“One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.” Thus spoke Will Durant, the celebrated American historian and philosopher, the author of the 11-volume The Story of Civilization. I sometimes wonder if Dr Manmohan Singh, the PM of India appointed by the Italian boss of the Congress Party, ever read history and if he did, whether he learned that lesson. Doing nothing is a good thing if the default is to do stupid thing. As the Buddha, the Enlightened One, the One Who Went Thus, had said, “First do no harm; then try to do good.” It appears that the appointed (as opposed to elected) PM is ignorant of what the Buddha said and what Durant had pointed out. He should have struck to doing nothing instead of what he actually did.
Continue reading “The Do-nothing Good Dr Manmohan Singh”
Month: April 2009
“Till human voices wake us, and we drown”
April is the National Poetry Month in the US. “Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.”
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The Future of Education and Technology — Part 2
In the previous post, “The Future of Education and Technology,” I wrote that technology will have a disruptive influence on the present education system. But that is par for the course since the influence of technology on education has always been disruptive, rather than incremental. One could say that the education system in general has long periods of stasis punctuated by some technology-driven disruption.
In the following I will argue that the system is ripe for another of those disruptive events that will push the system from its current state to a qualitatively different higher state. As this is a personal view, my argument boils down to a lot of hand waving and no data. I will also introduce an analogy to explicate the changing role of the level of skills required in the production of education. I will use the manufacturing system — specifically automobile manufacture — as an analog.
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Happy Bengali New Year
Shubho Noboborsho!
On the future of education and technology
In what is to follow, I will focus on what is a core concern of this blog: education and related matters. One thing is certain in a world of uncertainty: the system will change. So I would like to ponder the direction and magnitude of the change. It is also certain that the change will be technology based and in a sense will be technology driven. I will take some lessons from books and the web. One book that I have spent some time with recently is “The Race between Education and Technology” by Goldin and Katz. I would also like to touch upon the the future of universities. My point of departure is that technology will have a disruptive influence on them.
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The biggest clown in the circus
I think the biggest clown in the circus must be Mulayan Singh Yadav — affectionately known among his followers as Mullah Singh Yadav — of the Samajwadi Party. He has figured out that computers lie at the root of the problems that India faces. Why?
“The use of computers in offices is creating unemployment problems. Our party feels that if work can be done by a person using hands there is no need to deploy machines,” Mr. Mulayam Singh said at a press conference after unveiling the [Samajwadi Party] manifesto.
The War and the Circus
Perhaps most humans are congenitally belligerent and can be reasonably expected to get into fights. But it takes institutionalized big businesses to create a war machine that raises ordinary human belligerence to levels of superhuman insanity. The war machine — and one can argue that indeed there is only one such thing but with a global reach, even though its components are multinational in the sense that people from various nations participate in their creation and maintenance — is so pervasive that it seems to be as natural, unchangeable, and logical as the seasons. Like the seasons, the war machine dictates how people carry on with their lives unquestioningly. People generally accept the war machine as naturally they do the seasons.
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The Lady Who Could Sing: A Parable
There was a young lady who could sing so beautifully that she would enchant every listener. Her songs could be heard everywhere. She was very good for the music lovers.
She became rich and famous. Lots of people wanted her to sing their songs. Because she was in demand, she began demanding things — such as not allowing any of her competitors to sing. She silenced her opposition.
Time goes by, and the young lady became an old lady. Her voice had become shrill and painful to listen to. But still she insisted on singing. The music lovers are eagerly waiting for her last song because only after she departs will sweet songs be heard once again.
A certain political organization has also grown old and unbearable. Isn’t it time we heard the last of it?
Don’t vote UPA — reason #410
In a few days, Indians will vote in a general election. The result of the elections will determine who gets to make the policies for India. The Congress-led UPA performed dismally over the last five years. No surprise there. The UPA has as good a shot at winning this time around as does the NDA or the Third Front. I wouldn’t vote for the Congress for an enormous number of reasons. Here’s one reason that M J Akbar spelled out in August 2008. The original is from the Khaleej Times Online, dated 4th Aug, 2008: “Band Aid for Cancer.” I reproduce the entire article below the fold for the record. Continue reading “Don’t vote UPA — reason #410”
On Balanced Growth of India
Development inclusive of people in rural areas is not really distinct from development in general. Indeed it is not possible to have real development while excluding the majority of the people — the majority of Indians are rural.
Generally speaking, Indian rural populations and subsistence agriculture are almost exactly congruent notions. As long as that equation persists, India will continue to be underdeveloped and poor. The reason is that subsistence agriculture does not scale, and therefore the productivity is bounded by a very low limit.
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Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 