TED talk: Reasoning, science termed the way forward

Pervez Hoodbhoy says there is no shortcut solution to complex issues.

ISLAMABAD: The space for scientific thinking and reasoning is shrinking in Pakistan. This was the crux of a speech made by Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, a renowned physicist and intellectual at a conference here on Sunday.

He was speaking at an event titled “The Wonders among Us” organised by TEDx at Aiwan-i-Quaid auditorium in F-9 Park.

“Reason is under attack from many quarters,” said the anti-nuclear activist, adding that the ‘age of reason’ came after mysticism, religion, and superstition of the Middle Ages.



We as a nation, however, have not got rid of unreasoning, he said.

Identifying the quarters attacking reason, he gave the example of Agha Waqar Pathan of the water kit fame who came up with the idea of running a car with water as fuel. So much so that the government held three cabinet meetings to sort out how much import of oil was needed following the invention, he added. “We love magic and magical solutions but science asks for reason,” the professor remarked.

Shifting from physics to politics, Hoodbhoy said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s claim to end corruption in just 90 days was even better than the water car. Development of a society is a process which takes time. These issues cannot be fixed overnight, he explained.

While talking about the impact science can have on Pakistan’s long-term development, Hoodbhoy said Pakistan did not invent reason and unreason but it can surely overcome challenges by exercising reason. “It’s time to bring back the age of reason.”

Khadija Niaz, a child prodigy and education activist, told the audience that she was just 14 when she studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “I did it all sitting at home with a computer. I could not wait for the completion of my O and A levels to learn what I wanted to learn.” She took online courses including pre-calculus, calculus I, II, multi-variables and quantum physics. “After taking online courses, I was able to pass quantum physics with over 80 per cent marks.”

Niaz said the country needed to evolve its education system and make labs a part of it at an early stage. “You learn more when you do it,” she said, adding that the internet had opened up a vista of opportunities to learn whatever we want to.

United Nations Development Programme Country Director Marc-Andre Franche said the only thing which kept him going since his arrival in Pakistan despite a lot of bad news everyday was the youth. “It’s not the fauna and flora or the minerals in Balochistan which keeps me going. It’s the youth.”

Franche said 56 million Pakistanis are between 25 and 40 years of age and the country has 35 years to take advantage of it. He gave examples of many young people who became agents of change in Pakistan.

A recent survey, he said, has shown that around 10 per cent youth have no trust in politicians and around 85 percent said they have trust in the community. “Youth took the future in their own hands and changed things around. You can too,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2014.