Market Leaders, Regulators Join for “Meaningful Broadband”
Chulalongkorn University, February 24, 2009
In the first alliance of its kind, Thailand’s top mobile executives today joined an alliance with the country’s telecommunications regulators, intent on paving the way for “meaningful” broadband” which they think could boost and transform the country’s economy.
Though new data for OECD (oecd.org) and elsewhere suggests that broadband by itself stimulates economies, the coalition aims to enhance this benefit through by formulating regulatory innovations, public-private partnerships, new economic modeling and innovations in software design.
“Now that legal hurdles are being removed, there is an urgent need for ICT stakeholders in Thailand to pool research efforts and formulate policies and practices that will make broadband of optimal benefit for all Thais.” said Prof Setaporn Kuseepitak of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC.) Besides NTC, also joining the Meaningful Broadband Working Group were chairmen and CEOs of the country’s powerful telecommunications operating companies including AIS, DTAC, True Corp., and CAT. (Participation of TOT
was pending confirmation as of Feb 23.)
The announcement of the new alliance was made at Chulaongkorn University in an event sponsored today by Nokia Siemens Network and hosted by the chairman of the university’s governing board, Dr. Charas Suwanwela. The Working Group was founded by the
University’s Center for Ethics of Science and Technology
(CEST.)
“Building on the approach used by the Obama Administration in the United States, the coalition puts high-speed internet in a starring role in a model of economic stimulus. But the approach goes further by also seeking to do so in a way that preserve Thai values and fosters a
‘sufficiency economy,’,” said University of Washington’s Craig Warren Smith, one of the founders of the worldwide movement to close Digital Divide. He is now a visiting professor at Chulalongkorn based at the CEST where he is helping to organize the Working Group.
“Telecommunications has emerged as the leading growth sector in Thailand’s economy. This effort hopes to find new ways to leverage the industry’s strength for the benefit of all Thais,” said Professor Prasit Prapinmongkalkarn, an NTC Commissioner.
“ We are delighted to support this initiative," said Mr. Ricky Corker, Country Director of Nokia Siemens Networks Thailand. "As a leading global enabler of telecommunications services, we're
committed to building a sustainable future for broadband. With the kind of cooperation expressed by the Working Group, Thailand can emerge as a global innovator in broadband development," he added.
“The working group can help us to consider how broadband can boost human resources in the new Thai economy,” said Mr. Sathit Limpongan, Chairman of CAT, who doubles as Thailand’s Deputy Finance Minister. Last week, the Finance Ministry announced a 1.9 trillion
baht stimulus plan that incorporates investments in broadband infrastructure.
Being meaningful means being affordable,” said DTAC CEO Tore Johnsen. “We are keen to share our experiences in extending broadband to every Thai citizen no matter where they work or live.”
“Content is a driver of broadband,” said Supachai Chearavonont President and CEO of True Corp, a diversified media corporation that is also the third largest mobile company. “Though this collaborative effort we seek a way to extend access to interactive learning for even the most low-income Thais.”
“Six years ago, the Kingdom of Thailand became a world innovator by building a public/private alliance for the first national low-cost PC project. Now, with broadband, stakeholders can go so much further,” said Andrew McBean, former country director of Microsoft-Thailand.
The next step for the Working Group, say its members, is to invite the Kingdom of Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit to join a discussion about how broadband could assist the policy goals of a
whole range of ministries.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Report of the Symposium on "Buddhism ...
Report of the Symposium on "Buddhism in German Philosophy and Literature"
Chulalongkorn University
February 6 - 7, 2009
Nineteenth century Germany saw an influx of ideas flowing in from the East. It is well known that thinkers such as Schopenhauer in the early period of the century was influenced by Indian philosophies such as Buddhism and Hinduism, as new translations became available in European languages or key canonical texts such as many Buddhist sutras and the Bhagavadgita. Thus the age was an important fermentation period, one that profoundly changed the outlook of many aspects of European culture, most notably perhaps in Germany itself. Through Schopenhauer the ideas received from the East percolated through thinkers and writers as diverse as Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, and perhaps a little surprisingly Bertold Brecht.
The Symposium on "Buddhism German Philosophy and Literature: An Intercultural Dialogue" was held at the campus of Chulalongkorn University from February 6 to 7, 2009, and it was quite well attended, considering that there are many events in the university and the specific nature of the topic. The meeting was supported by the Goethe-Institut in Bangkok, and was jointly organized by the Center for European Studies and Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, both belonging to Chulalongkorn University, and the Thousand Stars Foundation, an independent non-profit focusing on research and other activities in Buddhism in Thailand.
After the opening the ceremony presided by Prof. Dr. Pirom Kamolratanakul, President of the university, the session in the morning of Friday, 6 February began with a brief talk on "Remarks on Philology and Buddhist Studies, with Special Reference to German Philology and Manuscript Studies" by Dr. Peter Skilling. He provided the audience with some details about German contribution of scholarship on Buddhist studies. The next paper was by Prof. Volker Mertens on "Buddhism in the European Middle Ages," where he talked about the reception of Buddhist ideas through Europeans who get the opportunity for contact with the East during the 11th century when the Mongols were in their ascendancy. This was perhaps the first record of European contact with Buddhism (not counting the Romans or the Greeks, where the evidence was not clear).
Then the papers by Prof. Dr. Pornsan Watananguhn and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinrich Detering investigated the influences and the reception of Buddhist ideas in German literature. The authors discussed were Karl Gjellerup, the Danish writer whose work "The Pilgrim Kamanita" was very well known in Thaiand through translation, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, and Bertold Brecht. The reception of Buddhism by these writers was both positive and negative. As these writers became aware of Buddhist ideas, they gave their own responses, which were reflected in their writings. Thomas Mann, for example, was deeply influenced by Schopenhauer, and the idea of the unknowable will and the Buddhist conception of suffering figures prominently in the discussion during the Symposium.
Three more papers dealed with Buddhist influences in German literature, namely those by Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Dieter Borschmeyer, who focused on Mann's "Die vertauschten Köpfe," and Dr. Ronald Perlwitz, who talked about the writer Friedrich Rückkert and his views on Buddhism. Finally, Prof. Dr. Adrian Hsia talked about Hermann Hesse and his "transcultural reception" blending Buddhism, Hinduism, Protestantism and Catholicism together.
Then there were papers by Thai philosophers, starting with a keynote address by Prof. Preecha Changkwanyuen, whose paper was entitled "Exchange of Religious Cultures between East and West." Then Prof. Dr. Somparn Promta talked about "Literature in Buddhist Perspective," which though it did not touch upon the question of reception of Buddhism in German culture directly, did in fact contribute significantly through his analysis of literature according to Buddhism. Afterwards there were two more papers, by Dr. Soraj Hongladarom and Dr. Theptawee Chokevasin, whose topics were "Schopenhauer's Metaphysics of the Will and Nagarjuna's View on Emptiness" and "Heideggian and Theravada Buddhist View on the Motility of Life" respectively. Dr. Soraj's paper was a detailed analysis of Schopenhauer's argument compared with the Buddhist master Nagarjuna. The topic was what was actually meant by "nothing."
The Symposium ended with a session where everybody convened and gave their viewpoints on a variety of topics. Not surprisingly the topics of Buddhist and Christian dialogs dominated the discussion. The participants talked about how Buddhism and Christianity could be reconciled, and how much of the ideas of pantheism and the philosophy of Spinoza (which, by the way, perhaps found its way into Schopenhauer) could be found in these literary works.
That was to be expected from an academic meeting. The participants in any case agreed that there should be a second meeting after this one. The topic is far too important and too rich just to let this particular event pass by without any further action.
Chulalongkorn University
February 6 - 7, 2009
Nineteenth century Germany saw an influx of ideas flowing in from the East. It is well known that thinkers such as Schopenhauer in the early period of the century was influenced by Indian philosophies such as Buddhism and Hinduism, as new translations became available in European languages or key canonical texts such as many Buddhist sutras and the Bhagavadgita. Thus the age was an important fermentation period, one that profoundly changed the outlook of many aspects of European culture, most notably perhaps in Germany itself. Through Schopenhauer the ideas received from the East percolated through thinkers and writers as diverse as Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, and perhaps a little surprisingly Bertold Brecht.
