Life, Dreams and Reality -- Sohel's Blog

There is no stop button in the race for human re-engineering Rapid evolution is on display. Is it? Transhumanism will change the face of humanity, human rights. That is the stance of many "bio-conservatives" like Francisco Fukuyama and others. On the other side, there are plenty of enthusiasts who foresee a better world with sci-fi like advancement in science and technology where the longevity of human population far exceed our contemporary imagination with quality of life many times more enhanced with much better controlled or eradicated disease, genetic manipulation subjugating those hard to fathom anomalies in the far reaches of our cellular structure, creating faster, cleverer, robust human beings for whom sky may not be the limit of their opportunistic dreams. Perhaps there is no way of turning back from the on going trend of fierce scientific progresses. However, a coherent global public debate, as Madeline Bunting poin...

Terrorism is real. From the humid corner of Bangladesh to Indonesia's various regions, from London's immigrant districts to Spain's busiest morning rush hour, hot to cold, rain to drought, terrorism has striked the world again and again. This meandering problem can not be solved with narrow political or religious agenda by any extremist groups. Terrorism thrives where there are growing discontent among the populace due to massive economic gap between the have and have-nots, where the governments either actively or indirectly foster corruption and bullyism. Terrorism can also go shoulder to shoulder with budding fascism. They compliment one another, for their thriving survival and hideous prosperity. Regards, Sohel Using Our Fear By Eugene Robinson Once upon a time we had a great wartime president who told Americans they had nothing to fear but fear itself. Now we have George W. Bush, who uses fear as a tool of executive power and as a political weapon against his opponents....

I find the following article quite fair, without the stereotypical portrayal of Muslims as they are done by many in the West in recent years. Bin Laden's purported tape with the offering of "truce" with the West has stirred American and European nations, albeit in negative way due to Bin Laden's alleged involvement with the notorious atrocity a few years ago in America. The author Mark Levine states rightfully, "A truce does not equal capitulation to terrorists or letting Muslims off the hook for crimes committed in the name of religion. Criminals such as bin Laden and his terrorist colleagues can no more offer a truce than could Al Capone or Pablo Escobar; they are murderers whom the world community must bring to justice." The world community must bring to justice other criminals as well. These criminals remain behind the mockeries of modern nations, their governments, stylish political parties and wealthy corporations or "pious" monarchs. In thi...

Why Tragedy Struck the Hajj The Saudi government and their press are putting the blames on "unruly" pilgrims' dead cold shoulders for the latest tragedy in Makkah. They say that these "unobedient", "indisciplined" pilgrims carried their bags with them, built tents on the roads, pushed the others, threw larger stones, etc., etc. The classic example of shifting authorities' solemn responsibilities to the victims themselves. Cast the dead, stone the poor and the "devil", they won't be talking back to you. How convenient! Each year millions of devoted Muslims travel to the heart of Saudi Arabia to perform one of the ancient rituals of human kind. Even in pre-Islamic Arabia, pilgrims used to flock the same area performing religious rituals. Now that oil has made the nomadic Arabs rich beyond normal imagination for many of us mortals, and when it remains to be a near certainty that millions...