A Lesson from IIT | STEM-Humanities convergences for fostering creativity, innovation, and stimulating sustainable progress

To gauge the kind of transformation we need, let us look at innovation as an idea and creativity as a phenomenon that ought to be fostered in higher education institutions. Anyone who reads paradigm-shifting papers or patents would notice almost immediately that innovation and creative work do not come about in a vacuum. There is a strong social and cultural (and even historical) aspect to innovation and creativity. For instance, a culture that is open to risk-taking and encourages new ideas with enthusiasm and optimism is likely to be a place where a prospective innovators will be able to express and realise her/himself.

Innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a product of a promising mind interacting with a conducive social system. Interpenetrating innovator and knowledge networks, communities, an ecosystem that fosters trust and instils confidence, a culture of promotion of new ideas, friendly policies for innovators, ease of research, and fair governance of intellectual property could all be key ingredients to an innovation centered future for higher education in India. Notice that nearly all the key ingredients stem from social factors.

This quite inevitably means that the humanities and social sciences would play a critical role in generating the social and cultural context for the envisioned innovative future. Hence goals like (i) and (ii) are not just interrelated, but are in fact intertwined. One may thus say that the humanities and social sciences (HSS), often seen as distinct from (STEM) are in fact intersecting in their daily practice and influence. The bridge between HSS and STEM may in fact become progressively important, for the current epoch of knowledge generation and innovation.

Now this presents a unique challenge in India. The separation between humanities and the sciences occurs very early in the life of a student. This separation means the student rarely gets the benefit of HSS if s/he goes to the sciences track, and vice versa. This is a systemic lacuna, and in fact, we do not do justice to a properly understood intellectual history, which reveals the deep interplays between HSS and STEM, especially in the highly creative and innovative space.

By the way, this is the space we ought to foster in our country, if we were to tap the potential of our youth. We ought to conceive of HSS and STEM not as isolated disciplines, but as those that exist in synergies. These synergies while generally under-appreciated, are essential for the progress of knowledge and the construction of a promising future for our civilization.

Now to deepen our appreciation for the contributions of HSS to fertile thinking and research in STEM, one may turn to the stories of some paradigm-creators (or trend-setters, as we call them).

Take a look at Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), an English mathematician, often regarded as the first computer programmer. She is recognised for her work on Charles Babbage’s proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She developed the first algorithm intended to be processed by the machine. Her creative passion needs to be understood in the context of her background.

She was the daughter of the exemplary poet Lord Byron. Albeit not very close to her father, she was inspired by his poetic legacy and was immensely influenced by his creativity. Her own creative instincts and inquisitiveness meant that she read diverse fields, including poetry, philosophy, and mathematics. It is this unique blend of interests and skills that allowed her to see the potential in the Analytical Engine, which others missed. It is her creative vision that led her to become the first computer programmer.

She was also the first to see that the engine had applications beyond pure calculations. One may argue, rather reasonably, that this insight of hers and the work she did thus is a precursor to the modern information age.

Another obvious example of a problem-solver with a boundaryless mind is Freeman Dyson (1923-2020), an applied mathematician, considered widely to be among the most fertile minds of 20th century. This man with an obviously beautiful mind attributed his intellectual development and subsequent flourish to the poems that his mother read to him when he was a young lad.

For young Dyson, the poetic landscape was analogous to the mathematical landscape – full of possibilities. With his mathematical acumen, he went on to contribute to nuclear physics, quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, and mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics. Likewise, Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) is known to every STEM student, owing to his many theorems. What is often overlooked is his breadth of knowledge of languages and history. One would likely not be too off the mark if one said that there is a straight line connecting Gauss’ broad intellectual curiosity and training, and his exemplary problem-solving and creative insights in mathematics.

We are beneficiaries of the boundaryless learning of Alan Turin, the Father of Modern Computer Science. Turin’s education was in mathematics, logic and epistemology. He was a student of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, in whose classes he explored formal nature and distinctions between natural languages and mathematics. This made him think if ‘machines could ever think’ – a question of relevance to artificial intelligence (AI)! Also his interactions with Wittgenstein played an important role in laying the foundations for the modern theory of computation.

Today universities are expected to produce ‘boundaryless’, keen thinkers, creators and innovators like Lovelace, Guass, Turin, da Vinci and Dyson. We wish our students to be adept problem solvers, and sharp decision-makers. Our universities are to create students who can shape our future, and set civilization in the right direction. We want our universities to playing grounds for budding students with potential, so we can have more paradigm-creators. The older 20th century distinctions between STEM and HSS could prove unproductive to the achievement of these goals. It is perhaps time for a ‘convergence within university education’.

Many universities around the world (my own included) have realised this in their own ways. They are moving towards offering lateral disciplinary mobility to students, so they may take minors and even get interdisciplinary degrees. Choice based credits is another healthy step.

These are welcome move and could be a nice step towards generating boundaryless learners and boundaryless universities. In a refreshing and new way, we are ushering in an era of the ‘university’ – ‘a place for any person, and for any study’ (adapted from Cornell University’s motto). By the way, lateral mobility can be a paradigm for lifelong learning, not just for students, but for faculty, and all lifelong learners.

This is perhaps the next thing we should do in our institutions. Constantly generating a plenitude of opportunities within our learning ecosystems while retaining an abundance and growth mindset is the key.

To conclude, the NEP’s vision of innovation-centered education should spur deliberate amalgamations of HSS with STEM, to facilitate multidisciplinary and creative opportunities for students and faculty. Such an ecosystem would also be a welcome space for paradigm setters, thought leaders, and innovators. It can be a means to foster innovation and a space where well-rounded solutions emerge. This has relevance in fact for a world pursuing sustainable development goals promptly. It is hence of civilizational and global importance and thus relates to realising the potential of mankind. A harmonious blend of scientific achievement, humanistic insights, and societal well-being can set universities and societies in the right direction. As we implement NEP, this value-based vision and its nuances are never to be lost.

(The writer is an Associate Professor at IIT Madras)

(A Lesson from IIT is a weekly column by an IIT faculty member on learning, science and technology on campus and beyond. The column appears every Friday)

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