The Symposium on "Buddhism German Philosophy and Literature: An Intercultural Dialogue" was held at the campus of Chulalongkorn University from February 6 to 7, 2009, and it was quite well attended, considering that there are many events in the university and the specific nature of the topic. The meeting was supported by the Goethe-Institut in Bangkok, and was jointly organized by the Center for European Studies and Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, both belonging to Chulalongkorn University, and the Thousand Stars Foundation, an independent non-profit focusing on research and other activities in Buddhism in Thailand.
After the opening the ceremony presided by Prof. Dr. Pirom Kamolratanakul, President of the university, the session in the morning of Friday, 6 February began with a brief talk on "Remarks on Philology and Buddhist Studies, with Special Reference to German Philology and Manuscript Studies" by Dr. Peter Skilling. He provided the audience with some details about German contribution of scholarship on Buddhist studies. The next paper was by Prof. Volker Mertens on "Buddhism in the European Middle Ages," where he talked about the reception of Buddhist ideas through Europeans who get the opportunity for contact with the East during the 11th century when the Mongols were in their ascendancy. This was perhaps the first record of European contact with Buddhism (not counting the Romans or the Greeks, where the evidence was not clear).
Then the papers by Prof. Dr. Pornsan Watananguhn and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinrich Detering investigated the influences and the reception of Buddhist ideas in German literature. The authors discussed were Karl Gjellerup, the Danish writer whose work "The Pilgrim Kamanita" was very well known in Thaiand through translation, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, and Bertold Brecht. The reception of Buddhism by these writers was both positive and negative. As these writers became aware of Buddhist ideas, they gave their own responses, which were reflected in their writings. Thomas Mann, for example, was deeply influenced by Schopenhauer, and the idea of the unknowable will and the Buddhist conception of suffering figures prominently in the discussion during the Symposium.
Three more papers dealed with Buddhist influences in German literature, namely those by Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Dieter Borschmeyer, who focused on Mann's "Die vertauschten Köpfe," and Dr. Ronald Perlwitz, who talked about the writer Friedrich Rückkert and his views on Buddhism. Finally, Prof. Dr. Adrian Hsia talked about Hermann Hesse and his "transcultural reception" blending Buddhism, Hinduism, Protestantism and Catholicism together.
Then there were papers by Thai philosophers, starting with a keynote address by Prof. Preecha Changkwanyuen, whose paper was entitled "Exchange of Religious Cultures between East and West." Then Prof. Dr. Somparn Promta talked about "Literature in Buddhist Perspective," which though it did not touch upon the question of reception of Buddhism in German culture directly, did in fact contribute significantly through his analysis of literature according to Buddhism. Afterwards there were two more papers, by Dr. Soraj Hongladarom and Dr. Theptawee Chokevasin, whose topics were "Schopenhauer's Metaphysics of the Will and Nagarjuna's View on Emptiness" and "Heideggian and Theravada Buddhist View on the Motility of Life" respectively. Dr. Soraj's paper was a detailed analysis of Schopenhauer's argument compared with the Buddhist master Nagarjuna. The topic was what was actually meant by "nothing."
The Symposium ended with a session where everybody convened and gave their viewpoints on a variety of topics. Not surprisingly the topics of Buddhist and Christian dialogs dominated the discussion. The participants talked about how Buddhism and Christianity could be reconciled, and how much of the ideas of pantheism and the philosophy of Spinoza (which, by the way, perhaps found its way into Schopenhauer) could be found in these literary works.
That was to be expected from an academic meeting. The participants in any case agreed that there should be a second meeting after this one. The topic is far too important and too rich just to let this particular event pass by without any further action.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Meaningful Broadband
MEANINGFUL BROADBAND
A Launch event for the Centre for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University (by invitation only)
Time: 24 February 2009, 9.00 am. – 2.00 pm.
Venue: Room 105, Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
Agenda:
9.15 am. Opening by host Dr. Charas Suwanwela, Chairman of Governing Board, Chulalongkorn University
Overview of the day's proceedings, Prof. Soraj Hongladarom,
Director, Center for Ethics of Science and Technology
9.20 am. Keynote from Prime Minister Hon. Abhisit Vijjajiva: Towards a New Thai Economy and Workforce: Finding the Optimal Role of Broadband (to be confirmed)
A Response to the Prime Minister’s Remarks on Behalf of the Private Sector: Mr.Ricky Corker, Director Nokia Siemens Networks
9.40 am. What is Meaningful Broadband; Towards a "Compact" linking
Public and Private Sectors. Prof Craig Warren Smith, Senior Advisor, Human Interface Technology Laboratory, University of Washington:Craig Warren Smith
10.00 am.- 12.00 noon Presentation: Towards a "Compact" between public, private and academic sectors.
12.00 – 12.30 p.m. Conclusion and press conference
12.30 – 13.30 p.m. Lunch with video presentation of interactive learning with children from KMUTT model school
A Launch event for the Centre for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University (by invitation only)
Time: 24 February 2009, 9.00 am. – 2.00 pm.
Venue: Room 105, Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
Agenda:
9.15 am. Opening by host Dr. Charas Suwanwela, Chairman of Governing Board, Chulalongkorn University
Overview of the day's proceedings, Prof. Soraj Hongladarom,
Director, Center for Ethics of Science and Technology
9.20 am. Keynote from Prime Minister Hon. Abhisit Vijjajiva: Towards a New Thai Economy and Workforce: Finding the Optimal Role of Broadband (to be confirmed)
A Response to the Prime Minister’s Remarks on Behalf of the Private Sector: Mr.Ricky Corker, Director Nokia Siemens Networks
9.40 am. What is Meaningful Broadband; Towards a "Compact" linking
Public and Private Sectors. Prof Craig Warren Smith, Senior Advisor, Human Interface Technology Laboratory, University of Washington:Craig Warren Smith
10.00 am.- 12.00 noon Presentation: Towards a "Compact" between public, private and academic sectors.
- Towards a Meaningful Regulations: Prof. Sethaporn Cusripitck (NTC Commissioner)
- Towards the Broadband-enabled Reform of Basic Education : Dr.Paron Isarasena, Commission on Basic Education, Ministry of Education
12.00 – 12.30 p.m. Conclusion and press conference
12.30 – 13.30 p.m. Lunch with video presentation of interactive learning with children from KMUTT model school
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Concept Paper
MEANINGFUL BROADBAND
A By-Invitation-Only Seminar at Chulalongkorn University, February 24, 2009
Meaningful Broadband, a half day event and press conference hosted by Chulalongkorn University on February 24, 2009, is designed for a select group of 40 leading ICT stakeholders from government, business and academic sectors in Thailand. The event, which presents a model for the optimal deployment of high-speed internet in ASEAN countries, is sponsored by the Nokia Siemens Network.
Held at a time when US President Obama has given a starring role to high-speed internet as a factor in US economic stimulus, the event on February 24 will consider how a “broadband ecosystem” might trigger benefits to low-income Thais as well as the Thai citizenry as a whole. Drawing upon an innovative model called Meaningful Broadband that is being prepared for deployment in Indonesia, the meeting will consider how high-speed internet could have meaningful impacts in Thailand as well.
The core concept of Meaningful Broadband is that it does not refer to a single device or a single software application. Rather it refers to the formulation of a complex national “ecosystem” of products and services with four aspects: 1) backbone, 2) Last Mile, 3) devices, and 4) content. In this model the term, “meaningful" has three aspects: usable, affordable and empowering. By operationalizing this idea, regulators and technology-developers could gain the criteria needed to measure the impact of broadband technologies on citizens.
Interwoven and reinforced with public policy and new investments,this ecosystem could intertwine public and private sectors together into new strategic alliances anchored by public-private partnerships and reinforced by regulatory innovations. As it turns out, the academic sector has an important stake in the successful deployment of broadband and is itself a potential force in every aspect of the ecosystem.
In the background of this meeting is an important innovation that has emerged from the young Obama Administration in the US. Broadband received $9 billion in federal investments and, more importantly, an additional $120 billion in human-resources development investments were allocated by US Congress so that the educational and workforce-development systems could be transformed through broadband.
Prior to the US example, most governments have assumed that human-resources infrastructure and technology investments would only pay off in the long-term. But the advocates for this approach in the US have argued that the stimulus to the economy and the payoff in jobs could be immediate. Could the same logic work for Thailand?
