Subtle Erosion of Culture, Part 1

During one of my trips to Paris, I went to a McDonalds.  I went to the counter to order food.  I said hello to the girl at the counter.  Her response was ‘Bonjour’.  I wasn’t sure whether or not she heard me.  I said, “Hello”. She responded by saying,” Bonjour”.  I was puzzled and just smiled.  She again repeated, “Bonjour”.  I thought that perhaps she was expecting me to say Bonjour.  So, I did. At that point she said in fluent English,” How can I help you, Sir?”  There are many stories about the French and their pride in their language.  Such incidences are nowhere to be found in urban India. 

Today, we are aware of the impact of our past actions on the environment.  Over 150 species become extinct every day. The eroding forest areas are quite visible from the satellite images.  The slow temperature rise is being felt all over the world.  Today, we are also aware of glacier erosion, melting chunks of ice getting washed away in the ocean and never being seen as ice again. With the global rise in temperature, the day is not far away when a big tidal wave hitting the shores could slowly submerge the present coastline under water.  Alas, how we wish that we had taken some measures to never get to this situation. If only we had thought about and agreed a century ago to specific measures , we wouldn’t have been in the sorry state of affairs.  The lesson to learn from this is to be more aware of the long-term impact of today’s actions and not be myopic and chase short-term goals.

There is another erosion, albeit subtle, taking place every day in urban India.  This time it is the erosion of local languages. 

What is culture?

Culture is a combination of our language, traditions, customs, and beliefs.  It forms the foundation of a society and it gives it a distinct identity.

A culture is like a long epic.  The cultural epic is filled with the glory of the past, ancestral wisdom, grandma’s recipes, her songs for children, and her principles of home management.  The cultural Epic tells the dos and don’ts for a successful life, songs to help meditate and deal with the ups and downs of life, and ballads about the heroic deeds of our ancestors.  Each cultural epic is written in their local language and the ballads are sung in the same language.  The language is a bridge that connects us to the past and makes us understand our culture. 

Every culture has been well-tested over centuries. As generations pass, some ways of doing things change.  Thus, some traditions are dropped while some new cultural norms are accepted.  Culture is filtered and then mixed with the changes adopted as time goes by.    Culture is not static.  However, the cultural changes do not mean the complete wiping out of it and making room for new ones.  Such a process of cultural annihilation is equivalent to making it extinct. 

Globalization of everything

The world is shrinking every day.  Science and Technology have spread universally and it is hard to find anyone who has remained untouched by the technological pervasion in their personal lives. The majority of the scientific journals are in English language.  English has become the universal language of technical communication.  It is now widespread to such an extent that it is hard to think about switching to any other language while discussing technical matters.  There is no debate about it. However, one needs to keep in mind that despite such a large universal technological dominance, it is not the language of the masses.  Only 18.8 % of the world’s population can speak English.  The majority, 81.2% of people do not speak English.

Language reflects cultural differences

Every language is an impression of the prevalent culture in the region.  Subjects are taught by using words that are commonly used by students who grow in that region.  The idea is to make it simple for students to understand.

When I was in engineering, I was taught that the armature in an electric motor is 'donut-shaped’. We mugged up the word ‘donut’ without knowing the meaning.  We had no idea what a donut was until I went to the US. I wish they had told us that an armature is shaped like a ‘medu wada’!

Language is an impression of what is important to the community. In Indian languages, family relationships are valued a lot.  Thus, there is a separate word for direct brothers and sisters, your father’s brother’s children are also your brothers and sisters with a prefix to indicate the lineage.  Similarly, your father’s sister’s children, your mother’s brother’s children, and your mother's sisters’ children each have a unique prefix.  However, in English, everyone is a cousin.  Whereas, in English, about 12 words indicate different forms of snow such as snow, hail, sleet, ice, Icicle, slush, and snowflakes.  In many Indian languages, there is only one word and it means ice as well as snow. 

