Author: kufit

Ruminating Posthumous Me

–  Dr. Niraj Poudyal

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to experience the moments right before and after death! I think I would definitely feel emotional pain at the least just before death knocks the door unless the death accomplishes what it wants in a blink of an eye without prior notice and expectations or if I go unconscious long before I die.

I fear death for life is too tempting. But what about the exact moment of death and after the death? No one has been able to give a convincing answer yet. I think the finding of near-death experience (NDE) studies just makes us think about the definition and meaning of death itself. The NDE experience is not evidence of life after death; rather it’s the evidence of our ignorance on the meaning of life, death and the border that separates the two.

Even if I feel something at the moment of death, I won’t be able to come back and tell my story. If, somehow, I come back alive, then the experience I had would not be of death but of something else. I would never be able to write my experience of whatever pain or pleasure I might endure at the moment of death.

Having empirical nihilist position, I believe in death as an end of me, my conscious existence and whatever constitutes me being alive. My body will disintegrate into strands of atomic and subatomic particles and quantum pockets of wave functions. My death will constitute a tiny spec of the ultimate demise of this universe, ironically known as heat death, into cold zero density stretch of space. My purposeless existence will cease to exist purposelessly.

Reincarnation is the last thing one would want if the goal is to feel death. If reincarnation is true in any sense, Judeo-Christian or Hindu-Buddhist, we will lose the opportunity to experience death. Reincarnating into a non-life would be contradictory to its own definition. If we are going to reincarnate into another life, some form of us must stay alive until we reincarnate. If everything is dead, then there would be nothing to ensure continuation of our lives. Ironically, if something of us is not dead fully, we are not dead at all. Alas!! We were supposed to experience death that does not exist in the universe that allows reincarnation ! This path does not lead to proper experience of death, I think.

I wonder if I can guess how it feels after death if I contrast it with feeling of life, reverse image of death. I define life as a set of limits. In a sense, existence itself is a set of limitations on non-existence. Without limits, nothing would exist. Even nothing needs limitations to exist. Life, as it exists, prohibits from happening everything. Most of the things that we might want to happen will not happen because of this limitation. Pain itself is the immediate result of this limitation. Had we possessed to cross the boundaries of these limitations, I wonder if pain would make any sense. In this sense, life is a pain or suffering, as Budhha puts it. Moments of pleasure are just some random and rare spikes in the sea of suffering. Being the reverse image of life, death may feel like sea of pleasure with rare painful cavities. No heaven can match this after death experience. At the end of the day, we all strive for days full of fun with tiny bits of suffering and life not only full of joy but also with tiny bits of painful moments so that we can shed our tears down.

People have dream life. This is my dream death.

Life is not a dream and nor is death. I know there won’t be anyone to feel my death with any accuracy whatsoever. The neurons of my brain that can feel the dark cold universe will break apart and turn into lifeless electrons, protons and neutrons. The meaning of pain and pleasure will cease to apply after my death. I will feel exactly like what I might have felt before I was even fertilized. The end of things will feel exactly like there was no beginning. People are scared of death. But no one is scared not to be borne into this world. Entropy is the only thing that makes them different in physical sense. But for me, it’s the same.

Of course, I suffer now thinking about my untimely death. I am worried for my kids and my loved ones. In my absence they will suffer. And this is painful for me. I suffer too. But this is a suffering for living me. This is not the feeling of death. This is a feeling of living a life and imagining a difficult future of my loved ones without me. They will see me dying, or maybe not. They might know my death, or maybe not. But I will not feel my own death. I will not know my own death. I will not live to see and judge my death.

[Dr. Poudyal is Assistant Professor at School of Arts]

A Letter to James Dewey Watson

– Bharat Sigdel

Dear Watson,

I am writing to you today to tighten some bonds of our relation. Yes friend, being two humans from a seemingly vast different professional life, I find too many common grounds between you, a scientist, and me, an academic writer. I always get confused whether you are a scientist or an academic writer. Similarly, in my case as well, I inquire with myself whether I am an academic writer or a scientist. In this letter today, I will be focusing on our common grounds.

Writing is a common activity in every dimension of life. In formal as well as informal settings, we regularly write. We write in different contexts, for different purposes, for different target readers, through different mediums and with different messages. But obviously, writing of daily use is different from what students and academicians write in schools, colleges and universities. The special variety of writing which is called academic writing goes commonly in schools, colleges and universities. As academic writing, in many ways, is what science is and is not what science is not, we can take it as science. As I have already mentioned, to some extent, you are an academic writer and I am a scientist.

Academic writing is a skill-based writing in academia which ranges from assignment of students to expert works of researchers and professors. In the beginning, academic writing may be so frightening and disgusting to the learners, it “may turn your stomach or turn your nose.” Difficulties come when we cannot reach to a particular context. As L. Lennie Irvin says, “Writing resembles having our eyes blindfolded and our hands tied behind our backs: we can’t see whom we’re talking to or where we are. Separated from our audience in place and time, we imaginatively have to create this context.” Yes, we imagine and create a context. Through writing we try to establish a rhetoric that creates a common ground to writer and readers to meet and communicate.

Academic writing is such a vast skill that it can be taken as and compared to many dimensions of philosophy of life. Therefore, we say academic writing is discourse, politics, pedagogy, network, scholarship, science, and many more. It carries its dominant features from all these various fields. As we create the context of communication through our writing, all academic writings are discourses. The writer openly argues on the raised issue. The entire project of writing from selection of the topics to publication or even to the point of readers’ response/criticism is engulfed with politics. Academic writing is solely a skill and artifact of academia. It is deeply rooted in pedagogy. Similarly, academic writing is considered to be enriched by network and scholarship. It helps to form a network of scholars and their profound scholarly knowledge. And can academic writing be taken as science, too?

