In Global Peace Through The
Global University System
2003 Ed. by T. Varis, T. Utsumi, and
W. R. Klemm
University of
Tampere, Hameenlinna, Finland
CULTURE, COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY, AND GLOBAL PEACE
K. S. Sitaram
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Abstract
Mesopotamia in the Middle
East and the Indus Valley in the South Asian subcontinent, which thrived in the
4th millennium B.C., were the cradles of civilizations. The people that lived in these two
parts of the world at that time used the technology that they had developed to
trade and communicate across cultures and countries, thus setting an example
for the future generations in multicultural communication and peaceful living.
Introduction
Application of scientific theory to practical purposes
is an ancient tradition, which started in ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia and
Harappa in the Indus Valley. For
example, the Sumerians and the Harappans showed that the concept of wheel might
be applied to build a cart to transport food for people, as well as to build a
sharp disc (Chakra) to kill
people in a war. These ancient
people lived in peace until someone else came along and used the wheel to build
chariots to fight and destroy their cities and cause sorrow to these people. Sumerians and the Harappans developed
the script to write down their philosophic and scientific thoughts for the
future generations. Why can't we use the modern communication technology to build better educational and economic systems for all humanity?
The
Middle Eastern Example
The American invasion of Iraq that took place in the
spring of 2003 caused a great deal of concern in the scholarly community of the
world. These scholars feared that
the war, especially the huge bombs that were dropped on the ancient city of Baghdad,
might destroy the treasures of the ancient Sumerian culture that were stored in
the Baghdad museum. The American army was guided by global positioning system (GPS) to locate the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's residence and other places where the Iraqis might have stored the so-called weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In order to destroy the WMD, as well as
to capture Saddam Hussein in his own palace, the GPS was used extensively. In the process of these destructions,
the world scholarly community feared, the American army might drop bombs on the
museum, thus destroying the ancient cultural treasures too. The scholars knew that ancient
Mesopotamia, of which Sumerian culture was a part, was the cradle of Western
civilization. Sumerians were the first
people to write down information in the script that they had developed. As one popular weekly magazine said of Iraq, "It is the birthplace of civilization, the site of first written word. Once known as Mesopotamia, Iraq has
been in turmoil for 5,000 years.
Nearly 100,000 archeological sites, from Sennacherib Palace (700 B.C.) to the 4,000-year-old pyramid at Ur, are at risk during a war (The Newsweek, March 31, 2003, Page-44)."
The
Point
The point is that the new communication technology such as GPS can be employed to locate and destroy sites such as Saddam Hussein's palaces, as well as protect and preserve important sites such as the museum of ancient Sumerian culture.
The new technology, including the communication satellite, can be
employed to preserve and protect ancient cultures. An example of this is that the United States National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) employed one of its remote sensing
satellites to locate the canals built by the ancient Mayans in South America,
thus solving the mystery of the water source that Mayan farmers used to raise
the food for their large population.
Another example is that of the NASA's experimental satellite called Application Technology Satellite-1 (ATS-1) that was employed by the University of Hawaii in 1969 for educational purposes to reach students in the remote islands of the Pacific region.
University of Hawaii called this experiment the Pan Pacific Educational
and Cultural Experiment by Satellite (PEACESAT), which was the first attempt to
use the new technology for educational purpose. More than sixteen Pacific island nations participated in
this experiment. Satellite
technology also could be employed to locate mineral and oil deposits that are
hidden under the ground, locate tornados from a distance to warn people to seek
shelter, study soil condition to help farmers, transmit lessons to reach
students in distant communities, and treat patients in isolated villages. The Communication Satellite Act in 1962 that was passed by the United States Congress says in its preamble that the satellite technology should be used to build "international peace and universal brotherhood, (Kahn, 1973)." The
preamble was an excerpt from a speech that President John F. Kennedy gave
earlier. However, we are a long
way from realizing that dream.
Culture
Culture is a human organization that consists of a
distinct value system, philosophical schools, scientific theories, and
communication techniques that are developed and promoted by its people during a
period of many generations. In
ancient times, there were pockets of cultures wherein the lives of their people
were based on their own values, beliefs, expectations, customs and scientific
ideas. At the time of Plato, for
example, science was an important part of the Greek culture. Scientific theories were designed to
speculate on the life here, as well as in the hereafter. Although there were no clear definitions
of science and philosophy in those days, there was a clear distinction between
the so-called intellectual culture and general culture. Intellectual culture was based on the
values proposed by philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. General culture was based on scientific
theories proposed Pythagoras.
