China and Tibet: a conspiracy of silence.

What do mainland Chinese know about the unrest and subsequent brutal crackdown in Tibet?

Not a lot, in many cases.

In Singapore, there are many PRC (Peoples' Republic of China) students here. I will explain more about their situation in another post. I would, however, like to note something which I have become aware of. These students are in the habit of calling home, to their parents in China, on a regular basis. All of them have had a strange experience, recently. In their calls home, they have tried to discuss the Tibetan situation - which they have seen in the Singaporean and international media, here in Singapore - with their parents. Do you know what they discovered?

None of their Chinese mainland parents knew about it.

It seems that the media in China has been far from dedicated to carrying this story, for in a random sampling of mainland Chinese, performed by the PRC students here in Singapore, none of them were aware of the unrest and crackdown, in Tibet.

This reminded me of another time when I had taught PRC students. There was a boy in my class who was of very certain views about the wonders of China. It turned out that his father was an important man in the hierarchy of the Communist Party of China. This was many years ago and somehow the subject of Tiananmen Square came up. This boy barked out: "No-one died at Tiananmen Square".

"Who told you that?" I asked him, rather surprised.

"My father."

I felt sad for him. Even his own father lied to him, to protect the image of the motherland from the Truth.

I pointed out that I had seen the terrible events for myself on CNN and that the whole world had watched what happened at Tiananmen Square - the whole world except China.

He was silent. He didn't know how to defend his father's lying tongue.

The situation with regards to Tibet is very similar. Part of the reason that China is so successful at repression, is because its people simply do not know what is happening. They do not know the darkness at the centre of their own society. The PRC students here, in Singapore, are all somewhat shocked to learn of the events in Tibet. Yet, there is something locked up inside them: they still can't allow themselves to see the truth of their own country. They take a view which would not disturb the Communist Party's line. They take the view that China is "right" to crackdown in Tibet. That Tibet "owes China". That Tibet "cannot survive without China's resources". That Tibet "cannot be allowed to be independent from China". Their view is that of the Communist Party.

Interestingly, a teacher I know who was teaching them, picked up on this line of thought and asked them to write what they thought about the situation in Tibet. What was really scarey about this exercise was what they handed in: the same essay in forty hands. All of the students thought in exactly the same way. All of them could have been writing press releases for the Communist Party of China. None of them were able, or willing, to think independently. It was quite sobering to see the sheer SAMENESS of their output. The thoughts I have excerpted above, in the previous paragraph, appeared in every single essay.

Why then does China fear the Truth so much when, even when exposed to it, their PRC youngsters maintain the Party line and speak with the Party tongue? I would say it points to an excessive desire to control their minds. Not only are they to think the Party way - but they are not to be exposed to thoughts contrary to it. There isn't even to be a chance that anyone might agree with an opposition view, because they never get to hear one and are never able to formulate one themselves. They are to be blind to the truth and to the world - and to know only what they are allowed to know. That appears to be the system, anyway.

Is China ever going to be a free nation? I really have my doubts. Even the internet is censored there. Without exposure to the truth of their nation, there is no way that the Chinese themselves are able to see it as it is. They just aren't allowed access to the information. Even when they receive it, as the PRCs studying here have - they don't internalize it, they maintain the Party line and continue to believe resolutely in the ways of the motherland. All of them have been strongly brainwashed, by any standard. None of them are capable of independent thought. China wants it that way - and will keep it that way - unless external forces are strong enough to change the way things are, inside China.

I don't see it happening. The rest of the world is now in what I would call a cowardly phase. They stand on the sidelines of the Tibetan situation and say: "Ho hum, that's not good". However, none of them DO anything about it. The Tibetans are unique. They are a gentle culture, unable to resist the oppressive might of China. Yet, it is easy to see that the international community will do nothing to intervene on their side, that is remotely effective. Will the international community wait until all ethnic Tibetans are dead, before acting?

The youth of China will not make a different China to the old. They will grow up to be the same as their fathers and forefathers. That is easy to see in the PRC students studying in Singapore. They think as their Party thinks. If China is ever to be a democratic state with respectable human rights, the outside world is going to have to show China the way. China just cannot do it itself. Why? It simply doesn't want to - and so it won't.

