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1. Definition of Peace
Peace in our perception is not just absence of war or armed conflict, although war and such conflicts are antagonistic to peace. Peace is not a passive
but an active concept that involves promotion of many activities ( to which a detailed reference would be made later) that create an environment in which peace is sustained and conflict that may disturb peace is
prevented.
When we refer to peace in this article, we do so in a comprehensive manner and include not only peace between countries but peace within the country,
in the immediate society, in the family and within the individual himself or herself. In this article we would first describe the various factors that lead to disturbance of peace, and then discuss the role of
science and technology in preventing conflicts arising from these factors.
2. Factors that Disturb Peace
We list below some of the major factors that have led to conflict that has disturbed peace in the past or is doing so today.
- Religious fundamentalism that emphasises dogma
All religions have two components, the ethical and the dogmatic. The ethical component of all major religions is very nearly identical and, therefore,
does not distinguish one religion from the other. The religions differ from each other primarily in respect of dogma which gives them their individual identity. Whenever man has given more importance to dogma than
to the ethical principles of a religion - any religion - peace has been disturbed. Examples would be the Wars of Crusade in Europe, the communal riots in India before and after Independence, the decades-old conflict
in Ireland, and the recent problem in Bosnia.
Colonisation till the last World War in this century which saw its demise, was rarely, if ever, achieved without a war - be it the colonisation of
India which followed the battle of Plasscy, or of America where many battles were fought against the native Red Indians. Colonisation has also invariably involved unjust rule which has, justifiably, led to battles
for freedom. An outstanding example would be the war Vietnam fought to retain its Independence. Even the manifestly non-violent freedom movement of India was studded with unavoidable episodes of violence, starting
with the first War of independence in 1857.
Racism and casteism imply better/worse or superior/inferior status amongst people, based totally on unscientific and irrational considerations. The
feeling of superiority based, for example, entirely on circumstances of birth ( as has been the case with Brahmins in the country who have thought of themselves as belonging to the "highest" caste) and not
on merit or accomplishment, has led to innumerable wars and conflicts through history. Another outstanding example would be the World War II which was started by Hitler on the assumption that the race to which the
Germans belonged - the Aryan race - was superior to all other races. Yet another example would be the continuing conflict in India based on caste in which those belonging to the scheduled castes (the dalits) have
been brutally victimised; such victimisation has been always based on totally untenable premises and has invariably led to disturbance of peace.
Knowledge imperialism, which is a consequence of having monopoly over knowledge, has been one of the major tools of exploitation today. Such
exploitation eventually leads to revolt on the part of those who are exploited. An example of such exploitation within our country would be the exploitation of the uneducated by the educated which manifests itself
in many ways, the exploitation of household servants who are made to work sixteen hours a day for paltry wages in the house of the rich and the educated, and the exploitation of the uneducated labour by the
contractors in construction industries. One of the ways in which we have exploited women in our country is by providing better educational opportunities for boys and men than for girls and women. In the South Africa
of yesterday, during the apartheid, avenues of higher professional educational for the nonwhites were far lesser than for the whites.
- Technological disparities
It was the tremendous technological disparity in regard to the war machinery between the United States and Vietnam that lead to the emergence of
guerrilla warfare. The cold war between the West and the East before disintegration of the Soviet Union a few years ago, was a consequence of perceived technological disparities between the two sides. It was
believed that technological inferiority would make one vulnerable to attack and domination by the other, technologically more advanced side. It was this belief that led to the disastrous nuclear arms race between
the United States and its allies on the one hand and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other.
- Disparities between countries in regard to natural resources
Such disparities lead to an obligatory dependence on other countries which contributes to neocolonialism on the one hand and arm-twisting on the other.
The long standing conflict between Japan and China in the past was partly on account of the fact that China had enormous natural resources which Japan did not have but needed. Japan thought that it could use its
technological superiority to win over China and thus have access to these resources. The colonisation of India and Indonesia by European powers was, in a large measure, due to what these countries could provide to
England and Holland that were largely devoid of the tremendous natural resources of India and Indonesia. It was the dependence of the Western world on the Middle East oil that led to the Britain-Egypt war in the
early part of this half century.
