Scientific Temper !!

10th March 2010.

3PM - Avaya India Cafeteria



We had the pleasure of having one of India's most revered scientists, Dr. Jayant Narlikar at Avaya today as a part of our LEAD initiative. Astrophysics, being a topic which for some reason has always fascinated me, I totally had to attend this session when I knew that one of the best in that field is coming to meet us !



Its 8:50 PM right now as it happens to be one of the rare occasions when I just have no work at all , m done for the day... got my ass covered on all my projects.. so probably for the first time.. I am able to record my experience in a blog post on the very same day. Not sure if I'll be able to publish this today though...



Being 71 years old he was a lively chap.. focused, knowledgeable and he covered a few things which I personally would like to remember , recall... laugh ....thts the reason behind me writing this post .



He started off by stating a very simple fact.. any theory in science is questionable, scientific heroes like Newton, Einstein... have given theories which are the backbone of future research.. but at times we come across information which contradicts what they have predicted .



This is when he put forward the term Scientific Temper, questioned the ST of Indians...

the logic, the application of ST behind the thinking of our society.. or rather..the lack of it.

Any theory, by any scientific hero.. can always be put to a test...... amazing isn't it.. something which is taken as the core of a research, the starting point.. is proved wrong...... back to square one.. how would you feel.



He then moved on to quoting some examples around our beliefs and tactics...and this is where the fun starts..they way he described these experiences... m just gonna quote a few which I remember.....



The biggest superstitious belief very prominent in our country... Astrology... our tendency to believe that Horoscopes can be true... and the stars and the planets govern our future !..
I am sure most of us must have met some friend who would tell us.. that hey I met this baba in my town ..whatever he says comes true nd all..
It is sheer chance... if someone wins a toss for 4 times straight.. it doesn't mean that he has some special predictive powers !! If you toss a coin 100 times, 50 times you might get it correct...

Here how to look at it.. look at the sample space.. if one prediction is made ...and 2000 people read it... even if something comes true for even 100 people.. that's sheer chance ! nothing great about the people who predicted it.. in fact the ratio is miserable.. but those 100 people would become fans won't they !!

At times like these I remember a front page article published in T0I, about a research they conducted for people from various sections of the society.. grouped the ones having the same zodiac sign.. and found that most of them had totally contrasting fortunes which had nothing to do with Astrology.. and I always wonder why am I the only one in the entire world who has read this article !! ToI.. front page...

Prof. Narlikar went on to quote a few examples around his research where the Astrological society of India failed absolutely miserably , when they were given Kundlis of 100 very bright and 100 mentally retarded individuals.... I cannot believe people purchase Bejan Daruwala books .. look at the scale at which these folks and fooling people.. Tarot.. oh my god that's a complete joke....

Vaastu Shashtra !..and its Chinese counterpart.. Feng Shui... when Astrophyicists were blasted by agencies for labelling these stupid stuff baseless.. they questioned the logic.. asked them to submit a logical explanation behind their so called science.. and magic !! NO ONE TURNED UP WITH ANY SORT OF LOGICAL EXPLANATION !!

Good way to sell stuff though.. funny articles, lamps and crappy lil things in the name of some completely illogical science.... shoudlnt even call it science !

People thought it was a miracle when Ganpati idols started to drink milk and people flocked in lines to get a chance to feed their favourite god... things shook up and researchers were questioned !... simply putting the blame on us.. Dr. said that the real miracle was bcos of u telecom people who made it possible for this news to reach all corners of the world in no time... and there he was in his lab ,where his Tea kettle was also drinking milk through its trunk !!

Faith.... , the easiest way to fool people in India is in the name of faith.. Godmen, Babas, rofl... whos that lady.. Swami Nityanand.. running a sex racquet and having 20 lac followers for all the wrong reasons !! Good business , getting money out of people in no time...!
Fortunately.. there are campaigns by NGOs in villages where a group of people perform some miracles and cures and next day a group of people from the same org. give a logical explanation of how they performed the so called miracle !

Superstitions ! and more interestingly.. the means to counter those superstitions.... the workarounds....
first thing tht comes to my mind is Billi rasta kat gayi.... and people waiting for someone else to pass before moving ahead !
Here are a couple more...
While leaving for a tour.. if the date is found inauspicious to being a journey.. what would you do ? the itinerary is ready, tickets are booked, all arrangement is made.. but the bloody date is the problem !..well take your suitcase.. get out of your house.. and give it to your neighbour.. one day before the inauspicious date.. come back with a smile on ur face !
so you see.. the journey already began one day earlier ... cos u already moved 10 metres outside your house with the luggage you were supposed to carry .
Congratulations.. your plane would not crash today !

1995 - The Prof. travelled to Allahabad to watch the total solar eclipse.. where he stayed at his friends place.. who was a district magistrate.. ofcourse ..the Magistrate's wife welcomed them n all but refused to go out of the house to watch the eclipse.. cos oooooooooooooooooo the eclipse is sooooooooo evil !!!
infact.. she was more worried about all the food in the refrigerator.. which would get contaminated due to the advanced evil solar eclipse technology and should be thrown away....
no no..wait... we are Indians.. we can counter the eclipse technology .. and how..
simple.. place cowdung around your refrigerator.. and the evil sunrays would not be able to enter your food.. She actually did that...
and these superstitions can actually benefit some people who actually think!! not only by not keeping them hungry ...thanks to cowdung.. but... the professor was struggling with railway tickets to go back to Pune on the same day... and was banking on the TT.. to give him tickets once he gets into the train..
to his delight.. not only the railway platform was deserted.. even the railway compartment was empty.. cos you are not supposed to travel on the day of the eclipse.. evil sunrays will derail your trains !
Good thing to remember, I can book my tickets on days like these and have a peaceful journey.

He concluded by stressing on the fact that we should really think before we accept facts as miraculous... and suggesting Kalam's vision 2020 was nothing but a good combination of number until our country develops our Scientific temper.

Some folks questioned what can be done to encourage research in India since most of the discoveries ans inventions were from Europe and US.. and herz where I really liked this person..
smashing answer...
he simple had no bloody political bias ... he was just not bothered of which country comes up with what technology.. just simply answered... the important thing is information should keep coming, inventions must go on.. doesnt matter where they come from... a clean scientific mind with a very focused and to the point answer.. no politics involed..

He left following a standing ovation.. everyone enjoyed the session.. and there I was sitting at my desk.. looking at people going around with their day to day work...not really thinking about what the Professor said...
See.. life goes on as usual.. attended the session..enjoyed it forget it.. go on with the work.. .. go to cafeteria and chat over tea and coffee about movies...
the emails to people sitting far away or maybe just sitting next to you.. with Regards, all sorts of regards,, warm, best, warmest, kind regards.....
my colleague once rightly said.. 'itne regards aaj tak apne gharwalo ko nahi diye honge kjitne email pe ek din me sabko dete firte hai'

I just thought that this was something worth remembering before I go back to my work, usual life and forget all about it....

One of the best one hour sessions of my professional life.....easily.

Bhavin