Statements in Meeting with a Group of Elites and Scientific Talents

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited One on earth.

I am glad that, thanks be to God, this meeting has taken place this year; of course, in previous years, we used to meet with the elites every year, but last year we did not have this opportunity. Today's session was also beneficial for me; I truly benefited from the remarks made by our friends and dear ones, the boys and girls here. Now, judging the accuracy, depth, and correctness of the statements is a subsequent matter; one must reflect more on what you said, but hastily, what I heard here was useful for me, and I benefited from it. I am very grateful to the friends who took the trouble to express their statements.

I would like to share a few points regarding elitism and the elites with you. If time permits, I will also say a few words about knowledge-based companies at the end of my remarks.

The first point is that my dear ones! Elitism is a divine blessing, a God-given gift, and one must be grateful for divine blessings; the first thing that should come to your mind is to express gratitude for this blessing. "And be grateful for the bounty of God if you truly worship Him" (Quran, Surah An-Nahl); this "And be grateful for the bounty of God" appears in several other places in the Quran; this is a perpetual duty. The quality of gratitude will be discussed later in one of the subsequent sessions. This first point is to think about expressing gratitude for the blessing of elitism and to be thankful for this divine gift.

The second point; what makes an elite is not merely talent and mental capacity. Many people have talent, they have mental capacity, and this is wasted, it does not manifest at all, or no appropriate and worthy use is made of it, and they do not become elites. What makes an elite, in addition to talent and mental capacity, is the appreciation of this truth and this blessing; one must appreciate this blessing and based on that, work and strive. A talented and capable person, if they do not utilize this mind, if they do not make use of this capacity, if they pass through life with laziness, lethargy, inattentiveness, and negligence, they will certainly not become an elite. An elite is someone who appreciates; they recognize the value of their talent, they put it to work, and with high ambition, acceptance of hardship, and acceptance of struggle, they transform themselves into an elite. Now, this appreciation is primarily the responsibility of the individual, and secondly, it is the responsibility of the environment. "Environment" means the governing body, the officials, at one point the parents, at another point the teacher or university professor; they must appreciate, but the main appreciation must be done by the elites themselves.

Of course, this applies to the individual elite; it is the same for the country as a whole. Our country, in terms of mental talent, is above the global average; this is not a claim, it is a proven and established fact; that is, our nation is potentially elite. A significant part of the soft war of the colonizers, both today and always - it is present today, and it was more prevalent in the past - is to make our nation or any nation with talent oblivious to its own talent, to make it indifferent to that talent, or even to bring it to a point where it denies its own talent; they say so much that you cannot, you cannot, you cannot, that they come to believe they cannot and say, "I cannot"; this has been one of the common practices. Since the beginning of colonialism in countries, one of the actions has been this. In Africa, there were great civilizations - in parts of Africa, in West Africa, in other areas - that have been completely destroyed, wiped out. Nehru, in his memoirs, in the book "A Glimpse of World History," says that before the British entered India, India was self-sufficient in its own industries - the industries of that day, in the early nineteenth century; when the British entered, first the East India Company, then the British government, brought the situation to a point where Indians felt that they could only live with British and foreign products; the denial of a nation's capabilities. It is the same in our own country; we have been afflicted by this calamity for over two hundred years, until before the Islamic Revolution. You have heard that when the issue of nationalizing oil was raised, that Iranians have oil and should manage their own oil, the Prime Minister of the Pahlavi regime, in criticizing this idea, said that Iranians should go make a "lulehng"! The "lulehng" you have not seen; a "lulehng" is a washbasin that is not even made of tin, it is made of clay. In the old days, during our youth and childhood, there was still the "lulehng"; a washbasin made of clay. [He said] Iranians should go make "lulehngs"! That is, they bring a nation to this point.