- Unmet Need of basic requirement, and the existence of disparities, exploitation and discrimination within a society
When the basic requirements of an individual, such as food, housing, health, education, employment, transport, social justice and communication, are
not met in contemporary society, there is always dissatisfaction in the population that is affected. If such a population represents a substantial proportion of the total, this situation leads to a major conflict
between the people and the government or the powers that be. Similarly, large disparities in regard to money, position and power among individuals, that are based on factors other than individual merit and
accomplishment, lead to frustration and/or sense of injustice that, in turn, leads to conflict. The same would be true of disparities in regard to opportunities which, in a democratic society which is the norm of
today, must be available to everyone on an equitable basis, if conflict and confrontation are to be avoided. And exploitation and discrimination based on considerations of creed, caste, sex, age, or language group,
sooner or later but always, lead to revolt and thus to disturbance of peace. In our country, the Naxalitic movement; the Mandal agitation; the tremendous increase in petty crime, robbery and thieft; and the total
lawlessness in certain parts of northern India - in fact, much of our country's internal termoil are, in a large measure, due to factors such as the above. Indeed these factors were mainly responsible for India's
fight for independence, for the Telangana movement within the country, and for the Bangladesh-Pakistan war. In Italy, the rise and fall of the mafia has been, again, related to the dominance and subsequent decline
of the role of the above factors in the everyday life of the country's citizens.
- Availability and promotion of arms
The fact that the economy of several countries of the world in the post-World-War-II-era - examples being the USA, the UK, France and the USSR - has
been significantly dependant on the manufacture and sale of arms, has been responsible for many, otherwise avoidable, conflicts around the world, in which arms supplied by these powers, directly or indirectly, to
both the warring parties. One wonders if the Iran-Iraq-war, the Iraq-Kuwait-conflict, and the long-standing Arab-Israel conflict, which have led to enormous loss of lifes and to disturbance of peace in the region,
would have been fought had no arms been made available to both the parties by the above-mentioned powers. As long as arms must be sold for political and economic reasons, markets would need to be created for them,
which is bound to lead to conflict and disturbance of peace.
Disputes over territory - genuine or created - have been a source of major war and conflicts all through history. Examples from this half-century would
be the India-China-war, the UK-Argentina-war, the Israel-Arab-conflict, the UK-Egypt-war over Suez, and the current dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.
- Secrecy, when one should be transparent
Such secrecy when resorted to serve the selfish motives of those that are high-up in the power hierarchy-exemplified by the innumerable scams in our
country - has in it, always, germs of a major conflict.
- Dictatorship, de facto or de jure
Such dictatorships presume that only one person (or, at most, a small group) has absolute knowledge and, therefore, must have absolute power to take
all the important decisions. Such dictatorships often evolve into a mafia and have, unfortunately, existed around the world in modern times - in this century - not only in the political sphere but also in other
spheres of human activity. In the political sphere, they led to the World War II (a la Hitler and Mussolini), to the conflict between the USSR on the one hand and Czechoslovakia and Poland on the other before the
disintegration of the USSR, to the problems that were created by Idi Amin in Uganda, and the unwarranted attract of Kuwait by Iraq of which Saddam Hussain has been a virtual dictator. In our own country, they have
been innumerable instances of the uprising of peasants against the rule of the landlords who acted like mini-dictators in their own region of influence; even in recent times, we have had Chief Ministers who have
treated their State as their personal property.
- Lack of a mechanism of recognition and redressal of genuine grievances
This has been, perhaps, one important basis for the evolution of terrorism which has been one of the main cause of disturbance of peace around the
world in the last few decades. Examples would be the Palestinian terrorism which was responsible for the first hijacking of an aircraft, the terrorism experienced in Kashmir and in Punjab, the insurgence in the
north-eastern part of India in recent times, and the LTTE movement in Sri Lanka .
- Inefficiency, lack of accountability, corruption and crime going unchecked and unpunished
Such situation always breeds legitimate unrest amongst people on a large scale, which has in it the needs of an uncontrolled escalation into a major
conflict. The recent events in Italy where there has been a mass movement to destroy the mafia after decades of suffering on account of some of the factors mentioned above, would be an example.
- Lack of communication and interaction
The chances of any European country invading any other European country today (barring areas of conflict following the disintegration of the former
Soviet empire) are virtually nil because of the tremendous communication and interaction between the various countries at virtually all levels - governmental and non-governmental. In fact, terrorism evolved, at
least partly, because of lack of such communication and interaction.
