Look Both Ways, Leap

[gopalmiglani]

What Makes America Great

No other country has Bill of Rights like the United States. This is not to say that the US is perfect. In fact, its founders said that perfection is an ideal to strive for – a more perfect union.

We are a nation where slavery was legal until 1865. We did not allow women to vote until 1920. We are still struggling with the freedoms of expression and religion that are guaranteed by the first, ninth and tenth amendments.

The first amendment guarantees the freedom of religion and speech. The ninth amendment states that the listing of individual rights is not exhaustive, and any rights not enumerated are retained by the individual.

The tenth amendment states that any powers not delegated to the federal government are retained by the states and the people. 

In particular, the anti-abortion movement runs counter to the freedom of religion because the belief that life begins at conception is grounded in a particular Christian view, even though this is not explicitly stated in the Bible. This interpretation is based on two passages that are ambiguous at best – Psalm 139:13-16 and Jeremiah 1:5. Forcing a ban on abortion takes away the religious freedom of people who do not share this belief, and particularly the religious freedom of non-Christians. 

Even more fundamental to what makes America great is the freedom of ideas and expression these are not enumerated in the constitution but guaranteed by the ninth and tenth amendments. The freedom to imagine and believe in what one chooses is fundamental to a free society and leads to new inventions and improvements in all lives. These freedoms allow us to read any book, live any lifestyle, and explore any ideology as long as we are not harming anyone else.

ps: The cover image is from the playbill for "Velour - A Drag Spectacular", running at the La Jolla Playhouse during September 2024. Don't miss it. I think that it is headed for Broadway. Currently, two states have made drag performances illegal and four more have passed adult laws that could be interpreted to make drag shows illegal. What are these people afraid of? Ideas? Freedom of expression?

[gopalmiglani]

Photographs sourced from Wikipedia. K. Asif and a poster for the Mughal-e-Azam Musical.

Mughal-e-Azam and Shakespeare

This past weekend we saw the musical production “Mughal-e-Azam”. This is a work from our parent’s generation, and I had not paid much attention to it until now. However, at my current age, I saw it in a different light and was deeply moved by it. Given that our daughter has a keen interest in Shakespeare, and we have seen several of the playwright’s works, I was drawn to examine the possible parallels. Asif’s use of a live person instead of a sculpture, not unlike in A Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare was a tip off.

This being 2023, I asked ChatGPT three questions:

What are the parallels between Shakespeare and K. Asif's works?

Which Shakespeare plays drew upon previous monarchs from history?

Are there any parallels between Mughal-e-Azam and the works of William Shakespeare?

To be honest, I asked these questions in reverse order and each answer led me to the next question.

Finally, I asked a fourth question that our daughter suggested – “What was K. Asif's inspiration for Mughal-e-Azam?”. Surprisingly, this last question did not turn up any reference to Shakespeare.

See the verbatim Q&A with ChatGPT below.

What are the parallels between Shakespeare and K. Asif's works?

While William Shakespeare and K. Asif belong to different eras and cultural contexts (Shakespeare being a renowned playwright from Elizabethan England and K. Asif being a celebrated filmmaker from India), there are some thematic and narrative parallels that can be drawn between their works, particularly in the case of K. Asif's magnum opus "Mughal-e-Azam." Here are a few parallels:

Tragic Love Stories: Both Shakespeare and "Mughal-e-Azam" explore themes of love, passion, and tragedy. Many of Shakespeare's plays, such as "Romeo and Juliet" and "Othello," delve into the complexities of love that lead to tragic outcomes. Similarly, "Mughal-e-Azam" presents a poignant tale of forbidden love between Prince Salim and Anarkali, culminating in a tragic ending.

Parental Opposition: In both Shakespeare's plays and "Mughal-e-Azam," parental opposition to romantic relationships is a significant theme. Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" features the feuding families of Montague and Capulet, while in "Mughal-e-Azam," Emperor Akbar opposes the love between Prince Salim and Anarkali due to societal and class differences.

