Positive attitude holds the key

PROF DR SHANKER PRASAD PRADHAN

At the turn of the last century, a small-handpicked team was dispatched by the Government of Nepal to Japan to learn something about the new ways of development. It was perhaps our first tryst with modern science and technology emerging in the Asian countries. Japan was the only Asian country rising above established cultural milieu to measure up on it own to modern modes of development. Was there a similar resolve on our part as well, we shall never know. Today, a century later, the historic significance of the event remains lost. Meanwhile our distant kin steadily rose to world eminence. We still stand waiting, undecided in body and spirit, still trying to comprehend the role of science in the emerging world.

Our paths differed in understanding science in terms of national development. We failed to recognise the hidden dimension of science and technology, while Japan persisted with the new vision in a steadfast manner and gained an insight into its various ramifications. It became clear that scientific enquiry is essential mode of growth, be it in the realms of knowledge or in real terms of enhanced national capabilities. Globally scientific team spread around to world centres of scientific and technological activity to learn and gather, as fast as possible, available information concerning new modes of development. Methods of teaching and conducting research in the newfound disciplines were suitably adopted and brought up to accepted standards. Perseverance soon led to measurable returns. Practice brought maturity and new breeds of productive technology added fervour to national purpose. Well before the end of the century, they filled shops and windows around the world, while we, still unsure and undecided of our needs and demands, excelled in window-shopping for acquisitions.

We mostly let things happen to us, rather than make them happen. As if, waiting for time and events to overtake us without having to chart a course. The opening of Trichandra College was one such occasion. According to the then Rana Prime Minister, by allowing liberal education he was axing his own feet. New ideas that could even remotely change the ways of life were anathema to the system. Seeking knowledge was contraband and imported ideas were quarantined. It took fifteen long years for a native seed to grow into an M.Sc. The first science masters, as a new currency, had difficulty in gaining recognition. Only after equivalence as a standing courtier proffered M.A. (Master of Arts) in Science, it was recognised. Departure from accepted norms was considered criminal. The newfound concept of democracy was a much larger case in point. The rulers of the day simply tried to ignore any mention of civic rights. As agitation overtook natural growth, it could not be laughed away.

Strict adherence to established social and political norms dug deep furrows into our national psyche. One such deep ravine that is of particular concern is that nurturing negative attitudes towards science and technology in it is entirely. Many people of all strata secretly carry a feeling that the ways of science are unwanted invasions upon our pristine values. Passage of a century brought along many science and technology institutions, the stock of national work force steadily increased and national productivity has been artificially on the increase. It is sad fact that our efforts in science and technology fails to meet expectations in terms of inputs and delivery to the common people. Yet, expressed opinions that scientific activity is an unnecessary waste of our limited resources are stunning, not because of the lack of appreciation but because they seek to completely disregard the positive aspects of scientific thought. It could very well be the largest single factor contributing to our non-performance.

During the past century, science took the world by storm and shook it at its very foundations. Every nation, weak or strong and small or big, was compelled to look anew at future perspectives in terms of scientific and technological capabilities. National prestige gradually shifted from standing physical and cultural assets to built-in science and technology capabilities. Technical and industrial superstructures sprang out globally just to consolidate the thrust which scientific activity was generating all around the world. Capital-based advantages were there to make the best of the values and culture science was creating. National superiority came to rest upon the efficient production and use of scientific talent. It established itself as the primary mode of creating wealth and leading a comfortable life.

Science turned the world into a global village, wherein people who mattered was recognised by the society. A scientist of merit became a national mascot to win international games. Leadership meant professional respect from equal peers. Professional expertise in the fields of science and technology became an open charter. Authority was redefined, conformity within disciplines were constantly reviewed, not just to maintain overall control but to ensure that every scientific exposition does pass through correct objective procedures of testing and re-testing over grain of truth it proclaims. Freedom of personal thought, enquiry and experimentation before accepting the truth in laws, theories and principles stood out as the basic hallmark of modern science.

