ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY

THE MISUSE OF SCIENCE

Even though we hear of discoveries eons ago (READ: Fire, 3.4 million years ago), science as we know it was born not less than a few hundred’s years ago. It was born, like, when, mankind first began to ‘think’. Now we have entered 21^st Century, where science has conquered realms hitherto unknown even to imagination.

We have dug holes kilometers into earth and gone to our starry celestial neighbours and back. We have discovered bacteria the size of a thousandth of an inch and known distances in light years, too. We have counted the number of hairs on our heads and the stars in the Universe.

But then, Einstein would stop laughing in all his pictures if he were told that we used his Energy – Mass Equivalence to flatten whole cities. God knows what would happen to Nobel if he learns we used the dynamite to blow up our neighbours house. Thanks to some international treaties, we do not see countries bowling each other over.

Not to mention the excellent use we have put our two boxes to – the Television and The Computer. Both were invented after years of research for the common good so that mankind advanced forward and found his purpose on Earth. Children watch Television for hours on end and are having seeing problems from a very tender age, thanks to sitting too close. Only we know what uses we put our computers to, courtesy the Internet.

The internet, touted by many as the harbinger of revolution in the world, is the breeding ground for Phishing, Identity Theft, Trolling, Blackmailing. Teenagers know more uses of Facebook and Twitter than anything else. They don’t remember what is on 2^nd October but certainly know about 14^th February. 

They may forget who was Madam Curie but would remember Madamme Tussads.

Teenagers stay up till late at night and keep on chatting with friends or playing games. They do not remember their neighbourhood people but know that they have 1500 ‘friends’ on Facebook. In a fast paced world, the Internet is invading into the commercial domain wiping away all importance for people to people relationships.

I am sorry if anyone feels bad but how many of you know Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya???

The same answer will not be repeated if I asked who Justin Bieber was.

We have made huge strides in technology but now the million-dollar only question that remains now is that have we been able to put science to our good use or not? Today’s desktop computer was yesterday’s supercomputer. Computers area evolving very fast and are getting smaller by the day. We are now entering into the age of wearable technology, where watch like devices track our sleep cycles, food taken, calories burnt, etc. many health parameters.

Five of the World Superpower Countries have enough warheads to destroy the whole world three times over. One click and BOOM!!! The whole world is finished.

Genetically Modified Foods, meant to wipe out starvation and hunger crisis, are wiping out people from earth instead. Overdose of GM Foods causes the worst of diseases ever known to man. GM Foods are reported to contain toxins very harmful to existence. The result, we get a Generation loaded with wonderful diseases – each child being a walking hospital!!!

If we did not wake up to the challenge, we would soon be digging our own graves.

STEPHEN WILLIAM HAWKING

STEPHEN HAWKING

Believed by many to be one of the most brilliant minds ever, Stephen Hawking, CH (Companion of Honour), CBE (Companion of the British Empire), KBE (Knight of the British Empire), FRS(Fellow of the Royal Society), FRSA(Fellow of Royal Society for Arts) was born in 1942, in Oxford, (quite coincidentally) 3 centuries after Galileo Galilei. He studied Physics at Oxford and graduated from Cambridge.

Stephen, aged 12

In his early twenties, unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, known in the United Kingdom as Lou Grehig's Disease.His studies, being largely theoretical (since he studies only theoretical physics) were not affected by the dreadful illness. Then began his cycle of slow disintegration which crippled him to sit in a wheelchair and later removed his ability to speak, too.

He is considered by the scientific community worldwide to be one of the greatest minds since Einstein and holds his chair at Cambridge, succeeding Dr. PAM Dirac ( Laucasian Professor for Mathematics). His respect in the scientific community stems from his over brilliant mind and seemingly paralyzing disease he has been afflicted with for decades.

He is known for doing plethoric amount of research on black holes. He is deeply intrigued by the Origin of the Universe, as according to him it alone explains the presence of a Creator. The various models of its origin keep various limits as to when he would have intervened in the creation.

In 1985, he was diagnosed with pneumonia. The tracheostomy operation also removed his ability to speak. It was at that time that he completed the first draft of A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. He somehow completed the book that ripped apart bestseller charts in the UK.

However now he is helped by a Communications programme ‘Living Center’ which was donated by Word Plus Inc. based in Sunnyvale, California. A speech synthesizer from Speech Plus California (also based in Sunnyvale California) and a personal computer were mounted onto his wheelchair by one person David Mason.

Carl Sagan, in the introduction to Hawking’s celebrated bestseller A Brief History of Time vividly recalls Hawking’s investigature  into the Royal Society –

‘A man in a wheelchair was signing his name on a book that had on its earliest pages the name of Newton. As he finished, there was applause from the audience. Stephen Hawking was a legend even then.’

