ABOUT OUR JOURNEY : from STEM to STEAM
Sawy was founded by a common passion to bring Data literacy to the masses. We believe that in the age of information, everyone should have the know-how to apply Data Science to their daily lives, be it financial planning, career, hobby or investment.
Today, we see a more polarized society than ever before. While our existing education system does a decent job of teaching people how to read and write, they do not teach critical thinking, compassion and a scientific temper. Sometimes, its difficult to watch people treat a social media message as capital truth without questioning or inquiry of proof. They fail to understand the nature of truth and how its arrived upon.
We believe that existential threat to humanity such as climate change, freshwater shortage, economic volatility and pandemics etc. will remain unsolved if our youth lack the ability to understand and interpret data, what its telling us, and acting upon the results decisively. We need a generation that possesses a data driven mindset, balanced judgement, ability to entertain opposing viewpoints, and using the power of science and technology for the betterment of all earthlings, be they plants or animals, as enshrined by the fundamental duties of our constitution.
Data Science is not about tools or computers or big data. Data Science is about developing a scientific temperament for the pursuit of truth and compassion for betterment of all. It is as old as science itself.
Part IV, Article 51A, of The Constitution Of India states: (h) It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform; (g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures;
This cannot happen if Science and Engineering in general is taught in an elite manner that makes sense only to the so called “smart” people of the society who anyway learn to mechanically apply it without creativity or innovation. We all learned Calculus in school but when did we last use it in our real lives to solve our problems? We need to make technology understandable by the common students so it can be applied and used, not just the bright ones.
Between 2002 and 2019 (17 years), for every 1 AI patent filed by India, China filed 76. In other words, China filed 76 times more AI patents than India. Between 2010 and 2019 (9 years), for every 1 AI relevant scholarly paper India produced, China produced 5.6. In other words, China produced 5.6 times more AI relevant scholarly papers than India. The population of India and China are approximately the same.
What we need is a revolution in technical education. A paradigm shift from hoarding papers in the name of certificates and degrees to a creative, curious and development mindset. A world where a common person does not blindly outsource the pressing issues of economic stability, climate change etc. to the so-called “experts” and become active participants in democracy.
Democracy is not just having the right to vote. Democracy is possessing the ability to look at past data to decide which manifesto to vote for. Without possessing the ability to understand the world around you through the lens of Science we are driven by emotions and not facts. Democracy only works when every voter possesses the ability to analyse, interpret and question micro and macro economic and environmental data to make educated decisions.
Sawy is our attempt to teach common sense to common students who will form our next generation.
