Fintech Transcribe

(Azfar Adib) : A cordial welcome to all. I , Asfar Adib , warmly welcome you to the 2nd stage
pf the program “Being Bangladeshi Making A Global Difference” . All those in the country and
in abroad, I certainly hope you all are doing hale and hearty. Now is the month of March. This
month is always really significant for us Bangladeshis. Because the month of March is our month
of independence.

The beginning of our liberation war occurred during this month. This is the month of our
freedom. The month of March 2021 is especially significant for us, because this year we are
celebrating the 50th anniversary of our independence. What an auspicious occasion! We all are
wholeheartedly celebrating this occasion in various ways, both in our country and abroad. That is
why today, at the start of our event I want to thank those noble people due to whose sacrifice
today we can identify ourselves as Bangladeshis.

I expressed sincere devotion to the father of our nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,
to all those who were martyred during our liberation war, to those who sacrificed themselves , to
those who lead the way to freedom, and along with that to those , due to whose unremitting labor
, sacrifice and efforts Bangladesh has thrived for the last 50 years .

Bangladesh has achieved a lot in these last 50 years. These achievements have not only been
within the country but have spread throughout the whole world as well. It is a matter of pride for
us that there are many Bangladeshis worldwide who have made noteworthy contributions at
global scale. Their contributions are recognized around the world.

Through our program, we will present to you some individuals, seeing whom we feel inspired
and want to also make a difference in the world. We are very lucky to have with us someone
whose contributions are recognized around the world. Without further ado, let me introduce you
to Dr Asif Siddiqi.

Sir, welcome and thank you very much for giving us your valuable time.

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : Thank you for having me.It’s an honor to be here.

(Azfar Adib) : Let me introduce the viewers to the doctor.Although it is hard to say in simple
words, for the viewers out there Dr. Asif Azam Siddiqi is one of the most renowned space
historian out there. It's actually a great matter of pride for us Bangladeshis .

Sir has a book called Challenge to Apollo, the Soviet Union and the Spaceways (1945-1974). It
is one of the five best books to be ever published on space exploration. To add further the
American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronauts has said this is the best historical manuscript
dealing with the science , technology and impact of aeronautics and alistanotics.
In 2007, the South Asian Journal USA named him one of the 50 top influential, efficient south
Asian in the country. The doctor currently works at Fordham University at New York City as a
professor of history. He has also been working with NASA since 1995 as a research consultant.
He gave a lot of detail reports about deep space exploration. He's also visiting professor of three
most famous universities mainly Harvard, MIT, Caltech. His role in these final institutions is
very very significant. Back when Barack Obama was president of the United States of America,
there was committee for spaceflight appointed by the congress , where he also happened to work
at.

I could go on and sir we are really very grateful that you could be here. Skip to start things off
sir, was there any particular reason you chose a career in space history?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : First of all, thank you for the very kind introduction. That was very generous
of you. My story regarding space exploration begins from my childhood. Are used to live in
Dhaka and my parents were very supportive and they wanted me to learn more about science. I
would go to a lot of book fairs when I was a kid. I want such a day, I came across a book on
space exploration and I bought that. Upon arriving home I started reading it and I had a grand
time learning all these new things. So my mother encouraged me to write an essay on the matter.
So as I begin to write more and more essays my interest began to grow. I also participated in a
lot of competitions. I gave my SSC exam in 1981 from Saint Joseph’s school. So anyways after
that I had a lot of time and I would spend a lot of time reading those particular books. After that I
want a small competition in Dhaka regarding this very issue. And then get another day I went to
this conference with my father.

There were different people, Americans, Russians ,Portuguese, all these people talking about
space exploration. Gradually my trust began to grow further. What I noticed was there were
Bangladeshi scientists working at Bangladeshi space research institutes. It was right at Kurmitola
, Dhaka. It was surprising and intriguing to me at the same time that Bangladeshi scientists were
studying about space. I came to the US in the 1980s and I studied engineering. After that, slowly
and gradually, I began to work with things related to space exploration in some fashion or the
other. There were a lot of challenges ahead and sometimes it was really hard. But thankfully my
persistence paid off. I even developed relationships with the people working at the Bangladesh
space research institute.

