War and Science and Culture

I think none of us, unless living off the grid, haven't seen a war taking shape right in front of our eyes. Whatever bragging rights the GenX, Millennials and the Baby Boomers had over GenZ and Gen-Alpha are disappearing soon. Over the past few years, conflict has become second nature in diplomacy. Maybe COVID-19 did mess up the wiring upstairs! Anyway, each time a new version of war or conflict is launched, other than the brouhaha over ‘boring’ issues like the cost of wars on human lives and rights, displacement of people etc, a large proportion of X-Men and X-Women(formerly known as Twitteratis) take a great deal of joy in a haughty display of the latest weapon systems they have, how good can their radars say ‘thhappa’ to enemy jets and how far their rockets fly.

Amidst all the death, destruction, debates and discussions, one thing I remain in awe of is the mind-blowing advancements in science we’ve made in saving and killing people alike. It’s sad, although not unexpected, that science and technology, along with having a good and benevolent side, have this ugly side to it as well.
As surprising as this may sound, this isn’t an artefact of the rise of the colonial era. It is much more primitive with respect to time and closer to human nature
No one who engages in the spirited examination of history, either from a scholarly perspective or purely as a hobby, is unaware of the famous saying that war and sex have largely served as the inspiration for most inventions by mankind. While this statement is a reductionist one at best and largely fails to account for the brilliant discoveries our species has made over the years over other necessities, it does underscore an important relation between War and Science. And that is what I’ll be examining briefly today, keeping the discussion about sex, much to the dismay of some readers, for some other day.

In the entire journey of our kind, and quite ironically, more so after the dawn of civilisation, there are two things we’re certain about. One is that we are an industrious lot. From fearing lightning to sitting in Faraday cages reading magazines, we’ve conquered our fears and imaginations. From the primordial urge of soaring in the skies like birds to modern jets breaking the sound barrier and from hunting with a spear to detonating a second sun, the advancements made by us, especially since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, are remarkable by all measures. The second thing is an ancestral remnant-the tendency and capacity for violence. Our history is rife with anecdotes and evidence of the animal-like nature present in man. One could argue that aggression, and particularly the kind that precipitates the development of animosity between groups, is like second nature.
If Francis Fukuyama is to be believed, all current wars and genocides trace their roots back to tens of thousands of years of our history, starting from the hunter-gatherer phase. Ancient cave paintings, archaeological evidence and historical legends, although at times controversial, point in this direction of war as a group effort. In GenZ parlance, our ancestors engaged a lot in cracking open a cold one(skulls) with the boys.

Psychological, Biological and Sociological reasons for these behaviours aside(although there’s much to read and learn there), a combination of these two traits has resulted in some unique innovations. While some have been limited to the theatre of war and conflict, some have seeped through the filter of time to transform into a cultural phenomenon.
A great example of the latter is the Kongming lantern. The aesthetic-loving public has colloquially named them as Chinese Lanterns and in recent years, they have been used quite liberally during Deepawali. But few know the history behind these lanterns. The most well-known story of origin goes back about 2000 years in China. A military strategist named Zhuge Liang, who was popularly known as Kongming, used the concept of hot air balloons-again supposedly to have been experimented with first in China-to send messages for help during military expeditions and conflicts. Due to their practicality and simple yet remarkable usage, it were adopted by other empires and generals of the region too. One of the most famous instances was the Battle of Legnica, when these Kongming Lanterns were used for military signalling and sending messages by the invading Mongol Army. Historians are of the opinion that this was the first introduction of the concept of hot-air balloons and Kongming Lanterns to the Western World. Well, the flow of knowledge hasn’t always been peaceful.
With the passage of time and the rising popularity of these ‘flying objects’ among the common public, and particularly children, these Kongming lanterns were ‘domesticated’ in festivals and cultural events. Much like kite flying. The history of kites is an interesting one and left as an exercise to the reader.

For more examples, one doesn’t need to traverse back in history. The Industrial Revolution and the ‘Colonial Wars’, in the first half of the 20^th century, gave us some really interesting innovations and cultural adoptions.
One of the most significant ones was the adoption of the wristwatch by the general public and particularly men. The precursor to the wristwatch, the pocket watch, was highly impractical during military campaigns and battles. In fact, some records do state that the earliest form of wrist watch was primarily the accessory of women, while men carried pocket watches in their waistcoats, which stayed together with the help of the ‘Albert Chain’. Fun fact, it was named after Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.