While Socrates emphasized the importance of learning about the goodness
of man and his inner self, Pythagoras emphasized the importance of learning
astronomy, geometry and mathematics that had to do with the life in the real
world (Hadot, P. (2002), p. 58).
Scholars and teachers in ancient Greece believed that it was necessary
for anyone who wanted to succeed in politics and business to learn to be an
effective public speaker and to learn to apply scientific theories in real
life. Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, which were the most prestigious schools in Athens in the 4th
and 5th centuries B. C., did not over-emphasize mundane things such
as public speaking and scientific application for success in life. However, there was a group of traveling
teachers called the Sophists who taught acting and speaking for a fee. Plato and Aristotle criticized the
Sophists as salesmen of culture.
However, Plato's Academy taught both types of culture. "Foundation of the Academy was inspired both by model of Socratic form of life and by the model of the Pythagorean way of life, even if we cannot define the latter's of characteristics with certainty (Hadot, P. 58)."
In ancient India also there were schools of religion
and philosophy that discussed the importance of life in here and in the
hereafter. These schools composed
the four Vedas. While three of the Vedas discussed the
way to achieve Moksha or
salvation, the fourth one, the Atharva Veda, explained the methods of applying science and
technology in real life. The first
three schools treated the Atharva Veda as being inferior.
The city of Taksha Shila (modern Taxila) in the south
Asian subcontinent was the center of learning for the people in this part of
the world. A highly respected
scholar by the name of Vishnu Gupta, whose popular name was Kautilya, wrote the
Sanskrit book on statecraft entitled the Artha Sastra in this city in the 4th century B.C. This book became the guideline for
kings and his ministers in administering their states. A linguist by the name of Panini, who
also lived in the same city a century before Kautilya came along, wrote the
Sanskrit grammar entitled the Ashtadyayi (the Eight Chapters), which was "one of the greatest intellectual achievements of any civilization in the world. It refined the literary
usage of the day that the language was ever known as Samskrita (Perfect, hence Sanskrit) (Keay, p 61)". The Aryan Vedas were written in
Sanskrit on the lines prescribed by Panini.
As each culture matures, it tries to expand its
horizons by integrating ideas from other cultures. Some cultures go the extra mile to integrate foreign ideas
while others tend not to make the effort and strive to maintain their
purity. Some cultures even go to the extent of implementing various methods of "ethnic cleansing." Educators and business people in each
culture begin to establish contacts with similar individuals in other
cultures. They employ all
available communication techniques to contact the others and learn from them. In ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle
were aware of the Hindu and other contemporary cultures. Alexander was a pupil of Aristotle and
he had learned the importance of speech-communication. He brought back some ideas from Persia,
India and other countries that he invaded. The foreign cultures emphasized not only the hereafter, but
also the life in here on this earth.
Nonetheless, the Greek philosophers believed that intellectual aspect of
culture was more important.
Even before Plato's Academy, there existed cultures that valued life here, as well as hereafter. Historians believe that the Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley
of the 4th millennium B.C. are the oldest civilizations. These two ancient cultures realized the
importance of the so-called general science and trained their youngsters in
such sciences. This knowledge led
those people to develop the techniques of applying their scientific knowledge
to real life. Many pockets of
similar cultures joined together to build a civilization that developed
technologies, which would make their lives rich, happy and comfortable. "It was immediately obvious that the Indus Valley civilization was more extensive (Keay. J. (2002), P 10.)."
The Mesopotamian civilization that existed in the
fourth millennium B.C. thrived in the land between the Euphrates and Tigris
rivers in the Middle East and is considered the cradle of Western
civilization. The Indus Valley
Civilization that thrived in the land between the Indus and Ganges rivers in
ancient India was the cradle of civilization of South and South East Asia. The people that lived in these cultures
built some of the earliest technologies.
The cultural representations and technologies of these people include
the Cuneiform, Dravidian scripts, pottery wheels, ox-drawn carts, handmade
textiles, and brick houses.
Well-developed housing included standardization in bricks and other
building materials. These
developments indicate two of the essential factors for a long-lasting culture,
which are communication by script and transportation on wheels. As Keay says, "Standardized bricks and pots, regular streets above network of well-made sewerage duct" are examples of application of scientific ideas in real life in the 4th millennium
B.C. The "technological and cultural refinement" of these ancient people indicates their "advancement from hunter-gatherer rural culture to urban dweller culture that depends upon advanced farming (Keay, p. 12)."