By 1995 I was involved in a project with NASA. It was a small project, nothing significant but at
least I had my foot on the door. There was a person at the NASA called Roger Lanius he saw
something in you and I maintain a healthy relationship with him. So those are my initial
involvements regarding space exploration in those early days.

Azfar Adib : That was very inspiring. Thank you sir. Actually this is something that should be
noted by the younger generation in Bangladesh today. It shows that with proper effort anything is
possible. Sure, you might face some trouble along the way and it may take a long time to reach
your goal, but you eventually do reach there in good time. Now, if you think about Space
exploration, this began sometime around 60 years ago in 1956 with the Soviet Union and others.
That was the era of the Cold War. From then to now, life has become so much easier for people,
they can actually buy a ticket to space in they so desire, provided that they paid the required
amount of money. We are nearing people keep wondering what is next. Could you shed some
light on that, sir?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : Well now, that is an excellent question. What does space exploration hold for
the ordinary people ? How does it appeal to them ?

People used to ask me why I would read books on space exploration, when there were many
other topics and problems that were at hand. It's true, space exploration won't necessarily solve
the persistent problems that Bangladeshis have been facing for long. Problems like climate
change and any other problems. But I feel like people have a misconception about what space
really does. Space actually has a very close relationship with our lives. For example let's consider
the GPS systems and the satellites that we have. Everybody has smart phones, and these satellites
provide location data for us. That is what we use to navigate maps, etc. When are we moving or
not space affects our lives a great deal .

Map navigation , weather forecast , agricultural works , etc . Right now we are entering a new
era where it may be possible for the average person to go into space. Bangladesh being a fast
developing country, it has at the same time a lot to contribute as well as gain from space. The
recently launched Bangabandhu satellite has provided communication for Bangladesh. BRAC
University also launched a satellite recently that was home built. There is a lot of opportunity for
university students as well. They can come together and collaborate and build something that can
be beneficial for society as a whole. Some non-problems are climate change and deforestation.
Satellites can help a lot in this X aspect, and they can provide locational data, they can provide
data that may be useful to people.

Many cans of preventive measures can be taken. These things can benefit Bangladesh. Big
companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactics are providing various services now and I think now is
the time for the next major leap forward. Bangladeshis are involved in SpaceX and other large
scale corporations.

Azfar Adib : Well put, sir. In the recent 10 to 15 years we have indeed made large progress in in
the digitalization process. At the same time Bangladesh is a developing country, and we have a
lot of things and issues in which we need to focus and maintain a balance between all these.
There are a lot of scarcities and adversities in many aspects. Sir, can you shed some light on how
to deal with these challenges that may be ahead ?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : The point you raised about scarcity in particular is an interesting one. How do
countries with scarcity of technology commit to advancement of technology in the first place ?
Things like biological technology or technology regarding space ? Certainly the matter of
priorities. For example, why should we focus on Y problems when we already have X
problems ? In my opinion this is a false equivalency. I think these two issues can work for one
another. But we have to be sensitive and we have to prioritize what needs to be prioritized.
Problems like gender equality, economic inequality, politics , democratic We should put in
resources to study and analyze these problems.institutions etc. We should put in resources to
study and analyze these problems. My solution is not to abandon these problems, but rather to
infuse the technology for space exploration into these problems to see if that they can help in
these aspects. I have already mentioned climate change, and there are going to be some
significant changes in the next 50 years to the coastal shores, to the Bay of Bengal etc. We can
put some modest resources into this, for example, collaboration with other countries. SPARSO is
doing some wonderful research recently. They can provide some summation of their work.

