Headline Nov 14, 2015/ ''' SENSE & FUTURE : OF THIS DAMN COMPLEX WORLD '''

''' SENSE & FUTURE : 

OF THIS DAMN COMPLEX WORLD '''

NOWHERE BETTER EPITOMIZES THE OPEN DEBATE AND............. free expression  that are such cherished parts of American academia and American life-

Than the campus quad. So the sight of protesters at the  University of Missouri harassing and blocking  journalists was startling, to say the least.

The incident was especially troubling since a rising tide of student activism, admirable in many respects,   seems increasingly infected by strain of intolerance and dissenting views, opined the Washington Post.

''Hey hey....ho ho,   reporters have got to go.'' was the chant. Concurrently, in Pakistan, the first proud and temporary  ''Historic Host'' of  !WOW!  -the World Students Society,........... 

OPEN LETTER TO [PAKISTANI] STUDENTS: 

SIR : My dears students, remember these words of your coach and teacher. The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. The great aim of education is not knowledge but ACTION.

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. Only the educated are free. An educational system is not worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but does not teach them how to make a life.

Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed large for education.

*We must make our choice; we cannot have both. Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age? We need to re-educate ourselves, our parents and elders*.

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think.

Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to make something extraordinary  happen. We have very strategic challenges that we need to address in Pakistan and we have to complete this task within 10 years.

These challenges include establishing a united Pakistani nation, creating a psychologically liberated, secure and developed society, fostering and developing a mature democratic society.

Establishing a fully moral and ethical society, ensuring an economically just society, in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation, establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient.

*If the blind lead the blind, both she fall in the ditch.* To achieve our goal I propose the three R's formula: Re-educate, Reform and Revive. Re-educate our families, our parents, our community and our whole country. 

Through re-education we will see social and judicial reforms that will eventually revive our nation, our economy and our destiny.

So, the happenings at the University of Missouri and Yale, : Obstruction of free speech and the above letter from Assistant Professor Saad Asad should get not only the Pakistani students, but the students the world over to stop to ponder.

Observing all this has only reinforced my thinking that  ''books on how to think'' should be required reading in high schools across the world.

''Mindware : Tools for Smart Thinking,''  by psychologist Richard E. Nisbett, and ''Superforcasting : The Art and Science of Prediction,'' by the psychologist Philip E.Tetlock and the journalist Dan Gardner, are two such books.    

The six sections of  ''Mindware''  offer a variety of perspectives on how we think : the role of the unconscious in our judgements and decisions; the lessons of behavioural economics.

The principles of probability and statistics; recommendations for how to test your ideas; and two sections on reasoning and and the nature of knowledge.

Mr Richard E. Nisbett is famous for his groundbreaking work in several areas of psychology. Malcolm Gladwell called him ''the most influential thinker in my life. So a book from Mr Nisbett on this important subject is bound to be met with high expectations.

The reviewers verdict is mixed. If you are looking for a survey of the topics covered in the book's six sections, this is a good one. You will learn about our overzealousness to see patterns, our hindsight bias, our loss aversion, the illusions of randomness, and the importance of scientific method.

But there's isn't much in  ''Mindware''  that is new, and if you've read some of the many recent books on the unconscious, randomness, decision making and and pop economics, then the material covered here will be familiar to you. 

Mr Nisbett writes clearly, and he takes his time with difficult concepts ranging from multiple regression [which answers the question, Gibe many variables that contribute to some outcome, which is the effect of each?] to dialectical reasoning { a method of argument for resolving opposing views in order to establish truth}.

But the dry tone of the book, along with Mr.Nisbett's practice of telling us what he is going to say and reiterating what he has just said, gives ''Mindware'' a textbook feel.

The Honour and Serving of the latest '' Educational Operational Research'' continues. Thank you for reading and sharing forward.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society:

''' Students And Future '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless