SV: Did you hear this?

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Bhadraiah Mallampalli [SMTP:vaidix at HOTMAIL.COM] skrev 30. januar 2001
19:37:
> India became colonized precisely because its "materialistic" technology
got
> outdated. So there is nothing wrong if engineers leave India to US to
> acquire the technology. As long as intellectual property rights are not
> violated, there is nothing wrong for these migrants to pass on technology
to
> India via joint ventures etc, as is happening now at Silicon Valley.

My impression is rather that India got colonized because of a breakdown of
the Indian state system, in other words for a combination of political and
military reasons. The Indian princes and kings that fought the British had
the same kind of technology, taught them by the ubiquitous "military
advisers" who flourished then the way they do now. The British finally
moved  into a power vacuum created by Indian in-fighting (a lesson to
everybody, by the way).But I see no reason to lament that Indian citizens
go to the US and acquire new knowledge! :-)

> Again not miss another important point, the materialistic progress is
also
> dependent upon the base which is spiritual technology. The western
> materialistic progress is based on centuries of philosophical and other
> foundations of Aristotle, Socrates et,al. Can any one say the spiritual
> technology of Aristotel is obsolete?

I don't quite see Aristotle as a spiritual technologist. If anything, that
description would probably fit Plato better than Aristotle. What has
survived of Aristotle's work as relevant to modern times is above all his
discussions of ethics and other things not related to the "natural world".
Certain ethical and political problems are constant and endemic, and in
such matters even ancient philosophers still count.

On the contrary Aristotle has made a
> strong come back when his panspermia (sperms in space) has become the
> foundation for "Intelligent Desgin" and struck a death blow to Darwinism
on
> one hand and something-out-of-nothing Creationism on the other hand.

I can't see that Darwinism has been dealt a death blow (rather to the
contrary). If that had been the case, I think Scientific American would
have told me, but it hasn't mentioned the matter since I became a
subscriber some years ago. Some people may *think* that Darwinism has been
dealt a death blow, but that is not quite the same thing.

I do
> claim that the thoery of jAtavedas (Ai.Br), which proposes that beings
are
> pre-conceived according to a cosmic logic; which clearly precedes
Aristotle,
> can be a good starting point for those who care.

This hypothesis seems to be beyond falsification or verification. Living
beings seem to evolve in interaction with their environment (land creatures
may evolve into fish-like creatures like the wales, for instance, just like
some dinosaurs evolved into ichtyosaurs). It is likely, I think, that life
evolves according to basic natural laws, but apart from that I can't see
anything preconceived about it.

> By the way India doen't always need "latest" technology. There is also
> another thing called "appropriate technology" which is a logical
corollary
> of supply side economics, and uses what is available in abundance instead
of
> the "latest".

I agree with that, ideally speaking. But mostly, as far as I can see,
engineers, doctors, and businessmen go for the latest, whether it is needed
or not. The latest and most sophisticated simply has the highest prestige.

All the best,

Lars Martin

Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
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