September 30, 2008 4:38am
MANILA, Philippines - Criticizing a new proposed tax on text messaging, a militant consumers' group reminded President Gloria Arroyo Monday of her “vow" to bring down its cost.
TxtPower convener Kim Gargar said the bid to tax text messaging is a reversal of Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA) promise of lower text rates.
"Sa totoo lang para siyang kabaligtaran sa SONA ni Gloria (In truth, that text tax directly contrasts with Gloria's SONA)," he said in an interview on dzBB radio.
He also doubted claims the new tax would go to social services, saying the government made a similar promise when it insisted on collecting a 12% value-added tax.
"Di nararamdaman ang social service na sinabi nila. Ang VAT napatungan pa ng tax (We have yet to feel the effects of social services funded by VAT. And now they want to place a tax on top of the VAT)," he said.
But Malacañang defended the proposed tax, saying it would bring in much needed income.
Radio dzBB's Rowena Salvacion reported this was the position taken by finance secretary Margarito Teves, who said the government will welcome any source of added income for its projects. - GMANews.TV
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Do we really need scientists?
The Philippine Star
By Boo Chanco
September 08, 2008 12:00 AM
Last week, I received a press release from Sen. Ed Angara calling upon students to pursue science and technology (S&T) courses to help boost the country’s technological capacity to innovate and thus enhance our country’s economic growth and prosperity. Angara was supposed to have made this call in a speech before the 6th Philippine Youth Congress in Information Technology held in University of the Philippines – Diliman.
I didn’t give the release a second glance and promptly clicked my mouse to consign it in the trash bin. It was one of those motherhood press releases that politicians love. Angara had positioned himself as an advocate for education, science and technology.
The following day however, someone posted an article in our Plaridel e-group written by a UP trained Physicist. The main point as I understand it: anyone who follows Angara’s advice dooms himself to a life of poverty and frustration. Our country and our kind of economic development, it seems, has no use for trained scientists now and in the immediate future. I quickly retrieved Angara’s press release from the trash bin if only to compare what the senator is saying against the reality this scientist is painting.
Kim Gargar is the scientist who wrote the article. Gargar has a Master of Science in Physics from UP Diliman and now teaches at the Mapua Institute of Technology. On this particular issue, I would give more importance to what Gargar wrote than what the eminent senator said in his speech.
There is a serious mismatch, Gargar writes, “as students they went through several years of hard study in high-level science but end up working to do activities that do not require their advanced skills. Gargar cites examples.
“A graduate of BS Biology working as bank teller; a BS Chemistry graduate teaching P.E.; a physicist fresh from college selling toothpaste and other products of a multi-level marketing company; a mechanical engineer assembling electric fans in a Laguna factory; an electronics engineer soldering TV circuits for a Japanese TV company; a cum laude chemical engineering graduate titrating (a simple laboratory method of quantitative/chemical analysis often used to determine the unknown concentration of a known reactant) every day in a quality control laboratory for a food manufacturing factory.”
What we have, Gargar points out, is an educational system that produces far very few good scientists and engineers probably because we have a working environment that does not need too many or none at all. We seem to be happy with the kind of jobs available in call centers and the business-process outsourcing industry where such fine credentials are not needed.
So, what was Sen. Angara smoking when in his speech, he urged young people to take up science and technology? “I am telling you that taking up a career in S&T,” the senator declared, “will offer you more opportunities than it did in the past, because the kind of jobs that are coming to the Philippines did not exist just a few years ago. We as your leaders are laying the groundwork for a strong Philippine S&T and ICT sector.”
Come again, Mr. Senator… just what do you, our leaders, have to show beyond eloquent speeches by way of “laying the groundwork for a strong Philippine S&T and ICT sector?” Whatever it is, it must be pretty invisible or young scientists like Gargar wouldn’t be writing a reality-based article on what young scientists can expect if they decide to stay in the country.
Then again, we agree with Gargar and Angara that the country needs highly trained science majors or our economy will not progress to tiger status like our neighbors in Southeast Asia. The need is there. It is just that somehow, our leaders or maybe society as a whole, have failed to match that need with a living wage and a professionally challenging career. Only lawyers and politicians are being rewarded by our society.
Last week, there was this report that our weather bureau and Phivolcs scientists are being made to work day and night for measly pay. And if the news reports are accurate, the Budget Department has consistently rejected pleas for an allocation to cover overtime and night differential pay. In fact, the budget of the Department of Science for next year is being cut. We have not heard Sen. Angara protest this lack of appreciation for the few scientists we still have.
How do we show this low regard for scientists? Let Gargar count the ways.
“A Science Education Institute survey revealed that only one out of five high school physics teachers is qualified to teach physics.” A Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) survey of 2nd year high school students, the Philippines ranks 43rd among Asian countries. At the top is South Korea while Indonesia ranks 36th on the list.
“The number of research scientists and technologists for every million Filipinos is around 100. This is very much lower than the United Nations prescription for the Philippines—380 for every million. However, even with the small size of the science and technology sector, underemployment is one big problem of the sector.”