The Sami people, who live in the northern tip of Scandinavia and Russia, have 180 words related to snow and ice. In their language, they have around 1000 words for reindeer! Some of the Eskimo words for snow differentiate between snowflakes, frost, fine snow, snow on the ground, soft deep snow, fresh snow, blizzard, and a snowbank.  Inuit people from Canada have 50 words for snow.  Interestingly, they have a separate word for softly falling snow, and for the snow that is good for driving a sled. 

All of us over the world cherish cultural diversity.  It makes a perfect rainbow.  Giving up one culture and adopting another is as good as making everything plain and the same everywhere.  Most of us like to try local food when we go to a different country.  Finding yet another McDonald's is not very appealing.

 

                                                                              .......  continued in part 2......

References:

1.  https://e360.yale.edu/features/global_extinction_rates_why_do_estimates_vary_so_wildly#:~:text=Convention%20on%20Biological%20Diversity%20concluded,as%2010%20percent%20a%20decade.

2.   https://alltracksacademy.com/blog/languages-with-most-words-for-snow/https://alltracksacademy.com/blog/languages-with-most-words-for-snow/

3.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/there-really-are-50-eskimo-words-for-snow/2013/01/14/e0e3f4e0-59a0-11e2-beee-6e38f5215402_story.html

 

From 70 hours a week to ‘No More Lunch’ ?

History repeats.  About 30 years ago there was a regular feature, titled ‘Reflections’, in the IEEE Spectrum magazine. This column was written by Dr. Robert Lucky, the vice president of research at the Bell Labs.  His column was always humorous and satirical.  In the issue of September 1994, he wrote a column titled ‘No More Lunch!’ 

In that column, Dr. Lucky wrote about the race for getting more out of the employees.  It was portrayed that one day the management came up with a circular that declared that there wouldn’t be any more lunch breaks to save time and increase productivity!  Presently, there is a similar discussion taking place.  It reminds me of my business trips to some clients and the productivity I observed in two different countries.

During my business visits to Japan in the late 90’s, I was meeting a major client.  After discussing many aspects of how we would develop the software and test it, everyone dispersed back to their desks.  My contact person told me that he would be back in 30 minutes to take me to the cafeteria for lunch.  After an hour, I felt a bit restless sitting in the conference room by myself when many people started returning from a lunch break.  I thought of asking my contact person regarding lunch.  I stepped out of the conference room and went to his desk.  As I approached his desk from behind, I was shocked to see that he was just doodling with his mouse on the screen!  The same fellow used to work every day from 8 a.m. to  9 to 10 p.m. just to impress his boss.  What is the point, I thought.  Just late your conscience be clear.  Do your job well in regular time and stop fooling yourself and others that you are a hard-working person. 

My other memorable visit was to a client in South Korea.  I landed in Seoul at 5 p.m.  The company representative had come to receive me at the airport.  He drove for 6 hours straight. I thought that he would drop me at the hotel.  But to my surprise, at 11 p.m. he drove me to the company premises!  About 10 people were waiting for a meeting with me.   That meeting lasted till 6 a.m. the next day.  The next meeting was at 9 a.m.  I was hoping to get some break at least that night.  But the meetings continued till 4 a.m. the following day.  I was working 19 hours at a stretch.  The same schedule was repeated for the third day. I was sleep-deprived.  During those days, I became very friendly with some junior engineers.  I asked them whether such a hectic schedule was due to my visit.  They told me that it was their routine schedule! No wonder at times their engineers used to put their heads on the table and sleep during meetings. How could they be productive without comprehending the technical aspects?    At the end of the visit, their representative asked me why Indians have better productivity than engineers in their company.  It was a plain and simple fact that our brain too needs rest.  The reasons were crystal clear to me but hard for him to comprehend. 

Back in the mid-80s, when I was working at Boeing, I had a colleague. He once told me about his cousin who was an excellent Unix programmer in Los Angeles. He could complete a task in 2 hours that would take others 8 hours. His dream was to work in Hollywood as a lighting technician. He enjoyed setting up lights during filming. But those jobs did not pay well. So he asked his boss if he could work only 4 hours a day in the company, and take a 50% cut in salary so that he could follow his passion at Hollywood. His boss readily agreed. His productivity was very high and that too despite working long hours.  Productivity depends on knowledge, focus,  and motivation.

