Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, shared important clues about the paths to follow in a developing and changing world, saying, “We need to catch Industry 4.0. I have full confidence in today’s youth in this regard.”
The interest of the participants, including many bureaucrats, in Prof. Dr. Tarhan, who attended as a speaker at the program organized by Ankara Culture and Education Foundation via ZOOM, was quite intense.
“New truths in a changing world”
Tarhan, who spoke about four industrial revolutions in his speech, said; “The first was the discovery of the first steam engine, which began in the 1850s. Then, with the addition of electricity to the machine, it became Industry 2.0, and a new stage was reached. In the 2000s, automation was added with the third industrial revolution. In Industry 4.0, beyond automation, it’s about objects communicating with each other without human intervention. Topics from artificial intelligence to mind control are being discussed today. We are currently experiencing a digital revolution, and we are missing this revolution. We always lag behind change. Unfortunately, the Ottoman Empire could not become a subject. Now we need to catch Industry 4.0, I trust today's youth in this regard, we should not miss Industry 4.0.”
“Modernism made youth ‘egocentric’”
Tarhan, stating the four consequences of Western civilization as hedonism, egoism, loneliness, and unhappiness; “The concept of hedonism refers to pursuing pleasure, and the concept of egoism refers to egocentrism, narcissism. Today's youth are raised to be conformist and egocentric. The opportunities offered by modernism made young people egocentric. The biggest organs of narcissistic people are their egos. Narcissistic people never accept criticism, and when they lose their power, they become isolated. Unfortunately, today's youth are also focused on being raised this way. However, what is important is for us to prevent this situation. We must seek ways to win over the youth.” he said.
“Weak points should be known in a crisis”
Tarhan also pointed out the importance of calculating opportunities and threats when managing a crisis and taking a position to turn the crisis into an advantage before it occurs; “It should not be forgotten that when a crisis occurs, ruptures happen at the weakest points. Life is like a chain. The strongest part of the chain is its weakest link. Breakages and ruptures occur there during a crisis. In a storm, the weak and dry branches of trees break first. It is necessary to approach the relationship with crisis like the relationship with a storm. Just as we take precautions before a storm comes, we must also take precautions for these types of crises. After the crisis comes, we should be able to continue our routine.” he stated.
“Female and male psychology should be well known”
Tarhan, pointing out that when taking measures against violence against women, the biological and psychological differences between women and men should be well understood; “Albert Einstein, a genius, told his wife, ‘If you want to stay married to me, don’t complain about me, don’t expect friendship and intimacy.’ And he couldn’t sustain his marriage. Someone with very high logical intelligence may not have high emotional intelligence. There are also differences between female and male brains. A woman’s brain has high empathy, and women are generally more self-sacrificing.” he said.
“Values education is explained this way”
Tarhan continued his words by stating that when Seligman defined positive psychology, he talked about authentic happiness: “What he meant by authentic happiness is for a person to be happy in all circumstances. We need to teach this to individuals. Happiness dependent on external causes is not happiness. Happiness that is dependent on internal causes is true happiness. Seligman took the wisdom of the East, the teachings of Hz. Mevlana, and presented them to us as positive psychology. We started giving this course to our students at Üsküdar Üniversitesi in 2013, and after this course, we observed that students who had problems with their families, friends, or themselves were able to resolve them. That’s why this is now science providing wisdom education under the name of happiness education, and values education is explained this way.”