The Art of Nation Building through Science and Technology

The following are the topics presented by Vigyan Prasar for improving the scientific temperament in the country.

Science as a tool for Subjugation

This title seems to be incomplete and often leads to a wrong perspective about the matter. The real purpose of science is to eliminate miseries of human life, assist in the emancipation of the living being, and provide a platform that is infallible (located in the spiritual plane). The subjugation should help cure material diseases and should be as graceful as possible. Although it is policing, it should lead to a higher conscience and must be game-like. Graceful subjugation is always desired, however, it should not lead to the subject being unnecessarily eating fire. Effective policing will lead to a healthy lifestyle and is the basis for a healthy nation and healthy mankind. 

Science as a Tool for Liberation: Role of Scientist

Scientific thinking and scientific process enable us to lessen the physical burden of human beings, through mechanization and automation. For instance, the discovery of the electric motor has cut down human effort. In modern times, automation has paved the way to shape a society that is productive at work and focused on service. Artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning is building a network of computing devices in order to serve the public through environment sensing, warning natural disasters, and assistive technologies. 

Although the world is always beautiful and at the same time a learning center, at times as humans we encage ourselves in material anxieties. Keeping informed about their superior position or nature is vital for every conditioned person. The science of spiritual well-being should be taught and education should be made the priority. Scientists and practitioners should have the capacity to lead society and keep it occupied in the service of mankind and other living beings. The capacity to adapt is widely required by a scientist living in the scientific community.

Science as a Tool for Liberation: Role of Institutions-Academic, Industrial, Research

Academic institutions, industrial organizations, and research centers are the essential cranks for the development of the nation. Academic institutions aid in the formation of ideas, and are the bedrock for the free exchange of intellectual talent and pave the way to industry and original research. Industrial involvement is essential to convert research to products which are essential to maintain a supply chain. Such industrial involvement should nurture both academic and research centers in a cyclic process through regular engagement. The key research should focus on the right kinds of questions to seek for the benefit of society. It is to be emphasized that research should begin from the people and settle on the people themselves. Our researchers and physicists need to be trained in viewing the research problems objectively through the lens of experience and mentorship.   

Science as a Tool for Liberation: Role of Movements 

This country has seen several agricultural revolutions, viz. the green revolution, white revolution, and the blue revolution. These movements were inspired by agricultural scientists such as Dr. M S Swaminathan and Dr. Varghese Kurian. It is interesting to note that India's dependence on imports largely diminished after introducing the high yield varieties and the cooperative societies.  

The country is not unaware of its freedom movement. The civil-disobedience movement, the Brahm Samiti, etc were born out of the freedom movement. The real purpose of these movements is to liberate man from devouring ignorance. Real conquest is self-realization and the resource is available in our own knowledge and culture. Scientific temperament can be a great boon in mobilizing resources in the direction of eliminating the ill effects of superstitious beliefs and practices.

Science as a Tool for Liberation: Role of Policy & Planning ("Aiding liberation, and win-win competition")

The policy framework for science should consider sustainable planning and resource allocation. As there are plenty of elements associated with the continued interest and progress in science, one needs to pay attention to the quality of scientific research and its relevance. The government cannot afford to spend taxpayer money on liberal research projects when India is facing poverty and hunger. Our efforts should go on to revive the eternal culture and equip the youth to develop values that define our tradition. India has the potential to be a global guru and should set an example in stages such as spiritual growth, holistic medical care and should be a persistent partner in the manufacturing sector. Our policy and planning should revive India’s handloom and khadi products. We need to provide technologies that can be self-realized and should be able to maintain excellent quality while ensuring sustainable living.

Science as a Tool for Liberation: Vision of Our Scientists ("Vision for progress")

The vision of our social and spiritual scientists is to create a healthy nation, with the ability for Yogakshemam (welfare).  Scientists such as Vikram Sarabhai and Homi J Baba are pioneers who lead the space revolution along with nuclear technology. Through their vision, the ISRO has come into existence and India could elevate itself to the technology earlier known only in the western world. Similarly, BARC became an excellent learning center to pursue atomic energy education and became a center of excellence to provide civilian nuclear technology for human benefit.