Peter Higgs and Stephen Hawking. Foreground shows the LHC, artist's impression 

According to him, life for him is a claustrophobic room whose walls are narrowing day by day. Any love, care, recognition you get from those outside have little effect. For him, the end is just sitting at the door.

His disease of the motor neuron means that his body slowly disintegrates every moment and any moment can be his last. Although it was decades ago, but one doesn’t know when this legend may pass away silently.

Well, let’s wish the very best to the man who taught us so much that contemplating all of it would cost many of us our lifetimes!!!

EDUCATION - how much complete???

MANY FACETS OF EDUCATION

                                                                    

Education. Some say it is twelve years of careful note – taking, self study and staring at a black board (which looks more green than black most of the time J). Thanks to educational laws, nowadays we have an appreciable literacy rate. But is just literacy education?

Education is said to have been completed once its purpose is fulfilled.

The purpose of today’s education is mostly the rote learning of a few books and regurgitation by examination. Recent measures by the CBSE and the Education Ministry have led to the fulfillment of the goal of education to certain extent. We can now know and grow (which is something the CBSE logo propagates to the intellectual community).

The real goal of education is to educate to shape a child to become a responsible citizen who can take the mantle of the society when he grows up. Education is actually meant to teach values, too.

The learning of concepts through hands-on learning and not rote learning is just one of the many objectives central to the ideal form of education. It is really overwhelming to see that many schools have taken significant steps in that direction. Many schools are striving to make education a joy- ride by inculcating projects wherever they can.

Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan provides a classical example of real education. Tagore himself always had a personal distaste for education tailor-made to suit only those bent to serve the British Empire. So when he grew up, he established this gurukula for those who also shared his distaste for conventional education. Education in those days was primarily introduced to induct Indians into British Civil Services, and take services form them.  

From the modern day, His Holiness Shri Satya Sai Baba also presents a wonderful example through his own children. He did not admit his children to conventional school till a few years and gave them free roam across the house. The children used to go near red blazing fire and try to touch it. They then observed themselves how their fingers got singed in the process. Thus, they learnt that RED IS DANGER. Simple.

He (Satya Sai Baba) used to just watch these proceedings EAGLE-EYED from a distance taking care that his children did not cause themselves any real harm.

Thus half of life’s lessons are learnt by them before they enter school. We rarely get to see such examples in real life. Today, if you get the topmost rank the whole class cheers you. They don’t even ask if you wrote on your own or copied from someone (or even didn’t write at all – trust me, I do even have real – life examples). Not that I am saying to stop studying, throw your books out of the window or anything like that.

You might be a walking supercomputer, but still life isn’t algebra. Or sin, cos, tan. The best of life is enjoyed outside the books. You never get brains to handle real-life examples in leather-bound books.

Life presents us with scores of problems. Our job is to wade through its deepest waters because the day will bring the sun. We have to face all problems and solve them. There can never be an end to problems and we have to just keep on moving on, because that is what is life is all about.

Even in a classroom, half the students are physically present, mentally absent. Their mind completes a world tour while the body sits staring at a wall painted black. Their mind goes to America, Australia, Africa, sails in the oceans, dives in Galpagos explores the world till a hard tap wakes it back to the present. The teacher throws our globetrotter out of the class. (sic)

Sometimes one thinks of the golden era. Our parents did not have internet, computer and if you went and asked someone what Google or Wikipedia was, they did reply it maybe a place in a foreign country. But yet, they did study, did get great marks and topped classes in many cases. We should perhaps worship them for going along without Facebook or Youtube. Or Internet in general.

TEENAGER TODAY

TEEN TODAY 

The teenager today has been lucky enough to be born in the era of commercialization. The world rests at his fingertips. Invading into today’s homes are gadgets, gizmos and stuff.

Multinational companies are busy inventing the next big thing in the market to compete with each other. Noise cancellation earphones, spy pens, the smartest smartphones, survelliance gadgetry and what not. Name it and they have it on offer. It seems the list won’t end.

Gizmos have made life a lot easier for the average teen. Then there are those lifestyle improvement gadgets which track various parameters about our health and help us modify our lives accordingly. They work day and night and some even wake us up at time in the morning monitoring our sleep cycles during the night.

 Samsung Gear Fit

These where the ones which are kind of helpful to us. But think of the other useless things. Today, on an average a person has two mobile phones. One can see even a paanwala thumbing at his touchscreen. What was earlier a flaunt toy possessed only by rich has now become accessory. In a fast world, mobiles are coming and going by the dozen. Teens too fall prey to catchy visuals and marketing and are always seen replacing old phones, devices, etc. keeping in pace with what is latest in the market.

