Write up based on Iqbal Latif Talk in Paris

By Munawar Ali Rind, Islamabad

Books are ought to have centerstage in one’s life so is the case with Mr. Latif. Books are
very important part of his life. He has read the book Sapiens many a time and
recommends it to others if anyone wants to know how we have developed and evolved.
He is no time for fake news but surely gets the one when it comes to deciphering the
messages of fake news. Indeed, journalists can’t go deeply on any issue, therefore, it is
absolutely essential to have readings from the books.
Iqbal Latif’s Philosophy:
Latif’s philosophy is based on continuity of certain philosophical epoch that we are part of
for last five thousand years. Undoubtedly, every generation has produced an extra
ordinary thinking. The philosophical epoch that Mr. Latif refers is the one consisting of his
masters like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who had made a great impact on world. He
considers everyone of us as the reflection of these masters. It is true that everything that
must be said has been said. We cannot create anything new. He truly believes that
whatever is known to the world has been said. Nothing new can be discovered in the
world except to improve on what has already been found out.
The real masters as mentioned above are the great men as believed by Mr. Latif. He says
we are only the reflection of greatness of the great men and we ourselves are not all great
men. It is crucial for everyone to realize it, there lies the beauty because we develop
humbleness in our attitude when we accept our masters. One must understand that these
masters are essentially extra ordinary great people. They gave mankind a direction and
a way forward. It is recommended by Mr. Latif that these thinking people should be your
ideal people as they are the prophets of enlightenment.
In the continuity of similar lineage, comes the Stephen Hawking – another great thinker
of the world in that line. He had a greatness of mind and had ability to think, says Mr.
Latif. He is truly an outstanding student of the universe. He has written book “Brief History
of Time” which apprises what time is all about and the theory and concept of -Black Holes.
It a manifestation of the Post Einstein era. Mr. Latif also suggests everyone to read this
book along with the Sapiens as having above stated vital resources and it tries of make
the connections.
Being Student:
Mr. Iqbal Latif clarifies himself that what he has learned from his masters that one has to
be student all his/her life. The great masters were students all their lives too. They too
had limitations and lived with not knowing everything about the universe. Coming to
today’s era, Mr. Latif says, “We even don’t know the alpha of knowledge.” He says that
4.9% of the physical matter is electron, proton and neutron that we talk about, while the
rest of 95.1% is unknown energy and the dark energy. We have absolutely no idea about
it. Human beings are totally blind. There will be no expansion of the universe without it.
Roadmap for Progress:
Here, Iqbal Latif makes another fascinating connection with his real masters. He candidly
states that the roadmap given by the masters is already there. But we are following the
wrong people. The prophets of enlightenment are Socrates, Archimedes, Capillier,
Newton, Albert Einstein, Max Plank, Niel Bohr, Stephen Hawking. All these people must
be considered. He truly believes that our causes of not progressing related to affection
for dogmas. We basically try to nourish ourselves with dogma. He further clarifies that
Mosses, and Jesus, and everybody else, can take us from A to a certain point but the
only way one can progress in life is through scientific enquiry.
The Great Leap Forward:
Iqbal Latif, while referring to the extraordinary development that humans have seen in life
recently over the last 10,000 years, says that there were no any such sign of any human
thinking before that. All of sudden you see a Great Leap Forward. The cradle of civilization
evolved in Mesopotamia, that is something that has given a new impetus.
Iqbal Latif here states an interesting connotation. He plots 13.7 billion years of human
history from the Big Bang to this day on a 10-year cycle, then every second turns out to
be of 27 million years. Humans are only 3 million years old which means only 1/9th of
second if plotted on a 10-years cycle. We are only few million years old. Practically, we
are only 1/9th of a second and look what are doing. This is how Iqbal Latif describes the
Great Leap Forward.
Today, humans are reaching out to space and are knocking at the doors of obesity of The
Big Bang. Also, human are able to see the diffusion of Newton stars. Iqbal Latif humbly
mentions that all these facts were not proposed in the books of sculptures but by Einstein,
Newton and Galileo and the great masters. The telescope was discovered by Galileo and
he was persecuted only because he didn’t follow them. They used to believe the earth is
center of universe because The Bible said it so. He was persecuted for his beliefs, though,
he tendered apology but still said on the stage, “He still thinks so.”
The journey of the Great Leap Forward, in the words of Iqbal Latif continues further with
the advent of the Newton’s laws of motions and then Einstein’s Theory of relativity, where
he predicted the concept of space time, which was then followed by concept of Black
Holes put forwarded by Stephen Hawking.
Iqbal Latif rightly points out that this all has happened within the time period of 500 years.
He further questions what 500 years are in the context of 13.7 billion years. Referring
back again to Archimedes, he believes that had he not been killed by the Roman soldier,
when he was playing with circles and discovering Calculus, the journey of science would
have not been lost by another next 1500 years, till the time Newton came in with the Rate
of change of rate of change. Newton then worked on it which enabled us to harness
energy. Once the energy was harnessed, came the horsepower. He presents an
evidential view that the humans were limited to lifecycle of 25 miles radius only and the
all of sudden humans started going out as the horsepower was covered. This all led to
propelling the rockets into the space. These are extraordinary horsepower.
The Final Answer:
Towards, the conclusion, Mr. Latif says that on the one hand, we have controlled the
energy and resources and on the other hand we have created destructive nuclear energy.
And humans need to realize that peace is the only answer.
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