 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
Discussion Project--the dream Asif Published on February 13, 2007
December,1994, a damn cold winter. Outer world seemed so faded in the last sunshine through the window. It made a different corner in the hall room with the scientific maps, charts & photographs of evolution and planets, stars...all round. In the hall room, almost 44/45 people age ranging from 16 to 75 were concentrating on my lecture about �Cosmic Calendar�. There was a grand photograph of Milky Way Galaxy in the background. The galaxy we live in, even light takes one hundred thousands years to travel through end to end of the milky way. As I was talking about cosmic calendar, by and by it went through Big Bang, Origin of life, Evolution & of course civilization. At the end of discussion, the audience questioned a lot. They were curious like the children. It was such an environment they could ask anything about the dawn and the end of the civilization, birth & death of the stars. Some of their questions were really remarkable. Specially, I was amazed at one question. One of the audience asked if the age of civilization could be shown based on Geological Time Scale. Though the descent of human is an early event in comparison with the creation of the earth & lives of the stars. Anyway the audience were not requested to come and listen to the lecture. In fact, everyone willingly paid forty taka to participate the scientific discussion, most probably for the first time in Bangladesh. After the discussion when I walked on the street it was almost night. Shivering cold night. I observed a glimpse of some excitements of people & hard talking in front of the shops. They were discussing curiously about evolution of life, spiral stages of evolution between the apes & the man, origin of the life from inanimate substances. It was the first experience of open discussion by �Discussion Project�--the organization that was successfully arranging discussions on science & civilization for the last six years on ticket basis. For a while, I was lost in fantasy that this was the night of inquisitive young minds of different parts of science in G�ttingen University or it was the Athens on the bank of the Mediterranean sea where the great Socrates asked the people about anything to do with life & thus entering the root of knowledge. Alternatively, long before as the �Ionian passion� by the eastern Aegean sea arose, the endless curiosity about all events of nature began. The Ionian questioned and made the confirming observations for truth that we call �scientific method�. They were the sons of the sailors, farmers and weavers. I started �Discussion Project� with two participants only in 1992, and the date was19th of May. Payment for participation was taken as it made them more serious and expenditure to organize the discussion would be minimized. Otherwise, it would be taken as simply spending time of leisure and its importance would be less. And economical involvement made it more professional & obviously the whole thing as �work�. As far as we know, we first initiated such professional lectures in Bangladesh. It was June, 1993, in the last shines of the day, we started with only eight people in the audience, and the first Group Discussion was about �Extraterrestrial Civilization�. The place was so ordinary. However, it was an extraordinary excitement in the dreamy eyes of participants, though they were miserable members of a third world poorest country, they were showing their interest professionally about extraterrestrial life! We tried to think as the great people did. My small room was full of four thousand books, science and civilization based maps, charts, documentary film of V.D.O cassettes, and all this turned the domestic, ordinary environment into a place beyond earth. Everyone was excited about the expedition of Champollion for mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions. Because ancient Egyptians were like the aliens to us for two thousand years, although they lived in same planet earth. Champollion spent fifteen years about ancient Egyptian mystery. One of the eight who paid fifty taka for participation in the lecture, asked about the schedule for next lecture. I was certainly amused at their interest. After the discussion in the night when I stood by the river in gentle breeze looking at the quiet tide, I thought that a great work was done. Everything appeared so much like a series of wonderful dreams. I was thinking about �scientific civilization�--such a civilization where knowledge and its integrity would be most important. Only then it would be possible to measure the age of civilization based on Geological Time Scale. I was deeply influenced by Carl Sagan�s words about the scientific civilization. Sometimes I thought it was the same to talk about Carl Sagan�s works or to express my views. For this reason I lectured on Carl Sagan�s works and thinking in some discussions and people eagerly listened. Then I felt to write a book about Carl Sagan�s works and thinking about science & civilization, and thus communicating to the mass people. So people would be interested to read the scripture of Carl Sagan and know the facts needed to stand against the evils of civilization and for long lasting scientific civilization! Then in 1996, on the 4th of October a miracle happened --all tickets of the 13th open discussion on �Search for the Second Earth� were finished half an hour before the programme. It was really inspiring and astonishing. Even people were standing outside to listen to the lecture. Almost one hundred and fifty people paid for that lecture. As a matter of fact this was a remarkable event in the history of not only Discussion project but in the perspective of Bangladesh. It is very rare in any field of art-culture programme of Bangladesh, moreover, that event was �scientific discussion�. Now there is an evil train of competition in the whole world to cross each other anyway and to make a good score in