1213 FRIDAY LESSON 821 -OVERVIEW⨠CONVERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING HUMAN PERFORMANCE:GENERAL STATEMENTS AND VISIONARY PROJECTS & A. MOTIVATION AND OUTLOOK THEME A SUMMARY(To Be Continued)
GENERAL STATEMENTS AND VISIONARY PROJECTS
The following six sets of contributions (chapters A to F) present key statements and visions from academe, private sector and government illustrating what technological convergence could achieve in the next 10 to 20 years. In each set, statements are grouped at the beginning that consider the current situation in the particular area and project ways we could build on it to achieve rapid progress. The later contributions in the set present visions of what might be achieved toward the end of the two-decade period. In the first of these six sets, government leaders and representatives o f the private sector provide the motivation for this effort to understand the promise of converging technologies. T he second and third sets of contributions identify significant ways in which the mental and physical abilities of individual humans could be improved. The third and fourth sets examine prospects on the group and societal level, one considering ways in which the internal performance of the society could benefit and the other focusing on the defense of the society against external threats to its security. The sixth and final set of essays considers the transformation of science and engineering themselves, largely through advances in education.
A. MOTIVATION AND OUTLOOK THEME A SUMMARY
In a sense, this section of the report gives the authors their assignment, which is to identify the technological benefits of convergence that could be of greatest value to human performance and to consider how to achieve them. Five of the statements were contributed by representatives of government agencies: The Office of Science and Technology Policy, The Department of Commerce, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. The remaining three were contributed from private sector organizations: The American Enterprise Institute, Hewlett Packard, and the Institute for Global Futures. But these eight papers are far more than mission statements because they also provide an essential outlook on the current technological situation and the tremendous potential of convergence.
1. It is essential to identify new technologies that have great potential to improve human performance, especially those that are unlikely to be developed as a natural consequence of the day-to-day activities of single governmental, industrial, or educational institutions. Revolutionary technological change tends to occur outside conventional organizations, whether through social movements that promulgate new goals, through conceptual innovations t hat overturn old paradigms of how a goal can be achieved, or through cross-fertilization of methods and visions across the boundaries between established fields ( Bainbridge 19 76). Formal mechanisms to promote major breakthroughs can be extremely effective, notably the development of partnerships be tween government agencies to energize communication and on occasion to launch multi agency scientific initiatives.
2. Government has an important role in setting long-term priorities and in making sure a national environment exists in which beneficial innovations will be developed. There must be a free and rational debate about the ethical and social aspects of potential uses of technology, and government must provide an arena for these debates that is most conducive to results that benefit humans. At the same time, government must ensure economic conditions that facilitate the rapid invention and deployment of beneficial technologies, thereby encouraging entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to promote innovation. Of course, government cannot accomplish all this alone. In particular, scientists and engineers must learn how to communicate vividly but correctly the scientific facts and engineering options that must be understood by policymakers and the general public, if the right decisions are to be made.
3. While American science and technology benefit the entire world, it is vital to recognize t hat techno logical superiority is the fundamental basis of the economic prosperity and national security of the United States. We are in an Age of Transitions, when we must move forward if we are not to fall behind, and we must be ready to chart a course forward through constantly shifting seas and winds. Organizations of all kinds, including government itself, must become agile, reinventing themselves frequently while having the wisdom to know which values are fundamental and must be preserved. The division of labor among institutions and sciences will change, often in unexpected ways. For many years, scholars, social scientists, and consultants have been developing knowledge about how to manage change (Boulding 1964; Drucker 196 9; D eming 1982 ; Wo mack a nd J ones 19 96), but vigorous, fundamental research will be needed throughout the coming decades on the interaction between organizations, technology, and human benefit.
4. Government agencies need progress in NBIIPDC in order to accomplish their designated missions. For example, both spacecraft and military aircraft must combine high performance with low weight, so both NASA and the Department of Defense require advances in materials from nanotechnology and in computing from information technology. Furthermore, in medicine and healthcare, for example, national need will require that scientists and engineers tackle relatively pedestrian problems, whose solutions will benefit people but not push forward the frontiers of science. But practical challenges often drive the discovery of new knowledge and the imagination of new ideas. At the same time, government agencies can gain enhanced missions from NBIIPDC breakthroughs. One very attractive possibility would be a multi agency initiative to improve human performance.
5. Science must offer society new visions of what it is possible to achieve. The society depends upon scientists for authoritative knowledge and professional judgment to maintain and gradually improve the well- being o f citizens, but scientists must also become visionaries who can imagine possibilities beyond anything currently experienced in the world. In science, the intrinsic human need for intellectual advancement f inds it s most powerful expression. At times, scientists should take great intellectual risks, exploring unusual and even unreasonable ideas, because the scientific method for testing theories empirically can ultimately distinguish the good ideas from the bad. Across all of the sciences, individual scientists and teams should be supported in their quest for knowledge. Then inter disciplinary efforts can harvest discoveries across the boundaries of many fields, and engineers will harness them to accomplish technological progress.
The following eight statements develop these and other ideas more fully, thereby providing the motivation for the many chapters that follow. They also provide a perspective on the future by identifying an umber of mega trends that appear to be dominant at this point in human history and by suggesting ways that scientists and policymakers should respond to these trends. Their ad vice will help Americans make history, rather than being subjects of it, strengthening our ability to shape our future. The statements include a message from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning the importance of this activity to the nation, a message from the Department of Commerce on its potential impact on the economy and U.S. competitiveness, a vision for converging technologies in the future, examples of activities already underway at NASA and NIH, in dustry and business perspectives on the need for a visionary effort, and an overview of the trend toward convergence of the mega trends in science and engineering.