“If a fresh science and engineering graduate is lucky enough, he gets to teach in universities and colleges and be able to impart what he had studied for several years. If not, he would go abroad and join research laboratories in Japan, the US, and Europe depriving the country further of highly skilled intellectual workforce. Even with a Balik scientist program, it is hard to have them stay here in our country.”
“If not teaching, those with some sense of patriotism remain in the country as technicians or as managers (still not a science practitioner) in multinational corporations. For instance, many graduate Physics degree holders or students from the National Institute of Physics are now in the production lines of semiconductor companies where research and development (R&D) activity is very minimal and limited to improving operations efficiency.”
“Many chemical engineers or chemists practice their profession as consultants to local or foreign chemical companies helping them solve elementary problems that do not require advanced methods or principles in chemistry. ‘Brain drain’ does not only happen with people leaving the country for employment abroad; it is also possible when people’s talents are not tapped for domestic use.”
“Add to these our medical doctors who after studying for more than nine years just to add an “MD” after their names are now starting to prepare themselves to become nurses in America. How about our few very good high school science teachers migrating to the US to earn dollars by teaching in public schools there?”
There is no doubt Sen. Angara appreciates the problem at hand when he cited our most basic need is “to improve our Science, Math and Engineering (SME) education because these are the weakest sectors in the education system.” We can also appreciate moves to increase the quality and number of graduate studies in engineering through the Engineering R&D for Technology project where nearly P6.5B is targeted for scholarships and infrastructure.
But Gargar is right to point out that increasing the number of human resources in science and technology is only one part… what is the government’s strategic plan on development? Maybe the current model of industrial development needs to be reconsidered. Our “cheap” labor advantage is no more. What’s our strategic advantage now? The nationalist scientists have long pointed out that in the absence of critical base industries, what need is there for a highly trained scientists or engineers?
People like Senator Angara should be delivering speeches that answer the question, where do we go from here? How do we keep the few trained men and women in science and technology we do have from leaving? Or do we invest all that money on young people to study and be world class scientists only to lose them and all our investment because our environment has frustrated them?
Or maybe, we don’t really need cutting edge scientists. Maybe we just want more lawyers to constantly change the constitution and our form of government to entertain us in lieu of everything else. Oh well…
Physics professor
In class, a Physics professor was spinning on an office chair holding weights in each hand to illustrate a principle when he lost his balance and tumbled into the first row.
He apologized to his class for going off on a tangent.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com
By Boo Chanco
September 08, 2008 12:00 AM
Last week, I received a press release from Sen. Ed Angara calling upon students to pursue science and technology (S&T) courses to help boost the country’s technological capacity to innovate and thus enhance our country’s economic growth and prosperity. Angara was supposed to have made this call in a speech before the 6th Philippine Youth Congress in Information Technology held in University of the Philippines – Diliman.
I didn’t give the release a second glance and promptly clicked my mouse to consign it in the trash bin. It was one of those motherhood press releases that politicians love. Angara had positioned himself as an advocate for education, science and technology.
The following day however, someone posted an article in our Plaridel e-group written by a UP trained Physicist. The main point as I understand it: anyone who follows Angara’s advice dooms himself to a life of poverty and frustration. Our country and our kind of economic development, it seems, has no use for trained scientists now and in the immediate future. I quickly retrieved Angara’s press release from the trash bin if only to compare what the senator is saying against the reality this scientist is painting.
Kim Gargar is the scientist who wrote the article. Gargar has a Master of Science in Physics from UP Diliman and now teaches at the Mapua Institute of Technology. On this particular issue, I would give more importance to what Gargar wrote than what the eminent senator said in his speech.
There is a serious mismatch, Gargar writes, “as students they went through several years of hard study in high-level science but end up working to do activities that do not require their advanced skills. Gargar cites examples.
“A graduate of BS Biology working as bank teller; a BS Chemistry graduate teaching P.E.; a physicist fresh from college selling toothpaste and other products of a multi-level marketing company; a mechanical engineer assembling electric fans in a Laguna factory; an electronics engineer soldering TV circuits for a Japanese TV company; a cum laude chemical engineering graduate titrating (a simple laboratory method of quantitative/chemical analysis often used to determine the unknown concentration of a known reactant) every day in a quality control laboratory for a food manufacturing factory.”
What we have, Gargar points out, is an educational system that produces far very few good scientists and engineers probably because we have a working environment that does not need too many or none at all. We seem to be happy with the kind of jobs available in call centers and the business-process outsourcing industry where such fine credentials are not needed.
So, what was Sen. Angara smoking when in his speech, he urged young people to take up science and technology? “I am telling you that taking up a career in S&T,” the senator declared, “will offer you more opportunities than it did in the past, because the kind of jobs that are coming to the Philippines did not exist just a few years ago. We as your leaders are laying the groundwork for a strong Philippine S&T and ICT sector.”
Come again, Mr. Senator… just what do you, our leaders, have to show beyond eloquent speeches by way of “laying the groundwork for a strong Philippine S&T and ICT sector?” Whatever it is, it must be pretty invisible or young scientists like Gargar wouldn’t be writing a reality-based article on what young scientists can expect if they decide to stay in the country.