examinations. Only higher marks and certificates confirming the success in life. After all, the people came to listen to lecture without any current benefits. But they came spontaneously to acquire classical knowledge or in search of self belief. I think this was a grand success in this �give and take policy world�. All these things made me dreamer of a cosmic civilization---without R-complex, the evil result of evolution of human brain. The people came to the lecture were students, teachers, doctors, engineers, businessmen, clerks---so many different classes of people. All ordinary members of society. They arrived in the discussion meetings paying fifty taka each ignoring the distress of floods, rains, storms and they asked great questions: why cultural evolution was faster than organic evolution? Is the human being going towards further evolution? As a radioactive substance decays to its half after a certain period, then what will happen to its single atom (where the atom is unity of matter)? What was before Big Bang? Why time stops in the blackhole? What is the quantum theory? What would be the communicating language between two different intelligent planeteers and so on. All these questions roused my sense of wonder and my discussions are real evidences that people can ask a great deal if they get a little opportunity. Thus I finished totally two hundred and fifty lectures including individual, open & group discussion where thousands of people participated and listened carefully. So I started to write about Carl Sagan�s works and thinking of science and civilization. Sometimes while walking through the streets, banks of the rivers, restaurants, markets, I was asked that what would be the ultimate benefit of knowledge. In fact, we have to culture knowledge for our existence, no substitute remains. We can walk through the roads safely---this is the result of knowledge. We have overcome the evil sprit of R-complex by virtue of knowledge. We have made some basic rules of morality as not to attack anyone unnecessarily, or not to snatch anyone�s material. Thus avoiding the destructive tendency, we are trying to develop love, affection and humanity. These are all needed to fight against self-destructive conditions and for longing the existence of civilization. Someone said to me that people don�t live long and their needs are limited--so why should we run after culturing knowledge? I failed to make him understand. After someday when his brother was attacked by liver cirrhosis & waiting for death. He was trying to take the patient to Madras as last resort, then I succeeded to give the message---why knowledge is needed. Due to lack of knowledge (ignorance and illiteracy) our people can�t expect least help in their distress from our doctors (obviously there are some exceptions). In our country most physicians are only money earning machines and heartless. In all sectors of education result is alike. How far we should know and shouldn�t know--this cannot be the destiny of knowledge. In case of study this sort of limited thinking can stop the development of knowledge. Because there are lot of evidences that everyone cultured knowledge due to their emptiness of minds. But ultimately people and society benefitted from their knowledge. Once Euclid while lecturing on geometry, a student after his first class asked what would be the benefit of learning geometry. Then Euclid ordered his slave to give that student a coin as he always wanted benefits from what he learnt. There are so many people nowadays who wants the immediate benefits from knowledge. If this class of people succeed then the development of knowledge will be stopped. This worst tendency has developed extremely. We have become a score or mark based nation in education. Our school, colleges are aspiring to this. So the train of gaining knowledge is almost dead. Once the Queen Victoria asked Michael Faraday about his discovery of �electromagnetic induction� that what was its use. Then he answered that �what is the use of new born baby�. Now after 150 years we know the role of electricity, we can�t think of anything without electricity. Regarding my work so many people asked me, what is my destiny? At first we have to fix the target because what is the benefit of general people of knowing geometry, cosmos or quantum world? So isn�t it more beneficiary for them to learn about general necessities? I did not answer these questions but felt uneasy and became puzzled that what should be the answer. I asked myself that who am I to define one�s necessity of knowing or how can it be measured. An ordinary man�s life: who is born in this world to eat thrice daily, sleep at night and to give birth to an offspring, only to then die---is there any difference from an animal? Then what is the success of human life? Will he never know, how a star is born, how many stars are in this Universe, what is his status in the universe, how atomic realm can be explained by quantum mechanics, what is space-time curvature, why time becomes slower if move in the velocity of light relative to steady platform? The understanding may not be like a specialized one but if people doesn�t even know the result of scientific phenomenon----they will fail to realize that how little is their existence in this vast arena of universe and age of it. As they cannot realize, so the people have become slave to blind religious spirits beyond logic. So the people are always used by some power hunters and clergymen who destroyed the great Alexandrian Library and all its scientific documents. Thus the �Ionian passion� could not be saved even. If we could do so, we could start for an �Interstellar Civilization�. And our first survey ship would return back from Alpha centauri, Bernard�s star, Sirius stars and Tau Ceti long before. The grand interstellar spaceships would travel/plow the cosmic ocean. We would be on the crossroads of �Interstellar civilization�. July, 1998 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
||
|
|
||||
|
|
 |
 |
 |