I Thought I Heard You Laughing congratulations ... ur as shallow as just abt any other girl out there.

there is no such thing as "love at first sight" unless you had some superpower to look into a persons personality and inner beauty with ur eyes...

The Power of Ideas and the Modern University my friend, clearly looks like uve been reading some philosophy from all ur blabbering abt SOK and other such technical terms.
the profs paper wasnt about philosophy, he put his ideas down in very simple words for everyone to understand.
u on the other hand have tried to use all these fancy terms and such and end up making no sense at all.

so please think twice before u start accusing ppl of being 'strongly anti religion and don’t miss any chance to let it and its followers let down even by producing this kind of shit'

respectfully offered.

The Power of Ideas and the Modern University Re: # 2

Good points.
Also, the good prof has not mentioned why any pakistani should pursue higher education? hes mainly talked about what initiatives the govt should take to promote it.

i think many pakis are confused and see no advantage watsoever to pursue higher education in the first place. all they are concerned with is getting a degree so they can get a job. it would be nice if mr. hoodhboy could give them a reason why.

Finally, I Am Becoming Stupider No More Re: # 10

Yes, the Erdos number is indeed the ultimate tribute to this great mathematician. However, I wished the focus of the article to be his life and not his accomplishments. For if it requires not an article but a book to cover those!

Finally, I Am Becoming Stupider No More Re: # 9

[``But allow me to add that the condition of giving up food and sleep to do mathematics 19 hours a day to excel in science or in any other field, though might sound sufficient, is by no means necessary. History is full of such contradicting exemplars.``]

Erdos actually had to take amphetamines to help him through it. In fact, once his best friend Ron Graham bet him 500$ Erdos couldnt go a month without the amphetamines. Erdos took the bet, and actually won it, at the end of which, he remarked: ``You may have proved to me that I am not an addict, however, you set mathematics back a month.``

Finally, I Am Becoming Stupider No More Re: # 4

[``I personally do not think it is because of the ``lack of resources`` but more due to the conditioning from childhood which gets drilled in and discourages independent thinking or new ways of looking at things.``]

That is very true. One of the abilities of Erdos was not just to solve a problem, but to really get down to it. He was never very happy when people brought pages long proofs to him. He was always looking for the shortest (though not the easiest) way out. For him no proof was complete unless it could be elegant enough to be included in ``The Book``.

The famous controversy over ``The Monty Hall Dillemma`` in which Erdos refused to agree with Marilyn vos Savant despite her repeated proofs on public television serves an excellent example. When asked why Erdos found it so hard to understand the proof, he remarked ``You`re telling me how. I wanna know why?!``

Finally, I Am Becoming Stupider No More Re: # 6

Yes Ms. Rozaiba, I absolutely agree with you. In fact, I think Erdos was one of the nastiest people ever (among geniuses I mean). He led an extremely parasitic life feeding off other people wherever he went. He often had no regard for their feelings and would ask odd favors of them, totally unabashed. After all, the guy called God the Supreme Fascist!

But still, today the world remembers the name of Paul Erdos, the man and not his mother or his friend Ronald Graham or countless others who helped him along the way. So in a sense this article really is a tribute not only to the man, but also to the society in which he lived. Imagine someone like him walking around from door to door in search of someone to talk mathematics with in a city like Lahore ... not a pleasant picture.

And thanks for the advice, I`ll get right on it!

Finally, I Am Becoming Stupider No More Re: #2
Thanx, I will!

Re: # 1

Yeah, thats true ... alot of them are quirky. But we also have ppl who have led extremely normal lives and have contributed on an almost equal level. An excellent example would be Newton, one of the founding fathers of modern science.

During his cataract operation, he talked to a friend throughout, discussing mathematics.

Yes, the last paragraph in fact does not make sense because the article takes a sudden change of stance from being narrative to being questioning. However, chowk has this habit of removing bit and pieces here and there which might seem trivial. It did so with the subheading of this article which said: ``Lessons we can learn from a genius``.

The last paragraph begs the reader to think about the article, make the connections and ask himself why countries in the third world dont make scientific progress ... is it because the omnipresent ``lack of resources`` argument or is there really something inherently wrong with the way we do science?

I could have stated the questions and answers explicitly but then that would just have been me imposing my opinions on the reader ... I think this way is much better, give the reader all of the facts and let him/her make the connections themselves.

And Dr. Shahid Hussain Bokhari Quits… Re: # 57

yeah, just more of the same bullshit coming out of ur mouth...

And Dr. Shahid Hussain Bokhari Quits… Re: # 54

Man ur full of lies and deceit. You`re a mechanic who repairs refurbished washing machines, does economy on the ``side``, and is a mediocre one at that.

Your wifes gone to kenya on business and u call ur sons assholes???

and uve graduated from a uni comparable to oxford???

Where exactly are u headed with all of this bs?

And Dr. Shahid Hussain Bokhari Quits… Re: # 33

Hmm ... this is interesting. This guy repairs refurbished washing machines. Dunno why they call them refurbished when its broke.

Economist on the side? What are you ... 15? I have a hundred rupees from my last 10 years` saving, if i save for a 100 more years, i can be rich!

And stop foulmouthing the good Dr. He requires a much better head and hand than yours to be properly criticized, if need be at all.

Respectfully offered.

And Dr. Shahid Hussain Bokhari Quits… Thank you Omer Cheema for bringing this very important piece of news to the attention of all the chowk members.
I am indeed deeply saddened by his resignation. I know a good deal about UET and I can tell you the only good thing that has ever happened to UET was Dr. Bokhari and now he`s gone.

Thanks Again.
Regards

Reforming Pakistan’s Universties -- I Hmm ... interesting article. Obviously in his capacity as professor at QAU for such a long time, Prof. HB has made some very valid observations.
So Pakistan`s higher education is crap, whats news in that???
Prof. HB, as much as I appreciate your views and concern for your country, I really think you`re on the wrong track here. Pakistan`s higher education is crap because its crap all the way from the very beginning. Our basic education system is flawed. Students who have always been discouraged to ask questions since their school days will not magically grow up to be good researchers, they will quite naturally do what theyre brought up to do ... cram notes and pass exams ... nothing more, nothing less.
Pakistan doesnt require alot of funds or universities or phd students. All it requires is a proper mindset on the part of both teachers and students at the very basic level.