The Chinese need to know about China. Oddly, they don't. If the world had a moral conscience (I am not sure it does - or at least not an effective one) it should act to ensure that the Chinese people get access to wider information on their own nation. Perhaps then, things will begin to change, and the kind of action presently taking place in Tibet, would become unacceptable to the Chinese people. Right now, however, they think it is just, right and proper to act so. At least, the PRC students here seem to think so. It is interesting to see how their understanding of morality is so constrained that they can consider murder, repression and occupation, as just and justifiable acts.

They have a lot to learn. It is up to the rest of the world to teach them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The failure of the Copernican Revolution.

The Earth goes round the Sun...right? Everyone knows this don't they? That's where the concept of "year", comes from, doesn't it?

Well, not everyone knows this. In fact, in a recent survey ONE FIFTH OF AMERICANS THOUGHT THAT THE SUN GOES AROUND THE EARTH. I read it with less shock than others might feel. Why? Because I have met this particular form of ignorance, before.

When I was at Cambridge, there was this girl. She had rather a pleasant personality and was the kind of person who seemed to mean well to all. I shan't name her, here, lest she be embarrassed, however. One day, we had an argument - a celestial one. Somehow the subject of the Earth's motion through space had come up. I detected in her what I thought was a misunderstanding, so I pointed out that the Earth goes around the Sun. She laughed at me. "No it doesn't...the Sun goes around the Earth! You can see that it does."

I could see that she thought me rather stupid. I insisted that the Earth went around the Sun...but she would have none of it. Her naive observations that the Sun rose and set in its motion through the sky, were levelled at me, again and again as proof that the Sun, indeed, went around the Earth. There was nothing I could do to persuade her otherwise. The life work of Nicolaus (or Nicolas) Copernicus (February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543) had been in vain. Almost four hundred and fifty years after he had demonstrated, conclusively, that the Earth orbited the Sun (that the Solar system is "heliocentric", or Sun-centred), this Cambridge Undergraduate still hadn't got the message.

Do you know what is really funny? She went on to get a first class degree in Modern Languages. She was, by this measure, the "brightest of the bright"...yet still she did not know that the centre of the Solar system was the Sun, and that the Earth, like all the other planets, orbited it.

She was, I suppose, a perfect example of the problems of the "two cultures", written of by C.P. Snow. She knew her languages, but she knew nothing of science.

Yet, I should thank her, really. You see, I never fail to be flabbergasted when I think of her lack of understanding of such a basic issue. She has, therefore, given me permanent access to the emotion known as "flabbergast".

So, it was most evocative when I read that one fifth of Americans are ignorant of the same issue as my first class Cambridge degree holding friend.

It is sobering to realize that the Copernican revolution is still not over. Copernicus has yet to win over even the developed world to his view that the Solar System is heliocentric. Sixty million Americans would react as my Cambridge friend did - by laughing at anyone who suggested that the Earth orbits the Sun.

Copernicus' seminal book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), was published in the year of his death. Legend has it that he was given a copy of it, on his death-bed, while in a stroke induced coma. He is reputed to have awoken from his coma, noted the presence of his book - and passed away peacefully.

Would he rest so easily if he knew that almost half a millenia later there are still people, in the developed world, who do not believe that the Earth goes around the Sun?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Arthur C. Clarke dies

When I was a child, I read quite a lot of science fiction. There were, then, three giants of the genre: Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Each of these three science fiction authors had their own approach, style and interests - but they all shared one thing in common: the generation of ideas and perspectives on how the world could be.

This is, I think, the most important contribution of any science fiction author: showing the way, to others of less imagination, to how the world might one day be, if only we make the effort to make it so.

Arthur C. Clarke died, on Tuesday, of breathing difficulties and heart failure. He was 90. His life was one of intellectual adventure - of imagining the world as it was not yet, but just might be - and penning his imagined worlds in clear, well-written prose. He was also something very rare: a billionaire who could have been, but wasn't. Why was this so? Well, because in 1945 he published an article detailing his vision for geostationary telecommunications satellites, filled with the requisite equations to show that it would work and how. In not patenting his idea (he had sought advice from a lawyer who had dismissed the whole thing as too far-fetched), he lost out on royalties for the global telecoms revolution that began in the sixties. Had he patented his thoughts, Arthur C. Clarke would have become a billionaire.

His article, however, inspired others to seek ways to make his dream come true - and, in due course, his imagined satellites became reality. Thus, Arthur C. Clarke was fulfilling the profound role that writers of science fiction play: inspiring others to make their visions real. In a sense, therefore, such writers write self-fulfilling prophecies: in imagining, they also lead others to create the visions they have.