When negligence about one's own abilities prevails over a nation, the plundering of that nation becomes easy. You see, negligence and plunder complement each other; negligence is the precursor to plunder, and plunder increases negligence; negligence and plunder go hand in hand. This applies to countries that were directly colonized, and it also applies to a place like our country, which has not been directly colonized; hence, they want us to be oblivious. In the Quran, the discussion of negligence is quite interesting; the issue of negligence is explicitly mentioned. In the issue of "Salat al-Khawf" (Prayer of Fear), it is stated that "The disbelievers wish that you become negligent of your weapons and your belongings so that they may attack you in one swoop"; the enemy wants you to be oblivious to your weapons and your assets. The discussion of drones and missiles, and how these days they are presented as a fundamental and important issue in the world; [the enemy] wants you to neglect these, to overlook this capability so that they can easily attack you. This relates to this matter. Now, let not our missile issue distract us from the issue of the elites.

The next point regarding elitism and the elites is the sense of responsibility of the elites; the sense of responsibility. Of course, the governing body of the country has significant responsibilities regarding the situation of the elites - there is no doubt about this, and we hope that, God willing, the officials of the country, myself, and others can fulfill this responsibility in the best way - but the elite individual and the young elite must also feel a sense of responsibility towards the issues of the country, and sometimes it is necessary for the young elite to endure hardships; this is one of the very important ethical points that must be considered. The notion that everything must be ready and in place for the elite to be able to work is not a correct understanding; sometimes you must fight against obstacles, which was mentioned in the words of some friends. Of course, unkindness is observed; in various governmental bodies and the governance of the country, sometimes unkindness is shown towards the elites; we know this, we are aware of it, but this should not deter the elite from continuing on their path and from activity and effort, and they should not become disheartened. Some say, "Sir! We went to such and such an office, we went to such and such a university, and they treated us this way"; these should not dishearten the elite; they must feel a sense of responsibility, strive, and pursue. This is the gratitude I mentioned; the gratitude for the blessing of elitism is among these. One must express gratitude; the practical gratitude is to strive, to be active. Of course, another part of gratitude is to be aware that this blessing of elitism has been granted to them by God Almighty and that every result that follows from elitism must be in accordance with divine will and in the direction of divine pleasure, which is very important and directs the movement of the elite.

Another point regarding the elites is that the scientific elite - now our discussion is about scientific elites - must focus on the future and the horizon that has been outlined for science in the country. We said that we must move in such a way that within a reasonable time frame - I said a few years ago (I said fifty years later) - Iran is considered a source of knowledge in the world; that is, if people want to access the latest scientific findings, they must learn Persian. This is a possible future; do not be surprised. One day, the world was like this; our scholars were once, at a certain point in history, at the pinnacle of knowledge in the world; their books were referenced in all universities around the world, in Western universities and Eastern universities - that is, India and China, which at that time also had knowledge - were considered and referenced. We must keep our eyes on this horizon.

Of course, there are stages. The first stage is that today we must fill the gap between ourselves and the frontier of global knowledge; we have a gap. Of course, in our statistics, which are based on global statistics, we praise our scientific progress, which is commendable, and we have indeed made progress, but our distance from the forefront of knowledge in the world is significant. For two hundred years, we were held back; after the victory of the revolution, a movement took place, a faster movement began about two decades ago, and we have made good progress, but the gap is still large; the first stage is to fill this gap. The second stage is to surpass the lines of global knowledge and the frontier of global knowledge; that is, we must be able to present new scientific services and new scientific discoveries to the world, and I will mention a point about this later. The next stage is to pursue a new Islamic civilization. Certainly, one of the important foundations of any civilization is knowledge - beneficial knowledge - and we repeat "new Islamic civilization"; certainly, one of its foundations is scientific progress; we must prepare ourselves for that. If your eyes, as an elite, are on this horizon, your scientific movement will naturally have the right direction, and the problems that are sometimes mentioned - the discussion of articles and such things that friends mentioned - will disappear; that is, the correct direction will be specified, and proper progress will be made.

