Dr. Binoy Barman's Article

[Shamim Ansary]

Now a wave of resistance has been brewing up among the teenage female sect, including common people to oust the eve teasers from the society.

We all need to harmonize with the beginning.

[shibli]

Hyper-reading

Dr Binoy Barman

INFORMATION technology has changed people's life style in various ways. It has given rise to such cultures as cyber café, chatting, gaming and blogging. Many people now remain glued to computer screen and stride along the virtual world in search of information and fun. Just with a click of mouse they reach a new view, and they go on clicking without any boredom. People whose occupation or preoccupation is reading find it much more intriguing. They read on the screen online, and following links, jump from one page to another, like grasshoppers. They do not need to turn over pages with their fingers but only click.

Reading online texts, bound by interlocking hyperlinks, has been called 'hyper-reading' in recent times. It is a new phenomenon based on computer technology supported by internet. The readers access the virtual materials spread around World Wide Web as they like. It is just like magic. The whole library in there and the readers choose to read any book or journal or anything else with a click. One need not visit the library physically and pick up the book from the rack to read. For hyper-reading, one just has to know the URL or the website address, with a valid entry authorisation for it. And one can read day and night as there is no closure of the library.

Now the question arises: is hyper-reading different from paper-based reading at all? If it is different, then, to what extent and in what respects? We can explore the issue a bit.

One might notice that both types of reading require visual acuity but hyper-reading is less tactile than paper-based reading. What is meant by this is that, for paper-based reading, one has to touch the book and turn over the pages with his/her fingers while hyper-reading is devoid of this feature. The pages in digital format have no physical existence and so cannot be touched. Its existence is only virtual, made up of electric signals. That's why paper-based reading is sometimes referred to as 'hard reading' and hyper-reading as 'soft reading'. The two are not disconnected, however. Paper print is the 'hard copy' of the digitized item known as 'soft copy', in common parlance.

Our reading materials in print are rather symmetrical, in the sense that pages in books or magazines are cut and bound in equal size in a volume. The matter is different in web publication. Here the pages are unequal in length. For example, a collection of poetry may have fifty pages, each containing one poem, be it short or long, in web version. But in print, usually, due to paper size constraint, a long poem may stretch over several pages and several short poems may be placed on one page. Moreover, a website starts with a front page, with internal links, which is called home page. It may be compared with cover page in print though it is very dissimilar in look and purpose.

Hyper-reading may be more attractive than paper-based reading, in fact. The website designers may use pictures, audio and video along with the text to make reading more exciting. It may be illustrated in superb ways, with captivating background.

Even the texts may be animated and coloured in numerous shades, which are capable of making special appeal to reader's fancy. This is the reason why hyper-reading is being more popular with the children in particular. They read on computer besides preparing assignments with its aid, amid great fun.

Paper-based reading is linear. That is, one starts reading and goes through the pages turning over sequentially. But this linearity is broken in hyper-reading. Linear narrative is deconstructed to a non-linear and non-sequential pattern. In hyper-environment, multiple pages of a volume are structured through branching and embedding, activated by direct click connections. A page on a website is connected with other web pages with hyperlinks, allowing readers to move to and fro. Hyperlinks are the holes through which the readers slip into other domains. It is not possible in traditional paper-based reading, in which one has to collect another book, travelling to library, suffering a lot of hazards. In this respect, paper-based reading is 'exclusive' while hyper-reading is 'inclusive'. The hyperlinks give readers a great advantage of instant textual connectivity.

However, hyperlinks may sometimes be distracting. Jumping from one page to another is an endless process. It is just like roaming in the forest of information where it is easy to lose one's way. As one walks deep into the forest, one may find it difficult to return to right where he started. Much time and energy are spent in peripheral concerns and the core concern is forgotten. Ultimately hyper-reading becomes bumpy, with fragmented concentration. The lanes and by-lanes of hyperlinks may lead to the blind alley or to undesired spot, far away from home. That is why hypertext is sometimes mockingly called 'electronic labyrinth'. A heavily linked text really defies reader's purpose. The surfing of web pages may make reading discursive and the reader shallow.

There are other hazards of hyper-reading as well. Hyper-reading sails smooth as long as the machinery and mechanism are all right. Reading may be disrupted if there is any malfunction from technical side. Computer hardware, software, internet connection and websites -- all should be in proper order. The reader will have to acquire some technical knowledge, beyond knowledge of alphabet, to enjoy this type of reading. There are risks too. Computer or server may crash. It is something like unintentional loss of books coming in the form of damage by worms or damping by water. Hyper-reading is less secure. Once virtual data is lost it is lost for ever and can hardly be retrieved. For paper-based reading, one may collect another copy of book from the market, which may not be possible in case of hyper-reading.

