BangaloreKaapi

[bangalorekaapi]

There's No Tomorrow (Make sure you watch ALL of this video)

This is a long watch, but do watch it. Its illuminating, thought provoking, and sums things up really really well.

It must be screened at every school. They're the ones who'll have to face it. They're the ones who'll need to discard everything we've taught them to be true and right and relearn, rediscover, experiment. All the while burdened with a terrible terrible legacy that we would have left them with.

What education means, and should be about, will change a lot if more people connect these dots.

The energy, oil economy decided everything, and the monetary system that encouraged growth, has needed more and more and more of it. The bacteria-in-the-bottle analogy is chilling.

Growth (as currently pursued) indeed is a huge problem - its a brave thing to call that one out in the current madness for it as the panacea that can bring democracy, solve hunger, provide for all and solve anything at all. 

Alternative energy, conservation, recycling - these are all twigs we're trying to use to try and hold against the ground to stop the bus hurtling rapidly towards the cliff. Nothing will "solve" it unless we relook at - or are forced to relook at - how we continue to live, and how many of us do. 

Our lack of acknowledgement, our inability to understand and react appropriately to this fundamental truth is apalling, scary and frustrating. 

There's no way of continuing the current way we live and hope technology will solve it enough so we can get away without having to do anything.

Thankfully, the movie does suggest a few fixes, and they're all tough. I don't see many willing or able to adapt to live the better life, and we'll eventually do when forced to.

Question growth, globalization : they're pure bad as practised, NOT good.

Walk, cycle more since you'll have to. Drive less. Way lesser.

Buy less. Please. Everything,

Buy local, seasonal, unpackaged.

Fight fears and imagined inconveniences - the big ones haven't hit yet.

Doing "more physical work" is NOT a bad thing.

Get out of banking/globalized currency - its tough but make a start

A few ideas 

Potlucks to substitute restaurants

Barter skills and services

Co-operate for manpower needs, don't always buy it

Use everything longer

Optimize the hell out of everything

Slower, less commercial forms of entertainment

Grow some food

Learn more about the land, growing food, water

We've lost half the topsoil in the last couple of 100 years!

We've completely lost any understanding of the carrying capacity of a place

Learn more about building homes from stuff around you

Re-invest in community - time and effort, not money

The current financial economy and monetary system are indeed a ponzi scheme. Frustrating that we're so wedded to it and almost powerless to fiind a way out.

Sometimes I think our faith in technology is a mere betrayal of our conceit, but it might just be the stupid-filter masquerading as smartness and intelligence. Our total lack of ability to connect the dots is apalling.

Or maybe we're just too scared to ask questions, change lifestyles that deviate from the marketed/accepted status quo.

2048, I'd say, is the new doomsday. In less dramatic ways but figuratively, yes. I'll probably die before that but in a terrible state of mind.

We're soooooo screwed. Sorry, kids, that we couldn;t see this, couldn't behave ourselves and were too weak to improve things in the face of the instant pleasure.

[bangalorekaapi]

Moving (Again)

http://www.nextbigwhat.com/posterous-shut-down-297/

Given that Posterous will no longer be, decided to move this blog to:

http://zenxthinks.wordpress.com/

[bangalorekaapi]

Technology, Education, Innovation and All That

I was having a discussion, online, with someone who's opinions I have huge respect for.

It is sad that machines and automation are seen as a sign of indulgence or decadence. Machines are a great big social welfare mechanism. If machines are not used as tools, weaker or meeker people of society get used as tools. I'd rather have a society where people build machines which in turn work for the society, than people becoming machines or compromise on their individuality for the sake of survival.

It was a good point of view, one that viewed automation, technology as a deliverer of improved standards of living, democracy, equity. And yes, it can do all of that. But my instinct said that it could be used exactly in the opposite way as well, and much of industrial history has been about that!

Got me thinking.

If, in the last couple of centuries, innovations, education and technology have gotten us here, they must share the responsibility of our current state. Yes, they're all tools and finally what we do with the tools matters, but it remains true that certian tools have made certain behaviours easier.

We have more *things*. We have a better shot at fighting disease in a short term way. We're overall eating unhealthier food, and breathing worse air, and its likely have a much higher incidence of cancer and the like than earlier. Land, the oceans and fresh water sources are more polluted, and access to these is limited to way fewer than ever before. Monetary systems dictate the value of effort and produce, not represent them, and as a result, economic power has shifted and more and more have lesser and lesser time for everything, despite appliances which "save time". Something's not right.

I believe that the "why" and "what" of education needs a massive overhaul, but for now will restrict myself to technology.

