Who controls the oil business?

AI-abled!

I watched the video of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra being interviewed by Aamir Khan. Intelligent, aware and sensible leader that he is, Devabhau as usual answered in a way that showed his acumen. His answer that the AI would create many more jobs set me thinking. Hence this blog.

Based on a projection made scientifically and objectively, let me first list areas that would have not only theoretical AI coverage, but reveal, moreover, observed AI coverage. 

Following are the fields that have already been dis-abled by the AI. They are finance, computers, legal issues, education, library, all the arts, media and healthcare, especially doctors, including surgeons! 

In its unmistakable ambit are work areas such as administration, architecture and engineering, life and social sciences, healthcare providers such as physiotherapists

Not much affected, however, would be areas such as nursing staff, guards, cooks, chefs, waiters, and staff working in fields such as maintenance/construction/installation and repair/ transportation and agriculture.

A caveat: the present analysis has not taken in to consideration the development in robotics which would affect hugely the professions currently not affected by the AI. 

As things stand right now, it is clear that the AI seems to be gobbling up the white collar jobs typically considered respectable and reliable, while, right now, the blue collar jobs seem untouched. At least till they are not threatened by robotics!

Very interesting is this observation which,  in my opinion, shows why this revolution is vastly different from the earlier versions which in fact strengthened the white collar workers.  No wonder, though! This time round, the confrontation is with intelligence, however much we may dismiss it as artificial, which has already started thinking on its own, despite the minor glitches.

Which jobs would the AI enable? Let me list a few. AI prompt engineers, AI auditors, AI Ethical and Compliance Experts, for instance. These "new collar" jobs require an inter-disciplinary training,  higher order strategic and creative thinking in addition to being both practical and technically aware. Hope the right people are listening to (re)create this (b)rave new world!

Pratima@Un-learning/de-learning and re-learning constantly is going to be the new world order.

Quote of the day:                                                         "Artificial intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029. Follow that out further to, say, 2045, we will have multiplied the intelligence, the human biological machine intelligence of our civilization a billion-fold,” says Ray Kurzweil.

Word of the day: transformative                            This term as in " AI is transformative" describes something that causes a major, often positive, and lasting change in character, form, or function.

Alluring Agnihotra: Explaining a ritual

 Yes, I am born Agnihotri. It is hence a little awkward and quite embarassing that I did not know that March 12 is the World Agnihotra Day. 

Why do I say so? Let me explain a little. To begin with, well, 'Agnihotra' is no longer a Brahminical ritual. Yes, I am a high caste brahmin (highly dangerous admission these days!), and, yes, I do perform Agnihotra every evening as my parents honoured the practice, and it was followed most ritually in my paternal family just a generation away. 

How is the Agnihotra performed ritually? In a copper pyramid-shaped pot, the holy fire is lit, ideally via the Vedic way, with two pieces of holy wooden sticks. In to that holy fire are offered cow dung cakes,  ghee and rice to the chanting of certain Vaidic rucha's. It is mostly performed in the evening, circa the dusk setting.

Now, in a big city becoming a metro, all these steps are not possible. Hence, instead, I burn "Bhimseni kapur", the best and most natural camphor, and chant the related shlokas.

Why call it 'alluring agnihotra'? In a way, it is like performing daily a mini 'holi' with all its spiritual significations . No, I am not being flippant. I sincerely believe that the 'agnihotra' is a way of connecting with the basic principle of the universe.

Why, the Rigveda begins with the praise of the holy fire, the major principle of the "panch mahabhoota"! Even if one were to look at the notion from the anthropological perspective, the 'caveman' became 'human' only when fire became the focus of lived life. Before fire thus defined/refined life, the nomadic man was no better than a beast.

Now let us look at the practice from within the contemporary context. Currently, pollution of every variety is at its peak. The 'agnihotra' flame, even if it is the camphor variety,  purifies the ambience.

