Whither AI?

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AI is going to have,  without the shadow of  the slightest doubt, the most profound impact on human destiny since the time that people first learned to harness fire and invent the wheel. The fact that AI is on the cusp of thinking and making decisions entirely on its own without any human supervision or direction means that the future of human life on Earth will unfold in ways that we cannot even begin to fathom.

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The blurring of distinction between breathing and thinking living beings that humans are and machines devoid of life and emotion by allowing the latter to exercise judgment on behalf of the former poses a philosophical dilemma that has never confronted humanity before. We don’t know how AI thought, developing independently of human impulses, will evolve. What impact will it have on art, culture, morality and indeed human morality?

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The immediate fear that most people have on account of the dawn of the age of AI is of a loss of employment, particularly the white-collar kind. From coders and writers to doctors, teachers and researchers, everyone fears redundancy when pitted  against super efficient, remorseless thinking machines capable of easily outperforming them.

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The fear of new technology is one that humans have dealt with since the earliest times. Every new discovery and innovation has caused trepidation, nervousness, and fear amongst those who worried that the new way of doing things would impact the old one they were used to. Everything from the invention of the wheel and the harnessing of energy to mechanised transport and flying was met with fear and resistance. The fact that it all worked out well eventually often hides the immense fear, heartbreak and indeed the destruction of a certain way of life it accompanies. But in the eventual yardstick of what is seen as human progress, the emergence and adoption of new technology seems to have done more good than harm to human existence.

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Where AI promises to be different is in the fact that it may take away the decision making power of human beings by moving away from under their authority and developing agency of its own. To that extent, its further evolution and its impact on human destiny is as unknown as it would be if the aliens took over planet Earth one day. Where is AI taking us?

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Is Zero-Waste Living Possible?

 

                                                  Photo by Tom Fisk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bird-s-eye-view-of-landfill-317434

The consumption-heavy growth-at-all cost model that humans have been following for a few centuries now has made matters come to a head with the planet drowning in its own waste. We have defiled the very air we breathe and the water we need for sustenance. Land has been contaminated with poison in the shape of pesticides and disfigured and utterly damaged by mining, construction and the cutting of forests. This has resulted in what we know as the global climate crisis with its attendant problems in the shape of more frequent flooding, heat waves of increasing intensity, unprecedentedly large forest fires and the outbreak of disease and as we recently witnessed, a global pandemic.

One of the major problems associated with environmental degradation and pollution is the appallingly high level of waste generated on account of the way we mass-produce and consume goods, regardless of whether we need them or not. This might make economic growth figures look good, but the mountains of waste which we are unable to dispose of in an environmentally friendly manner that result on account of this, take our planet inexorably towards its doom.

For instance, electricity, which is the engine of the modern way of life, is generated largely by burning fossil fuels or by building environmentally damaging dams that help produce hydro power. Nuclear energy, for its part, comes with the risk of radioactive contamination. In fact, most modern industrial and business activity adds to the problem of waste creation not just on Earth but in space as well, which is increasingly getting clogged with innumerable communication satellites.

There is waste everywhere-in our seas and oceans, deserts and mountains, as well as our cities, towns, villages and islands. We are literally drowning in waste, but are not aware of it, as it hasn’t reached over our heads yet, at least figuratively. This situation, as one might imagine, is simply not tenable, and we need to do something about it right away. Something like living the zero-waste life. Quite radical, you would say-but is zero- waste living even possible?

The Zero Waste Living Approach

Zero waste living may not be something which is practically possible, as the very process of living creates waste in some form of the other, but the zero-waste living approach is something that can help the human race save themselves and the planet they live in from impending ruination. As a matter of fact, the zero-waste approach has become a worldwide movement that has helped more and more people understand what is at stake in this epic battle against waste that threatens the future of all life on earth. They have come to understand that they can adopt a zero-waste centred lifestyle by making mindful and intentional choices that help substantially reduce, if not eliminate, waste from most, if not all, aspects of life.

Here’s how you can approach a zero-waste approach to your life and help save your world as part of a global movement geared towards getting rid of most waste.

Learn to say no

The bane of modern living is that we have far more than we need. Instead of having to hunt for food or forage for it on the forest floor as our ancestors did, we just need to walk to the refrigerator and choose from a bewildering assortment of packaged food that is terrible for our health. Say no to that and try to source fresh food that you can yourself proceed to cook- far healthier and produces less waste too.  Say no, also, to the abomination that is quick or fast fashion and take to wearing durable clothing that lasts for a long time. There are so many other things you can say no to. Like not driving in your car to your place of work and using public transport or riding a cycle instead. If you make a list of things you could say no to, you will discover that it is a very long one indeed.

