The learning of science or the science of learning?

How would you define learning? I know, probably not the best idea to ask a question right off the bat, but I want you to think along, because the question is open-ended. If the orthodox definition is to be considered, development of new memory fits the paradigm of learning. So when people use words like 'learning from your mistakes', it basically means that you have developed an imprint of that fallacious happening in your mind. However, if you gravitate towards science, the idea of learning cannot be limited just to development of new memory. Sure, one of the objectives behind teaching and learning of science is development of memory, based on the give-and-take between the teacher and the student. But memory is not related to intuition or thinking. That would be like saying that I watch a Nat Geo video of Mt. Everest expedition, learn every single step and hike, and then set out on my own to conquer it. Learning therefore goes beyond the simple idea of memory development.

So how can you define learning in a more pragmatic sense? A reasonable assertion can be that uncoupling learning from fact-checking ought to be able to satisfy the question behind creativity. And surely we can agree that creativity is a benchmark for learning, as a well-learnt concept leads to a more creative output. Also, in terms of science education, sufficient challenge to redundant concepts and hypotheses, which are taken for granted more often than not, is a must in order to develop independent thinking, or as the jargon goes, a critical bend. Therefore, as you proceed on the educational ladder, questions should get tougher and hypothesis should become bullet-proof. 

Personally, the initiation into grad school has been a pretty exciting experience so far, because as grad students, we are supposed to challenge any idea, no matter how big or small, prominent or subtle, irrespective of its publishing pedigree. So scientific education has suddenly being molded from taking copious notes and reading material a day before the exam, which I was doing as late as 5 months ago (I officially stopped studying for endsems like most of us did, except for THAT one course!). Now, we go in well prepared to discuss publications, formulate ideas, and gain concepts from linking disparate ideas in class. And this I believe is learning in true sense, because intuition and creativity are both integral parts of this process. If we were able to merge this system into our school and undergraduate level coursework, students would be more primed for taking up higher studies, or at least they won't have the fear of the unknown. This modicum of reform can truly lead to a shake-up, or at least do some good in satisfying the innate creative urge, so essential to our existence as humans.

PS: If you are a Max Payne fan (the video game, not the movie, which I still believe does not exist), brace yourself for Max Payne 3. If not, it is never too late to start, for this game is more than just fancy guns in 3rd person style. It is about a man and his search of vengeance!

And the obligatory music video. How about some REM?

A better way

As I sit here in my living room, watching Watchmen, I cannot help but think about Dr. Manhattan's words-"The world is changing, and this new world is going to be hard to adapt to." The world is indeed at a precipice, where old ideas are being chucked out more rapidly than ever before. Therefore, it is prudent to identify the positives out of this as well as understand how some things are still unchangeable.

The first idea which springs to my mind is the communication revolution. Now much has been said and writers have waxed eloquent about the ever changing face of communication and its implications for the globe. I would like to go more basic than an optical fibre facilitated enhancement. 20 years ago, chances are that if you wrote a letter to a person in the next state, it may or may not get delivered. May or may not! That possibility was greatly supplemented by the fact the there was no tracking mechanism to check on the port-to-port delivery. So if I were to apply for a PhD in the United states 20 years ago, there is the possibility that I might have missed my shot due to a sorting error. Therefore, it is safe to say that manual errors are slowly becoming redundant. The era of the machines is here, or almost.

What are the other ways in which the world is changing? Ironically, the communication revolution and the detriment of barriers was supposed to unite the world into a more harmonious place. Yet we have seen more wars and insurgencies in the last 50 years than any documented time in history. The way I see it, with information being so easily available, it abets a nation to secure its interests in ways that were unheard of earlier. So you have things like cyber attacks on a country's information database, which is slowly replacing the conventional warfare as a more potent weapon. This is stuff of science fiction for now, but with the way technology is seeping into our daily lives, it is not ludicrous to believe that the future might be significantly different for the future generations. Once thing is for sure, education is going to be the currency of development, and investments will be earmarked for the national intellectual wealth.

And then, to the part which has remained static. The right to expression, our ability to speak our mind, has remain untouched, or rather, has been bolstered by the availability of tools both scientific and rational in nature. People today want to study tiny archaea, because they believe the answers to significant questions about life lie in there. And they go about doing it like nobody's business. The fact that basic science has braved the storm of application and commercialization is a fact oft overlooked. We as global citizens are also more empowered today, mostly because every vote is documented and every opinion is recorded. Dissemination of ideas is easier, and their harnessing is slowly becoming more inclusive. There is no single ownership to any idea anymore, a fact well illustrated by the IP wars being fought around the world.

So the changes are there to be seen and exploited. The end user will not care, the proprietor does not exist.

The Who and their generation!

UP yours!

What is the product of a 6 hour drive on national highways laden with potholes, mixed with insensitive truck drivers and lack of street lamps? A grumpy author who is forced to contemplate on the mecca of Indian politics, and more importantly, the sorry state of affairs resulting from a desire to anglicize while the ground realities are quite de-anglicized. For example, it is well known that the monsoons arrive at this time of the year every time, yet the PWD will sit on their hands till the public comes out and raises a hue over the dug up roads or tardy water supply. I am just getting started.

Firstly, major props to the UP government for letting me know that is is doing all it can to further the cause of Sarvjana hitaye, sarvajana sukhaye. At least on paper (and giant hoarding the size of famished fields in big cities). While the maxim translates to "For the welfare and good of all", it is a mere facade to the real maxim when one reads between the lines. That crime was inbred in UP's bloodline was well established before the recent wave of rape, abduction, and killings started making national headlines. Though the government has been crying foul over the timing of the crime wave merely a year before the all important state assembly elections next year, the signs have been obvious for the last 10 years. As UP slipped from one form of ill-governance to the other under craftily sewn coalitions and a single party rule under the mask of an unified social experiment, the state moved from one form of shoddy bureaucracy to the other. The results are obvious.

It is telling that an English medium school still compounds a high premium on the masses of the hinterland. Education has gone down the drain while the number of colleges have sprouted up like fungi all over the state. UP boasts of a large number of engineering colleges, all private in nature of course since the central government still considers higher education in this country as a step child, with lack of basic infrastructure leaving the fate of the unfortunate students of these institutions hanging in balance. The obfuscation over the motives of the government couldn't have been any more obvious when, on one hand, farmers are being targeted in the name of development, and on the other, primary schools in villages also function as temporary resting places for baraats. A drive up the road would present generic pretty faces trying to figure out how to work a computer, inviting you to become a part of their confused fraternity. Of all the people in this world, a vegetable shop owner proudly presented his Eddie Guerrerro T-shirt (VIVA LA RAZZA). Indeed, the world has caught up with UP, but UP hasn't caught up with the world yet. Migration to the urban centers has resulted in an overwhelming majority of people residing in slums, while villages are getting deserted for the lack of workforce and improved irrigation facilities. MNREGA has clearly not benefited the large section of our workforce which is neither technically challenged nor educated enough to land a decent job. Other social schemes will amount to nothing unless government hiring speed up keeping pace with the expanding youth population.

Perhaps this is true for most states in our country. Educational levels are not where a country pushing for superpower status would hope them to be. Still, that smiling face on billboards and a T-shirt commemorating a great wrestler from Mexico gives me some hope. Hope that the desire of matching steps with the developed world would not remain an improbable dream for the residents of UP. That inward migration would be a reality somewhere down the line. Well, at least songs with English lyrics are becoming popular, and as many people want to watch Delhi Belly as those who raved to Dabangg. Huzzah!

Can somebody translate the spanish lyrics of this song for me?