Yes, of course. The enterprise of writing can be said to be similar to that of science. As defined by Wilson, E. O.  (1999) “Science is the organized, systematic enterprise that gathers knowledge about the world and condenses the knowledge into testable laws and principles” (58). So is academic writing.  Academic writing has its own norms, rules, regulations or format specified by concerned university or constructs of long practices. Academic writing follows the format which has been in long practice and has universality in its pattern. For example, a five paragraph essay format is universally accepted. The University of Sydney has introduced academic writing thus: “Academic writing is generally quite formal, objective (impersonal), and technical. It is formal by avoiding casual or conversational language, such as contractions or informal vocabulary. It is impersonal and objective by avoiding direct reference to people or feelings, and instead of emphasizing objects, facts and ideas. It is technical by using vocabulary specific to the discipline.”

Dear Watson, normally, science is understood as a discipline in which they first find an issue or problem, then they go through careful and systematic observation based on any suitable method and finally they reach an answer or a solution. We can take example of your discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Though the discovery was announced in 1953, you had started your study and observation from your virus research at Indiana University in 1950. I have come to know that you became convinced that the gene could be understood only after something was known about nucleic acid molecules. Study was also focused on protein molecules with the help of scientists working in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.

After working on research at the Cavendish Laboratory continuously for two years (1951–53), yes, the discovery was made to be possible, in the spring of 1953. Certainly, academic writing also has some similar traits. Academic writing, specially research work, takes its journey to one or multiple conclusions started from and across statement of problem, finding a research question, setting hypothesis, going through data collection and data analysis. To quote Anne Whitaker (2009) here: “In an academic writing assignment, you will start by asking a good question, then find and analyze answers to it, and choose your own best answer (s) to discuss in your paper. Your paper will share your thoughts and findings and justify your answer with logic and evidence” (2).

Science has reliability, validity and credibility because conclusion it draws is tested. The discovery of DNA is universally accepted without single question. Similarly, academic writings, except some, have all these qualities. As Gina L. Vallis says, “Academic writing uses a style that tends to offer a question, in an implicit or explicit manner, and then to move, step-by-step, to a conclusion, through reasoned argumentation” (20). So, they have wide acceptability.

Science finds new avenues for further study. In academic writing, too, we can find curiosity, knowledge gap and new concepts that trigger readers to go with further research or further writing. That is what we mean by writing inspires writing. The references mentioned create a network creating connection with almost unlimited link of the readers to the world of academic writing.

Academic writing is similar to science not only with what science is but also with what science is not. First of all, science is not just accumulation of facts. Nor is academic writing. Academic writing is not pile of data or crowd of corpus only, it is entire task of mining out valuables through analysis of variables.

Science does not try to forcefully claim something to be true. Rather it establishes truth through its own way of observation and testing. similarly, in academic writing we derive answer/solution/conclusion based on analysis of the variables and related data.

Science does not deal with supernatural, magical elements or occultism. Nor does academic writing. Supernatural, magical elements or occultism can certainly be subjects of writing, but not evidences of supporting details.

Academic writing follows an established format, goes across a reliable procedure, uses observation, analysis and logical reasoning to reach to one or multiple answers. It can be compared to science. Also, it does not believe in untested matters and supernatural as well as occult power as science. So, by now we come to the point that academic writing is science.

Dear Watson, many congratulations once again to you on your discovery of DNA for which you were awarded with the Nobel prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1962. I like to conclude my letter here today but please do not forget to reply. I am looking forward to hearing your response on my analogy and any of your recent discovery.

With best regards,

 

References

[Mr. Sigdel is pursuing M.Phil. in English Education in Kathmandu University]

स्वास्थ्य चिन्ताले हैरान पार्न सक्छ

– माधव प्र. खतिवडा

महेश (नाम परिवर्तन) लाई १५ वर्ष अघि भााँचिएको दाहिने खुट्टा दुखेको जस्तो लाग्न थाल्यो । नभन्दै त्यही खुट्टाको पैतालामा खिल निस्क्यो र दुखाइ झन् असह्य भयो। दर्द कम गर्न पेनकिलर समेत खानु पर्न थालेपछि उनलाई क्यान्सर भएको शंका लाग्न थाल्यो।  हुँदा हुँदा उनी राती निदाउन छोडे। घरका परिवारले सम्पूर्ण शरीरको जाँच गर्न दिएको सल्लाहले उनलाई झन् तर्सायो किनकि जाँचगर्दा ल्याव रिपोर्टले उनका महत्वपूर्ण अङ्ग एउटै पनि काम नलाग्ने गरी बिग्रिसकेको देखाउँछ भन्ने शंकाले उनको भोक निन्द्रा गायब भएको थियो। बाँच्ने दिन धेरै छैनन् भन्ने विश्वासले गर्दा उनले काममा लत्तो छोड्दै जान थालेका थिए। एकदिन परिवारका सदस्यहरुले उनलाई जवर्जस्ती अस्पताल पुर्‍याए। जाँच गर्दा उनका सम्पूर्ण अङ्ग स्वस्थ्य रहेको पाइयो । महेशलाई तत्काल मरिहाल्छु भन्ने लाग्न छोडे पनि कतै ल्याव रिपोर्ट अर्काकोसँग साट्टियो कि भन्ने शंकाले अझै छोडेको छैन।  आफूलाई डरलाग्दो रोग लागेको छ भनी विनाकारण तड्पिने महेश स्वास्थ्य चिन्ता (हेल्थ एन्जाइटी) बाट पिडित व्यक्ति हुन्। यस्तो समस्याबाट पिडित मानिसहरुको सङ्ख्या अहिले विश्वव्यापीरूपमा नै बढिरहेको छ।

