It is easy for most of us to be unaware of what lies beyond the immediate. We are busy with work and family and play and time marches on. The thoughts and ideas of people around us, transmittted through books, magazines, newspapers, the internet and so on give us a glimpse of something different. Yet, what we are receptive to listen to or read from is dictated by our existing mental map of what the world is like. Words or sound that shake our preexisting mental maps are almost always immediately rejected and we gravitate towards what we know and are comfortable with.
In the Western world, much of what is considered as classic refers to words or sounds created by dead white males (for the most part). I can imagine it would
be unthinkable for almost any college student in the US not to have read the classics and the greek epics and so on. There is truly a wealth of wisdom in those books and sounds created by the dead white males and they should be studied carefully.
A liberal education (yes, even for engineers and scientists) must include visits with the classics as it is understood in much of the Western World. Yet, there are many in this world who are completely unaware of the classics or not as familiar with them as most college students in the US are (or should be). Students in the Far East or in the Asian Subcontinent or societies that did not develop in the Greco-Roman mold has their own classics and epics. Rest assured, these students (like the ones in the US) do read their own classics and epics, as they must.
I have had the privilege of being part of two entirely different types of cultures. Yet, I find that the ties that bind are far more numerous and stronger than those that seem to separate. There are obvious differences in language and structure and the manner in which the classics were handed down from generation to generation. What the classics and the epics deal with however are remarkable for their similarities. Life, living, relationsips - humans and their frailties, the fear of the unknown and the after-life, crime and punishment, justice and compassion.
I have read the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (but not the Iliad the Odyssey). I have read Wordsworth, Shelley and Pope, I have also read Rabindranath Tagore. I have read the Atlas Shrugged, Free to Choose, Illiberal Education - I have also read R.K. Narayan. Beethoven and Mozart and Pachelbel and Bach and Strauss are all wonderful - so are Mahalingam and Yesudas and TN Krishnan and MS Subbulakshmi and Bismillah Khan and Zakir Hussain.
Lionel Richie and Tracy Chapman are mesmerizing, so is Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. The thread that binds transcends language and national barriers.
The distance between humans continues to shrink, the world is only getting smaller. As the years go by, we will discover that we may look different, speak differently and have different customs, yet we are remarkably alike in so many ways that perhaps we may understand what scientists decoding the human genome have discovered - we are all unique, yet share so much in common. Let us continue to discover the amazingly different areas we have so much in common with.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Relax, it is only getting better
We humans are curious - about everything. We want to know why and how and keep seeking answers all our lives. We are also always trying to make the world a better place - for ourselves and for the ones we care much about.
I have had the fortune of experiencing two very different societies and norms and customs. Yet, I find much that is common. The language of science and mathematics remains universal and binds us all in ways that we sometimes, forget. The sentiments and emotions towards family and community is universal. Education remains the ticket to a passage for a future.
I had a teacher in Kindergarten who was determined to make sure that all the kids wrote the alphabets correctly. The idea that kids should behave and listen to the teacher and carry key lessons from home was a given. I do not remember any of my friends relishing the thought of a call (or worse a visit) from the
teacher for bad behavior. But ofcourse there were those students who did get into trouble and there were consequences.
The most precious gift I had as a child was the time to explore and learn - through reading, listening and sharing. Going to school was not a chore, but a time to connect with people my age and the opening of my mind to things I never knew existed.
Communities celebrate, different things - yet a common thread seems to be the desire to connect with each other in some way. Food seems to be the currency of choice if you will and calories have a field day.
I am at this strange age when I can reflect back and wonder as to why my parents/other adults were talking about their good old days (when I was young) and why today I am reflecting on the good old days (as my children are young). It is not as if the present is all bad - yet, why do we seem to have a unreasonable
view of all things past? It is in part, I think, a human trait to look at all the trees in the present, while only having a view of the forest in the past. The present is full of uncertainties, most of us struggle to do what we need to do and must do.
Yet, while we dwell in the past and wish for simpler things, most of us are optimistic about the future.
