[As it appears, each Congress is competing with the preceding one to prove even weirder.
Bizarre claims do not call for any evidence - the drfining marker of "science" and "scientific method", wild presumptions are more than adequate.] I/III. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ravanas-airports-modi-waves-leave-science-congress-stunned/articleshow/67402208.cms?fbclid=IwAR2EqZ6EzX9_UtM-gIWmWQu4aPB1zlCU0UFq3YmWH_MXjg217KfoXCR5Kcg ‘Ravana’s airports’, ‘Modi waves’ leave science congress stunned I P Singh and Siddharatha Sarma l TNN Jan. 6 2019 HIGHLIGHTS Two lectures at the Indian Science Congress made claims about achievements of ancient Indians have created a new controversy. Andhra University vice-chancellor G Nageswara Rao, a professor of inorganic chemistry, claimed that Kauravas from the Indian mythological epic Mahabharata were born using stem cell technology. Snipped II/III. [Pls. visit the site for the very interesting screenshots.] https://www.thequint.com/news/india/narendra-modi-waves-kauravas-test-tube-babies-indian-science-congress?fbclid=IwAR3MLxAWGkjTWGlEPDzqdBEPUbOUYtv5p5qDUJ6t682u2xDWspeGtJm16Aw ‘NaMo Waves’ & Kauravas as Test Tube Babies: ISC Sees Some Gems THE QUINT1 DAY AGO INDIA 2 min read A delegate at the 106th Indian Science Congress on Friday, 4 January, said that modern physics as we know it will be destroyed and will soon be replaced by a 'new understanding' of physics. And once that happens, the world will know 'gravitational forces as 'Narendra Modi waves' and the Gravitational Lensing Effect as 'Harsh Vardhan effect', the man claimed. That's not all. The man in question, one Kannan Jegathala Krishnan, also claimed that both Issac Newton and Albert Einstein had little understanding of physics. According to The Print, Krishnan said, “Newton was not able to understand gravitational repulsive force, which is why he was not able to answer most questions related to gravity. His calculations were perfect but there was a problem in his theoretical physics. I have been able to solve these theories.” And about Einstein, this is what Krishnan, who is a senior reseach scientist at the World Community Service Centre in Tamil Nadu's Aliyar, said: “Space is heavier than the Sun and every other planet and hence compresses all the planets. Equal pressure is applied to them, which is why they are moving. The quality of space is self-compressive, which is something that Newton and Einstein could not understand. Einstein did not guide the world in the correct way.” Needless to say, Krishnan's audacious remarks were not spared on Twitter. ‘Kauravas Are Test Tube Babies’ Krishnan was not the only one to make such overreaching claims at the 'Science' Congress. Andhra University Vice Chancellor G Nageshwar Rao claimed Kauravas were born due to stem cell and test tube technologies and India possessed this knowledge thousands of years ago. Lord Rama used 'astras' and 'shastras' (weapons) which would chase targets and after hitting it they would come back, Rao said at a presentation. “Everybody wonders and nobody believes, how come Gandhari gave birth to 100 children. How is it humanly possible? Can a woman give birth to 100 children in one lifetime.” Again, Rao's comments were subject to Twitter's deepest scrutiny, with many lamenting at the purpose of a Science Congress in light of such remarks. (With inputs from PTI.) III. https://thewire.in/the-sciences/how-to-react-to-stupidity-at-the-science-congress How to React to Stupidity at the Science Congress Perhaps the BJP government has thrown the field open to anyone who can craft a call to conservatism in a way that sticks to the parivar's ideological line. How to React to Stupidity at the Science Congress 106th Indian Science Congress. Credit: PTI Vasudevan Mukunth Vasudevan Mukunth 4.6K interactions EDUCATIONTHE SCIENCES 05/JAN/2019 Load Twitter on the browser. Scroll down, scroll down further, keep going, stop… What’s that? Embedded video ANI ✔ @ANI #WATCH: GN Rao,Vice-Chancellor Andhra University at Indian Science Congress y'day in Jalandhar:How come Gandhari gave birth to 100 children?Stem cell research was done 1000 yrs ago in this country,we had 100 Kauravas from one mother because of stem cell&test tube-baby technology. 