In the Name of Progress

Gandhi's Admonition

Seven things that will destroy us, according to Gandhi

• Wealth without work
• Pleasure without conscience
• Knowledge without character
• Commerce without morality
• Science without humanity
• Worship without sacrifice
• Politics without principle

Suthichai on Myanmar and Vietnam
I just lift this from the web. It is definitely worth reading.. Anyway, I think it's time to write about education, which is one of the main motivations for this blog coming into being actually. Now that there's some clarity in Thai politics (this is not the of this drama yet though, just an intermission).

วันไหนพม่า เวียดนามเข้าสู่ประชาธิปไตย ศรีธนญชัยไทยจะพ่ายแพ้โดย สุทธิชัย หยุ่น นสพ. กรุงเทพธุรกิจ ฉบับวันที่ 20 กรกฎาคม 2549
ที่เขียนถึงเวียดนามมาหลายตอนในคอลัมน์นี้ ก็เพื่อจะให้คนไทยเราได้เห็นว่าเพื่อนบ้านหลายชาติของเรา กำลังเดินหน้าไปอย่างขึงขังและเข้มแข็ง ปรับจุดแข็งของเขาให้เข้มข้นขึ้น และวิเคราะห์ถึงจุดอ่อนของตัวเอง พร้อมกับจัดทัพให้สามารถสู้กับการแข่งขันในเวทีระหว่างประเทศได้อย่างเต็มที่มองเวียดนามแล้วอย่าลืมเหลือบไปดูพม่าด้วย เพราะผมเชื่อของผมจากการสังเกตและติดตามความเคลื่อนไหวของสองประเทศนี้ ว่าวันไหนเขาปรับระบบการปกครองให้ประชาชนมีส่วนร่วมมากขึ้น เมื่อไรที่เขาเข้าสู่ระบอบประชาธิปไตยอย่างมีหลักมีเกณฑ์ พลังแฝงของประชาชนของเขาจะสามารถแสดงออกอย่างเต็มที่มากกว่าที่เห็นอยู่ปัจจุบัน และเมื่อนั้นแหละ เขาจะก้าวกระโดดล้ำหน้าไทยเราไปอย่างน่าหวาดหวั่น
ทั้งเวียดนามและพม่ามี “คน” ที่ขยัน อึด บากบั่น มุ่งมั่น และพร้อมจะเรียนรู้สิ่งที่เขายอมรับว่าเขาไม่รู้
สังเกตไหมว่าคนไทยเราไม่เคยยอมรับว่าเราจะต้องเรียนรู้อะไรเพิ่มเติม สังเกตไหมว่าเด็กไทยเราถูก “โอ๋” และ “เอาใจ” จนทำอะไรเองไม่ค่อยจะเป็น
เดินทางไปเวียดนามและพม่าดูซิครับ จะเห็นว่าเยาวชนของเขาอ่านหนังสือมากกว่าเด็กบ้านเรา
สัมผัสคนเวียดนามและพม่าแล้วจะเห็นได้ชัดเจนว่า เขารู้ว่าเขาต้องเร่งความเร็ว ต้องสร้างพื้นฐานใหม่ และต้องเรียนรู้จากคนอื่นโดยไม่กลัวเสียหน้าหรืออับอายใคร
คนไทยเราต่างหากที่มี “ลีลา” และ “ฟอร์ม” มากเกินไป ความพยายามจะเรียนรู้ในสิ่งที่ไม่รู้นั้นถูกขัดขวางโดย “ความหน้าบาง” ของคนไทยเองที่ไม่กล้าถาม เพราะกลัวว่าการถามจะเป็นการ “แสดงความโง่” ของตัวเอง
ในขณะที่เพื่อนบ้านอย่างเวียดนามและพม่า เขาถามทุกเรื่องที่เขาอยากรู้ เพราะเขาไม่กลัวว่าใครจะคิดว่าเขาโง่ เพราะพอเขาถามแล้วได้คำตอบจากผู้ที่รู้ วันรุ่งขึ้นเขาก็กลายเป็นคนฉลาดอยู่แล้ว แต่ถ้าไม่ถาม หรือไม่กล้าถาม ก็ยังจะต้องโง่ต่อไป