 Traditionally, the holy 'Agnihotra' flame symbolised divine energy. Even if you are sceptical about such a connect, why not look at it as a process of understanding your relation(ship) with the wider universe about which cosmologically as well as astronomically, we are getting to know more by the day? 

Why, we do already know that the sun IS basically a massive sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light and infrared radiation with a certain per centage of ultraviolet energies. It is the main source of energy for life on the earth.

No, I am neither apologetic about the 'agnihotra' practice. Nor do i consider it an instance of the 'Brahminical', 'manuvadi', superstitious traditionalism! 

My firm faith in science teaches me utmost humility because basically the scientific framework forever tells me that science operates within the paradigms known so far, which can be, and are, re-interpreted anew, and often, thereby rendering any/all earlier concepts redundant superstitions. Aristotle, the father of Western science, has often been so (im)proved, right? And, oh, yes, technology has its own rituals, too, right?

Hence, even if I were to be much mocked for being an Agnihotri, I look at it as a way of spreading positivity in my own small way.  And, of course, I do try to spread it in multiple other ways, too. 

Even at the social level, moreover, these days, performing 'agnihotra' is hardly casteist. On the World 'Agnihotra' day or whenever such group activities are performed on a large scale, at places, I believe, like Akkalkot, everyone participates, beyond casteist considerations. 

In other words, the 'Agnihotra' is not revivalism. Rather it is an alluring way of re-connecting with the larger principles, thereby making the banal metro modes of life slightly conscientious!

Pratima@ In today's post-truth world where everything is merely narrativisation, necessary it is to explicate significations of rituals because, otherwise, interest groups would reduce every praxis as mere mumbo-jumbo.

Quote of the day:                                                         "With the demise of religion, many people are left stranded in a chasm of emptiness and doubt; without rituals to recognize, celebrate, or negotiate the vital thresholds of peoples lives, the key crossings pass by, undistinguished from the mundane, everyday rituals of life. If we approach our decisive thresholds with reverence and attention, the crossing will bring us more than we could have ever hoped for," says John O’Donohue.

Word of the day: ritual                                             A ritual is defined as a structured, repeated series of actions or words, often holding symbolic, religious, or social significance. These ceremonies or habits connect individuals/families/communities to traditions, larger wholes, or personal, meaningful practices. Examples include prayers, weddings, even daily morning coffee/tea routines, or specific cultural ceremonies like the Japanese/Indian bowing or lighting lamps or making of tea/coffee to modes of cooking. 

Is forgiveness the right way today?

  Recently was celebrated Eknath Shashthi which pays a tribute to the great Marathi saint, Sant Eknath. The great soul is well-known for his ability to forgive. 

Once, for instance, he had completed all his ablutions in the Godavari, performed his puja, the morning prayers, to the Sun God, and was returning home when a member of the peaceful community spat on him knowingly. 

Sant Eknath forgave him, and calmly replied, "Good, it gives me one more chance to bathe in the holy waters of Godavari." The crooked villain repeated this meanness hundred times. Sant Eknath's reaction did not change. Finally, the villain was tired of his mischief! Thus the forever forgiving Sant Eknath was known as "Shanti Bramh", that is, Tranquility and Serenity Incarnate.

I respect the great soul hugely. In fact, I have a special liking for him as he is supposed to be the reincarnation of Sant Dnyandev. Yet I wonder if that kind of forgiveness is the right strategy currently!

Such are the times now that crooks consider quiet ignoring of their misdeeds as weakness. It gives such weird stupido's the feel that they can go on with their cheap activities. 

Sure the way of teaching such crooks a proper lesson has to be the just and the legal way. Yet they MUST be brought to book. No use forgetting or forgiving them or their cohorts! They do NOT deserve it, and must be provided what they abundantly require!

Pratima@Goodness cannot be weakness. The brutes must be shown the strength of goodness. 

Quote of the day:                                                       "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear," argues Ambrose Redmoon. 

Word of the day: fortitude                                       Fortitude is the strength of mind that enables a person to encounter or bear pain or adversity with courage 

Why the(y) gossip?