445 9:52 AM - Jan 5, 2019 323 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy Meh, keep scrolling. Correlation is not causation – but it’s really hard to set aside the fact that India’s ruling party has empowered a clutch of people to vocalise their pseudoscientific beliefs without fear of ridicule, leave alone consequence. When you hear a person in any kind of leadership position utter unscientific, ahistorical nonsense, you used to be able to laugh and uninhibitedly point out that they’re wrong. And then you read news reports about how people are being arrested for being sharply critical of the prime minister or for innocuous comments on social media targeting ministers and politicians. You read about vice-chancellors, judges and ministers balking at the slightest insult yet freely dismissing reason and civil liberties in single sentences. You keep your Twitter timeline clean to escape the attention of a wandering troll army, many of whose foot soldiers the prime minister himself follows. You watch your language closer than before, almost as if a syntax-obsessed linguist might. When someone gets on stage and says something stupid, you no longer see one face. In the visage of G.N. Rao, the Andhra University vice-chancellor asserting at the Indian Science Congress that we had stem-cell technology and test-tube babies thousands of years ago, you see The System glaring down at you. And you swallow the laughter. But of course, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and their satellite outfits haven’t caused any of this because they haven’t actively directed one event after another. What you’re seeing is just a correlation, a remarkable coincidence but a coincidence nonetheless. If you think there’s causation, then it’s in your head, you liberal, antinational punk. Also read: Does the Indian Science Congress Acknowledge the Need to Be Reflexive? So you aren’t just silenced. The phantasmal force of the backreaction reaches into you and invites you to reconsider your opinions. Why did G.N. Rao, who sits at the very top of a state university, say what he did? You recoil from the simplest answer: that he’s stupid. (He says we had stem-cell and IVF tech because “the Mahabharat says hundred fertilised eggs were put into hundred earthen pots”.) But then he can’t be stupid; it must be something else. Maybe Rao simply meant it as a metaphor – as an allegorical explanation for a complicated subject, something he alludes to in the clip. And maybe Narendra Modi was trying to be funny when he said we had plastic surgery thousands of years ago when we fixed an elephant’s head on a human body. Maybe that Rajasthan high court judge was simply illustrating his devotion when he declared peacocks don’t have sex but procreate through tears. G.N. Rao, the Andhra University vice-chancellor. Credit: YouTube Maybe Satyapal Singh was on the cusp of a new philosophy of science when he said monkeys didn’t turn into men because his grandparents didn’t have a story about it. Maybe Harsh Vardhan was only musing about unknown unknowns when he said Stephen Hawking believed the Vedas had a better “theory” than E = mc2. But wait: the buck stops with the science minister, and when he’s crossed the line, it’s definitely not a metaphor. What else could it be? Perhaps the BJP government has thrown the field open to anyone who can craft a call to conservatism in a way that sticks to the parivar‘s ideological line, finds traction among the people and makes news. The best craftsperson is then chosen and granted one ‘boon’, to use Amar Chitra Katha’s favourite word for wishes granted by the gods. This franchisee model of nationalist expression would explain former ISRO chief Madhavan Nair’s comment that two women entering the Sabarimala temple at night was a “government-sponsored act of cowardice”. Also read: A Science Minister – and an Event – That Insults Indian Science Or maybe those of us discomfited by an ecosystem that quietly tolerates and normalises increasingly offensive statements are in fact the cynics we’re often told we are. Cynicism, and the disengagement with public politics that it encourages, is a privilege. Many of us can stop fighting for what we believe is right and shrink into a life no different for it – but most of us can’t. At the same time, cynicism is hard to shed when it is consistently rewarded. You decide to hope when the government appoints an excellent principal scientific advisor – and feel snubbed when a senior educational administrator can’t see the national science congress as anything more than a spitball range. (And he isn’t alone.) Just like that, we’re left navigating a tangled web of excuses we’re forced to make for The System if only to avoid confronting the abject incompetence at its centre. Correlations jump up at us everywhere we look but we resist the cynical temptation to see causes instead. However, ad hoc judgments are inimical to the everyday practice of reason – more so when a student’s vice-chancellor invites her to try. Don’t be a cynic and everything will look better. But be a cynic and avoid another demonetisation or starvation death. Don’t be a cynic and read meaning into every silly statement. But be a cynic and think about what G.N. Rao’s and words might do to the spirit of a student at his university. Don’t be a cynic, be a skeptic instead, and learn to hope. But be a cynic and prepare to have your hopes dashed. Don’t be a cynic; there are scientists and teachers doing good work in other parts of the country. Let’s hope that much continues to stay true. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