Garstin Company, founded by Arthur Garstin to primarily encroach on the gap in the high-quality leather market left by the dwindling fates of French companies post the Franco-Prussian wars, which at that time were the pioneers of the field, decided to patent one of the earliest wristwatch designs. To state in the simplest terms, it was basically leather straps attached to a pocket watch and was known as a ‘Watch wristlet’ design. Slowly, but surely, this design became popular with the officers of the infantry and cavalry divisions starting from the Boer Wars and the Anglo-Burma wars. It wasn’t just a feasible design that saved precious time by avoiding the labour of taking out and putting back of pocket watches, it also helped in troop synchronisation during movement and attacks.

In light of WWI, the market for these watches exploded and it became a manly thing to own having associated itself with the Wars. In fact, it was a coveted thing to own and all men who didn’t have one, moved to get one for themselves as soon as they could. The popularity increased so much that all men who were enlisted in the armed forces, and not just officers, wore a wristwatch towards the end of WWI. What was once famous for being associated with the delicate activities of women was now an inseparable part of men’s attire. Before you outrage over this statement, let me state what the British Horological Journal wrote in 1917:"...the wristlet watch was little used by the sterner sex before the war, but now is seen on the wrist of nearly every man in uniform and of many men in civilian attire."
Naturally, having the spirit of pertinacious invention in every fibre of our body, the inventions didn’t stop there and now we can do much more with them.

Another important invention, of many, was the modern design of the Jerrycan. In its current form, it traces it back to the German military in the 1930s and 1940s due to Hitler’s insistence on an effective fuel delivery system. The naming itself comes from ‘Jerry’, a slang term used for Germans. But what was it called in German? Wehrmacht-Einheitskanister!
The design of this canister was so practical that, towards the end of the war, even the Allies used slightly modified designs of the Jerry Can. It was easy to stack and carry in wagons and trucks on the bombed, uneven roads without much spillage and was also easy to hold and transport by men and women involved in the war due to the three-handle system and could also float. An American engineer, Paul Bleiss, during a planned motor trip from Berlin to Calcutta, was introduced to the Jerry Can by his German co-traveller friend and colleague during his search for a storage container for water on this long and arduous journey. Since it was the summer of ’39, before the war had engulfed Europe, his German buddy told him about the specification of the cans before being called into the service of the Führer’s grand European plan midway through the journey. Being an engineer, Pleiss recognised the superiority of the design over the designs followed by the American and British militaries. Remember seeing those mustard oil/dalda cans with a small circular lid on the top? That’s exactly what the British used and were called Flimsy cans-almost true to their nature.
Much to Pleiss’ dismay, there wasn’t much interest in the designs he’d procured or the actual cans he’d managed to ship with his vehicle from Calcutta. As the war progressed, better sense prevailed with the administration, which ramped up the production of inspired versions of the Jerry Cans, and it became one of the most recognisable aspects of military equipment.

One could go on and on about such examples. One of them is the Epi-Pen, an innovation that was developed for protection against the rising threat of chemical warfare during the Cold War. The initial idea was to counter the effects of G-series nerve agents like Sarin, Soman gas, etc. While these attempts initiated by the Pentagon were limited to military and medical use, the public use case wasn’t left far behind.
Sheldon Kaplan, along with his team, was credited with the invention of the hypodermic injector, which had the potential to carry and deliver Epinephrine in emergency situations. I think it’s futile to state how many lives it has saved around the world. But one thing we need to highlight is how something that initially began with a different objective- to be used in the event of war-found its way into the lives of millions around the world.

There are hundreds of such examples in various parts of the world with local and global impact that highlight how science and war have been in tandem. There have been good things that came out of it, and equally, if not more, worse and horrific uses of Science and Technology as means of unleashing terror. Oftentimes, a more ‘docile’ version of the things used, or associated, with war becomes a part of daily life in such a way that it practically remains invisible to our senses. An Indian example would be the ORS. Those with a more curious bent of mind can read about the development of this solution and its use during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War to save numerous lives (possibly millions).

In my opinion, Science and Technology, in its pure and almost innocent search for knowledge, has no space for the privilege to sit on the scales of right or wrong. The responsibility of those engaged in research is tied to the eradication of ignorance and the pursuit of truth. The search for what is and what isn’t is the heart and soul of science. Almost always, science hasn’t had much say in how its discoveries are used by the public and institutions holding power.
It is upon people, institutions and bodies in power to restrict the use of their discoveries to avenues which seek to alleviate the quality and experience of human life, sustain ecological balance and not indulge in the indiscreet and blatant disregard of the voice of those behind these discoveries.
In the thousands of years of human history, we are arguably at the safest and happiest time that humans have ever lived in. However, to consciously work towards improvement while minimising collateral damage to the environment is proving to be most difficult. My suggestion to tackle this challenge would be to look towards Science and ensure it’s used for the good parts.

