Civilisational vs social philosphy.
After Plato, Atistotle and Arthashastra.
We have a vaccum in new thinking.
Last month I had the opportunity of visiting the Dept of Digital Humanities at IIT Jodhpur and interacting with some of their post graduate students. The idea was to understand if we had managed to develop any new foundational paradigms that could help mould a new developmental model which was around cooperative rather than competitive progress.
This is the kind of thought AI is currently incapable of. However ai can help benchmark new thinking with the old classic models. I haven’t read any of the classics myself but am very motivated to do so. As I go around the countryside trying to evolve a new model of research and a new format for education – I come across thought leaders across age groups, across communities, across geographies and across economic strata. These interactions enrich me greatly and help contribute to these developments.
One such meeting was with an edtech entrepreneur and IIt alumnus Aman Singh yesterday. A native of Munger, Bihar – he did churn the pot for me. He presented me with a copy of The Republic by Plato which kept me up all night.
Aman singh describes himself as follows:
“ We believe that higher education can drive social equality, justice and freedom. If higher education is not efficient then it will lead to the destruction of these valuable ideas that nourishes our societies. A seamless flow of information, capital and talent within and across countries is the the foundation for creating an efficient ecosystem. With GradRight, we visualise such a tech-enabled, global higher education ecosystem that brings together all participants including students, universities, banks, insurers, forex providers, expert service provides, scholarship providers and media to transact freely and unlock new value for each stakeholder.
Prior to GradRight, I served as the Founding Project Director of Ashoka University, helping its set-up as one of India’s leading liberal arts institutions. I also contributed to the launch and development of Krea University, Plaksha University, Kanchendzonga Buddhist University and the Indian School of Public Policy. I started my career as a Field Engineer with Schlumberger Oilfield Services running oil and gas exploration projects across Indonesia, Japan, Middle East and USA.
I believe in the power of Yoga and have been blessed as a disciple of Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati and a life-long student of Bihar School of Yoga, Munger.”
It was a fifteen minute meeting which lasted two hours – aided by the inability of Third Wave Coffee to serve for 45 minutes (seems the KOT has to manually go to the kitchen and gets lost en route). We discussed technology and the brilliance of BigTech in making things work.
A new conclusion:
Colleges have to come to you.
You won’t go to a college.
Foreign degrees have to be available in India. It may not make sense to travel to them in an ai age.