A question is vital with respect to the changing reading mode of people. What effect does it have on the psychology of the reader? Does the human brain also change with the new reading mode? Does it affect the information processing system in brain and the perceptual capacity of the technology user? This is a fertile field of research for the cognitive psychologists of present and future times.

It is apparently true that the pragmatics of reading -- the speed of our reading, when we pause, how long we can concentrate, how often we skip over material or jump back and reread, and so forth -- take a different shape in hyper-reading, and this difference must have an effect on the ways that we interpret, understand and remember what we read. Links are often made between very dissimilar things, which may surprise readers. The heterogeneity of linked texts affects the normal sense of causality. The syntax and semantics is also different in a hypertextual setting, which has a clear bearing on the cognitive faculty of humans.

The reading on the internet is interesting. Hyper-reading is undoubtedly a new mode of reading, having many advantages over traditional paper-based reading. The new brand of reader is a 'hyper-reader', who appears smarter than 'paper-bound reader'. With the spread of technology, the paper-based readers will gradually be transformed into hyper-readers. Hyper-reader psychology, being different from that of paper-reader, demands a different educational environment. They need different curriculum and pedagogy. It will ultimately usher in massive educational reforms in the days to come. The change is inevitable. The twenty-first century is for technology-based education, endorsing a virtual reading culture, brought about by HTML revolution.

(The writer is Assistant Professor and Head, Department of English, Daffodil International University.)

[shibli]

                    Insignificant mortals, who are as leaves are,
                      and now flourish and grow warm with life,
                      and feed on what the ground gives,
                      but then again fade away and are dead.
                                                                  ---Homer, Century IX b.C.


What's the significance of life? Who are we?
Is human life just a dream, from which we never really awake, as some great thinkers claim? Are we submerged by our feelings, by our loves and hates, by our ideas of good, bad, beautiful, awful? Are we incapable of knowing beyond those ideas and feelings?

Listen to Shakespeare and Joseph Conrad:

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep…
----William Shakespeare, The Tempest (Folger Shakespeare Library)

A man that is born falls into a dream like a man who falls into the sea.
Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim (Penguin Classics)


Is the reality we know a reality imposed to us by nature? Is the reality and the meaning of life a creation of men, such as music, or love or colors (science tells us that there isn't such things as music, harmony or colors in the physic world. Just traveling molecules: There is not, external to us, hot or cold, but only different velocities of molecules; there aren’t sounds, callings, harmonies, but just variations in the pressure of the air; there aren’t colours, or light, just electro-magnetic waves, said H. Von Foerster.).

Are we - and all living beings - just survival machines, blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes, as Richard Dawkins states? Are we incapable of knowing beyond the frames imposed to us by nature?

Is there any significance for life in a Universe of billions of stars that ignore us? Is there any significance for life in an Universe whose dimensions and nature overcome our understanding?

Listen to the words of Pascal, in the seventeenth century:

When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity that lies before and after it, when I consider the little space I fill and I see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant, and which know me not, I rest frightened, and astonished, for there is no reason why I should be here rather than there. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time have been ascribed to me?

Pensees (Penguin Classics)

[Binoy]

Please read my article “Hyper-reading” published in the Star Campus on 27 June 2010, following the link:

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2010/06/04/last.htm

[Shah - Al - Mamun]

Decent thinking Sir!! You are making me proud as your student with each essay you are writing. Looking forward to read your next essay..

Regards,
Shah - Al - Mamun.

[Binoy]

Please read my article An ‘earnest’ Hemingway: Nobel laureate in literature published in the Star Campus on 04 July 2010, following the link:

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2010/07/01/camspotlight.htm

[irina]

Dear sir, I'm really astonished to mark your earnest effort in introducing Ernest Hemingway as an "earnest", "true-to-life" novelist. While reading your article I had a kind of feeling that someone whispered the words into my ears before! Later I came to a conclusion that no one had presented him as you did. Thanks.