A common thing to talk about among Boeing engineers was how much they loved the job and how amazed they were that they got paid for doing something fun like what they did.  We were never forced to work for 14 hours a day.  Often, we worked 8 hours without wasting time in meaningless meetings. Of course, there were many days and nights that we worked from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. i.e. 19 hours a day, went home for 3 hours, and were back for a flight test to work for another 14 hours.  We were always ready to work when there was a need.  No one ever created a pseudo need for working long hours.  You make people understand their responsibilities and they will rise to the occasion. 

When I came back to India, the scene was different. One day I was working late in my office.  About an hour later, I happened to go to the other wing where my team used to sit.  To my surprise, everyone was still there.  I asked them what was the reason for their working late.  They told me that since I had not left the office, they were still sitting.  I explained to them that I had some pending work and that’s why I was still in the office.  If they do not have such urgent work then they need not wait after office hours. I realized that this was also very much a Japanese way of showing respect to the boss.  I wonder how much was due to respect, how much was out of fear of being rated low just because they were not seen for 14 hours a day, and how much was it just to impress.

As creative professionals, we thrive on solving problems and innovating new solutions. Our work demands that we use our imagination, skills, and passion to create value for our clients and society. However, creativity cannot flourish under stress, pressure, or exhaustion. We need to take care of ourselves and our colleagues, especially the young engineers who are just starting their careers. We need to respect their boundaries, support their growth, and inspire their enthusiasm. We need to help them balance their work and life, and prioritize their health and well-being. We want to keep the family fabric intact. Nothing can be more important than a family. Let’s create an atmosphere of freedom, fun, responsibility, pride, respect, recognition, a place of achievement,  and progress for the company as well as the individual. 

We need to remind ourselves that they are not just employees, but members of a family. The family that cares for each other, celebrates each other's achievements, and learns from each other's mistakes. The family that values freedom, fun, and responsibility.  The family that takes pride in each other's accomplishments, respects everyone and recognizes exceptional talent. The family that strives for excellence, innovation, and progress. The family that supports each other and leaves a mark in the world.  This is how JRD Tata treated employees and built a large joint family.

I wonder if we are repeating the history after 30 years by suggesting working 70 hours a week. Are we approaching the day when we will discuss ‘No More Lunch?

 

What does a Ph.D. mean?

 A ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ is the highest academic qualification one can strive to achieve.  It comes with many years of hard work, sleepless nights, frustrations, as well as some Eureka moments.  More people quit the Ph.D. program than those who are awarded the degree.  It is truly the test of tenacity and hard work.  No wonder once awarded a doctorate, people feel a sense of great achievement.  They have a right to feel so.  Society at large looks up to someone with a Ph.D.  Unfortunately, all this drama could give rise to the monster of arrogance, rude behavior, and a superiority complex.  Some of them with a Ph.D. try to create an aura of being a scholar and know-it-all person.  They look down upon others in a subtle way.  They lose the humility to admit when they do not know something. All of this is a cause for concern.

As a Ph.D. advisor or a guide, I have been observing student’s behavior up close.  I have a couple of students who have graduated as well as some who are still pursuing a Ph.D.  This has certainly given me a different perspective of what a Ph.D. means and what it should mean.

Students often get into a graduate program and work towards a Ph.D. for the wrong reasons.  When asked why they want to pursue a Ph.D., their answers reveal a lot about their ultimate motive.  I often hear some of the following answers.  ‘Oh, it looks good to have a prefix in front of my name as a doctor’ or ‘It is mandatory for me to get a Ph.D. for a promotion as an associate professor’.  A majority of students are not in a Ph.D. program for doing good research.  They are not for the pursuit of knowledge.

I remember reading Freeman Dyson’s words on giving a Ph.D. to all graduate students so that they would do good work afterward.  Those words have been very interesting to me ever since I was a doctoral candidate.