VOICE OF SARVAJAN
Instead of sending a specific reply to your newspaper, she decided to respond to your queries before the entire media.
Ms. Mayawati claimed that earlier, her brothers were targeted and now, BSP general secretary Satish Mishra and his lawyer-businessman son were being charged with wrongdoing with the intention of harming the party.
Asking the media to shed its βcasteist (Once Napolean said that he could two battalions, but not two scribes. Today’s scribes feel that they are 1st rate athmas and the untouchables have no athmas. So that they can do whatever they wish to do to them. But the Buddha never believed in athmas, he said all are equal. Hence Babasaheb Ambedkar, Kanshiram Ji. Ms Mayawati ji have returned back to their original religion along with millions of followers. This is not tolerated by the so called 1st rate athmas for the fear of becoming minorities minus the Awakened Ones with Awareness. It has become fashion of the 1st rate athmas to find fault with untouchables whenever they become eligible for their nest promotion. Now Ms mayawati has become eligible for becoming the newt Prime Minister of PraBuddha Bharath. Hence this tirade of the intolerable, full of hatred, anger and jealousy of the so called 1st rate asthma which is nothing but a mental disease. Their right place is mental asylum. They are aware of this too.) β mindset, she questioned if there was any βmedia investigationβ into the business dealings of Congress and BJP leaders, including the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
These casteist mindset media will never investigate the business dealings of the rich business castes including the media which has amazed wealth disproportionately to their known sources of income after the Independence of this country. Let there be a media investigation on this. Or the intellectuals will do this.
Let Indian Expresss do media investigation on all Black Money swindlers.
Man is mortal. Every one has to die one mayor the other. But one must resolve to lay down one’s life in enriching the noble ideals of self-respect and in bettering one’s human lifeβ¦Nothing is more disgraceful for a brave man than to live devoid of self-respect - Dr.B.R.Ambedkar.
The ruling castes including the media not only controls legal economic activities but also has created a black economy, illegal economy, parallel economy etc.,to it. This economy indicates the existence of illegal economic activities which has been created after Independence.
Will the Indian Express and the other papers who hate the untouchables come forward to tell the people that they are not involved in
The legal activities whiich are
* Lower assessment of personal income,
* showing lower output or lower sales or showing higher costs by economic firms
* registration of immovable property at lower value,
* under invoicing of exports and over invoicing of imports by the private sectors and sale of import licences by the government,
* leakages from private corporate sector investments,
* leakages from public sector investments,
* leakages in public expenditures,
* Kickbacks from contractors,
* Kickbacks in public affairs.
The black income is created from illegal activities like smuggling, black market transactions, tax evasion, acceptance of bribes, kickbacks etc. This is a loss of revenue to the government.
The various activities that are the sources of creation of black money are bribing officials to obtain undue favor in the industrial sector, trading and commercial sector, import and export trade, offering bribes to the people who are in political power to get favor from them, and escaping from various taxes through through these favor, public expenditure and smuggling etc. Bribing benefits both the bribe giver and the bribe receiver. The bribe giver undervalues his or her assets and income to the government. The bribe receivers being givernment officials accept the bribe and approve the same on behalf of the government. The bribe givers also get out-of-turn favor in exchange of bribes.
The creation of black money was only 6% of GDP in 1953-54. The IMF staff survey on unaccounted sect of the economy has estimated Rs.72,000 crores as black income in 1982-83, which was 50% of GNP of Rs.1,45,141 crores.
1. Income tax evasion 34329 crores in 1987-88
2. Corporate Tax evasion 1030 crores in 1987-88
3. Black gains in real estate 18847 crores in 1987-88
4. Excise duty evasion 10951 crores in 1987-88
5. Customs duty evasion 5953 crores in 1987-88
6. Black income from Smuggling 12000 crores in 1987-88
7. Black income from export 2361 crores in 1987-88
8. Evasion from state taxes 16131 crores in 1987-88
9. Black income from public expenditure
a) States 11580 crores in 1987-88
b) Central government 4950 crores in 1987-88
10. Black income from private corporate
investment 1724 crores in 1987-88
11. Total ( to 10) 149297 crores in 1987-88
The amount of black money estimated by parliament standing committee on Finance and Black Money for the year 1994-95 was of the order of Rs.3,00,000 crores at1980-81 prices and Rs.11,00,000 crores at the current prices. By now black money generation may be almost parallel or more than the GDP. That is why this unofficial economy is now also called as parallel economy .
THIS CLEARLY STSTES THAT THE UPPER CASTE RULING CLASS HAS CREATED UNOFFICIAL ILLEGAL ECONOMY ALONG WITH THE LEGAL ECONOMY. NOW, THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT THE COVERT SUPPORT OF THE RULING CASTE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS ILLEGAL ECONOMY.
REASONS FOR CREATION OF BLACK MONEY
1 TO MAINTAIN STATUS QUO IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SPHERES, BLACK ECONOMY IS CREATED AND BEING EXPANDED AFTER INDEPENDENCE. THIS BLACK ECONOMY HELPS CONTINUE THE STSTUS QUO IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC FIELDS THAT IS THE RANKED CASTE SYSTEM ( 1st 2nd, 3rd 4th RATE ATHMAS AND THE UNTOUCHABLES WITH NO ATHMAS (BUDDHA NEVER BELIEVED IN ANY ATHMAS. HE SAID ALL ARE EQUAL)) AND UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF ECONOMIC RESOURCES. BLACK MONEY IS CREATED TO CONCEAL ASSETS AND INCOME OF THE UPPER CASTES AND TO PERPETUATE POVERTY AMONG THE SC/ST/OBC MINORITIES THE MAJORITY PEOPLE.