Summer Knowledge at Work - GM food - 8th july

Media source 1: Poison on the platter (30 min video by Mahesh Bhatt)

Media source 2: Monsanto newspaper advertisement

These two media sources are based on the issue of genetically modified food, with specific focus on India. The movie begins with the line "whatever appears in this film is supported by incontroversial scientific evidence", which is an attempt to assure the knower of the validity of what he is about to perceive. The movie is based on the serious health and environmental hazards posed by genetically modified food. On the other hand, the Monsanto (a multinational corporation which owns 70-100% of the global market share of different GM crops) advertisement in a prominent newspaper titled "How can we squeeze more food from a raindrop?" claims that genetically modified crops are beneficial to the environment as they use less water than regular crops. This is a perfect example of two knowledge sources that express completely contrasting and contradictory claims.

Genetic Engineering of plants is a science involving the transfer of genes from one species of any organism (including animals eg frog) to a completely different species of plant. The reason for this is two introduce a desirable trait of the organism in the crop. The initial perception to this technology varies from people who are experts in different areas of knowledge. A religious person will oppose it as it interferes with the work of God. Ethical considerations about this are bound to arise. A scientific expert (who has not yet tested a particular variety) will definitely initially experience a bout of fascination and interest, that such technology has been made possible.

However, only when he does experiment and observe the results of a GM crop and collect evidence will he be able to say whether that crop is beneficial or harmful, and how.
The movie begins by reminding the knower of various events of History, such as world wars, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters which have claimed thousands/millions of lives worldwide and left many more crippled. This, along with the the title, “Poison on the platter” create a negative perception of GM crops. They also seek to influence the knower emotionally against GM crops. The presence of various independent scientists, who are heads of various organizations for biosafety and responsible technology, highlighting the dangers posed by GM food begins to convince even the most skeptical viewer, even one who has thought throughout his life that GM food is a marvel of science, can improve nutrition and benefits the environment begins to rethink his stand.

At this point of time, the knower begins to see through the propaganda in Monsanto’s advertisement. When he comes to know that the profit-oriented acts of such organizations like prohibiting the farmers from saving their seeds, forcing them to buy seeds every year from them( which are often 5 times the price of ordinary seeds) and buying pesticides and fertilizers only from them; he realizes that these crops are produced using unethical means. Due to the fact that global environmental organizations like greenpeace and wwf are strongly opposing it due to the negative impact on the ecosystem and food chain, he realizes that Monsanto has used the selectivity of perception to misinform the people and create a positive brand image – it has probably selected one variety that uses less water, causing the viewer to overlook the fact that others may be using more water (for example Bt. Cotton needs greater irrigation than regular cotton), and that even that selected crop may be harmful to the environment in other ways – by releasing toxins into the environment or cross-breeding with weeds to produce superweeds, etc.

In the movie, the speakers mock the Indian government for claiming the GM food is banned in the Indian market. It presents the fact that tests conducted on various food items imported from US, where GM foods are sold freely without labeling, revealed that GM corn and sugar were present. Doritos contained two varieties of GM corn which are banned throughout Europe due to adverse health effects. Kellogs was found to contain sugar from GM sugarcane. This reduces the trust in the scientific observations of government agencies, as the knower begins to feel that they have been bribed by Monsanto and other GM corporations. The fact that all independent studies on Bt. Brinjal, which is being tried on an experimental basis, and Bt. Cotton in India claim that the results are much worse than claimed by government studies, and the dangers are understated by them, only adds to this mistrust.

Thus, the movie leaves us with a desire to get back our right to safe food and right to choose, which have been guaranteed to consumers. The unethical practices of multinational corporations result in anger against them. The claims in their advertisement are considered untrue by the knower.

News article: Screening a must to check GM food entry

The Little Prince

Chapter 4

read text

In this chapter of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, the protagonist, who had had an accident while flying his airplane of the Sahara Desert, speculates about the planet from where The Little Prince (who he had met in the desert) had come. He also draws clear distinctions between the perception of a child and the perception of grown-ups. I chose this chapter because not only does it depict a child’s views on adults and their stereotypes, but also the child’s sterotypes about adults.

In the first line of the chapter, the protagonist says he has learnt a “fact of great importance” – that the planet from which the little prince had arrived was the size of a house. This statement throws light on the fact that humans in general and children in particular perceive other people/things in terms of themselves and their belongings. Unlike grown-ups, who would have put a figure on the size of the planet, the protagonist has measured the planet in terms of a house.

