‘We should not stop
telling the truth, but it is more useful to express it in a nonjudgmental way’ –
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
The
above assumes that truth, however told, has a power of its own – note that
truth becomes only “more powerful”, implying it is never powerless. I disagree.
Truth should be dressed up as much as it can be without being made
unacceptable to its most ardent admirer. More critically, it cannot afford to
offend its most severe critic. Only then, truth has a dawn, however delayed it
may be. In short, telling truth is a high-wire act.
‘The norm becomes a
perversion of the community’s rules precisely because the community is stuck in
enforcing its own standards’ – deduced from
Pattabhi Rama Reddy directed movie Samskara
The
problem with the above is it does not emphasize that to revert to the state of
no (or, one of lessened) perversion, community standards have to be shown to be
what they really are – entrenching a few and dis-empowering the rest. When “the
rest” claim empowerment, the entrenched few play the game of “social
mercantilism”, having the levers of power in their hands. This process of
empowering the many has been going on in the state of Tamil Nadu for nearly a
century and over the past more than five decades, the entrenched few have
realized that they are – relatively speaking, and only relatively speaking –
being disempowered. They have found ways of avoiding such unpleasant
incidences. Fly off to other lands or to gate themselves behind high fences (a
lesson from South Africa”, I would speculate. The standards would not be
allowed to be diluted.
‘…if one believes the
assumptions of the theory, it is almost impossible to test it’ – Abhijit
Banerjee and Esther Duflo
This
has been dealt with in the book The
Essential Tension by Thomas Kuhn. In a remarkable paragraph he points out
that the data he collected from the famous solar eclipse (that apparently
showed that light curves around in intense gravitational field) will not
accepted now, the standard now being at least ‘five sigma’. The data set
spreads itself all over the place. The so-called proof was accepted because and
only because of the names of the proponents; one being, Alfred Einstein. The
authors of the quote above say it in the context of social sciences. Therefore,
I have no option but to agree with it.
‘Greed has poisoned
men’s souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery
and bloodshed’ – Charlie Chaplin
Now
I know where the stunning statement by the protagonist of the movie “Wall
Street” - “Greed is good!” came from. It was a hit-on-the-head riposte to
Charlie Chaplin! Of course, the movie has a very soothing and acceptable,
though not credible, “Good v. Bad, the Good wins!” ending. Chaplin said this in
1940, the post-war boom was a distant rumble. An, it is now making at least as
much sense as when it was written. Just ask, what is worrying people in power now,
in the midst of COVID-19. It is not as much about how to leave this behind us,
but more about how it all started. For what purpose? To have dart bowl on the
wall for everyone and her cousin to take a shot. It is a part of the game of, “Game
of Greed”.
‘One of the few
things we can try to do is to keep alive, in all scientists, the consciousness
of their responsibility’ – Karl Popper
One
cannot but laugh at the naiveté behind what Karl Popper wished. All that a
scientist wants now is to be the First author of a peer-reviewed, published
paper; if not that, at least as the Corresponding author, no matter who did the
work or even if one contributed at all. The name of the game for scientists is
now, “How many papers have you published?” It is a normal race only if you consider
all scientists are mad.
Oh,
yes, there is this justification – science is now a collaborative endeavour; no
one scientist can produce original research. I would accept that if only the
research that are published are “original” in any sense of the word. They are
hardly that.
The
only responsibility of the scientist now is to see her name in the Contents
page of an indexed (Scopus, SCI, Octopus, Oliver Ridley …) journal! It brings
to mind my own tendency, years ago, to visit my blog page and see how many
additions are there to the number of visitors. No, Popper, the only
responsibility of the scientist is to see his name in print.
‘It is impossible for
someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires
no such conviction’ – Harry G. Frankfort
I
don’t know who Harry G. Frankfort is (I will not Google to find out about him).
I pick these sentences out of my reading. Sometime I remember who wrote or said
these words, but many times I remember the context in which I read this. In
this case, I drew a blank on both accounts
So,
let us parse the statement, necessarily objectively. When one applies the above
to Donald J. Trump, I have to come to accept that he does not lie, he never
lied. The reason is, he knows the truth only after he has said something and
that necessarily means he has uttered only the truth. He could not have lied a priori! I am unable to understand why he
is claiming he was being sarcastic when he said the best antidote to COVID-19
is Drainex. He should have continued to maintain that Drainex, or any other
brand in which he has invested, is the best pipe cleaner.
DJT
has no convictions, we all agree. But, that is no proof he is producing
bullshit.
So, sorry, Harry G.
Frankfort, in whatever context you said the above, you are wrong – proved by
none other than the president of the United States!
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