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Science and national progress

We hope that World Science Day which dawns today, will draw the attention of the Lankan authorities in particular, to the pressing need to put science education on a firm footing in this country.

Science also needs to be popularised among the people for the mindset change it could bring about among the public and we warmly applaud organisations such as the National Science Foundation for the efforts they are putting in this direction.

As we see it, a science-based education is inseparable from national development. A deep-ranging education in science presupposes a specific approach to reality, on the part of the learner.

For instance, there is no question of the learner or student adopting fanciful notions and materially unfounded presuppositions on the real world if he is guided by a scientific attitude.

As is well known, hypotheses about the material world need to be tested amid controlled conditions - that is, laboratory testing - before they are accepted as valid. The Social Sciences apply equally rigid procedures for the building of their knowledge base.

Thus, it could be seen that science is a discipline which is founded on a very particular method of extracting knowledge about the real world. Its application in the mastery of nature and in the meeting of our material needs has produced technology and the implications of these branches of knowledge for national development are easy to ascertain.

Today, the presupposition is no longer questioned that development and the expansion of a science-based education go hand-in-hand. Accordingly, the educational authorities have no choice but to ensure that facilities for a science-based education are available in most if not all our secondary schools in particular.

Besides ensuring material development, which we so badly need, the popular inculcation of scientific knowledge would help resolve the long-festering unemployment problem which, of course, has serious socio-political implications. We need to very badly rectify the current, substantial imbalance between arts graduates and science graduates, for instance.

While we cannot mindlessly jettison our arts and Humanities curricula in schools and universities, there needs to be wider access to a science and technology based education.

Besides helping resolve the unemployment problem, this paradigm modification in education would bring about future generations which are more practically - oriented and capable of accelerating the development process.

While Traditional Knowledge may have it uses, superstition and mythical mumbo-jumbo don't. Unfortunately, many Sri Lankans are superstitious and this gets in the way of down-to-earth practicality. Needless to say, science is the remedy to this malaise.

Die Another Day, please

My name is Bond....James Bond, must be one of the most famous lines in cinema. But Bond needs no introduction to film fans. Bond is the quintessential British spy, an infallible hero who saves the empire with some daredevil stunts at the last minute. Ian Fleming's spy mastermind is immortal.

But is he? Pierce Brosnan, the Irish actor who played our hero in the last few Bond movies, has a View to A Kill. He wants Bond to die in the last film that he would be acting in. In other words, he does not want any other actor to play the role. Can he really be that selfish?

Bond may have a License to Kill, but he cannot kill himself. A man who has emerged unscathed from countless death traps set up by his arch enemies cannot die unsung.

He might Die Another Day after the franchise eventually runs off steam, but for now we want to see the handsome hulk chasing the bad guys in a flashy Aston Martin Vanquish. Bond must Live and Let Die.

While the fans emerge shaken and stirred after Brosnan's confession, death is the least of worries that Bond has had to face. Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Brosnan himself have all faced life and death situations On Her Majesty's Secret Service as Agent 007.

Their villains too changed as the global political landscape changed. From Russia with Love portrayed a world infested by Spectre agents, but today's adversaries are likely to be terrorists and rogue businessmen. From Hugo Drax to Goldfinger to Scaramanga, the villains too have left their indelible mark on the Bond moviescape. The current crop of favourites for the next Bond, Colin Farell et al, are likely to meet even more dangerous villains.

But Bond wouldn't be a Spy Who Loved Me without some romance as well. Bond's vivacious girls, with exotic names such as Honey Ryder, Mary Goodnight, Octopussy, Kissy Suzuki and Solitaire electrified the film reels and set the pulse racing. And how can we forget the enigmatic Miss Moneypenny ?

As Bond, You Only Live Twice with the aid of those amazing gadgets fashioned by Q. They have saved him from seeing the Living Daylights on countless occasions. And those supercars help to chase the villains and sometimes, get away from them quickly. A Lotus Esprit can go underwater only in a Bond film. A BMW Z8 with RPG launchers ? Safe in the hands of Bond.

The World is Not Enough for Bond to lay those hands on. Twenty outings and four decades later, any reports of the true Man with the Golden Gun's death are greatly exaggerated. For Bond, Tomorrow Never Dies. He would still be reading messages marked For Your Eyes Only long after we are gone.

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