Experiments in Engineering Education

There are many developments which make one think that our engineering education system is either broken or headed towards that. Many students no longer like to attend classes and most of what we teach is perceived to be irrelevant to the job market. Even at several leading educational institutes around the world, only about 25% of the students end up in a job relevant to their core engineering discipline. Several problem areas have been identified and several measures have been proposed to remedy the situation, but frankly speaking nothing so far seems to be making much difference. Several institutes even brought about an overhaul of their entire curriculum over the last few years, but again with little impact. One of the reasons is that very few of these steps taken were bold enough but most were merely minor tweaks here and there. But of course, taking bold steps merely for the sake of displaying bravery is not a good idea and can lead to large instabilities. Also, bold steps need not be taken with a stamp of lived-happily-ever-after. We need to be open to the fact that some of our best decisions may also fail due to a myriad of reasons. Bold steps need to also have a carefully planned exit option in case they don't help in improving the situation. We need more of a start-up culture in decision making.

Doesn't science need its conscience keepers?

The strongest aspect of humans is perhaps that their intelligence is multifaceted. There is so much diversity in human activity that sometimes it becomes hard to believe that all humans are actually of the same species! Humans are good at dance, music, painting, computer programs and many other fields. Among all these fields of human activity, one that stands truly apart and in a unique position is the pursuit of science. Science is undoubtedly one of the biggest contributors to the progress of human civilisation right from the very start. The discovery of the wheel and ancient metallurgy was no less a scientific achievement compared to modern day rockets and smartphones. Despite all these immense achievements, science is facing a huge problem today. Science has provided immensely useful tools to study almost all the material aspects of nature. We can very accurately measure temperature of an object, the length of even tiny bacteria, and even the distance to stars many light years away. But science is finding it increasingly difficult to measure its own worth. There is so much new science being produced everyday by thousands of scientists around the world that it has become a real problem to assess which of these contributions are worthy of praise and which are not. And those that are worthy, how much praise do they really deserve? 

What does it mean to surrender?

The concept of surrender is one of the few things that is given the highest respect in all religious traditions. And it is also one of the most elusive concepts in spirituality, almost as elusive as the concept of Maya. Though the concept of Maya has been dealt with in lot of detail by several great Indian philosophers, the concept of surrender has not been so fortunate. This is also because surrender is more important in the tradition of Bhakti (path of emotion) whereas most of the philosophers are more inclined towards Jnana (path of knowledge). Many of the great philosophers in India have also been equally great bhaktas, but for some reason they choose not to show their emotional side in public. 

A Physics Perspective Of Free Will

The debate between fate and free will is perhaps as old as human thought. Till the 19th century, this question was mainly of interest to philosophers. But with the advent of modern physics in the 20th century with all its uncertainties in the form of quantum mechanics, this question has now taken a whole new direction and is an active topic of discussion even amongst physicists and neuroscientists. In this webinar, we will discuss what quantum mechanics can say about free will and what it cannot. In particular, we will see that quantum mechanics actually throws up a third possibility which is very different from both fate and free will, and perhaps much closer to the human condition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42AGGGp8mmI

How can we manage our anger and use it for spiritual growth?

Anger is one of the emotions we all experience on a daily basis, much more frequently than many other emotions. Uncontrolled anger is also one of the primary causes of broken relationships, be it personal or professional. As Aristotle once said, "Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy." Though it is certainly very difficult to master the art of anger management, it is necessary to make sincere efforts towards this goal. In this webinar, we will discuss some simple techniques using which we can become good at managing our anger and use it effectively for our spiritual growth:

https://youtu.be/QCnF1OXx4CU

What should we build at Ayodhya?

A temple was demolished and so was a mosque. Rama would have perhaps never imagined in the wildest of his dreams that his legacy would someday become the cause of so much disharmony. A lot has been written about the events and the motives. The violence of words has started giving tough competition to the violence of the body. The land has been divided but a court case still goes on. But in all this, has anyone ever asked this simple question : how would Rama actually like to be remembered? Would the construction of a temple at his birthplace really please him?

How to make spirituality an interesting process?

The spiritual process is often considered to be quite boring by many people in our society. This is primarily due to two misconceptions. Firstly, it is usually believed that one must give up all pleasures of life in order to pursue spirituality. And secondly, the spiritual process is usually believed to mainly consist of sitting with closed eyes for many hours. In this webinar, we will try to clear these misconceptions and also discuss various ways by which we can make the spiritual process a truly exciting and interesting journey:

https://youtu.be/8KiIuBaRLq0

How to balance our spiritual instincts and religious tendencies?

Spirituality and Religion are often considered to be antagonistic to each other. One is considered to be a symbol of individual freedom and the other a symbol of bondage. It is important to realize that too much freedom can also lead to depression and too much bondage can lead to fanaticism. The right approach is to balance these two aspects of human life. Both are equally important : being part of a social order and giving private space to individuals. In this webinar, we will discuss how to achieve this difficult balancing act:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgJO64RUDv4

Is there anything scientific about spirituality?

Science and spirituality have been two pillars of the human race right from the very beginning. The man who invented agriculture and fire was no less a scientist than the Nobel laureates of modern times. And the joy of being able to feed the whole tribe through agriculture must have been no less spiritual an experience. Science and spirituality have a lot in common, but it is also important to respect their differences since both have their own unique features. Science and spirituality are like two sisters who may have very similar genes but have very different personalities. Science may have largely captured the human imagination over the last few decades, but there are aspects of the human condition outside of the purview of science and these aspects are no less important than science itself. Spirituality is one such aspect. Let us try to understand the similarities and differences between science and spirituality.