स्वास्थ्य चिन्ताबाट सताइएका अधिकांश मानिसहरू आफूभित्र एड्स वा क्यान्सर रोग छिप्पिइसकेको छ भन्ने आशंकाबाट पिडित हुन्छन्। प्रायजसो क्यान्सर रोगको स्याहार सुसार गर्ने आफन्तहरूमा कतै आफूलाई पनि त्यही रोगले गाँज्न त थालेको छैन भन्ने विश्वास मजवुत हुँदै जान्छ। यसको साथसाथै रोगहरूको बारेमा वारम्वार पढ्ने र सुन्नेहरूमा पनि पढे सुनेका रोग आफूमा नै भएको भान हुन थाल्छ र गर्दा गर्दै शंका बानीमा  बदलिन बेर लाग्दैन। इम्पोरियल कलेजका प्राध्यापक टाइरेरका अनुसार पछिल्लो समयमा इन्टरनेटको बढ्दो प्रयोगले पनि यो रोगलाई चर्काउँदै लगेकोछ। मानिसहरू विराम लाग्नासाथ इन्टरनेटमा रोगका लक्षण र उपचार बारेमा खोज्न थाल्छन्।  नेटमा चाहिनेभन्दा पनि नचाहिने कुराहरू बढी हुन्छन्। हेल्पलाइन च्यारिटी अफ एन्जाइटी युकेका ओलिन भन्छन् “तपाँइले कम्प्युटरमा खोकी मात्र भनेर टाइप गर्नु भयो भने पनि एच आई भी एड्सदेखि क्यान्सर सम्मको फेहरिस्त देखा पर्छ जसले मान्छेलाई थप चिन्तित बनाउँछ ।”

डाक्टर,साथीभाइ या आफन्तबाट पटक पटक आश्वसान खोज्नु यो रोग लागेका मान्छेको अर्को विशेषता हो। तर केवल फोस्रो आश्वसानले कुनै काम गर्दैन। ओलिन भन्छन्, “मान्छेहरू आफ्नो मस्तिष्कमा एैजेरु पलायो भन्ने चिन्ताले  त्रस्त हुन्छन्।” उनीहरू अस्पताल गएर टाउकाको स्क्यानिङ  जाँच गर्दिन अनुरोध गर्छन्। जाँच गरेर डाक्टरले तपाँइको मस्तिष्कमा एैजेरु सैंजेरु केही पनि छैन भने पनि उनीहरूलाई कतै स्क्यानिङ गर्ने मेशिन नै बिग्रेको पो थियो कि? एैजेरु सानो भएर डाक्टरले नै देख्न पो सकेन कि ? रिपोर्ट जाँच गर्दा डाक्टरले देख्नै पो छुटायो कि भन्ने तर्कनाले पिरोलिइरहन्छन्। उनीहरू बारम्बार फोन गर्छन र मलाई कतै क्यान्सर त भइहालेको छैन नि हगि ? भन्दै आश्वसान खोज्छन्।  ओलिन थप प्रष्ट पार्छन्,  “हामीलाई थाहा छ आश्वसानले काम गर्ने केही समय मात्र हो। पुनः चिन्ताले गाँज्न बेरै लाग्दैन।”

पहिला पहिला हाइपोकोन्ड्रीया भनेर चिनिने स्वास्थ्य चिन्ताको आम समस्यालाई गभ्भीरतापूर्वक नलिई  ठट्टा मजाकको विषय बनाउनु पनि हो। अरुले जिस्क्याए पनि, उडाए पनि पिडित व्यक्तिको मनमा मन्द मन्द मडारिने चिन्ताले उसलाई भित्र भित्र खोक्रो बनाइरहेको हुन्छ। मरिहाल्छु भन्ने तर्कनाले जीवनका राम–रमिता खुशीयाली फिका तुल्याउनाले पिडित व्यक्तिको जीवन नारकिय बन्न थाल्छ।

त्यसै गरी गार्डियन पत्रिकाको एक लेखमा लेखिका एमाईन स्यानर मार्कको भनाई उल्लेख गर्दै लेख्छिन्,  “स्वास्थ्य चिन्ताले सताएपछि जीवन त्रासदीपूर्ण बन्छ। मृत्यु आफ्नै सङघारमा पिङ्ग खेलिरहेको देखेपछि अरु कुरा सोच्नै सकिन्न। काम दाम र सामाजिक सम्वन्ध  चौपट् बन्छ।”  टाइरेरका अनुसार संसारभरि १% मानिसहरू यो रोगबाट पीडित छन् भने केवल १०% ले मात्र उपचार पाएका छन्। पीडित हुनेको सङ्ख्या सालिन्ने वढ्दोछ ।

अध्ययनहरूले देखाए अनुसार संज्ञानात्मक व्यवहारिक थेरापी यो रोगको उपचारमा लाभदायी हुन सक्छ। यस उपचार पद्धतिले मान्छेको सोचाइको शैली रुपान्तरण मार्फत व्यवहार परिवर्तन  गर्ने लक्ष्य राख्ने हुनाले स्वास्थ्य चिन्ताको उपचारमा यो विधि अचुक हुनसक्छ। यस पद्धति अन्तर्गत टाउको दुखाइलाई मष्तिस्कमा ऐंजेरु पलाएर हो भनी ठान्ने मान्छेहरूलाई त्यसदिन विहान टाउको दुख्दै उठ्नेहरूको सङख्या कति होला भनी कल्पना गर्न लगाइन्छ।  उनीहरूले  जलविनियोज,रुघा, माइग्रेन, थकान, अत्याधिक रक्सी या कफी सेवनजस्ता टाउको दुखाइका सम्भाव्य कारणहरूलाई वृत्त चित्रमा उतार्छन्।  चित्रले मष्तिस्कमा ऐंजेरु पलाएर टाउको दुख्ने मान्छेहरूको प्रतिशत नगण्य देखाउँछ। यसरी चिन्ताको समस्या भएका मान्छेहरूले  प्रत्येक लक्षणको निदान घातक नै हुन्छ भन्ने होइन रहेछ भन्ने स्वयम् महशुश गर्दै जान्छन् र बिस्तारै यस समस्यालाई हेर्ने ढङ्गमा परिवर्तन आउन सक्छ।

