Netting Knowledge
Truth, Friendship and Enlightenment
Q. Isa Daudpota
Countries at war demonize the other side. Distorted history books and the misinformation media glorify the home side and downgrade the other.
Just look at South Asia to see what such an attitude has wrought. Wouldn't it be wonderful if intellectuals from both countries could jointly write history, social studies and cultural textbooks that could be accessed by all students in this region? Maybe UNESCO or such body could assist with payment to authors, but come to think of it, volunteers could set up an Internet textbook site at virtually no cost if authors are willing to forego remuneration initially. In time, support will be found through advertising on the site and a philanthropic organization will appear. A little bit of faith, some mad academics and this project could be flying soon.
Many of you will be familiar with Chowk where many cerebral South Asian types hang out.
www.chowk.com
There is chat of course, but much serious writing that you may want to get your teeth into. This site run principally by Pakistanis in the West has three regular columnist of Indian origin (two of them live are in North America now).
Ms Jawahara Saidullah writing under the banner "Chronicling Humanity" presents a varied menu. "Delhi Calling" by Veeresh Malik living in India says that he is interested in "Getting to know more about street and ground level Pakistan, and willing to share the same knowledge about India, hopefully without letting stereotypes and bias coming in the way... Current short-term aim: to drive across Pakistan and write about it." And then there is S. P. Udayakumar with his "Political Meditations" column. He also runs an active Internet list that exposes the wrong-doings of the BJP government. These ambassadors of a sensible India help to bridge the gap between people in our countries. I hope that web sites similar to the ones run by Indians have a similar number of enlightened Pakistanis contributing to the dialogue.
There was a reason for writing about community networking at the Chowk site. It is to suggest that, in addition to the text book site for South Asia, we could do with a moderated list for schools and higher level students and academics for exchange of ideas and opinions about these textbooks and on other issues of interest. Maybe SPIDER along with a similar publication in India could get it going. One needs two moderators, one on each side of the border to begin with.
In mid-March I received information from an old colleague, Hasan Rizvi of SDNP, Islamabad, that the Federation of American Scientist had put on their web site the satellite imagery of Pakistan's nuclear installations. Here's everything you wanted to find but couldn't even ask.
www.fas.org/eye/indo-pak.html
The high-resolution images, acquired by the Federation of American Scientists from the Space Imaging IKONOS satellite, show details of Pakistan's weapons facilities previously known only to the secret intelligence world.
For some of your reading this, this site may already be old news, but I got this information several hours before the press briefing in the USA by the producers of this site. Such is the speed of Internet communication! This site has a wealth of information on all aspects of nuclear security and a must visit for students and scholars. Just look at the main page of the site.
www.fas.org
By the time you do, the promised photos of the sensitive Indian sites may be available. Pakistani commentators debated why the photos of only our side were shown, and that too before the much-hyped Clinton visit. My impression and that of others about our photos was that there isn't really very much to see there for the untrained eye.
While nuclear weapons create an illusion of security, they are extremely dangerous for you. Optical illusions on the other hand are great fun.
www.illusionworks.com
IllusionWorks, developed by the California Institute of Technology, has got to be of outstanding quality. The site has an introductory (presently not functional) and an advanced section as well as many other delicious parts that could keep you happy for months. It will teach you a few things about your brain. May your eyes survive.
Finally, let me take you to a site that you may never tire off, particularly if you have an academic bent of mind.
www.edge.org
For me it has been the best find of 1999, and one that I had been searching for during the last few years, after I heard about its founder John Brockman and his Edge Foundation. Finally I got a lead to it from Zaheer Kidvai, the man who produced a CD-ROM on Faiz and has been the pioneer of the use of computers for education in Pakistan (See his interview in SPIDER's February 1999 issue).
Brockman is the publishing agent of many of the finest writers on science and cutting-edge issues. He regularly invites his gaggle of writers and thinkers to express their views on an amazing range of subjects. Wouldn't you like to know what was the greatest invention of the past 2000 years? Not just a listing but detailed justification by the erudite participants. There are extended interviews of famous scientists and engineers such as Stephen Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins (there is a web page elsewhere just discussing his controversial theories), Rodney Brooks (robotics pioneer) and Steward Brand (founder of the Whole Earth Review at www.wholeearth.org - another wonderful resource for those who want to think and act. This site may still be under re-construction.)
So go for Edge and you will be forever enlightened.
QID has degrees in Electronic Engineering and Physics from Britain, where he has also taught. He researched in applied math and computational fluid dynamics in the USA and taught at Sindh University for 6 years. QID was founding Director of the Sustainable Development Networking Programme until December 1997. Since then he is a free man.
Your comments and ideas can reach him at
daudpota@spider.tm.
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