Thinklog Wargafikir

Intrigued by this magazine, said to be the seed of innovative culture in Silicon Valley. An excerpt from Wikipedia: "The title  Whole Earth Catalog  came from a previous project by  Stewart Brand . In 1966, he initiated a public campaign to have  NASA  release the then-rumored satellite photo of the sphere of  Earth  as seen from space, the first image of the "Whole Earth." He thought the image might be a powerful symbol, evoking a sense of shared destiny and adaptive strategies from people. The  Stanford -educated Brand, a biologist with strong artistic and social interests, believed that there was a groundswell of commitment to thoroughly renovating American industrial society along ecologically and socially just lines, whatever they might prove to be."

(This is a continuation of my discourse on acade mia. You might want to read   part 1 and part 2 ) There is a general despair in academia.  Examining news headlines, popular blogs, viral Facebook postings, excluding those coming from academia glorifying itself, of late we get a generally bleak perceptions of Malaysian Academia. While local universities are wax lyrical about their amazing jumps in global ranking game, we keep hearing public complaints. Among the complaints we keep hearing are, universities are out of touch with industry and society [i] , low job competency of graduates [ii] , low employment rate of graduates [iii], slow conversion of innovations into commercialisation [iv] , stressful working environment for academic staff [v] , low impact of knowledge outside academia, etc. I recalled recently the top management of a public university was summoned by a minister to explain a damaging online article that alleged the university is no longer relevan...

In my previous article , I talked of the absence of an overall, cohesive philosophy for Malaysian academia. This time the focus will be on a particular philosophy permeating academic realm,  pushing out alternative paradigms aggressively. Instead of bringing about cohesion, it divides academia and degrades it into fragmented chaos. Philosophy is not a subject favoured by contemporary scholars. Any discussion bearing any abstract concept  would quickly be labelled "rhetoric" and not worth serious attention. What matters are real 'empirical' hard data. Swift judgement based on scientific data would be the hallmark of modern and sharp intellectualism. For academia, this is unfortunate. It creates the current crisis or paralysis currently infecting it. Ironically, for all the low admiration of philosophy currently in academia, it embrace one particular philosophy religiously. Admit it or not, this particular attitude highlighted above originates from A particula...

We often refer to the progress of western civilisations in terms of their contributions in science and technology. We believe if we can have access, or even replicate their technological advancement as well as achieve the same level of prosperity, we will reach the same status they enjoyed as developed nations. With relative prosperity that enabled us to acquire the best technology out there, the best infra and with democratisation of information, by right, we should be behaving and thinking like one. But yet, something is amiss. Our mentality, our culture, our politics, don’t seem to reflect one. Why can’t we do this? Do we lack the psycho-sociological make up to stand like one? (cite K Mahbubani, “can Asian think?”). Why don’t we feel like living in a developed society? We don’t behave like one, even worse, our collective way of thinking as a nation doesn’t seem to be beyond those of ancient civilisations, stuck in bygone era. If we look at our public dialogues more often th...

Berikut adalah posting dari seorang peladang sawit di sebuah laman fb bertarikh 19 j7n 2019: "Harga sawit semasa RM290 1tan Tolak upah potong RM60 1tan Tolak lori RM30 1tan tolak baja RM86.60 sebulan *1ekar/60pokok *Membaja 3kg sepokok setiap 3 bulan *Baja NPK RM65 1bag 50kg *Pengiraan ini tidak termasuk kos meracun dan proning pelepah sawit Alhamdulilah dalam keadaan semasa skrg pekebun sawit dapat bersih RM 113.40 untuk 1tan...." Begitulah posting beliau. Tapi ayuh kita lihat angka2 yang diberi. Kalau membaja dan memotong buah sendiri buat, dapatlah rm1300/bulan...dari...10 Ekar!! Bila dah tua sure nak upah orang. Kalau upah membaja dan memotong dspatlah utg bersih rm0 sebulan. Maksudnya kalau pakcik yg dah 70 tahun usahakan k sawit, dia hanya mengkayakan pengeksport minyak sawit tanpa sesen pun dia dapat. Maknanya 10 ekar tanah diberi percuma kepada kapitalis2 kaya. Persoalannya, adakah wajar negara masih cuba menyelamatkan industri sawit atau patut bertukar ...

Just watched a video on the transformation of Shenzen from an agricutural district to new technology centre, touted as China's Silicon Valley. It looks impressive. The video is  here However, I would like to raise a cautionary proposition though. China is an infant capitalist society, unbriddled one at that. It has just awoken from its socialist slumber. It is easy to paint rosy pictures when you have enough money. Elsewhere, the environmental, economic and social wreck caused by offshore Chinese money need to be understood before we rush into their 'friendly' embrace. Some people suggest China is the balancing power against US domination of world economy. Wrong, In fact the two can be allies against the world. For all the trade war and ict war we see between them, they both represent capitalism at their best and worst. Egalitarian society would have a hard time under either or both. The last 10 minutes of the documentary is interesting, particularly on the dark side...

There was an article i read recently, complaining about the sorry state of UK universities where staff are depressed and thinking of leaving. (Click https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/may/21/cut-throat-half-academics-stressed-thinking-leaving) So id like to propose the dismantling of the current academic authoritarian culture hankering after artificial ranking. Then I imagine the backlash from hardcore executives " so what would you suggest? Let it be free and easy? Well go back to incompetent modes low grade univ we were before?" or to quote one actual response "All hell break lose". To answer this I would like to refer the ending scene of "The Demolition Man". The film Demolition Man is about a state where crime was successfully curbed through technology that virtually it become a Utopian state, ideal, crime free, clean and seemingly happy citizen. But these come at a cost where dissenting voices and culture are curbed. Too much contr...