I would like to sign off with a Desh Bhakti Geetham:

bhārataṁ en bhārataṁ
vindhyācalavuṁ himālayavuṁ niṟañña anugrahīta bhūmi en bhārataṁ
mahāpuruṣanmāruṭe gītaṁ oḻukiyettuṁ puṇya dēśaṁ en bhārataṁ

ഭാരതം എൻ ഭാരതം
വിന്ധ്യാചലവും ഹിമാലയവും നിറഞ്ഞ അനുഗ്രഹീത ഭൂമി എൻ ഭാരതം
മഹാപുരുഷന്മാരുടെ ഗീതം ഒഴുകിയെത്തും പുണ്യ ദേശം എൻ ഭാരതം

Introspection in the Age of AI

The mind-body relation

Whenever we think of the mind, we should understand that it is a resource that is shared between several living entities. Out of the several thousand thoughts that become images in the mind, only a tiny bit will become something of interest to an individual living entity.  We need to understand the need of the living being from these thought signals which are often buried in noise due to self-imposed conditioning. The living entity has to come to a constitutional position in order to execute this task. This constitutional position is one that of service, one that of love, and one that of purity. The emerging hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be directed in setting the position of the living being along this direction. Beyond writing code for the development of AI, the governments need to formulate policies that look into the ethical practices that keep its progress more welfare motivated.

How to enliven each moment?

The twenty-first century is one that is knowledge-based and self-supervised. In this pedagogical setting ancient modes of knowledge transfer meets with modern technological advancements. We need to acknowledge this interdependence with grace and embellish the descending knowledge tradition with interactive case studies and objective vision.  Our teaching-learning practices should empower and expand rather than demotivate and deteriorate. In this context, our university education system should adopt the work on the 3 C's (i) Cocreate (ii) Collaborate, and (iii) Cooperate.  These values can change the current vacuum in our education where practice does not match theory and the expectation does not meet the market demand. A holistic need-based educational scheme that emphasizes the talents of the youth should be made our top priority. Also, our system has to adopt a bonafide goal-oriented approach rather than seeking temporary pleasures in low-hanging fruits.

Controlling human greed

In the human experience greed is the biggest foe in personal and organizational development. Greed leads to loss of vision for the bonafide goal and develops negative reactions that leave behind unwanted emotional stress.  Feelings of loss and gain are often in tension during events of greed and the thought process broods over unnecessary whimsical needs. It is strongly believed that AI companions are the best fit to remove the influence of greed and shift the human mindset to be directed more towards growth and learning. AI developers and software engineers can generate a regret-reward system to incentivize in creating an ecosystem that prevents individuals from harming themselves from the menace of greed. Modern AI-based language tools should enable the users to tone down the greedy segments through sentence or speech corrections.  

We are self-learners

The interesting feature of the human experience is in his ability to adapt to change and also to learn by himself or herself. The self-learning aspect benefits in achieving a long-term vision of happiness, wealth, and wisdom. The AI revolution brings along with it ample opportunities for lifelong learning coupled with happiness and fun. AI can be a companion in providing assistance and feedback immediately. This human-in-the-loop model will surely enable us in making this world a suitable and better place.

Let every living being be in a state of bliss - (सर्वे भवन्तुः  सुखिनः )

KAIZAN - The key to continuous improvement

In my quest for the ideal template for an entrepreneur, I hit across the Japanese term "KAIZAN" which meant continuous improvement. There is something inherent in every living being that persists across all odds. Just like ants that stock food for the winter, I was thinking the pandemic is a good excuse to understand the intricacies in the mind of an entrepreneur. I came from a science and math background which was traditionally thought to have no connection with business or sales. So my knowledge at the beginning was very sparse and could not even connect the mode of thinking generally unseen in a typical scientist or mathematician. However, the notion of social responsibility had been quite strong in me at this time, because I had an urge to contribute to the social good. My knowledge was really blunted because I did not have any remote expertise in the matter of finance. I thought that any marginal attempt without an idea into the financial model is doomed to end up in the dustbin. At this time I was motivated by a friend, who explained that the key asset for an entrepreneur is not money, but a broad mind that is full of ideas. I too believed in this and started learning how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. In the meantime, my Ph.D. was going in full swing and I was finding it difficult to sustain myself because my scholarship had ended. I needed an innovative mechanism to keep myself afloat.  

A few weeks into the pandemic I got a call for a consulting position with an upcoming EdTech. I chose it without much hesitation, as I had a keen observation of education and the educational system. As I began my consultancy tenure it came upon me that even an educator should be an innovator and entrepreneur. Especially in the online education medium, an educator has to invest time and energy to constantly rise to the expectation of the learners. I started observing that the key requirement for online classes is not content, but was curation. Just like a sculptor curates a statue, an educator has the role to curate the thinking patterns in the learners. My reading of the book on Kaizan kept me motivated in my new assignment and I started experiencing the fact that everyone should become an entrepreneur. Some of my key learnings are discussed below:

 Success is moving from one failure to another failure

In reality we have neither success nor failure. The notion of success and failure are interpretations of the mind. The policy of an entrepreneur has to be lifelong learning. Everyone has to experience failure, this is a fact. Only thing that we have to come in terms is the response to the failure. It is best to ask yourself "what I can learn from this failure?" instead of locking failure with your ego search "why the failure occurs to me alone?". It is to be known that falling is a sign of learning. Unless one embrace failure, one cannot elevate the mind to the level of an entrepreneur. We have be cognizant of the fact that the only constant thing is change. By embracing failure, we learn to adapt in the direction change and also help ourself to develop a broad mindset.   