तर प्राय मानिसहरू यस्तो लक्षण एक मनोवैज्ञानिक समस्याको उपज हो भन्ने कुरा मान्न तयार नहुने हुनाले मनोचिकित्सक या मनोपरामर्शकर्ता कहाँ जाने कु्रा ठाडै अस्वीकार गर्छन्। उनीहरू आफू पिडित भइरहेको समस्या मनोवैज्ञानिक नभई शारीरिक हो भन्ने कुरामा विश्वस्त हुन्छन्। त्यसकारण स्वास्थ्य चिन्ताको उपचारमा समस्यालाई समाधान गर्ने संज्ञानात्मक र व्यवहारिक सहयोगको तालिम पाएका स्वास्थ्यकर्मी र मनोपरामर्शकर्ताको भूमिका अब्बल हुनसक्छ।  प्राध्यापक टाइरेरका अनुसार संज्ञानात्मक व्यवहारिक थेरापीपछि आफ्नो जीवन  कसरी कायापलट भयो भनी सबिस्तार पत्र लेख्ने विरामीहरु थुप्रै छन्।  हृदयाघात हुन्छ  भनी एक वर्षसम्म घरबाट बाहिर ननिस्कने मानिसहरू छुट्टी मनाउन गएका छन्।

त्यसैले मान्छेलाई भित्र भित्रै सिध्याउने स्वास्थ्य चिन्तालाई कम नआँकी र रेला ठट्टाको विषय नबनाई समयमै उचित ध्यान दिनुपर्छ। यदि संज्ञानात्मक व्यवहारिक मनोविमर्शका लागि आवश्यक जनशक्ति र  दक्षता  बढाउन सके अस्पतालमा हुने अनावश्यक जाँच पड्ताल र भर्नाको खर्चलाई न्यूनीकरण गर्न सकिने थियो र महेश र ऊजस्ता कैयौं मानिसहरूको जीवन थप नारकिय बन्नबाट बँच्ने थियो ।

 

                                                                            (लेखक काठमाण्डौ विश्वविद्यालयमा मनोपरामर्शकर्ता हुनुहुन्छ)

Reading a Biography of World’s Most Famous Equation

Deepak Subedi

When we started to conduct a regular series of popular lectures on Einstein’s life and achievement to mark the World Year of Physics 2005 in connection with Einstein Centenary Year, I was looking for a book which consisted of historical description of Einstein’s monumental work in Physics. To my surprise, I found a book entitled A Biography of World’s Most Famous Equation written by David Bodanis. After going through the book, I was encouraged to write a review on its praise.  
 
The book presents a very good description of the development of basic conservation laws in Physics. The author has skillfully presented the physical theories in extremely simple and interesting way so that readers without the background of Physics and Mathematics can also grasp the theme. The book has been successful to become popular among the popular science books. The Times magazine wrote about the book: “with skill and plenty of colorful anecdotes Bodanis traces the intellectual ancestry of E=mc2 “. 
 
The book is divided into five parts. In the first part, the author introduces the birth of the equation. It gives glimpses of the childhood of the equation which surrounds around 1905 when the three revolutionary papers by Einstein were published. One of these papers was on special theory of relativity which consisted of the ever popular equation. 
 
The second part of the book discusses the development of the law of conservation of energy and highlights the contribution of Michael Faraday in this work. It says that Faraday discovered his law of Electromagnetic induction showing a link between electric and magnetic fields which once seemed totally different. An extraordinary vision of energy concept was created by Faraday’s work. It helped to formulate the law of the conservation of energy. The scientific community was more confident that every other form of energy could similarly be shown deeply inter-connected.
 
In the third part of the book, the author presents a detailed history of the development of the law of conservation of mass.  For a long time the concept of mass had been like the concept of energy before Faraday. With his meticulous experiments, Lavoisier showed that matter could convert from one form to another, yet it will not burst in and out of existence. This law of conservation of mass was as much important as Faraday’s work on energy. The substances that fill our universe can be burnt, squeezed or hammered to bits but they won’t disappear. This finding worked as building block for a more general law of conservation which was put forward by Einstein at the beginning of 20th Century.  Einstein later proved in an extraordinary way that there was a link between these two domains. So, a more general law of conservation of mass and energy taken together was formulated. The most remarkable aspect of the discovery was to show that mass and energy are equivalent. It unleashed a secret that tremendous amount of energy can be released from a very small amount of matter.
 
The next part of the book covers period around the second world war when the first experimental results of nuclear fission of heavy elements were reported. In fact these were the experimental evidences to validate the equation. 
In the final part of the book, the author switches away from war and describes several areas where the equation has been applied. This period has also been termed as the adulthood of the equation.
 
I liked this book very much. So far as I know there is also a documentary available based on this book. I recommend this book to anyone who would love to peer into the history of the amazing world of physics.
 
Works consulted
 
F. Macdonald, Albert Einstein, Orient Longman Limited, Mumbai, 1994.
D. Bodanis, A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation, Pan Books,
<http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/einstein>

Science in Daily Life

– Pushpa Raj Adhikary

Most people in our society  take science as something strange and crazy,  which are the works of Newton, Einstein and few others persons known as scientists. The works of so-called scientists led to the invention of rockets and bombs which are threats to human civilization. Also science contradicts the age-old belief  on the existence of god, hell and heaven. Wrong notions about science and technological advancement are the main causes of our ignorance and backwardness.  As a consequence, we are suffering from poverty, shortage of food, diseases and lack of medical facilities, lack of drinking water, shortage of electricity and so many other  benefits, which people in the developed world enjoy.
We have to dispel our mistaken notion of science and technological advancement if we want to get rid of most of our problems related to underdevelopment. The history and survival of humankind is a story of the growth of science. The desire to survive led early human to learn to hunt. In that process, they devised tools. The discovery of agriculture led to the process of growing food through irrigation, farming and cropping. The curiosity to communicate with others led to the invention of language and the art of communication which continued to grow further in the form of written language, printing  and wireless communication. This was a revolution continuing still today in the development and spread of internet. The urge to go to different parts of the earth led to the growth of transportation. Now the movement of humans is not confined only on the surface of earth bu to the top of the mountain, deep inside the sea and as far as the planet mars. People are thinking about inter-space travel. There are many other fronts of developments which are the direct consequence of the development of science and technology. Notably among them is the advancement of medical science and medical technology.
Science is not something which concerns only scientists. We wake up in the morning and see that the sun rises or appears in the east. In the evening the sun sets or disappears in the west. We are all familiar with the changing seasons. Some parts of the earth have heavy rain whereas other parts have snow and very hot deserts. The nature of plants and animals, even the colour of human beings in different parts of the earth differs. We need water to drink .We don’t drink water from all sources. Water from some source may upset our stomachs. We have diseases like malaria, typhoid, and hepatitis and nowadays AIDS. Insects crawl on grounds, birds fly and animals and human beings walk on ground. Many animals live on grass and green plants but human beings need cooked food.
During winter nights, if you look at the sky, you see tiny twinkling dots known as stars. If you look more closely, you find several differences among the stars. Stars appear only in nights. Moon also appears only in nights but not at all nights. Sometimes our sun and full moon are covered by strange black shadows known as eclipse.