Technology does liberate the individual. But I suspect this is truer in regions of low population density and attendant prosperity and plentifulness - where freeing up one's time/effort enables more production and pursuit of higher level goals and desires. In a high population density area, it becomes a tool in the hands of those who have access to capital and technology, and exploitation follows. Case in point - the workers in manufacturing are more educated and skilled today than a couple of decades ago, but relatively make much lesser because organizations have used automation to not only reduce the overall need for humans, but use it as a bargaining tool as well. There's no "fair".

Technology also dumbs down the workforce, moves innovation and "research" into labs and organized pusuit of the same. As an example, farming was very human dependent and there was a continuous effort in improving techniques, experimentation that varied with geography, crops, changing weather patterns and farmers not only built up knowledge, but continuously added to it. The same went for farmer driven seed improvement. The knowledge was owned by the community, and evolved all the time. 

Machines and technology, from the user's pov, "freeze" knowledge at a specific level at a specific time. The next iteration/improvement then needs to come from "the lab" (Monsanto's seeds are a good example). Farming thus becomes more menial and we start justifying lower and lower returns because its not a "knowledge enabled industry". 

(I just got back from a village where everyone has a job and very fertile fields next to a river lie untilled.)

Its not that technology, or education itself is to blame. Its what we do with it, and use it for. But its undeniable that overall, its not necessarily been a positive force. Its moved value to a few, reduced practical innovation, helped the same few control the innovation and over-exploit a few resources to their advantage. We need a serious rethink of all these for a more sustainable, a more holistic and fundamentally democratic, equitable and stable society. 

This ain't really working too well.

[bangalorekaapi]

More of What?

18 hours a day are no more enough

You wish you had twenty eight.

Two hands seem like a limitation.

  Four consecutive years of growth

And comfort beyond your 22-year old dreams

At 40 is a mere stepping stone 

To bigger things

  More?

Of the same?

That could take care of 15 of you and never needs to?

  Or of time?

And of sane lives and happy faces around you.

That you might have not caused, but did not disrupt either?

  Of little important things

That make your live your debt to the future a little

Not just in preparation of securing it against unknown yet terrible fears?

  Of unimportant meetings

Of unproductive investments into unfocused relationships with random people

That in the end count not because they work out for you

But because they happened.

  Maybe you have a meaning, or a purpose

Maybe you don't

  But just the chasing of 

The next adjective, noun that starts to own you and the meaning

Because it appreared on the horizon

And took complete control of you

  Is that it?

[bangalorekaapi]

Endgame

Each time your real estate yields more, or a technology investment helps cut costs, or you figure out an alternative source to source cheaper, remember its very often a win-lose game, and you're standing a little taller on someone's shoulders.

Keep in mind the reason the entire cycle of economy works (should work?) within the scope of society. Its aim was never to maximize a few variables for a few, but provide a good distribution across multiple variables for many.

The store next door shut because it couldn't afford the rentals anymore, not because it ran out of customers. Another store that had employed 7 earlier now makes do with 3, and worse service, again thanks to rentals. A whole set of professions suffers despite better education, skills, productivity, service levels, more demand because there's automation and laxer rules to keep profitability high for industry to maximize return on capital.

Some might say I'm turning socialist in thought, but its merely a reaction. And ironically, its happening as I get more into business.

[bangalorekaapi]

Trust

I act differently

React too

Think, decide, explain.

Speak, perceive, analyze.

Eat, pray, work.

Chase, relax, succumb.

All differently.

From you.

Don't judge me for it.

Don't suspect.

Don't question intentions and motivations.

Trust, instead.

And speak with the faith in your voice. Freely.

That's the only way forward.

[bangalorekaapi]

Developed

Poisoned air

Food

Rivers, lakes, wells

(Perhaps even dried)

Poisoned lives

And minds

Time traded in

And so smiles

Simplicity and faith

And connections

With all and things around

For a little money

The idea of safety and security

Within suspicious walls and fences

Which multiply fear

  Behold

Progress, development and prosperity abound.

  The inspiration for this one: Where do you draw the line?

[bangalorekaapi]

How To Look At Travel

a step from youa step from meand we'll make it a dance.

a smile cherishedsome notes exchangedfriendships forged in a glance.

the new exploredthe old adored

time brings with it that chance

a question answered answers questioned as you slip into a trance

Wrote this for Linger - thats what we hope people do when they come over.

[bangalorekaapi]

Desirable?

More pucca/concrete houses

More trinkets, trifles, gadgets changed more often?

More people flying?

More energy?

More people living longer and longer?