คนไทยเราไม่กลัวโง่ แต่กลัวว่าคนอื่นจะคิดว่าเราโง่ และนี่แหละคือที่มาของความไม่ฉลาดของเราทั้งหลายทั้งปวง
การแสวงหาความรู้เพื่อสร้างให้เป็น “สังคมแห่งความรู้” หรือ knowledge-based society นั้นจะต้องเข้าใจปัญหาของการรู้และการไม่รู้เสียก่อน
ก่อนอื่นคนไทยส่วนใหญ่จะอยู่ในสภาพ I don’t know what I don’t know นั่นคือไม่รู้ว่าตัวเองไม่รู้อะไรบ้าง
นั่นคือความโง่ขั้นแรก
ต่อมาก็เป็น I don’t know what I already know ซึ่งแปลว่าไม่รู้ด้วยซ้ำว่าตัวเองรู้อะไรบ้าง
เป็นความโง่ขั้นที่สอง
และจะต้องแก้ไขด้วยการสร้างความฉลาดให้กับตัวเอง ด้วยการทำทุกอย่างเพื่อให้กลายเป็น I know what I don’t know
ซึ่งหมายความว่าเราต้องสร้างฐานความรู้ของเราจนถึงจุดที่เรารู้ว่าเราไม่รู้อะไรบ้าง
คนที่ไม่ยอมรับว่าตัวเองไม่รู้นั้นโง่อยู่แล้ว แต่คนที่ไม่รู้ว่าตัวเองไม่รู้อะไรบ้างนั้น เป็นความเขลาที่ให้อภัยได้ยาก
จากนั้นเราก็ต้องก้าวไปสู่ความฉลาดอีกระดับหนึ่ง นั่นคือ I know what I know ซึ่งแปลว่าเรารู้ว่าเรารู้อะไรบ้าง และต้องตอบตัวเองอย่างตรงไปตรงมาด้วยว่ารู้อะไรที่ว่ารู้ ไม่ใช่แกล้งฉลาดว่ารู้ทั้งๆ ที่ไม่รู้
มองเพื่อนบ้านแล้วเขารู้ว่าเขายังไม่รู้อะไร เขาจึงก้าวล่วงไปข้างหน้าอย่างรวดเร็ว
วันไหนที่รัฐบาลเผด็จการทหารพม่าถูกโค่น วันไหนที่รัฐบาลเวียดนามยอมรับว่าเสรีภาพของการแสดงความเห็นของประชาชน เป็นเรื่องสำคัญต่อการสร้างชาติ และวันไหนที่ทั้งพม่าและเวียดนามก้าวเข้าสู่เส้นทางแห่งการให้ภาคประชาชนเข้ามาเป็นส่วนสำคัญของกระบวนการประชาธิปไตย เมื่อนั้นพลังแห่งความขยัน มุ่งมั่นและเอกภาพ จะผลักดันให้เขาพุ่งพรวดพราดล้ำหน้าเราไปหลายขุม
เพราะเราอ้างความเป็นประชาธิปไตยเพียงเพื่อได้อำนาจมาสร้างความร่ำรวยให้กับคนเพียงกลุ่มเดียว
และคนปกครองบ้านเมืองเรานั้น ส่วนใหญ่เป็น “ศรีธนญชัย” ที่เข้าข่าย They think they know but they don’t know what they don’t know.
เสียกรุงครั้งหน้าจะไม่มีเสียงปืนใหญ่ข้างนอกรั้วกำแพงเตือนก่อนด้วยซ้ำไป มารู้อีกทีก็อยู่ใน blog ของอินเทอร์เน็ตแล้ว
ทราบแล้วเปลี่ยน.

Global Warming and Thailand

Clik here, for a collection of recent scientific findings digested into consumable form.

As any fairly educated person knows, there is this phenomenon called 'Global warming' which has garnered increasing interest from people all over the world. There has been much debate about a) whether the Global Warming is real and b) whether it is caused by human activity.