We all are aware of the phenomena described in the last two paragraphs. We can cite many other natural phenomena which happen in our daily life. During illness we take pills and capsules of medicine and get cured. Sometimes we do take medicine in the form of injection but how many of us and how often do we ask ourselves why and how different natural phenomena happen? Why sun always rises in the east and sets in the west? Why do we get monsoon more or less in the same time each year? Why we need medicine when we are ill and how medicines cure us? How different varieties of breads, cheese and butter which appear in our breakfast table are prepared? Very recently we have started showing concern for our environment. What has happened to our environment and how? Why the rapid industrialization has dismantled some of the natural resources?
Many of us take all things and happenings around us without any wonder. But there are persons who wonder about these things. They are curious to learn more about their surroundings and the happenings with the question “Why?” and “How?” They wonder why the sun shines and what cloud is like. They wonder why a book falls to the ground when we drop it. They wonder at the stars, planets, and the moon.They wonder as how star is born, how many stars are there, why there are patches in the full moon, how vast is the universe and so many other questions. Most discoveries came out because someone wondered.
But discoveries are not made by wondering alone. You may wonder and ask questions as “How?” and “Why?”But who answers theses questions? You observe, listen, feel and learn to satisfy your curiosity. By doing so you make some idea about something or some happening. In other words, you come out with some explanation.  If this explanation alone satisfies you, then you are not a scientist. The difference between a scientist and others lies here. A scientist likes to verify his/her understanding or explanation of something by experiment. In many cases we might have made a guess but we could not be sure. So we do the experiment and it can give us a true answer. Experiment and discovery go hand in hand.
A curious mind asks questions and comes across new riddles and puzzles. You may be bored and give up solving them. Others may come out with some valid explanations of these puzzles. But how do we know whether these explanations are correct? Those who continue to know the correct answers to these riddles and puzzles either by explanations or by experiments are scientists. Scientists have to correct their understanding or explanations and experiments again and again until they bring out the truth. Sometimes scientists discover the answers to their problems in a very short time. More often, they must experiment patiently and carefully for years before they find out what they want to know. They may do one experiment a thousand times, or a thousand different experiments just to discover one fact.
Now, if you are also intrigued to think like a scientist or think that you have a potential to be a scientist then think about the question, “Assume that the earth does not rotate around its axis. How will this affect us? Assume next that the earth does not go around the sun, what will happen?”

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English and Scientific Research: Some Reflections

 – Deepak Subedi

When I was asked to contribute an article on the importance of English language for scientific research, I felt I got an opportunity to express my gratitude to the language which gave me an enormous access to good books written by scholars around the world. Without the knowledge of English, I would have to rely on books written only in our native language, which would have certainly narrowed my thinking. My simple understanding is that our ability to think is proportional to the number of good books we read. Also, it is generally accepted that knowledge is for the brain as is food for the body, and that a person with knowledge of different languages has greater vision and wider horizon.

I was motivated to learn English by my revered father since my childhood. Although my father himself never had formal education, he had gained some practice of spoken English during his service in Indian army. He had a strong desire to educate his children in English medium. I think this might have been due to the influence of British officers in India. He used to tell me fascinating stories about the additional benefits he used to receive in the army unlike his colleagues by virtue of his knowledge of English, although limited. Even with this limitation, he was supposed to be superior to others, and was assigned some official tasks during the war time which avoided the risk of being deployed to the front.

In spite of a moderate income,  my father always stressed on educating children in good schools. Although our family was based on a village, my father settled in the town only to provide us good education with additional tuition in English.  So far as I remember, he was the first person in our town to arrange tuition in English from the primary level. It was during this time that I met my most favorite teacher of English, Balkrishna Shrama, who inspired me to learn. He was a noble teacher with amazing skills of delivering spellbinding lectures. With his guidance, I experienced the joy of learning new words in English and writing them nicely in four-lined papers.  Since then, I started learning English spontaneously.

I realized the real importance of knowing English when I joined I. Sc. in Amrit Science Campus in 1989. All our subjects were taught in English. Had I been poor in English, I would have certainly been discouraged from studying science.  The knowledge of English helped me in learning the major subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. I had a huge advantage over my classmates with a weaker background of English. Meanwhile, some of our teachers had just returned from US with terribly twisted tongue, and many of our friends who were from remote areas of Nepal got frustrated with the US-style pronunciation. Students who had their schooling in English medium had no difficulty in grasping the lectures in the major subjects.

Well, these were some of my recollections about my background in the English language. Let me discuss a little about the importance of the use of English in the field of science.

In 1931 Vladimir N. Ipatieff, a Russian-American chemist, had begun to take lessons in English at the age of sixty-four. He was already a well-known scientist but had to learn English in that age in order to continue his research in the USA. He probably was under the influence of the “publish or perish” dictum so common in the field of research. But his story simply highlights the necessity of knowing a language of wide international readership in order to popularize researches in science.

Michael Faraday said that any researcher has to follow three major steps: “work, analyze and publish.” All the three parts are equally important. However, the importance of the language appears in the third part — publishing. The real output of any scientific research is measured by its impact, hence the level of international journals is determined by their impact factor. How many people cited our papers is more important than how many papers we wrote. To make our papers accessible to a large number of readers, we have to publish our results in a language understood by a large population.  Thus one has to publish his/her findings in English.