Then again, we agree with Gargar and Angara that the country needs highly trained science majors or our economy will not progress to tiger status like our neighbors in Southeast Asia. The need is there. It is just that somehow, our leaders or maybe society as a whole, have failed to match that need with a living wage and a professionally challenging career. Only lawyers and politicians are being rewarded by our society.
Last week, there was this report that our weather bureau and Phivolcs scientists are being made to work day and night for measly pay. And if the news reports are accurate, the Budget Department has consistently rejected pleas for an allocation to cover overtime and night differential pay. In fact, the budget of the Department of Science for next year is being cut. We have not heard Sen. Angara protest this lack of appreciation for the few scientists we still have.
How do we show this low regard for scientists? Let Gargar count the ways.
“A Science Education Institute survey revealed that only one out of five high school physics teachers is qualified to teach physics.” A Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) survey of 2nd year high school students, the Philippines ranks 43rd among Asian countries. At the top is South Korea while Indonesia ranks 36th on the list.
“The number of research scientists and technologists for every million Filipinos is around 100. This is very much lower than the United Nations prescription for the Philippines—380 for every million. However, even with the small size of the science and technology sector, underemployment is one big problem of the sector.”
“If a fresh science and engineering graduate is lucky enough, he gets to teach in universities and colleges and be able to impart what he had studied for several years. If not, he would go abroad and join research laboratories in Japan, the US, and Europe depriving the country further of highly skilled intellectual workforce. Even with a Balik scientist program, it is hard to have them stay here in our country.”
“If not teaching, those with some sense of patriotism remain in the country as technicians or as managers (still not a science practitioner) in multinational corporations. For instance, many graduate Physics degree holders or students from the National Institute of Physics are now in the production lines of semiconductor companies where research and development (R&D) activity is very minimal and limited to improving operations efficiency.”
“Many chemical engineers or chemists practice their profession as consultants to local or foreign chemical companies helping them solve elementary problems that do not require advanced methods or principles in chemistry. ‘Brain drain’ does not only happen with people leaving the country for employment abroad; it is also possible when people’s talents are not tapped for domestic use.”
“Add to these our medical doctors who after studying for more than nine years just to add an “MD” after their names are now starting to prepare themselves to become nurses in America. How about our few very good high school science teachers migrating to the US to earn dollars by teaching in public schools there?”
There is no doubt Sen. Angara appreciates the problem at hand when he cited our most basic need is “to improve our Science, Math and Engineering (SME) education because these are the weakest sectors in the education system.” We can also appreciate moves to increase the quality and number of graduate studies in engineering through the Engineering R&D for Technology project where nearly P6.5B is targeted for scholarships and infrastructure.
But Gargar is right to point out that increasing the number of human resources in science and technology is only one part… what is the government’s strategic plan on development? Maybe the current model of industrial development needs to be reconsidered. Our “cheap” labor advantage is no more. What’s our strategic advantage now? The nationalist scientists have long pointed out that in the absence of critical base industries, what need is there for a highly trained scientists or engineers?
People like Senator Angara should be delivering speeches that answer the question, where do we go from here? How do we keep the few trained men and women in science and technology we do have from leaving? Or do we invest all that money on young people to study and be world class scientists only to lose them and all our investment because our environment has frustrated them?
Or maybe, we don’t really need cutting edge scientists. Maybe we just want more lawyers to constantly change the constitution and our form of government to entertain us in lieu of everything else. Oh well…
Physics professor
In class, a Physics professor was spinning on an office chair holding weights in each hand to illustrate a principle when he lost his balance and tumbled into the first row.
He apologized to his class for going off on a tangent.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com
Link
Friday, September 05, 2008
Putting a cork on brain drain
PROMETHEUS BOUND, The Manila Times
Putting a cork on brain drain
By Kim Gargar
A graduate of BS Biology working as bank teller; a BS Chemistry graduate teaching P.E.; a physicist fresh from college selling toothpaste and other products of a multi-level marketing company; a mechanical engineer assembling electric fans in a Laguna factory; an electronics engineer soldering TV circuits for a Japanese TV company; a cum laude chemical engineering graduate titrating every day in a quality control laboratory for a food manufacturing factory. [Editor’s note: Titration is a simple laboratory method of quantitative/chemical analysis often used to determine the unknown concentration of a known reactant. It is also called volumetric analysis because volume measurements play a key role in the procedure.]
These are the realities of under- and mismatched employment many science and engineering graduates in the Philippines have been facing for decades: as students they went through several years of hard study in high-level science but end up working to do activities that do not require their advanced skills. Add to these our medical doctors who after studying for more than nine years just to add an “MD” after their names are now starting to prepare themselves to become nurses in America. How about our few very good high school science teachers migrating to the US to earn dollars by teaching in public schools there?