We could look at his new human upheaval as nothing more than a paradigm shift. It is an effort to re-examine and re-assess accumulated knowledge and adapted values. Science is not an ism in itself; one does not have to cross a street to gain a new viewpoint. Science is a gust, an impelling force, which urges humanity to walk down the road of nature in search of greater happiness. A child touched by age, steps into the street and begins to feel a new urge. Science is a promise to take us afar, how far it can take depends more upon habits and attitudes we cultivate along the road, rather than upon the surmises and hopes, we carry as interested onlookers.

Our gains over the century were minimal because we failed to gain proper sense of perspectives. We counted trees but failed to raise a healthy forest. Our science and technology efforts were contained and managed to keep within bounds. Scientific pursuits are still a no-win proposition. Talents we should be harnessing ourselves for creating national wealth are steadily drained due to lack of opportunities. It is as if we are unable to use our nation’s topsoil. They are for export, and our planners and policy-makers consider it as an achievement, not a standing loss. Something is very wrong with our vision of science and technology for the national development. Can we let another century to pass by?

(The author is a retired Professor of Physics)

IT consciousness still not impressive

Sudan Jha

How many of your family members use the computer as a daily necessity? General awareness of computer use and its importance is only bounded to the valley and some important towns in Nepal. The price of computers has been decreasing gradually and today one can buy a PC with all the necessary devices for around Rs. 32,000. It is estimated that over 2,000 units of branded PCs and around 8,000 pieces of assembled computers are sold in Nepal and the sales grow by an estimated 20 percent annually.

The prices of branded PCs are dipping by 30 percent annually and companies that assemble PCs are emerging in the market. Assembled computers are one hundred percent cheaper than branded ones. While a branded 15 inche colour monitored Pentium II PC with IGHZ processor costs around Rs 80,000, an assembled PC of similar configuration costs much less. Despite lower prices, it is risky to buy assembled computers as their parts are not genuine and the warranty is non-existent in most cases. Despite the increasing utility and decreasing price of computers, its penetration into the Nepalese market is still not impressive because the majority of people still cannot afford to buy even assembled computers.

The use of PC’s in remote places of the country will only be effective when there will be an adequate number of telephone connections. The government on one of its policies had set a target of providing telephone connections to every Village Development Committee (VDC) by 2060 BS. But, the government has said that it has been difficult for the government to meet the target due to the non-availability of appropriate aids. According to one governmental official, 70 million US dollars is needed for this purpose. The official further stated that the US multi-national Titan Wireless, which had been awarded the tender last year to extend telephone lines to the remaining 534 VDCs with assistance from World Bank, has pulled out citing security reasons.

Making calls through the Internet has generated some awareness to some of the customers. A growing number of cyber cafes and communications centers in the capital are offering international calls at unexpectedly low rates through internet telephony, which has come as a relief to customers who were otherwise forced to pay 15 times more for the same call. Similarly, many cyber cafes offer their internet facilities at a reasonable rate ranging from Rs 15 to 30. However, such services only attract the middle class, youth and foreigners that too in major cities of Nepal.

Major IT developments in Nepal

1971: Use of second-generation main frame computer (IBM 1401) for the first time in Nepal.

1974: Electronic Data Processing Center (EDPC) established.

1981: HMG’s initiated in bringing another main frame computer (ICL 2950/10).

1993-94: Mercantile Office System launched Internet services for the first time in the country.

1994: Kathmandu University started B.E. in Computer Engineering.

1996: Concept of Science Centre and Technology Park was initiated from the government.

1997: HMG's announcement of ISP regulations.

1998: World Bank conducted a study and revealed that IT could be the largest export industry with possibility of reaching annual export of US$ 1 billion in 15-20 years.

1998: National Computer Center dissolved.

1998: Government constituted a high-level committee to work out a long-term plan on IT and mobilize economic and technological resources for it.

1998: Tribhuvan University begins Bachelors in Computer Science.

1999: Study conducted with the help from UNDP and draft report on IT strategy for Nepal, preliminary assessment and recommendations submitted.

1999: Nepal launched various programmes related to Y2K.

2001: HMG's regulated a new policy setting up a target of "Nepal to become a major IT player by 2005".

2001: "CAN – Infotech" was held successfully.

2002: Ministry of Science and Technology launches ‘ICT for development’.

2002: Tribhuvan University begins Master Level in Computer Science and Information Technology.