We also have problems like food insufficiency, economic inequality etc. Bangladesh has made
significant progress in the last 20 years, but I still think that there are a ways to go. Do you have
problems regarding natural disasters , agricultural insufficiency . We have problems in
infrastructure like telecommunication infrastructure. Space can be involved in devoting some
resources to these problems. Remote sensing is an excellent way to do this. Remote sensing is
when the satellite takes pictures at different wavelengths of the terrain below. This gives us a lot
of information about the geography and the topography of the terrain in question. Many
developing countries like Nigeria, Kenya, North Africa also have space programs and
Bangladesh should definitely collaborate with them regarding this matter.

Azfar Adib : Thank you for that enlightening statement sir. To the viewers, if you so desire you
can post your questions on the common section of the live page. This is a unique opportunity that
we have here.

The recent pandemic that has been existing for over a year is also an eye opening opportunity.
For now human survival is probably the biggest challenges that we have . Regarding space and
aeronautics, for the past seven years and well into the future, you are actually giving a
philosophical direction regarding space history. With people learning many things in this
pandemic, should we move move forward with this or will this remain a missed opportunity? I
would like your opinion on this.

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : That is a difficult question to answer since we're in the middle of a pandemic
right now. Hopefully we are in the final stages of the pandemic and we can probably see the end
soon. In regards to this, what will happen to Bangladesh? What will be done next ? How can we
make use of this opportunity ? Back in the month of March 2020, when lockdowns began to be
common, people began to wonder about different issues. What will happen to Bangladesh ?
What will happen to the garment industry ? What will happen to foreign remittance ?

I think many indicators were relatively stable. I think this is an excellent outcome, not
disregarding the pain and deaths of the people of the country. I certainly don't want to minimize
on the sickness and death. We should take a moment to remember that. But at the same time,
economically speaking, if nothing else we still are lucky that we haven’t been facing economic
collapse. That said, there are problems in Bangladesh which are independent of the pandemic,
which we haven't been able to fully solve. A big problem is that a small number of people
control the majority of the wealth of the country. There are governance issues, and we need
better governance. Our institutions don't work the way they're supposed to and there are many
inefficiencies. Other countries have these problems as well, so they are not unique to
Bangladesh, but they are very specific towards them. We all need to commit ourselves to the
original version of Bangladesh. We need to be a proper country, a prosperous country, our
country not only for the rich but for the poor as well, a country for all of us.
I think we have a lot to learn from other countries as well as their histories. In case of Soviet
Russia, during World War II around 27 million people died. So they weren't exactly in a
favorable position but slowly but surely they got back up. They were able to develop slowly over
a period of two or three decades. Back in our own liberation war, we also faced great tragedy and
horror and there was there was a large amount of killing as well. And I certainly hope the next 50
years we face are much much better than the ones we have had to face up till now. And I think
we should devote resources at every level, from the person on the ground to the government. We
should try to develop resources. I think in terms of space technology it would be most useful to
observe the environmental changes in Bangladesh. We live in this environment and we cannot
live without the support of this environment. We need to take care and serve, be the stewards of
the environment. Advanced technology can be harnessed to focus on this problem, this is my
personal opinion.

Azfar Adib : Thank you sir . The viewers have a lot of questions. They are overwhelmed to have
you here today sir. Mr. Zahed Hussain has commented that he would like to know more about
the black hole. Actually people have a lot of curiosity and fascination towards space.

Sir, I want to talk about the Mars Perseverance project that has recently been ongoing. Do you
have anything to say about that ?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : I'm going to speak first about the question about the black hole. There are a lot
of observatories of NASA at space . They circle the earth and monitor it. They are circling the
LaGrange point , they are circling deep space, and we study these high energy objects such as
black holes. I would like to encourage the individual who asked me the question to look up black
holes in the Internet as well as other interesting topics such as pulsers etc. Hi energy objects are
billions of miles away from the earth, but I appreciate the interest of the younger generation
towards topic such as these. I appreciate the natural human curiosity is probably without limits.