He then goes on to write that he has “serious reason” to believe that the planet from which the prince has arrived is an asteroid known as B-612. However, absolutely no evidence or justification is provided to support his conclusion that the little prince was from B-612 (at least at this point of the book), causing me to question whether the protagonist has used valid reasoning to support his claim, or mere speculation.

The protagonist uses History to convince the reader about the existence of the named asteroid, though he is not making any effort to prove that the little prince came from there. He goes back into the year 1909, when a Turkish astronomer had seen the asteroid only once, and had presented his findings to the International Astronomical Congress. But he was dressed in Turkish costume, and therefore nobody believed what he said. This claim has highlighted the prejudices in the minds of the European and American people (who the IAC consisted of) against people of other cultures.

In spite of them being experts in the field of Astronomy, they were not immune to such racist prejudices and stereotypes. It may have been based on the fact that they had perceived some Turkish people in traditional costumes, who were not at all well-versed in The Sciences, and therefore generalized and formed a stereotype that all Turkish people in their traditional clothes are not scientific, and are not worth believing. The fact that the same person’s claim about the asteroid was accepted when he presented it in Western clothes confirms the fact that the members of the IAC had a prejudice rooted in them.

This prejudice could also be formed partly due to emotion. The members may have had slight contempt for the Turkish man in his costume, and also pride in their own Western culture, which would have played a role in the formation of the prejudice and stereotype.

The protagonist then goes on to write about the difference in perceived priorities in knowing in children and grown-ups. While children are inquisitive about qualitative aspects of a person or thing, adults are only interested in quantitative aspects. Giving the example of knowing a friend, the protagonist points out that normally people should be interested in aspects like his hobbies, his voice, whether he collects butterflies or not, but adults are more inquisitive about his age, his weight, and how much money that his father earned. He subtly hints at the fact that adults are only interested in wealth and monetary worth when forming an opinion about a person, house or other thing.

At this point, the protagonist is making a generalization and forming a stereotype of adults. While he may have perceived many adults who are only interested in numbers, even when knowing a person, it is incorrect to brand every adult like that. If this stereotype does exist in his mind, he will only notice those adults who have the mentioned qualities – confirmation bias will influence his perception, and he will not perceive the adults who contradict his stereotype.

In the latter part of the chapter, the protagonist shares his grief with the reader or knower. He has been writing about the past all this while, and he now throws light on his present. He has lost his friend (“I have suffered too much grief in setting down these memories”), the little prince, and experiences extreme sadness. This sorrow expressed by the protagonist translates into sympathy for him in the knower’s mind.

Throughout this chapter, the language used is simple, easily comprehendible, and, at times, child-like. This is done to strike an emotional chord with children, who read this book. The fact that he refers to adults as ‘they’ brings the reader, irrespective of his age, to the child’s side. Thus, the reader perceives the issues dealt with from the point of view of a child.

Emotion vs Reason

Reflection for 15th April, 09


Emotion and Reason both play important roles in the process of knowing. They have varying roles in different Areas of knowledge. For example, reason plays a greater role in Physics than emotion does, and Emotion probably plays a greater role in the Arts than reason does. However, there is often a conflict between emotion and reason. At this point of time, if the knower follows reason his belief will be different from what his belief would have been if he had used emotion as a way of knowing.

In class today, we saw a video titled "The War between Emotion and Reason" which addresses this issue. (click here to view) This video depicts many instances when a person is facing a conflict between emotion and reason. Reason is generally in the driver's seat, with emotion seated behind. However, emotion itermittently feels the urge to take over by defeating reason. This causes the person to do things that may not be reasonable and the consequences of which may be harmful. For example, the baby that decides to roll down the stairs due to emotional excitement eventually hurts himself. Then the doctor shown is reason personified.

I think a bias has been created against emotion and for reason. The purpose of this is to influence the knower and to make him take their (the creators of this video) stand on the core issue of this video - which is world war 2. Whenthe viewer already has a bias against emotion, the video shows how Hitler, through his emotive words, signs and body language is inciting the emotions of a person. This makes emotion grow stronger in him, due to pride for his country, sympathy for the suffering of his countrymen, contempt against Jews; and also Britain and her allies for their exploitation of Germany. Thus, Emotion outgrows and defeats Reason, and the person becomes Hitler's follower.