Recent studies seem to indicate that Mesopotamian and Indus Valley
civilizations were contemporary and had trade and cultural contacts between
them. The channels of such
contacts seem to be of a technological nature, which included the use of seals
that were produced by block printing on clay and transportation by ox-drawn
wheeled carts.
The Mesopotamia included Sumerian and the Babylonian
cultures. The Indus Valley
included Harappan and the Mohenjo Daro cultures. Although the Sumerians, Babylonians, Harappans, and Mohenjo
Darans traded on a regular basis, they belonged to different cultures, thus
pioneering earliest example of multicultural communication.
For the purpose of this
chapter, multiculturalism
is defined as the way of life where the people of a given society are aware of
the presence of different people and cultures and try to understand and respect
the cultural differences. In fact,
understanding and respecting the other culture were parts of life in ancient
Sumer and Harappa.
Thus, multiculturalism is an ancient phenomenon. This phenomenon originated in ancient
Sumerian and Harappan societies when people of the Indus Valley and Sumer had
to interact for the purposes of trade.
The Indus Valley people, or the Harappans as some historians call them,
grew surplus food, made handicraft and had to trade these products with the
faraway people of Sumer. These
people had developed their own technique of trading such as stamping their own
seals on the products that they sold.
Communication
Technology
Technology provides a way to apply scientific
theories to practical purposes in human life. "Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2003)." For example, the Harappan farmers in about 4th
millennium B.C. grew plenty of food on their lands. They used bullock carts to carry loads of their farm
produce. Having used the wheel to
produce pottery, Harappans improved the wheel to pull bullock carts so that
they could transport more farm produce on one cart than one person could do.
A modern example of a technological innovation is the
radio antenna, which is a device that is based on the Electromagnetic Theory
that James Clerk Maxwell developed in 1864. Antennas transmit electromagnetic sound waves from one part
of the earth to another part.
Communication satellites are the devices that are built to apply the
theory of geo-synchronous orbit.
The geosynchronous earth orbiting satellite (GEOS) is the technology
that is used extensively to transmit radio signals, voice, and data around the
world. These signals could carry
news from around the world, as well as signals from a designated satellite to a
fighter aircraft in a war to help locate and destroy enemy target. In fact, the most advanced system of such satellites that are used in warfare is called Global Positioning System (GPS) which is "precise, satellite-based navigation and location system developed for U. S. military use but available to the general public with the use of proper equipment. GPS is a fleet of 24 communication satellites that transmit signals globally around the clock (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2003)."
The accuracy of GPS has made it possible for the military to locate the
enemy targets and destroy them quickly, thus reducing the time and cost of
warfare. It is well known that the
American military forces were able to start and win two wars in Iraq in 1991
and 2003 in a few weeks.
Information is the lifeline of the communication technology. Although technology is in itself
neutral and lifeless, its content is information and it can affect the
behaviors of its audience. Claude
Shannon and Warren Weaver provided the first scientific explanation of their
concept of Information in their book, the Mathematical Theory of
Communication (1948), Shannon and
Weaver said that information is anything that is transmitted on a channel from
the information source to the destination such as a radio. Information that has meaning to one
person might not be so to another person.
"The semantic aspects of communication are not relevant to the engineering aspect (Shannon and Weaver (1949), P. 8)." When a radio broadcaster says something
on the channel of radio, his/her speech is coded in the form of radio signals
and transmitted on the channel.
The signals are received on the receiver at the other end of the channel
and the signals may or may not make sense to the person that receives them. This is especially true if the persons
who send and receive belong to the same culture. Persons of similar cultures can easily understand each
other, but those of dissimilar cultures may not do so. Shannon and Weaver also defined communication as "all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another or procedure by which one mechanism may affect another mechanism" (Shannon and Weaver (1949), P.3.). The information that has meaning to the
receiver is Signal, while the information that does not mean anything is Noise.
From their inception, communication satellites have
been transmitting radio information from one culture to many other
cultures. Thus, satellites have
become devises to promote multicultural communication in the world. The telegraph that was invented by
Samuel F. B. Morse in 1844 made it possible for peoples of different cultures
to send and receive coded messages inter-culturally.