 Does it surprise you? To me, it surely does! Yes, who, and why, can spare the time, energy and (non-)sense to go on gossiping about others?

 But, yes, surely there would be, nay, are neighbours who have your complete itinerary of each day. They begin with, When did you wake up? Why did you wake up late? Why did you stay up late? Are you alive at all, to begin with? If you are dead, how to get the body out? No, you sneezed. Okay, alive! How many times? Farted, shat, pissed, and so on, and so on? 

What did you cook? What were you saying to the veggie vendor? Ah, yes, we were trying to listen to what was transpiring between you and the kachrewali, which actually is nothing but an innocent exchange about where to put the 'wet dustbin' tomorrow morning as you would be in a tearing hurry, given the exam duties!

Do not you think that such people could be asked a few counter questions? Let us look at at a few examples, right? How do you know that I slept late? What were you doing keeping awake so late, for instance? As for the physical activities mentioned, we really cannot, right? Yes, for one thing, we are too decent to mention such unmentionables. For yet another thing, the gossips are using their mouths to perform these activities! Metaphorically, of course!

Honestly, by now, I am cent per cent certain, someone pays such creeps to keep an eye on the absolutely innocent life I lead. Well, see, how helpful I always am! The good for nothing's sitting at home for ages doing nothing are thus getting some tax free income, right?

Basically though, seriously I feel that they are completely unfulfilled, totally incomplete in their own lives. They have hence such curious poking of nefarious noses in others' lives. Their marriages, for instance, happen/exist/continue/ are functional at all because of sheer convenience. Such dissatisfied souls have to hence worry about others' romance as it is totally absent, and forever, in their own lives!

Poor creeps! Even the Lord cannot forgive them, because they know perfectly well what they are doing!

Pratima@ It is a certain truth universally accepted that you hunger for what you lack! See, the poor baby monkey, Punch! Absolutely lacks love. Hence searches for it outside. Poor thing! Unlike gossips, it is too young to know that all that is good, within resides!

Quote of the day:                                                         Gossip is the business of loafers whose empty vacant lives give them time galore to spread vicious nonsense believed by idiots!

Word of the day: smear campaign                      Smear campaign refers to a conscious planning of  discrediting someone by whispering false accusations.

We, men, make history!

  She was fourteen. Her poor family married her off to a fifty-two year old man. She hid herself in the cow shed during the wedding night, and, next morning, she began her walk towards freedom, across a mountain, on lonely roads, with next to nothing to support her. Yet, yes, she made it! 

This girl was thirteen when her drunkard of a father almost sold her off, to an extremely abusive man of his age, who beat the kid black n blue, made her a mother at fourteen. One fine morning, she took off with her baby, and oh, yes, she, too, made something of herself. 

What do you think? Whose stories am I telling ? Where could they have taken place? Oh, you think that I am narrating the plight of some "Nakushi" from the hinterlands of India!?!

You certainly need a reality check. The first is the sad saga of Sara Hutchins from Kentucky, America who braved the Appalachian Range, bitter cold and a hundred and eighty kilometres long walk in winter to make a life for herself!  The second example, incidentally, is from America, too. 

In the meanwhile, meet this granma in her mid sixties. Her marriage made her in to a maid, and a baby making machine. At sixty-seven, this mother of eleven chose to walk out to make thus something of herself. 

In other words, be it Dr. Rakhma Bai or a "nakushi", be it India or be it the U S., be it the late nineteenth century or the  early to late twentieth century, simple women who are not a symbolic somebody's somebody (like a daughter/sister/wife of a powerful/famous man) braved all that is bad in patriarchy to make something of themselves, and on their own terms and conditions. 

Hence the need to celebrate March 8! Unfortunately, in the echo chambers that most discourses currently are, many would be busy berating "Brahminical"  patriarchy or Manusmriti (about) which hopefully they would have read! 