- Selfishness and lack of co-operation
An example would be the scams of which we have had plenty in our country in recent years. Surely, the Indo-Pak-conflict or the Indo-China-war of the
recent past, would have been avoided if there was substantial and real co-operation between the two concerned countries at various levels. Another example, illustrative of our inability to work together is that of
the well-known Indian Crab Syndrome!
- Insensitivity to the needs, problems and accomplishments of others
In our country, most agitations and strikes that have at times turned violent and have always disturbed peace, have been almost entirely due to such an
insensitivity on part of the authorities concerned.
- Lack of scientific temper
The lack of scientific temper, which is now a duty of our citizens enshrined in our constitution, implies lack of objectivity, of reason and of
commitment to the scientific method in arriving at opinions and decisions. Much of the problem in our country has been because of the lack of scientific temper at the level of the decision-making authority; this
deficiency has often led to irrational, unreasonable and indefensible decisions which, in turn, have led to protest and conflict. We dare say that not a day goes by in our country when such irrational decisions are
not taken at a substantially high level. All that one has to do to be convinced of this, is to scan the daily newspapers! All religious and class conflicts around the world are, in the final analysis, due to a lack
of the scientific temper.
- Denial of basic human rights
Apartheid in South Africa (which, fortunately, is now a thing of the past) would be an outstanding example of how denial of basic human rights leads to
a long-standing conflict. Indeed, if there were universal respect for basic human rights around the would today, there would be no need for organisations such as the Nobel Prize winning Amnesty International. One of
the successful activities of Amnesty International has been its adoption of, as prisoners of conscience, individuals who have been imprisoned in their respective countries for principled dissent without resorting to
violence.
- Environmental considerations
The last two decades have seen growing confrontation between those whose primary concern is environment and those whose primary concern is development
and/or defence. Such confrontations have often led to disruption of peace as, for example, has been the case with the Green-Peace-movement in Germany and the movement to stop the Narmada project in our country.
Following advances in modern biology, we are increasingly beginning to realise that behavioural patterns are partly determined by genetic factors.
Thus, persons having trisomy for a particular chromosome (the chromosome in three copies instead of two that exist in a normal individual) seem to have a tendency to commit major crimes such as murder, without any
other motive. The Boston Strangler in the early 1960s had this genetic abnormality.
Espionage is like arms and ammunition, an important ingredient of war. One can also force on espionage as a source of conflict even in peace-time in
the coming years. For example, with increased resolution in remote sensing, it may be possible to hire time on a satellite to follow the movements of a particular vehicle or an individual in a specified area. Such
information could always be used to generate new conflicts.
3. How can science and technology help to resolve or prevent conflicts and thus help the cause of peace?
We may now ask in what way have science and technology, the scientific method, scientific knowledge, and technological advances, developments, helped
or can help resolve conflicts arising on account of the factors mentioned above, or prevent such conflicts from arising ? We describe below, in brief, the role that science and technology have played and can play as
determinants of peace in respect of conflicts of each type mentioned above .
- Religious fundamentalism emphasizes dogma
Science can help by showing that while science stands in direct contradiction to the dogma of all religions, which dogma separates and identifies one
religion from the other, today's science provides valuable support to the ethical aspects of a religion which are virtually identical between religions. The synoymity of science with ethical values that have stood
the test of time could act as a major unifying force between religions and thus help to resolve religious conflicts that have been a major cause of disturbance of peace around the world, not only in modern times but
all through history.
The basis of colonialism of yesterday and neocolonialism of today has been largely the disparity in respect of knowledge and the status of science
between the coloniser and the colonised. From history, one can take the example of India itself. East India Company which laid the foundations of the subsequent British conquest of India, came here to exploit our
natural resources. They were able to do so because they had the technological ability to add value to our resources, for example cotton. We thus exported cotton to the Lancashire mills of England and imported the
finished product, the cloth . As a colony of Great Britain we didn't even make sewing needles, pins and blades, leave aside cutlery and machines. It is only after we became independent that this situation was
transformed within a half-century into one where we acquired the capability of making virtually everything.