[shibli]

The extinction factor

Dr Binoy Barman

“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”
(Robert Frost, 'Fire and Ice')

RECENTLY Frank Fenner, a famous biological scientist, has commented that the human species will be extinct in one hundred years. Fenner, an Emeritus Professor of Microbiology at Australian National University, said in a report published in the Daily Mail of Britain in mid June 2010 that the human race would be unable to survive a population explosion and unbridled consumption amid environment disaster. Frank, 95 now, who has a glorious role in eradicating smallpox from the world and is the author of 22 books, prophesied, “Homo sapiens will become extinct….A lot of other animals will, too....It's an irreversible situation.”

Fenner's observation is important, albeit alarming. He has issued the last word, in a form of warning, to mankind. A serious warning! Sadhu Sabdhan! Be careful or face the doom! Humans will be destroyed and they themselves will be responsible for their destruction. Humans have intervened in the proceedings of nature, in a quite illegitimate way, making it corrupt and blighted. Human intervention has caused air and water pollution, waste of underground resources, depletion of forest and loss of bio-diversity. And now nature will retaliate.

Fenner is especially concerned with the fallout of industrialisation, which has played a devilish role in climate change. Fenner identified the period from eighteenth century till the present time as 'Anthropocene' (period of industrialisation). He said it has an ominous effect on the planet that rivals an ice age or comet impact. Industrial revolution has brought many comforts for humans -- high-rise buildings, radio, television, computer, mobile phone, aeroplane, ship, car, fabrics and so many consumer goods. But it has also brought many curses. Dangers have come from two fronts. On one side humans have developed deadly weapons like atom bombs and on the other they have inflicted torture on nature. A nuclear war on a massive scale may turn all humans and their achievements into dust. If somehow they escape self-destruction, they may not escape the wrath of nature. The defilement of nature will backfire one day with all-effacing devastation.

It is an obvious fact that humans are especially vulnerable to climate change, which has manifested through global warming, desertification and sea-level rise. According to Fenner, climate change would be the main factor in the demise of humanity. He said, “Climate change is just at the very beginning. But we're seeing remarkable changes in the weather already.” He added: “We'll undergo the same fate as the people on Easter Island….The Aborigines showed that without science and the production of carbon dioxide and global warming, they could survive for 40,000 or 50,000 years.” But we will not be able to prolong our existence. The climate change has shrunk the possibility of our survival to a great extent.

At present, climate change is spearheaded by carbon emission. Carbon emission has indeed posed an enormous threat to the existence of human beings. Carbon dioxide from the factories and motorised vehicles is polluting air. It is causing a green house effect, increasing the temperature of the earth atmosphere. The problem has been compounded with the process of deforestation. As a consequence, the ice of high mountains is melting (which is known as 'ice cap recession'), to raise the sea level. It is also depleting, via CFC, the ozone layer, exposing the Earth dwellers to harmful ultraviolet ray. The situation is aggravating day by day. If the problem is not addressed seriously by the international community, it will inevitably bring disaster for the human beings, as Fenner predicts.

The most dangerous is, as pinpointed by Fenner, the unprecedented growth in population, which is the mother of many other big threats. The world's population is growing at such a rapid pace that it has become a monumental problem. At present the world's population is 6.8 billion. It is predicted to exceed seven billion by the end of 2011. The earth cannot sustain such a pressure of population. Nature has its own mechanism of check and balance. Malthus, two centuries back, said that whenever there is any illogical population growth, nature cuts it down with famine, diseases and calamities, which we call 'Act of God'. It may happen now. In 2006, an esteemed academic, Professor James Lovelock, warned that the world's population might sink as low as 500 million over the next century due to human-induced natural disaster.

Religious scriptures talk of the doomsday for humans. But nobody knows when and how it will come. If Frank's forecast is right, then it will come in one hundred years. It seems too early, though. According to scientific calculations, the age of our universe is about fifteen billion years and that of our solar system is about five billion years. Life on Earth started about three billion years ago. Humanoid animals emerged about five million years ago and humans in present shape (Homo sapiens) came about two lakh years ago. Humans learnt agriculture in about ten thousand years ago and they brought about industrial revolution only three hundred years ago. Computer and satellite technologies are only recent inventions, not more than half a century old. And human race will perish when scientific advances are going on in breakneck speed. If it happens, we should call it a 'premature death'.

In fact, human extinction may be staged in multifarious ways. The extinction processes may be unpredictable, indeed. The danger may come from the sky, from under the soil. It may come from any direction. For example, there may be a pandemic disease more serious than plague, AIDS or cancer. Or, there may a natural calamity more devastating than usual earthquake, volcanic eruption, cyclone or flood. Or, meteorites from the sky may hit the Earth. Or, any other cosmic accident may take place in course of the heavenly flight of Earth; for example, our solar system may be devoured by any giant black hole.