2002: "Cyber Law" introduced in Nepal.

Researchers plot new life form

JUSTIN GILLIS

Scientists are planning to create a new form of life in a laboratory dish, a project that raises ethical and safety issues but also promises to illuminate the fundamental mechanics of living organisms. J. Craig Venter, a gene scientist with a history of pulling off unlikely successes, and Hamilton Smith, a molecular biologist and Nobel laureate, are behind the project, funded by a $3 million grant from the U.S. government. Their intent is to create a single-celled, partly man-made organism with the minimum number of genes necessary to sustain life. If the experiment works, the microscopic cell will begin feeding and dividing to create a population of cells unlike any previously known to exist.

To ensure safety, Smith and Venter said the cell would be deliberately hobbled to render it incapable of infecting people. It also will be strictly confined and designed to die if it does manage to escape into the environment. More worrisome than the risk of escape, they acknowledged, is that the project could lay the scientific groundwork for a new generation of biological weapons, a risk that may force them to be selective about publishing technical details. But they said the project could also help advance the ability to detect and counter existing biological weapons. The project, funded with a three-year grant from the Energy Department, will start as a pure scientific endeavor, but it could eventually have practical applications. If Venter and his collaborators manage to create a minimalist organism of the sort they envision, they will attempt to add new functions to it one at a time - conferring on it the ability, for example, to break down the carbon dioxide from power plant emissions or to produce hydrogen for fuel. The more immediate plan is to try to puzzle out, and eventually model in a computer, every conceivable aspect of the biology of one organism, a feat science has never come close to accomplishing. Because all living cells are based on the same chemistry and bear striking resemblances to one another, that could shed light on all of biology. "We are wondering if we can come up with a molecular definition of life," Venter said. "The goal is to fundamentally understand the components of the most basic living cell."

The project is not entirely new. Venter initiated an earlier version of it in the late 1990s while running a Rockville, Maryland, institute he founded called the Institute for Genomic Research. With his collaborators, he got as far as publishing a working list of the genes apparently required to sustain life in a single-celled organism called Mycoplasma genitalium, the self-replicating organism with the smallest known complement of genetic material. That work indicated that under at least some laboratory conditions, the organism could get by with only 300 or so of its 517 genes. People, by contrast, have an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 genes. The project fell by the wayside when Venter and Smith started Celera Genomics, the company in Rockville that raced publicly funded researchers to a tie two years ago in compiling draft maps of the entire human genetic complement, the genome. Venter resigned from Celera early this year in a dispute over its future direction. He is financing a series of new initiatives, including the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives, also in Rockville, the entity that will house a revived project to build the artificial organism.

The Energy Department grant, awarded recently, will pay for a staff of about 25 to pursue the project over three years, though Venter and Smith acknowledged it could take longer. Smith, widely considered one of the world's most skilled scientists at manipulating DNA, will direct the laboratory work. The project will begin with M. genitalium, a minuscule organism that lives in the genital tracts of people and may cause or contribute to some cases of urethritis, an inflammation of the urethra. The scientists will remove all genetic material from the organism, then synthesize an artificial string of genetic material, resembling a naturally occurring chromosome, that they hope will contain the minimum number of M. genitalium genes needed to sustain life. The artificial chromosome will be inserted into the hollowed-out cell, which will then be tested for its ability to survive and reproduce.

Ari Patrinos, a senior Energy Department administrator who will help oversee the project, said the organism was an attractive starting point to create a "minimal genome" because it is so minimal already. "We know even the simplest of cells is incredibly complicated," Patrinos said; too complicated, at least so far, to understand completely. "This is a case where we're trying to cheat a little bit, to take the smallest and simplest and make it smaller and simpler. "The project raises philosophical, ethical and practical questions. For example, if a man-made organism proved able to survive and reproduce only under a narrow range of laboratory conditions, could it really be considered life? More broadly, do scientists have any moral right to create new organisms? A panel of ethicists and religious leaders, convened several years ago at Venter's request, has already wrestled with the latter issue. The group, which included a rabbi and a priest, concluded that if the ultimate goal was to benefit mankind and if all appropriate safeguards were followed, the project could be regarded as ethical.

(International Herald Tribune)

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