Consume less

We could all consume a lot less than we do and reduce the awful burden we place on our planet by way of the extraction of scarce resources. It is not for nothing that gluttony and lust were counted amongst the deadliest of sins. Our forebears were on to something elemental about ensuring human survival, which we have clearly lost sight of, given that people in positions of power and authority who should know better go on and on about increasing growth, never mind if that is a one way ticket to oblivion.

We consume too much food, buy more clothes than we need, travel more than we need to and consume way more energy than we need to. This amounts to living on debt and imagining that the bill will never come. Not only are the bills coming in thick and fast, but they are coming with heavy interest and penalties.

Reuse

The use and throw culture which is supposed to deliver convenience, but is really serving the needs of rapacious business houses threatens to thoroughly make the environment increasingly unconducive to all forms of life including our own. One of the best ways to fight this is by taking to reusing everything from clothes and electronic gadgets to water bottles and utensils. One should mend, stitch, darn and repair whatever we can and use it for the longest time.  It’s heartening in this regard that Gen Z finds shopping at thrift stores both fashionable and economical. That is the way to go, and the older folks would do well to take a leaf from their book.

Recycle

Recycling products that have outlived their utility is one of the best ways of tackling the problems of dealing with the gargantuan amounts of waste generated by human activity. Doing so has two benefits- that of dealing with waste in an environment-friendly manner and contributing to the economy by using waste as raw material for all-new products. Examples of recycling waste are numerous. These range from using waste water from homes for watering plants, refashioning plastic straws as footwear, storing spices, buttons, coins and nails in glass containers instead of plastic ones, composting kitchen waste and using it as fertilizer for plants, and using refill jars and bottles for shampoos, detergents and hand wash. Similarly, donating old clothes or repurposing them as bags and repairing old gadgets instead of outright replacing them is something that you can incorporate into your way of life.

Choosing the sustainable lifestyle

The zero waste approach to life is basically following a sustainable lifestyle. This is in stark contrast to the ultra-consumerist approach to life that has been heralded as normal over the centuries leading up to the planetary level disaster that stares us all in the face. Nature has its own cycle of growth, decay and renewal, and we are meant to adhere to its timeline. If we don’t, we ultimately risk our own annihilation, for as surely as the sun rises every day, nature will destroy us and replace us with something else. So, if we don’t want to go the way of the dinosaurs, we need to realign and reimagine the way we live, and zero-waste living is the way to do that.

 

 

Can AI be used to resolve India’s AQI crisis?

 

Photo by Landiva Weber

India’s AQI crisis sees no signs of abating. All across northern India, the winter season sees the AQI stay in the very hazardous category for months together across the big cities, small towns, and even villages of North India. AQI readings above 400 are routine, and one has come to regard a 150 AQI, which constitutes the poor category, as pretty much normal and par for the course. The fact that the high AQI levels have started getting reported from the sylvan hill towns nestled in the verdant Himalayas has shown that the AQI crisis threatens normal life across the length and breadth of North India and even beyond. For most of the harsh North Indian winter, even a satisfactory AQI of about 100 has become a pipe dream. How sick and pathetic is that?

Clean air and water are basic necessities provided in abundance by nature, but the quest for rapid growth and development by a nation of a billion and a half people that aspires to be counted amongst the prosperous nations of the world has led to the defilement of the very air and water that ensure that they live long and healthy lives. The farmers who ensure food security for this vast nation cause a great deal of pollution by their annual stubble burning projects, and the ongoing massive infrastructure development projects necessary for taking the economy to the next level also exacerbate the air pollution problem.

 Aware of the severe consequences of the short term and long term consequences of breathing highly polluted air, the government and the authorities in question try various means and methods to rein in the pollution. From restrictions placed on the movement of vehicles to phasing out of old and polluting cars to banning construction whenever the AQI levels become very high, spraying water droplets into the air, and even trying to create artificial rain, nothing seems to work.

Can we not turn to AI-which is purported to change the very nature of the way human beings will live their lives in the times ahead, to stem the rot and come to our rescue?

AI to the rescue?

The various pollution fighting measures presently put in place seem largely reactive and don’t seem to be part of a pre-planned, integrated process that could fight the menace in a holistic manner.  The recent failed attempt to create artificial rain over the national capital region with the view to bringing down air pollution is emblematic of this ham-handed approach to a crisis that shows not the slightest signs of abating.

AI, with its outstanding predictive abilities, can be of great help in how we interact with and manage the environment. It can be put to great use in analyzing all the necessary data about where pollution originates and the likely times and regions it is likely to peak. This can help the government and authorities to plan ahead to combat the threat in the most effective manner possible.