You mentioned in the Mars rover perseverance. It's quite frankly a fabulous and interesting
project. What is interesting about the Mars rover, which is currently at Mars, is that it has a
helicopter underneath it. By helicopter, I mean a drone like helicopter. This will be released in
the coming month and it will go about the atmosphere of Mars and take various pictures of the
terrain. It will also measure things like temperature and pressure etc. It was conceived around 15
years ago. The perseverance project was proposed back in 2005 or 2006. Many different
scientists were involved and it took about a decade to develop this thing. This is not a trivial
matter. And for now I think it is outside the financial capability of Bangladesh. But there are
Bangladeshis is involved in NASA and they are Bangladeshis at every level. That shows, in the
last 50 years, and these people have been involved in some of the top projects, technologically
speaking, that are there in the world.

Azfar Adib : Thank you sir . There are plenty of opportunities out there. So we need to be
prepared and focused and we need to take care of the opportunity at hand. Mr. Anan Aar
Rahman has commented that we would like to see your research papers about Space on FinTech.
We believe they are brilliant and would love to study them.
 First of all sir, your work is considered as one of the the finest regarding space history. Your
work also has some influence over south Asia and Bangladesh as well. You also received first
prize at a competition held by SPARSO back in 1982. Have you currently done any work related
to that or do you plan to in the future ?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : If people are interested, they can certainly visit the NASA site. I have recently
published a book called “Beyond Earth”. It's available as a PDF and can be found in ballot is
very very easily. I'm currently working on a small project regarding Bangladesh as of now, upon
the Bangladesh space program. Many people in Bangladesh don't know that we have our own
space program. It started back in 1980. I'm also writing a book regarding this organization. A
while back I did write a masters thesis, the title is ”Effects of Technological Change in
Agriculture in Distributive Justice in Bangladesh”. The basic ideas I was interested in
agricultural science and technology. For example, high yield rice and so forth. I was also into
mechanization of Bangladesh agriculture. I found out what happens to income and equality when
any high level technology may appear towards the people of Bangladesh. It was a bit
counterintuitive. I found that, when you introduce high-tech technology to Bangladesh society
,particularly in the agrarian areas, it often increases inequality. That's because some people have
it and some people don’t. It gave me a lot of insight into the original problem that we've been
discussing today. Developing nations always have some sort of scarcity. This particular problem
was the driving force for a lot of the work I have done. You have to be careful when taking on
new technology about the access it grants to people. Does everybody have access to this
technology ? What does “access” mean ? How much does it cost? So we need to be aware of
these things and we need to calculate a certain amount of things before we blindly take on new
technology. And I think policymakers as well as economists know this. Goes to show that high
tech is not the answer for everything.We have to be careful about how we adopt technology in
our own society. My new book will come out in 2023 by the grace of god.

Azfar Adib : Excellent, let's move onto the next question. Aysha Rahman has commented “ Do
you think over-population is a problem for Bangladesh? If so, what do you think can be a
solution for this problem?”

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : Bangladesh has done extraordinarily well in reducing the population over the
years. Back in the 1970s the population rate was very high and recently it has gone down quite a
bit. Different programs, planning committees , BRAC, a lot of organizations have reduced this.
So over population is not an intense problem as it was 30 or 40 years ago. Bangladesh has a
dense population compared to many other countries. I think we have enough resources for the
amount of people we have. But the problem is the combination of all the problems, for example
climate change and overpopulation. When you look at all these problems, you have to look at
them in collaboration with each other.

Azfar Adib : Thank you sir. Overpopulation is a challenge for any country. Question is, are we
keeping it as a burden or are we transforming it into an opportunity ? You do the achievements
of our educated population, we are now at a crucial point in our lives. A lot of steps are being
taken to increase the flow of education. Every dress district is to have at least one technical
University present in it. We also can take into account that what we are providing for the
graduates of the country. People are working both outside the country as well as in it. We do
need advancements in technology but what about the human resources department? After
providing education, are we providing the proper grooming opportunity ? Would you care to
give me your opinion on that ?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : That is true. We have an educated population, particularly the younger
generation. But the thing is after graduation they don't necessarily get jobs due to the scarcity of
jobs in the country. The problem is twofold. The first part is we have to kind of create an ecology
where these graduates can get environment where they are valued and used properly. I came to
the US for similar reasons, there were not enough job opportunities in Bangladesh back then too.
Second part is what kind of education people be receiving in the first place ? Sometimes we
forget that STEM is not always what we need to be a smart educated citizen of a country. You
also need education like humanistic education, social science education to understand the
problems of today. I highly encourage all of you watching this today to have the sense on how to
integrate their knowledge to the society at large. By humanistic education I mean you have to be
interested, aware, sensitive the things that are way outside of STEM like arts, culture , history
etc. So I think the merger of the two make a proper educated citizen. Bangladesh progress is not
merely a mathematical calculation. It is a factor of many things that we should focus on as well
as consider.