It is true that manifest colonisation is now a thing of the past, but neocolonisation is not. Since even neocolonisation always has seeds of conflict
in it which would sprout at the slightest provocation, it is important to ensure that these seeds do not sprout. An important step towards preventing neocolonisation would be to ensure that the level of scientific
and technological development in the country that is likely to be affected, is at par with that of the other countries that might have the tendency to dominate. It must be immediately added that it is not important
that the country trying to protect its de facto independence, has the state-of-art expertise in all areas of science and technology; it would be impossible for smaller countries to do so. What is important is that
this is so at least in one area of science or technology.
From what we have said above, it is clear that the ability to defend against colonisation or neocolonisation would be today directly proportional to
the scientific the technological development of the country itself. The recent attempted takeover or "colonisation" of Kuwait by Iraq was prevented on account of the superior technological ability of the
countries that helped Kuwait.
We must also point out in all fairness that technological and scientific superiority also provides a means to colonise - de facto or de jure - another
country which is inferior in this respect. Such disparities, therefore, always have in them the seeds of conflict. While we do not underrate the role of moral pressures on the scientific and the technologically
strong today in preventing exploitation of the scientifically and technologically weak, we strongly believe that the only way to ensure that such exploitation does not occur is by raising the scientific and
technological level of the country that otherwise runs the risk of being exploited.
Science has already played an important role in containing racism, casteism and other modes of discrimination on the basis of creed, caste, sex or age.
For example, the strongest argument against apartheid has been the fact that, in a sufficiently large outbred population, all traits are randomised. This means that no race is intellectually or otherwise superior to
any other race on our planet today. The same would be true of caste. One of us had, a few years ago, a letter from a housewife in Utta Pradesh who was also working for a Ph.D. in sociology, in which she said that
there must be separate genes that regulate the socalled caste-related functions. Thus, she said, the Brahmins must have a gene that equips them better to acquire knowledge, the Kshatriyas a gene that makes them
better warriors, the Vaishyas a gene that makes them better businessmen, and Shudhras a gene that makes them admirably suited for hard manual labour! The fact that people today would want to seek validation from
science of such ideas they have about caste, underscores the importance of science even in the minds of those who haven't been formally trained as scientists. The fact is that once we are aware of the above genetic
argument, the fragmentation of society on the basis of caste would make absolutely no sense. Imagine an India in which there were no castes. Surely, we would have been a different nation today in terms of peace and
prosperity.
Another example of an attempt to validate racial prejudice through science, would be an article published by Arthur Jensen in the late 1960s in Harvard
Educational Review in which he argued that the black children in the United States scored, on a average, lower than the white children, in intelligence tests. It was, again, scientists who provided irrevocable
evidence against the above hypothesis of Jensen and thus prevented what could have erupted into a major racial conflict in the United States.
Science and scientists are against any monopoly of knowledge. The commitment of the scientific community against such monopoly is exemplified by the
fact that all respectable scientists publish their observations, results and theories in scientific journals which are, in principle, accessible to everyone around the world.
In our own country, much of the conflict that we see between people is on account of the fact that knowledge has been a virtual monopoly of the
privileged. Thus, our countrymen are today divided essentially into two groups; the privileged 3 to 5 % and the unprivileged 95 to 97%. In the privileged group, every child shall go to school, finish high school, go
to a university, get a degree and get a job. (Do you have a friend with a child of 20 who has not yet finished high school?)
On the other hand, among the unprivileged, even if a child does go to school the chances are that it would be a school which teaches virtually nothing,
or that the child will drop out in class 3 or class 5 or class 8. The chances are only one in ten that he would reach the high school stage, and only one in thirty that he would pass the high school examination.
Even if he does so, the chances are further reduced for him to go to a university and get a degree. The extremely small percentage of the unprivileged that manage to get into the educational mainstream, does not
alter the structure of either the privileged or the imprivileged sector. Therefore, the seeds of conflict continue to be there and we see them sprout every now and then in various forms and garbs.
Although the British had realised that bringing modern education to India would be sowing seeds of rebellion (as did actually happen), the realisation
that a system of acquiring new knowledge and of comprehending what the state-of-art is in the area, is a prerequisite for maintaining one's independence (and, therefore, reducing the chances of conflict), has hardly
been universal. Thus, even a person like PMS Blackett, a Nobel Prize winner and a confirmed sympathizer of the political left in Europe after the last World War, said in a report that he was requested to write on
organisation of science in India at the time of Jawaharlal Nehru, that India should not do any basic research and should use its scientific and technological talent only for solving its local and specific problems.