Things are almost certainly better today than they were a few decades ago. Not too many years ago, people died or suffered from what we would, today, Consider manageable diseases - a bacterial infection (without antibiotics), fever of unknown origins, small pox, influenza and so on. True, today people still die from such causes, but statistically we have made enormous progress. It is true that heart disease remains the number one killer today, yet imagine what it could be without statins, our understanding of blood pressure and how diet and exercise can help control the disease (if not eliminate it). None of the progress came automatically - there was someone, somewhere who was curious about
bacteria, the heart and how blood flows and why some of the pipes that carry blood seem to close up and so on. These scientists and engineers were determined to find out why and more importantly how to treat or prevent such calamities.
Modern medicine has been simply incredible. Just recently we heard that cancer deaths have continued their downward decline and I expect soon it will become a chronic disease, like diabetes. Humans are determined to control their own destiny through reasoning through the problems that beset us and finding a solution.
Paul Ehrlich was all gloom and doom about the earth's population when it was a scant 1 billion. We are all still here and thriving. Relax, it will only get better.
I have had the fortune of experiencing two very different societies and norms and customs. Yet, I find much that is common. The language of science and mathematics remains universal and binds us all in ways that we sometimes, forget. The sentiments and emotions towards family and community is universal. Education remains the ticket to a passage for a future.
I had a teacher in Kindergarten who was determined to make sure that all the kids wrote the alphabets correctly. The idea that kids should behave and listen to the teacher and carry key lessons from home was a given. I do not remember any of my friends relishing the thought of a call (or worse a visit) from the
teacher for bad behavior. But ofcourse there were those students who did get into trouble and there were consequences.
The most precious gift I had as a child was the time to explore and learn - through reading, listening and sharing. Going to school was not a chore, but a time to connect with people my age and the opening of my mind to things I never knew existed.
Communities celebrate, different things - yet a common thread seems to be the desire to connect with each other in some way. Food seems to be the currency of choice if you will and calories have a field day.
I am at this strange age when I can reflect back and wonder as to why my parents/other adults were talking about their good old days (when I was young) and why today I am reflecting on the good old days (as my children are young). It is not as if the present is all bad - yet, why do we seem to have a unreasonable
view of all things past? It is in part, I think, a human trait to look at all the trees in the present, while only having a view of the forest in the past. The present is full of uncertainties, most of us struggle to do what we need to do and must do.
Yet, while we dwell in the past and wish for simpler things, most of us are optimistic about the future.
Things are almost certainly better today than they were a few decades ago. Not too many years ago, people died or suffered from what we would, today, Consider manageable diseases - a bacterial infection (without antibiotics), fever of unknown origins, small pox, influenza and so on. True, today people still die from such causes, but statistically we have made enormous progress. It is true that heart disease remains the number one killer today, yet imagine what it could be without statins, our understanding of blood pressure and how diet and exercise can help control the disease (if not eliminate it). None of the progress came automatically - there was someone, somewhere who was curious about
bacteria, the heart and how blood flows and why some of the pipes that carry blood seem to close up and so on. These scientists and engineers were determined to find out why and more importantly how to treat or prevent such calamities.
Modern medicine has been simply incredible. Just recently we heard that cancer deaths have continued their downward decline and I expect soon it will become a chronic disease, like diabetes. Humans are determined to control their own destiny through reasoning through the problems that beset us and finding a solution.
Paul Ehrlich was all gloom and doom about the earth's population when it was a scant 1 billion. We are all still here and thriving. Relax, it will only get better.
Enjoy, take a whiff - It's a good world
The Bhagavad Gita is a poem within the Indian Epic, the Mahabharata. It deals with many things but the one item that is of most interest to me is what Krishna tells Arjuna about beliefs and the power of internalization. Arjuna is torn about going to battle where he knows that many of his relatives will be killed. Krishna expounds on life and living and many things. Yet, he tells Arjuna that he (Arjuna) must make up his own mind and not do as Krishna tells him to. To me this is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita - that I have the power within me to listen and decide what is right and wrong and not have to rely on ANY authority. That, that is also what I should impart to my children - open them up to the power of their minds and their ability to reason and think for themselves.
You may be wondering where I am headed with this jaunt down a bit of eastern philosophy. As long as I can remember, I have enjoyed learning and teaching. Mathematics (geometry in particular), science (chemistry, physics and now biology) and engineering have always been fascinating. The boundaries of my ignorance keeps expanding ever so rapidly as I progress in my learning. Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned is what I will loosely call
the scientific process and fidelity to that process.
