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Society

"We're An Islamic Republic" - Iran Bans Foreign Sunglasses And Musical Instruments

Tehran authorities have drafted a list of "luxury" imports it will block, citing both financial and religious motivations.

​A man with a beanie playing the violon in Tehran, Iran

A man playing the violon in Tehran, Iran

Iran's customs are clamping down on imports of musical instruments and sunglasses, which are on a list of foreign "luxury goods" the country has banned. Reports were not entirely clear whether the ban relates more to religious or economic concerns. The country is currently under Western sanctions and short of foreign exchange.

Beyond the financial crisis, Iran's clerical regime also has fraught relations with music and the arts, and broadly opposes modern, Western or "vulgar" music that leads to "indecency."


It has likewise never hidden its disdain for Western clothing or styles, which can include sunglasses, T-shirts and neckties, discouraging youngsters from attempting to look fashionable.

On November 28, the local ISNA news agency reported on the confiscation in the southern port of Bushehr, of 11 containers including Yamaha musical instruments. The ban, it stated, was in place since 2019-20, and it cited the head of state customs, Mehdi Mirashrafi, as saying that the law clearly did not allow imports of instruments.

Those who want musical instruments for their personal satisfaction can leave Iran.

A deputy head of parliament's Economic Committee, Kazem Musavi, has said separately that "Importing musical instruments is not in the country's interests, because we are an Islamic Republic. Why should anyone import musical instruments into the country when we have so many martyrs and theologians?" By martyrs, he was referring to hundreds of thousands of Iranians who died in the 1980-88 war against Iraq.

Musavi told the Iranian website Dideban-e Iran, "Musical instruments and similar objects aren't worth spending any time on them... My colleagues and I, as servants of the people, are concerned day and night with people's livelihoods, and that's it."

Nor, he added, are sunglasses, "essential goods we need to import. It makes no difference to people's lives whether or not we have sunglasses and instruments. Those who want musical instruments, or personal satisfaction, can leave Iran."

The law, he said, can add a provision for people who need sunglasses for medical reasons, but even there, he added, given the country's conditions, "provided their importation doesn't use up foreign exchange."

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Future

AI Is Good For Education — And Bad For Teachers Who Teach Like Machines

Despite fears of AI upending the education and the teaching profession, artificial education will be an extremely valuable tool to free up teachers from rote exercises to focus on the uniquely humanistic part of learning.

Journalism teacher and his students in University of Barcelona.

Journalism students at the Blanquerna University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

© Sergi Reboredo via ZUMA press
Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ - Early in 2023, Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates included teaching among the professions most threatened by Artificial Intelligence (AI), arguing that a robot could, in principle, instruct as well as any school-teacher. While Gates is an undoubted expert in his field, one wonders how much he knows about teaching.

As an avowed believer in using technology to improve student results, Gates has argued for teachers to use more tech in classrooms, and to cut class sizes. But schools and countries that have followed his advice, pumping money into technology at school, or students who completed secondary schooling with the backing of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have not attained the superlative results expected of the Gates recipe.

Thankfully, he had enough sense to add some nuance to his views, instead suggesting changes to teacher training that he believes could improve school results.

I agree with his view that AI can be a big and positive contributor to schooling. Certainly, technological changes prompt unease and today, something tremendous must be afoot if a leading AI developer, Geoffrey Hinton, has warned of its threat to people and society.

But this isn't the first innovation to upset people. Over 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Socrates wondered, in the Platonic dialogue Phaedrus, whether reading and writing wouldn't curb people's ability to reflect and remember. Writing might lead them to despise memory, he observed. In the 18th and 19th centuries, English craftsmen feared the machines of the Industrial Revolution would destroy their professions, producing lesser-quality items faster, and cheaper.

Their fears were not entirely unfounded, but it did not happen quite as they predicted. Many jobs disappeared, but others emerged and the majority of jobs evolved. Machines caused a fundamental restructuring of labor at the time, and today, AI will likely do the same with the modern workplace.

Many predicted that television, computers and online teaching would replace teachers, which has yet to happen. In recent decades, teachers have banned students from using calculators to do sums, insisting on teaching arithmetic the old way. It is the same dry and mechanical approach to teaching which now wants to keep AI out of the classroom.

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