Today, I feel that giving a Ph.D. to people and hoping that they would do great work is a utopian dream.  I am sorry to say but I am disappointed in looking at the segment of students who have completed their doctoral work and how they are wasting it. I see them do exactly what they should not be doing.  They are interested in writing every single correspondence with the title ‘Dr.’ added to their name regardless of whether it is written to family members and friends or in professional correspondence.  I am not against adding the title.  There are times and places for using the title.  With the title ‘Dr.’, you are conveying that you have the tenacity to solve a given problem and are willing to work hard to get to the bottom of the problem.  However, it is quite contrary to the actions of many Ph.D. holders.

So, we come to the question of what it means to have a Ph.D.  Having a Ph.D. is not about being a member of a special club to boast about. It is not about showing superiority over others who were less fortunate to pursue higher education. Getting a Ph.D. enables you and trains you to understand what is research and what is good research.  It is not something to brag about. As a Ph.D. holder, one is the ambassador of the ‘pursuit of knowledge’.  

A Ph.D. holder needs to continue to do research in any field of their choice may it be in their academic expertise or other fields of interest.  At the same time, being in the ‘pursuit of knowledge’ means that one should read from other disciplines to appreciate research being done in other fields.

It is often seen that some people with a Ph.D. make a distinction based on the discipline implying that their discipline is superior and much more difficult to get a Ph.D. in.  That just shows complete ignorance on the part of the person.  Most universities award just a Ph.D. degree without specifying the department.  I had to correct the first page of my Ph.D. thesis since I had put the name of the discipline on the first page.  I was told that the university was awarding me a Doctor of Philosophy degree.  It meant that I could philosophize. The word philosophy means ‘the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct’.  Ph.D. is not linked to a discipline.

The most important act that a Ph.D. should engage in, besides continuing to do research, is to promote knowledge.  A person with a Ph.D. should set an example to their immediate relatives, friends, children, and other people that they come in contact with that knowledge is supreme.  Everyone should understand the power of knowledge.  It is the responsibility of a Ph.D. holder to make this happen and put in effort so that others turn to the path of gaining knowledge.

There are different age groups one comes across.  Let’s divide them into children, young adults, and adults.  As a Ph.D. holder, you should encourage children to do well in their studies.  Push young adults to pursue higher education. If one looks around it is very easy to find people who are completely unaware of the importance of higher education.  We have to make them aware of it and actively encourage them.  It is not enough to just do lip service and say that getting a higher education is important but to make that change happen.    The only way to measure the effectiveness of your efforts is to count how many people were convinced and pursued higher education.

Adult members of society need help with various things.  Today, technology is developing rapidly and it is hard for many to catch up with it.  Thus, one can spend time and simplify complex, day-to-day things for adults.   Often patients are unaware of do’s and don’ts.  Many do not understand the importance of completing the due course of medication.  One can explain the importance to them and encourage them to complete the treatment. Some people are not savvy with computer-related work.  You can go and help them.

The bottom line is as a result of getting the honor of having a Ph.D. and people looking up to you, how many lives have you changed for the better?  Sissela Bok, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population Studies, is a philosopher.  She is the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners, Gunnar Myrdal and Alva Myrdal.  She says that one should create a sphere of influence.  At first, you start small but then start growing the sphere.  This is how one can start helping society. In the beginning, you can start with your own family.  Ensure that they pursue this path of higher education and the pursuit of knowledge.  Then grow the sphere to include your friends and acquaintances.

All said and done, a Ph.D. is not the only way to do good research, be creative, innovative, or promote education. There are quite a few individuals who do outstanding work without getting a Ph.D.  One of the shining examples is that of the physicist, Freeman Dyson.  He did not have a Ph.D. but many scholars at Princeton did postdocs under his guidance.  He has many things in Physics and Mathematics named after him such as the Dyson Series, Dyson Transform, and Dyson Sphere to name a few. Dyson calls the Ph.D. system a ‘gross distortion of the educational process’.

As a responsible individual in a society, you are expected to help others.  How many people have you encouraged to pursue higher education?  How many people are better off in their careers because you helped them understand the importance of education?  Philanthropy means the love of humanity. In that sense, your efforts to make human lives better are individual philanthropic efforts.  If you are actively helping society, go ahead and call yourself a doctor only to continue the cycle of helping even more people.