At the other end of this kline, there are women who use this opportunity, too, to splurge, to shop, to roam, the maids of the market that they are! Neither do their daughters, who never had to struggle in any way, had all the rights without any responsibilities, understand the relevance of the day beyond fashion and feste!

Actually, with the advent of the AI, women would be rendered more vulnerable both in the public sphere and in the private space. As the AI guzzles up jobs, women would yet again be invisible in multiple ways in the public sphere, while, individually, given the AI  rendered identity thefts, and ingenious harassments, they would suffer still more! But who cares? The much celebrated  demographic dividend is busy with fashion, accessories, and "chill", while 'ab-using' men!

Time passes, in a linear fashion, at times, arrives cyclically. Yet, despite all possible hurdles, often consciously craftily caused, we, men, make our stories which have lovely morals! Long live Match 8 in all its meaning-full avataars!

Pratima@ March 8 is not a decorative day. It is an occasion to meet one's own self, yet again and in multiple ways!

Quote  as well as words of the day:            Asserts Maya Angelou:                                              "As I walk through frozen sands/Through the flames of burning lands/My feet are torn, they're torn to strands/I will not thirst

As I cross the raging sea/Waves are crashing over me/They drag me down, they drag me down/I will not drown

They'll know my name/After the storms are passing through/They'll know my name

When they've forgotten all about you/They'll know my name

They're calling out, they're calling out/ They're calling out, they're calling out my name

And I shall rise, oh well I shall rise/Again and again/I shall rise, oh well I shall rise/Again and again

And I shall rise, oh well I shall rise

Again and again.

I shall rise, oh well I shall rise

Again and again

I shall rise, oh well I shall rise

Again and again

I shall rise, oh well I shall rise

Again and again"

Writing n painting: A rough draft

Do two different arts relate to each other? Sure they do. Why, there are any number of literary texts that deal directly with paintings, while there are many more portraits of authors. Why, the inviting cover page itself can be a painting!  While it is easier to explore the relationship between  music and literature, the bond between painting and literature could be explored a little more, may be! 

Let us begin with the most banal observation. Both painting and writing need paper! Of course, these days both have promoted themselves to the newer canvas called the computer/mobile screen, not to mention the ready-made mode imposed on both by the  new fangled AI schema, right? 

Yet NOTHING like the paper itself, inviting you to de-sign a new universe out of a plain canvas, whether it be writing or painting, right? Next, both require the background to add a unique texture. While writing quotes it with words, painting coats it with mostly the base white or black. 

Both begin with a rough sketch. Yet often the strokes, the patterns, the images, the symbols that thus emerge create their own story, and most colourfully. 

Often they say that a few lines of a painting can present what hundreds of lines and thousands of words may not. Let me disagree completely. Let me give you an example to prove my point. Look at that famous painting "Mona Lisa." 

Many say that despite its world wide fame, an actual look at it in the Louvre is almost disappointing, especially because the small little frame is almost dwarfed by the grandeur of the other masterpieces.

Let an author describe it though, even without having seen it in person in that Parisian museum. Indeed, the painting would not only come alive. Many more meanings, may be, not even intended by the artist, would make even Mona Lisa smile, and openly! In brief, long live writing as it enriches existence itself!

Pratima@ Writing is not merely creative. It, moreover, is analytical by nature. No wonder, unlike other arts, it can critique all these arts, and itself. A mode of be(com)ing, in short!

Quote of the day:                                                      Has to be by who else but Shakespeare! The quote is rather well-known but most apt in this context. Asserts the author of authors,             "The poet's eye,/in a fine frenzy rolling,/   doth glance from heaven to Earth,/from Earth to heaven;/and as imagination bodies forth/ the forms of things unknown,/ the poet's pen turns them to shape,/ and gives to airy nothing/ a local habitation and a name." 

Word of the day: spontaneous                              Spontaneous means performed or occurring as a result of a sudden impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus.                       That is what writing alone can be! Let there be an author, and miracles happen, and out of nowhere!