It is to the credit of our leaders of that time that they did not accept this suggestion. Had they done so, the situation in India today would have been very different and the gap between us and the rest of the
world perhaps an order of magnitude larger.
- Technological disparities
Technological disparities can be removed only by technological development based on a sound, country-specific technology-policy that will take into
account the strengths of the country in regard to men, material and resources. Examples would be the leadership of Japan in regard to seafood technology and the technology of building earthquake proof buildings, for
Japan has a long coast line and the need to depend on seafood, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, the Norwegian leadership in the area of technology of heating buildings (for example, development of the
technology of heating buildings through the floor), Israel's leadership in regard to arid-zone technology (the entire country of Israel having only one fresh-water source, the sea of Galilee); India's leadership in
computer software technology on account of its 5000 year old tradition of leadership in mathematics, and france's leadership in nuclear power technology for France had no other choice in respect of the source of
power.
- Disparities between countries in regard to nature resources
Science and technology provide avenues to counter this disadvantage by developing ways and means of optimally utilising the country's internal assets.
(Examples have already been given above.) However, it is important to ensure that the country sets up a machinery that would enable science and technology to counter the above disadvantage. Let us give one example
where this did not happen - though it could have happened. The country is Malagasy, and the product vanilla. Malagasy Republic has been the traditional source of most of the vanilla that we all use around the world
as a universally-liked flavour. The island's vanilla industry has so far employed nearly 70,000 persons, mostly farmers.
However, not long ago, some American firms decided to embark on a project of growing the vanilla pods in tissue culture. It is believed that they have
recently succeeded which means that they would be able to make as much vanilla as they want in the laboratory through the use of the tissue culture technology. Thus the 70,000 workers who were engaged in growing and
producing vanilla in Malagasy would face unemployment. Surely, this would have been prevented if the Malagasy Republic itself had set up the technology of production of vanilla through tissue culture; if they had
done so, their final product would have turned out to be much cheaper than it would now be in the United States where labour and other costs are far greater than in Malagasy.
- Lack of the meeting of the basic requirements, and the existence of disparities, exploitation and discrimination within a society.
Science and technology help provide solutions to problems relating to basic human needs at any given time. The fact that in our country many of these
problems continue to exist is not because scientific solutions are not available but because of the lack of the required socio-political-economic will on part of the government, the bureaucracy and others who hold
the reigns of power.
Science and technology invariably created new opportunities for the underprivileged and the unprivileged. Examples would be distance-education through
television, and the development of new small-scale technologies (such as biotechnology's) that would be relevant to our villages and provide additional employment to those working in the agricultural sector.
- Availability and promotion of arms
While it is true that science and technology have been used by the unscrupulous and the greedy for the development of new arms and thereby the
promotion of the arms industry around the world, it is science and technology that have created the awareness of the damage that the new arms can do, and provided the strongest argument against both their production
and use. Thus, in the case of biological warfare, it is an understanding of the devastation that such a warfare can cause, and the ease of production and delivery of biological weapons, that would be in the future
the best deterrent for their development, production, stockpiling and use. It is, therefore, not surprising that even though the destructive power of chemical and biological weapons is far greater than that of
nuclear weapons, we still have been unable to reach an agreement around the world on nuclear weapons (an agreement that would not be discriminatory) but we have such an agreement reached in respect of chemical and
biological weapons by virtually all the countries of the world. Thus, an awareness of the diabolically frightening potential of chemical and biological weapons has acted as an automatic deterrent to their use. An
example would be Saddam Hussain's Iraq which had factories making anthrax spores (one of the deadliest of biological weapons) during the recent Iraq-Kuwait-war. Inspite of the fact that Saddam Hussain did threaten
to use this "ultimate weapon" during the war, he actually never used it as its use would have condemned him totally and irrevocably in the eyes of the rest of the world - including, perhaps, his own people.
Science provides a rational approach towards resolving territorial disputes. Wherever such conflicts have continued, it is because of the lack of such
an approach, of which objective reasoning and taking into account all facts is an integral part.
- Secrecy, where one should be transparent
Secrecy is the antithesis of science, and transparency one of its strongest points. It is on account of this quality of science that there is a strong
international scientific community in which the bonds between different members - no matter which country, religion, sect or community they belong to - are often stronger than the other ties or bonds that they may
have within their own country, religion, sect or community. It is for this reason that even during the worst period of the Cold War between the West and the East (exemplified by the United States and the Soviet
Union, respectively), there was no "war" between the scientists of the two countries; on the other hand, the genuine and top scientists on the two sides had great affection and concern for each other.
