the goan I network
PANAJI
Tenzin Priyadarshi, Director, The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), posed several hard questions to the audience during his brief exposition on the idea of “Reimagining ethics in a world of fast developments” at the International Centre Goa. Speaking on the occasion, Priyadarshi who is a monk, spoke of several situations especially in the light of the 2008-09 recession where public anger was directed at the unethical practices of the banking managers at the time. He sought to emphasise that ethics are an important part of society.
“If we believe that what we learn in value-education classes and the ethics lectures will not take us on the path of success in the ‘real world’, then instead of wasting our time why don’t we nurture
our children to be deceitful?” he asked.
He explained that with increasing technological innovation reaching such
levels that teachers and doctors are slowly becoming redundant. There is one thing that computers will never be able to teach us is ethics, he stressed.
“The question is who is responsible to impart core values and ethics to the next generation? Is it the parents?
The question then is: are parents even capable and the right people to impart ethics?” Priyadarshi said.
He also stressed that one shouldn’t readily discard the tenets of religion, because religion itself was trying to solve the problems of its time.