Information
Technology and Global Values
Achieving world peace is a global value. Building the ability to understand and respect the other person's culture is an essential quality of a well-educated person in the world today. The
ability to communicate inter-culturally has become a value in modern
education. A well-rounded
educational system includes education and training in intercultural and
multicultural communication.
However, a concerted effort to bring about intercultural communication
and peace among different cultures and ethnic groups on a large scale was made
for the first time by Krishna Raja Wodeyar, the king of Mysore state in
southern India in 1916. When he
inaugurated the University of Mysore in 1916, Wodeyar said that the university
professors should make efforts to bring about better understanding among the
people of different religions and ethnic groups in the state of Mysore. The king was aware that the citizens of
his state consisted of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and other ethnic and
cultural groups. Accordingly, the
Vice Chancellor (president) of Mysore University established a program to
depute university faculty members to remote rural communities to speak to the
people about Indian and foreign cultures.
The university's cultural week celebrations in rural communities became so popular that the university press published those lectures in booklets. Because of the Mysore king's efforts to bring about modernization in culture, education and economy in his state, Mysore was called the Model State or
simply Model Mysore. As parts of his modernization process, the king
improved education by establishing the University of Mysore, built the first
multipurpose damn in India across the Cauveri River, and established industries
to use the raw materials that were available in the state. In order to facilitate these
developments, he appointed Mysoreans of various ethnic groups to higher
offices. One of his celebrated
officials was Mirza Ismail (later, Sir Mirza), a Muslim, as the chief minister
of Mysore. Then, many other states
adopted the Mysore model. He
recommended to the faculty of Mysore University to teach about the different
religions and cultures to all Mysoreans.
The need for better intercultural communication in
India became even more evident when India and Pakistan gained their
independence from the British in 1947 and riots and bloodshed took place
between Hindus and Muslims in both countries. The chief minister of Mysore state, K. Hanumanthaya, continued Krishna Raja's earlier example.
In 1950, the chief minister established a new program for intercultural
communication among the citizens of Mysore state. He established the new Department of Samskruthi Prasara to implement the new program. The word Samskruthi means culture and the word Prasara is the generic term used to mean broadcasting,
publication, speech and other communicative activities. In other words, his new department was
the Department of Cultural Communication.
This new department included a ten-point program to send university
professors and cultural specialists to spread information about the various
cultures across the state by providing lectures to Mysoreans in remote rural
communities. The lecturers used
available technologies such as slides, movies, and radio (Department of
Samskruthi Prasara, (1954).
Introduction. P. xi).
Wherever electricity was not available kerosene lanterns were used. These "Lantern Lectures" included information about the teachings of Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad, and Mahatma Gandhi.
Culture and Information Technology
Modern technology has the
capacity to bring about peace to our world, which is being torn by wars and
terrorism even in this 21st century. Peace is possible by means of better understanding and
respect among the peoples of different cultures by means of intercultural
communication. Extending the
Shannon and Weaver definition, intercultural communication may be defined as
the process by which persons of one culture may affect the persons of another
culture.
Two most important creations
of human mind are culture and technology.
When Aryans migrated from the Middle East and Southern Europe to the
Indo-Gangetic valley in about 3rd millennium B.C., the natives of
the valley who were known as the Harappans had already built a flourishing
culture that included the use of the wheel and fire to make bricks and build
homes. Aryans being a pastoral
tribe had to get accustomed to business and economy of city life. Initially, Aryans opposed city life,
and in their literature they
wrote hymns in praise of their Gods who tried to destroy the city-demons. However, as time went by, Aryans
adopted to the life in their new home. They built their homes, chariots, and weapons using the
Harappan technology such as wheels.
In the Aryan epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha, the
heroes use chariots extensively.
The most powerful weapon that the Aryan gods Vishnu and Krishna had were
sharp discs, called Chakra. The discs also symbolized time and
speed. It is to the credit of both
Harappans and Aryans that they understood, respected, and integrated the
values, beliefs, customs, and scientific and economic theories of both cultures. Thus, they built what is now known as
the Indian culture.
The modern Indian culture is
in itself a mixture of several cultures.
The multiculturalism that resulted by such a mixture is reflected in the
Aryan epics. Clearly, the concept
of multiculturalism began in ancient Sumer and Indus Valley. Communication and technology promoted
the concept of multiculturalism in both lands. Aryans and Harappans, as well as Sumerians and Babylonians
realized that each adapting the others culture and technology was essential for
peaceful living in their lands.