More having "everything" thats aspirational?

More stores with more products in more places?

More productivity and efficiency?

More of us?

More money and more again?

  Are these as black/white as they seem on the surface?

[bangalorekaapi]

On the Ethical Scale

Adding fake costs in a large infrastructure project.

Recommending unneeded tests and surgery to patients who just need medication.

Tricking the customer into buying that extra cheese slice with the burger with a "Do you want one slice or two?"

Operating on people for frivolous reasons and steaing their kidneys.

Cartelizing to jack up prices for whatever you are selling.

Throwing the rule book and patents to be able to sell your drugs at 5x the cost.

Bloating a T&M project estimate from 3 weeks to 3 months.

Hidden charges with this, that and everything else.

Moving in to make money off reconstructing a country you helped/caused bombed to smithereens.

  Its all the same, no? 

[bangalorekaapi]

What Happens Then?

Slow and steady

or perhaps

Fast and nimble

Laser sharp focused

Disciplined, efficient

  What is this finish line you're trying to get to?

What happens once you get there?

[bangalorekaapi]

I'm Ready To Join Politics

Its true that change is best brought around from the inside. And India, culturally, is not given to revolution but to evolution - and thats a good thing.

But I need a political outfit that can promise me the following:

The right to speak my mind. Especially when I disagree with them.

An RTI like policy that the outfit responds quickly and transparently to - no fine print - whenever a member or any citizen asks a question. Add a 100/- donation to the party if you feel like with the form.

A career ladder, including a decent growth path, for careerist politicians. Well laid out and transparent.

Transparent sources of funding, audited accounts.

One person one post.

Publicly shared constitution, auditable mechanisms and processes for citizen involvement, decision making and supporting/opposing policies or legislation based on issues.

Openly decided/debated list of candidates with internal elections, representation and debates. Details of decision making available through the RTI like mechanism above.

Every candidate/office bearer/party member should respond to queries about personal assets, stand on issues etc if asked, esp through the RTI like mechanism.

And then, sure - count me in!

[bangalorekaapi]

Afraid To Lose

Our generation's version of Martin Niemöller's "First they came for the Socialists..." will be something like :

"I was too afraid to lose what I had - so I first lost my spine, then my sense of community, them I lost my voice, my eyesight, next my sense of right and wrong, and eventually my dignity and honour, and I had nothing left to lose at all"

[bangalorekaapi]

Viewpoints : Crises or Crying Wolf?

There's 2 or 3 sides to the world now. 

One set's enjoying the orchestra of the numerous fiddles hired, well paid Neros are playing on an exquisitely crafted stage (to be followed with a master-chef prepared multi course dinner). They tolerate little argument or interference that breaks this engrossing, rapturous music and do everything in their power to try and make sure it continues - forever.

  The other is a set that is not inside those concert or dining halls - for reasons as varied as opportunity, ability, circumstances, or a mere continuing of whatever they were doing earlier. Many of these end up supporting the wheels that keep the concerts running, without necessarily even knowing about them. Change has already happened to these, in the other direction - and they're paying the price already.

  Then there's those who see bigger change coming, or even here, and cannot ignore it. Often they could just switch off and get into the concert, but cannot. They're trying to build lifeboats, and arks, and grow food in a pot, and grab electricity from the wind and sun and everything. Everything as it is seems wrong, worrying and worth questioning. The future is unknown but the present is certainly not pleasant. They see what's happening with the second set, the power that the first set possess but refuse to use, and worry even more.

  Perhaps it always was like this. But the tension seems pretty heightened right now.

[bangalorekaapi]

Rethinking Growth : The Curse of the Large Corp

Had wondered about what "Growth" has come to mean. 

  Since then - have read more about this. Chilean economist wonders whats gone wrong with it - and even why growth is a goal and not development.

    Someone then shared the following infographics about how a handful of corporations consume most of what we consume - from http://frugaldad.com/2011/11/22/media-consolidation-infographic/) Dug a little more and here's more worrying stuff about their control over most of world food production and consumption as well.

  It popped the question on its own - is the whole idea of the large corporation at the root of a lot of problems we face today? This is not a tirade against free markets. In fact  much freer markets can exist with smaller companies, retail etc. 

  The smaller guy is more connected to the economy around him, to the people working for them. The smaller guy spends locally, and there's less "accumulation" of wealth which then gets more and more abstracted. There's more churn in players, and there's less of a need for 30% y-o-y growth which needs comparable growth in consumption, whether or not people at the other end really need it and totally not clued in to whether we can collectively afford it in terns of depletion of natural resources, pollution and social activity, welfare.