Most of the world’s leading scientific journals are published in English. It has been reported that researchers from non-English speaking countries have to spend a significant portion of their time in getting their reports and research papers translated/written in English. This obviously steals their precious time from laboratory work. For example, in Japan English is becoming the language of basic science resulting in the gradual disappearance of  publications in Japanese. RIKEN, one of Japan’s most comprehensive groups of research facilities, has claimed that its scientists published about 2000 original reports in English in 2005, but only 174 in Japanese. One report shows that editing companies in Japan charge researchers $ 500 to $ 800 per manuscript. Language training can cost $2000 for a ten-week course. These costs are additional burdens and slow down scientific activities in laboratory.

In fact, this should not have been the period for spending so much time for writing the paper alone. Had their schooling been in English, as that of ours, the researchers could have devoted more time for their experiments than exercising for language. In this respect, we should feel fortunate; we learned basic sciences in English medium at school and the university. In several international conferences and seminars, I have observed the difficulty faced by scientists from the countries which are quite developed in science and technology but are non-native English users. In spite of their good research results, they are sometimes nervous during presentations due to the difficulty in expressing their ideas clearly in English.  On the other hand, researchers who studied their courses in English are more confident in presentations even if the merit of their research work is not of high standard.

Another case where proficiency in English plays a vital role is in the preparation of research grants proposals. Even a promising project proposal may be rejected because of the lack of logical reasoning. It may be argued why a researcher should worry about English when one can easily consult with professional editors to prepare a proposal. But the fact is that professional editors may not know the technical ideas of the project, and that sometimes this joint venture may lead to negative results. Considering the growing need of disseminating research results to a wider population, many Asian and European countries, which used to teach science courses in their own native languages, are gradually adopting English as the language of science.

Summing up, today no discipline can function in isolation. Since a large number of interdisciplinary subjects like environmental science, biotechnology, biomedical engineering, engineering physics etc. are emerging, people of different areas of expertise have to work together. Professionals from different disciplines find English quite comfortable to communicate among themselves. Also, professionals in the discipline of English language must also constantly update themselves because the world is changing rapidly due to the advancement in science and technology.  For the survival in this competitive and rapidly advancing world, everyone has to be able to grasp the new challenges and opportunities. Due to the latest advancement in information technology, specially with the introduction of internet services and cellular phones, the world has become like a village. Whoever gets the latest information at the earliest will come ahead and those who miss will certainly lag behind. In which language this communication is being made in a broad scale? Of course, English.

[Courtesy: http://neltachoutari.wordpress.com May 2010]

 

 

On Intellectual Disuse

– Hem Raj Kafle

Some of our undergraduates show remarkable philosophical leaning when they are allowed to discuss life. The discussion sometimes involves such meaningful questions, directed to the teacher: “When do you think an academic will go out of use? Can a person remain spirited forever? Isn’t there the possibility of one’s sudden disappearance because more vibrant persons come to displace/replace?”

These questions must make a high-spirited person hold his breath for some time to envision his own future, with a feeling of slight pinch to his current usability. He should rather start with this thesis: “When I degenerate, I will disappear. To exist I should know the tricks of scooping butter with a crooked finger.” Well, it is tricky to try to find the number of such thinkers.  My assumption is that there are many under our noses. To mention some universal symptoms of atrophying is my purpose here.

I think the first striking symptom is the reluctance to being receptive. This is when a person begins to set limits to learning and teaching, which is to say, he develops a sustained sense of fullness and saturation to the extent of intolerance towards productive criticism, and displeasure for the emergence of competent young successors.  The second symptom is the fear of failure and bitterness. One’s intellectual erosion begins with the urge to avoid challenges when one has accumulated absurd experiences so much into believing that the world conspires against good people and life itself is deceptive.  But one who fears challenges will hardly teach others the remedies against hardships. And one who always falls probably fails to tell others how to rise permanently.

Perhaps the most remarkable symptom of erosion comes with the feeling of surrender when there still is a chance to confront for a good cause. I believe each learned person should develop the quality of leadership with minimum sense of positive dominance over ignorance. Someone has rightly said, “When my father stopped shouting at me, he lost his world” meaning that a powerful, competent hand is always welcome in guiding a productive individual.  Let alone sharing personal experiences, when a more matured generation begins to fear or lose control over less matured generation even in necessary cases, the channels for transmitting established socio-cultural values will gradually disappear. Each generation should develop as much the power of dominance and guidance as the readiness for reception and expansion of knowledge and values.

The old practically do not avoid being sociable and sharing experiences, but if they do, they will only contribute to backwardness or possible stagnation.  One who has lived an individualistic life, cut off from empathetic relatives during life’s most receiving phase, would finally regret saying, “I wish I could relive my elders’ lives in a new context. If only I had ever asked them how hard it was to live their times.”

People once venerated might go out of use when they literally begin to show signs of disappearance from the mainstream. Appearance is not the matter of age but of intellectual energy. Neither does it have anything to do with the matter of physical presence but of leaving a legacy.  Those who resign from the desire to become heritage allow others to lose sight of them. Visibility remains so long as others see you in terms of social presence and achievements.

An intellectual invites his own disappearance when he only revels in the past achievements but does not add any at present while competitors have already achieved newer heights. Successful people are usually narcissistic to the extent of gradual exclusion from the majority.  But they can save themselves from disappearing by transferring their achievements to upcoming generation of competitors. If human beings had the rigidity of keeping all their skills and subsequent achievements to themselves, and if they had inability to learn these from others, all of us would still be living primitively.

The power to command respect is an important quality to check early atrophying.  The respect should come with being able to become a convergence point for the majority in matters of leadership and knowledge. I believe a leader or a knowledgeable person has to be useful in the local level. Some competent people are out of use for their craze for telescopic usability, which means the ambition for a higher level, probably international, exposure without sufficient commitment to their lived surroundings.

