Module 1:The problem
  Lecture 1:Exploring Human Values: Visions of Happiness and Perfect Society
 

On 18 Februrary 2011 I had the opportunity to meet and talk to Vladimir Voevodsky, Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and a Fields Medalist (2002) on various issues. In this informal interview two things touched me most. First, he said that in his mathematical endeavors he is motivated by God, not by competition, money or power. Ironically, he called this an “external factor”. Secondly, on probing further on the idea of God, he said that there are many lies about God; if the trends indicate anything, in about two hundred years man will see God, and then he will be depressed to learn that God is amoral. I was shocked to hear this from the professor although by this time I had already lost my belief in God. Voevodsky further explained that in the framework of morality anything which goes against the interests of some people is seen to be amoral. God is not interested in welfare of all. The moral God of religion is not what actually God is. I was further taken aback. So far under the influence of Gandhian thought I had believed that belief in God is coterminous with selfless social service: Sarvodaya and Swaraj. I started pondering on matters connected with God, religion, morality and development, which I once thought were all closely tied and supported each other. They were no more clear to me.