The list seems to be never-ending and these specific cases only reflect the general state of science in the Philippines. A Science Education Institute survey revealed that only one out of five high school physics teachers is qualified to teach physics. In another study, a Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) survey of 2nd year high school students, the Philippines ranks 43rd among Asian countries. At the top is South Korea while Indonesia ranks 36th on the list.
The number of research scientists and technologists for every million Filipinos is around 100. This is very much lower than the United Nations prescription for the Philippines—380 for every million. However, even with the small size of the science and technology sector, underemployment is one big problem of the sector. This is not surprising as underemployment in the Philippines is a common phenomena. According to the National Statistics Office, 6.38 million (18.9 percent of the total employed) were underemployed in 2007. The actual statistic could be higher.
If a fresh science and engineering graduate is lucky enough, he gets to teach in universities and colleges and be able to impart what he had studied for several years. If not, he would go abroad and join research laboratories in Japan, the US, and Europe depriving the country further of highly skilled intellectual workforce. Even with a Balik scientist program, it is hard to have them stay here in our country.
If not teaching, those with some sense of patriotism remain in the country as technicians or as managers (still not a science practitioner) in multinational corporations. For instance, many graduate Physics degree holders or students from the National Institute of Physics are now in the production lines of semiconductor companies where research and development (R&D) activity is very minimal and limited to improving operations efficiency. They will soon have to contend with Intel Philippines moving its operations to other countries.
Many chemical engineers or chemists practice their profession as consultants to local or foreign chemical companies helping them solve elementary problems that do not require advanced methods or principles in chemistry. “Brain drain” does not only happen with people leaving the country for employment abroad; it is also possible when people’s talents are not tapped for domestic use.
What we have is an educational system that produces far very few good scientists and engineers and a working environment that needs less or none at all. With the rise of call centers and other business-process outsourcing companies, the underemployment rate is expected to also rise.
Increasing the number of human resources in science and technology is only one part. There is a move to increase the quality and number of graduate studies in engineering through the Engineering R&D for Technology project where nearly P6.5B is targeted for scholarships and infrastructure. However, the government’s strategic plans on development are not geared towards building a truly self-reliant economy. These plans have been tailored for our export-oriented and import-dependent economic model that weakens domestic production through its policy of opening national industries to foreign corporations and deregulating and liberalizing ownership of critical base industries. In such a situation, what need is there for a highly trained scientist or engineer?
This problem can be faced head on by putting up basic industries to manufacture goods and materials for domestic needs which will require science and engineering graduates. This will widen their employment opportunities as technical workers and be involved in research and development for local industries and hopefully put the cork on our brain drain.
Kim Gargar has a Master of Science in Physics from UP Diliman and now teaches at the Mapua Institute of Technology. He has been active in AGHAM since 2001.
prom.bound@gmail.com
Putting a cork on brain drain
By Kim Gargar
A graduate of BS Biology working as bank teller; a BS Chemistry graduate teaching P.E.; a physicist fresh from college selling toothpaste and other products of a multi-level marketing company; a mechanical engineer assembling electric fans in a Laguna factory; an electronics engineer soldering TV circuits for a Japanese TV company; a cum laude chemical engineering graduate titrating every day in a quality control laboratory for a food manufacturing factory. [Editor’s note: Titration is a simple laboratory method of quantitative/chemical analysis often used to determine the unknown concentration of a known reactant. It is also called volumetric analysis because volume measurements play a key role in the procedure.]
These are the realities of under- and mismatched employment many science and engineering graduates in the Philippines have been facing for decades: as students they went through several years of hard study in high-level science but end up working to do activities that do not require their advanced skills. Add to these our medical doctors who after studying for more than nine years just to add an “MD” after their names are now starting to prepare themselves to become nurses in America. How about our few very good high school science teachers migrating to the US to earn dollars by teaching in public schools there?
The list seems to be never-ending and these specific cases only reflect the general state of science in the Philippines. A Science Education Institute survey revealed that only one out of five high school physics teachers is qualified to teach physics. In another study, a Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) survey of 2nd year high school students, the Philippines ranks 43rd among Asian countries. At the top is South Korea while Indonesia ranks 36th on the list.
The number of research scientists and technologists for every million Filipinos is around 100. This is very much lower than the United Nations prescription for the Philippines—380 for every million. However, even with the small size of the science and technology sector, underemployment is one big problem of the sector. This is not surprising as underemployment in the Philippines is a common phenomena. According to the National Statistics Office, 6.38 million (18.9 percent of the total employed) were underemployed in 2007. The actual statistic could be higher.
If a fresh science and engineering graduate is lucky enough, he gets to teach in universities and colleges and be able to impart what he had studied for several years. If not, he would go abroad and join research laboratories in Japan, the US, and Europe depriving the country further of highly skilled intellectual workforce. Even with a Balik scientist program, it is hard to have them stay here in our country.
If not teaching, those with some sense of patriotism remain in the country as technicians or as managers (still not a science practitioner) in multinational corporations. For instance, many graduate Physics degree holders or students from the National Institute of Physics are now in the production lines of semiconductor companies where research and development (R&D) activity is very minimal and limited to improving operations efficiency. They will soon have to contend with Intel Philippines moving its operations to other countries.