Harappan seals have been discovered in the remains of Sumer, which
indicate trade between the two ancient cultures. The Sanskrit language and grammar were most important
channels, which facilitated the communication of their belief in peaceful
living. Aryans wrote the
importance of peace in their literature.
Their mantras end with hope for Loka samastha sukhino bhavanthu.
Shanthi, Shanthi, and Shanthi (may
all the people of the world be happy.
Let there be peace, peace and peace).
In his book on statecraft,
the Artha Sastra, Kautilya (4th
century B.C.) explained how a king should bring about peace in his
country. He said that there are
six ways to establish peace.
Kautilya was famous for his practical approach to the administration of
the kingdom. In the final analysis, attaining peace with the neighbors is the right policy because, said Kautilya, "when the advantages derivable from peace and war are of equal value, one should prefer peace; for disadvantages such the loss of power and wealth, sojourning, and sin, are ever attending upon war (Kautilya. Sastry, S. (1915), P. 298)."
The ancient Chinese
philosophy is centered on the views of the sage Confucius. According to him, the greatest human
value is the so-called Jen or
humanity. Confucius said that
humaneness is a value that any individual person may build up by
himself/herself. Humaneness,
ultimately, results in peace for all human beings. Some schools of philosophy that came later on agreed with
Confucius while others disagreed.
However, the one value that all ancient Chinese schools believed in was Jen and its resultant peace. It is the responsibility of each person to achieve peace for
everyone. Until everyone lives in
peace no individual person can say that he/she is happy. "Full happiness is not completely possible because the man of jen's ultimate mission is to bring peace to other men and to society in general (Schwartz, (1985.) p. 81.)."
Information links culture
and technology at micro, as well as the macro levels. Whether communication technology is used in terrestrial or
celestial levels, it is still a bunch of metals, wires, and batteries. However, the content of the information
that goes through these things is cultural. When the nature of information that is transmitted has to do
with more than one culture, it becomes multicultural. The technology that transmits the information may be called
multicultural technology. During
the Iraq war in 2003, a new television network that became popular in the
Americas and in the Middle East was the so-called Al Jazeera Television
Network, which was headquartered in the kingdom of Qatar. This network had the ability to collect
and transmit information from the members of the Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden and
others whom the American government was fighting. The Al Jazeera used the most advanced communication technology to collect, process, and transmit information, thus helping both the worlds understand each other's intentions.
The cultural content of
technology is information. It
consists of Bits (binary digits).
Although the Bits themselves, in their electronic forms, are neutral,
they too are cultural and can bring about war or peace when received by their
intended audience. Bits are the
life force of communication technology and information. Shannon and Weaver said that
Information consists of Signal and Noise.
They also said that Information that makes sense is Signal and that
which does not make sense is Noise.
These definitions held good during the time of the Gulf wars in 1991 and
2003. Irrespective of the
technology being terrestrial or celestial, it still is a bunch of metals, wires
and, batteries. However, its
content is cultural especially when the bits that are transmitted are signals
rather than noise. The cultural
content of the technology in intercultural situations become real information because they add to the knowledge of the receiver
and affect their behaviors. Bits are the nucleus of cultural information or as Negroponte says, "Bits are DNA of information (Negroponte, N. P. 14)."
Electronic Bits can travel at the speed of light and change behaviors of
their audience instantaneously.
When Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead by a Hindu religious fanatic in 1948,
the All India Radio (AIR) reported that the assassin was a Brahmin. In some Indian villages, the AIR news
instantaneously caused a great deal of trouble to the Brahmin families that
lived in those communities.
Shannon said that information reduces uncertainty in the minds of the receiver of information. Otherwise, it is redundant. Real
information reduces redundancy and adds to the knowledge. According to Bill Gates, information
means Signals or Bits that add to the knowledge of the receiver or
it should be something that he/she did not know before (Bill Gates (1996), pp
32-33). Ithiel de Sola Pool looked
at the concept of Information in an entirely different way. He said the technology has made the
production, transmission, receiving, and storing of information cheaper today
than it was fifteen years ago (Pool, 1983). Information is cost effective and, therefore, many trillions
of Bits of information are produced, transmitted, received and stored in the
world today more than ever before.
Ithiel Pool said that the tremendous amount of information that is
created today raises two issues: Information Consumption (IC) and Information
Overload (IO). Information that is
produced but not used causes IO.