  The large corporation is a being in its own right and does not relate to any for of humanity - or human needs. Its needs start to supercede everything else - and as long as its "legal" in a given context, its done. Social, moral, ethical questions are frequently suppressed for "shareholder value" (sounds very much like various other justifictions other extreme "isms" have forwarded for their actions over the centuries). It tends to appeal to the carnal, the base and the common denominator, because it needs scale and the easier path to profitability in the shortest time.

  The smaller guy, the individual and the locally connected business has to factor in variables other than "shareholder value" into their choices. Their personal likes/dislikes, "what will people say", "is it good for the community" are all part of the landscape. Yes, those are "limitations" too - but hey - we're people with lives, not producers and consumers alone.

  Its a question which is growing more significant in my head, at least, with each passing day. And I daresay the answer is moving towards the black and white from the earlier greys when I was "with it".

[bangalorekaapi]

We, The Corrupt

We're repulsed by the numbers from the 2G scam, from CWG, by what Bangaru Laxman did, and whats been happening with mining, land allocation, tribal "resettlement" etc across states.

  Should we be? 

  Some of the HR teams at some MNCs and other large organizations have a pretty sullied image amongst techies. There's nepotism, and money changes hands on a regular basis for recruitment services. 

  I have seen - first hand - a demand for a "cut" for a deal from a startup by a senior executive of a telecom outfit. Sales is full of such stories.

  Land deals for big corporates are opportunities to make money directly and indirectly - just like it happens at the level of the government of the state when deciding on infrastructure projects. Many an employee in admin has been known to build a huge house soon after a big deal.

  Doctors approving/recommending clinical trials at the behest of drug companies was big news in today's papers. And Aamir Khan revived the discussion around their culpability in sex determination and illegal foetus termination on the TV recently.

  These are folks amongst and around us. Rich, well off folks. 

  Someone in the extended family has been facing tons of issues at work because they refuse to "fit in" at an quasi-government hospital - every little opportunity to make money is exploited. Someone else I know was brought in to fix large-scale corruption issues at one of the companies of a very well respected (for its ethics!) business house we all know of.

  And we take umbrage at the bus conductor - a comparitively very poor bloke - making 2/- off a ticket. 

  A couple of generations ago - it did exist then too (though perhaps on a much smaller scale) - it was not acceptable socially to be known to have such sources of income. Folks would resign, and retire from society, perhaps in shame. Today, thats almost turned into pride, if not something to gloat about.

  Has is just become part of our ecnomically-motivated-all-else-be-damned fabric? Is is just about opportunity and the risk of getting caught? Are we all funadamentally too weak when face to face with the little packet of cash that'll get us our iPad or new phone or this or that?

  I fear the answer is not nice one. I fear what we see in the politician and big deals he does is a mere reflection of who we've become fundamentally. Grab-when-possible is our mantra. Damn what its doing to us, and damn the long run. 

  If we really ever want to fix this, we have to change. We have to stop respecting money irrespective of its hue and colour. We have to also respect efforts that do not yield hard cash. We have to make things other than a big bank balance cool, acceptable and a desirable goal again. We have to make get-rich-soon socially undesirble - as long as thats ok morality will be bent. We have to make morality itself cool again - its an often-mocked notion right now.

  Stricter rules won't cut it unless we fundamentally find it reprehensible, and are unable to look at ourselves in the mirror if we sway. Today, we almost admire it and the outcry is almost merely - well - envy.

  Addendum : Look what i found! unka corruption corruption, aur hama "adjustment"?

[bangalorekaapi]

Priorities

A pal of mine in a very senior position recently decided that work was sucking too much out of him, and decided to (at least) take a sabbatical and spent time with the family. He put in his papers last week.

  Guess what the reaction of his boss - the guy who heads the company was?

  Instill fear - "How will you manage your cashflows after a couple of months?"

I don't know how to put this - "You can at most spend 5-10 minutes with the family. What'll you do for the rest of the day?"

  Questions about one's own health, interests, growth as a human being etc never entered the conversation.

  My friend works at a staffing/outsourced HR outfit. And his boss used to head HR at an MNC earlier!!

  There is a lot of sickness in what we call our "workplace". Its certainly not a healthy place anymore. There's too much money, too much greed, and too much emphasis on grabbing more and fear of not being able to.

  Thankfully, the conversation hammered home this truth in my friend's head. "The whole 'quality time' crap is a corporate invention, Sameer", he says. "Bulls**t, you just need to spend time - yes - quantity - with your family, near and dear ones, friends."

  True. Which do we do for which?