However, reason, which is shown to the viewer as being the saviour, is now shown as driving an aircraft of the Allied Forces, along with emotion by his side, leading the fight against hitler. This definitely is a propaganda video, depicting the Allied forces as rational, reasonable and Hitler as controlled by emotion. However, I do not think that their reasons were more ethical than the emotions of pride used by Hitler. Their reasons were mainly the power and wealth of their countries, which was also based on the emotion of national pride.

Thus, in ethical terms, the Allied Powers are not any better than Hitler. History is always written by the victors of a war, as they control knowledge sources, and they have always written it in their favour, as they want to be perceived in good light.

Knowledge at work 4

Media source: Election campaign videos of Congress and BJP
Links: BJP video ad
Congress video ad

The Congress Campaign video, titled 'Jai Ho' - Leaders, takes its name from the song 'Jai Ho' by A.R Rahman, which was in the film "Slumdog Millionaire", which won the Oscars. Since an Indian film winning the oscars is a cause of pride in some Indians (urban Indians - who know about the Oscars), this could be one of the reasons chose this song - to use the emotion of pride to their advantage. The video however, focuses on the "aam aadmi" or common man, and highlights the achievements of past Congress leaders, and how they benefitted the common man. The video shows rural men and women at work, students in a classroom, scientists carrying out experiments, space scientists launching a satellite (with particular reference to the Chandranayan launch) , and a soldier in uniform, among other people. The video later shows four major Congress leaders of the past – Nehru, Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and glorifies them in different ways. The use of History, which is often biased in favour of politicians who were once part of the Independence movement like Nehru, is used so that knowers can generalize that “since past Congress leaders were nationalists, the Congress is a nationalist party”.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign video is also accompanied by music. Like the Congress video, this video also appeals to the emotions of the knower. The emotion of national pride made to be perceived by the viewer – by the constant depiction of soldiers, army vehicles, and the Pokhran nuclear tests which took place during the rule of the BJP. However, since the Congress is the party in power, various negative emotions are also depicted. In fact, the video begins with a view of slums and the suffering of people during a flood, which instill a sense of sympathy. The family members of those dead in terrorist attacks are shown crying. The music also helps in bringing out the emotions. The words used in the song, which are translated as “What has happened to this country” and “The country that I had thought it(India) was has been lost”, which are accompanied with crying rural people and various people coming for jobs, seeing a “No vacancy” sign. Just like the Congress advertisement in which “Jai Ho” and praises of past leaders in the lyrics of the song are used to emotionally influence the knower, the BJP advertisement too uses language in music to play upon the emotions of the knower.
In an election, the voter has to choose between parties, and this choice is based on the voters’ perception of what each party is capable of doing. The purpose of these videos is undoubtedly to improve the perception of their party in the eyes of the voter, who is the knower. Their reasons behind it is to win the trust of the voter, so that they can gain power. For the voter, the most rational thing to do is vote for the party which they think is willing and able to work for their welfare. However, the fact that the politicians are appealing to emotions is diluting the effect of reason in the decision making process.
In these advertisements, the parties take credit for various national achievements such as India’s first mission to the moon, the Pokhran nuclear test, scientific development, etc. From an ethical perspective, I am forced to question whether they have the right to take credit for such achievements, merely because it occurred during their rule. For example, although ISRO receives funds from the government, the space scientist are carrying out continuous research to launch new satellites. Simply because the launch occurred during a parties rule does not allow the party to take credit for it as it was not directly planned by the government. Demonstrating it in advertisements only influences the emotions of the voter, reducing the role of reason, which in turn leads him to lead a blind eye to the failures or scams of a government.
Using negative advertising to a large extent, especially in the issue of loss of lives due to terrorism, has a similar effect on the knower(voter) , causing him to vote for opposition only because of the weaknesses of the current govt, irrespective of whether the opposition is more capable or less capable of solving their problems (which reason can play a role in finding out) . Thus, Indian democracy will benefit when voters are less easily swayed by emotions, and make their decisions more rationally.

"It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover"

-Poncare

Reflection - 20th April, 09: Intuition

I had heard the word intuition many times, and had a vague idea of what it was, but never understood it clearly. Before attempting a few questions, let me try and define intuition. Intuition can be defined instinctive and unconscious knowing without deduction or reasoning. It is sudden, and no inference is involved in the process of knowing using intuition.