AI’s ability to study everything from satellite data and information sourced from various low-cost sensors to weather and emission data can help obtain precise street level pollution updates, instead of city averages empowering authorities to attempt to provide solutions at ground zero, making them far more effective than sweeping city wide solutions. Besides, AI can help in making citizens sensitive to the prevailing AQI levels in their localities with the help of apps allowing them to take actions like staying indoors or wearing masks when venturing outside.

AI’s greatest contribution in the fight against high AQI levels would be in coming up with holistic strategies to bring down and eliminate the causes of air pollution, rather than helping deal with its side effects. With the strides AI technology is making and the possibility of its making the best possible decisions on behalf of mankind, independent of human supervision, in the very near future, it is quite possible that it will present us with a growth and development model that does not lead to life-threatening air pollution, even in a country as populous as India.

In defense of capitalism

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We live in what are described as post-capitalism times where the economic system that

promotes the virtues of creating individual wealth has been variously described as broken,

defunct and even failed. It has, according to many morphed into a system, where the

oligarchs control the resources required to make immense wealth and leave the rest tofend for themselves and fight over scrap. Some go to the extent of romanticising

the concept of a welfare state where basic worries like food, shelter and education are

assured for all by the state.

It is acknowledged, however, that wealth creating economic activity is the path to generating enough resources to afford that kind of nanny state where one is looked after from the cradle to the grave, but one is not certain that unbridled capitalism is the way to do that. The looming spectre of  AI replacing human labour as a factor of production has further added to the chorus denouncing capitalism as a dehumanising and even sinister force hell-bent upon lining the coffers of already very rich oligarchs and their cronies. With the failed experiments of communism as a cautionary tale about the danger of going in completely the opposite direction with regard to harnessing the resources of a nation for the greater good of its people, one is left at a crossroads, when it comes to choosing an economic system that keeps everyone happy.

To the credit of capitalism, the immense wealth and the generally high standard of living found in Western Europe, North America and elsewhere are the result of following unbridled capitalism. The bastion of communism, the Soviet Union and its allies in East Europe collapsed under the weight of their own contradictions. Fellow communist nation China was walking down the same course of self-destruction, until it changed course in the late 1970s and adopted capitalism lock, stock and barrel, heralding an unprecedented era of growth and wealth increase for the average Chinese.

Similarly in India, hundreds of millions of its people came out of extreme poverty for the first ever time on the back of big ticket reforms carried out in the 1990s that opened up the Indian economy to the world allowing it to finally step on the gas pedal, when it came to achieving fast paced economic growth.

As a matter of fact, wherever capitalism has been allowed to strike deep roots, it has transformed the economies and destinies of the people concerned. The most definitive proof of this lies in nations across the South East Asian region, especially in places like Singapore,Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is also true of other nations in the region like Malaysia, Thailand and even communist Vietnam.

Capitalism is a far from perfect system of bringing about economic growth and suffers from myriad ills that are well known and documented. These range from colonialism in the past and inequitable distribution of wealth to exploitation of peoples and environmental degradation in the present times.

Yet, it is the only system that has delivered. From lifting nations and peoples out of poverty to the funding and financing of education, healthcare, infrastructure, discoveries and inventions, there is much that has been the gift of capitalism to the world.

Does capitalism have a future?

Does the only system of economic growth and development which has been adopted to varying degrees by 70 to 80% of the world’s population have a future? One would imagine that it does.

Where capitalism went wrong was in the part where it allowed the profit motive to quite often disregard the moral and ethical bedrock that should define any model of economic enterprise. While it is similar to communism in that human follies that corrupt the system led to its assumed fall of grace, capitalism is not a basically untenable system like the latter is.

The ills of capitalism include the primary one of allowing certain groups to prosper at the cost of others which alienates the former leading to much resentment on their part. Often the ones who fall behind are the ones whose parents and grandparents had prospered under the capitalist system - the same system that was now promoting the rise of a new elite that possess the skills now in demand. The obvious case in point is the rise in demand for technology workers at the cost of traditional blue collar workers. This has led to the rise of right wing ultra nationalist governments across the world who pander to the fears of such people by putting in place protectionist trade policies that impede global trade and do more harm to the capitalist system, in turn exacerbating the problems of the very people who claim to have been left behind in the economic sweepstakes.

Currently, there is a tendency for nations of the world to enter into separate trade agreements with nations or blocs of nations, rather than continue within the existing global trade order which served the world so well in the years following the Second World War, right up to the present times. These populist measures ultimately don’t lead to any tenable solutions to what many, especially left leaning people believe are inherent flaws in capitalism. Whatever its flaws, reverting to failed communist and socialist economic models is undoubtedly worse than the temporary protectionist policies put in place by right wing demagogues. 

