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Dr.
G. Venkataraman writes a lot about scientific discoveries in his series
on the heart-to-heart website which he runs in connection with Radio
Sai, but he writes from the standpoint of a religious believer and preacher
of morality. There is therefore not much head-to-head communication
in it, and - though he reproduces information of a popular scientific
kind well enough, the bias is quite a-scientific in spirit. Take for
example, his article “4 M’s - MAN, MONEY, MYTH AND MORALITY By Prof.
G. Venkataraman“.
He firstly
dwells on how science has affected technology - simple, well-known high
school level stuff. Economists who were his audience must have
been bored stiff with a patronising lecture on such elementary events
in the rise of industrial technology known well enough to any educated
person.However, he summed up the whole thrust of his lecture as follows:
“My central point was that when man goes avidly in quest of wealth,
he quickly loses discrimination and begins to swallow all kinds of myths.
This results in man abandoning scruples, if not wholly, at least in
substantial measure, and in turn that leads to disaster. In other words,
my pitch was that nobody, economists included, can afford to ignore
Morality in the larger scheme of things.”
What’s the
point, one wonders… it is unclear whether he means that they should not invest
in exploitative companies, or rather abandon economic realities and the profit
motive and wealth creation generally? It’s anyone’s guess.
The pot
calling the kettle black!
Venkataraman
has lost all his scruples about sexual abuse allegations and murder
cover-up by Sai Baba, he is comfortable with all of it! (See here!)
So morality is certainly ignored in his scheme of things, at any rate.
He also tells what everyone knows anyhow, how scientists made the atomic
bomb and states, “Overnight, scientists lost their innocence and became
putty in the hands of those who had money to throw.” Well, G. Venkataraman
is one of those very persons, for - like his more accomplished former
colleague Dr. Bhagavantam - he worked for the Indian government on developing
atomics which backed up India’s nuclear capacity! Now he is preaching
against this… and he is one of the guilty!
His agenda
is definitely unscientific, for it is religious moralising, as is clear
from his words here: “Swami puts it all neatly and crisply. He says
we must first have Love for God followed by a fear of sin. If these
two are present, then Morality in Society would automatically follow.”
This has
been preached for centuries in the Christian world (love and love of
God have been a Judeo-Christian concept altogether until very recent
centuries) but now we are told by Sai Baba that the world is ever more
imbued with evil in this Age of Kali! This is really simplistic empty
talk which provides no practical solution to the vast world problems
with which science and economy are struggling to cope. Add to this that
Venkataraman has swallowed quite other types of myth than consumerism;
those connected with Sathya Sai Baba - which are of a megalomaniacal
sort! More on the issue of Venkataraman’s compromised position coming
soon
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