I am a staunch nationalist and would feel truly happy
and proud if the achievements of ancient Indians turn out to be even 20% of
what is being claimed these days by the enthusiasts. But there is no substitute
for truth, and our credibility as a nation rests on how close we can stay to
the truth in such matters.
It appears to me that our achievements in science were
substantially more than what the history books have been saying. But our
approach should be to provide credible and verifiable evidence for our claims.
A danger to our credibility as a nation comes from
what I may call, for want of a better phrase, the ‘Deepak Chopra cultists’. To
the lay public such people appear to be well-informed about modern science. They
are the Indian version of the Creationists in the West. Some of them use the language
of quantum field theory and string theory etc., but a close scrutiny reveals
that they are ignorant even about elementary physics and chemistry. And they do
not have even a vague idea about the sanctity of the scientific method of
interpreting data and evidence. I give an example. That of water.
Scientists are well aware of the challenges posed by
the physics and chemistry of water. Even a nonergodic energy landscape in phase
space has been invoked to address certain observations. There is informed debate among experts. Cutting-edge science often involves different (even conflicting) explanations and theories, and consensus emerges in due course. Unfortunately,
cutting-edge science problems (be it water, or string theory, or the nature of intelligence) are the
ideal hunting ground for pseudo-scientists and charlatans. They quote only the theories that suit their ideologies. So the ‘mystical’
properties of water are already on the net, and in print. But sometimes there
is a give-away statement which exposes the level of ignorance of the person
using the sophisticated-looking jargon of science. For example, recently somebody said something to the effect
that ‘water is special (read mystical); 'it is the only element (sic) which expands when cooled and contracts when heated . . .’. This is travesty of truth. The fact is that liquid water contracts when cooled and expands when heated.
In a crystal of ice the water molecules have
tetrahedral bonding, which is far from being a close-packed structure. So when
you take ice at 0oC and heat it, the tetrahedral bonding is broken
and water acquires a more closely packed structure on entering the liquid state. Thus ice at 0 degree is lighter than liquid water at 0 degree; that is why ice floats on liquid water. It is only for a small range of temperatures that ‘water contracts on heating’. Outside that
range, liquid water expands on heating and contracts on cooling, and any
high-school student of science knows that. Nothing profound or mystical there.
All over the world there are two types of scientists: scientifically minded or true-blood scientists; and the rest. All true-blood scientists of India can play an
important role here. In your area of specialization, please debunk unsound
claims, the way I have done above for the water example. If a large number of
us do this consistently and repeatedly, there is bound to be a palpable effect
when it comes to countering the pseudo-scientific or unscientific statements
and claims. That would a great service to humanity.
For another similar example of what I have done today on
my Facebook page, please visit https://www.facebook.com/vinod.wadhawan.
It is about the old hat called SOC (self-organized criticality). The mystics and the idealists
are interpreting the reported correlated behaviour of insects in swarms as something
indicating ‘quantum consciousness’ or some such stuff.
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