Simpler solutions

While we have not given up our strong belief in conspiracy theories, ‘educated Pakistanis’ in the media and drawing room conversations are also eager to provide a scientific basis for what may be considered our national problems. The problem, however, is that poor scientific literacy or even lack of common sense is affecting our ability to distinguish substance from nonsense.

Let us start with the issue of fog on our roadways. Whether it is the fog on the motorway or in the flight path, it is affecting thousands, perhaps tens of thousands who want to travel between the economic nerve centres of the country. It has led to preventable deaths and is costing us billions due to stalled air and ground traffic. Instead of recognising the problem as a manifestation of unbearable pollution and lack of policy to control it, we blame it on global climate change. I am not a climate change sceptic or denier and strongly believe that it is having a tremendous global impact. Yet, climate change is not to blame for the smog and the fog that we see on our roads. Cities all across the world, including those in our geographic neighbourhood such as Beijing, are affected by fog and smog due to pollution. But these cities are trying to address the root cause of the problem, not blaming it on global climate change. There is little doubt that climate change can exacerbate the problems we face, but controlling pollution is in our control and would go a long way in addressing issues that are crippling the lifelines of our economy.

I wish the problem of scientific illiteracy or the fashion of grand global conspiracies was limited to the domain of fog and transportation. Unfortunately, it affects too many areas of our daily life. For example, the inability of our bodies to respond to antibiotics is not just because the new strains of diseases are just too strong, or because of the bird flu that is emerging in the Far or the Middle East, it is also because we make terrible quality products and then we take antibiotics for every headache and every runny nose, thus developing resistance to even potent drugs. The trash we decide to throw at the corner of the street, ensuring that it is two houses away from our field of view, can still have serious consequences on our health, even if we decide to burn it at a ‘mohalla-campfire’.

What is often missing in our conversations, debates and analyses is not science, but the scientific method. We are quick to blame our floods on a giant conspiracy and some super-human endeavours at a remote lab in Alaska, but fail to rigorously analyse that argument and the inherent fallacies in it. Lack of planning, incompetence, poor infrastructure and inadequate preparation can explain the damages a lot better. Scientific facts, regardless of their relevance or accuracy, are thrown around to provide basis for our arguments. Whether it is the fog on the street, mystery illnesses, or a car that needs water and nothing else, we have neither embraced science nor the scientific method.

The lack of rigour or scientific method is costing us dearly. The talk shows on our 24-hour media are rife with arguments and counterarguments on all political fronts. Our pundits use twisted logic that would shame absurdity. We often find elaborate explanations of problems that can be explained by obvious (although at times uncomfortable) facts. Our national discourse, not just in science and technology, but also in politics and national security, can benefit by not looking for elaborate and giant global conspiracies, but considering the simpler reasons for the crises that surround us all. In the end, our ability to recognise our problems, our wars, our development, our illiteracy, as our problems (and not giant conspiracies) may be the only way to reduce our societal entropy (or disorder).

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th,  2014.

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