Many chemical engineers or chemists practice their profession as consultants to local or foreign chemical companies helping them solve elementary problems that do not require advanced methods or principles in chemistry. “Brain drain” does not only happen with people leaving the country for employment abroad; it is also possible when people’s talents are not tapped for domestic use.
What we have is an educational system that produces far very few good scientists and engineers and a working environment that needs less or none at all. With the rise of call centers and other business-process outsourcing companies, the underemployment rate is expected to also rise.
Increasing the number of human resources in science and technology is only one part. There is a move to increase the quality and number of graduate studies in engineering through the Engineering R&D for Technology project where nearly P6.5B is targeted for scholarships and infrastructure. However, the government’s strategic plans on development are not geared towards building a truly self-reliant economy. These plans have been tailored for our export-oriented and import-dependent economic model that weakens domestic production through its policy of opening national industries to foreign corporations and deregulating and liberalizing ownership of critical base industries. In such a situation, what need is there for a highly trained scientist or engineer?
This problem can be faced head on by putting up basic industries to manufacture goods and materials for domestic needs which will require science and engineering graduates. This will widen their employment opportunities as technical workers and be involved in research and development for local industries and hopefully put the cork on our brain drain.
Kim Gargar has a Master of Science in Physics from UP Diliman and now teaches at the Mapua Institute of Technology. He has been active in AGHAM since 2001.
prom.bound@gmail.com
Link
Friday, August 22, 2008
Radical Einstein
PROMETHEUS BOUND, The Manila Times
Radical Einstein
By Kim Gargar
No other scientist can surpass the popularity attained by the physicist Albert Einstein. He is popular even among ordinary market vendors. It is commonplace to hear someone calling a person with an ingenious solution to a simple day-to-day problem as an “Einstein.” Despite this popularity, much information about this man remains in the confines of a few biographies and is not known to the wider public.
In the community of physicists, Einstein’s century-old theory of special relativity—explaining how a four-dimensional object can be viewed through our three-dimensional eyes—is considered to be a work of a genius even up to this day and is labeled by many of his contemporaries as a radical shift of interpreting relative motion. His famous equation, E=mc2, which relates the amount of energy in matter is the cornerstone of our understanding of nuclear energy.
His general theory of relativity which deals with gravity predicted that three-dimensional space can be “curved” resulting in the bending of light passing through it. This is now being used to get images of far away galaxies using gravitational lenses.
The implications of his Nobel-winning work on photoelectric effect which represents light as a particle or a quantum of energy was so radical in his time that even he himself had a hard time believing it later on. This work would also helped usher in our quantum understanding of the universe and would be the basis for solar energy panels and electronics.
Einstein’s radical mindset, a characteristic noticeable in his physical theories, prompted him to think out of the box and, in the process, contributed to his discovery of several laws of nature. One of his biographers even attributed “[Einstein’s] cocky contempt for authority” as one big reason for the way he thought. This same radicalism is also manifested in Einstein’s views on social issues of the day, views, which earned him a label “left-wing scientist” by some biographers.
Just how radical Einstein’s thinking was in relation to social issues is less popular even among physicists. How Einstein managed to focus on his scientific endeavors despite many distractions around him—family problems, war, and political upheaval—is not very much talked about even within the scientific community.
During his first years as a professor in Germany, Albert Einstein opposed World War I that was raging within Europe in disagreement with the majority of German scientists. His protest against the production and use of the nuclear bomb during the Second World War is well-known.
Einstein showed his civil libertarian and pro-human rights stance in 1940s through his constant media warnings on the imminent danger to American liberty brought about by the government-sponsored hysteria about the alleged Red menace. The McCarthy hysteria resulted in the labeling as “communist” of many scientists and reform advocates in the US who voiced against certain government policies.
His support for socialist economic policies and civil liberties was consistent throughout his life. He befriended several socialist leaders and intellectuals in British and America, and his 1949 article “Why Socialism?” influenced many political figures and scientists across the globe.
At this time of surging economic and political crisis worldwide, one wonders what Einstein would say about the rising prices of oil and commodities, unemployment, and global economic slowdown? In his 1949 essay, he pointed to the mode of production motivated by profit as the one “responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital, which leads to increasingly severe depressions.” His arguments resonate with the argument that the current trend of monopoly globalization is one of the major causes of our sufferings.
Albert Einstein is an epitome of a socially conscious scientist. For AGHAM, Einstein’s image can be seen in our many posters and T-shirts. Being a national organization advocating science and technology for the people, AGHAM has been organizing the ranks of Filipino science and technology practitioners since 1999 for them to apply their talents and skill in solving the social and economic problems of our people.
It might seem at first that facing these challenges is less appealing than research work within the laboratory but Einstein may have had the answer to why this is so. In a 1949 article, he said that “one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and sciences is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness,” to which he added that “Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.”
