There was a controversy over the recently concluded Indian Science Congress, specifically over one of its tracks, where the focus was put on ancient Indian Science. Now, at first glance, it is very difficult to understand why this should be controversial at all - is it the claim of those who oppose that there was no science in Ancient India at all? The claim is at once laughable - since so much of it still survives and is still in use in everyday life - from the intricate Hindu Calendar (whos accuracy is unmatched by the crude Julian Calendar) or the Hindu Temples, whos alignment with astronomical phenomena has not even been understood, let alone be replicated by the modern Engineering. Then why do they oppose it? One thing that is said is that some of the ancient science is wrong. But to this we respond that every thing be correct from the start is not possible - and is in fact a very unscientific point of view. Alternately it is said that some of it was proposed without proof. This is nothing but hypocrisy of the first rate. European Scientists who are said to have invented modern science - Newton believed in alchemy (turning lead into gold), Pascal concerned himself with foolish notions of Christianity. Has that ever stopped these worthies from proclaiming these gentlemen as the prophets of modern science? (An alternate answer - frankly far more devastating to the opponents case is the following - the idea of proof itself does not rest on solid philosophical grounds. In fact, the proposition comes before the proof, and thus the proof is only a formal device to demonstrate the correctness of something already long known to be true. Incidentally, as recently as 1930s, Ramanujan stated all his results without proofs. This is where ancient Indian Science connects with Indian Religious and Philosophical traditions. But space prevents us from going deeper into this matter.) Since none of the grounds on which the Congress was opposed ring true, one now ask on what were the real reasons for the opposition? After all, these are all educated people in their own right - surely points as obvious as raised by us should have also occurred to them? We contend that these people are a certain brand of mercenaries. Instead of fighting actual wars for money, they are conducting a kind of intellectual warfare for their masters. Their entire object is to convince the world that all science arose only in the West in the last 200 years. This is not at all unusual - it is in fact plain to see that the principle objective of the West for a long time has been to convince the world of its civilizational, moral and scientific supremacy. So far, they have obtained tremendous success in this project. Over the last 200 years the West has been able to convince almost every alternate cultures that they were fools, and that Europe was the only enlightened place and such enlightenment took place only in 1600s. (Naturally this is nothing more than a fable. Monuments from all over the world clearly demonstrate a method of construction and technology far in advance of even current science - see for instance the accuracy with which Indian Temples are aligned with astronomical phenomena or the Egyptian Monuments or the South American ones. In fact, even the belief in the technological supremacy of the modern world is nothing but a superstition.) But how is this project - whose existence cannot be denied - be threatened by a Science Congress - nothing more than a routine gathering of scientists in some corner of India? To see this, we must understand the relationship of cultural values to science. The Humanities always envelop science - since it is the humanities that set the context for science - what is valuable, what is not, what is worth pursuing, what is not, what are the important questions - these are not determined by science - rather they are decided by the cultural values that are held. Science and Technology always operate in a certain context, and if you change the context, the Science will also take a different turn. As such, it is easy to see that the program of the Indian Science Congress, if pursued, can and will result in only one thing - a divergence - where India will part ways with the West civilizationally (at least). This is because the philosophical underpinnings of Indian Science & Technology are totally different from the Western. Such a parting of ways will never be tolerable for the West. One, they have worked long & hard to establish this notion of supremacy. But more fundamentally, Western Civilization needs this notion to survive - without it, it cannot live. The situation today is in fact even more desperate, since the West is financially bankrupt. It needs the worlds resources to be at its disposal more than ever. That is why a parting of ways is so deeply threatening to them - why something as benign as a Science Congress must be opposed.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 06:54:13 +0000
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