And as for the point I mentioned, I will refer to the discussion of scientific creation; this is important. Today, many scientific works are being done in the country, but these works are mostly derivatives of the scientific creation of others; for example, suppose someone has discovered nuclear energy, we are working on this today. What is needed and must be done is the creation of knowledge; one must be creative, one must produce knowledge, which often arises from the discovery of a force in nature; that is, innovation in science arises from discovering a law, a principle that exists in nature and has not been discovered until now, and based on that, knowledge is produced, and based on that, various technologies are created. We must pursue this; that is, our young elite must seek creativity in knowledge. Suppose, for example, that the force of gravity existed - now these are old examples; we have been giving these examples for a long time - someone discovered it, and based on that, knowledge was created. The force of electricity existed in the universe, no one knew it, someone discovered it, and based on that, this vast field of science and technology emerged. Or in later sections and in new issues, nanotechnology is one of these; the issue of stem cells is one of these; the issue of nuclear energy is one of these. The discovery of a truth in nature, the discovery of a principle, a law, an element in divine nature and divine creation leads you to a scientific point, that point will be knowledge, it will be formulated, it will expand, and it will lead to technology and such things.

Another point regarding the elites, which I have mentioned before, is that one of the goals of the scientific community of the country - not just the elites, but all scientific communities; of course, this is more needed for the elites - is that they must think about the issues of the country, they must work on problem-solving; problem-solving is important. The country has fundamental issues; these must be addressed, and they must be solved through scientific means and with scientific methods; there are solutions. Right here, our friends mentioned several of these issues and provided solutions for them. Of course, I mentioned that judging these solutions requires reflection and precision, but scientific solutions can be found for all the problems of the country so that one can confidently pursue solving the issue and resolving the problem.

For example, one of the pressing issues we face today is the issue of water in the country; it is an issue. The issue of the country is the issue of water, and the issue of water will soon turn into a more significant issue on a global scale. Well, a scientific thought must be given for this. Or the issue of the environment and even the issue of traffic; the issue of traffic is a problem in life. You move from one corner of Tehran to another part, you must spend an hour, an hour and a quarter in the car with these difficulties; well, there are solutions for this; it must be solved scientifically. Social harms, the issue of addiction, the issue of divorce, the issue of marginalization, the issue of migration from villages and the destruction of villages, all of these have solutions. There is a time when a manager lacks compassion, does not want to look at these issues, that is not the subject of discussion; but when it is assumed that managers want to solve the issue, well, scientific solutions must be found for this, and there are certainly solutions. Or issues of governance, problems of the monetary system, financial system, tax system, problems of banks, obstacles to production growth that we said this year "removing obstacles"; there are scientific solutions for these; these must be clarified through science - which I will also refer to later - and dozens of other issues; that is, think about the issues.

I received a report that in some advanced countries, universities are mostly non-governmental, private universities, but these non-governmental universities receive substantial funding from governments; how? Not that they come and just throw money at the university; no, they define issues for the university and seek answers to those issues from the university, and whatever amount that university can solve this issue for them, it will have financial income from the government and the authority. Well, this is very good; that is, problem-solving in the field of scientific work and the work of elites is an important and necessary thing.

Well, under this problem-solving issue that we discussed, I have actually written about artificial intelligence, which today one of the friends spoke about; I suggest that one of the issues that should be emphasized and deepened is the issue of artificial intelligence, which will play a role in the future governance of the world; now either in the scientific vice-presidency or in the university, we must work to ensure that we rank among the top ten countries in the world regarding artificial intelligence, which we are not today; today, the countries that are at the forefront of artificial intelligence, apart from the United States and China, which are at the top ranks, some Asian countries are also there, and some European countries are also there, but we are not; of course, apparently, more Asian countries are there; in the top ten ranks, the number of Asian countries is greater. We must work to reach at least the top ten countries in this issue.

Another point regarding the elites is the issue of migration, which was also mentioned in one of the discussions today. Well, there is a time when a student, based on their needs, based on their intellectual needs or family issues, wishes to study in another country; this is not a problem; I have said many times that this is not an obstacle; the main thing is that they should not forget that they owe their country and study and return; however, what is problematic is migration for the sake of migration. I have been informed - of course, this is not just today, such a thing has existed for a long time - that in some universities, there are elements that encourage young elites to leave the country; I say explicitly that this is treason; this is enmity with the country; it is not friendship with that young person. Today, in our country, young elites can grow, and at times they can go to benefit from another country and return, but to discourage a young person regarding the future of the country, to dishearten them, to show them a bitter and dark future so that they leave and migrate, I truly consider this a treachery that must be pursued.