Kim Gargar has a Master of Science in Physics from UP Diliman and now teaches at the Mapua Institute of Technology. He has been active in AGHAM since 2001.
prom.bound@gmail.com
Radical Einstein
By Kim Gargar
No other scientist can surpass the popularity attained by the physicist Albert Einstein. He is popular even among ordinary market vendors. It is commonplace to hear someone calling a person with an ingenious solution to a simple day-to-day problem as an “Einstein.” Despite this popularity, much information about this man remains in the confines of a few biographies and is not known to the wider public.
In the community of physicists, Einstein’s century-old theory of special relativity—explaining how a four-dimensional object can be viewed through our three-dimensional eyes—is considered to be a work of a genius even up to this day and is labeled by many of his contemporaries as a radical shift of interpreting relative motion. His famous equation, E=mc2, which relates the amount of energy in matter is the cornerstone of our understanding of nuclear energy.
His general theory of relativity which deals with gravity predicted that three-dimensional space can be “curved” resulting in the bending of light passing through it. This is now being used to get images of far away galaxies using gravitational lenses.
The implications of his Nobel-winning work on photoelectric effect which represents light as a particle or a quantum of energy was so radical in his time that even he himself had a hard time believing it later on. This work would also helped usher in our quantum understanding of the universe and would be the basis for solar energy panels and electronics.
Einstein’s radical mindset, a characteristic noticeable in his physical theories, prompted him to think out of the box and, in the process, contributed to his discovery of several laws of nature. One of his biographers even attributed “[Einstein’s] cocky contempt for authority” as one big reason for the way he thought. This same radicalism is also manifested in Einstein’s views on social issues of the day, views, which earned him a label “left-wing scientist” by some biographers.
Just how radical Einstein’s thinking was in relation to social issues is less popular even among physicists. How Einstein managed to focus on his scientific endeavors despite many distractions around him—family problems, war, and political upheaval—is not very much talked about even within the scientific community.
During his first years as a professor in Germany, Albert Einstein opposed World War I that was raging within Europe in disagreement with the majority of German scientists. His protest against the production and use of the nuclear bomb during the Second World War is well-known.
Einstein showed his civil libertarian and pro-human rights stance in 1940s through his constant media warnings on the imminent danger to American liberty brought about by the government-sponsored hysteria about the alleged Red menace. The McCarthy hysteria resulted in the labeling as “communist” of many scientists and reform advocates in the US who voiced against certain government policies.
His support for socialist economic policies and civil liberties was consistent throughout his life. He befriended several socialist leaders and intellectuals in British and America, and his 1949 article “Why Socialism?” influenced many political figures and scientists across the globe.
At this time of surging economic and political crisis worldwide, one wonders what Einstein would say about the rising prices of oil and commodities, unemployment, and global economic slowdown? In his 1949 essay, he pointed to the mode of production motivated by profit as the one “responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital, which leads to increasingly severe depressions.” His arguments resonate with the argument that the current trend of monopoly globalization is one of the major causes of our sufferings.
Albert Einstein is an epitome of a socially conscious scientist. For AGHAM, Einstein’s image can be seen in our many posters and T-shirts. Being a national organization advocating science and technology for the people, AGHAM has been organizing the ranks of Filipino science and technology practitioners since 1999 for them to apply their talents and skill in solving the social and economic problems of our people.
It might seem at first that facing these challenges is less appealing than research work within the laboratory but Einstein may have had the answer to why this is so. In a 1949 article, he said that “one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and sciences is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness,” to which he added that “Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.”
Kim Gargar has a Master of Science in Physics from UP Diliman and now teaches at the Mapua Institute of Technology. He has been active in AGHAM since 2001.
prom.bound@gmail.com
Link
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Pinoys 'tricked' over 50¢/text rate - TxtPower
July 30, 2008 5:18am
MANILA, Philippines - Despite President Arroyo's announcement of a 50¢ cut in text messaging rates, the public may still have been "cheated," a militant consumer group said.
In a statement, TXTPower, a consumer group, said text messages may already cost less than 50 centavos, given the advancement in mobile communication technology and the gigantic profit telecommunications firms had raked in for the past years.
"The setting of a price of P1 before and P0.50 now, upon the request of Mrs Arroyo, is obviously arbitrary and does not reflect the real cost of texting," TXTPower president Anthony Ian Cruz said in a statement on Cruz's website.
"We challenge the President to order the National Telecommunications Commission to study the real cost of sending one text message, the impact of so-called interconnection fees and the slapping of the 12-percent VAT on text messaging and calls," he added.
He said a study of the unlimited text offers from telcos Smart, Globe and Sun show "the real price of texting may be 100 text messages for just P1 and may even be cheaper if VAT and inter-connection charges are removed."
Kim Gargar, a TXTPower convenor, said the P0.50 rate should be made permanent "even if we all know that the cost is much lower."
Gargar said it (50¢ rate) could still provide relief for the texting Filipinos.
Cruz said that under the law, telecoms firms must show the real cost of services and this should be the basis of pricing schemes.
"But such is not the case. Both the P1.00 rate before and the P0.50 now do not reflect the true price of text messaging," Cruz said. - GMANews.TV
MANILA, Philippines - Despite President Arroyo's announcement of a 50¢ cut in text messaging rates, the public may still have been "cheated," a militant consumer group said.
