Sci&Tech History

Several months ago, I was involved in a project to observe relation between energy access and poverty. In my presentation, my closing question is should we reduce energy price so poor families can buy energy or we choose to use other programs to increase their welfare and as the consequence increase their ability to buy energy? The discussion run with a lot of debate and ends up with no clear conclusion. One point I want to highlight from the discussion is about calculation: how human calculate their energy needs and how this calculation effect their behavior.

Since The New Era, people in the villages is use to get cheap kerosene. The problem emerge when Indonesia become a net oil importer and kerosene production become very expensive. To reduce national subsidy for energy, especially kerosene, Indonesian government launched kerosene conversion into gas program. In several area, this program also supported with other energy diversification such as bio gas, wood, and coal. In general, the program is quite success, although it stimulate another problem: gas scarcity.

For me the problem is very clear, we found difficulties in counting and anticipating. Yes, I know, beside technicalities issues, political will and interest become one of the most difficult problem to solve. And yes, oil regime is still dominant. Kerosene stove, cars, machine were designed for oil. Moreover, there are differences from the business model emerged: centralized versus decentralized. How can we manage decentralization?

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One day me and my friends was talking about bio energy. I said it is very easy to use bio energy, all you have to do is eating rice and then you can use ‘becak’ as your transportation vehicle. Human body can transform the food you eat into energy. As simple as that. So what do you refer actually when talking about energy?

In physic, you learn about energy (power) as something related with force (F) and displacement (delta s). In daily life, people associate energy with kerosene, premium or diesel; things you need to transform something from one place to another or from raw to cooked. By seeing the purpose, energy problem is easier to be solved. Alternative energy or even alternative road. Cultural change: the way we consume things, reduce energy elasticity etc.

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How do we prevent our nature from destruction? Who own the nature? According to Gooetz and Jenkins (2004) whenever power is delegated by the many to the few in the interest of governability, a perpetual struggle emerge. To these perennial problems, globalization and political liberalization have added new ones. Powerful non-state actors capable of influencing the lives of ordinary people have multiplied, often act with imunity across borders and can evade the reach of conventional state-based accountability system. The question occur then is accountability of what and for whom?

In environment context, Arturo Escobar (1999) catogories 4 different formations as follows:

1. The globally centred perspective is shared by most NGOs from the North, and is based on representations of threat of biodiversity.
2. The sovereignty perspective, advocated by some governments, focuses on the ability of Southern countries to negotiate the terms of treaties and biodiversity conservation strategies.
3. The biodemocracy perspective focuses on democratic control of biological resources.
4. The cultural autonomy perspective is part of the critique of neoliberalism, and emphases different cultural approaches to nature and the need for an intercultural dialogue.

Knowing the four perspectives above, how can we take the nature into account? Can we support one country by abandoning the other?

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What do we need for a better life? Do we need reminder in our hand phone to warn us on several appointment, FoodPhone (helping to fight obesity), the HygieneGuard (motivating people to wash their hands after using the toilet), and the EconoMeter (helping people to drive their cars more economically)? If we do that, do we miss something in our humanity? Who have the right to decide whether the technology is good or bad? To sustain, industry need to make an innovation every day. So from their side, innovation in technology is a good thing. While as a user who heard new invention every day, see how the advertisement frame technology into an illustration of ideal life, technology seduce us to buy them.

I try to answer the questions above from the economic model. First, industry growth will reduce unemployment thus increase people welfare. Second, consumerism is needed to keep industry sustainability. But on the other hand, people consume technology as part of their life and don’t increase their humanity, i.e: share porn videos rather educational content. The complexity increase when analysis technology in the making. As human product, technology can not be separated from cultural context. Using Akrich term, there are in-scription in technology. The in-scription, in certain degrees, ‘force’ human to do something, and as consequence from human free-will, create an anti-program or move to something that never been calculated before.

Is it ethical to force people from development countries to use internet? Have we ever calculate the cultural implications?

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Does scientist has nationality? The Numb3rs serial I watched yesterday, triggered this question. In the episode, a colleague of Charlie Eppes (professor in Math) has been arrested since he sent a formula that can be used to alleviate poverty to Pakistan university. The conflict occur when the US federal agency arrest him with accusation sent a classified document abroad. The case makes me wonder, who own the science? Do we conduct research for the sake of human being or only for the institution/country we work with? Is it wrong to let somebody die in other part of the world by knowing that we don’t have any relative with them? A more fundamental question: are human fox for their kind or an angel?

Learning on competitiveness makes me think that growth occur with sacrificies. To support certain countries, other countries has to suffer. Natural exploitation, outsourcing, cheap labour are thing common in develop/under development countries, while high payment with safety standard can be found in the First World. An ironic part of this inequality is the international agencies role to make the situation stable. What should the development world do? Is it possible to make another part, rather following the development path proposed by the Fisrt countries and international agencies?

Maybe what I am saying is out of the title I proposed above. Scientist have their own world, legitimize by university rankings, number of publications, how often a scientist follows international conference etc. The culture imply unversality of science. In order to be well recognize in (international) scientific community you hav to shar your knowledge through papers (sometimes you even have to pay in order to publish your thought), but does the standard promote nation development? Does research conducted in the university promote/support national competitiveness?

