Arthur, Read the full article. http://www.economist.com/news/international/21570677-after-centuries-stagnation-science-making-comeback-islamic-world-road
On Jan 27, 2013, at 4:42 PM, Arthur Cordell wrote: > A Muslim scientific awakening is under way. > > Evidence???? > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of michael gurstein > Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2013 3:49 PM > To: Futurework > Subject: Re: [Futurework] [Dewayne-Net] Islam and science: The road to > renewal > > Interesting article... > > M > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of Dewayne Hendricks > Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2013 12:39 PM > To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Islam and science: The road to renewal > > Islam and science: The road to renewal > After centuries of stagnation science is making a comeback in the Islamic > world Jan 26th 2013 > <http://www.economist.com/news/international/21570677-after-centuries-stagna > tion-science-making-comeback-islamic-world-road> > > THE sleep has been long and deep. In 2005 Harvard University produced more > scientific papers than 17 Arabic-speaking countries combined. The world's > 1.6 billion Muslims have produced only two Nobel laureates in chemistry and > physics. Both moved to the West: the only living one, the chemist Ahmed > Hassan Zewail, is at the California Institute of Technology. By contrast > Jews, outnumbered 100 to one by Muslims, have won 79. The 57 countries in > the Organisation of the Islamic Conference spend a puny 0.81% of GDP on > research and development, about a third of the world average. America, which > has the world's biggest science budget, spends 2.9%; Israel lavishes 4.4%. > > Many blame Islam's supposed innate hostility to science. Some universities > seem keener on prayer than study. Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, for > example, has three mosques on campus, with a fourth planned, but no > bookshop. Rote learning rather than critical thinking is the hallmark of > higher education in many countries. The Saudi government supports books for > Islamic schools such as "The Unchallengeable Miracles of the Qur'an: The > Facts That Can't Be Denied By Science" suggesting an inherent conflict > between belief and reason. > > Many universities are timid about courses that touch even tangentially on > politics or look at religion from a non-devotional standpoint. Pervez > Hoodbhoy, a renowned Pakistani nuclear scientist, introduced a course on > science and world affairs, including Islam's relationship with science, at > the Lahore University of Management Sciences, one of the country's most > progressive universities. Students were keen, but Mr Hoodbhoy's contract was > not renewed when it ran out in December; for no proper reason, he says. (The > university insists that the decision had nothing to do with the course > content.) > > But look more closely and two things are clear. A Muslim scientific > awakening is under way. And the roots of scientific backwardness lie not > with religious leaders, but with secular rulers, who are as stingy with cash > as they are lavish with controls over independent thought. > > [snip] > > > > Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress> > > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