In a statement, TXTPower, a consumer group, said text messages may already cost less than 50 centavos, given the advancement in mobile communication technology and the gigantic profit telecommunications firms had raked in for the past years.
"The setting of a price of P1 before and P0.50 now, upon the request of Mrs Arroyo, is obviously arbitrary and does not reflect the real cost of texting," TXTPower president Anthony Ian Cruz said in a statement on Cruz's website.
"We challenge the President to order the National Telecommunications Commission to study the real cost of sending one text message, the impact of so-called interconnection fees and the slapping of the 12-percent VAT on text messaging and calls," he added.
He said a study of the unlimited text offers from telcos Smart, Globe and Sun show "the real price of texting may be 100 text messages for just P1 and may even be cheaper if VAT and inter-connection charges are removed."
Kim Gargar, a TXTPower convenor, said the P0.50 rate should be made permanent "even if we all know that the cost is much lower."
Gargar said it (50¢ rate) could still provide relief for the texting Filipinos.
Cruz said that under the law, telecoms firms must show the real cost of services and this should be the basis of pricing schemes.
"But such is not the case. Both the P1.00 rate before and the P0.50 now do not reflect the true price of text messaging," Cruz said. - GMANews.TV
Link
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Lecture sa isang political science class sa UP-Manila tungkol sa krisis sa langis at enerhiya
Nakakatuwa naman mabasa yung blog ng isang mag-aaral na nakaupo dun sa aking lecture tungkol sa Oil and Energy Crisis. Ang lecture na iyon ay siya ding posisyon ng AGHAM tungkol sa nabanggit na isyu. Mahaba ang blog at mapapansing detalyado ang notes na ginawa nya. Sana marami pang mag-aaral ang kasingsipag niyang magsulat at magblog tungkol sa mga makabuluhang bagay sa ating lipunan.
Link
Friday, March 07, 2008
Interview by the student paper of Mapua Institute of Technology
Interview by Thessa Quilalang
1. What do you think of the Lozada issue? (NBN-ZTE, Pres. Gloria)
Before I answer this question, let me state that I am a member of an alliance of scientists, technologists, engineers and other individuals who want the truth and want change, Scientists for Truth, Scientists for Change (STSC). I am stating this fact because we in STSC have already declared our analysis of and position on this issue.
The NBN-ZTE issue is not just an issue of large-scale corruption in the government. It shows the thinking of the current administration when it comes to modernizing our country. Even if corruption did not take place, why should the government rely on a foreign IT company to install a national broadband network? Our country has enough scientists, engineers and IT practitioners whose expertise can be tapped in order to do this. Based on the pile of exposes after exposes, we conclude that the government under Mrs. Arroyo is not really interested in developing a national broadband network but only wants the kickbacks along with the NBN-ZTE contract.
2. What can you say about the situation today? Regarding Mapuans's response to our national situation?
I cannot really generalize on MIT faculty, students, and staff's response to the current situation since I have not talked to most of them, but based on my discussions with some faculty members, students, and staff of MIT, I can say that many Mapuans are concerned about this issue. Being an academic institution, where debates and ideas are expected to flourish, it is but natural to expect MIT to make a stand on the issue. Many MIT constituents are already doing this. In fact, some of us are joining a coalition among academic and non-academic communities along Taft Avenue and in Intramuros area. It was publicly launched last February 28 at UP Manila. We expect more Mapuans to join this coalition since it is a venue to air all our grievances on the issue in a unified manner. They may want to contact me about this.
3. What do you think does this have an effect to you? Positively? Negatively?
The current corruption scandal affects us both positively and negatively. Negatively, massive corruption in the government deprives all Filipinos of the money and resources that could have been spent on education, health, and industrialization. Positively, it illustrated that what we have done in the two EDSA uprisings have not eliminated all evils in the government. We could look at it as an opportunity for all Filipinos to unite once again, and this time we will not stop until the government is totally clean and devoid of corrupt officials.
4. Does this hinder your profession?
As a research scientist and as a teacher, no. In fact, it gives me more enthusiasm to reach out to other scientists and teachers and unite with them in searching for the truth.
5. What do you think can you contribute as a Mapuan?
Mapuan or not, we are all needed to contribute to the resolution of this conflict, and we can do this by uniting with each other, by organizing ourselves.
6. What is your say to those Mapuans who are not interested on this issue?
Kung kaya nyo pa tiisin ang pangungurakot sa ating kayamanan, marami ang hindi na.
7. Ano ang masasabi ninyo sa reaksyon ng ibang mga estudyante about the ff:
a. Natatakot akong sumali kasi baka masuspend ako?
Wala akong nakikitang batas na nagbabawal sa pagpapahayag ng mga saloobin. Freedom of expression is enshrined in our Constitution, and this freedom is useless if we don't exercise it.
b. Bakit ako sasali eh wala naman akong alam sa issyu na yun?
Makialam. Bilang estudyante, pag-aralan ang mga nangyayari.
c. Sasama ako kapag sumama yung mga kaibigan ko?