 The thing with capitalism is that it is anything, but a static process. If large numbers of people feel ill served by the existing trade arrangements of the world, there will be a reaction against it with old certainties being discarded and new ones inexorably taking their place. Right now the capitalist way of doing things is undergoing a flux, but it will find its new balance, like it always does.

The age of AI is changing the way that economic activity will take place in the times ahead with the nature of human labour as an important growth factor undergoing a profound change. There will be both immense challenges and equally immense opportunities presented to the nations of the world as it walks further down the path; yet it will undoubtedly be the capitalist way of doing things that will shine a light on the path ahead. For that has been the way of humans since the earliest times. It has always been capitalist trade carried out between nations and civilizations of the world that has shaped human destiny and will continue to do so.

Side gigs that Indians aged 60 and above can take up

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 Indians aged 60 and above need not contemplate a life of inactivity and declining economic opportunity as the twilight years begin to stretch ahead of them. To those who have just turned 60, a time when they are at their professional prime, and still physically capable of doing everything they did from when they were in their twenties right till the present time, the decades ahead might appear quite disconcerting.

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Yet, they are or at least can be on the cusp of the most fulfilling and satisfying time of their lives- both personally and professionally. With their children all grown up and settled, their loans repaid and their finances in top shape, they can for the first time in their lives prioritise themselves, with their no longer having to make sacrifices and delay gratification on account of familial reasons.

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Besides, age is literally a number these days, with many sixty-year-olds being fitter than those in their forties and even younger. The advent of the digital age has opened a world of opportunity, both from the point of view of leisure and work, for those just entering the world of seniors.

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This article concerns itself with the latter by listing out the side gigs that Indians aged 60 and above can take up to make a fair bit of money on the side in their golden years.

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1. Content Creation

People aged 60 and above can share a world of knowledge and insight about matters like finance, investment, travel, business ideas, philosophy, religion, raising children, managing relationships, buying and selling property, cuisine, fashion, and what have you. They can write blogs and books or come out with podcasts and YouTube videos about areas that interest them, hobbies they are passionate about and fields of expertise they specialise in, and create a lucrative income stream for themselves.

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2. Consultancy

People aged 60 and above have decades of experience behind them, which they can leverage by offering their unique expertise to businesses that can benefit from their deep insights. This can prove to be a very highly paying proposition, given that corporates are willing to pay very well for advice which helps them enhance their business prospects in a substantial fashion. Online platforms like Wisdom Circle, SCOPE (Senior Citizen Opportunities for Productive Engagement), and Flexing IT provide myriad consulting opportunities to senior professionals seeking consultancy projects and gigs.

​From finance & accounting and business & management to healthcare, technology & IT, and taxation, there are consulting opportunities galore for senior professionals aged 60 and above.

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3. Online Tutoring

Those with the requisite skills can go online and teach academic subjects or impart professional skills on platforms like Urban Pro, Chegg and Vedantu, making a fair amount of money in the process. What is great about this is the fact that it doesn’t require much by way of investment to get started.

​4. Creative Home-Based Businesses

If you are a senior with creative skills like painting, woodwork or carrying out other kinds of craftwork, you can both indulge in your passion and make money on the side by selling your work on sites like Facebook, Etsy India and Amazon Karigar.

​Another lucrative business opportunity lies in the home-cooked food space for those with a yen for cooking. Young  professionals across urban India are increasingly turning to home-cooked food tiffin services, instead of eating restaurant food, which is often quite unhealthy. Food delivery apps like Swiggy and Zomato can be tied up with through their home-chef arrangement to take care of the operations and business parts of this home-based setup.

​5. Tour Guide

India’s cities and towns are a treasure trove of history and culture. If you are a senior with intellectual inclinations and love the history and heritage of the city and town you live in, you could get yourself registered as a local guide and help conduct heritage walks or walking tours. This would help you get more intimately acquainted with the past of your city, as well as help others discover it. While keeping you occupied in an interesting avocation, it would also earn you a fair income.

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Conclusion

Indians who have made it to 60 are in a great position to embark on yet another successful innings in their lives, both personally and professionally. With longevity on the rise and the ability to live a fairly active life for at least another two decades, there is no reason why the years ahead cannot be the happiest and most fulfilling ever. The advent of the digital age has made it possible for seniors to both connect with the world at the click of a mouse and avail of a fairly large number of economic opportunities. Life at 60 and beyond was never better

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Consultancy in the time of AI

 

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

The all-consuming tidal wave of AI has impacted more professions than what one usually believes. Things like writing and coding are low-hanging fruit, which the AI juggernaut has apparently swallowed effortlessly, while other professions are on notice. From teachers and healthcare professionals to cab drivers and an increasingly large number of blue-collar workers, apparently, more and more working men and women fear for their jobs.