To set the context for this discussion, the gathering will consider a model for the formulation of “meaningful” broadband ecosystems, formulated by Prof Craig Warren Smith, who first began working with the Kingdom of Thailand when he was professor of Science and Technology Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. This year he is in residence at Chulalongkorn University’s Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and serves as an organizer of the February 24 session.
Prime Minister Abhisit himself has been invited to offer his own views on this topic and we have also invited the chairman of Thailand’s regulatory agency, National Telecommunications Commission to explain NTC’s framework for interacting with the private sector regarding broadband. Finally, the gathering will announce a research agenda for assessing these options and considering a path forward.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Nanoethics Asia (NEA2009)
An International Workshop
Nanoethics Asia (NEA2009)
August 26 - 28, 2009, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
The Nanoethics Research Group, the Center for Innovative Nanotechnology, and the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University, will organize an international workshop on "Nanoethics Asia" (NEA2009). The purpose of the Workshop is to stimulate and gather ground breaking research in all areas related to the ethical, social, cultural, and legal implications of what is broadly construed as "nanotechnology, " especially as these implications arise from within the contexts of Asia and other non-Western regions.
Call for Abstracts
Those who are interested in participating in the Workshop should submit an abstract of between 150 to 300 words to Mr Parkpume Vanichaka at parkpume@gmail. com. Abstracts are accepted for considerations which consider the ethical, legal, social, cultural aspects of nanotechnology as well as other related technologies. Abstracts dealing with these issues in relation to the context of the developing country (not only in Asia) are especially welcome.
The following topics would be particularly suitable for the Workshop, though the list is not exhaustive:
Timeline
Keynote Speaker
Prof. John Weckert, Charles Sturt University, Australia and Editor-in-Chief, Nanoethics: Ethics for Technologies that Converge at the Nanoscale.
Registration
The Workshop is sponsored in part by the Center for Innovative Nanotechnology, Chulalongkorn University. That is a reason why we charge no registration fees. However, potential participants are requested for find their own funding for travelling and accommodation while in Thailand. We can help with reserving a room and securing discount at participating hotels and guest houses, especially Sasa International House, which is a small hotel on campus. Lunches, all breaks and the conference material will be provided free of charge to all participants.
Website: http://www.stc. arts.chula. ac.th/NEA2009/
Nanoethics Asia (NEA2009)
August 26 - 28, 2009, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
The Nanoethics Research Group, the Center for Innovative Nanotechnology, and the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University, will organize an international workshop on "Nanoethics Asia" (NEA2009). The purpose of the Workshop is to stimulate and gather ground breaking research in all areas related to the ethical, social, cultural, and legal implications of what is broadly construed as "nanotechnology, " especially as these implications arise from within the contexts of Asia and other non-Western regions.
Call for Abstracts
Those who are interested in participating in the Workshop should submit an abstract of between 150 to 300 words to Mr Parkpume Vanichaka at parkpume@gmail. com. Abstracts are accepted for considerations which consider the ethical, legal, social, cultural aspects of nanotechnology as well as other related technologies. Abstracts dealing with these issues in relation to the context of the developing country (not only in Asia) are especially welcome.
The following topics would be particularly suitable for the Workshop, though the list is not exhaustive:
- Human enhancement through nanotechnology
- Life extension
- Nanomedicine
- Safety issues arising from nanomaterial
- Nanotechnology for development
- Neuroethics
- Nanotoxicity
- Legal and regulatory issues
Timeline
- Last date for submission of abstract: 28 March 2009
- Notification of Acceptance: 30 April 2009
- Submission of full paper: 15 July 2009
- Workshop date: 26 – 28 August 2009
Keynote Speaker
Prof. John Weckert, Charles Sturt University, Australia and Editor-in-Chief, Nanoethics: Ethics for Technologies that Converge at the Nanoscale.
Registration
The Workshop is sponsored in part by the Center for Innovative Nanotechnology, Chulalongkorn University. That is a reason why we charge no registration fees. However, potential participants are requested for find their own funding for travelling and accommodation while in Thailand. We can help with reserving a room and securing discount at participating hotels and guest houses, especially Sasa International House, which is a small hotel on campus. Lunches, all breaks and the conference material will be provided free of charge to all participants.
Website: http://www.stc. arts.chula. ac.th/NEA2009/
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Buddhism in German Philosophy and Literature
*Free to the public*
Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University
and
Goethe-Institut Bangkok
in cooperation with
Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and Thousand Stars Foundation
organise
International Symposium
“Buddhism in German Philosophy and Literature: An Intercultural Dialogue”
6 – 7 February 2009
Room 105, Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University
Programme
Friday 6 February 2009
8.00 – 8.45 Registration
8.45 – 09.15 Asst. Prof. Dr. Charit Tingsabadh, Director of Centre for European Studies atอChulalongkorn University, reports to the President of Chulalongkorn University
Opening Remarks
Prof. Pirom Kamolratanakul, M.D.
President of Chulalongkorn University
Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director, Goethe-Institut Bangkok
9.15 – 9.30 Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soraj Hongladarom
Dr. Peter Skilling, École française d'Extrême-Orient, Bangkok
Remarks on Philology and Buddhist Studies, with Special Reference to German Philology and Manuscript Studies
9.30 – 10.05 Prof. Dr. Volker Mertens, Free University Berlin, Germany
Buddhism in the European Middle Ages
10.05 – 10.20 Tea and Coffee
10.20 – 10.55 Dr. Ronald Perlwitz, Université Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi
Friedrich Rückkert und der Buddhismus
10.55 – 11.05 Questions & Answers
11.05 – 11.40 Prof. Dr. Pornsan Watananguhn
German Section, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
On the Reception of Buddhism in the Literary Work of
Gjellerup, Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse
11.40 – 12.15 Prof. Dr. Heinrich Detering, University Göttingen, Germany
Hesse, Brecht and Thomas Mann: Buddhism and Other Influences
12.15 – 12.30 Discussion
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.35 Moderator: Prof. Dr. Volker Mertens
Prof. Dr. Adrian Hsia, Emeritus Professor of German,
McGill University, Montreal, Canada and Honorary Professor,
School of Chinese Studies, Hong Kong University, China
Catholicism / Protestantism versus Hinduism / Buddhism: On Hesses’s
Transcultural Reception
14.35 – 14.45 Questions & Answers
14.45 – 15.20 Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Borchmeyer, Professor Emeritus, University
Heidelberg, Present position : Präsident der Bayerischen Akademie
der Schönen Künste (President of the Bavaria Academy of the Beautiful Art)
Thomas Manns “Die vertauschten Köpfe“
15.20 – 16.00 Discussion
Saturday 7 February 2008
9.30 – 10.00 Moderator: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Borchmeyer
Key Note Speech by Prof. Preecha Changkhwanyuen
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn
University and Chair of Centre for Buddhist Studies, Chulalongkorn University
East-West Divan on Buddhism: An Intercultural Dialogue
10.00 – 10.10 Questions & Answers
10.10 – 10.25 Tea and Coffee
10.25 – 11.00 Prof. Dr. Somparn Promta,
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Literature in Buddhist Perspective
11.00 – 11.35 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soraj Hongladarom
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Schopenhauer's Metaphysics of the Will and the Buddhist View on Emptiness
11.35 – 12.10 Dr. Theptawee Chokvasin, Suranaree University of Technology
Heideggian and Theravada Buddhist View on the Mortality of Life
12.10 – 12.30 Discussion
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.00 Round Table Discussion
Moderator: Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director of Goethe-Institut Bangkok
All speakers
15.00 Final Remarks
Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director, Goethe-Institut Bangkok
Asst. Prof. Dr. Charit Tingsabadh
Director, Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University
Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University
and
Goethe-Institut Bangkok
in cooperation with
Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and Thousand Stars Foundation
organise
International Symposium
“Buddhism in German Philosophy and Literature: An Intercultural Dialogue”
6 – 7 February 2009
Room 105, Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University
Programme
Friday 6 February 2009
8.00 – 8.45 Registration
8.45 – 09.15 Asst. Prof. Dr. Charit Tingsabadh, Director of Centre for European Studies atอChulalongkorn University, reports to the President of Chulalongkorn University
Opening Remarks
Prof. Pirom Kamolratanakul, M.D.
