6/10/2025

''' FAKE NEWS FATE ''' : PHILOSOPHY GLOBAL ESSAY



PAST AND PRESENT RECAST : FALSEHOOD as  essence of a narrative.

THE CONCEPT OF NARRATIVE HOLDS A foundational place in philosophy, literature and social theory - especially when examined through the interwoven lenses of knowledge and power.

A narrative is not merely a recounting of events; it is a constructed representation  shaped by purpose, perspective and ideology. It is through their narratives that individuals and societies ascribe meaning to the world around them.

The narratives are not neutral or benign. Often, they are instruments of persuasion, designed to legitimise particular interests or obscure uncomfortable truths.

This is particularly evident in the context of geopolitical conflict, such as the ongoing confrontation between India and Pakistan, where battle of narratives has eclipsed the facts on the ground.

Here, the narrativization is not always grounded in truthfulness. Instead it is often shaped by strategic falsity, manipulation and  ideological warfare.

While narrative and knowledge are closely related, they differ in crucial respects. Knowledge traditionally aspires toward truth, objectivity and justification, relying on logic and evidence to support its claims.

Narrative, by contrast, is inherently interpretive and emotionally charged. It structures events into meaningful wholes but does so through the prism of cultural norms, power and structures and subjectivity.

WHERE knowledge asks, '' What is the truth? ''  narrative often asks, '' What meaning can be derived from this ? '' '' Who is speaking?'' and '' What agenda is being advanced? ''

This is precisely what makes narratives such a potent - and at times dangerous - force in the realm of international politics.

In an India-Pakistan conflict, the primacy of narratives, especially around contested events, such as border skirmishes, alleged terrorist activity and diplomatic breakdowns, is unmistakable.

The states engage in discursive battles not merely to inform people but to influence and shape public perception, garner international sympathy and solidify internal cohesion.

The narratives often bear little resemblance to verifiable reality and are instead crafted to serve strategic interests. They mobilise patriotism, demonise the ' other ' and reinforce national ideologies.

These falsified or exaggerated accounts are not accidental deviations from truth; they are integral to the mechanics of modern statecraft.

MICHEL FOUCAULT'S insights into the relationship between knowledge and power are profoundly relevant in analysing the dynamics of historical narratives in countries like India and Pakistan.

Foucault's concept of '' regimes of truth '' refer to the idea that what is considered to be true within a society is not a simple reflection of objective reality, but the product of socially constructed and regulated discourses.

This Master Publishing continues. The World Students Society thanks Professor Tahir Kamran, of the Faculty of Liberal Arts at the Beaconhouse National University, LAHORE.

PALESTINIANS -STUDENTS- PAINTINGS-FUL : MASTER TEARS PRECIS

 


FEARS OF ANNEXATION : Palestinians in the West Bank worry about expulsion as Israel tightens control.

'' They're taking away my future ,'' Muath Amarne, a 23-year-old university student, said on Wednesday, the day he learned that his home in Tulkarm would be destroyed.

This month, the Israeli military said it would be demolishing homes in Tulkarm, a city near Jenin, to make crowded neighborhoods and streets more accessible to Israeli forces and to prevent the re-emergence of militants.

The contours of the new offensive were unfolding during a recent visit by New York Times reporters to the city of Jenin, among the once densely populated neighborhoods that have been cleared out since an operation began in January.

In one of those areas, more than 10,000 people lived until recently. Now, it is empty - the roads blocked by mounds of dirt and flanked by piles of rubble.

Neighborhood after neighborhood deserted.

The World Students Society thanks Adam Rasgon and Fatima Abdulkarim.

BEST AUTHOR BEST : JOSE ANDRES [ HONOURS ]



The chef and humanitarian wishes more authors wrote about '' the connection of food to everything : national security, climate,  immigration, dignity.'' His new book is called '' Change the Recipe.''

.-  What are the best books you've ever read on cooking?

'' On Food and Cooking,'' by Harold McGee, where science meets magic. On the modern side, '' Sous-Vide Cuisine,'' by Joan Roca and Salvador Brugues, is a foundation text.

'' Arroces Contemporaneous,'' by Quique Dacosta, is a revolutionary approach to rice dishes, showcasing why Spanish chefs have been the most technical in the world over the last 30 years.

Anything by Ferran Adria - his work at EI Bulli redefined modern gastronomy.

