Book launch at Asia House on Thursday 29th September 2010 Professor Jim Al Khalili The ink of the Scholar is more sacred than the blood of the Martyr The Prophet Mohammad The Golden Age was from the 7th c to the 15th c. Jim calls it Arabic Science because it was written in Arabic. The [...]
Book launch at Asia House on Thursday 29th September 2010
Professor Jim Al Khalili
The ink of the Scholar is more sacred than the blood of the Martyr
The Prophet Mohammad
The Golden Age was from the 7th c to the 15th c. Jim calls it Arabic Science because it was written in Arabic. The scientists were from the Middle East but many were Persian.
The rise of this scientific interest was from the thirst of knowledge and patronage from the increased wealth of the region. The Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, Abu Ja’far Abdullah al-Ma’mun, created the greatest centre of learning the world had ever seen, known as Bayt al-Hikma, the House of Wisdom. The scientists and philosophers he brought together sparked a period of extraordinary discovery, in every field imaginable, launching a golden age of Arabic science.
The main work was the aggregation of knowledge from different lands and languages – China, India, Greeks etc. The translated work was then published in Arabic in books of paper (technology was imported from China). Only competent scientists with the understanding of the topics could have been worked on the collation of this information.
This work has been found to be essential for the next stage in the development of the sciences. It was the first time ever that this was put in one place. The next step was in renaissance Europe in the 16th c with the growth of the sciences which was fostered by the Latin translations of the Arabic scripts. (Latin was the common language of Europe then).
The development of the sciences is analogies to the passing of the baton in a relay race. The Arabic Sciences collated all the information; this was then handed over to the Europeans for discoveries which led to the basis of modern science – telescope, gravity, electricity etc.
A cited example being the position of the earth relative to the sun in the solar system. History has shown that there were 2 competing theories since the time of the Greeks.
Geocentric – the earth at the centre of the Solar System
Heliocentric – the sun at the centre of the Solar System.
It was Galileo, using the telescope, proved the sun was at the centre of the Solar System.
This is an example of aggregation of knowledge carried out by one party and validation carried out by another party.
However, Galileo was denounced by the Roman Inquisition; the Heliocentric was considered “false and contrary to Scripture”. Galileo had to spend his life under house arrest.
The conservative view of the clergy was also heard in the Golden age. This led Al-Biruni 11th c Persian Muslim polymath to write
The extremist among them would stamp the sciences as atheistic and would proclaim that they lead people astray, in order to make ignoramuses of them and to hate the sciences. For this will help him conceal his own ignorance, and to open the door for the complete destruction of the sciences and the scientists.
Personal Opinion:
We are in the middle of a revolution, or a sea of change. The internet, together with the search engines like Google and Bing, gives anybody access to and be able to publish any information at any time on any topic. This hastens the pace of information exchange today. This is a process of aggregation of all information. This step is very similar to the stage in Arabic Science.
I believe we are at one of the most interesting stages of scientific discoveries that mankind has seen for a long long time.
We are entering a golden age of scientific discoveries with valuable discoveries in the fields of molecular biology, stem cell, nano technology, communications etc
Jim Al-Khalili’s book – Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Sciences
Dr Michael Oon
Stuck in your life? The Linchpin is about how to drive your career and create a remarkable future.
As we know, this world can be roughly separated into 2 groups of people – The capitalist – the people who have the capital and can build the “factories” for the workers to deliver the outputs. The workers who sell their time for work in the factories to deliver the outputs.
Seth Godin understands the current changing world economic environment very clearly and talks about a third group – the linchpins. People who own the means of production of their outputs.
So who are the linchpins?
They are the new class of people who determine their own road map in life. They use their passion to create work and they are adaptable to changes in the political and economical landscape. Most of all, they are extraordinary and enjoy what they do.
But, what have we being brought up with?
Let us look at the current method of training of children.
They are sent to school and disciplined to the system. When they conform, they get better grades. The parents are happy with the child’s progress because the teacher is pleased.
When your grades are good enough, you can go to University or further training.
If you cannot, you drop out of the educational system. It will be difficult to be employed as employers who want you to have “trained” and perform as in the system. Because they have been trained by the system.
When you are trained, you work in little boxes doing the standardised “work” as stated in the protocols within the manuals.
As a result, the country is producing a nation of standardised people. It becomes a sea of mediocrity where the workers do a “same standard work” patterns. Insecurity develops and become fearful of change.
So how do you became a linchpin or become indispensable?
Seth explains in the book what a Linchpin is and how to become one. Interestingly, he goes through the biological reason for the fear of change and then suggests the various approaches and methodologies that can be used to counter this. He also talks about the power of gifts (abundance) and this is the basis of the freemium model of doing business, currently used very successfully on the internet.
Far more importantly, there is a meetup throughout the world on Monday – 14th June 2012 at various locations where all the linchpins can get to know each other. The London meetup
Based on my analysis of the time dimension of Feng Shui, we are currently in the “age” of the individual and the importance of networks; groups of people with like minded interests.
Linchpin (Are you indispensable? How to drive your career and create a remarkable future) – Seth Godin
ISBN – 978-0-7499-5335-5
Dr Michael Oon
Seth Godin starts from the premise that big organisations (corporations and governments) resist change as the organisational structure is to maintain the status quo. Change happens all the time and stability is an illusion. At this moment there is a downtrend in advertising, downward price pressure on manufactured goods etc. These organisations remedy this by [...]
Seth Godin starts from the premise that big organisations (corporations and governments) resist change as the organisational structure is to maintain the status quo.
Change happens all the time and stability is an illusion.
At this moment there is a downtrend in advertising, downward price pressure on manufactured goods etc. These organisations remedy this by introducing quality systems, manuals, scripts etc which have in turn put pressure on the working practises of workers. Are they happy with the work?
He makes the observation that people work best when they are happy and have the passion for it.
People with the same interest are forming themselves into groups, especially on the internet where communication is no longer restricted by geography.
However, groups need a leader. A group with a leader becomes a tribe.
When you blog, you are sharing your views. Aren’t your readers part of your tribe?
Seth proves information on creating a tribe and how to get the best from it.
Certainly a worthwhile book for this age and period of time where changes are abound. as this is a juncture of 2 trends, the end of one and the start of a new trend based on Traditional Feng Shui.
Dr Michael Oon