President of Chulalongkorn University
Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director, Goethe-Institut Bangkok
9.15 – 9.30 Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soraj Hongladarom
Dr. Peter Skilling, École française d'Extrême-Orient, Bangkok
Remarks on Philology and Buddhist Studies, with Special Reference to German Philology and Manuscript Studies
9.30 – 10.05 Prof. Dr. Volker Mertens, Free University Berlin, Germany
Buddhism in the European Middle Ages
10.05 – 10.20 Tea and Coffee
10.20 – 10.55 Dr. Ronald Perlwitz, Université Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi
Friedrich Rückkert und der Buddhismus
10.55 – 11.05 Questions & Answers
11.05 – 11.40 Prof. Dr. Pornsan Watananguhn
German Section, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
On the Reception of Buddhism in the Literary Work of
Gjellerup, Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse
11.40 – 12.15 Prof. Dr. Heinrich Detering, University Göttingen, Germany
Hesse, Brecht and Thomas Mann: Buddhism and Other Influences
12.15 – 12.30 Discussion
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.35 Moderator: Prof. Dr. Volker Mertens
Prof. Dr. Adrian Hsia, Emeritus Professor of German,
McGill University, Montreal, Canada and Honorary Professor,
School of Chinese Studies, Hong Kong University, China
Catholicism / Protestantism versus Hinduism / Buddhism: On Hesses’s
Transcultural Reception
14.35 – 14.45 Questions & Answers
14.45 – 15.20 Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Borchmeyer, Professor Emeritus, University
Heidelberg, Present position : Präsident der Bayerischen Akademie
der Schönen Künste (President of the Bavaria Academy of the Beautiful Art)
Thomas Manns “Die vertauschten Köpfe“
15.20 – 16.00 Discussion
Saturday 7 February 2008
9.30 – 10.00 Moderator: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Borchmeyer
Key Note Speech by Prof. Preecha Changkhwanyuen
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn
University and Chair of Centre for Buddhist Studies, Chulalongkorn University
East-West Divan on Buddhism: An Intercultural Dialogue
10.00 – 10.10 Questions & Answers
10.10 – 10.25 Tea and Coffee
10.25 – 11.00 Prof. Dr. Somparn Promta,
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Literature in Buddhist Perspective
11.00 – 11.35 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soraj Hongladarom
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Schopenhauer's Metaphysics of the Will and the Buddhist View on Emptiness
11.35 – 12.10 Dr. Theptawee Chokvasin, Suranaree University of Technology
Heideggian and Theravada Buddhist View on the Mortality of Life
12.10 – 12.30 Discussion
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.00 Round Table Discussion
Moderator: Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director of Goethe-Institut Bangkok
All speakers
15.00 Final Remarks
Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director, Goethe-Institut Bangkok
Asst. Prof. Dr. Charit Tingsabadh
Director, Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Buddha in the Twenty First Century
An Occasional Seminar Series by Craig Warren Smith, PhD
Initial Lecture: “An Overview of Contemporary Buddhism and its Meaning for Asia”
Monday, January 26, 2009
Room 707, Boromratchakumari Bldg., Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, 1 – 3 pm
Center for Ethics of Science and Technology,
Chulalongkorn University
Just 40 years after its embrace by Westerners, a secularized approach to Buddhism – stripped of its affiliations with cultures in Asia – has become a dominant factor in the intellectual life of the West. Today, Buddhist principles are integrated into international reform strategies in education, business management and health care. Buddhist principles dare to challenge modern definitions of “scientific method,” and they are even entering into the design of next-generation digital technologies. Buddhism also causes Westerners to discover practical applications of their own humanistic philosophies, which had become increasingly marginalized under the impact of scientific materialism.
Though these reforms emanate from the West, they are having a “kick-back” in Asia. Seeing their own Buddhist traditions through Western eyes, many Asians now see new ways to draw upon their own indigenous spiritual traditions to achieve long-sought domestic reforms.
A former Harvard professor of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Smith is now Senior Advisor to the University of Washington Human Interface Technology Laboratory. He has taught Buddhism since 1974 when he was a founding faculty member of Naropa University and has since become an advisor to leaders of “engaged Buddhism” such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the actor Richard Gere. He is a Senior Teacher of Shambhala Buddhism, the major international organization of Tibetan Buddhism for Westerners. Today, he lives in Asia where he teachers meditation to Asian business leaders in an annual month-long retreat at Borobodur, Indonesia and is in residence in 2009 at Center for Ethics in Science and Technology at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
Each lecture will be preceded by a 15 minute period of guided mindfulness meditation, conducted as participants are seated in chairs.
For more information, please call 02 218 4756 or email parkpume@gmail.com
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Public Talk by Jan Nattier
Public Talk by Prof. Jan Nattier, Soka University, Japan
Topic: Authority and Authenticity: How Mahayana Literature Began
Date and Time: Monday, January 12, 2009, Room 706, Boromratchakumari Bldg., Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, 1 - 3 pm
Some information about Jan Nattier:
Professor, International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University (beginning in January 2006)
Most recent major publication:
A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han 東漢 and Three Kingdoms 三國 Periods (Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2008).
Mobile Musing
MOBILE MUSINGS
By Craig Warren Smith
craigwarrensmith@hotmail.com
Founder of the international movement to close the Digital Divide and a former Harvard University professor, Prof Craig Warren Smith is now in residence at Chulalongkorn University's Center for Ethics of Science and Technology. His column Mobile Musings is a regular feature of Datebase.
Obama Shows How Broadband Could Stimulate the Thai Economy
After using the internet to install himself as US president, Obama's next step is to show how the internet can empower the rest of us. The Kingdom of Thailand should take notice.
Soon, ASEAN nations will announce regional economic revival plans under His Majesty's shadow in Huahin. As host, Thailand could bring the transformational exuberance of Obama's First Hundred Days to Southeast Asia. After eight disasterous year of declining US influence, it is ok to learn from America again.
As soon as Obama was elected, the hordes of rowdy, grassrootsy, internet-savvy Americans who were responsible for Obama's election, immediately went to work formulating a "New New Deal" The term refers to a revival of President Roosevelt New Deal work relief progam of the 1930s. Just as the old New Deal built highways, the new approach put the 21st century superhighway (broadband) into a starring role in the US stimulus package.
Of course, the Obama broadband promoters have a lot of competition. They must compete with fear mongers. Like Arnold Schartzenegger, who in movies is a bold action star but in real life he is a wimp who says California will sink into oblivion unless the feds bail them out with big bucks. He and 19 other USA state governors ask for a $1 trillion from the feds. The US steel industry's moguls are also holding out a tin cup, requesting another $1 trillion. Since the too-big-to-fail argument worked so well for the auto industry, all the other pooped-out industries are standing in line.
In contrast to the fear mongers, the broadband-promoters rely on hope. See http://www.barackobama.com/technology. They fit directly into the inspiring "yes we can" optimism that Obama'a expressed in his presidential campaign, and my guess is that they will be the voices that will be heard by US Congress who actually must approve the budget.
How Broadband Fits into American Revival
As the bailout crowd seeks to avoid the bad karma that resulted from bad policies of the past, the broadband advocates are trying to create good karma that will ripen in the future.
They say that broadband is the precondition for a massive plan for retraining displaced workers, re-establishing a competitive national work force, creating a new wave of entrepreneurship and milions of new jobs -- reversing those wiped out by George W's disasterous polices. At least a dozen plans for broadband-promotion have been advanced. Some of them involve direct subsidies to the telecommunications industry itself, such as $40 bilion for Internet Service Providers. Others are clearly anti-industry and seek to fund nonprofit community networks, support plans for shifting to less carbon intensive workforce, or simply try to get more broadband-enabled services beamed into schools, hospitals and rural health clinics.
The most persuasive and expensive plan has been put forward in a report by a group called EDUCAUSE. It argues for putting about $100 billion into "fat" broadband infrastructures that will beam 24/7 distanced learning into every household. "The total cost of broadband-enabled economic renewal could be paid for just 19 days of what we spend on the Iraqi war," says the author of the report, John Windhausen.