Conflict between Duty and Desire: Both Shakespeare and "Mughal-e-Azam" explore the conflict between personal desires and societal duties. Characters in Shakespeare's plays often grapple with the clash between their passions and the expectations of their roles. Similarly, in "Mughal-e-Azam," Prince Salim faces the dilemma of choosing between his love for Anarkali and his responsibilities as a prince.

Complex Characters: Both Shakespeare and "Mughal-e-Azam" create multidimensional characters with intricate motivations. Shakespeare's characters are known for their psychological depth and internal struggles. Similarly, characters like Prince Salim and Anarkali in "Mughal-e-Azam" are portrayed with emotional complexity and inner turmoil.

Power and Authority: Shakespeare often explored themes of power, ambition, and the consequences of leadership. In "Mughal-e-Azam," the portrayal of Emperor Akbar's rule and his decisions reflects similar themes of power dynamics within a royal court.

Timeless Themes: Both Shakespeare's plays and "Mughal-e-Azam" address universal themes that transcend time and cultural boundaries. Love, jealousy, loyalty, and the human condition are explored in ways that continue to resonate with audiences across different eras and regions.

While the historical and cultural contexts of Shakespeare's works and "Mughal-e-Azam" are distinct, the exploration of human emotions and relationships forms a common thread that allows us to draw parallels between their narratives.

Which Shakespeare plays drew upon previous Monarchs from history?

William Shakespeare drew upon previous monarchs from history for several of his plays. Some of his historical plays are centered around actual historical figures and events, including monarchs and rulers. Here are a few examples:

"Richard II": This play focuses on the reign and downfall of King Richard II of England. The play explores themes of power, legitimacy, and the consequences of weak leadership. Richard II was a historical monarch who ruled from 1377 to 1399.

"Henry IV, Part 1" and "Henry IV, Part 2": These two plays are centered around the reign of King Henry IV of England. They depict the challenges and conflicts faced by Henry IV, including his strained relationship with his son, Prince Hal, who later becomes King Henry V.

"Henry V": This play continues the story of King Henry V, portraying his campaigns in France, including the famous Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. It emphasizes leadership, patriotism, and the complexities of ruling.

"Henry VI, Part 1," "Henry VI, Part 2," and "Henry VI, Part 3": These plays are part of the Wars of the Roses historical series and focus on the tumultuous reign of King Henry VI of England. They delve into the Wars of the Roses, a series of conflicts for the English crown between the houses of Lancaster and York.

"Richard III": This play follows the rise and fall of King Richard III of England, a controversial figure known for his role in the Wars of the Roses. It portrays Richard's ruthless pursuit of power and his ultimate downfall.

"Macbeth": While not a historical play in the same vein as the others mentioned, "Macbeth" is loosely based on the historical figure Macbeth, a Scottish king who ruled in the 11th century. Shakespeare adapted this history into a dramatic tragedy, exploring themes of ambition, guilt, and the corrupting influence of power.

These historical plays by Shakespeare often blended historical facts with artistic liberties for dramatic effect. They explore political intrigue, personal motivations, and the complexities of leadership through the lens of historical monarchs and rulers.

Are there any parallels between Mughal-e-Azam and the works of William Shakespeare?

Yes, there are parallels between the Bollywood film "Mughal-e-Azam" and the works of William Shakespeare, particularly his play "Romeo and Juliet." "Mughal-e-Azam," directed by K. Asif and released in 1960, is a classic Indian film that draws inspiration from the tragic love story of "Romeo and Juliet," a play written by William Shakespeare. Here are some of the parallels between the two:

Forbidden Love: Both "Mughal-e-Azam" and "Romeo and Juliet" revolve around the theme of forbidden love. In "Mughal-e-Azam," the central characters, Prince Salim (Jahangir) and Anarkali, fall in love despite societal and familial opposition. Similarly, in "Romeo and Juliet," the titular characters belong to feuding families (the Montagues and Capulets) and their love is forbidden due to this enmity.

Parental Opposition: In both stories, parental opposition plays a significant role in the conflict. In "Mughal-e-Azam," Emperor Akbar opposes the relationship between Prince Salim and Anarkali due to their differing social statuses. In "Romeo and Juliet," the families of Romeo and Juliet vehemently oppose their love because of the ongoing feud.

