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Is Artificial Intelligence posing an Existential threat for Humankind?

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  What is real never ceases to be, what is unreal never is, the sages who know this know the secret of what is and what is not. This statement means a great deal in the context of the fast world in which we live. We live in an artificial digital world of instant gratification. We want bodily enjoyment, emotional stability and mental peace at all times. We think it is available outside of us and chase this dream. But the more we chase and satisfy our body-mind-intellect complex the more we realise that everything we gain is fleeting and ephemeral. As it comes and goes we start craving for more till we get restless frustrated and seek the final knowledge. So do we with all the technology and science at our command have instant answers and clarity on subjects we need to know about in seconds? The answer seems to be yes on an unprecedented scale today. Those of us who have lived in both the analog and digital generation know the difference. As children we were privileged in days of sca...
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Science and Technology

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The world as we know it today is evolving and changing in unimaginable ways and at unprecedented speed. Driving this is to a very large extent is the contribution of Science and Technology. My thoughts today are to try and analyse Science and scientists as entities distinct from Technology and technocrats. While they are two words thrown together as though they are synonymous there exists fundamental differences between the two and their approach.  A scientist is trained to solve or pursue projects and find explanations for observations or experiences in the past or present and based on that give answers which are certain and replicable. The quest for this knowledge may be long standing and may or may not yield predictable results. In some circumstances years of effort may get completely wasted in terms of no tangible result benefitting anyone. The reward of scientific pursuit is the actual journey the scientist undertakes. In any society the ratio of scientists to population is de...
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My Admission to Grant Medical College 1979

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  How can I describe the day of my admission to Grant Medical College? The 18 y ear old Vispi Jokhi I remember was a dreamer, an idealist who had in the weeks preceding the fateful day had lost his dear Eruch Kaka who at the age of 57 died at home following a m assive cardiac event. As such I was ruing the fact tha t admission to medical college was eluding my grasp as my idealist nature had prevented me from bagging a few e xtra marks which were offered to me by my friend Nozer Sheriar for represe nting JaiHind college in inter collegiate swimming. Since all on the swimming team could not swim, we were only to fake injury and the scene of the day of June 29, 1979 would n ot be a reality.    So, I went to the iconic JJ Hospital building, The entry from main JJ Road was far from impressive, in fact to this day from the road a shabby old building which is known as the Old Boy’s Hostel, reminded me of some old medieval haunted house. After passing a uninspiring ty...
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A World Without Work?

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  The evolution of work has been a subject of interest as far as we humans are concerned. The historical analysis of the same is complex and difficult to summarize and maybe ChatGpt might do a better job at it. Do not worry I am not going to do that. Suffice to say that we have evolved from the nomadic hunter gatherer foraging for food to becoming domesticated in the age of agriculture, harnessing animals to do one's work. These then gave way to the local artisans using some tools and machines maybe in the Iron age. Industrial Revolution created more machines and assembly line factories with major human exploitation. However, with increased automation threatening to replace humans in production, there started the whole business of service industries, financial institutions, banks and companies to regulate and manage commerce and trade. Transportation, tourism, healthcare, Engineering, Information Technology, Entertainment, Communication, Education, Legal, Management, Administration...
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Can I be a Nationalist Patriot and Humanist?

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 I often think of this and the best exposition of this debate was the one between two of the greatest sons of India, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. They were very cordial to each other but differed on the subject of nationalism vs humanism. Before I get into this debate I will try and simply define the three terms in simple language juxtaposed against dictionary definition.  Nationalism is defined as an identification and support for one's nation to the exclusion and detriment of other nations. The simple meaning is I love my nation good or bad and my love blinds me to such an extent that without question I will hate and attack the other who is not in line with my nation's thinking or actions. There is often in this a political identity shaped by either religion, race, caste or cult which is shaped by some true or false hatred of the other based on real or imagined wrong of the past.  Patriotism is defined as a love for one's country of a kind which is ge...
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The incentive game?

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 The topic of this blog is based on the choices we make in life at different stages in terms of age, the base instincts, nurture, knowledge, power or lack of power and finally the basis of intellect. Now the reason why this idea of writing on this struck me when I heard a story of choices made by a householder in different times. Once, in ancient India a householder was told by a corrupt minister of a King to lie on oath to protect him by lying to the King about his mistake. Since those were the days when moral values took center stage in life and most of the people were God fearing the idea that such an act will not only invite retribution to the individual lying and to his family in turn. Therefore he will refuse to lie for the sake of his family. The householder will say cut to a similar situation in 2025 if a politician forces one to lie on oath and in turn threatens him today he would lie on oath and justify in going so for the same reason to protect his family.  I think ...
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War in 1971 and War in 2025

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 I was rudely awakened a few days back to a notification of a kind where we were suddenly told to be part of a mock drill to ensure that we are war ready. I can only say one thing that my reading of our world was that in the last 40 years or so man has reached a situation where famines, wars and pandemics were becoming more and more infrequent. This is also borne out by the fact that as man has advanced technologically, his power of imagination and ability to believe in a false order makes him capable of unprecedented collaboration and therefore renders the possibility of conflict becoming more remote than ever before. The doctrine of deterrence  and the threat of mutual destruction was a boon for the arms race and the ammunition industry, but yet paradoxically it reduced the possibility of their use.  In 2019-20, the covid 19 pandemic came from nowhere and engulfed the world with a deadly virus which was so virulent and so infective that it killed the vulnerable like mot...
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