Regarding the issue of removing obstacles to production - which I said I would refer to and this year's slogan - what I have noted here is that the most important obstacles to production, more than operational and material obstacles and such things, are cultural obstacles; that is, feelings of hopelessness, feelings of incapacity, feelings of having no future, lack of enthusiasm, lack of ambition, harmful distractions; these are things that truly hinder the progress of production work. That is, our youth who can, for example, establish a knowledge-based company and carry out a significant part of the work, both earn income for themselves and benefit the country, instead of coming to pursue work and effort and these matters, they go after unnecessary distractions; many become engrossed in computers and such things; often now they spend all night or all day, as much as they can, aimlessly, uselessly, and without purpose on the internet; without any benefit accruing. Laziness, lack of ambition, lack of risk-taking; these are fundamental obstacles to production.

As for knowledge-based companies; fortunately, they have had good growth. Of course, I had in mind about six thousand companies in the statistics, today Dr. Setari said seven thousand companies; this is very good, thanks be to God, this is an important work that has been done, and it must also increase, but regarding the [criteria] for increase, I think I have previously mentioned in this session that there should be strictness in adhering to the criteria of being knowledge-based; that is, it should not be the case that we raise the quantity too easily and the quality of work is not taken into account; being knowledge-based has criteria, and these criteria must be adhered to.

Of course, our large industries in the country are not knowledge-based, which is a significant flaw. Individuals who are apparently qualified have told me that these small knowledge-based companies can influence and make the large industries of the country, such as the automotive industry and similar ones, knowledge-based; if this work is possible, it must certainly be done.

A necessary condition for the growth and strengthening of knowledge-based companies is that we can popularize their products within the country - now I will also mention the issue of exports later - and they must be consumed within the country; the way is that the production they make should not have imports. Again, some, like the issue of home appliances, should not make a fuss about why you said, for example, do not bring home appliances from such and such a country; no, the necessity for the growth of domestic companies and strengthening them, so that they can stand on their own feet, is that we must create a market for them domestically. The domestic market is not a small market; this market must be made available to domestic production; especially governments and large organizations that are the largest consumers of these must procure from these knowledge-based companies and use domestic products so that imports do not crush them. Of course, when we say imports should be curtailed, we are actually speaking to help the domestic factory and domestic enterprise; that domestic enterprise also has responsibilities, they should not raise prices too high, nor lower quality so that the entire recommendation becomes futile.

Therefore, one issue is the issue of domestic markets, and another issue is the issue of exports; if exports do not exist, progress will not occur as it should. And regarding exports, both the companies themselves can be active and more so, the governments can be active; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, and others can assist in this regard and find foreign markets. The media can help; there are some countries that have good memories of Iran, but if they are asked to name two Iranian products, they cannot name them. The media should promote these products in the foreign sector and mention them. Therefore, this is also an issue.

And another issue is that I was informed that according to Dr. Setari, the share of knowledge-based companies from the gross national product is less than one percent; well, this is very low. This share must certainly increase from domestic production. Now, over three years, four years, at least it should reach five percent; this work must be pursued, God willing. And we hope that God will assist all of you. (It is close to the call to prayer, and I will conclude my remarks.)

I hope that, God willing, God grants you success. The future belongs to you; know this. This country belongs to you; you are the ones who will build the tomorrow of this country, and you are the managers of the future of the country. Prepare yourselves and also prepare the country; you can do it. I, of course, recommend to the officials, the ministers [to utilize] the young elites; I used to recommend this to the previous government - which in some cases was not without effect - and to this government as well, that young people should be utilized in various management positions - the same middle management and lower management that also play an important role, and one of the friends [also] mentioned this here - even in high-level management positions as well. I recommend this, and God willing, this work will be realized, but you must also prepare yourselves, find your place; find out what role you can play in the progress of the country. Your elitism must also manifest itself here, so that you can specify your position; take your place in that position and strive and work.

We hope that, God willing, the Almighty God protects you; you are the light of the eyes of the country and the nation, and you are the dear children of the nation; may God keep you for this country. God willing, may the pure souls of our great martyrs and the pure spirit of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) be pleased with us, and may all of you and us be included in the blessed prayers of the Awaited One (may our souls be sacrificed for him).

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.