- Dictatorship, de facto or de juro
Science is totally against dictators or high priests whose statement must be accepted on faith and without questioning. There are no high priests or
dictators in science. In fact, the history of man is replete with instances where scientists have fought autocracy and dictatorship at virtually all levels. Scientists go by the following statement of Buddha which
would be anathema for dictators and high priests;
Believe nothing merely because you have been told it
Or because it is traditional
Or because you yourselves imagined it
Do not believe what your teacher tells you
Merely out of respect for the teacher
But whatever, after due examination and analysis
You find to do conducive to the good
The benefit, the welfare of all beings
That doctrine believe in and cling to
And take it as your guide.
- Lack of mechanism of recognition and redressal of genuine grievances
Science provides a rational approach towards recognition of genuine grievances. If one has recognised and understood the basis of a grievance, one is
already on the way to redressing it to the extent possible. Indeed, in our country many major political problems for example in Punjab, the North-East or Kashmir - would not even have arisen if our politicians had
used the scientific approach towards identification of the genuine problems of people resident in these areas. Instead of doing this and then systematically solving the problems to the extent possible, our
politicians treated every problem and every issue exclusively from the political point of view, and we have seen the consequence! It would perhaps be not wrong to state that politicians around the world (exceptions
apart) have been and a increasingly becoming the significant cause for disturbance of peace; they are also generally acutely ignorant of the scientific method.
- Inefficiency, lack of accountability, corruption and crime going unchecked and unpunished
Efficiency and accountability (social, professional and financial) are an integral part of any scientific management system of today. And science has
continued to provide new, accurate, unambiguous and reliable methods of crime detection, some of which have already proven to be a deterrent to the commitment of crime. In other cases the existence of such methods
has proved to be a source of much succour to the one who has been affected. Let us cite an interesting example involving the new technique of DNA fingerprinting.
Lakshmi, a construction worker from the East Godavari district, one of our affluent districts that produces a large amount of rice, was seduced by a
contractor, Suryanarayan Raju, a Hindu. He went through the tribal marriage ceremony with Lakshmi, which is very different from the Hindu marriage ceremony. In 1983, Lakshmi had a male child by Raju. In 1984, Raju
decided to get married to another woman. By law, a Hindu cannot marry a second time if he has a wife legally wedded to him and alive at that time. When Lakshmi appealed to the lower courts, she was told that as
tribal marriage ceremonies are different, the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act and the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act would not apply to her. By this time it was 1994, and she heard of DNA fingerprinting. So
she asked the High Court of A.P. for maintenance from the contractor, she pleaded that the court directed her husband to go through the DNA fingerprinting test. The judge, Justice Jagannath Raju, asked the
contractor to appear before the Court and sent him to Hyderabad for the DNA fingerprinting test, and justice was done.
Unfortunately, there is very little that even science and technology can do to prevent corruption - excepting providing a set of values and norms
which, if followed would, perhaps, help to reduce the extent of corruption prevalent in our society. Science, of course, provides tools that one could use to detect corruption!
- Lack of communication and interaction
Technology has already made a dramatic change in our ability to communicate and interact at various levels. It is now widely recognised that
availability of information, the ability to articulate one's ideas, and the ease of communication between people, all taken together, play an important role in forging bonds of friendship between people and thus in
avoiding, skirting or altogether preventing conflict that often arises out of misinformation and lack of communication. The information revolution is surely taking us, even though step by slow step, towards one
world.
- Selfishness and lack of co-operation
There are now strong scientific reasons to believe that altruism (which is the antithesis of selfishness) is built in our genes. It follows that the
kind of selfishness that we see around us today and which is a major corrupting influence on our society in every conceivable sphere of activity, is an imposition of the environment and not something that we are
born with. As regards co-operation, it is central to today's science. Whereas at the end of the last century, it was difficult to find a scientific research paper which had more than one author, today it would be
equally difficult to find a scientific research paper which has only one author, in fact, there are many with scores of authors from laboratories around the world. And it is the recognition that technological
co-operation can be useful and productive and add to one's material wealth and advantage, that has led to the emergence of multinational corporations. Therefore, one of the most important messages that science and
technology may give to the people today, is that of cooperation across all man-made barriers.
