Geek Next Door
“Producing Priests”
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Volume 26 – Issue 14 :: Jul. 04-17, 2009 issue of Frontline published a special feature on the University system–exposing the sham of de novo “deemed” universities–in India. Among other articles, Meera Nanda’s “Producing Priests” stands out, as it touches the subject that most Indians are afraid of discussing critically in public media. Meera begins eloquently–rightly so–and I quote,
What is good for the market is proving to be good for the gods in India. The more material acquisitions the middle classes make, the more pujas and homas they feel compelled to perform. Every vahan (vehicle) must have its puja, as must every tiny plot of bhoomi (land) before anything can be built upon it. Every puja, in turn, must have an astrologer or two and a vastu shastri, too. And then, every astrologer and vastu shastri worth his/her name must know how to work a computer, speak in English, and be “scientific” about it all.
Watching India’s thriving god market, one cannot help asking a simple question: where are all these seemingly modern pujaris, astrologers, vastu shastris and other retailers of rituals coming from? How does the supply of ritualists keep pace with the bottomless demand 21st century-Hindus have for religious rituals of all kinds?
That was pretty much what ignited my interest in her forthcoming book, “The God Market: How Globalization is Making India More Hindu”, and I, now, am eagerly waiting for the book to land in my hands. A little search led me to the full Introduction of the book (by Meera herself).
The same issue (of Frontline) also published a boxed feature by A. G. Noorani that busts the il-famous cleverly made-up quote (by Dr. M. M. Joshi). In his party’s manifesto for the past elections, Dr. Joshi quotes from a “speech” delivered by Macaulay “in the British Parliament” on February 2, 1835,
I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such high calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation. –Lord Macaulay, on Feb .2 1835 in English parliament (according to Dr. Joshi).
Historical evidences say this:
Macaulay came to India in June 1834 and became Law Member in the Governor-General’s Executive Council. He returned to England early in 1838.
Funny, no?! 
Mathematical vs. Verbal Reasoning
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George Bernard Shaw (1856 — 1950) once said that as a boy he (1) let someone assume that 
George Bernard Shaw
In reply to Shaw’s criticism of the formal mathematical reasoning, the economist Philip H. Wicksteed (1844 — 1927) nicely puts:
“Mr Shaw arrived at the sapient conclusion that there “was a screw loose somewhere”– not in his own reasoning powers, but — “in the algebraic art”; and thenceforth renounced mathematical reasoning in favour of the literary method which enables a clever man to follow equally fallacious arguments to equally absurd conclusions without seeing that they are absurd. This is the exact difference between the mathematical and literary treatment of the pure theory of political economy.”
Philip H. Wicksteed
In other words, a mathematical idea, if correctly put and checked, is better than the one that is put in words, for words can never possibly explain in thousands what an equation can. That si where the importance of mathematical shows.
Costly placebos are more effective!
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Some patients undermine how effective a drug is if they are told it is rather inexpensive, i.e., costly placebos are more effective than cheap ones. That is the conclusion of Dr. Dan Ariely’s landmark research that received the Ig Nobel prize for medicine. During the experiment, his team told volunteers that they were being given a new kind of painkiller, with some receiving an expensive one and others a cheaper one. In reality, all of them were given same sugar pills. When exposed to small electric shocks, Those who thought their pills were more expensive reported less pain than the others.
Although the conclusion is not new, and the research may sound humorous at the first glance, but I think this work is of great importance. A humorous work sometimes hides behind it a legitimate scientific point. You can read more about Dr. Ariely and his works in a brief biography here.
The Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October–around the time the recipients of the genuine Nobel Prizes are announced–for ten achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” Organized by the open access, free for everyone scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)–The journal of record for inflated research and personalities, they are presented by a group that includes genuine Nobel Laureates at a ceremony at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater. This year’s Ig Nobel winners are listed here.