The consensus of most experts are that yes, the warming is real, and yes, human activity has something to do with it. Measurenents of temperature register a rise in recent decades which correlate with the rise in carbon dioxide concentration. Furthermore, the breakup of Antarctic ice shelf and Artic ice cap in recent years, and the spectacular glacial retreats worldwide are indisputable.

Of course, for the powerful interests that thrive on people burning fossils are none too pleased about it. These include the like of Exxon crowds and Bush, Cheney & Co.

The climate skeptics also count among them Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy, both of whom have penned novels with the villains being the 'eco-terrorists', hell-bent on radical measures to preserve the environment at the expense of humanity and their so-called 'way of life'.

Well, they are entitled to their opinions. But as we all know, the law of nature is immune to man's delusion. If the earth is warming up, it is going to do so regardless of your passionate belief otherwise. Your self-denial is not going to stop whatever climatic catastrophe that will unfold. Nature is impersonal.

Recent findings and others like this, suggest that climate change is irreversible in the next 100 years. So, we'll have to learn to live with it, like it or not.

In Thailand, being a small coutry, and late in the industrialization game, this issue is not being taken seriously. Sure, it will show up on Sci&Tech pages of newspaper here and there, and featured on documentaries from time to time, but it is really a curiosity rather than a pressing issue. In the best of time, it will be hard pressed for those people in charge to care about this long-term climate things, and now with the current political turmoil, fuhgedaboutit.

But like I said, the law of nature is immune to man's delusion. Ignoring the problem is probably not a good preventative measure. Natural catastrophe is an equal opportunity disruptor. It's going to hit you whether it's acknowledged or not.

So, what can we expect from this Global warming things. Well, there is currently no supercomputer powerful enough to predict exactly what is going to happen and when. Things that likely will happen are disruption and alteration of rainfall patterns. Another thing is the rise in sea level, which potentially can happened if the freshwater stored in the antarctic ice cap melts. If that happened, Bangkok is going to be in a big trouble. You can simulate it here, actually, maybe it will be a useful guide for real estate invesment.

This probably won't happen today or tomorrow. But characteristically, Thais seem to take the usual nonchalant attitude. They even build a spanking new airport in a swamp right by the sea, as if to taunt Mother Nature, "Flood this, if you can."

This is quite worrisome. Even if the probability of this happening may be slight (I think it's quite high actually), at least the people in charge, and the populace should be troubled about it, since Bangkok is by far the most important part of the country. But it looks like nobody really care, maybe they really think that this kind of calamity are reserved for those poor foreign folks we see in the news. It could never happen here, they would say.

Well, no one thought Tsunami could happen here either. Thais should consider themselves warned.

But then, you ask, what could we do? It looks like the global warming and unpredictable climate changes will be here with us for the foreseeable future. So, we will have to have some plans in place to deal with this. Bangkok will need to be protected from flood, probably with some permanent infrastructures, lots of canals, lakes, and pumping stations. Furthermore, it is time to decentralize the development from the Bangkok metro to other provincial center. Besides diversifying the risks, this will be a catalysts for further regional development. Disaster prevention planning should also be extended to the grassroots level. This means educating the local residents, and have local eyes and ears to spot potential trouble spots, for example, a silted-up drainage canal, potential mudslide risks, unrepaired levees, vulnerable evacuation routes, deforested watershed, and so on. It's a lot of work to do and it's impossible to list them all. But it's time to start.

I don't have high hope people will pay attention to this. Most likely, something terrible will have to happen first, and then people will selflessly devote themselves to alleviate the sufferings of others and so on, an outpouring of sympathy, etc. etc. That's virtuous and cute and all, yes. But I just hope we can just grow up and deal with this like any decent forward-looking society.

Check but not Checkmate
With the recent reshuffle of battlion commander in strategic units around Bangkok, it looks like Thaksin is being outmaneuvered for the moment. This recent round of posturing starts with the mention of "Poo Mi Barami" in front of top civil service officials a few weeks ago. Now it looks like yet another miscalculated move by Thaksin. Major armed forces figure, in particular, the head of the 3rd Army had come out strongly opposing him. With the crucial Bangkok infantry and cavalry units neutralized, it's like someone pull a rug from underneath Thaksin.