- Insensitivity to the needs, problems, accomplishments, and failures of others
A scientist by definition, is sensitive to the environment. The scientific temper, therefore, should automatically lead to the recognition of the
needs, the problems, the accomplishments and the failures of others. In our perception, the scientific temper involves the following:
- an understanding of the basic attributes of the scientific method;
- acceptance of knowledge gained by its application as the closest available approximation to truth;
- rejection, at a given time in history, of what is incompatible with the above knowledge;
- recognition that the method of science is a truly reliable way of inquiring knowledge; and
- application of the method of science in everyday life and in every sphere of human activity.
- Lack of scientific temper
One of the major sources of conflict within oneself is the inability to anive at viable and reasonable opinions and decisions which would stand the
test of time. A commitment to the scientific method, which includes an understanding and appreciation of the Cartesian approach to solving problems, can help a great deal in this regard. Indeed, if our people had
scientific temper, there would be no bride-burning, and no belief in the totally irrational and unscientific systems such as astrology (distinct from astronomy which is, of course, totally scientific).
One of the major sources of inner conflict that one may experience in our society today is the apparent dichotomy between science and traditional
knowledge. A scientific approach would surely resolve this conflict by helping to determine what part of traditional knowledge is or can be compatible with science and what part is totally incompatible. A scientific
approach would also make one realise the need for appropriate validation of such traditional knowledge that might seem to go against the norms of existing science, before one accepts such traditional knowledge and
base one's decisions on it. Science does produce such means of validation which would tend to appeal to one's sense of reason virtually axiomatically.
As an example, we quote below from a study that two of us had carried out on the history of the development of biology in ancient and medieval India.
We quote the conclusions that we arrived at in this study - conclusions which have given us a great sense of pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish, and thought over a lot of what is recorded in our
ancient literature totally untenable from the scientific point of view.
"We believe that, in biological knowledge, India was far ahead of most of the then civilized world up to, say 1000 A D;, or even 1500 A.D. - that
is, for some 4000 years of documented history. However, after this period, the knowledge of biology in Europe progressed by leaps and bounds while our knowledge remained static. Thus, the advantage we had of
history, culture and tradition (e.g., of no ban on dissection) were lost.
"Our " forefathers in the ancient and the mediaeval period did all that was humanly possible. However, they tried to do more and in that
process gave us untruths which, in the social milieu in which they were generated and sustained, came to be stratified, amalgamated with truth on one hand and with myth, legend, magic and religion on the other. If
we can separate the myth and dogma from truth, and reject what is not compatible with modern science, we would be in a position not only to have a better appreciation of what our ancestors were able to accomplish,
but also lay the foundations of a systematic and rapid development of modern biology in India by providing a new motivation. We have no doubt in our minds that one of the reasons for the lack of this development has
been the hold of obscurantism on the minds of our people, partly derived from what has been said in our scriptures".
Another example of lack of scientific temper causing conflict within a family is the myth that if a woman is unable to conceive, the fault is always
hers; the fact is that in the case of at least half of the cases of infertile couples, the fault lies with the man, the woman being perfectly normal and fertile. Similarly, if a woman gives birth to a string of
girls, if someone is to be blamed, it is surely not the woman, as the sex of the child is determined by the man's contribution (the spermatozoa).
- Denial of basic human rights
Science today provides one of the strongest bases for the universal declaration of human rights as well as for what one might call universal human
obligations. Science and technology also provide today the most important tools for meeting the rights as well as for discharging the obligations.
The best argument in favour of the view that in any organised system such as a society, all freedom must operate within a set of constraints, is the
scientific argument. For example, when elements get organised to give a chemical compound, the properties of the elements change. Some properties or freedoms of the individual elements are lost, but the
organisational constraints also confer a collective advantage on the compound. (A good example would be hydrogen and oxygen combining together to give water.) The scientific approach provides a methodology for
determining which societal constraints at a given time would allow the maximal utilisation of individual freedom for the maximal benefit to mankind.