The Thai government should take note of four aspects of the way broadband has been integrated into economic revival in the US:
DEMOCRACY 2.0: Prime minister Abhisit should not just concentrate on communicating with the Thai public through one-way SMS messaging, but turn himself into an expression of Democracy 2.0, a term that refers to the way in which the internet era can foster citizen participation. Just as Obama is turning his campaign web site into a web constituency for formulating and implementing of his policies, so should the new PM. His party may not have been elected with the majority, but now that he is their leader he can engage Thai citizens in the solutions for low-income Thais and, in that way, steal the thunder from Thaksin and, perhaps, win the heart of the people.
HR COULD DRIVE ECONOMIC REVIVAL: In fact, the clear focus of the broadband approach to revival is educational. Note that the US approach does not assume that investments in human resources development is a luxury that will pay off in the next generation. Rather, the American broadband advocates "crunch the numbers" to show that investments made now in broadband-assisted education and job-creation would be the least expensive and quickest path to US economic renewal. The same would be true for Thailand. This is the can-do approach that, so far, is missing from Prime Minister Abhisit's stimulus package which does not get to the heart of how to generate a competitive workforce.
TAPPING THE PRIVATE SECTOR: In the US, the private sector is a full partner in the stimulus package. All the broadband proposals involve giving the private sector the incentives to devote its talents and resources to economic revival, including the creation of jobs that lighten the earth's carbon footprint. In a similar way, the Thai government could bargain with the private sector. For example, rather than concentrate on excluding offensive web sites, the new Thai ICT ministry could create a sophisticated mix of incentives, subsidies and tax credits that encourage web applications that positively support His Majesty the King's ethical principles of sufficiency economy and gross national happiness. In fact, rather than pour finds into a black hole of educational subsidies, the new government could get a "bigger bang for the baht" by challenging Thai ICT industries to work through their own commercial channels to generate the skills need for low-income Thais to create millions of new jobs.
GOING GLOBAL: The next factor has to do with the spillover from domestic into international perspectives. Obama had to bow to protectionist sentiments during his election campaign, but as US Senator last year he authored a bill that increases the impact of US international development assistance via public private partnerships, entrepreneurships and small business development. This is the approach to international affairs that the Thai government itself should advance. As an open society surrounded by more authoritarian Asian governments (including some well-represented as ASEAN), the Kingdom of Thailand could promote HR-driven bottoms-up economic development in its foreign policy, and turn Thailand itself into a showcase for this approach.
--
Craig Warren Smith, PhD Senior Advisor Human Interface Technology Laboratory Craigwarrensmith.com Hitl.washington.edu DigitalDivide.org SpiritualComputing.org USA mobile phone: 206 245 9970
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Will 2009 Be the Year for Mobile Broadband?
Craig Warren Smith, PhD
Founder,
Digital Divide Institute
Just as 2008 was the big year of the big push in cell phone penetration, 2009 will be the year in which mobile phone users upgrade to broadband. Well, that’s what the “mobile supply chains” hope for, at least. It is the one bright light in Southeast Asia’s economy. But the industry’s marketers and financiers are nervous. So far, they have not yet generated the “killer applications” (killer apps) that will cause billions of low-income cell phone users to upgrade to fast internet. Less then a decade ago, in Europe, a “telecoms bust” occurred sending telecom markets into the doldrums for years when cell phone users found no need to access internet through their cell phones. It will happen again unless the marketers join forces with government and academia to generate killer apps that are meaningful to mass of low-income citizens.
This time stakes are must higher – both for the commercial sector and for society itself – that this new Big Push in broadband will succeed.
According to Goldman Sachs, $2.4 trillion has been spent within emerging markets in preparation for this year’s effort to achieve a massive leapfrogging into high speed internet via cell phones. While the handset sales are declining among the affluent parts of the economy, mobile penetration in the low-income sector of emerging markets remains recession proof.
Recognizing this, some of the world’s most successful companies – Google, Facebook, Microsoft, HP, Intel – have reshaped their products and services to piggyback on handset makers and telco operators. They hope to meet the needs of the “next billion” consumers including those who earn just US$1,000 per month. In Thailand, most of the wireless carriers are blitzing the media with promotions for embrace smart phones, embedded with Third Generation of “3G” fast internet. A bevy of industries from advertising, consumers products, and banking are waiting to turn mobile broadband into new revenue streams. It is perhaps the only bright light in the new global economy.
For the public at large, the stakes are even higher. Facing an inevitable recession, the new Thai government can help its citizens inexpensively by entering into public-private partnerships with these commercial supply chains and rethinking telecommunications regulations to enhance the public benefit that emerges from mobile broadband. They can activate a trend that the world bank calls “m-development” in which mobile technologies are used to bring interactive education to the uneducated, achieve massive small business growth among the poor, strengthen democracy, fight global warming. (See WorldBank.org/m-development.) The list goes on and on. In fact, the government, academia, civil society and the business sector itself should make sure that the killer aps that drive mobile broadband actually help Thai citizens, not harm them with addictions and frivolous entertainment. Achieving these beneficial applications is one of the aims of the Institute for Meaningful Technologies, a joint venture between Chulalongkorn’s Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and Digital Divide Institute, which will be launched this year, with the prime sponsorship of Nokia Siemens Network in Thailand.
Here are two mobile broadband killer apps that could be shaped through public/private partnerships to benefit low-income citizens:
Mobile Banking: Mobile banking is already take off rapidly in low-income sectors where it meets pent-up demand; it could accelerate more quickly and more meaningfully with broadband. Most citizens in developing countries (and an estimated 65% of Thais) are unbanked. Those of us with bank accounts take them for granted. But the unbanked are stuck in an informal economy that often keeps them trapped in poverty. They are unable to get credit at reasonable rates; they must pay more for transferring remittances from family members who want to send money home; they are unlikely to be savers, and they lack any access to good financial planning and advice. Though the virtues of microcredit are much appreciated, only 100 million microcredit borrowers exist worldwide and most of them are run at a deficit. But a billion low-income cell phone users could easily get the benefits of banking in just five years, according to the World Resources Institute’s Allen Hammond. For banks that coax users to mobile banking, transaction costs drop from 33 baht per customer (when a bank branch is used) to less then one baht per customer when the transaction occurs over the mobile phone. Already companies like Wizzit, in South Africa, and GCash, in the Philippines, have started programs that allow customers to use their phones to store cash credits transferred from another phone or purchased through a post office, phone-kiosk operator or other licensed operator.
There are a lot of hurdles that stand in the way of mobile banking, such as the creation of secure, non-fraudulent payment systems which could be achieved through close coordination between telecom operators, banks, and governmental central banks. But the more significant need is that villages need a “point of presence” to help the unbanked become comfortable with mobile banking and to adopt new attitudes and skills that lead them towards accumulating savings, responsible use of credit, and small business skills. Government should rethink their total economic development strategies in light of mobile banking and the introduction of broadband into mobile banking systems.
Spiritual Computing: The second killer ap may surprise you: It is spiritual computing. It refers to mobile applications support the spiritual and religious values and rituals of users. Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon, one of the most respected Thai elders and proponents of local governance in Thailand, advocated the use of mobile technologies to further Buddhist observances and mindfulness. (See spiritualcomputing.com). which refers to the use of new technology to deliberately strengthen spiritual and religious values that are very much tied to economic survival and well-being among low-income citizens. In Indonesia, one of Asia’s hottest technology markets for low-income citizens, Bakrie Telco quickly added four million users in the crowded Indonesian market by incorporating Arabic chanting and five times a day prayer alerts into the company’s cell phones for low income users. Users get messages and slogans sent to them every day to support 24/7 observance of ethical principles. In Europe, Ramadan web sites are flourishing in which users share the experience of the fasting month through social networking.
There are lots of other potential killer aps too. They online gaming and multimedia applications that bridge the gap between education and entertainment. Since the next billion users have less formal education, they don’t have the cognitive skills that allow them to benefit fully from text-based communications. Through multimedia applications being developed in laboratories at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute for Technology, adults can easily and enjoyably learn literacy, or rapidly enhance their English language skills. As Thailand and other Southeast Asian economies build their hospitality industries, lack of English skills it a major detriment to wealth and employment. All this could change if mobile broadband would be meaningfully embraced by the countries’ leaders. It is time for leaders of business, government and academia to roll up their sleeves and find ways to share the risks and rewards of bringing low income users step by step into broadband.
In Thailand, the government’s ICT Ministry and most of the telecommunications operators are finally aligned on this top playing catch-up by finally embracing 3G, or “third generation” fast internet.