Tragic Endings: Both narratives end tragically. In "Mughal-e-Azam," Anarkali is sentenced to death by being entombed alive, and Prince Salim is heartbroken. In "Romeo and Juliet," the young lovers, unable to be together due to the circumstances, ultimately choose to die in each other's arms.

Love's Intensity: Both stories emphasize the intensity and purity of the love between the main characters. Their love transcends societal norms, family expectations, and even life itself.

Dramatic Elements: Both "Mughal-e-Azam" and "Romeo and Juliet" contain dramatic elements, including palace intrigues, emotional conflicts, and high-stakes decisions. These elements contribute to the emotional impact of the stories.

Cultural and Contextual Adaptations: "Mughal-e-Azam" adapts the basic love story of "Romeo and Juliet" to an Indian historical and cultural context, incorporating elements of Mughal royalty and courtly life. This adaptation adds a unique flavor while retaining the essence of the original tragic love story.

While "Mughal-e-Azam" draws inspiration from "Romeo and Juliet," it also incorporates its own cultural nuances and artistic expressions. This interplay between Shakespearean themes and Indian storytelling is a testament to the universality of love and tragedy across different cultures and time periods.

What was K. Asif's inspiration for Mughal-e-Azam?

K. Asif's inspiration for the iconic Bollywood film "Mughal-e-Azam" was rooted in his fascination with historical stories, grandeur, and the desire to create a cinematic masterpiece. The film's development took several years, and it was ultimately released in 1960. Asif drew inspiration from historical accounts, legends, and his passion for storytelling. The film's inspiration can be attributed to several factors:

Historical Interest: K. Asif had a deep interest in history and historical narratives. He was intrigued by the rich history of the Mughal era in India, which encompassed royal intrigues, love stories, and grand palaces.

Grandeur and Spectacle: Asif was known for his aspiration to create a grand and opulent film that would captivate audiences with its visual and emotional impact. "Mughal-e-Azam" was a testament to his dedication to creating a cinematic spectacle.

Legendary Romance: The legendary love story of Prince Salim (who later became Emperor Jahangir) and Anarkali was a popular tale in Mughal history and folklore. Asif was drawn to the tragic and forbidden love between a prince and a court dancer.

Historical Research: Asif conducted extensive research into the Mughal period, drawing from historical sources and accounts to craft an authentic backdrop for the film's narrative.

Desire for Excellence: Asif was committed to excellence in filmmaking. He wanted to bring a larger-than-life vision to the screen and showcase the grandeur of the Mughal court.

Artistic Vision: Asif envisioned "Mughal-e-Azam" as an epic that combined historical accuracy with artistic expression. He aimed to create an immersive experience that transported audiences to the Mughal era.

The making of "Mughal-e-Azam" was marked by its challenges and complexities, including the use of technology to create colorized versions of black-and-white footage and the meticulous attention to detail in costumes, sets, and music. The film's enduring legacy lies in its blend of historical drama, romance, and visual spectacle, all of which were deeply rooted in K. Asif's artistic vision and dedication to his craft.

[gopalmiglani]

Artificial God not Artificial Intelligence

Image copyright Microsoft

Intelligence is a trait found in humans and other living creatures. Intelligence is based on using limited energy (limited caloric diet), limited computing power (brain to body mass ratio), and limited knowledge to solve complex problems. Intelligence of a species is further enhanced by social collaboration and competition. Most living things can only collaborate and compete with other beings whom they can see or cohabit with. Only Homo Sapiens can collaborate and compete with other humans, whom they have never met, based on shared or competing belief systems. These belief systems, like religion, money, humanism, politics, etc., are malleable.

Today, what is being called artificial intelligence is based on access to unlimited computing power, an undefined brain to body mass ratio, and with access to unlimited knowledge. This, so called, artificial intelligence, is being used to create just a few all-knowing entities that are unlike anything that is human or living. There are a few such entities owned and controlled by a few large organizations like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. and perhaps a few governments. This feels more like the dawn of religion when each tribe had its own god.

