A Helpful Suggestion/Explanation to Readers
The following is a
helpful suggestion/explanation to readers to whom I had not had the opportunity
to communicate it via direct email.
Given the complexity of the problem discussed on this blog, perhaps the easiest way to get a grasp of it would be to begin with the one-page article #5 labelled “From a Local Focus to a Global One”**** which outlines the evolution of my related thinking and in the process lays bare the nature of the problem. But the piece is somewhat old (2012) and deals with only the simpler/tangible/probabilistic aspects of the problem. Subsequently, I was able to delve into its more complex/psychological aspects and are dealt with / explored variously in later articles.
My conclusions were based on more than 30 years of experience in the development context of the Maldives (more about me in the piece titled “About Me” following/above article #20) coupled with the knowledge and insights gained from related studies and contemplating on our problem.
The Problem in a Nutshell: Barriers to human communication and ramifications arising thereof are arguably the single biggest impediment to human wellbeing and, crucially, those barriers are rooted in the way we go about making sense of the world from the earliest days of our lives, and the outcomes of the process are vastly exacerbated by modern specialized education – in spite of its being the basis on which human advancement rests. To make matters worse, world educators are blissfully unaware that such a problem even exists and thus have failed to take relevant countermeasures, and the roots of much of the sociopolitical turmoil across the globe can be easily traced to that failure.
Apart from our natural disposition as biological beings with
unique mental makeups, the problem has been exacerbated by the explosion of
knowledge in modern times, particularly from the early decades of the twentieth
century, and the technological proliferations that sprang from it and impacts
arising thereof – in the form of information overload; the specializations
necessitated by the process; the inevitably fragmented knowledge bases; and the
resulting equally fragmented worldviews … The outcomes of these processes are especially crippling as our behaviours
are largely habitual/automatic and not thought-out.
Of the 23 pieces on the blog now, four try to provide overviews: articles #13 labelled “World Basic Education System” (2015); #20 “Closing of Minds” (2019); #22 “Complete Restatement” (2020); and #23 “How Solution Will Solve Problem” (2021). Article #6 “Integrative Planning” (1997) is the first article I wrote on the topic and would also be of help. The remaining pieces provide details to varying degrees and try to fill-in and thus help provide a comprehensive picture.
It would be clear from the articles that the problem is both complex in nature and global in scope. The necessity for brevity also led me to leave out details that some readers might find useful. For these and other reasons (mostly related to the nature of the problem itself) the writings would perhaps raise more questions than provide answers, and I shall be glad to clarify any ambiguities and/or apparent inconsistencies.
I can be reached by phone at (960) 332-7488 most of the time between 0500 and 1900 hours GMT – that is, between 1000 and 0000 hours the Maldives local time (= GMT + 5 hours). While I have not given my email address here to deter junk mail, for any party interested enough to contact me, a short phone call can easily solve the problem. Alternatively, I can also be reached by mail at PO Box 2139, Post Office Building, Male' 20026, Maldives.
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**** This is perhaps an obvious point, but as you
can see, earlier articles are not visible on the blog, but they will be
accessible from the archives list at the end – article #5 is under 2012.
**** Although my efforts were initially limited to the local context, when I realized the global nature of the problem (whence the title) and given that the solution lay with the world’s educators, I hastened to acquaint them with the nature of the problem. Accordingly, after some 15 months of downloading email addresses, I sent, in 2012, the few related articles I had written up to then along with a cover letter detailing the nature of the problem to more than 35,000 academics in the fields of psychology, communication, education, sociology, political science, and philosophy (our problem encompasses all those fields to varying degrees******) in 536 departments in 103 universities in 22 nations. Article #1 labelled “Introduction” on the blog is the initial cover letter/email; in addition to introducing the topic, it also outlines the strategy/mechanism through which our problem can be addressed on a global scale – at least that was my initial line of thinking which I realized later would be rather ineffective, given the nature of the problem. The piece also contains a summary list of nations and institutions covered.
But alas, I haven’t achieved much success to-date. I did not, however, expect to reach very far with my endeavour; the limited expectation arising from the very nature of the problem itself – the accounts in articles #5 and #1, as well as well as #6, all referred-to above, will make this relationship (that the difficulty of understanding arises from the nature of the problem itself) crystal clear.
While I received some positive responses, among them from some senior academics, no one seems to have understood either the full scope or the gravity of the problem, which is not surprising, given the nature of the problem and difficulty mentioned. I had also sent more articles in several subsequent rounds of emailing, but was forced to stop because of some Gmail-related technical difficulties. But all articles were subsequently uploaded to this blog, which was created specifically for the purpose.
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****** Reasons for the choice of the six disciplines
mentioned: psychology and communication were included since
the essence of our problem is rooted in them both – one talks about one’s
inability to “reach another across gaps,” which is both psychological and
communicative in nature at one and the same time; education was chosen because the solution to our problem
resides with that discipline; sociology
and political science were
included since our problem has huge sociopolitical repercussions globally and
the analysis of such impacts falls within their domains; and philosophy was included because
it is the integrating discipline of human knowledge.
[It can be seen from the above paragraph that the six disciplines mentioned do not carry equal weight vis-à-vis the problem we have at hand; the essence of the problem being rooted in both psychology and communication, especially psychology – a glimpse into its power on human behaviour can be gleaned from the article on fundamentalism cited below. Thus any meaningful effort to deal with the problem without them, while self-satisfying, would be ineffective, also counterproductive, given the many misguided conclusions that are likely to arise from it – recall the basic insight of this blog (article #5). Moreover, it is critical that such efforts should not take the usual format of conferences with papers (the logic of this statement is in endnote #5 of article #13 labelled “World Basic Education System”) but should be based on face-to-face or online dialogue. It is also critical that the full group of would-be participants do not engage at the outset; the dynamics of interaction in any large group is not helpful for optimal discussion of a complex and unconventional topic as ours. Thus it should be explored initially among only a few people, psychologists included, and dialogue expanded as consensus is reached, followed by encompassing dialogue in the larger group. Finally, given that the domain that even psychologists are generally familiar with will be unlikely to cover the full spectrum of the issues raised on this blog (no one has raised them to date – those who find this assertion unprofessional may want to find evidence refuting it; further, as article #21 has reminded readers, this blog is a pioneering effort and pioneering works, by definition, do not have precedents and thus references), such an effort would be inevitably enhanced by my personal involvement, and I shall be glad to provide any needed input as required.]
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Those interested in my thoughts on religious fundamentalism (a topic of increasing global concern) will find a piece compiled from two excerpts of my older articles on my blog that addresses a local readership www.rifatafeefmaldives.blogspot.com titled “Thoughts on Religious Fundamentalism,” which dwells on the underlying causes of the phenomenon and thus will help address the root causes of the problem much more effectively – in lieu of the current knee-jerk reactions we see today on the global scene, particularly in Europe. You’ll also find an article I wrote on US policy on my complementary blog www.rifatafeefuspolicy.blogspot.com, which digs into some of the causes underlying misguided US adventurism abroad as well as its current tumultuous state, and suggests a better policy framework that will help address much of the current downsides and thus help raise the condition of its citizens – and those of the world at large, given its global impact – to a very much better status.