Killer Applications and Wireless Networks
Portable devices are incorporated with more and more functionalities, such as photo/video camera, video phone, SMS, PDA, music player, video player, Bluetooth and Wireless LAN. Communication Networks for cell phones evolve around the need for increased bandwidth and better support for internet connections. The Killer Application for these platforms has to be compelling enough that users crave ownership of the latest devices and subscribe to these services, thus driving the future development of mobile networks and Internet.
Examples of current for-profit services provided by network operators:
* Google Maps on iPhone 3G with GPS
* News and Weather SMS Subscription services
* Email, Skype, Live! Messenger (SMS forwarding).
* Electronic Banking and Money Management
* Movie Showtimes and Ticketing
* In Japan, cellular subscribers can "call" vending machines to purchase something and have the item billed to their accounts.
Founder,
Digital Divide Institute
Just as 2008 was the big year of the big push in cell phone penetration, 2009 will be the year in which mobile phone users upgrade to broadband. Well, that’s what the “mobile supply chains” hope for, at least. It is the one bright light in Southeast Asia’s economy. But the industry’s marketers and financiers are nervous. So far, they have not yet generated the “killer applications” (killer apps) that will cause billions of low-income cell phone users to upgrade to fast internet. Less then a decade ago, in Europe, a “telecoms bust” occurred sending telecom markets into the doldrums for years when cell phone users found no need to access internet through their cell phones. It will happen again unless the marketers join forces with government and academia to generate killer apps that are meaningful to mass of low-income citizens.
This time stakes are must higher – both for the commercial sector and for society itself – that this new Big Push in broadband will succeed.
According to Goldman Sachs, $2.4 trillion has been spent within emerging markets in preparation for this year’s effort to achieve a massive leapfrogging into high speed internet via cell phones. While the handset sales are declining among the affluent parts of the economy, mobile penetration in the low-income sector of emerging markets remains recession proof.
Recognizing this, some of the world’s most successful companies – Google, Facebook, Microsoft, HP, Intel – have reshaped their products and services to piggyback on handset makers and telco operators. They hope to meet the needs of the “next billion” consumers including those who earn just US$1,000 per month. In Thailand, most of the wireless carriers are blitzing the media with promotions for embrace smart phones, embedded with Third Generation of “3G” fast internet. A bevy of industries from advertising, consumers products, and banking are waiting to turn mobile broadband into new revenue streams. It is perhaps the only bright light in the new global economy.
For the public at large, the stakes are even higher. Facing an inevitable recession, the new Thai government can help its citizens inexpensively by entering into public-private partnerships with these commercial supply chains and rethinking telecommunications regulations to enhance the public benefit that emerges from mobile broadband. They can activate a trend that the world bank calls “m-development” in which mobile technologies are used to bring interactive education to the uneducated, achieve massive small business growth among the poor, strengthen democracy, fight global warming. (See WorldBank.org/m-development.) The list goes on and on. In fact, the government, academia, civil society and the business sector itself should make sure that the killer aps that drive mobile broadband actually help Thai citizens, not harm them with addictions and frivolous entertainment. Achieving these beneficial applications is one of the aims of the Institute for Meaningful Technologies, a joint venture between Chulalongkorn’s Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and Digital Divide Institute, which will be launched this year, with the prime sponsorship of Nokia Siemens Network in Thailand.
Here are two mobile broadband killer apps that could be shaped through public/private partnerships to benefit low-income citizens:
Mobile Banking: Mobile banking is already take off rapidly in low-income sectors where it meets pent-up demand; it could accelerate more quickly and more meaningfully with broadband. Most citizens in developing countries (and an estimated 65% of Thais) are unbanked. Those of us with bank accounts take them for granted. But the unbanked are stuck in an informal economy that often keeps them trapped in poverty. They are unable to get credit at reasonable rates; they must pay more for transferring remittances from family members who want to send money home; they are unlikely to be savers, and they lack any access to good financial planning and advice. Though the virtues of microcredit are much appreciated, only 100 million microcredit borrowers exist worldwide and most of them are run at a deficit. But a billion low-income cell phone users could easily get the benefits of banking in just five years, according to the World Resources Institute’s Allen Hammond. For banks that coax users to mobile banking, transaction costs drop from 33 baht per customer (when a bank branch is used) to less then one baht per customer when the transaction occurs over the mobile phone. Already companies like Wizzit, in South Africa, and GCash, in the Philippines, have started programs that allow customers to use their phones to store cash credits transferred from another phone or purchased through a post office, phone-kiosk operator or other licensed operator.
There are a lot of hurdles that stand in the way of mobile banking, such as the creation of secure, non-fraudulent payment systems which could be achieved through close coordination between telecom operators, banks, and governmental central banks. But the more significant need is that villages need a “point of presence” to help the unbanked become comfortable with mobile banking and to adopt new attitudes and skills that lead them towards accumulating savings, responsible use of credit, and small business skills. Government should rethink their total economic development strategies in light of mobile banking and the introduction of broadband into mobile banking systems.
Spiritual Computing: The second killer ap may surprise you: It is spiritual computing. It refers to mobile applications support the spiritual and religious values and rituals of users. Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon, one of the most respected Thai elders and proponents of local governance in Thailand, advocated the use of mobile technologies to further Buddhist observances and mindfulness. (See spiritualcomputing.com). which refers to the use of new technology to deliberately strengthen spiritual and religious values that are very much tied to economic survival and well-being among low-income citizens. In Indonesia, one of Asia’s hottest technology markets for low-income citizens, Bakrie Telco quickly added four million users in the crowded Indonesian market by incorporating Arabic chanting and five times a day prayer alerts into the company’s cell phones for low income users. Users get messages and slogans sent to them every day to support 24/7 observance of ethical principles. In Europe, Ramadan web sites are flourishing in which users share the experience of the fasting month through social networking.
There are lots of other potential killer aps too. They online gaming and multimedia applications that bridge the gap between education and entertainment. Since the next billion users have less formal education, they don’t have the cognitive skills that allow them to benefit fully from text-based communications. Through multimedia applications being developed in laboratories at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute for Technology, adults can easily and enjoyably learn literacy, or rapidly enhance their English language skills. As Thailand and other Southeast Asian economies build their hospitality industries, lack of English skills it a major detriment to wealth and employment. All this could change if mobile broadband would be meaningfully embraced by the countries’ leaders. It is time for leaders of business, government and academia to roll up their sleeves and find ways to share the risks and rewards of bringing low income users step by step into broadband.
In Thailand, the government’s ICT Ministry and most of the telecommunications operators are finally aligned on this top playing catch-up by finally embracing 3G, or “third generation” fast internet.
Killer Applications and Wireless Networks
Portable devices are incorporated with more and more functionalities, such as photo/video camera, video phone, SMS, PDA, music player, video player, Bluetooth and Wireless LAN. Communication Networks for cell phones evolve around the need for increased bandwidth and better support for internet connections. The Killer Application for these platforms has to be compelling enough that users crave ownership of the latest devices and subscribe to these services, thus driving the future development of mobile networks and Internet.
Examples of current for-profit services provided by network operators:
* Google Maps on iPhone 3G with GPS
* News and Weather SMS Subscription services
* Email, Skype, Live! Messenger (SMS forwarding).
* Electronic Banking and Money Management
* Movie Showtimes and Ticketing
* In Japan, cellular subscribers can "call" vending machines to purchase something and have the item billed to their accounts.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Malcolm David Eckel on "Learning from Bhavaviveka"
The Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University, will organize a public talk by Malcolm David Eckel from Boston University on "Learning from Bhavaviveka: A Sixth-Century Buddhist Rationalist" at Room 608, Boromratchakumari Bldg., Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, 1 - 3 pm, Friday, December 26, 2008.
All are welcome.
*
The following is some biodata of David Eckel from Wikipedia:
*
Here is the abstract of the talk on the 26th:
Bhavaviveka (ca 500-560 CE) lived in a time of unusual ferment in the history of Indian Buddhist thought. The Mahayana was developing as a vigorous and self-conscious intellectual force, while the traditions of the eighteen schools (nikaya) continued to resist the innovations of the Mahayana. Bhaviveka's "Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way," along with their commentary, give a detailed and lively account of the controversies that shaped Buddhist thought in this period. They illuminate aspects of Buddhist thought that, until now, have been poorly understood, and they challenge us to think of Buddhist philosophy in innovative ways.
