Listen with your eyes

With so much emanating from overused vocal cords and much of it senseless utterances with little or no meaning, it is perhaps better to retire into a world of silence avoiding the cacophony and practice and enjoy listening with eyes. Anyway we know that a picture is worth a thousand words and still the science has not matched the capabilities of the human eye in taking in details.

It was while browsing inside a bookshop perched on a lower shelf, as more prominence is usually given to other books from elsewhere, that I saw the book ‘Money, Inflation and Output’ by H.N. Thenuwara.

Whoever did the cover design has come up with an interesting quotation to adorn the front page, perhaps an economic punch line. The quote, “I have observed that in countries with good money, the art and business flourish, and there is wealth everywhere. While laziness, idleness and indifference prevail in countries where bad money is in circulation,” is attributed to Nicolaus Copernicus and he is no economist.

He was a Polish astronomer and a mathematician who changed the earth centric opinion of the then citizens by advancing his sun centric theory. His comment on more earthly observations has been made in 1529 and a poignant observations perhaps. I think this not be reflected upon when only in Las Vegas or Macau.

Questions

As 2011 draws to a close, we too should constantly observe and allow our inner faculties to analyse details. How much have we achieved? How many targets have we missed? All are questions that we have to seek answers to, not by the way of identifying any guilty party, but as a means of doing better next year without making the same mistakes again.

We know there are several global indicators that have lifted Sri Lanka from the earlier positions and such trends need to continue. The country is moving and I believe we could move on even better if we plan ahead for a longer time period than becoming obsessed with the short-term.

Some in the USA has expressed this neatly – being obsessed with the presidential election next year and the quarterly targets each moment, the United States is said to be losing the long-term perspective.

Visionary individuals, like Eric Drexler, who as an undergraduate in MIT wrote on molecular nanotechnology and then when onto start the Foresight Institute, were concerned that this is affecting their country in making real advances.

The mad rush of short-term victories is with us too, unfortunately. We should understand that being ready to appreciate each and every shining car on Galle Road as a sign of progress is not quite right.

There is also the difference in merely looking over seeing. It is the latter that we must practice.

It is no secret that with taxation the State may stand to earn more from an import of a motor vehicle than the original producer of that vehicle in Japan. That is an irony of the fiscal system. Gain without an effort. However, these gains are not sustainable in the long run to an economy and capital gains may turn out to be recurrent nightmares.

Long-term plans

It is really important that we develop and follow long-term plans and sacrifice short-term temporary gains. Pleasing those who live from day to day is not placing your bets on right stock.

Nicolaus Copernicus stated it quit elegantly. If someone sitting inside an office can collect more revenue than the one who designed, toiled and produced, then there must be something not quite right about it. I am not sure of rewarding the sharp shooter more than the doer.

Jack and Suzy Welch in their book ‘Winning’ make the same observation and this come from top of the US corporate ladder – their observation is simple and relates to companies Arthur Anderson and Enron, which went under with much publicity.

In these two institutions, men in work clothes (auditors in Anderson and energy system workers with Enron) when joined by those men in Armani clothing (consultants in Anderson and the energy traders with Enron), the rot appears to have started.

One gets an idea and then works hard to convert into a worthwhile reality and that is the invention-innovation chain. Today the Western business success is when an IPO or a business speculation is realised even after floating the idea.

Stocks of a pharma co. can rise dramatically if a clinical trial result of an experimental drug shows excellent results. Markets rise dramatically, bringing much more sudden wealth and value. Speculation has triumphed over innovation. The stage is then set for bubbles to form and burst and starting from dot-coms; perhaps we have observed this.

Inner substance

We do speculate on nanotechnology today in the same way. It is nicer perhaps to be much leaner in the way we think and operate rather than pushing for the extra gain always beyond what decent behaviour dictates. That may allow values and ethics to stay within the system rather than depart.

These behaviours have pushed people and especially Generation Y (these classifications perhaps are driving some crazy as trying to live up to the peer norms) to search for success factors, which are more to do with the exterior appearance. The net effect is when one can becomes quite addicted to maintaining their exterior appearance, the interior becomes quite shallow.

Looks may be deceiving, but we speak of virtues of the initial impression and more of it may come from the first view. What you adorn may contribute to success, but do not forget these factors cannot by themselves deliver success. It is the inner substance that can deliver success.

Unshackle the shackled

It was a real pleasure viewing the presentations of the eminent Sri Lankan panellists who adorned the podium during the plenary sessions of the Global Forum of Sri Lankan scientists. They came from USA, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland and Japan and demonstrated their leadership and their standing.

All, having left our shores, had found their current working environment to their liking and have exercised creativity in science and business to the highest level. The question that was constantly flashing in my mind was, why was this not possible here?

I am quite sure of the potential and I am sure it is not the individual skill and talent that is missing. When you listen to such groundbreaking achievements as well as the impact of their work, the respective institutional settings also come to one’s mind. The spatial organisational picture too is important for one’s creativity.

They have had the ability to labour in freedom and with enterprise. The need is to unshackle the shackled in the local context. We do not lack money. When we look around one can sense that cash is really not an issue. Right ideas perhaps are.

Growth promoting factors

As another year dawns, we must concentrate on growth promoting factors to an economy. They are the human capital, research and development, technology and infrastructure. Yes, the infrastructure is getting its due attention. However, we should have definite long-term plans as infrastructure alone will not do.

Travelling down a toll road to enjoy high tea at a discount, holding one’s entry ticket, is not one’s vision of development. I view the headline news of Fitch downgrading or stating our financial system is risky and compare notes silently with Copernicus as he may have contemplated on what he witnessed that led him to state his quote.

We do see idleness – we are never in a hurry, at times with all the time in the world. We do witness indifference – serious mistakes that can ruin futures of generations are simple issues of not much concern. Currently, education is a point here. Weighty tomes get written on projects and plans and await execution.

‘A land like no other’

At one time Sri Lanka Tourism had a tag line for the country – ‘A land like no other’. Our action plans and realisations subsequently indeed will lead to making this a land like no other.

It is certainly not an impossibility as no other comparable country packs this amount of resources and diversity and human talent (gauged from the number that we have given to the outside at least!).

We just cannot afford another person from an external location to observe our actions, plans and thinking to see and state sadly that this is also an ‘island with fools like nowhere either’ as a rejoinder to our popular tagline.

We have not left these shores and write with interest to ensure progress on a hard-won tranquillity. We should let generations grow with only such aspirations in mind and not planning their exit from day one with a bank deposit maturing to support such a move. Plans must exist to excite the emerging generations to indicate that their future is here. Communications in those directions should exist too.

This year has seen many positives for another growth promoting factor – research and development. Two consecutive budgets have opened up real possibilities. The State has pushed for nanotechnology and 2012 will witness the first science park coming up. It is important that these developments continue.

In a similar vein, changing some of the mental and physical trappings is a necessity and a real wonder of Asia is then within reach.



(Professor Ajith de Alwis is Professor of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. With an initial BSc Chemical engineering Honours degree from Moratuwa, he proceeded to the University of Cambridge for his PhD. He is also the Director of UOM-Cargills Food Process Development Incubator at University of Moratuwa. He can be reached via email on [email protected].)