The Harvard controversy

The transcript of the Harvard President Lawrence Summers' controversial speech at the NBER conference: Remarks at NBER Conference on Diversifying the Science & Engineering Workforce.

Independent of the social sciences research on these issues that contradict or support his comments, I continue to wonder why the dichotomous Nature-Nurture debate persists so doggedly. As Susan Oyama in The ontogeny of information observes, this either-or idea of causality is like a boa constrictor where half-hearted attempts to get away from it only results in a tightening of the coils. Every time the words "innate", "genetic" (i.e. the Nature camp), "social structure", "culture" (i.e. the Nurture camp) are used as broad explanatory devices, it is a warning of the lurking boa constrictor that is waiting to wrap us up in its coils.

Salaam Bombay! (1988)

I saw the film Salaam Bombay!(1988) last night. This falls into the category of films that the only satisfactory descriptor is "unrelenting". Even though it came out in 1988 to rave reviews, I could never get myself to go see it due to that undescribable "fear"(?) of what it would do to me. (I must admit that I am still judiciously avoiding Hotel Rwanda for that reason). But last night I stumbled on it while channel surfing and ended up watching it with predictable consequences.

It would not do justice to this film to discuss the plot devices and why and how we are lead to associate with certain characters and dislike others; or pass judgement on whether the movie delivers or not - the film speaks for itself. It is a deeply touching worldview of a street urchin, Chaipu, who lives in the midst of the cruel world of poverty, hardship, hunger, prostitution and drugs in the filthy underbelly of Mumbai (Bombay). But this is not a documentary in disguise but has a genuine story with complex personalities, rather than being objects to be sympathized with or despised.

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An other film I saw recently (and vastly different from Salaam Bombay!), was In Good Company(2004) - which turned out to be surprisingly taut and enjoyable.