Let’s just call this Artificial God, not AI. Since this AG does not understand the concept of a malleable belief system it cannot compete and collaborate with peer entities. It is not even aware of other such entities. That brings us to the next big problem with AG. It lacks awareness.

Awareness is a trait found in all living creatures. Let’s just focus on humans for now. A recent article in the New York Times questioned whether intelligence could exist without a body that can touch, taste, smell, hear and see. Awareness goes beyond just these five senses. In addition to processing sensory inputs our brain must also process five core emotions with its limited computing power. These are joy, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger. What makes us human is that we have a fixed amount of computing power and when our brain gets too much stimulus from any of these five sensations or five emotions its judgment gets clouded, and it can’t function properly. It needs to rest or reset. This is why we make poor choices when we are in pain or love or sleep deprived or subjected to too much noise or saturated with other inputs or emotions.

Artificial God is a machine that will replace human burden. It will disrupt lives and economies and reorder society. But, it will not replace humans. The central question that Yuval Harari asks in his two books, Sapiens and Homo Deus, remains open. Will the human species become subservient to machines that will procreate on their own and eventually replace humans? Or, will humans incorporate artificial god capabilities into themselves and evolve into a super race of humanoids?

[gopalmiglani]

Why a 300 Mile Range EV is Just Enough

This piece is a rebuttal to an opinion essay published in today's New York Times, by Edward Niedermeyer, titled “You Want an Electric Car With a 300-Mile Range? When Was the Last Time You Drove 300 Miles?” See this link.

I have owned an EV for five years and driven it 65,000 miles. Here are four reasons why a 300-mile range is just adequate.

For optimal life, EV batteries are charged to 80% and should not be discharged below 20%. That drops the effective range of a 300-mile EV to 180 miles.

You need 20% spare battery in case of an emergency like finding a charger.

Actual range is 85% of published range because the published range is calculated under ideal driving conditions. And, why buy an EV if you're not going to floor it once in a while just to feel some Gs? That drops the real range to 153 miles.

My EV battery’s capacity has dropped by 8% over 65,000 miles. An IEEE paper I read in 2017 before purchasing my EV showed that after driving 500,000 miles one could expect a 20% drop in charging capacity. If I had started with a 300-mile EV in 2017, its effective range today would be 133 miles unless I charged it to 100% before a long trip. In which case the range would be 188 miles.

If you go with Mr. Niedermeyer's recommendation of a 150 mile range car, you're looking at a daily use range of 67 miles, a long-trip range of 94 miles and a lot more range anxiety.

[gopalmiglani]

Gas is 59 Cents per Gallon

If you are tired of high gas prices, get an electric car. I drive a Tesla Model X and am paying the equivalent of 59 cents/gallon for gas. Check my math below and put down that deposit for your favorite EV.

My car has a 75 KWh battery.

A car battery’s charging efficiency is between 80 and 89.5%. I used a figure of 85%. It takes 75/0.85 KWh, or 88 KWh, to fully charge the car’s battery. 

The electric company charges me 9 cents/KWh to charge the car at night.

It costs me 88 KWh times $0.09, or $7.94, to “fill up” my car.

My car’s published range is 237 miles, but I actually get 201 miles. Or, about 85% of the published range.

Let’s assume that an equivalent gas burning SUV that can seat 7 people and weighs 6,500 pounds will get a mileage of 15 mpg. I think that I am being too generous and overlooking the fact that the gas SUV will never go from zero to 60 in 4 seconds. 

At 15 mpg, the gas SUV will consume 13.4 gallons of gas to go 201 miles. That is, 201 miles divided by 15 mpg.

Since I am paying $7.94 to go the same 201 miles, my equivalent cost of gas is $7.94 divided by 13.4 gallons. Or 59 cents per gallon.

If you’re paying more than 59 cents per gallon at the pump, consider putting down a deposit for an EV. 

If you have read this far, click this link to check my math. It’s a read-only Excel file. Ignore the numbers for the Model 3, I am still working on those. Not sure why the Model 3 appears to be more expensive to operate than the Model X. All input and comments are welcome.