Azfar Adib : When searching for jobs or career paths we always tend to see the ones that are
currently trending on the ones that make good load of money.We need different kinds of people
in society, not just engineers, doctors or businessmen.

Aysha Rahman has again commented “We all know that Elon Musk has plans for arranging
space travels and living on Mars. What’s your opinion on it ?”

There are 7 billion people on earth and we have to keep the planet livable. At the same time we
have to also explore other alternatives. Could you comment on which areas gave priority ?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : The thing is, where should we prioritize our resources ? Do we make the earth
better or do we prioritize funding for leaving the planet? It is to be noted that this is not an
either/or question, we can do both. Considering how we are now a global society, we should
focus on making the earth better.

Question was about Elon Musk. He is building some rockets whose trajectory leads them to
Mars. He is going to send people to Mars and those people are going to settle on Mars and make
a society of their own. That may will happen but it will take a long time. Meanwhile we should
really should focus on making the earth a better place, a more habitable place to live. I want to
say to the kids out there that you should not limit your imagination. When I was a kid DHAKE,
are used to dream about going to space, going to the moon, going to the international space
station. I used to take notes and draw in my notebook. But while we should not limit our
imagination , we should use it to make the earth a better place. Imagination is a good driver for
what you can do on earth. It lets you imagine a better place for yourself whether it's on earth or
on another planet. In 10-20 years it may be possible that there is some migration to Mars. But
that will probably be for the very elite people out there. Ordinary people can't go for a much
longer time. But I think we can dream that if we Bangladeshis were more invested in space, we
could one day send a Bangladeshi man/woman to outer space. And that doesn't have to be at a
distant time, it could happen sooner than you think. People from a lot of countries have been to
space, it is not strange that a Bangladeshi man gets to go to space. It would be immensely
inspirational if the younger generation where to see one of their own go into space. That might
be a possibility in the next 10 to 20 years.

Elon musk speaks a lot about mars. But I think that is a possibility that is a bit distant for now.
We need to focus more on what we need to do on the near future. We have people working at
SpaceX and they are very good at what they're involved in. So why not the next step? That's the
question, that's the challenge.

Azfar Adib : Thank you sir. I know we are near the end but the viewers still have a lot of
questions. I think one hour is too short to have you here, sir. But we will try to take some
questions within the last few minutes that are remaining and will describe them in short. M A K
Azad wants to know how we can inspire the young generation to be more involved with space ?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : A lot of Bangladeshi ask me how we get into all of these things. Answer is not
an exciting answer. It is study hard and work hard. Maths, engineering, science, degrees ,these
things are helpful to get. Also there are other opportunities for getting involved in space. You can
inquire, you can find out what's going on. There's an organization on Bangladesh called
SPARSO, you can Google that. You can get involved a lot of primary things, but the main thing
is to study hard.

Azfar Adib : Yes sir working, studying hard, and having a role model is needed for today's
generation. People like you inspire us.

If I were to merge two other questions, it is a very interesting topic, it is about aliens or extra
terrestrial beings, that is. Mr Sakib Ahmed has mentioned a particular appearance. In 1977 , we
humans received a sort of alien message. But we don’t know much what happened to it after
that . Again Faisal Ahmed has asked , “ Are there aliens out there ?” . Aliens do tend to come up
when there is talk of space.