1. If something is intuitively obvious, must everyone agree about it?
There are very few things that are "intuitively obvious" and are agreed upon by everyone. For people to agree on subject-specific and social intuition is very unlikely to be agreed upon. For example one biologist may get the intuition that a particular experiment will give better results if carried out on a particular plant, and another biologist may intuitively feel that it needs to be carried out on another plant. Since intuition cannot be expressed in terms of reason, there is no way one biologist can convince the other; and an agreement cannot be reached on the intuition.
Neither are social intuitions likely to be agreed upon as people rarely have the same intuitions about other people. However, in the case of core intuitions which are perceived to be obvious such as "I exist" and "Life is not a dream" are likely to be agreed upon.

2. Could you be wrong in thinking that something is intuitively obvious?
It is quite possible that a knower is wrong in thinking that something is intuitively obvious. Intuition could be based on biases and prejudices that are rooted in the knower since are long time, and subconsciously play a role in his/her thought process. If other ways of knowing, like reason contradict intiution completely, it is more likely that you could be wrong than when reason and intuition lead to similar conclusions..

3. Whose intuitions should you trust? Are some people's intuitions better than others?
In my opinion, in social and core intuitions, you should trust your own intuitions, as nobody else would be in your shoes have your view-point. However, you should make sure that the intuition does not lead to confirmation bias in ur perception. Be careful, and look out for contradictions to your intuition. However, in the case of subject-specific intuitions, we should surely trust the intuition of an expert in that subject/ area of knowledge to a greater extent than a non-expert.

James Lang Theory

Reflection for 13th April, 2009

What causes emotions? Do emotions affect the physical/physiological state of the knower? Does a change in emotion only occur when someone perceives something through his senses? .... These were just some of the questions that had arisen in my mind in today's class, when i was introduced to the topic of emotion. I then came to know that something called the James Lang Theory existed........

This theory proposes that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to events. According to the theory, you see an external stimulus that leads to a physiological reaction. Your emotional reaction is caused by those physical reactions.

This, at first seemed to be vague. I had always thought that emotions were the cause of the physiological changes - for example sorrow would lead to crying and joy would lead to smiling. Was this theory was suggesting that crying was the cause of sorrow and smiling causes happiness?



Then i realized that this theory must be more valid to internal or involuntary physiological reactions to external stimuli, which could possibly cause emotions. Symptoms like muscular tension, a rise in heart rate, perspiration, and dryness of the mouth could cause certain emotions, dependind on the circumstance. However, the validity of this theory is still doubted..... and many new theories have replaced it which contradict the claim that emotions are caused by physical changes.

Expression and Communication

Based on class discussion on Mon, 16th March.

When I first thought about Expression and Communication, I felt that they were the same thing. I thought they both were the transmission of thoughts, feelings or ideas. However, when i pondered on the two words a little more profoundly, I began to feel that there is some difference between them. I was eager to figure out the difference, but could not succeed immediately.....

Our discussion was based on a handout titled "Expression vs Communication - The Heart of Songwriting." We first explored an example - of a man whose pet gorilla leaves him and runs away with a group of wild apes. This causes an outburst of emotions in the man, and he begins to cry, and tell his story in a frantic manner to a group of locals that he meets. After his long story, he finds out that the locals are unaffected by it. It took him so long to realize that they didnt speak his language, and so didnt understand a word of what he said!! This gave me a clue to what the difference between expression and communication may be. The man was expressing himself when he bloated out his story. However, he wasn't communicating - as the locals failed to understand him.

The handout provided us with a more concrete and specific difference btwn the two. We learnt that expression is a one-way process whereas communication involves both a transmittor and a receptor. Expression is the outward display of what a person is thinking or feeling, it may not be understood by the other person. Communication, on the other hand, is clearly perceived and understood by the other person. Only if a message is received the way it was intended and the meaning understood has communication occured, else it remains expression.

I then began to reflect on these differences, and tried to think what are the differences in the ways of knowledge used in the two. I realized that emotion does play a major role in expression. Emotions such as sorrow (as in the case of the above example), or joy or love or hate can cause a person to transmit his thoughts and ideas, without using reason and perception to confirm whether the other person is receiving the message or is able to comprehend it. The expressor may use his own subjective reasoning to send a message that is not clearly understood by others, for example, modern poets using symbolism that is rarely understood in a precise manner by another person. Expression is also widely used in other Arts, such as paintings, sculptures, and even music where it is based on emotions being experienced by the expressor and his or her perspective (personal beliefs) regarding an issue. Thus, expression is often done for personal satisfaction.

I figured out that Communication deals mainly with language - not merely words, but also sign language, images or codes that are understood by both parties. Communication is used in our day to day life, and plays an extremely important role in every Area of Language. For communication to occur effectively, there needs to be some similarity in the perception of the transmittor and receptor.