[gopalmiglani]

ATSC 3.0 - Scaling Up to Millions of Devices

One of the keys to scaling up ATSC 3.0 receiver deployments is building a robust and scalable software update infrastructure. BitRouter’s ATSC 1.0 stack was deployed in over 30 million receivers. But, 15 years ago, these were all one-way receivers that usually never required software updates. Times have changed, but we aim to exceed our ATSC 1.0 success. They key is a robust software update infrastructure.

With our Dihedral software release, we have added the ability to regularly update the ATSC3pak software in receivers. We have built an AWS hosted server infrastructure to not only check and update each receiver but to also track detail logs and diagnostics from each receiver.

Signal Strength Visualization – Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to see whether you’re getting a strong signal when you tune to a channel, or when you pull up the program info bar? We have added that. We will also be adding other characteristics like 4K, HDR and Dolby® AC4 status to the program info bar.

Additive Channel Scan – If you’re a terrestrial power user, you know that not all stations can be received with the same antenna orientation. We added the ability to perform additive channel scans without losing your previously acquired channel map.

ATSC 3.0 visualization in Grid Guide – Wouldn’t it be nice to know which stations are broadcasting an ATSC 3.0 signal? We added that to the grid guide. ATSC3 stations will show a distinctive watermark of blue and purple arcs.

Hide Unwanted Channels – Want to see only your favorite channels? We added the ability to hide unwanted channels.

These updates will also start appearing in receivers made by our licensees like ZapperBox. Look out for all the other exciting ATSC 3.0 features coming out soon via software updates. The first one will be EIA-608 and EIA-708 captions for ATSC 1.0 in the November 2020 time frame.

See https://bitrouter.com/products/atsc3pro/ for a list of future features that we’re working on. All brought to you thanks to our software update infrastructure.

[gopalmiglani]

ATSC 3.0 - Coming Full Circle

Around 20 years ago, Dr. Paul Freeman and our team implemented the software protocols required to develop an ATSC 1.0 TV receiver. We called the product s8prose and licensed it to TV manufacturers like Zenith Electronics and Toshiba America. We partnered with Dr. SangHoon Choi’s company ReYang Systems and built a turnkey hardware/software solution that is shown in the photograph above. In 1998, with the help of Bill Zou, we licensed this turnkey design to companies in China.

Recently, while going through old stuff in my office I came across that old board. Complete with “ReYang Systems/SoftProse and s8prose RefPak” printed across the bottom. It’s a 5-chip beauty with an Intel StrongARM CPU, LG demod, VLSI demux and ST Micro audio decoder. We even built a 32Mbyte Flash based video server right onto the development board.

The board’s discovery is timely because the industry is now building ATSC 3.0, the successor to ATSC 1.0 that has served us well for the past couple decades and will continue to do so at least for another decade. ATSC 3.0 will offer many advantages:

An ultra-high definition picture with 8 million pixels

Much richer colors and much lower energy consumption with HDR technology

Higher revenues for broadcasters with targeted advertising

A seamless transition between broadcast and streaming content. If you like a show you’re watching you can immediately watch previous episodes ,or the entire series, over the Internet.

TV broadcasts to mobile devices

TV reception within the home over Wi-Fi

Our company is once again building a complete software product called ATSC3pak that will implement all the software required for an ATSC 3.0 TV receiver. We feel that our company is uniquely positioned to provide a hybrid ATSC 1.0 + ATSC 3.0 TV receiver that will bridge this period when both transmission standards must coexist. We also claim the bragging rights for around 30 million ATSC 1.0 TV receivers shipped with our software in brands like Zenith, Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, RCA and Sharp.

The question I ask myself is whether, once again, we can build a ready to manufacture hardware/software design that we can license to OEMs and manufacturers? At this time, we have everything except a production ready demodulator. 2018 will tell if our small company can indeed come full circle and offer a turnkey design for an ATSC 3.0 TV receiver.