Global fame came to Arthur C. Clarke, with the collaboration with Stanley Kubrick on 2001, a Space Odyssey, the 1968 film that took a poetic look at a spacefaring human race - and a superhuman computer, HAL. The film was based on a short story, The Sentinel, that Clarke had written sometime before. It wrote of an artifact that an alien race had left as a kind of warning beacon, to divine the presence of any spacefarers - like the humans who found it.

Arthur C. Clarke relished his fame. He even had a room in his house, jestingly called the Ego Room, in his house in Sri Lanka, where he settled in 1956 and lived for the rest of his life. The Ego Room features pictures of Clarke with the various luminaries and dignitaries he had met in life.

As what he wrote of, came to pass, Clarke's reputation as a visionary and futurist grew. He once predicted that man would land on the moon, at a time in the first half of the twentieth century, when space flight seemed to be an absurd dream. He was, of course, right. His books painted a future of super-fast computers, instant telecommunications, manned space flight and space stations, when these things seemed to be nothing but fantasies. All have since come true.

He became a television personality, too. He commentated on the Apollo missions with Walter Cronkite for CBS and presented two television series: Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers. These were syndicated globally, making him a familiar face, everywhere.

Not all was easy, though. A bout of polio in the 1950s haunted him lifelong with post-polio syndrome, leading to him being wheelchair bound in the later years of his life. He commented, however, that "Underwater I am fully operational". Hence, his love of Sri Lanka, with its beautiful diving opportunities. There he became a lifelong explorer of the weightless underwater world - so like the zero g of the space of his imagination.

Though credited with inventing the idea of geostationary satellites, he was of the opinion that, eventually, a second idea of his would bring him greater credit: that of space elevators, which he also wrote of, before others. He believed that when technology made it possible to realize that particular dream, that he would be credited with predicting it.

Arthur C. Clarke will be remembered long after the 21st century is forgotten. Why? Well, because the orbit in which geostationary satellites are situated was named as the Clarke Orbit, or the Clarke Belt, in his honour, by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Therefore, Arthur C. Clarke, will be remembered by scientists, astronomers and the telecoms industry - even if by no-one else - long after our time, itself, has been forgotten.

Oddly, a friend of mine, who was in Sri Lanka as recently as a week ago, had tried to make an appointment to meet Arthur C. Clarke. He had been told that he was presently in hospital. It feels strange that he should pass away so soon after a friend had nearly met him.

Arthur C. Clarke was as famed for being an atheist, as for being a futurist. So, I won't say R.I.P. I will, however, say: thanks for all the books.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Little Master Mischief.

Today, we took a bus with Tiarnan, twenty-five months. He rather liked this, being immune, from his childish perspective, to all those irritations which adults might have with the mode of transport.

He observed that, to stop the bus, you must push the bell. It is good that he understands this. What was not so good, however, was the use to which he put this knowledge.

At one point, he stood up on the seat and reached up to the bell and pressed it. The "bus stopping" sign duly lit up. He was fully aware of the mischief behind such an action for he then turned towards us and, rather comically, placed his tiny index finger against his lips and went: "Shh!", to us. Quite clearly, he was telling us not to tell anyone what he had done.

Of course, the bus came to a halt - whether or not anyone actually wanted to get out, or get on.

It was funny to see that he was aware of what he should do and should not do - and chose, out of perhaps a sense of curiosity, to do what he should not. He wanted to see the bus stop, at his command. That no-one might want the bus to stop was something he seemed to understand - hence his urging of us not to tell on him.

Though he was clearly being mischievous, he did so in such an endearing way, that all we could was laugh at his antics.

I can see many mischief filled days ahead, with our little Tiarnan.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

St. Patrick's Day Parade, Singapore.

Yesterday, Singapore celebrated St. Patrick's Day, one day early. It was thought not appropriate to celebrate it on a Monday (though it falls on one) owing to the sacred need to get on with work.

Anyway, I took my family along to the St. Patrick's Day parade, out of feeling for my long unseen land of origin - and out of curiosity as to how Singapore would celebrate this quintessentially Irish day. The parade was organized by the Irish Business Association of Singapore.

The day began with bizarreness. Our first encounter with the parade was near the Asian Civilization Museum where we witnessed what appeared to be an invasion from a George Lucas backlot: a column of stormtroopers, clad in white shining armour, were being led by "Darth Vader", through the streets of Singapore. Star Wars had come to the equator.

