There was this editorial in yesterday’s newspaper about how we ought to reflect upon the recent scientific ‘discovery’ that apparently Aesop knew what he was talking about when he wrote, almost 2,500 years ago, the fable about the crow filling a pitcher with pebbles until the water came up to such a level that it could drink.
Whoever wrote that editorial was not only a sensible person with a good sense of humour but also somebody who knew what the state of ‘science’ is these days, and how seriously we ought to take everything that scientific research claims to ‘discover’.
Much of what science is actually re-discovering is what used to be called plain common sense derived from long and well-digested, well-remembered experience – the kind of wisdom that old men and grandmothers used to pass on to their young, before they came to be derided as ‘old-fashioned’ and ‘out of touch’ by people who were sadly deluded by ‘the latest’, which is most definitely not always the best. It would be a nice idea if we could grow less snooty about our ‘knowledge’ and more open to the wisdom of the ages. As I have said in my other blog before, being informed or even being knowledgeable is not the same as being wise, and what this world lacks today, even more than wise men, is respect and attention to wise men. It is not a sign of progress that one needs a PhD today to say things that any granny who had never studied beyond high school knew even three generations ago, nor should a doctor or accountant or lawyer or engineer give himself airs about being wise just because he has mastered some saleable skill or the other (skills which often benefit the man who sells it far more than his customer!). So long as one has not digested and internalized a book like say the Panchatantra, one is at best a fool with a few degrees to his name, and this world is being dragged by the scruff of its neck towards disaster by such learned fools. Those interested may read the scathing remarks made about ‘experts/specialists’ in John le Carre’s The Russia House by a man who was a specialist himself, an atomic scientist: ‘...when this world is destroyed, it will be destroyed by the superior ignorance of its specialists’ is what he said if I remember correctly.
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5 comments:
The article and your post reminds me among other things that these days there is much talk within academic circles about the rediscovery and the importance of bodies of traditional ecological knowledge among indigenous populations (more than half of which don't have any remaining land to call their own). And the most common talk is about science 'discovering' the benefits of yoga and even attentive breathing towards promoting holistic health. And wasn't there a loud "hallelujah" in the west when the United States (scientists they must have been) at some point in time 'discovered' the unique properties of tulsi and turmeric and the U.S wanted to patent the use of both? And what about scientists exhorting the benefits of recycling and reusing, which have become so fashionable practices of late?
Couldn't agree more with your statement regarding the wise and more importantly our overall lack of respect and attention for wise men and for what they have to say. But lo and behold if a man has a fancy degree or works at a fancy university - then our respect knows no bounds. And what is with this fascination for experts and for being one? Were Tagore, Russell, Schumacher and Fromm - just to name some admirable and wise men - all fools? And does the two-penny bit PhD graduate of today really think s/he has more knowledge or wisdom? No, for more than most of the PhDs and experts and specialists - and I mean the whole wagon of them - the less said the better.
Your post does remind me of some other hilarious stories that Guha’s told me and some of which I’ve read for myself regarding science and what expert scientists discover and squabble over these days and some bizarre stories about how some scientists guarantee funding for themselves (right after 9/11 – almost everything was somehow related to bioterrorism…). And if anything I’d say it was considerably worse in the social sciences.
Thanks for the post, Suvro da. Was wondering when you were going to put one up here….
Shilpi
Alas, scientific temperament and rigour is no longer respected, unless supported by the nitty-gritties of theories, mathematical derivations and so on. Often, as you have observed, the pursuers of science delude themselves when they skim just the surface of the scientific wisdom; familiarising themselves only with the outer cloak - form - while being unaware of the essence.
Being somewhat connected to the subject, at least obliquely, I realise how often in the confounding mazes of variables and constants the heart and purpose of learning science gets lost. Empirical observations do not satisfy scientists. And while I stop short of denying the need for mathematical verification, I guess a large part of the subject can be explained in simple sentences, using analogous allusions to commonplace natural observations and suchlike. That serves a dual goal: reducing the dreariness of instruction, and wedding nature with science (which is what the subject exists for - understanding our world better).
Oh, about specialists, I remember that old hilarious line about people who learn more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. Heard that in one of your classes. In that connection, there's another of your lines: the screwdriver (a product of scientific thinking) and how it can be used for either gouging out someone's eyes or for tightening a loose screw. The former kind (Einstein's 'apes') has sadly multiplied in larger numbers than the latter.
Isn't the saying that "there's nothing new under the sun" proves to be true time and again.It is just that the quantity of many things like the number of charlatans or the number of silly inventions(there was an article in The Times Of India that scientists have made a device that measures love,much like a lie-detecting machine)changes.The most quintessential book ever written,The Mahabharatha,describes with unerringly preciseness many scientific facts which were supposedly less understood then(the reference is of course being made to Aswathama using current electricity and Lord Krishna ordering 5the Pandavas to discard all their metal shields and stand on the ground,the sink; and eclipses among many other today's "better known facts" ).If people studied books such as The Bhagvad Gita(found nearly in every "brahmin's" house,and studied by nearly none of them) then many "Art of Living" centres would be closed,if people read Kautilya's Arthashastra ,then many MBA schools would run of of business!Even the concept of saving wildlife and forests are in the Mahabharata and the Vedas(Yudhisthir,while living in a particular forest had a dream that fauna of that woods pleaded him tomove to come other place to prevent endangering of the species!).Proper energy is not being focussed in eliminating major health concerns like polio,malaria and dengue seems to have made India their permanent homes,while many rich people around us(rich only in the monetary sense) patronize silly inventions such as tablets to make water in swimming pool blue.
While the Health Minister is waving blueprints for the battle against swineflu,the United States Of America started buying and hoarding preventive medicines when it was justperceived as a medium threat.
Why most of us squat and wait for some armageddon to hit us and then take some damage minimising measures,why never beforehand preventive measures?
I am not demonizing or villifying the entire system ,it is just that I am ,and probably Sir, are lamenting the snail like pace of real progress.Indeed where would we be without the discovery of ,say, anasthesia, bicycle, electric bulb!
And many wise men over the ages have been less respected simply because by being wise one is widely separated from the common man and alas ,as the world is today we do not have to look beyond half a meter to find a moron.
On a similar and a lighter note about specialists,i once visited a dentist for fixing my 8 half lossened teeth(I was hurt while playing soccer)And that complete fool root canaled 9 teeth ,can you imagine it -one whole and hearty teeth was drilled for the sake of earning 500 rupees.Iwas given four local anasthesia.
Sir,that doctor "practises" near the Community Centre junction,on the main road just behind your house .Don't ever go to him1
Amazing!Still rings true even through all these years.
Dear Sir,
This is equally relevant today (as are your other posts), if not more than when you wrote this post about nine years ago. Personally, I think there is nothing wrong in re-discovering 'old-fashioned' knowledge and it can help us going forward; the problem is the hubris associated with this re-discovery and the branding of it as something new and extraordinary.
As you shared in your last post in the other blog, a small fraction of people are realizing the havoc caused by technology and going back to the basics like reading books, writing with pen and paper and doing simple calculations mentally. You have been saying for years that writing an essay with proper grammar and spelling should be one of the criteria of a person being literate; fancy brain-mapping studies of social media addicts and attention-deficiency disorders are not a necessity to understand the ill-effects of technology. Bankers and economists build up an artificially bloated economy through credit cards and loans and when it crashes, we understand why our grandparents used to save first and spend later.
Thank you for the post; it feels good to come back to the older ones. Though it is hard to understand they are old unless I actually look at the dates!
With regards,
Saikat.
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