[gopalmiglani]

On-Shoring - Saving Companies from the Captains of Industry

I came to the United States in 1985, with a degree in Electrical Engineering from India, to study Computer Science. I graduated with a master’s degree in Computer Science, from Iowa State University, got a job as a programmer and started learning about corporate America. Ronald Reagan was in the White House; the Soviet Union was about to collapse and American technology was the envy of the world.

Though, I did not realize it at the time, a cancer had started eating away at America’s technical supremacy. It was called off-shoring. Technology had started eroding cost barriers to computing and communication. Two thousand dollars could buy an 8MHz computer in 1980, today it buys a supercomputer. In 1985, during peak hours a one-minute call to India used to cost three dollars. Today it is free. With these falling costs companies could tap into the vast human potential in developing nations.

During the Clinton and Greenspan years the US thought that it could maintain its industrial supremacy by keeping design and innovation in the US. After all, the Indians and Chinese were only doing repetitive tasks at below minimum wage. The real creative design work and high paying jobs were still in the US and there was room to boost corporate profits and perceived productivity by sending low wage jobs overseas. I remember listening to Robert Reich, President Clinton’s Secretary of Labor from 1993-97, on public radio expounding that the key to ensuring a bright future for our kids was that they should be able to manipulate “abstract knowledge”. This would involve being good at concepts like design and the arts. The Indians can run back-office operations and call centers and the Chinese can manufacture. But the high paying, creative, jobs would always be in the US.

This proved to be mistake for three reasons:  First, it allowed India and China to accumulate a trade surplus and grow their own GDP at a fairly fast rate. They invested in better factories and more technical institutes.

Second, the notion that an economy can survive on the basis of design and services alone proved to be wrong. An economy is vast interconnected ecosystem. When one industry dies, it has consequences across the entire ecosystem. If you remove manufacturing, other sectors of the economy suffer.

Take an example from my industry – consumer electronics. My company writes software for consumer electronics. I have seen firsthand how this ecosystem works. Silicon chip companies design chips, a silicon foundry manufactures the chips, a circuit board design company designs circuit boards that use silicon chips, a software company writes the software that drives the user experience, a plastics design company designs the housing, a manufacturing company builds the plastic housing and electronic boards, a testing company tests the entire product and makes sure it complies with the design and regulatory specifications.

In this ecosystem, manufacturing is the easiest to offshore. First, we sent the plastic and board manufacturing to China. Next the product testing was sent to India. These overseas companies doing the manufacturing and testing were not content with doing just that. They soon expanded into design services. After all, a lot of the Asian companies are run by people who graduated from Western universities.

This brings me to the third reason why the “off-shoring is okay” premise is wrong. And, that is “Western Education, based on the Socratic method of teaching”. This is the true Jewel of the West that teaches us to question everything. It is the reason I bought a one-way ticket to the US. It is the beacon lit in ancient Greece and kept alive through the ages by the Romans, the Catholic Church, the Protestant Churches, Europe and finally the US. The East does not have this. Eastern education is based on respect of the teacher, even if the teacher is wrong. In the orient, students are taught to memorize and not question authority or scripture; much like workers on a factory floor. It is not surprising that most manufacturing has gone to oriental countries.

With the advent of cheap communication and travel Western Education started making its way to the East. This trend was accelerated by off-shoring. Once this Western Education, escaped from American and European universities, factories, studios, design houses and companies and reached Asian shores carried by engineers, doctors, artists, lawyers and bankers, trained in the West, our technical leadership was at risk. Western Education coupled with dropping computation and communication costs is the perfect storm threatening wage growth and rising standards of living in the West.

Going back to my example from the consumer electronics industry, once companies in China could manufacture circuit boards, they started manufacturing silicon chips. As a result, most silicon foundries in the US have shut down. Only IBM and Intel run foundries in the US. Now chip design is moving to Taiwan, China and India. So much for Secretary Reich’s premise of teaching abstract knowledge manipulation to our kids. Once Chinese companies could manufacture circuit boards, they started designing them. My company now competes with software design houses based in India. In other words, the entire consumer electronics ecosystem is in the process of vanishing from the US and moving to Asia. The only part left here is marketing.

