu was there. Suddenly, the pillar split apart and Narsimha (the 4th incarnation of Lord Vishnu) appeared. He was part lion and part man i.e. according to fuzzy logic neither human nor animal. This happened in the evening i.e. neither in day nor at night. Hiranyakashap was taken to the entrance of his residence so that a part of his body would be inside the residence and the other outside the residence i.e. neither inside nor outside the residence. Lord put him on his knees i.e. neither on ground nor in the sky. Then he used his nails (not a weapon) to tear away Hiranyakashap’s body and killed him.

Hence, we see how God used the fuzzy logic to kill Hiranyakashap.