The scientists inform us of some calculative disasters, too. The Sun, which supports life on Earth, will go off one day, say, in five billion years. Then the Sun will become a Red Giant, making Earth arid and lifeless. The universe is expanding constantly. If it goes on as it is, one day the universe will face a 'chill death'. If somehow the universe takes a reverse course and starts to contract it will suffer a 'hot death'. But this disaster will take place in very remote future, say, fifteen billion years now, provided the scientific calculations are all right. We need not worry with them now.

According to some scientists, extinction of species on earth is a regular event. It takes place at intervals during the course of evolution of the universe, earth and life. About 99 percent of all Earth's species living at one time or another have become extinct. Without extinctions, we the humans would not be here. Extinction is a continuous process and it is happening today. According to the World Resources Institute, 100 species become extinct every day due to tropical deforestation and there are many species that we never discovered have succumbed to extinction.

The most massive extinction occurred 250 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period when between 75% and 97% of Earth's species died out. Perhaps the most recognized mass extinction occurred 65 million years in the late Cretaceous Period when an asteroid slammed into Earth's surface, resulting in the ultimate loss of 70% of the world species, including the dinosaurs. The current period, called the Holocene, may see the greatest mass destruction of species ever due to anthropogenic or human causes. Mass extinctions are in fact a part of Earth evolution of life forms and are indicative of changes taking place within the planet. Scientists estimate that mass extinctions take place about every 26-28 million years. At the same time, existing and new species evolve and replace or add to the current surviving species.

Therefore, the extinction factor is not one but many. The day of extinction is near or far. The process of extinction is slow or sudden. The agent of extinction is man or nature. Whatever, the Homo sapiens will hear the whistle of the final day in some unfortunate moments. It is destined. We may just wonder what form of life will reign over the planet in the post-Homo sapiens era.

(The writer is Assistant Professor and Head, Department of English, Daffodil International University.)

[shibli]

Hats off to you, sir. No doubt, you are a great asset of DIU. Keep it up, sir.

Best regards

[Binoy]

Please read my article “The extinction factor” published in the Star Campus on 11 July 2010, following the link:

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2010/07/02/last.htm

[irina]

Dear sir, your article 'The extinction factor' reminds us the frightful future we are going to experience in the coming days.Thanks for the prediction you've made.Hope this will  create a sort of awareness in the minds of the young generation.

[Binoy]

Please read my article “Infobia” published in the Star Campus on 18 July 2010, following the link:

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2010/07/03/last.htm

[Shah - Al - Mamun]

Another nice and very interesting essay sir! Hard to believe i have so many phobias ..........

Regards,
Shah - Al - Mamun

[shibli]

Concrete gravitation

Dr Binoy Barman

DHAKA has tremendous power to attract people towards it. The attraction is as solid as concrete. People are as if pulled by the gravitational force of urbanity, its glossy amenities. The rural people are ensnared by this attraction. They madly rush to the city en masse leaving their homestead in villages. They flow in file like ants, in numerous streams, as if spellbound by the tunes of Pied Piper of Hamelin now stationed in Dhaka. Here come the old and the young, the male and the female. Here come students and teachers, businessmen and service holders. Here come the cultured and uncultured, the literate and illiterate. The city streets cry with the heavy tramples of unknown figures.

I just wonder why people gravitate to the city in such madness. What are the advantages of coming and living here? Obviously there are some. There are the opportunities of employment, comforts of livelihood, business, government offices, utility services, educational institutions, hospitals, recreations and a variety of foods and consumer goods. To avail themselves of the opportunities, the rural people stride to the city though they may not get them. Those who are lucky can make fortune here but the unlucky ones remain in the darkness of slimy abode. The happy dreams elude them and they stumble face-down on hard bricks. The people of the lower strata suffer much. The gullible and illiterate chaps carry their loads on shoulders and parade around the city streets for some initial days. At last they take shelter in the sordid slums and begin a humble life of rickshaw or van pullers, in some cases being promoted to drug peddlers and other sorts of criminals. They are no more village folks but city dwellers. They are the denizens of illusion.

