Dear Prof. Michaels,
Perhaps you already know of this overly misquoted article by Briggs, from which it is believed by many that NASA considers Sanskrit to be the best language for programming their computers and space ships. It seems, however, to be the source of one of the biggest factoids in relation to Sanskrit and Science. It seems that...no one who argues that Sanskrit is the best language for computing, has actually read the article. It suggests, instead, that learning case-inflected languages like Sanskrit might possibly help the computer programmer in making new, specifically-engineered languages for computing through having a better appreciation for languages.
Samskrita Bharati have this publication. I was just watching this video by Sushma Swaraj, in which by the 3rd-min, the audience learns of Sanskrit's true wonders as a programming language, amongst other things. Sanskrit will, it is alleged, even by high-ranking members of the Indian government, will heal the wounds of culture and tradition caused by modernity. Such as Prime Minister Modi’s recent factoid-laden opinion (in the first 5-minutes). Or the Minister for the MEA, Sushma Swaraj, who explained at the 16th World Sanskrit Conference in Bangkok, 2015, that Sanskrit is capable of purifying the world. However, this is part of a bigger push to revive Sanskrit culture within India through the use of metaphors that suggest Sanskrit will purify all that comes in contact with it. Swaraj also asserts that Sanskrit is like the Ganges river; yet, we know that this river is terribly polluted. What, then, does this tell us about the purity of Sanskrit, and it’s ability to purify things, especially minds?
Also, I was watching this video this morning, in which, around the 19-min mark, Maria Wirth explains how the Russians apparently used knowledge from some ancient manuscript they took from the Germans after WW2 that helped them build their ICBMs. I often find myself reading Meera Nanda's work on 'Vedic science' to help understand this phenomenon. 'Science in Saffron' is quite good. And, also, prophets facing backwards. So too, Saffron Science. There is a broader discussion around pseudoscience mimicking science and the philosophy of pseudoscience, which are worth considering.
Hope these links help.
All the best,
パトリック マッカートニー
Patrick McCartney, PhD
JSPS Fellow - Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Japan
Research Associate - Nanzan University Anthropological Institute, Nagoya, Japan
Visiting Fellow - South and South-east Asian Studies Department, Australian National University
Skype - psdmccartney
Phone + Whatsapp: +81-80-9811-3235
Twitter - @psdmccartney
bodhapūrvam calema ;-)