Thaksin is down but not out though. All alignment and realignment of loyalties in the Army no doubt have strategic values, but it's unclear whether it's actually going to be useful in a real struggle. I mean if this 'nuclear option' is used, it's going to be, well, hurting everyone dearly. So Thaksin may actually call the bluff.

This saga will not end too soon.

Updates!
Finally get through the editing of my Southwest trip. It's quite disorganized the way it looks though. The thing is I started the draft and didn't get to post it until much later, so the order is kinda messed up. Anyway... that's one thing to be careful of in my next posts.

I am consumed by work for the moment, so I haven't had time to update the post.
What's coming:
-Some more pictures and narratives of my Southwest trip
-Some more thoughts on Thai politics

I have started these as drafts, so hope I will get around to finish it soon.

By now, we are quite far in the interior of the Southwest. The four-corner, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico meet are less than an hour drive away. It was windy, cold, and the sun was setting, so we didn't venture there though. We had dinner at the Burger King. This BK is special in that it hosts the exhibit on the Navajo Windtalker, which was made in the movie with Nicholas Cage. The story behind it is that during World War II, the American recruited dozens of Navajo to work with the Marines as decoder/encoder of battlefield communication. As a result, the Japanese never manage to figure out the American code, whereas the Japanese code was deciphered by the American early on in the war.

We visited Monument Valley in the morning of the next day instead. The sky has cleared by then. The scenery is spectacular all around. Monument Valley is probably familiar to anyone who watched TV and read magazines. It is one of the quintessential icons of American West, cowboy, Indians, and the like. Many cowboy movies are filmed here. Movies and commercials are still being filmed here regularly.

After Monument Valley, we headed south, deep into the heart of the Navajo Nation. Most of the people we saw now are Navajo indians, who really looked not that different from Thai people. We visited the Canyon de Chelly National Monument, a deep canyon with numerous ancient Indian ruins.

After lunch, we were on the road again, making south for I-40. We stopped by Petrified Forest National Park. There, ancient conifers from 2-300 million years ago were turned into very colorful fossils. Tons of petrified logs were strewn over the badland lanscape of the Painted Desert. After visiting scenic sights along the park road, which include rock inscriptions or petroglyphs, of ancient Indains, we drove west through the high desert landscape, and the setting sun. We passed by Winslow, AZ of the Eagles' Take It Easy fame.

We stopped for the night in Flagstaff, AZ. Flagstaff is home to Northern Arizona University, and a gateway to Grand Canyon, so it's very convenient with all the restuarants, motels, and the like.

The following morning we detoured a little bit toward the world-famous meteor crater. I've read about, seen the picture of this crater, since elementary school, so I quite looked forward to it. Here's the panoramic view of the crater:

We did a brief tour of Wupatki National Monument, which has the ruins of the ancient Sinagua indian. Then it's time to head back to where we began, Las Vegas.

We made it to Las Vegas before Sunset, on an uneventful drive through the desert. We're so tired by now though, after nearly 1600 miles in 4 days, so we didn't venture out of the hotel.

That concludes our 5 days mad dash through the scenic American Southwest. It's fun, and the spectacular scenery like this aren't easy to find anywhere else in the world (You can try Xinjiang or the Sahara, but it's not for amatuers like us). It's also very educational to see how the balance between conservation, tourism, and utilization are being played out here.

Debunking Noble Savage
Spengler on Asia Times wrote an interesting piece here, attempting to debunk the postmodern cult of Noble Savage.

The Sky is Falling!

There's an Aesop fable about this, if I remember correctly, though it might not actually be an Aesop. Anyhow, the sky is not falling yet, but it looks like someone just turn up the heat on the world. Starting with Thailand, which has been steaming for a while, although it's more of a local problem. The Middle East is getting worse by the day, now that Israel decided to escalate. The current political dynamics in the US is also quite toxic. All that needs to plunge the world into a major chaos is a real disruption in crude shipment from middle east. The damage could be long-lasting.

If only people will get some sense, and start climbing down. That is not likely though, given the dynamics of fear, hatred, and mistrust. It takes extraordinary courage. Nothing short of the second coming of Christ, or the Buddha descending from Nirvana, or an Alien visitation (like in Contact), is going to decelerate this crisis.