First Blog

(originally written in March, 2025)

I have decided to take up writing after a long time. If memory serves me faithfully, without deception, the last time I wrote something simply because I felt like writing was almost a decade ago.

I remember the day in great detail, surprisingly. I am often amazed by my ability to retain the minutest details of rather useless, uneventful days from the distant past, while I readily and shamelessly forget things that happened just last week. I am pretty sure I am not the only one.

Let’s return to my long sabbatical from writing.

It was during the final days of Class 10, just before the final examinations. We used to have something called ‘take-home’ revision, where each subject was taught for two to three days (or was it more?).

It was the take-home revision for Social Studies, a subject I liked despite my primary interest in the basic sciences. One reason for my affinity could have been how little effort I had to make to score good marks! Naturally, I was a little bored in class and decided to indulge in my favourite pastime- daydreaming. Nature was ready to assist me in this activity with all its might; rain clouds had started to roll in! The last showers before spring kicks in over the plains of Northern India, due to the western disturbances, are beautiful by all means. The clouds were dark and heavy, and by 11 a.m., even before we could have recess, the outdoors gave the impression of late evening.

I don’t think any student, in any part of the world, can concentrate on boring class lectures when nature takes such a form. My teacher, a senior and sage lady, understood this and asked us to do ‘silent revision.’

Confident in my ability to score good marks, I decided to take out the poetry book I had been carrying throughout all take-homes and returned to the poem I had been reading during the English Language take-home: That Time of Year by Shakespeare.

The poem is one of my favourites, and I started mine using the same line.

It was about winter and ageing. The poem was unremarkable and mediocre by all means, just like this post. But it was the last time I wrote something simply because it gave my heart joy. It was also the last time I felt that indulging in such hobbies wasn’t a waste of time. Society conditioned me to condemn such passions and cast them away if I were to be worthwhile. And despite finding comfort and happiness in the process of thinking independently and fully, I had to give it up reluctantly. I blame myself, too. I should’ve rebelled against this silent, invisible oppression. I should’ve written more.

It has taken me more than ten years to muster up the courage to pen down something again. A lot has changed since then. In more ways than one, that poem was the best thing in my life in the last ten years.

I’ve moved from failure to failure, betrayed myself and my family, and quite honestly, wasted my potential. I am nowhere near the person I’d imagined I would become in my twenties. If there exists an antithesis to Midas’ Touch, it would be me. Sylvia Plath explains my current emotions in the best possible way: What horrifies me most is the idea of being useless: well-educated, brilliantly promising, and fading out into an indifferent middle age. I fear I’m already slipping away into the dark background.

A recent (another) failure has forced me to take up writing once more. It may not hold much importance for you, the reader, but this is probably one of the bravest decisions I have ever taken.

In no way should these ramblings be considered worthy of any recognition as ‘good writing.’ There’s a lot of improvement to do.

The primary motive behind starting this is to share my ideas and observations of the world around me. Sometimes the ideas may seem hypocritical and at war with each other, or they may be controversial, totally useless, or absurd.

Maybe a poem too? Who knows.

All I know is that I’ll write. That’s the only plan right now. I will write anonymously. It gives me confidence. And a chance to talk about things openly and without the fear of judgment. That’s why I chose the title 'Diary of a Nobody'.

My first post on this platform was supposed to be something magnificent, but it’s a scribbling of thoughts currently constipating my mind. But much like constipation, I am glad I could get some of it out!

Pardon the grammatical inaccuracies and poor sentence structure. This is the original draft, and I wanted it to be as original and raw as possible.

The next post will be much more refined. I promise that. Also, I am trying to figure out the whole blogger thing. I'll have two blogs.
'weight of thought' would be for somewhat serious issues, things I observe and care for. 'diary of a nobody' would be about trivial and bizarre matters of my otherwise boring day-to-day life. Let's see how well it works out.

Before ending this, I must state the name of the person who indirectly inspired me to write and share. Mr Suvro Chaterjee, fondly known as Suvro Sir to his many students, maintains an honest archive of his thoughts, ideas, travels and other things on his blog. He is the favourite teacher of one of my few friends in college.
All those in search of a good thing to read can check out his blog, @Suvro Sir's blog.

If you followed me till the end, thank you. Hope to see you again soon.