But the gizmos do have a DOWNSIDE. They have not only made life a lot easier, they have also made it a lot lazier. We nowadays see teen diabetic patients courtesy a fast paced life coupled with combined effect of junk food and gizmos. We have moved on from family photos to selfies, and from full sentences to hashtags. Everyone seems to be in a hurry-burry to move ahead in the rat race and leave behind his next competitior.

Thanks to all our advanced gadgetry, we today live in a net of dangerous Electromagnetic Radiation, so deadly we risk ourselves to CANCER every day. Just take this into perspective. An average house has a fridge, TV, computer, and an AC if possible. The biggest demon is the mobile. It is constantly in touch with towers nearby and so is constantly emitting radiation. Even the other gadgets have to communicate amongst themselves, so they use EMR. It is very dangerous to expose oneself for long periods as it may lead to cancer in future.

The newspapers are filled with things like INTERNET ADDICTION, PHISHING, IDENTITY THEFT, TROLLING and other disturbing things. What on earth is internet addiction about? Why do we need de-addiction centres for that too? Do we not have brains? Sorry, our brains have been hacked into by Mr. Box - With - Brains

Facebook and Twitter (and the like) may have made the world smaller, but we have forgotten our neighbour because of our online friends. We remember the virtual world more than our local world.

I have personally not got any advantage from my Facebook account since I first created it. Perhaps only that you have liberty of expression – the other side won’t bowl you over. The interaction that used to exist a few years ago is absent. Teens keep glued to Facebook and forget about their bats and balls.

For them games mean Kinect, Nintendo, PSP and the others. They forget teenage is the period we ought to take good care of ourselves.

The world might have come knocking at our door, but it has bought both the good and bad with it. Some take everything in without basic filtering.

The result – we get a generation which doesn’t know about their neighbor, for whom because is bcoz (and yes it has happened even today) and who don’t care even if Voldemort comes to kill their neighbor. They do not care about General Knowledge; they just have a general knowledge of things.

I would thus request, or rather plea to the younger generation to stay away from ill- effects of ‘gadgetitis’ and emerge as fresh, smart, all-knowing leaders of tomorrow.

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CULPRITS WITHOUT CRIMES

ISLAND PRISON NIGHTMARES

600 people picked up from around the world.

Sent off to an island prison in the back of beyond.

Most of them were without a hint of crime in their past but the US said they were ‘enemies’ of the US. Most of them fortunate enough to be released into fresh air never led normal lives after that.

Life became hell for them. It was NOW that they became criminals and indulged in breaking federal law. Now they actually became dangerous threats to the society which previously had thought them to be ‘guilty’.

600 people from all over the world were put under bars by US forces at Guanatamo Bay, a US island territory near Cuba controlled by Naval Forces. Most of them never saw their families again. They were ‘fed on filth’ and they ‘slept on vermin’.

Outside the prison, America had started a literal war with the world. It installed full body scanners which cared the least about passengers’ privacy. It only had one thing on its mind – it wanted Osama, and anything in exchange for it.  Anything.

Amnesty International once went to Guanatamo Bay and was reported to have told that the US treated the people in ways that violated various treaties signed by the US. They were treated even more badly than Prisoners of War. The United Nations had even ordered a closure of the island prison.

America Inc. paid a deaf ear to all of them. It only wanted to lay its hands on 9/11 terror mastermind and Islamist outfit Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden – at any cost. It staked everything it had into the terror hunt.

It was only until recently did USA succeeded in the capture of the world’s most talked of terrorist the terror mastermind Osama, thanks to Obama administration. Mr. Obama also won laurels after he ordered closure of the prison as soon as he became president in 2009.

Obama’s shout of ‘Geronimo Ekia’ as US SEALS shot down Osama in his Abottabad residence was echoed throughout the press. Geronimo Ekia being a military cry meaning – ‘we got, we got the man we were looking for’.

Pentagon thus finally avenged the hijacking of three planes on the unfateful day, the third planned at that time to bomb the defence HQ. With Osama bin Laden’s death America breathed at ease.  It ended ages of desperate international outcry and manhunt for the greatest terrorist of all time.

The island prison had long since been closed.

It was also a relief to them and to all those who had been affected by terrorist attacks, not forgetting even 26/11 at Mumbai. Mumbai attacks were the most dreadful to ever take place as a dozen or so terrorists held hundreds hostage at Taj President Hotel at Mumbai. Taj along with the Trident Oberoi, the Jewish home Nariman House and the Mumbai CST was one of the many sites that were terrorized that day.  Indian soldiers were successful in the capture of Ajmal Kasab, one of the many who were behind the attacks. Kasab was executed recently.

One thinks that why we have so many terrorist attacks all the time. Is it because of weak protection? Or weak resolve? Only we and we can stop such attacks if they happen in near future with a pinch of vigilance and some courage.

Because what we do, affects the nation.