My Perspective

We are in the middle of a new AI revolution that is going to change media forever. This could give a push to the saturating and plateaued social media. It could also make it even more difficult to reach a wider audience due to higher competition. To contemplate and guess what may happen, we must understand how changing media changed societies and civilizations. It does three things – unites a type of people, divides or polarizes a group, democratizes a previous media system, and makes content more local, but reduces wider reach. Creation of Insiders, but also Outsiders   Invention of Languages When early humans invented languages, they became more organized and developed tribes and societies. But this also clearly defined the concept of an ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’. When they came in contact with tribes which didn’t speak their languages, the idea of insider and outsider became clearer. This also led to clashes and cultural feuds.   Invention of Writing Systems When...

There are many things Artificial Intelligence can do, but there are some things the AI cannot do, like writing this blog. This year has seen the rise of AI, and since then AI service platforms and content created by these platforms have taken over the internet. Initially, it was believed that like previous industrial revolutions, this new invention will affect the basic entry-level jobs with lower skills, but it directly attacked those jobs that require higher levels of skills. As Artificial Intelligence improves, it will get better and will compete with artists, writers, actors, singers, and musicians, along with other jobs like product delivery, sales and even data collection and data interpretation.   But can there be a human civilisation where everything is automated? If everything right from art to programming is going to be done by AI, what kind of jobs would humans do? How will the economic cycle function? This sudden rise of AI is perceived to be a major threat to huma...

While in the background humans are constantly destroying nature and slowly getting destroyed in the process, conflicts are on the rise more than ever. Not international conflicts or regional conflicts but conflicts of ideas that are radically so different that they are polarising societies from the inside. There are some words which people utter nowadays which no one could think of a decade ago. If you can, just time travel a decade behind and tell your younger self how societies and people have changed. I am sure that your younger self would find it as absurd as believing that there is a long pandemic in the 2020s. So, what has changed in these years? Your tolerance levels. A person drinks for the first time and just two pegs make the person tipsy. The third one makes the person a drunk. But slowly, as the body’s tolerance level develops the person is able to drink four pegs and still feel fine. Now, if the person really wants to feel drunk, more alcohol is required. The same thing ...

Before you go back to normal life after you have posted, 'we can talk' and 'talking will help' you need to know that there are various factors for depression. From a farmer who commits suicide because he has lost his everything, to someone who has everything but still feels empty inside, depression has a wide spectrum. Now before you generalise the issue and go back to your worlds only to return when someone else dies, you need to know a few pointers. Many people are depressed, but as they are busy they don't get time to concentrate on their thoughts. Idle times like quarantine bring back negative thoughts which were always present in the background. So, this would be the right time. Talks and inspirational quotes are nothing more than fancy words without meanings if the problem is as external as it is internal. Situations and circumstances are also factors that shape the thought process. The whole ecosystem is responsible. While talks do help at times...

Art flourishes when there is stability. During ancient times, humans created art only when they found a safe place to reside and ample food to eat. When civilisation came into existence, farming and pastoral professions created surplus resources and granted a good amount of free time for people to pursue their hobbies. In feudal times, when kings and prosperous merchants had a lot of money at their disposal, they spent it on patronising art. This is how art flourished and artists found their livelihood. After industrialisation and modernisation, art itself became a commodity. Only those arts with higher demand began to get preference. Although industry flourished, contacts became the tool that allowed or barred artists from achieving their goals. Even today, an artist requires stability to deliver art. Therefore, either the artist must get paid for the art, or find an alternative profession to attain stability. This is why many artists today are struggling, not just for their su...

I remember a lesson we had in Hindi subject when we were in school. Don't remember the exact year or the exact story, but only its crux. It was a story of Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire. As the story goes, Krishnadevaraya was a just king who was trying to do good for his subjects. But no matter what policies he made, it all failed miserably. One day, a sage came to visit his court. The king spoke about this issue to the sage and asked for a solution. But instead of answering him, the sage passed a weird comment. The sage said that the room of the court stinks. He said it has a damp smell and advised that the king should open up the windows and let the fresh air come in. He also told the king that good ventilation of air is beneficial for everyone's well-being. Then the sage left the court leaving the king puzzled. Puzzled because the windows were already open, fresh air was coming in and there was no damp smell. Tenali Rama was also in the court when the sage m...

I have seen people many times discussing and ridiculing the term 'Hindu atheism' in social media comments. They find it hard to comprehend how can an Atheist be a Hindu or how can a Hindu be an atheist. Hinduism is a religion and so a Hindu must be a believer of God. If he believes in God then how can someone be an atheist? Well it's not as simple as that. Hinduism is not a monolithic religion with one book, one ideology. Hinduism is actually an amalgamation of many schools of thoughts and philosophies that existed in ancient India. These philosophies sometimes disagreed with each other. These schools of thoughts were broadly divided into two types: Astika or Orthodox and Nastika or Heterodox. Today Astika is translated as Believer and Nastika as Atheist, but that was not strictly the case then. It was with reference to simply accepting or rejecting the authority of the Vedas. Nastika schools of thoughts included Jainism, Buddhism, Charavaka, Ajivika etc. which later...

An artist is defined as a person who creates his work using his creativity and skills while an artisan is defined as one who creates his work with his skill alone. An artist is credited for his or her work and even praised for it. On the other hand an artisan is simply termed as a skilled labourer, and his or her identity is always subordinate to the one who commissions the work. Till the Middle Ages only performers were termed as artists and given their due credit. This is because their art was inseparable from them. One cannot separate dance from a dancer, song from a singer, or music from a musician. But the art created by writers, painters and sculptures are separable and hence these people then did not come under the term "artists". Then came the Renaissance and it changed the society. People who mastered their craft and those whose work stood out among others were given credit and even praised for it. So a painter, writer, sculptor, and architect got a chance to ...

Diwali also known as Dipavali, which is festival of lights. Although the present scenario in cities of modern India (@least in Mumbai) contradicts the meaning of the festival. The festival of lights is celebrated as festival of noise. Fireworks were used as they gave lights, which were followed by bombs & other crackers which gives 2% light, 48% smoke and 50% noise. It seems like the main intention of celebrating a festival is to trouble people around. Many people have asthma problems; many people mostly due to old age have timid ears and can even get a heart attack after listening the kaboom noise of the crackers. Even during marriages and Ganpati visarjan , traffic jam and making loud noise with weird dances on the streets are common. They don't care if an ambulance have to pass by or if there is hospital in that area.  Indian festivals have now became the best examples of mockery. Festivals are celebrated by troubling other people. Not ju...