(For further info about his book on "To See the Buddha" please visit the following blog post - http://soraj.wordpress.com/2008/11/23/malcolm-david-eckel-and-to-see-the-buddha/ )
All are welcome.
*
The following is some biodata of David Eckel from Wikipedia:
Malcolm David Eckel is the current Associate Professor of Religion at Boston University. He earned two bachelors degrees: one in English at Harvard University and another in Theology at Oxford University. Eckel received his masters in Theology at Oxford and his PhD at Harvard in Comparative Religion.
Eckel has held positions at Ohio Wesleyan University, Middlebury College in Vermont, and later at the Harvard Divinity School as the Acting Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions. He now teaches courses specializing in eastern religions. Eckel is also the head of Boston University's Core Curriculum, a groundbreaking program for the development of the humanities. The Core Curriculum challenges its students with a rigorous course load while allowing students to explore the multifarious concepts of worldly philosophies.
The Metcalf Award for Teaching Excellence, Boston University's highest award for teaching, was awarded to Eckel in 1998.
He is currently the director of The Institute for Philosophy and Religion Lecture Series, an educational forum on various philosophical and religious ideas and their application in contemporary society.
Among his publications are To See the Buddha: A Philosopher's Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness (1994); Buddhism: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places (2002); and Jnanagarbha's Commentary on the Distinction Between the Two Truths (1987).*
Here is the abstract of the talk on the 26th:
Bhavaviveka (ca 500-560 CE) lived in a time of unusual ferment in the history of Indian Buddhist thought. The Mahayana was developing as a vigorous and self-conscious intellectual force, while the traditions of the eighteen schools (nikaya) continued to resist the innovations of the Mahayana. Bhaviveka's "Verses on the Heart of the Middle Way," along with their commentary, give a detailed and lively account of the controversies that shaped Buddhist thought in this period. They illuminate aspects of Buddhist thought that, until now, have been poorly understood, and they challenge us to think of Buddhist philosophy in innovative ways.
(For further info about his book on "To See the Buddha" please visit the following blog post - http://soraj.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
CEST Server
I forgot to report that the server of the CEST is up and running as usual, even though I am not there to look after it. Many thanks to Khun Janya, the department secretary, who is taking very good care of it :-)
Talk on "Meaningful Technologies"
Click here for an audio file of my talk on "Meaningfulness and Technology Design: Contributions from Buddhism" given at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Dragvoll, Monday 27 October, 2008.
The presentation file of the talk is here.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Website of the Nanoethics Research Group
The website of the Nanoethics Research Group has been completed. You can have a look at
http://sites.google.com/site/nncollection/Home
http://sites.google.com/site/nncollection/Home
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Away to Norway and Sweden
I will be away to Trondheim, Norway and Linköping, Sweden for three months starting tomorrow. I'll be back on December 23. Meanwhile the activities of the CEST will consist mainly online :-). During this time I may have to shut down the www.stc.arts.chula.ac.th server because there is right now no one to maintain it.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thousand Stars Podcast
The Thousand Stars Foundation has set up a new site for its podcasts. Audio files of Dharma teachings and talks and related topics, mostly on Tibet and the Himalayas, will be posted here.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Spiritual Computing
PUBLIC TALK ANNOUNCEMENT
SPIRITUAL COMPUTING
How spiritual principles are being integrated into the design of next-generation technologies…and what does this mean for Thailand?
By Craig Warren Smith, PhD
Senior Advisor, Human Interactive Technology Laboratory, University of Washington
Room 708, Boromratchakumari Bldg., Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Thursday, September 4, 2008, 2 - 4 pm (*please note the new time*)
Organized by the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University
What is Spiritual Computing?
Spiritual computing refers to technologies that further the spiritual experiences of users. In this case, “spirituality” refers to cultivation of compassion, wisdom, openness and other ethical qualities cultivated for thousands of years by spiritual disciplines, which are both religious and secular, theistic and non-theistic. Still an embryonic notion, Prof Smith predicts that spiritual computing will emerge as a key design principle in software fields such as computer search, home technologies, health care,. education, computer games and in “social marketing” campaigns such as efforts to stop cigarette smoking.
He claims that Spiritual Computing will also become a factor in religions, as religious reformers use next-generation technologies to enhance ritual observances and spiritual realizations of their members. “Spiritual computing will have a disrupting effect on some organized religions, just technology has revealed and disrupted corrupt practices in government,” he says.
Who is Craig Warren Smith?
Professor Smith, one of the founders of the worldwide movement to close the Digital Divide, also is a longtime teacher of meditation in the Buddhist tradition. In his role as Senior Advisor to the University of Washington’s Human Interface Technology Laboratory, he is exploring a new paradigm in which spirituality and technology could converge to produce innovative new technologies that convey ethical principles. In Thailand, he is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology at Chulalongkorn University where he has collaborated with its director, Prof. Soraj Hongladarom, on a lecture series regarding “Happiness, Public Policy and Technology.”
What will the lecture consist of?
In the Bangkok lecture, he will report on his 2007 Spiritual Computing world lecture tour of research labs of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, Electronic Arts and various universities such as Stanford and MIT. (See SpiritualComputing.com) In these lectures he conveyed operational definitions for spiritual experience and opened discussions on how spiritual realization could add value to Microsoft’s concept of the “digital home of the future,” Google Earth’s home page, and Electronic Arts’ genres of computer games.
He will also introduce the idea that, as the digital economy spreads in Asia, spiritual themes that are imbedded in Asia’s cultures will be expressed in technology design – causing Asian cultures to turn away from fantasies of Western materialistic lifestyles. He will suggest a theoretic framework, measurement concepts, and criteria that technologies designers can use to support the spread of ethical behavior in the general populous.
How can Spiritual Principles be Integrated into Next-Generation Technologies?
According to Prof. Smith, in the Spiritual Computing framework, technology designers must fit the following criteria:
What could Spiritual Computing Mean for Thailand?
Following the presentation, participants will respond offering commentary on the possible application of spiritual computing to Thailand, to Buddhist practice, and other themes.
SPIRITUAL COMPUTING
How spiritual principles are being integrated into the design of next-generation technologies…and what does this mean for Thailand?
By Craig Warren Smith, PhD
Senior Advisor, Human Interactive Technology Laboratory, University of Washington
Room 708, Boromratchakumari Bldg., Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Thursday, September 4, 2008, 2 - 4 pm (*please note the new time*)
Organized by the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University
What is Spiritual Computing?
Spiritual computing refers to technologies that further the spiritual experiences of users. In this case, “spirituality” refers to cultivation of compassion, wisdom, openness and other ethical qualities cultivated for thousands of years by spiritual disciplines, which are both religious and secular, theistic and non-theistic. Still an embryonic notion, Prof Smith predicts that spiritual computing will emerge as a key design principle in software fields such as computer search, home technologies, health care,. education, computer games and in “social marketing” campaigns such as efforts to stop cigarette smoking.
He claims that Spiritual Computing will also become a factor in religions, as religious reformers use next-generation technologies to enhance ritual observances and spiritual realizations of their members. “Spiritual computing will have a disrupting effect on some organized religions, just technology has revealed and disrupted corrupt practices in government,” he says.
Who is Craig Warren Smith?
Professor Smith, one of the founders of the worldwide movement to close the Digital Divide, also is a longtime teacher of meditation in the Buddhist tradition. In his role as Senior Advisor to the University of Washington’s Human Interface Technology Laboratory, he is exploring a new paradigm in which spirituality and technology could converge to produce innovative new technologies that convey ethical principles. In Thailand, he is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology at Chulalongkorn University where he has collaborated with its director, Prof. Soraj Hongladarom, on a lecture series regarding “Happiness, Public Policy and Technology.”
What will the lecture consist of?
In the Bangkok lecture, he will report on his 2007 Spiritual Computing world lecture tour of research labs of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, Electronic Arts and various universities such as Stanford and MIT. (See SpiritualComputing.com) In these lectures he conveyed operational definitions for spiritual experience and opened discussions on how spiritual realization could add value to Microsoft’s concept of the “digital home of the future,” Google Earth’s home page, and Electronic Arts’ genres of computer games.