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : Well, what I say is if we mathematically do the equation, there are 8 to 9
planets in our solar system. We have millions of solar systems in the galaxy. And we have a
million galaxies in the Milky Way. Doing math, you can say that there is a good chance that
there are aliens in some planets, probably.But its not possible they are here on earth. Aliens we
see on movies are a different question, and I don't think I am qualified enough to answer that, but
I do think that there is alien life forms in the form of a microbial bacteria or something like that
out there in space.

Azfar Adib : Yes sir. It may remain as a mystery, but now science is there guiding us. Yes there
will be some fiction, but we also have to take into consideration what science is telling us.
Dr. Asif Siddiqi : Yes of course. And there is every likelihood that aliens exist. As I said before,
don't stop imagining. NASA had an important program called SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial
Intelligence) . They funded a lot of programs to monitor transmissions from the universe.
Although there is no definitive proof but the search is always on.

Azfar Adib : No doubt sir. It is a good thing to be certain. It is certainly a good thing to keep on
learning, trying to find out what is happening in the world. You gave us a very valuable
suggestion Sir on how not to stop imaging. It really is a driving force.

We are almost at the final stages, sir, but I see a question wanting to know about your life from
Bangladesh to USA, but we have already discussed that one. Another one is asking how the
young generation and work hard and make themselves and the country proud.

Onward to today's topic. We were discussing the 50 years of Bangladesh. About the
achievements that people have made worldwide and represented Bangladesh as a country. Do
you have any suggestion for the younger generation or for the entire country ?

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : We have a lot to be proud of since our liberation war. We are a powerful
economic country. This is due to generations of young people . I’ll say two things . In 1971 it
was impossible to imagine a future. But I can say based on the last 50 years , we have a lot to be
proud of. We are proud of our freedom fighters and the future generations then on. Question is
about the future. You can imagine unlimited possibilities for Bangladesh in the future. I have
noticed where ever I go in the world, there are always some Bangladeshis in very prominent
positions in the country. It used to be surprising to me but now I'm less and less surprised. This is
a symptom of success and I think in the next 50 years will bring good things for our country. I
never doubted that Bangladesh had a lot of smart people living in it. The future is limitless. It
might be a cliché, but it's true, there are limitless possibilities for Bangladesh in the future. I hope
we have the best in future. Those are my final thoughts.

Azfar Adib : It is quite reassuring that you are saying that the future is limitless for our country.
But it is a wake up call when you say that you are seeing more and more Bangladeshi is in
prominent positions and you're not even surprised anymore. So many good things around the
world. It shows us the real picture and makes us understand what is possible by us. We had a
chance to listen to you today. For the viewers, Dr. Asif Siddiqi, he is one of the best men on his
field ,which is space history. We should place to be more like him on the 50th year of
Bangladesh. Then we can make ourselves, our families and our country proud.

We have already crossed one hour and it is quite clear one hour was not enough, even a few
more hours won't be enough to discuss more things with sir. Thank you sir for finding us time
even with your busy schedule. We are more than privileged to have you here. Thank you very
very much, we wish you well. You have made us proud and will keep on making us proud. I
would encourage everyone to follow the works of Dr. Asif Siddiqi

And with that we will end it for today.

Dr. Asif Siddiqi : Thank you for the invitation, it was a great honor for me.

Azfar Adib : Thank you sir. “Being Bangladeshi, Making A Difference” powered by Fintech,
on the occasion of 50 years of Bangladesh, is a program where we invite individuals every week
who have made notable contributions to the world at large.

Those were with us today, thank you very much. We sincerely hope you have enjoyed the
program, if you have been inspired by Dr. Asif Siddiqi. I hope after today we can really think
that anything is possible.

We will be back with another individual next Friday. Thank you to Dr. Asif Siddiqi and wishing
everyone happy Independence Day. Showing devotion to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
, the freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for us and the people who have made
achievements for the country in the past 50 years. Stay well wherever you are. We will see you
next week . Thank you everyone and goodbye!

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