Some of this is inevitable, however, we are accelerating the premature demise of industries. This brings me to the topic of this essay. The captains of industry, the CEO’s and senior executives who run American companies are off-shoring jobs and slowly putting their own companies out of business. I have read about and met “CEO’s for hire” who come in, lay off a bunch of researchers and engineers and replace them with off-shore workers. This results in a short-term reduction of expenses and a bump in profits, that pumps up the stock price at the expense of hollowing out the core of the company and endangering its long-term survival. Why are they doing this?

The reason, I think, is that they are incentivized incorrectly. Executive incentives are primarily based on the near-term stock price of their company. Corporations are rewarding a quick increase in stock price at the expense of long term, sustainable profit growth. They are favoring Gordon Gekko over Warren Buffet.

What if we were to reward executives so they act to increase long term profits? What if we were to create a new type of security called Long Terms Executive Compensation Stocks or LTECS? LTECS would be awarded as bonus compensation instead of cash or stock options. The underlying security would stay dormant for a long time, say 10 years. After that time, the LTECS would convert to common stock. The idea here is that an executive or employee who holds LTECS will be encouraged to act in a way that would boost the long-term value and sustainability of their company. It would be good public policy to consider tax incentives for long-term executive compensation and perhaps higher taxes on gains realized in less than 5 years. A good example is Apple – in 2012 it gave one million restricted shares to its new CEO. Half of the shares vested in 2016 and the remaining will vest in 2021. Tim Cook is incentivized to create long-term value for his employer.

How will a concept like LTECS help keep industries and jobs on-shore? If executives are incentivized to make long-term financial gains instead of short-term ones they will avoid transferring knowledge, jobs and profits to overseas companies who can become competitors in the long-term. They will be incentivized to retain long-term and experienced employees who can ensure the long-term survival of their companies and help create future products. This will increase local wage growth and local employment. I have employed these ideas in my own company for the past twenty years and used them to successfully compete with several large off-shore software companies.

[gopalmiglani]

Religion and Science – An Epiphany

It was a moment of clarity, I might even call it an epiphany. I’ve been reading Yuval Harari’s book “Sapiens” and was going through the section that deals with the Scientific Revolution. I can summarize Harari’s explanation of the scientific revolution as the change when the hegemony of religion over “all knowledge” was replaced by the acknowledgement that it is impossible to know “everything”.

Before science became dominant, Harari explains, most cultures believed that everything important was contained in “The Book”. If something was not in The Book, God must have thought that it was not important enough to know. Or, it was something that in God’s wisdom humans did not need to bother themselves with because the all-knowing God or its emissaries on this Earth were going to take care of. Or, one could pose the conundrum to the local priest and probably be told not to worry. Stuff like how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, will the sun come out tomorrow, will all the glaciers melt away some day (you may have guessed where this is headed), was all taken care of by the God.

The Scientific Revolution changed all that. Science posited that humans didn’t know very much. That it was impossible to know “everything”. Harari illustrates this with maps of the world before and after the scientific revolution. Maps before the SR show the entire globe as known whereas maps produced after the scientific revolution started showing unknown parts of the Earth as blank. Further, science argues that nothing is sacred. All currently accepted truths can be challenged with new theories, proofs and data.

Now for the epiphany – not everyone in the world has made the transition from the religious age to the scientific age. In fact, most people live in both ages. Some part of their reality is defined by their beliefs, and another part is defined by science. A person may believe that sunlight is made up of photons and those photons deliver a fraction of the energy released by the sun to the earth. Yet, the same person may “believe” that there is a God that will make sure that not enough photons reach the earth or get trapped in its atmosphere to make the planet uninhabitable for humans. That the God has a plan for all human endeavors and will find a way so that humans don’t need to worry about the planet.

This explains a lot. When you meet a person, you must realize what part of that person’s reality is based in their beliefs and what part is based in science. You can argue and debate with the person’s scientific or objective reality but you cannot argue with someone’s beliefs or subjective reality. Maybe it’s not all that great an epiphany because wise people have always advised never to bring up religion or politics at the dinner table!