He will also introduce the idea that, as the digital economy spreads in Asia, spiritual themes that are imbedded in Asia’s cultures will be expressed in technology design – causing Asian cultures to turn away from fantasies of Western materialistic lifestyles. He will suggest a theoretic framework, measurement concepts, and criteria that technologies designers can use to support the spread of ethical behavior in the general populous.
How can Spiritual Principles be Integrated into Next-Generation Technologies?
According to Prof. Smith, in the Spiritual Computing framework, technology designers must fit the following criteria:
- Satisfy the ethical concerns of governments and dominant religions, whether these are expressed explicitly (as in telecommunications regulation regarding children’s access to video games) or implicitly as in Syariah.
- Draw insights from the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) which looks beyond “use of use” to more fundamental and ethical ways of affecting the behavior of users.
- Gain measurement tools from neuroscience fields such as “neuroengineering,” and other cognitive sciences.
- Become adaptable to the practical needs and economic realities faced by low income users.
- Draw insight from the most robust spiritual and mindfulness traditions imbedded in Asian cultures,
- Lessen the “carbon footprint” of current technologies, so that they are environmentally appropriate.
- Engender participatory engagement by users.
What could Spiritual Computing Mean for Thailand?
Following the presentation, participants will respond offering commentary on the possible application of spiritual computing to Thailand, to Buddhist practice, and other themes.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Nanotechnology and Asian Values
Here is the podcast of Soraj Hongladarom's talk on "Nanotechnology and Asian Values" at the Conference on Science, Technology and Human Values in the Context of Asian Development at National University of Singapore, July 27-29, 2008.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Meaningful User Experience
MEANINGFUL USER EXPERIENCE: Bringing mindfulness principles into the design of next generation technologies for emerging markets.
By Craig Warren Smith, Senior Advisor, Human Interactive Technology Laboratory, University of Washington
Since the end of the dot.com bust, “user experience,” sometimes known as UX, became the driving factor in technology design and the basis for what is called Web 2.0. The trend became so powerful that communities of tens of millions of users appeared suddenly.
Now the user revolution is being extended to Asia’s emerging markets. As it does so, the speaker predicts a paradigm shift in the user revolution, which he dubs MUX, or meaningful user experience. He will present a theoretic framework, measurement concepts, and criteria that designers can use to incorporate meaningfulness into technology designs.
According to Prof. Smith, in the MUX framework, technology designers must:
satisfy the ethical concerns of telecommunications regulators
draw insight from neuroscience and other cognitive sciences to counter the addictive impacts of technology on users.
generate applications that are pragmatic and appropriate for low-income users whose primary interest is not social networking but economic security
draw from the spiritual and mindfulness traditions imbedded in Asian cultures,
restrict the “carbon footprint” of technologies, so that they are environmentally appropriate.
The speaker will give examples of meaningful technologies that may emerge in next-generation technologies for health care, education, home design, search engines and in religion.
Following the presentation, Thai theorists, computer scientists, and technology designers will respond, offering commentary on the MUX notion and offering further examples of developments that fit into criteria for MUX.
represents the most sudden and dramatic formation of engaged communities, some numbering tens of millions of users in just a few months. As the user revolution intensifies and shifts its locus away from USA to Asia, the trend
As competition intensifies for to win loyalty among users, the concept of Meaningful User Experience (MUX) has emerged.
Now the focus of Web 2.0 is moving to Asia’s emerging markets where designers must satisfy the ethical concerns of governments, parents and other stakeholders.
Craig Warren Smith, PhD, is Senior Advisor to the University of Washington’s Human Interactive Technology Laboratory, the founder of the concept of “spiritual computing” and a Senior Fellow at Chulalongkorn University’s Center for Ethics in Science and Technology.
will explain how Meaningful User Experience (MUX) could be the next stage of the user revolution in technology as competition for users intensifies and as designers seek to incorporate the ethical concerns of government regulators in emerging markets.
From: Craig Warren Smith
January 14, 2008
Regarding: Proposal for a Center for Meaningful Technologies
This memo suggests a partnership between Chulalongkorn University, King Monkut University and the web site, DigitalDivide.org, to establish a Bangkok based Center of Meaningful Technologies (CMT) to commence on January 1, 2009. Its purpose would be the design, prototyping, and deployment of technologies that transmit “meaningful user experience” (MUX) to citizens in emerging markets. I propose an MOU signing Feb 7 between these partners , stating their intension to open discussions regarding the feasibility, and the organizational and financial model for the Center.
CMT’s Purpose
The Center would serve as a magnet for technology laboratories around the world in the field of Human Computer Interface (HCI), in which the purpose is to generate beneficial human impacts via technology. Responding to the humanistic critique of technology of philosopher since Heidegger, HCI researchers have grown in numbers and influence. But their research agendas are biased towards the circumstances of advanced markets. They lack an entity such as CMT that would adapt HCI perspectives to the social, educational and ethical needs of emerging markets.
CMT would also bring Web 2.01 perspectives into emerging markets and foster ethical ICT regulatory reforms, possibly via a partnership with the International Telecommunications Union.
In addition to interacting with academic labs (Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, et al), CMT would also collaborate with corporate laboratories, corporate educational marketing divisions, and CSR-programs that focus on generating beneficial social and educational impacts in emerging markets.
Though developed in Thailand, CMT would look beyond the Thai market to Indonesia (where a complementary initiative is in place, also linked to DigitalDivide.org) and other Asian markets. Currently, there is no internationally recognized technology design and policy center for emerging markets that specifically addresses humanistic and ethical impacts of technology.
Combining Separate Strengths
The project would combine the broad interdisciplinary perspectives of Chulalongkorn University (organized by its Center for Ethics in Science and Technology) together with the technologically mediated learning perspectives of King Monkut University of Technology (organized by its Innovative Learning Institute and the constructionist Darunsikkhalai School for Innovative Learning.) The partnership would engage DigitalDivide.org as its communications vehicle focused on the formulations and deployment of new technologies that address social needs of emerging markets, as well as encouraging innovations that adapt ICT ecosystems to the bottom. DigitalDivide.org is being converted into a Web 2.0 interactive web site with a Thai portal.
Evolving from the Chulalongkorn Colloquia
This initiative’s framework would emerge from the colloquium series organized by the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology at Chulalongkorn, called “Happiness, Technology and Public Policy.” Further events in this series focus on education, multimedia and rural development. The series is eliciting a series of recommendations that may be implemented by the Center. These recommendations incorporate public and private sectors and may lead to the formulation of public/private partnerships, supported by ICT regulatory reforms that may be propagated in emerging markets with the help of the International Technology Union. For example, the initial seminar elicited a series of recommendation for technologies that incorporate mindfulness into health care practices. They also yielded a broader recommendations by DPM Paiboon for technologies that support citizen participation and mindfulness practices in Thailand.
What is MUX?
Increasingly, digital technologies have gained the capacity to transmit “experiences,” not just information – and this trend is destined to accelerate dramatically in light of developments now in the world’s technology leading laboratories. As microchip technology evolves, these experiences will be increasingly immersive. They will shape behavior of users – addicting them and/or empowering them. It is a concern for public policy makers as well as ethicists and technology researchers themselves that new technologies minimize harm and optimize benefits to users. Yet currently, technology designers and public policy makers lack methods, measures and economic models for the successful design and deployment of beneficial technologies.
Possible Program activities of CMT
The following programmatic activities could be initiated in CMT:
Development of a methodology for integrating MUX into the design of new software, eg for One Laptop Per Child.
Development of an innovative design prototyping process that integrates mindfulness experiences into the design process.
Development of meaningful technologies in four user domains: health care, education, multimedia and rural development.
Development of operational definitions and measures for meaningfulness.
Developing the philosophical, spiritual, scientific, anthropological, and educational theoretic foundations for meaningful technologies.
Developing a scenario for the development of “ecosystems” of technology applications for Thailand.
A project for scaling up child-centered education in Thailand with the help of technologies.
Development of public/private partnerships and new strategic alliances fostering meaningful technologies.
Development of public policy and regulatory innovations fostering meaningful technologies.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Presentation Files
Here are presentation files for the talk on Human Enhancement: Ethical Issues and Nanotechnology and Asian Values. The first talk was given on July 4, 2008 at Chulalongkorn University and the other at National University of Singapore on July 28, 2008.
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