Thought for the day
-
Aesop
(Greek, 620-560BC))
Word for the day
Telegnosis (n)
Supernatural or occult knowledge; clairvoyance.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Malice towards none
Good to know that India's food safety standards are much
higher than UK and Singapore.
Kudos FSSAI!!!
Who wants another Shakespeare
Admittedly I am just an amateur reader of history and claim no
authority to comment on it.
Nonetheless, from the few pages of history of human civilization I
have occasionally flipped over I could vividly make out that till a few decades
ago the state played the primary role in promotion, encouragement and financing
of the pursuits of excellence in the fields of art, science and technology. The
development of commerce was left primarily to the private entrepreneurs with
state limiting its role to providing basic logistic infrastructure.
In recent decades however the paradigm has shifted. The states
have engaged themselves fully in the promotion and management of trade and
commerce. The pursuit of excellence in the fields of arts, science and
technology has been left to the private citizens and entrepreneurs.
Consequently, the work in the fields of art, science &
technology has acquired a distinct commercial character. Mostly, these fields
are now pursued for immediate economic benefits rather than for the larger
benefits of humanity in the interest of posterity.
Our current days heroes are market economists, stock market
investors, film stars, professional sportspersons who mainly play for money,
pop singers, car & mobile phone designers and pulp fiction writers.
Few miss the likes of Shakespeare, Aristotle, Plato, Galileo, Leonardo
da Vinci, Beethoven, Varāhamihir, Panini, Kautilaya, Kalidasa, Ramanujan, et.
al.
Few would want another Taj Mahal to be built. Many would pray that
no Picasso is ever born so that the commercial value of their art possessions
does not diminishes.
Technological evolution is incremental and mostly driven by
immediate economic considerations. Music, food, architecture, literature,
politics, and other arts are also driven more by markets rather than purely by the
pursuit of excellence.
Many may like to completely or partially disagree with me on this.
I respect their stance. Nevertheless, I am convinced that under the extant
political and market dynamics the global (including India) economic growth will
continue to be slow, imbalanced, unsustainable and volatile.
Reading economic history in isolation will not help the cause of
investors. Trust me 2015 is not 1930 and 2020s will not be 1950s.
British crown may not have enough money to fund fundamental
research and a strong army that will reshape the global trade and commerce.
Japan may not dominate the engineering prowess. US universities may not
continue to sponsor scientists from across the world. An odd Apple and Google
may continue to enrich couple of million people, but nothing beyond that. Natural
calamities and water & food shortages will kill more people than the modern
medicine could save.
Those claiming that India and China would do sufficient to fill
the void created by diminishing spending of developed countries on pure sciences
and arts, may please mind their financial security. ...more on this later
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