Finally, I would exemplify three kinds of people who would rise in momentary limelight, but gradually fade away because of certain hamartia. The first type plants a tree, works hard till it grows and bears fruits, but finally, reveling on the fruits and gentle breeze atop, becomes too lazy to pluck weeds and shun insects. He rather expects someone to attend the tree merely for the sake of shade and wind-blown fruits.

Someone recently told me of a second type in an interesting metaphor about the relationship between legs and the chest. He said, “The legs move and hold the body, but the chest receives the medal.” I think, this hints at the Shakespearean sense of “bubble reputation” that someone in a leadership enjoys till the subordinates agree to work hard for him. When the legs choose not to move, perhaps because the chest cannot sustain the glory of the medals or aims to climb too high to notice the pains below, the “bubbles” begin to burst into oblivion. The chest will begin to pant in helplessness.

A third type presents a somehow oxymoronic appearance. He boasts of having got very wide eyes after having “borne a thousand blows of life,” but the vision is too clear ahead to miss seeing the filth under his feet. The filth ultimately travels to his kitchen, bedroom and worship. This happens repeatedly. He is busy cleaning the filth indoors, and ultimately becomes invisible.

उत्तरउत्तरआधुनिकता र नयाँ पुस्ताको शिक्षक

– एकप्रसाद दुवाडी
म अहिले आफ्नो अफिसमा बसेर दिउँसो पढाउने विषयमा पावर पोइन्ट तयार पार्न दर्जनौ साइट भित्र फिलिलि कुद्‍दै छु, एकदुइटा किताब पनि छन् अगाडि। यस अलावा जिमेलमा पत्र बुझ्ने, फेसबुकमा सन्देश थप्ने, ट्वीटरमा ट्वीट गर्ने काम पनि सँगै जाँदो छ । म विदेशमा बसेका साथीहरू मात्र नभएर गाउँघरका भाइबहिनीहरुसँग पनि निरन्तर सम्पर्कमा छु। यही बेला कानफोन घुसाएर नविन गीत संगीत पनि सुन्दैछु । हाम्रो ब्यवसायिक संजालको समूह र विश्‍वका प्रमुख अरु संस्थाहरूमा के हुँदैछन् त्यो पनि चियाउँदै छु भने फोरसेयर्ड र टरेन्टमा कुनै नयाँ इ–किताब थपिए कि भनी बेलाबेलामा नियाल्दै पनि छु । एकछिनपछि बिद्यार्थीले ब्लग गरेका प्रोजेक्ट जाँच्नु पर्ने छ । भरे घरमा केहीबेर टिभीमा झुन्डिने योजना भएपनि धेरै काम गर्नुछ कम्प्युटरमै । 
उत्तरआधुनिकतामा मानिसले पढे, हेरे, सुने पहिले जस्तै । तर उत्तरउत्तरआधुनिकताका मानिस फोन गर्छन्, बटन थिच्छन्, इन्टरनेट चलाउँछन्, आवस्यक कुरा रोज्छन्, सार्छन् अनि डाउनलोड गर्छन् । सन १९८० र त्यसपछि जन्मिएका  मानिसबिच पुस्तान्तर गहिरिएिको छ । पछिल्लो पुस्ताले आफ्ना समकक्षीहरु बढी स्वतन्त्र, निर्भीक र सिर्जनशील ठान्छन् २१ औ शताब्दीमा, त्यसकारण यो समय भनेको बौद्धिकता, सिर्जना र शक्तिको युग हो । जबकि उत्तरआधुनिक पुस्ताले यिनीहरूलाई ब्रोइलर कुखुरा सिवाय केही होइन भन्छन् । 
उत्तरआधुनिकता व्यापक अर्थ बोक्ने दर्शन भए पनि यसलाई सजिलो गरेर यसरी बुझ्न सकिन्छ कि यसले ज्ञान र अर्थलाई सीमाबद्ध गर्न नसकिने कुरामा जोड दिन्छ । तर एलन कर्बी (सन २००६) र उनका समकक्षी उत्तरआधुनिकताको मृत्यु भैसकेको दावी गर्छन् । उत्तरआधनिकताको आयु सकिएर अर्को दर्शन उदाएको तथ्य सांचो हो । आजका मानिस उत्तरआधुनिताले अत्याधिक विकृति ल्याएकोले यसलाई छाडेर विस्तारै आलोचनात्मक सत्यतिर आकर्षित भएका छन् अनि सूचनाप्रविधिले यसलाई मलजल गरेको छ ।  
उसोभए उत्तरउत्तरआधुनिकता के हो त ? मलाई यो लाग्छ कि उत्तरउत्तरआधुनिकता थोरै परिवर्तित सांस्कृतिक फेसन मात्र नभएर अरु धेरै हो । तुरुन्त सदाका लागि जुन रूपमा शक्ति, ज्ञान, आफ्नोपन, सत्यता र समयलाई बुझिने भन्दा फरक तबरले अर्थ्याउन थालिएको छ । आजका शिक्षक र विद्यार्थीमा पाइने फरक यही हो – उत्तरउत्तरआधुनिकता र उत्तरआधुनिकता बिचको खाडल । वास्तबमा उत्तरउत्तरआधुनिकताले आधुनिकताको अपरिहार्यतालाई थुन्‍न सकेन – सन २००० को सुरूतिरदेखि नयाँ प्रविधिहरूका उदयले पुनर्संरचना गरिदियो लेखक पाठक र पाठ्यसामाग्रीको संबन्धलाई । 
