Behrooz Parhami

Response to comments thus far

I thank all those who took time to comment on my post.

Scientists in each discipline form an international community and their activities make sense only in the context of that community. Modern scientific findings are too complicated to be evaluated with regard to their importance, let alone made use of, in a small, closed society. Scientists who erect artificial barriers doom themselves to failure.

Research for practical applications, such as to ensure national security, is a different story and many countries have covert research programs for spying and weapons development. In those cases, scientists voluntarily sign confidentiality agreements for the “privilege” of working on those programs, either out of personal conviction or for handsome monetary rewards. Mr. Mehrabian was not referring to such top-secret research programs but to ordinary research performed at universities and research centers.

Scientists always face a dilemma: publish too early, and you give away important ideas that would reduce your own ability to produce additional publications in that area; publish too late, and you do not get credit for the work, given that most important problems are being looked at by dozens, if not hundreds, of scientists worldwide. Again, this is not the sense in which Iran’s Minister of Industries and Mines was speaking.

Mr. Mehrabian simply thinks that ideas are flowing in one direction (from Iran to the West), totally ignoring the much more substantial flow in the opposite direction. He also says nothing about the impact of restricting scientific activities, which often leads to the scientists (not just their ideas) leaving the country, thereby taking with them their current and all future ideas.

By the way, I should have mentioned that the photo I used with my post is that of the respondent, Professor Reza Mansouri, who wrote the rebuttal, and not of Mr. Mehrabian.

Behrooz Parhami, Santa Barbara, California

yousef you are half correct

What is being spoken here is scientific research rather than production capabilities. Although in the long run some of those capabilities will be gained, research and scientific theories will be a head. In some areas of science, whatever they maybe, there are intense competition and some of premature findings that have not given anything but hint of future research could come to work against you. As you have invested a great deal of time and effort to try to solve your area of mystery, if given the hint to your competition who may have more resources at their disposal, you have harmed yourself.

Therefore I take this guys comment as meaning giving hint without having a substantial data to own the study.

In most cases, scientists try to publish their paper as much as possible, and if he meant not to publish, then he is very wrong.

The last part of your comment is not correct. I was criticized for posting this in another page, but it's very relevant (again):

//www.newscientist.com/article/dn18546-iran-s...

Yousef, Great response

I agree with you.  Your response id a fact!

sargord

What a totally apt comparison there.

Where is the funding to do any kind of research In iran let alone in cold-war themed, sensitive areas ?

pathetic attempt made to compare islamist Iran with USSR by

an islamist blogger here.

USSR, was a hub of technological research, competing with US on every field of pure and appliued scientific field. Islamist Iran on the other hand is replicating/re engineering 1950's obsolete USSR technology which it buys at huge expense from Cash Strapped North Korea.

I have not seen a single worthy of review submissions from Iranian academia to any of the IEEE chapters. At the ame time the brightest and best of the Sharif university grads and academic staff have alresdy left Iran, employed at US leading industries and academia.

The fact is that under islamic regime the scientific research and development has basically come to a halt thanks to the policies of an ideologically backward fascist islamist dictatorship

Academic research

Free exchange of academic findings has always propelled human advances in all scientific areas. This guy is not a true academic, nor an intelligent person, and does not understand the value of such exchanges. Just another pea-size brain in charge.

There were similar arguments

There were similar arguments made on both sides of the Cold War between the USSR and US, particularly in fields perceived as sensitive areas of research.

Politics in the midst of cold war, that's what it is.

Typical IRR

They just have to make sure that nothing ever comes out of Iran.

Right, and they say anti-Sanctions people work for IRI ?

There are certainly idiots and fools on both sides of this equation.