Mind Blocked

The idea of logic and thinking scientifically started way back in time during the Rennaissance when philosophers started focusing on human beings and humanism. Further along in history, during the Enlightenment, people started experimenting and coming up with ways to make their lives better. Then, the industrial revolution came about and people were blown away by the power of man and his conquest over nature. However, Pakistani society these days is completely mind blocked. If you get into an accident and break a leg, you thank God that the other leg was not harmed. Why not prevent the accident in the first place? I understand that sometimes there is just nothing one can do, but there are many preventative measures that Pakistan has failed to take regardless of their availability. For example, Chile's 8.8 magnitude earthquake and Quetta's 3.7 magnitude earthquake should seriously be setting off a flare for Pakistan to get its safety measures up. But how many earthquake-resistant buildings do you see in Pakistan, or even in Karachi? Not many. So, have we not reached a period of enlightenment or has illiteracy reached a new level? Or are we just poor with too many corrupt leaders with the wrong priorities?

On the other hand, there are some signs of hope shown in the following excerpt from February 5, 2010’s Science Magazine:

"Some engineers want to rethink the basic materials used in developing countries. Darcey Donovan advocates replacing concrete walls with load-bearing straw bales. Her nonprofit group, PakistanStraw Bale and Appropriate Building, erects 7.3-m-by-7.3- m houses in northwest Pakistan, which was ravaged by an earthquake in 2005. The bales are stacked and bound together top to bottom with a fishnet, which keeps them from slipping apart during shaking, then plastered over. Her team has built 11 houses so far, with six more coming. The design recently survived, with minimal damage, a violent test on a shake table, a large platform that simulates earthquakes. Because the tough, fibrous plantsused for straw are ubiquitous, Donovan believes the bale design could easily be exported, and her team is discussing traveling to Haiti."