 Thinking big and starting small

An entrepreneur should develop a mindset to think big and dream big. But for the dream to translate to practice we should be smart to start small. Starting small will douse the elements of ego and pride which otherwise will be deterrant to the development of a broad mindset.  We should wisely follow the SMART goals paradigm- i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. This training of starting small keeps ourself grounded and commited to our goal. Only experience is able to teach us how to set SMART goals. One might fall in the beginning, but if we can pick something when we fall, that will be a huge benefit for the growth of the person. There is something more that a failure can teach than the pleasure a success can give. This will be a huge motivation for embracing failures as we encounter.

Hear before you speak

Entrepreneurship often sketch a wrong picture that he/she has to be bossy towards the subordinates. However, this is a false illusion. Our position should be that of a servant, whether you are a manager or labourer in the factory. An entrepreneur should be submissive and should not create unreasonable hierarchy to satisfy his/her personal ego. Our ancient vedic scriptures is based on the principle of shruti, which emphasize the art of hearing and listening. It makes a lot of sense because only by hearing we can learn the feelings of the person talking opposite to us. Also listening first gives the chance to think before we respond. Giving a response is far better than aimlessly reacting by succumbing to ones anger and ignorance.

Need for documenting your experience

As it was emphasized earlier, the key to success is the ability to embrace failures and to learn by doing.  Documentation is much more important in this new world order because written communication is much more clearer than any other modes of knowledge transfer.  In the Japanese culture the principle of documentation is strongly embedded and this is one of the reasons for the high standards visible in some of Japanese products. Researchers should specifically implement seamless documentation to clear pathways for early adoption of technology.

Staying detached during work

A key principle to excel in work is to develop the aspect of detachment. Once again Indian cultural roots point to this timeless principle that a doer should be virtuous by being equipoised to failure or success and should let go off any attachment to the fruits of action. This philosophy is one of the key pillars to any successful enterprise or mission. A servant should not be concerned so much about his/her personal comfort, instead he/she should be steadfast on the service-oriented activities. Staying detached may also be helpful to avoid over endevouring, which can impact health and cleanliness of mind. In particular, the entrepreneur should act in goodness for the welfare of the larger section of the employees. 

Developing Tiny Habits

In this era of microprocessors, it is also important to plant tiny habits that can later bear fruits of job-satisfaction and personel health.  It is always wise to keep a "Me Hour" where the individual can contemplate on entrepreneurial journey by using measurable tools. In the "Me Hour",  there should not be any interference from anyone including checking the phone. Such a habit is of immense help to boost self-care and self-love and also stimulates clear and compassionate decisions. Any habit practiced for 21 days stays for a lifetime, and that which is practiced for at least 90 days becomes our lifestyle. Entrepreneurs should be role models by investing time to cultivate noble habits.

Mentors and teachers are pivotal in the journey of life. Every entrepreneur should build a strong platform to facilitate continuous improvement through Kaizen.

 

    

I will Sing for You - O Happy

When Life is in Service

All is Just at Your Feet

And when Ease and Ops Appear

Its all the Same

Happy O! Happy

Life is full of it! Just as full

Parents

O Blessed! Be my worthy light.

You returned my soul, O worthy ones

You taught unconditional love.

You taught to give back

You taught us to take the remnants

Beg to be with ! O  flourishing ones

Loving Daughter

Amigos, Amigos, My little princess

Let's Breath the sunshine of the Mother, O little love

Catch the Mighty's Fathers Hand , O Dear

Dreamer, O Dreamer,  You keep my Dreams 

Amigo Amigo!

Vijay A · 2021 - 04 - 17 - Happy - O-Happy

Vijay A · Lullaby - Dreams

Role of EdTechs in Indian Education System

This article is based on my recent interaction with an EdTech startup (name is omitted), where I worked as a consultant. I would like to recall the famous words of Benjamin Franklin; "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest". These words are finding practical value in the present pandemic times.  There are several players in this market today who have grown by more than 300 percent in terms of investment. Today, most of these companies cater to the K-12 segment with STEM (a fancy short form for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) as the focus. I would like to use this blog space to cut across the pros and cons of such EdTech and trace a route on how the Indian learners can leverage best out of these growing EdTech system. 

