How Can We Matter

Let me start with a simple pragmatic question - when do we cease to exist? The simple answer is, we cease to exist with our death. But, hang on, it is not that simple! I am not talking about the several theories and beliefs about whether death is the end of life. This is more about an alternative experience that the new artificial-intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, provides. Copyright Stock image Most of us are part of some social media groups like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, etc. These groups have helped us establish contacts with our long-lost school, college, and office mates. Though most members just forward texts, pictures, video messages, many are also active members commenting on others' posts, enriching the discussion...  But often, the members don't meet each other physically because the people are spread across different towns, cities, or even countries. This means we are basically interacting with our friends online using our devices, rarely meeting them in person....

In his book released in 2020 with the above title, on the pitfalls of ageing, Chinese author Zhou Daxin - the Mao Dun Literary Prize winner - provides a sensitive exploration of old age and the complex, hidden emotional worlds of the elderly.   Some Valuable Words of Wisdom from Daxin’s Latest Novel . He warns that, once you move to the other side of 60, the sky gets darker, and the light begins to wane until, one day, you are back to lying in bed like the baby you were born as. In the book he writes, …Many elderlies speak as though they know everything, but of old age they are in fact as ignorant as children. Many elderly people are in fact completely unprepared for what they are to face when it comes to getting old and the road that lies ahead of them.  My dream of leading a medicine-free life came crashing down with a silent thud when it stopped me dead on my track the other day during my regular evening walk. Suddenly, without any warning sign, there was excruciating ...

Deep fake images, videos, and news are creating zero-trust societies, using the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tools. Today, we just can't distinguish between true and false news. Consequently, we can't take trust for granted, we can't trust anyone, forcing us to assume that everyone and everything on the Internet is out to get us! AI-generated image (Eliot Higgins/Twitter)   Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative group Bellingcat , used an AI tool called Midjourney to imagine in pictures what the former president might look like being arrested. These pictures have been viewed millions of times. View this report .  On top of it, a new study by three MIT scholars has found that falsehood diffuses significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, in all categories of information, and in many cases by an order of magnitude. From communication and transport to healthcare and connectivity to blockchain and gene-editing t...

I am presently attending an online program of 40 days entitled Atma Chalisa Parayanam , conducted by Shri Vikas Varma. It is a spiritual practice for self-realization - a way of knowing ourselves and our life in a much better manner. Presently it is half way through and we, the program participants, are required to share our experiences in the group.  The learning process of this program involves three basic steps - Sravana, Manana and Nididhyāsana . Sravana is listening to what the teacher says very carefully. Manana is reflecting on what we heard in the class by trying to understand not only the superficial meaning but also the deeper meaning by reading in between the lines. Nididhyāsana is an extensive understanding of what we heard and reflected, probably by applying them in our life to reinforce the ideas and concepts and digesting them thoroughly. The final phase of this spiritual education, namely  Sakshatkara   (experiencing or realization) is when the contemplate...

In the PM race for the second time in months, British Indian Rishi Sunak has regained the trust of a large number of Tory MPs to replace Truss as the next Prime Minister of UK and to make history.  The question that I had asked 51 days back How can Rishi not be UK's next PM? is now unmistakably answered. He has now made history as Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister after being elected unopposed as the new leader of the governing Conservative Party, following Penny Mordaunt's withdrawal from the race. The former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had raced home, cutting short a Caribbean holiday, just to realize in time that although he had enough support of 100 lawmakers to enter Monday’s final ballot, the country and the Conservative Party needed unity and therefore magnanimously withdrew from the contest on Sunday! In this period of gloom and grief, Rishi Sunak is destined to lead the country UK and nothing could stop that.  Rishi was inspired by his parents from a...

How can this dynamic young man not be UK's next Prime Minister?  Well educated, talented, widely read, suave, erudite, scholarly, confident, cultured, competent, proficient, knowledgeable, seasoned, still young (just 42 years) yet with solid experience of economic impacts and financial responses as UK's previous Chancellor of the Exchequer.  Rishi Sunak Most importantly his values and ideas are solidly rooted in the very rich traditions of the most ancient Vedic wisdom and culture that his Indian descent parents brought to the country. But he is born, brought up, and educated in the UK imbibing the fundamental British values of democracy, rule of law, respect & tolerance, individual liberty, leadership & accountability, as well as joint decision making. Watch how Nick Ferrari puts Rishi Sunak on the spot at the final Conservative Party leadership hustings, which took place on August 31, 2022.  The panache and confidence with which he handles a variety of que...

Prelude Writing this post brought back fond memories of my professional career as a Senior Consultant with the Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC) , now defunct and probably functioning under the new name Abu Dhabi Digital Authority .  It was during those six years (2008-2014) that I had the opportunity to get acquainted with the Strategic Plans of several Abu Dhabi Government Departments and also create a couple of Strategic Plans for whole-of-Government initiatives such as  Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure (AD-SDI) Program   and  Abu Dhabi No Objection Certificate (NOC) Program . The work on Geospatial Data Contend Standards  made me familiar with the works of International Standards bodies OGC and ISO.  Reminiscing on the good old days in UAE, I would like to recall with gratitude my associations with colleagues at  GISTEC ,  ADSIC and the GPC Group .   Image Credit: UN HR Portal Edits since publishing on...