My children were awed by this surreal sight. The stormtroopers were lined up quite a few rows deep behind Darth Vader - who, suitably, was rather taller than the others. They didn't speak to anyone, but stomped wordlessly through the crowd, looking neither left, nor right, but straight ahead. It was most impressive. I couldn't help but think how hot they must be under their all covering plastic attire. Nevertheless, the children were impressed: Tiarnan in particular kept pointing at them, and drawing our attention, whenever it appeared to be drifting with a repeated: "There!" He was amazed. Never in his life had he seen anyone like these stormtroopers. What a treat he has in store for him, when he gets to see Star Wars for the first time.

We followed the Stormtroopers in their deployment towards Boat Quay.

The rest of the parade was equally whimsical. There was a band of bagpipe players, belting out Irish music...but, most oddly, none of them were Irish: they were mostly Chinese. It was quite strange to see the Irish music, with its explicit ethnic origin, juxtaposed to earnest young Chinese (and other asians), playing it. One of the announcers of the event, claimed an Irish grandfather - yet he looked like a purebred Asian to me - so either he jested, or the Irish influence was overwhelmed by the other lines within him. The Irish were present more in spirit than in numbers. At one point, the announcer asked for all the Irish people to put up their hands. I did so - and a scattering of others throughout the crowd - perhaps 10 per cent of the people there. Then they asked the non-Irish to put up their hands: suddenly arms sprouted all around...virtually everyone with their hand up. It was touching in a way, that so many non-Irish would turn out to celebrate Irish culture and tradition. Perhaps there is a yearning here, in Singapore, for the depth of some other cultures - such as the Irish one - with its millenia of traditions stretching back to time forgotten. Singapore doesn't have that. Everything here is so recent. It was warming, therefore, to see so many people turn up to celebrate my national day.

Another local touch was a traditional Malay group, who performed in their own quirky, traditional way. I found this curious in two ways: one, it was interesting to watch from a cultural perspective...but two, I found that it spoke of a local need for recognition. It was a Malay performance, on an Irish day. Again, as with the Star Wars fan group (which they were), we saw a local touch to an Irish celebration.

One group of teenagers, who were playing the drums, took a step none of the others did, in their celebrations: they had had t-shirts made up emblazoned with Gaelic slogans. The effort was appreciated, and their green and white colouring was most appropriate.

Surprisingly, this is only the third time that St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in Singapore, with a parade. I hope it is the beginning of a long-term tradition. For it was good to hear the rhythms of Ireland, here, on the equator. It made for quite a surreal day.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Interdimensional travel for a toddler.

Perhaps, one day, the title above will seem normal. Perhaps the day will come when travel between different "dimensions" or times, is as everyday as walking down the street to the shops. Now, however, I suppose it could not be a stranger title - so perhaps I should explain.

Yesterday, Tiarnan took a photograph of himself as a baby held in the arms of his mother and threw it on the floor. He then proceeded to jump up and down on it.

This rather surprised his mother, Syahidah, as she saw him jumping on her rather sweet photo of her with him in his baby days.

"What are you doing to the photo, Tiarnan!", she exclaimed, worried that he would destroy it.

"I want to get inside...inside the picture.", he explained, showing her again by jumping up and then down, with obvious intent of entering that pictured world, in his concentrated features.

What a sophisticated thought that was. He wanted to time travel - to enter the world of the picture in which he was a baby, and his mother was perhaps a year and a half younger. He saw the photo not just as an image - but wished to try it out as a possible portal to another time and place.

He stopped jumping. Later when he was asked to show Daddy what he had been doing, he wouldn't. He had, it seemed, gathered that the photo was not what it seemed: it was not a portal to another world, at all - but just a piece of paper. He let it lie on the floor and looked down at it dismissively. I think it had disappointed him.

He hadn't disappointed me, though. It was interesting what imaginative thinking he has about the possibilities of the world. The pity of it is, of course, that the world itself is not, at this time, as imaginative as he is. Perhaps one day, my little boy, will be a Doctor Who...but for now he is a toddler checking out the possibilities of his world. Unfortunately, for his ambition, they don't presently include time travel.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Unposted comments posted.

Some people have posted comments, recently, that I hadn't had time to address. Now, I have...well, most of them. So please look for an answer to your comment post, if you wish to find one.

Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)