I am delighted and privileged that I am a member of the community of peoples in these United States of America that continues to be the engine of growth and innovation and unparalleled optimism.
From time to time I will share by wonder about the world around us - and there is so much. Instead of gloom and doom, my columns will be about how, we humans, by the sheer power of our minds and reasoning, continue to make this world a better place.
I am continually reminded about the wonders around us through the eyes and the world of my 5 year old child - sho sees delight in fallen leaves and the sensation of taking off in an airplane or the thrill when it lands.
I'll start with the airplane. I am not a stranger to air travel, yet I am amazed everytime the plane takes off and lands without incident. I remind myself of Bernoulli who understood that when air is forced at high velocities on top of wings, the pressure is lower and there is a lift. I am amazed at the engines that run for hours on end with nary a problem and carry hundreds of people safely.
The world as we know is flat and shrinking all the time.
The automobile - or should I say a moving device with controlled explosions? The next time you turn the ignition key, think about what it took for so many to have figured out how to harness the power of explosive material to move you and your family safely from one place to another.
The telephone - with or without wires, carrying voice over thousands of miles (or next door). Whether it is the small particle called electron or precisely
generated waves that can travel miles, we can keep in touch.
The internet - ah yes, packets of information whizzing around from computer to computer and bringing what you want, where you are - the world at your fingertips.
Statins - those wonder drugs that grab the bad cholesterol and take them away so you can enjoy a longer, more productive life.
The printing press - words that bring me delight and joy (with the help of glasses made from man-made plastic material that helps me see).
Summer fruits and vegetables in winter - the magic of air cargo and the linking of the Northern and the Southern hemispheres.
The world is a better place today than it has ever been. Enjoy, take a whiff.
You may be wondering where I am headed with this jaunt down a bit of eastern philosophy. As long as I can remember, I have enjoyed learning and teaching. Mathematics (geometry in particular), science (chemistry, physics and now biology) and engineering have always been fascinating. The boundaries of my ignorance keeps expanding ever so rapidly as I progress in my learning. Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned is what I will loosely call
the scientific process and fidelity to that process.
I am delighted and privileged that I am a member of the community of peoples in these United States of America that continues to be the engine of growth and innovation and unparalleled optimism.
From time to time I will share by wonder about the world around us - and there is so much. Instead of gloom and doom, my columns will be about how, we humans, by the sheer power of our minds and reasoning, continue to make this world a better place.
I am continually reminded about the wonders around us through the eyes and the world of my 5 year old child - sho sees delight in fallen leaves and the sensation of taking off in an airplane or the thrill when it lands.
I'll start with the airplane. I am not a stranger to air travel, yet I am amazed everytime the plane takes off and lands without incident. I remind myself of Bernoulli who understood that when air is forced at high velocities on top of wings, the pressure is lower and there is a lift. I am amazed at the engines that run for hours on end with nary a problem and carry hundreds of people safely.
The world as we know is flat and shrinking all the time.
The automobile - or should I say a moving device with controlled explosions? The next time you turn the ignition key, think about what it took for so many to have figured out how to harness the power of explosive material to move you and your family safely from one place to another.
The telephone - with or without wires, carrying voice over thousands of miles (or next door). Whether it is the small particle called electron or precisely
generated waves that can travel miles, we can keep in touch.
The internet - ah yes, packets of information whizzing around from computer to computer and bringing what you want, where you are - the world at your fingertips.
Statins - those wonder drugs that grab the bad cholesterol and take them away so you can enjoy a longer, more productive life.
The printing press - words that bring me delight and joy (with the help of glasses made from man-made plastic material that helps me see).
Summer fruits and vegetables in winter - the magic of air cargo and the linking of the Northern and the Southern hemispheres.
The world is a better place today than it has ever been. Enjoy, take a whiff.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Purpose of this Blog
The world is NOT coming to an end. We humans are NOT evil to our environment or to each other or to animals. Yes, there are evil people and evil things happen.
The good that we, humans, do far, far outweighs what a few among us do.
This blog will collect positive stories from science, engineering, human-human interactions and more.
The good that we, humans, do far, far outweighs what a few among us do.
This blog will collect positive stories from science, engineering, human-human interactions and more.
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