Just stop a bit to look around. In the last few decades the population of Dhaka has increased rapidly. Statistics reveal that urban population has grown during 19701990 at the rate of 7.4%, during 19902000 at 3.7% and during 20002008 at 3.3%. By now the city has been overpopulated. It has been sick with the pressure of people. At present the population of Dhaka is about one crore. It has been forecast that it will be two crore by 2030. Can you imagine the situation then? Houses and pavements are thrust with men and women. They are dashing one another in their standing and movement. They are breathing and sneezing on one another. There is no lonely place -- no place to rest in peace. A horrible situation indeed!

What is the condition of Dhaka now? On the one hand the high-rises are covering the skyline and on the other the slums are being expanded on the gutters. Its air is polluted, its water is contaminated; and its streets are jammed with vehicles. To breathe city air means taking in poison. The water in the canals and rivers around the city has been so toxic that even the aquatic creatures cannot live there; no humans can imagine using it. The traffic jam in the city is so acute that one has to spend an hour to cross a distance of ten minutes.

The city has been unliveable to a great extent. It is a dying city -- a labyrinth of lost hopes.

Still people have to live here. They come and live here for employment, for enjoyment. They struggle to survive. They succeed or fail. It is a hard struggle. Once in city they can hardly leave it. They are as if charmed by the concrete touch. To lead a life, one needs money; and money is what flies in the air of Dhaka. People desperately move and try every trick to grab it. Dhaka binds its people with the dream of money. It holds in front of them the prospect of survival and better living. Outside Dhaka, such prospect and dream is dim and rare. So why shouldn't they love to live here?

What is the matter? Something has been wrong with the state policy. Everything has been centralised in the last few decades, particularly since the independence of Bangladesh. Dhaka has been made the centre of administration, politics, economy and culture. In the way, I suppose, the capital has been awarded the 'capital punishment'. Over the years the city land has been crammed with buildings of administration, business, housing and other sorts. The city has sprawled in an unplanned way. All the traces of greenery have been effaced and the natural water bodies either have been filled or narrowed. This is like choking a living entity. The policy of centralisation has killed the dream of a good city.

Why doesn't the government take a policy of decentralisation and disperse all establishments around the country. People would not like to rush to the city if they find the employment near their village home. Let the industries be established in remote areas where workers are easily available. Spread the administrative, legal, medical, educational and all other services all around. Don't concentrate everything in Dhaka to make it a 'concentration camp'. Establish more government offices, courts, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities in rural areas. Prevent NGOs and foreign missions and organisations from setting up their offices all in Dhaka. Construct roads and develop other communication facilities in far-flung regions. Supply electricity and gas. Nourish rural cultures rather than posh city ones. Build amusement parks and develop other recreational facilities there. Make villages alive with the activities of sports, literature, music, drama, film. Decentralise, decentralise and decentralise -- that is the only way to save the city. Decentralisation will work against the force of concrete gravitation.

In the age of technology it is easier to decentralise. The government can resort to e-governance, taking advantage of computer and internet. More and more use of information technology should be ensured. There may be teleconference and videoconference instead of physical meeting. It is a necessary step for establishing a Digital Bangladesh, too. Quality education can be spread to remote areas, introducing and modernising distance learning. Information technology will facilitate decentralisation. If we fail to take the opportunity to decentralise, we are destined to fail as a nation. But one thing must be ensured above all. It is population control. At present the population in Bangladesh is growing at the rate of 1.29%. It is an alarming rate. If we cannot control population, all others nice efforts will be jeopardised.

I believe people still would love to live in village if there are all amenities of life there. Villages have many advantages over cities. Greenery, open space, fresh air and water, unadulterated foods, low price of commodities, simplicity of people and close-knit community are some of the merits of living in rural areas. These are such facilities which enhance longevity and ensure peace in life. These cannot be purchased in town spending money. There may be comforts in town measured in material gains but the spirit starves and dies there. The rural environment nurtures human spirit which finds its umbilical cord anchored deep here. Human spirit feels at home in village where it is enriched with the magical touch of nature. It is still a better place to live.

It is the prime challenge in front of Bangladesh now to resist the gravitational pull of population towards urban spaces. It concerns not only Dhaka but all other cities, which demand prioritised agenda for sound existence. The consequence of concrete gravitation is grave. If the trend cannot be resisted, it will turn the 'concrete jungle' into a 'concrete grave'. That will be the final resting place for us, a place where the dead roams.


The writer is Head, Department of English, Daffodil International University. We are proud of you, sir

[Binoy]

Please read my article “Concrete gravitation” published in the Star Campus on 25 July 2010, following the link:

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2010/07/04/last.htm