hashin
Joined 11 years ago
Joined 11 years ago
And how did we reach here? Government policies. I am not saying that these policies were bad. But there can be no denying that government is the major reason why more and more people are going to college. And definitely, if college is not free or subsidised, they will be forced to take loans. Again, because economy is punishing for those who don't have a college education.
I am reminded of St. Brigit [1], who was a Celtic goddess who was co-opted by the Catholic Church. Her pastoral associations have stayed intact, with the cultural 'need' for the deity protected, the co-opting makes a lot more sense.
Mughal Emperor Akbar's effort to synthesise Islam, Hinduism and other Indic beliefs to great Din-i-Ilahi [2] is yet another prominent example of hegemonic powers using their social clout to increase soft power by co-opting the beliefs of the locals.
The Millet system of Ottoman Empire [3], was geared towards 'respecting' local customs, personal law and protecting local systems of authority in lieu of their support to the Ottoman yoke. This was later adopted by the British in India and their other colonies, where they went to great lengths to establish Madrasas (Islamic education centres) [4] and Sanskrit colleges [5] to further this.
[1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brigit [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Din-i_Ilahi [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millet_(Ottoman_Empire) [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliah_University [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Hastings#Governor-Gener...
The channel has some more interesting videos. I wish someone did videos to demonstrate phototropism, hydrotropism etc. It would be much cooler to have those videos around, which could be used to explain such concepts to kids.
It may sound a bit of place in a forum like HN, but I have a point to make here. What you feel is a fairly common phenomenon and I know a ton of people who aren't happy at this setting. I would like to suggest joining a political grouping and study the in-group dynamics.
From the background you have stated, it is highly unlikely that you have joined a political movement or seen its inner workings at any point in time. You don't have to be a politician, but you can join the team of one. You can make yourself a lot useful. You wouldn't realise the huge value a website or a robust analytics infrastructure for a local/provincial level politician. Or your could collaborate in strategy, outreach, electioneering etc.
The best thing about a political movement is that it derives people from various background, age groups, ethnicities (I know that this is not true for many political groupings, but you could choose based on your taste) and experiences. They are generally very much driven and at least care for a cause. Once you bond, you'll see that the in-group dynamics and response to questions like general ethics, economics etc shifts from the advertised positions. This shift in dynamics is what makes you politically aware and literate. It is a great liberating experience. In movements that are around for long, you'll see yourself interacting with a lot of people as if you have known them for years - sometimes like family members. This is a great way to connect with people from different classes, backgrounds and develop the kind of empathy that will help us appreciate ourselves better.
I realise that the socio-political situation in different nations are different. But if you can do this, this will definitely light up the mood. It is also a great contribution to society - but you don't have to look at it that way. Political activity is a great addition to our lives, as many people across the generations have found out. Do give it a try.
My two cents.
I am not alleging anything on any particular nation, but coming from a developing country where its own internally deployed troops known to commit a lot of sexual violence, I am curious about the underlying causes. And if there is a way through which civilian governments can control it.
While genetic screening is desirable, it is going to take a long while before we can have it on a species level. But if we can develop chemo-electric interventions that can alter the progression of genetic conditions, that would be a fresh change in the field, impacting many lives.
As we hit the physical limitations of interventions based on central dogma(which is still years away), we will have to look elsewhere, with an emphasis on the temporal progression of gene expression with respect to different variables. This is going to be difficult, but I can hopeful that some controlled processes might turn out in the future - given our data processing abilities.
Another big problem is the gender inequality prevalent in the nation. This will simply lead to income getting concentrated at the hands of the male head of family. Buying nutritious food (which govt is directly providing as of now) or educating girl child (govt subsidise it as of now) may not be his priorities, not out of malice, but simply because he doesn't know about it.
Superimpose the corruption and caste dynamics, where wealth transfer has to go through a bureaucratic sieve that is dominated by upper caste or privileged Indians. The atrocities we hear from the average govt. office are gruesome because majority of govt employees simply doesn't understand the plight of the poor Indian.
To make an understanding for Indians and others, I will suggest the book "The Feast of Vultures" a book that metes out excellent objective treatment to the state of govt affairs in India. It is penned down by a veteran journalist named Josy Joseph. If we start to appreciate how this huge system that thrive in chaos, you will almost instantaneously pick up why this won't work. I am not going to the objective arguments for UBI even given a perfect system to disburse it. This won't work for India.
If there is anyone familiar with this kind of data. Please chip in something about the nature of data. It will be helpful in appreciating the difficulty of the problem more.