- Environmental considerations
It is science and the scientific approach alone that can provide the basis for resolving the apparent conflict between sustainable development and
sustainable conservation that has led to situations in many parts of the world where peace has been disturbed. Unfortunately, this approach has been lacking in a section of our environmentalists as well as in a
section of our people concerned with development (that is, technologists and industrialists). It has thus led to environmental fundamentalism on the one hand and to environmental insensitivity on the other. One of
the consequences of these two non- overlapping approaches has been that people have been forgotten in both! Our environmental fundamentalists have not regarded people as a part of the ecosystem, they have tried to
protect, which is totally unscientific. Consequently people who have lived in the area for centuries, have not been involved in management of our wild-life sanctuaries, and their needs have not been considered as
important as the needs of the wild life that we seem to be wanting to protect, even though the native human residents of the area have rarely, if ever, destroyed the environment or interfered with it on their own
(that is, if not instigated by the more privileged and, therefore, more greedy members of our society staying outside these areas). Similarly, the industrialists and the technologists have, again, been often
concerned only with making money - the largest amount with the minimum investment - without worrying as to what the consequent environmental degradation will do to the people who have been resident in the area for
centuries. Consequently, inspite of so much talk about environment and conservation on one hand and industrialisation on the other, we have not so far laid down comprehensive criteria that an industry must satisfy
if set up in or near an area that might be even remotely environmentally sensitive - for that matter in any rural or non-urban area. Whatever guidelines exist as of today, will not often stand close scientific
scrutiny.
Today we have come a long way in the direction of understanding the genetic and neurological bases of aberrant human behaviour such as criminal
tendencies, compulsive gambling and alcoholism. Man has thus taken the first important step forward in being able to eventually tackle these problems within a framework of reason and sensitivity.
While science has provided increasingly sensitive tools for espionage, it also continues to provide at the same rate, tools and methodologies for the
detection and containment of espionage.
4. Conclusion
In this paper we have focussed on the key factors involved in the role of science and technology in determining peace. Our contextual framework covers
not only nations but also societies, families and the individuals.
Although we have focussed on global issues, we need to reflect on the special situation in India. As a nation we appear to be in turmoil today. The
dream of building INDIA Incorporated appears to be so far away, thanks to the several conflicts that continue to haunt us. Our policy of integrating Indian economy with global economy is bringing in new challenges
and if these are not understood properly then again conflicts will arise and peace will be disturbed. Entry of multinationals, disinvestments from public sector undertakings, new WTO obligations, new intellectual
property right regime etc. need to be viewed both logically and scientifically. Indeed more than ever before, scientific temper and its use in every single endeavour would constitute the crucial elements towards the
maintenance of peace.
Let us take just two examples. Take the issue of rich bio-diversity in India. There are fears, many of them unfounded, that biopiracy by foreign
nationals will ruin the country. This is already creating conflicts. Unrealistic attitudes will destroy peace. Scientific thinking, which on one hand will lead to a rational legislation on bio-diversity, and value
addition through high quality science to our bio-resource on the other, will be the key to a long term solution. As another example, consider the intellectual property regime challenge. This is linked to the
conflicts on account of the monopoly of knowledge of selected nations and societies. On the other hand, the rich intellectual powers of the nation can be strategically and judiciously used to create a competitive
position for India. This confidence needs to be displayed boldly by our scientists, and in turn by India itself, so that pragmatic policies that will guard our interests but at the same time, understand the harsh
realities of the partnerships in global village, can be harnessed. This alone can avoid conflicts.
In India, we have to build a society that believes in partnership with nature. The future economies must expand within ecosystems which have limited
regenerative capacities. The old ideas of quantitative growth must give way to the idea of qualitative growth within limits of the ecosystems. This will require a change of mindsets everywhere new and different
decisions will have to be made in corporate boardrooms as also in national capitals. Such decisions will have to put the needs of the planet ahead of everything else. The Chief Executive Officer of tomorrow will
have to view himself as Chief Environmental Officer. We need to generate a new breed of ecopreneurs, who will lead the governance of the globe on the basis of this respect for partnership with nature. However,
environmental fundamentalism, practically bordering on environmental terrorism, will create conflicts and disturb peace. The new context will provide many such and other challenges, which we must be prepared to meet.
It is our firm belief that as we enter the 21st Century, India has a chance to lead the way and show to the rest of the world, through appropriate
examples, how science and technology can be the crucial determinants of peace.
Acknowledgement
Both the authors acknowledge and appreciate the discussions with Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, DG, CSIR on some of the issues involved in this paper. These were
both challenging and stimulating.
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