उत्तरआधुनिकताले आधुनिक र स्वछन्दतावादले जस्तै लेखकहरूलाई नै महत्व दिई केन्द्रमा राख्यो । केहीले आफूलाई महत्व नदिएको जस्तो गरी कृति लेखेपछि लेखकको मृत्यु हुन्छ भन्‍ने अभिनय गर्दैरहे । तर आजको नयाँ संस्कृतिले पूर्ण वा आंसिकरूपमा पाठकलाई नै शक्ति दिएको प्रतित हुन्छ– गुगल किताब अनि अन्य नि:शुल्क साइटहरु जसले बिनापैसा किताब डाउनलोड गर्न दिन्छन् ।  कसैकसैले यसलाई नराम्रो भने पनि अरुको विचारमा प्रजातान्त्रिक बिँडो हो यो । 
उत्तरआधुनिकता ताका गुगल वा स्काइपको कल्पना भएको थिएन । गरीब देशका नागरिकका हातहातमा पनि मोबाइल पुग्ने कल्पना थिएन । अहिलेको पुस्ताले पुराना ब्रिटीश कथा–उपन्यासाका किताब नपढेर भर्खरै बजारमा आएका रोज्छन् – कतिसम्म भने जे के रोलिङ पनि पुरानो भइन् । अनि एचबिओ र स्टारमुभिजमा आउने फिल्मका साथै डिभिडीमा २१ औँ शताब्दीका फिल्म हेर्छन् । मिटिङ सेमिनारमा जान्छन् तर डेरिडा, फुकु, बौड्रिलार्द आदिका दर्शन घोक्दैनन् । 
नेपालमा ठूला अग्ला विद्यालय भवन बनाउने प्रतिस्पर्धा चल्दै गर्दा अमेरिकामा भने गाउँतिरको एकान्त ठाउँमा पारदर्शी पर्खालले छुट्याइएका टहरा उपयुक्त हुने ठानेर २१ औँ शताब्दीका स्कूल बन्दैछन् । जतिसुकै ब्यबहारिक वातावरणको रटान गरे पनि देशविदेशमा विद्यार्थीका गुणभन्दा मार्कलाई नै प्राथमिकता दिइन्छ ।  नेपालकै कुरा गर्दा पनि हिजोआज चरम विभाजन र द्धन्द्ध नभई शान्तिको कामना गरिन्छ, युनियनले ध्वस्त भएका संस्थामा हस्तक्षेपको कामना गरिन्छ । अधिकार लिने मात्र होइन आफ्नो कर्तव्य पालना गनुपर्ने राय दिइन्छ । फरक धारका राजनितिज्ञले पनि समान बिन्दुहरु पहिचान गरी सहमति गरून् भन्‍ने चाहन्छन् । कोटपाइन्ट र टोपी लगाइन्छ, नौमतीलाई  भन्दा ब्याण्ड बाजालाई महत्व दिइन्छ । महीको सट्टा कोक  नै प्यारो लाग्नु अनि संघीयतामा जाँदा (परिधिलाई मजबुत पार्दा) केन्द्र कमजोर हुन नहुने कुरा उठ्नु, सिकारु केन्द्रित पठनपाठन गर्दा समेत शिक्षकको भूमिका पनि प्रबल खोजिनु मात्र होइन उदार संविधान र नीति नियमहरुमा समेत लक्ष्मणरेखा कोरिनुले उत्तरआधुनिकता खोटो सिक्‍का भैसकेको प्रतित हुन्‍न र ?
उत्तरआधुनिकताका पिता लायोटार्डले महाआख्यानको अन्त्य देखेका थिए भने  २१ औ शताब्दीका उत्तरउत्तरआधुनिकताका दार्शनिकहरू विश्व भूमण्डलीयकरण वित्त बजारले घेरेको समाजको उदय भएको ठान्छन् जहाँ विविधता साँघुरिदै जाँदैछ । दश जोड दुई नपढी ए लेभल, नेपालका सट्टा अमरेकी, बेलायती वा अष्ट्रेलियन विश्वविद्यालय रोजाईमा पर्नु यसैको उदारण होइन र ? आधुनिकतावाद कालमा जस्तो लगाव, र उत्तरआधुनिक समयको अहंपनाभन्दा फरक उत्तरउत्तरआधुनिकताले विस्तारै मानसिक रूपमा विमार पार्ने लत बसालेकै छ धेरथोर । आफैँ उपन्यास, आफैँ उपन्यासकार । कोही छ त मात्र प्रविधि– नयाँ प्रविधि ।
धेरै विद्धानहरु उत्तरआधुनिकता मरेर गयो भन्छन् । यसको ठाउँमा नयाँ ज्ञान र यसको सामर्थ्य एवं प्रविधिले तथा वर्तमान सामाजिक तत्वहरूकाकारण नयाँ वाद विचरण गर्दै गरेको ठम्याइ छ उनीहरूको । यता नेपालमा भर्खर उत्तरआधुनिकता विचरण गर्न थालेकोमा नेपालीका मात्र नभएर अंग्रेजीका गुरूहरु समेत भावाविभोर हुने क्रम यथावत छ,  ‘बल्ल नेपालमा उत्तरआधुनिकताको घाम उदायो, यसको छत्रछायाँले शैक्षिक सामाजिक सबै क्षेत्रलाई चहकिलो पार्नेछ‘ । ऐँठन भएको बेलामा कोल्टे फेरेर सुत्‍नु नै विनिर्माण हो भन्‍नेहरू र अबचाहिँ पुननिर्माण हुनथाल्यो जस्तो छ भनेर लख काट्ने म बीच उत्तरआधुनिकताको युग सकिएर अर्को समय आइसकेको दलील पेश गर्दा  लामो वाकयुद्ध नै चल्यो केही महिनासम्म । उहाँहरू उत्तरआधुनिकता भर्खर उदाएको देख्‍ने, मचाहिँ अस्ताइसकेको प्रमाणित गर्न कस्सिएको थिएँ । 
जित कसको भयो त भन्‍ने कुराभन्दा पनि नौलौ विचरणका बारेमा बृहत बहस हुनु मत्वपूर्ण थियो । सहमति यस कुरामा रह्यो कि कुनै नयाँ वाद भित्रदैमा पुराना दर्शन सम्पूर्णरूपले निष्प्रभावित हुनसक्दैनन् । हामीले प्रत्येक दर्शनका राम्रा पक्षबाट भरपुर फाइदा लिनुपर्छ ।
[अन्नपूर्ण पोष्‍ट दैनिकमा प्रकाशित लेख]
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