What would Kalam do today?

Many of my family members and friends know of my intellectual affection for Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. His patriotic wisdom continues to serve and refresh my understanding of the geopolitical order our beloved India currently resides. In the times when the geographic neighborhood of India continues to perturb it from its growth trajectory, it is important to open a dialogue between the people of India from different cultures and communities, with a context of India, that is Bharat, surrounded by its adversaries.  It is in this very moment, I wish to ask this question: what would Kalam do today?

Dr. Kalam, in his astute skill of observation and learning from peers, had mentioned the role of leadership time and again, be it the leadership of Prof. Satish Dhawan during SLV launch failures, or leading India's Agni missile programs, or the work he had done after assuming the highest office as the President of India. There are plenty of examples of his kindness and affection for children across the world through motivational dialogues on digital and print platforms. But one particular thing that stands out the most to me is his vision for the strength of India.  His work across the defense and space tech through various organizations, of course, stemmed from the shoulders of giants like Vikram Sarabhai, Prof. Satish Dhawan, and peers like Dr. Kasturi Rangan, Shri. Madhavan Nair has invigorated a new sense of belief that "Strength respects Strength and Strength means military might and economic prosperity". While I believe that this idea has played a cementing role in the development of various military capabilities, we certainly need an amendment to this perspective in the present context. Dr. Kalam argued that the development of military might and economic prosperity can go hand-in-hand. While this idea has been instrumental in developing various countries across the globe for various reasons, in the present context, with India's geographic neighborhood, it alone can not bring regional superiority for India. To this end, I wish to open a dialogue by presenting my conjecture on the role of first-order technological superiority followed by second-order economic prosperity. Many would argue that such a proposition may misalign the priority of the State and may result in a theocracy-based military-led failed state such as Pakistan. But, by constructing strong foundational principles inspired by Ancient Civilization that we, the Bharat, are inheritors of, one can aspire to sustain such a vision without instigating a chaotic sequence within. This also needs to come with a strong understanding of our weaknesses and acknowledging them in an open platform, and allowing the dialogues between communities and cultures. While our democracy, no matter where it stands on the scale designed by "the West", presents us with an opportunity to unite like never before by contextualizing the dialogue around the geographic neighborhood that we live in.  With that in mind, I believe our nation, India, can greatly benefit from long-term, unperturbed economic prosperity, beginning at the onset of technological superiority. 

It is one thing to talk about achieving technological superiority and another thing to demonstrate it. While there are so many aspects of technological superiority, I wish to highlight tangible and non-tangible means. In terms of tangible aspects, it requires significant investment in advanced STEM education and R&D compatible with the post-enlightened era of scientific progress, and followed by honesty in implementing and evaluating outcomes associated with it. The second aspect of tangible means is through significant jumps in Deep Tech investments and the creation of safety nets for those organizations in case of sustained failures. To that end, as a part of non-tangible means, we must reinforce the practice of conjecture, criticism, and error correction at all levels of education and R&D as highlighted by Karl Popper and recently revisited by David Deutsch. While there are many aspects to think about, from men management to the vision and culture of a nation that aids in the overall development of a growth trajectory, the one thing that we desperately need is our moments of Original Thinking.  Hence, keeping all aspects aside (which are crucial), the foundational part from first principles that we as a nation need is our Oppenheimer Moments. Not one, not two, but many that put us in an orbit where we no longer have to play the catching-up game with "the West, and others". Oppenheimer moments do not come easily as we think. More than "tangible efforts", it may arrive as a random occurrence either from the invisible depth of quantumness of the world or from the accelerating stretch of vacuum-filled cosmos, sometimes rippled by gravitational waves. All we need to do is develop calibrated eyes, nose, and ears to see, smell, and listen. While my current technological understanding in this essay appears as a work of fiction in reality, remember, homo sapiens from 70,000 years ago only imagined realities and created "myths" that we built upon and live in today. Besides, I wish to highlight the faith I have in the philosophy of David Deutsch, who believes that the problems are inevitable, but they are soluble as long as we remain at the Beginning of Infinity through knowledge creation and its embodiment in technological artefacts. 

The West, as it claimed to have been founded on the Greek Philosophy, as we have once seen and aspired to be, no longer appears to be on the moral high ground, free from its bias. A recent spiral of events starting with the terrorist attack on India's tourist destination, Pahalgam, by the backers and their pawns based in Pakistan, followed by the action of the Indian Armed Forces on the terrorist infrastructure within Pakistan, and further escalatory events, provide a window for India to look at the historical backers of Pakistan and in particularly, the West. While the West condemns the attack, its act of keeping mum in highlighting Pakistan's clear role in state-sponsored terrorism isn't puzzling much. While the West wants to gain from India by securing the trade deals and achieving their economic targets through the talent flow of India, it fails to address the security concerns of India unequivocally. One particular instance that I felt obliged to highlight here is the recent investigative story done by the Print in highlighting the role Maxar Technology's high-resolution satellite imaging may have played in recent attacks. As reported by the Print convicted US person (with serious espionage charges) of Pakistani origin, who became a Business partner of Maxar Technology and ordered multiple high-resolution satellite images of and around the place of attack. The Print also reported that the number of orders of high-resolution satellite images of and around the place of attack increased exponentially over the months leading up to the attack and peaked in February 2025. This, in my understanding, is just one of many examples of the bias the West has shown in its words and actions. This bias was well known among our giants with a scientific background. It was this very bias that Dr. Kalam and his peers recognized and led the development of the Indian Space and Defense sector to its respectable momentum. But it is in this context and only this, I wish to ask: What would Kalam do today? 

Note: Please excuse me for any factual errors that I may have made here in writing this essay, and I am open to suggestions and corrections upon review. I also recognize that I have missed many aspects, including cultural and economic aspects surrounding this issue, but the motivation of this essay is only to write my mind based on the information I have and the message I wish to convey to my fellow Indians. It is not to demean anyone but to desecrate those who aspire to act against Indian interests. I am also open to learn about what it takes to spark those Oppenheimer Moments of original thinking.