What is unique about EdTech?

Indian culture firmly upholds the importance of education, which is evident from the numerous centers  of excellence existing from our pre-historic days. This is more visible especially in the south Indian states, where there is a bloom of educational institutions (however there are some outliers here, which solely looks education as some material business). India also considers education as very sacred, where the child is formally initiated to different levels of knowledge (called Vidyaramba, Upanayana etc from place to place). Being a large country with so much diversity, EdTechs will play a unique role in democratizing education to all classes. With technology (audio-visual, VR and others ) EdTechs can build an affordable platform to inculcate the required skills in the young minds. In the coming 5 years, the EdTech industry will revolutionize the primary and middle school education, creating a talent pool equipped with the right kind of skill to realize our dream of a developed and happy nation. However, these companies would require proper guidance to reach this goal.

Visual Learning works for most

Among our sense organs the eyes are considered to be the most important, as we perceive 80% of all knowledge through sight. Video technologies have enabled to bring information seamlessly to the learners, with the aid of animations and the more recent AR and VR technologies. Young students are mostly visual learners, and their minds are attuned to retain knowledge that is intuitive and that which resonates well with their thinking. From my personal experience, I have seen students tend to absorb more from pictures rather than words. I firmly think animation technologies can greatly enhance learning, since it enables a piecemeal approach, which gives the students ample time to digest the concepts. Visual contents should be made easily accessible to the students to keep in pace with the changing learning patterns seen in children. A challenging aspect here is about making digital devices available to the students. There should be noble government and corporate partnerships which can bring down the cost of learning devices (like tablets, computers), and enable more students to the connect to the beneficial content. NGOs, wealthy corporates and the citizens at large should come forward to close this gap in technology democratization.

Motto for EdTechs: "Learning should be Fun"

The goal of the EdTechs should be to engage the students in the most intuitive and playful spirit. Every tinge of stress associated with learning should be nullified, and the learner should feel gelled with the content. Lectures and videos alone will not suffice in general. The EdTech platforms should have features to incorporate intellectual games to reinforce key ideas of the topic/subject being taught. Educators and consultants should be creative in developing such content, and can draw much inspiration from related contents found elsewhere.  While holding my consultancy position, I introduced several math games that helps in reinforcing the concepts in mind of the student. A few resources for these I obtained from the platform call Brilliant (see brilliant.org if interested).

Knowledge should be the master, not money

Educating young minds should be treated with an attitude of service. I have wonderful example of this in many youtube channels related to math education. One that stands out is 3Blue1Brown (being run by Grant Sanderson), who puts seemingly difficult mathematics in intuitive and understandable manner. He runs the channel using the contributions from his patrons. These kind of community oriented educational services will be suitable for individuals to share knowledge with the world. In the Indian context, these kinds of trends are totally unseen. Another interesting player in school mathematics is the 'Art of Problem Solving', run by Richard Rusczy, to equip students in competitive mathematics (like Olympiads). I think these kinds of educational models are worth experimenting in India, keeping in mind the huge talent pool available in our country. Educators should focus on upskilling their talents to suit the present day challenges, and should not be bugged by concerns of capital. Where there is talent, there will definitely  be opportunities to create monetary value.

How the EdTech can evolve?

Looking forward the EdTechs can create  unique space with schools and encourage teachers to use their content. School teachers should be made partners in improving content. The financial model has to be carefully thought, so that the companies can be profitable. There is ample opportunity for after-school engagement too.  Effective teacher involvement can be made with the help of forums and online learning communities. With the online platform comes a great advantage of giving instant student feedback through short quizzes and interactive exercises. I have tried experimenting with quizzes in my consultancy tenure, and I found that students engage well with 1-2 questions in a learning session. Content creators can optimize the number of creators depending on the topic being handled. These after lecture quizzes have the ability to encourage continuity in learning while retaining the major takeaways of the lecture.

Imparting National Values and embracing our Culture

Any holistic approach of education should be blended with imparting values. Since values form the bed rock of character, irrespective of the subject,  the teachers should include small anecdotes, examples or stories to convey the message of moral conduct. In present times this has even more significance, because both parents are working in most families. Educators will find the following materials useful in this regard - Value Education - A Teachers Manual. I have had good experiences in sharing anecdotes that instill values like water (resource) conservation, honesty, compassion, and innovation.