In Indian cosmology, there's a cycle of destruction and rebirth. The cleansing fire by Shiva, and the creation by Brahma. In many ways, human history is such. The thing is it's not gonna be pleasant for the people who live in this time. Being a witness to history, may sound grand and all on the one hand, but then there's an ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting time."

Southwest Pictures, Part II
(click to see larger version)


This was actually my third time in a year in the part of the world, the Colorado Plateau. If you haven't been there, and you like either nature or photography, or the outdoor in general, you've gotta go there.

We flew into Las Vegas, Nevada, on an early morning flight. We got a rental car, stocked up on gallons of water and rations, and off we drove into Utah, land of the Mormons, to visit Zion National Park.

Zion is crowded. It is only three hours from Vegas, and half an hour from I-15, that's why. We took the shuttle to see various sights in the canyon floors, which didn't really do justice for what the park has to offer. Most of the really cool things in Zion require you to be there for the whole day, like hiking to the Angel's landing, or through the Zion Narrows, for example. Anyhow, this will have to be left for the future trip with more adventurous companions then (I'm traveling with my family this time).

After Zion, we sprinted to Bryce Canyon, got there in 2 hours. It was May, and hence just the start of the spring at such altitude, and there is life everywhere.

Bryce Canyon as shown below is a really spectacular place. Those delicate stone formations are called Hoo Doos. Part of reason for its origin is the very high altitude of Bryce, at close to 9,000 feet, on par with Doi Inthanon.

After an overnight stay, we hiked into the canyon in late morning. It is really an amazing experience. Down at the bottome of the canyon, the light there is deeply colorful. A particularly narrow section is called the 'Wall Street', presumably after the man-made concrete canyon in NYC. A Douglas fir at the end of the canyon provides a classic shot of inspriging photo. The hike is slightly less than 2 miles, so it was very doable for most people, as long as they pace themselves.

We finished Bryce Canyon around lunch time, so after an All-American fast food lunch, we sprinted off to Page, Arizona. Making good times, we decided to take the longer and more scenic route at the base of the Vermillion Cliffs, skirting the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

Making good time, we stopped by the Navajo Bridge, and drove to the river's edge at Lee's Ferry. Dip my hands in the Colorado river. The amazing geology of the Colorado river is such that, the river has cut a very deep canyon for hundred of miles, so there's really no way to cross the river, except at very few points like, at Lee's Ferry, where the Paria river joins the Colorado river. You can read about it here; it's quite fascinating.

Panoramic view of the Marble Canyon, from Navajo Bridge, looking toward Lee's Ferry. The Colorado River is hundred of feet below.

If you ever want to raft through the Grand Canyon, you will have to get on board at Lee's Ferry. Rafting the Grand Canyon takes about two weeks of time, and about $4,000 or more of money (per person), so it's really well beyond my disposable income level.

We stayed over night in Page, Arizona. A new city that owes its existence to the Glen Canyon Dam. The Colorado river is dammed here, which created Lake Powell. Lake Powell flooded the very very scenic Glen Canyon. I think it is by far the most spectaculay man-made lake in the world. I have been fortunate to experience it up close last Labor Day, and maybe I'll get to write about it later.

There's a lot of controversy surrounding the Glen Canyon dam. Some people wanted to tear down the dam to restore the natural, seasonal flow to the river. As you can see from the size of the dam, this is not a trivial undertaking.

The Colorado Plateau are made of layers of sedimentary rocks, like limestone, sandstone, clay, and so on. It was dry enough that there's not much plant growth there. It was wet enough, mostly by sudden and very localized burst of water from summer thunderstorm, that there is very significant erosion. One of the unique features of this part of the world is the slot canyon. There, a narrow crack in the rock, got widened and smoothed by flash flood, creating a narrow passage a few feet in width but tens to hundreds of feet in depth. Down there, the light is very spectacular, as you can see from the picture below.

By far the easiest slot canyons to get to are the Antelope canyon, just a few miles off of Page. It was on Navajo Indian reservation land, so we are required to hire a Navajo guide. I took lots of pictures there... though without the tripod, it is quite tricky. With my new D50, I can get good results hand-held using ISO1600, but the depth-of-field is not quite there.

