Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 14 October 2012
The battle to keep the Internet open and free is being fought on several fronts, and for a whole range of reasons – from access to knowledge and enabling social justice and to supporting democratic pluralism and market liberalism.
With connectivity spreading and getting cheaper, an estimated 3 million Lankans (15% of population) regularly use the medium. They and their families are slowly but surely tapping its potential for education, skills development and income generation.
As information society takes root, we grapple with post-connectivity challenges. Among them: how to negotiate with self-appointed guardians of culture and morals. The Internet is their favourite whipping boy now.
As with any other medium with diverse content, user discretion is advised. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater is not.
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 7 October 2012
Last week, I spent many hours at Sri Lanka’s first exhibition of inventions and inventors held at BMICH, Colombo, and took lots of photos and notes. I have yet to process all that information, but some trends and directions are emerging.
Ambitiously named Sahasak Nimawum (‘A Thousand Inventions’ in Sinhala), the event showcased nearly that many ideas, designs, prototypes as well as some inventions already in the market. There was diversity in topics, themes, inventors and technologies.
It’s like a gem mine – precious and semi-precious stones amidst lots of gravel. We just have to sift though much to get to a few treasures.
That’s how it works in spotting or nurturing innovation: no shortcuts, guarantees or productivity schedules. Innovation takes time, effort and patience. Society’s celebration sure helps bring out more.
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 30 September 2012
“Those who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world are the ones that do!” – Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
It will soon be one year since Apple’s co-founder and inventive genius departed in a hurry. There are many ways to remember him. I think of him as the quintessential maverick.
Indeed, he turned that personal quality into a core value at Apple. That was also the theme of a memorable advertising slogan – ‘Think Different’ – that boosted the company’s sagging image in 1997.
Jobs had just returned after 11 years in the ‘tech wilderness’. The campaign’s TV component, a commercial named “The Crazy Ones”, saluted notable mavericks through history.
The commercial, entirely in black-and-white, featured 17 iconic personalities –including Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison…
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 23 September 2012
“Why don’t the greenhouse gases escape through the Ozone Hole?”
The misperception of the TV viewer in this cartoon (which first appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio, United States, a few years ago) is more common that you’d imagine.
In recent years, as climate change rose up in the news agenda and the public’s concerns, I have met many people – from different educational and cultural backgrounds – who confused or conflated the two issues.
I once listened to a senior Lankan civil servant saying in a public speech that the ozone hole was “letting in the Sun’s heat that, in turn, was warming up our atmosphere”. He could have been forgiven – but as the then head of our environmental agency, he should have known better.
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 16 September 2012
Today, 16 September, is observed worldwide as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The theme this year is “Protecting our atmosphere for generations to come”.
This legally binding international treaty has now been ratified by 196 states (including Sri Lanka) as well as the European Union. With such universal ratification, it is the world’s most widely subscribed international law.
It is an extraordinary success story of governments, experts and ordinary people coming together and acting resolutely to protect all life on Earth from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
In a quarter century, it has rallied governments and industries in…
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 9 September 2012
Yang Saing Koma is lean, soft spoken and modest – not your typical image of a revolutionary. But for 15 years, the Cambodian agronomist has driven a grassroots revolution that is changing farming and livelihoods in one of the least developed countries in Asia.
A champion of farmer-led innovation in sustainable agriculture, Koma founded the Cambodian Centre for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC) in 1997. Today, it is the largest agricultural and rural development organisation in Cambodia, supporting 140,000 farmer families in 21 provinces.
However, he isn’t just another western educated Asian expert returning home to shake things up. Yes, his doctorate from the University of Leipzig and work experience with international development agencies helped open doors. But Koma is a rare systemic thinker who sees the bigger picture, has the right…
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 2 September 2012
Neil Armstrong’s death last week created news headlines worldwide. We indulged in some harmless nostalgia for a turbulent decade in another century that now belongs to a very different era.
For many of us who experienced it, the memory of Apollo 11 Moon landing is indelible. But did they really go to the Moon? Some still ask this question, all these years later. Was it all an elaborate hoax?
The Apollo Program had twin goals: to land astronauts on the moon; and to send back live TV transmissions so that everyone could see it – including the rival Russians and their allies.
To their credit, the Soviet Union accepted the Moon landings with good grace, although it meant they lost the Great Space Race where they scored some impressive initial victories.
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 26 August 2012
My column last week, on large scale chronic kidney failure (scientifically abbreviated as CKDu) that has become a major public health crisis in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone, inspired some discussion online — both on my blog and at Groundviews.org
Of course, scientists and environmentalists have been debating its causes for years without conclusive evidence or targeted action. Even then, the current silence of the state health bureaucracy frustrates many. A million US Dollar research study, initiated in 2008 with World Health Organisation (WHO) support, has been completed but its findings not released. Why?
As I noted, delays in releasing such studies will allow speculation and conspiracy theories to gain momentum. That helps no one.
At least two theories (among several competing ones) suggest a link between CKDu and agricultural runoff.
Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 19 August 2012
Much of Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone is currently grappling with a drought caused by the delayed Monsoon. This is a double whammy for residents in several districts who have been engulfed by another ‘slow emergency’ for nearly two decades: mass scale kidney failure affecting large numbers.
Diabetes or high blood pressure can lead to kidney failure. But beginning in the 1990s, thousands of people in the North Central Province (NCP) developed the condition without having either factor – mostly farmer men.
Open Minds! 