I doubt it! Different situation, different initial condition, yet different impact.

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This morning I received an email on Indonesian president and vice president candidate polling. How the survey agency interpret the numbers is quite interesting. Using multistage random sampling covered 3000 respondents, the survey analyzed that from the respondents answers Indonesian most crucial issue is economic crisis. While questions that directly related with the candidate shows respectively integrity, empathy, competency, quick response, represent religion variety, combination of civil-military, represent local/cultural variety, and represent a certain party as criteria needed. The survey shows SBY-Boediono (71%) as the candidates that represent those criteria.

What interest me is how the survey deliver their findings. After number of the most favourite candidate based on the ideal criteria proposed, the presentation discussed about rumors of the most favourite candidate. The survey agency try to counter the rumors by prsenting another statistical data. For me, it is very tendencious

Anyway, it interesting to see how the numbers were being played. In rankings, in politics, in work… Well, we live in a competitive age I guess

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Why people always care about ranking? In one side, ranking can stimulate competitiveness, but in the other hand, how can something different be treated equally? In university ranking case for example, people always debating on how Indonesian universities can enter the top 100. Almost all of the resources was dedicated to improve the rankings, but by the end, protest was addressed due to high tuition fee. Maybe, I was too cynical. International ranking relate with national competitiveness. By assuming university as a knowledge producer, national competitiveness will increase when universities are productive in paper publications, pilot plant etc.

In some papers this relation seems true in the first world. University and industry have a good relation so knowledge and funding flow can run well, but in country like Indonesia, I kind of doubt it. It is true that a lot of scientist have relation with the industry but the flow is mostly human, rather money or knowledge (soft). I am thinking of a model that is more dynamic for Indonesia situation. Rather use the Korean model with their chaebol, I prefer using Taiwan with their Small-Medium Enterprises. How we choose our model will affect parameters used to evaluate the success/failure.

So why we care so much about rankings? Built your own rankings and be proud of it!

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Which one do you belief more, ctrl+c and ctrl+v or a typed paper based on what you have listened? I guess, everyone will choose the first choice. Along with neutrality, technology become tools that we trust more than human. Does our humanity also imply betrayal? Why technology is more reliable than human? In controlling, in forcing people what to do, in recording people absence?

As the abstract of of discussion and presentations on the topic of materiality, at St Hugh’s College (Oxford) on 13th May 2009, “Social scientists are developing ways of thinking about relationships to take into account our interaction with everyday objects. Expressions of sociality are being extended beyond the individual, to include aspects of personality cultivated by the experience of living in the material world around us. But how does the material world catalyse relationships and how do those relationships create the person? Are we enskilled by materiality, or governed by it? How do the properties of objects impose aspects of their ‘personality’ onto us? How can we characterise those relations if they aren’t simply ‘social? And how far can anthropology take these ideas and provide culturally-informed theories which may be useful to the social sciences generally?”

What do we refer by social, is it human versus non-human, material object versus mental? How can health, environmental issues take into account? Human, nature, non-human, mental, delusion?

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What do I actually hope from ICT? The question suddenly shocked me, I lost my orientation on ICT and development. I can show calculation on how open source software development can reduce national cost on ICT spending, but further, how can this development make change as stated over and over in ICT policy documents: to support democracy, equity and promote knowledge deployment. I’m lost. My involvement in ICT communty lately influence my subjectivity on how I see development.

I guess what interest me most is the way ICT can promote knowledge. How it can influence the way people act and behave. Using assumption I think therefor I am, it is knowledge that make people different from any other creature. But in it implementation, sometimes ICT is used to consumption purpose. Are we still fighting for the same purpose as the initial condition? How internet can help farmer to know the latest technology or invention in farming and break broker dominance? What kind of link needed? How can the inter-linkage is being promoted?

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What is Information and Communication Technology (ICT), really? The Millennium Declaration of the United Nations (UN) sees ICT as a tool having the potential to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the historic UN 2000 Summit (Zhao, 2008). Further, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated that unlike most other technologies, ICT are general-purpose technologies, bringing improvements in productivity and efficiency throughout the economy. As stated in ‘The Digital Divide Report: ICT Diffusion Index 2005’, “Since its conception, we have hypothesized that, while not a cure-all, the internet could raise the quality of life in the developing world” (UNCTAD, 2006).

Indonesia’s ICT development starts with the same point of view, “to support nation unity, improve people welfare and prosperity fairly and equally; support economic and government field; and improve Indonesia relationship with other countries” (Indonesian Law No. 36/1999). The Law was followed by Presidential Instruction numbered 6/2001 focused on decreasing digital divide between Indonesia and other countries, yet also gap between rural and urban area. The aim of ICT development was made clear, although it relation with people welfare and support economic field was still questioned.

In relation with democracy, it is important to ask how do we want implement ICT for democracy? Through an open database or limited access? I like to analog democracy with rating in television program. For me, restriction is still needed for children so they won’t access adult content. Further, how do we want to translate democracy concept into reality?

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