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In this article, we shall look at consultancy, the hitherto unassailable bastion of human intellectual ability, and how it is getting increasingly impacted by AI.  Over the years, their expertise enabled consultants to benefit from unbelievably fat consultancy fees calculated on a billable per-hour basis. The advent of AI, with its ability to both automate routine tasks and provide cutting-edge analysis as well as insights, has led to consultancy firms adopting a value-based work model that speaks to their customers’ needs in a much better manner than the traditional model. This is on account of faster and better deliveries at a much better cost.

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Wake-up call for the consultancy industry

The only thing that one can expect never to change is the fact that there will always be change. This is at the heart of the human conundrum of existence. Overnight, the much feted and eugelised consultants have woken up to the realisation that what they would take weeks to do can be rustled up by AI in minutes. Consequently, clients have begun to have higher expectations than before, with consultants scrambling to change the way that they provide value to clients. It is telling that an IBM report found out that 66% consultancy services buyers will not work with consulting organizations that do not deploy AI.

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What AI does is to make technology more accessible, empowering one to enhance business value in unprecedented ways. It helps create an ecosystem. The most sought-after consultants are those who can leverage AI to break down and resolve the most complex and knotty of problems extremely speedily and in the most optimal manner possible.

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The new age consultancy expert can no longer be a generalist relying on intuitive brilliance but, instead, be an empowered professional capable of delivering impactful solutions in real-time. With traditional expertise and core competencies becoming irrelevant, whole new delivery models that require consultants to become agents of AI-powered transformation need to be developed in order for the profession to survive and thrive.

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Businesses these days do not need to rely on the exclusive expertise of highly priced consultants, as they have unimpeded access to economically priced AI tools that help them conduct their businesses optimally. The reasons, therefore, for hiring the former have to be compelling ones. The principal challenge facing the consultancy profession lies in its ability to move from relying on formulaic expertise to dynamic and nimble AI-powered abilities.

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AI’s impact on consumer behaviour

 

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The time has come for one to seriously study the impact of AI on consumer behaviour in all its entirety. This is something which has been happening since much earlier than the much publicized launch and promotion of generative AI and has been exercising the minds of social scientists, marketers and indeed common people for a few years now.

The fact that we receive suggestions to buy goods and services in our social media feeds, as if somebody is cued into our thought process has caused anxiety amongst many for a few years now, as it seems to subvert free will itself.

Everything from e-commerce companies and social media platforms to streaming services deploys AI powered algorithms to get a handle on consumers’ buying and browsing behaviour. This makes it possible for them to come up with bespoke product and service offerings, in the process leading to supposedly optimal  shopping experiences resulting in enhanced consumer loyalty.

The concern with AI powered product and service recommendations is centered around the fact that these may lead to a subversion of the traditional way of arriving at consumption decisions. Instead of subliminally guiding consumers to decisions that best suit their interests, these may instead lead them to believe that the interests of businesses selling them products and services align with theirs.

With AI expected to become fully autonomous in the not so distant future, are we paying any attention to what kind of products and services it might decide to promote to unsuspecting and gullible consumers? Is there any guarantee that these will be in the best human interest? What if autonomous AI decides that serving the best human interests is not in its own best interest? Maybe that won't happen, but shouldn't we be guarding against such a possibility?

On the other hand businesses marketing their products and services have access to a surfeit of critical information collected by cutting edge tools that not only provide vital insights about their interests and needs, but also their vulnerabilities. Might they not exploit these and emotionally manipulate their consumers into making purchase decisions that are not in their best interests?

It is nobody’s case that AI be not used as an immensely enabling technology to further a business’s marketing prospects. What is instead required is to ensure that ethical AI be made non-negotiable for any entity seeking to use it to more efficiently market its offerings.

Businesses have to be made to mandatorily adhere to a code of ethics that ensures that they never indulge in any kind of unfair practices including discrimination, disrespect for consumer rights or any form of deception. The bottom line is that legal and moral standards are adhered to at any cost. There can be no scope for bias ,breach of trust of a compromise of confidential consumer information.

It is contingent upon marketers to use  AI tools of companies that adhere to the highest ethical standards. Building an ethical eco system for the deployment of AI in digital marketing has to be absolutely sacrosanct.