What Does it Take to Change Your Mind?

By Marium Ibrahim

When evidence conflicts with strongly held beliefs, how easy is it for us to change our minds?

There may be many motivations behind why we hold certain beliefs, but what are these motivations, and in the event that evidence shows otherwise, how easy is it to change our point of view?

Immortalizing Edhi

by Noorulain Masood

Edhi (1928-2016): Mural in Karachi dedicated to Edhi

Photo credit: Collective team

Edhi died on the 8th of this month. Just twenty days later, media coverage and social calendars that were packed with commemorations have already gone sparse. The cruel reality of our times: nothing lasts forever. But Edhi has to be kept alive.

Politics and social change

by Haris Gazdar

Pakistan's youngest political prisoner: 4 year old MRD activist Fraz Wahlah, 1985
Photo credit: Wikipedia

Last Saturday, I spoke at a panel discussion - “Pakistan: fossilized or quietly transforming” at the 2015 Khayaal Festival. Dr. Ali Cheema who teaches economics at the LUMS and conducts research at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives (IDEAS) and the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) moderated the discussion. I was privileged to share the panel with the distinguished demographer and social scientist Dr Zeba Sathar who heads the Pakistan country office of the Population Council in Pakistan and does pathbreaking work on fertility and demographic trends.

Has Pakistan changed, or is it caught in a rut? Ali Cheema introduced this question using the work of two commentators on Pakistan, William Easterly and Anatol Lieven. Easterly wonders why Pakistan lags behind in so many social indicators of education, health, and women’s empowerment despite having a relatively educated and sophisticated elite, and having produced many individuals who excel in the professions globally. Lieven characterizes Pakistan as being “governed by the traditions of overriding loyalty to family, clan and religion... a highly conservative, archaic... inert mass of different societies".