For example, during the Iraq war, information that was transmitted
across the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian oceans caused both IO and
IC. The United States National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) defined Information as
a commodity and that it can alter international relations (NTIA, 1980.). NTIA said that information could not
only affect behaviors, but also alter international relations
Technology and Global Peace
Peace is a state of mind in
a given person. It is the sense of being safe and secure in one's own home, community and country. It is the feeling that one can enjoy
all the rights that are guaranteed by the United Nations and that one can
fulfill all the responsibilities that are expected of each person in his/her
culture. It is the ability to stay at one's own home, community and country without being attacked by someone else. It is the feeling of contentment that one's own family has the basic necessities of life. It is the feeling that can be
reinforced by communication technology around the globe.
Telegraph and telephone
facilitated terrestrial global communication in the 19th
century. When the telephone cable
was laid across the Atlantic in 1858, the American president Buchanan and the
British Queen Victoria exchanged messages. A newspaper that reported this event said, "Forever the continental divisions of the earth will, in a measure, lost those conditions of time and distance which now mark their relations (Pool, 1983, p. 89.)." Based on many examples of international telephone communication, Ithiel de Sola Pool predicted, "International telephony will foster world peace (Pool. (1983), P. 89.)."
International communication became celestial in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the first space satellite called the Sputnik, which was a low earth orbiting satellite (LEOS.) A few years later, both the Soviet Union and the United States of America launched geosynchronous satellites (GEOS). These two types of celestial communication offered high hopes for better international and intercultural communication and world peace. These two and many other countries politicized and militarized the celestial communication and began using the technology for settling their differences by force. The two Iraq wars were prime examples of how the technology can be employed to start and finish wars in a few weeks. While the two world wars lasted for more than four years from beginning and to the end, the two Iraq wars took only two or three weeks from the start to finish, due to the efficiency of the new technology such as the GPS. Talking about the geosynchronous satellite in 1960, President John F. Kennedy said, "I invite all the nations of the world to use this technology to bring about international peace and universal brotherhood (Kahn, 1973)." However Kennedy's dream has not become reality, yet.
Technology has made it possible for everyone in the
world to create trillions of bits of information today. However, are these bits really the
signals that facilitate multicultural communication? Would these bits generate the knowledge that facilitates
understanding and respect among the cultures of the world? As T. S. Eliot said, "where is wisdom lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"
With some efforts, we certainly can produce information that promotes
better living conditions to our people.
One way of doing that is to build satellite networks such as the
PEACESAT network that educates children in remote parts of the world in
multicultural communication.
Another example of the technology that is put into human development is
the International Space Station (ISS), which is a joint experimental project of
the United States of America, Russia, and other countries. The concept of the ISS was first
proposed by NASA in 1984 and was designed to conduct medical and other types of
research that can be done only in space.
The ISS became a reality in 2002.
It is now called the Space Station Freedom and includes sixteen
countries. It is the largest
station in space measuring 356 x 290 feet and weighing 470 tons. It will be stationed at an altitude of
290 miles above in space. It will
cost $30 billion. The station will
conduct experiments in medicine, science and multicultural communication.
Communication technology has
the capacity to bring about peace and security to the world, if the major
nations have the will do so.
Important educational projects such as the PEACESAT and ISS should offer programs to leaders in all countries in "Training for Global Peace." It
would be possible to offer such courses over the satellite to students around
the world. Wouldn't it be nice if GPS became the synonym for Global Peace System?
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Author
Biographical Sketch
Dr. K. S. Sitaram
Professor Department of
Radio-Television College of Mass
Communication and Media Arts Southern Illinois
University (Siu) Carbondale, Il 62901-6609 Tel: +1-618-536 7555 E-mail: ks.sitaram@verizon.net |
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K. S. Sitaram (Ph. D., Oregon 1969) has taught at Hawaii,
Governors State, Utah State, and Southern Illinois universities. He has been a visiting professor at
Lapland, Tampere, Western Australia, Bangalore and other universities. He has done post-doctoral research at
MIT and Northwestern University.
He was a Fulbright senior scholar in India. He is the author of Foundations of Intercultural
Communication (Charles Merrill,
1976), Culture and Communication: A World View (McGraw-Hill, 1970) and other books. He has presented papers at ICA, NCA,
APA, AAAS, and other professional associations. He is the founding chairperson of the ICA Intercultural and
Developmental Communication Division (1970-72). The areas of his interest are: Intercultural Communication,
Media Effects, Mass Media as Cultural Institutions, the New Technology, and
Writing for the Media.