The First Words

For me one of the most important historical events ever was the invention of mechanical printing by Gutenberg in 15th century. It brought, for the first time in our history, knowledge for the consumption of masses. It was this knowledge which was the spiritual and material forebearer of Enlightenment, Age of Reason, Renaissance, Scientific Revolution and today's Knowledge-based economy. 

We underestimate the power of ideas when they transcend from their hallowed precints to a common, dinner-table conversation. We also underappreciate the force and legitimacy that ideas develop when they are openly questioned and debated, sacrileged and reformed. Yet there is a tendency even among well-meaning people to shield 'common-folks' from the ideas they deem corrupting. So one of the missions of this blog is (and I couldn't put it better than The Economist does)- "to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress." Yet this contest needs to be transparent; a free and a great society should never ban an idea just because it is uncomfortable or offensive. And we often need to remind ourselves that we don't need to agree with something in order to benefit from it.

And this brings me to the title of the blog- The Great Conversation.

Great Conversation is an allusion that westerners make about a dialogue that has been going on for  centuries between their foremost intellectuals. I believe that every civilization enters in this Great Conversation- borrowing, rebuffing and advancing ideas with the passage of time. When, if ever, the collective narrative of humanity will be written, it will have a special place for this conversation. This blog is my modest contribution towards that noble aim.