We spent a fortune to visit both the upper and lower Antelope canyons. By the time, we're done, a blowing sandstorm was in full force. We retreated into Page, for a KFC lunch, and drove to Kayenta, Arizona, another 100 miles, through drifting sands, dark skies, and rolling tumbleweeds.... very exciting.

We checked into the motel in Kayenta, and decided to wait out the storm. Originally we planned to go to the Monument Valley to see the sunset there, but by the time the storm has passed, the park has already closed. So, we kept on driving a little more, crossing the San Juan river to see the Goosenecks.

Here's what it means to be 'meandering'. The river travels along a path of 6 miles, but the actual displacement is only 1 mile.

Pictures from my American Southwest Roadtrip, Part I

The view of Bryce Canyon from Inspiration Point



Douglas Fir reaching for the sky in the "Wall Street" section of Bryce Canyon:



Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly National Monument:

On Thai Politics, Part I

Thai politics is in a state of serious flux lately. What's unfolding there is so complicated that I can probably safely say that nobody knows what really is going on, save for the very few key players.

I have been following the news since well before the breakout of protests in late 2005. In a way, I'm not too surprised by the current events; I'm just surprised by its timing. I didn't expect events to come to a head this soon. 3 or 4 years in the future, maybe, but certainly not 2006.

I have been observing things with as little passion as I could manage, more in the spirit of a historian examining history-in-the-making, or like an anthropologist observing warfare between two (or three) tribes--which I think is a pretty apt description. I'm trying to see things from a big-picture frame of reference, with awareness of the historical context. As such, I try to not to side with any side. I didn't even register to vote.

To quote Thomas Paine, "these are the time that try men's souls." To most Thais, the hitherto harmonious Thai society are being torn asunder by either i) systematic corruption and subversion of the constitution and supposedly neutral institutions, ii) power grab by media baron and opportunistic politicians who have been on the losing side under Thaksin, iii) all of the above. These are, I think, a fair approximation of the mentality of people on both sides of the political divides. People who have read more widely and critically certainly will have a more nuanced view, but they, like me, don't really count in this churning sea of confusion. Divisiveness is the norm now. And ugly things are perpetrated by both sides, which is sad, but again, not surprising.

Why is it not surprising? Many ugly aspects of Thai society which are brought out to the fore in this conflict have been apparent well beforehand. Corruption, check. Conflict of interest, check. Media sensationalism, check. Gullibility, check. Vulgarity, check. The list goes on...

This conflict really is a test. A test of whether Thais, as a society, can deal with popular democracy and all the responsibilities it crucially entails, whether Thais can tolerate dissent and differences of opinion and engage one another constructively, whether Thais can collectively transcend short-term easy gains in order for a more secure and enduring future.

I'm worried that we will fail. But me worrying alone can't really change things for the better. I doubt that things can really be changed in any meaningful way for the better now. "A house divided against itself, cannot stand," so said Lincoln. It will get worse before it gets better. The question is, how much worse. Maybe the only thing we can do is damage control.

Articles

Here's a link to an article on SciDev.net Looks interesting, I'll find time to read it later.

Here I am, publishing my first so-called Blog. I have had personal web pages in one form or another well before this blog revolution, and though I have heard of blog for a long time, I didn't really take it seriously at first. Until recently....

The impact of the blogging movement have been quite substantial these days. It is amazing how a relatively simple facilitation can cause an orders-of-magnitude changes. In the heyday of geocities , many of hte elements of the modern blog is already present. One can already do many of the things one do on the blog these days, but the resulting homepages clearly had an amateurish look, and it takes some knowledge of HTML and Javascript to make a decent looking and engaging space. This effect of technology in speeding up changes by lowering the barrier of entry just a little bit is intriguing to me...

Which leads to my intention for this blog... first is its personal utility to me, in helping in thoughts-formation and articulation, as well as serving as a depository for my ideas or links to other interesting things/people on the web. Secondly, some people may find these ideas/information useful,.. that is, if I get to keep up with posting regularly.. we shall see.