On the traditional side, '' La Cocina Completa,'' by the Marquesa de Parabere, provides an extensive look into Spain's culinary heritage.  

.-  What books are on your night stand?

A mix! Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor,'' by Yossi Klein Halevi ; '' A Sacred Oath,'' my Mark Esper ; '' EI Husar,'' by Arturo Perez-Reverte ; and Maria Duefia's '' Tiempo Entre Costuras.''

.-  What's the best book you've ever received as a gift?

'' The Little Prince,'' by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Someone gave it to me when I was young, and I return to it often.

It reminds me to stay humble, curious and always look with heart. And iAdios, Cordera! ,'' by Leopoldo Alas [ Carin ].

It takes place in Asturias, the region in Spain where I was born, and it show me how even a cow, a child, a train, can carry the whole weight of a country's sorrow - a small book with a heavy heart. That story never left me.

.-  What book has had the greatest impact on you?

'' The Grapes of Wrath,'' by John Steinbeck, made me understand hunger, dignity, migration and the injustice of the systems that create suffering. It lit a fire in me that still burns.

.-  HAVE you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book?

Not trouble-trouble, but I've definitely burned a few things on the stove because I was too deep in a good story.

The smell of garlic and fiction sometimes sollide! And then there was the day I gave my daughter Carlota a first edition of '' Charlotte's Web '' on Thanksgiving....... while we were roasting a baby pig.

She looked at me and said, '' Good choice, Daddy. Very nice,'' with all the sarcasm in the world. I still laugh about it. Timing is everything.

.-  Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,'' you write. When was the last time you felt that kind of energy?

When I landed in Gaza to assess the needs after the bombings. When I went into Ukraine with my team, into hospitals, onto destroyed roads. Every crisis pushes you out of comfort and into humanity.

The Publishing continues. The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.

Magnetism: New Spin, New Tech



MIT physicists have demonstrated a new form of magnetism that could one day be harnessed to build faster, denser, and less power-hungry "spintronic" memory chips.

The new magnetic state is a mash-up of two main forms of magnetism: the ferromagnetism of everyday fridge magnets and compass needles, and antiferromagnetism, in which materials have magnetic properties at the microscale yet are not macroscopically magnetized.

Now, the MIT team has demonstrated a new form of magnetism, termed "p-wave magnetism."

Physicists have long observed that electrons of atoms in regular ferromagnets share the same orientation of "spin," like so many tiny compasses pointing in the same direction. This spin alignment generates a magnetic field, which gives a ferromagnet its inherent magnetism.

Electrons belonging to magnetic atoms in an antiferromagnet also have spin, although these spins alternate, with electrons orbiting neighboring atoms aligning their spins antiparallel to each other. Taken together, the equal and opposite spins cancel out, and the antiferromagnet does not exhibit macroscopic magnetization.

The team discovered the new p-wave magnetism in nickel iodide (NiI2), a two-dimensional crystalline material that they synthesized in the lab. Like a ferromagnet, the electrons exhibit a preferred spin orientation, and, like an antiferromagnet, equal populations of opposite spins result in a net cancellation. However, the spins on the nickel atoms exhibit a unique pattern, forming spiral-like configurations within the material that are mirror-images of each other, much like the left hand is the right hand's mirror image.

What's more, the researchers found this spiral spin configuration enabled them to carry out "spin switching": Depending on the direction of spiraling spins in the material, they could apply a small electric field in a related direction to easily flip a left-handed spiral of spins into a right-handed spiral of spins, and vice-versa.

The ability to switch electron spins is at the heart of "spintronics," which is a proposed alternative to conventional electronics. With this approach, data can be written in the form of an electron's spin, rather than its electronic charge, potentially allowing orders of magnitude more data to be packed onto a device while using far less power to write and read that data.

"We showed that this new form of magnetism can be manipulated electrically," says Qian Song, a research scientist in MIT's Materials Research Laboratory. "This breakthrough paves the way for a new class of ultrafast, compact, energy-efficient, and nonvolatile magnetic memory devices."

Song and his colleagues published their results May 28 in the journal Nature. MIT co-authors include Connor Occhialini, Batyr Ilyas, Emre Ergeçen, Nuh Gedik, and Riccardo Comin, along with Rafael Fernandes at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and collaborators from multiple other institutions.

Authors: Jennifer Chu and Lisa Lock, Phys.org

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