Ipaliwanag ang sitwasyon. Mag-conduct ng mga study sessions about the issue and make a united stand with your friends.
8. Sa pagiging "repressive" ng mga students, ano sa tingin mo ang maitutulong mo/part mo in order to help Mapuan to be fully aware of the current situation? (national issue)
Maybe you mean "repressed", not "repressive", ang mga students. In situations like this, it is really up to those students who have more knowledge and deeper understanding of the issue to reach out to other students, explain to them, and unify them on a common stand and actions.
9. Message to Mapuans?
I expect Mapuans to be critical thinkers, brave, and patriotic. We should be seeing more Mapuans doing what should be done for the good of the country, and that is to voice out in public and join all sectors of the society in condemning corruption, demanding accountability, and searching for the truth. I am inviting them to STSC or the coalition Samahan sa U-Belt Para sa Tunay na Pagbabago ng Lipunan. Remember that the more parallel forces you have, the greater is the acceleration.
1. What do you think of the Lozada issue? (NBN-ZTE, Pres. Gloria)
Before I answer this question, let me state that I am a member of an alliance of scientists, technologists, engineers and other individuals who want the truth and want change, Scientists for Truth, Scientists for Change (STSC). I am stating this fact because we in STSC have already declared our analysis of and position on this issue.
The NBN-ZTE issue is not just an issue of large-scale corruption in the government. It shows the thinking of the current administration when it comes to modernizing our country. Even if corruption did not take place, why should the government rely on a foreign IT company to install a national broadband network? Our country has enough scientists, engineers and IT practitioners whose expertise can be tapped in order to do this. Based on the pile of exposes after exposes, we conclude that the government under Mrs. Arroyo is not really interested in developing a national broadband network but only wants the kickbacks along with the NBN-ZTE contract.
2. What can you say about the situation today? Regarding Mapuans's response to our national situation?
I cannot really generalize on MIT faculty, students, and staff's response to the current situation since I have not talked to most of them, but based on my discussions with some faculty members, students, and staff of MIT, I can say that many Mapuans are concerned about this issue. Being an academic institution, where debates and ideas are expected to flourish, it is but natural to expect MIT to make a stand on the issue. Many MIT constituents are already doing this. In fact, some of us are joining a coalition among academic and non-academic communities along Taft Avenue and in Intramuros area. It was publicly launched last February 28 at UP Manila. We expect more Mapuans to join this coalition since it is a venue to air all our grievances on the issue in a unified manner. They may want to contact me about this.
3. What do you think does this have an effect to you? Positively? Negatively?
The current corruption scandal affects us both positively and negatively. Negatively, massive corruption in the government deprives all Filipinos of the money and resources that could have been spent on education, health, and industrialization. Positively, it illustrated that what we have done in the two EDSA uprisings have not eliminated all evils in the government. We could look at it as an opportunity for all Filipinos to unite once again, and this time we will not stop until the government is totally clean and devoid of corrupt officials.
4. Does this hinder your profession?
As a research scientist and as a teacher, no. In fact, it gives me more enthusiasm to reach out to other scientists and teachers and unite with them in searching for the truth.
5. What do you think can you contribute as a Mapuan?
Mapuan or not, we are all needed to contribute to the resolution of this conflict, and we can do this by uniting with each other, by organizing ourselves.
6. What is your say to those Mapuans who are not interested on this issue?
Kung kaya nyo pa tiisin ang pangungurakot sa ating kayamanan, marami ang hindi na.
7. Ano ang masasabi ninyo sa reaksyon ng ibang mga estudyante about the ff:
a. Natatakot akong sumali kasi baka masuspend ako?
Wala akong nakikitang batas na nagbabawal sa pagpapahayag ng mga saloobin. Freedom of expression is enshrined in our Constitution, and this freedom is useless if we don't exercise it.
b. Bakit ako sasali eh wala naman akong alam sa issyu na yun?
Makialam. Bilang estudyante, pag-aralan ang mga nangyayari.
c. Sasama ako kapag sumama yung mga kaibigan ko?
Ipaliwanag ang sitwasyon. Mag-conduct ng mga study sessions about the issue and make a united stand with your friends.
8. Sa pagiging "repressive" ng mga students, ano sa tingin mo ang maitutulong mo/part mo in order to help Mapuan to be fully aware of the current situation? (national issue)
Maybe you mean "repressed", not "repressive", ang mga students. In situations like this, it is really up to those students who have more knowledge and deeper understanding of the issue to reach out to other students, explain to them, and unify them on a common stand and actions.
9. Message to Mapuans?
I expect Mapuans to be critical thinkers, brave, and patriotic. We should be seeing more Mapuans doing what should be done for the good of the country, and that is to voice out in public and join all sectors of the society in condemning corruption, demanding accountability, and searching for the truth. I am inviting them to STSC or the coalition Samahan sa U-Belt Para sa Tunay na Pagbabago ng Lipunan. Remember that the more parallel forces you have, the greater is the acceleration.
Link
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