Economy
Doha: Pitching for a new round may be practical
THE DOHA Ministerial Conference is a couple of weeks away. The mood is upbeat in India and similar in the worldover. What will happen and whether there will be a fresh round of talks is not known -- a picture of uncertainty.
Technology
Brain re-engineering -- The switch to top-down processing
THE neural circuitry is not completely installed in most people until they are in their early 20s. As the circuitry advances into the pre-frontal cortex, the area associated with higher-order processing of input data, the controls necessary to quell the
over-activated limbic system are in place. ``The prefrontal cortex,'' says Karl Pribram, Director of the Centre for Brain Research and Informational Sciences at Radford University in Virginia, ``is in charge of `executive functions.' These include the br
ain's ability to handle ambiguous information and make decisions, to coordinate signals in different regions of the brain, and to stifle or prolong emotions generated in the limbic system.''
Incubating start-ups -- More lab-industry tie-ups now
DRIVEN by market realities, the much-needed but little-realised industry-R&D institute collaborations have, in recent times, thrown up some new models in the Indian context. At the centre of these interesting developments is biotechnology -- the promised
new wave after information technology (IT).
Terrorism
Islam and freedom
THE Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, has been at the centre of a storm. He reportedly told a media gathering in Berlin: ``We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rig
hts and, in contrast with Islamic countries, respect for religious and political rights, a system that has as its values understanding of diversity and tolerance...'' (Western civilisation is superior because) ``it has at its core as its greatest value,
freedom, which is not the heritage of Islamic culture.''
More global trade will heal the world
``The main reason for the absence of a serious challenge to American hegemony is that it is so benign. It does not extract tribute. It does not seek military occupation. It is not interested in acquiring territory - indeed it specia
lises in giving it up, as shown in the Philippines and Panama. Economically, the world has prospered under the open trading system the US supports. And culturally, America is a hit.'' -- Charles Krauthammer, A Second American Centur
y, essay in Times, December 27, 1999.
Whither co-fighters' credibility?
UNDOUBTEDLY, the US is the most free and democratic of nations. But its choice of partners in the great global crusade against terrorism, which the US President, Mr George W. Bush, has launched in the sacred name of ``freedom'' and ``de
mocracy", suggests no moral clarity but only an adherence to the enemy's enemy strategy enunciated by Kautilya in India and Machiavelli in Europe.
