In electron we trust

Whenever I write an email or an essay, I am amazed at the marvel of the computer. What a comfort it provides! Does anybody write in any other way - pen to paper or typewrite? No way, we are wedded to the key board, screen and mouse. If I write an extra alphabet or a word, all I have to do is to click the “backspace” which swallows, letter by letter all extras. If I delete an extra letter, I can always use “undo” button to bring it back. Deleting the entire para has never been so easy. Just press of a button, it simply vanishes into, nobody knows where. I wonder where these deleted paras or words go in my computer. Will each para be stripped as words and then as letters before being sliced and consigned to ignominious retreat? If sliced how each letter is done – vertically and laterally like I slice an onion into pieces. Then I can never get cut onion back however, I confess, but computer can bring back!

When offices were still paper-stuffed (unlike todays paperless regime), I had issued stern warning to the staff not to clear my wastebasket. For, at least once during the day I dip my hand into it to pull out some dubious paper, which I threw inadvertently or thought of waste at that time which later became vitally important. Is there any mysterious hand that pulls out in computer all that deleted stuff, in case I need them back?

If electrons, the tiny weeny particles run computers, will they act like a drama band performing various symbols or letter formations on the screen at the command from the keyboard? Do some of them wait for their turn behind side screen? Coming back to my delete question, will they dump themselves in a keg waiting to reincarnate in original in case the knucklehead at the key board changes his mind? Or, do they soak into an invisible duster like the one used in a high school classroom and when dabbed, powder of electrons would fall back to life?

Are they not accountable to some bigger entity sitting at the centre, like Proton or unbiased Neutron? Otherwise, how do they carry out such important assignments – starting from weather forecast to landing on Mars? There must be a roll call for them to march on when I switch on the computer. They may not yell “Yes Sir or Yes Madam” before stepping out but all of them should get back when I switch off the computer to “Electronic Stores”. That is fair. Otherwise, whose business is inventory control?

Is inventory not important? How does it bring back a saved document as same “cast” every time I recall it if inventory of electrons is not reckoned correctly. I get unnerved when I think of integrity to inventory, more so during financial transactions.

If my pension is deposited in my bank account, it is solely due to the grace of some electrons. A group of them will shift their sides and appear on my side. And when I transfer money to another account, part of them will go away from my side, Is it? Hope they don’t lose loyalty in between!

With biometric systems in place, it is electrons that prove whether it is somebody or me. So much at stake and our lives depend on them. “In electron we trust” should be our new patriotic epigram.

If there is any electron-religion, I am converted into and fanatic about it, for my safety and security. Will you join me?

The Fourth Wave

In the recently concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Switzerland, the discussions were about the Fourth Industrial revolution, among many other vital issues, that is about to begin which would alter the way we live, transact and coomunicate. WEF, a membership forum, as a mission engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. And is committed to improving the state of the world thru Public-Private cooperation. A real think tank to take stock of the achievements and guide the contours of future endeavours for improving the life in general.

Let us recapitulate the three Industrial revolutions before attempting to grasp the fourth one. Till the second half of the 18^th century, man had been deploying his muscle power aided by animals - horses, elephants and donkeys either to build mammoth monuments, like the Pyramids or Taj Mahal to the simple tasks of carrying material or for excavating the earth for coal or minerals. In 1784, a Scottish mechanical engineer, James Watt invented and perfected the manufacturing of steam engine heralding First Industrial revolution. It lead to ease of transportation of both men and material and efficiently replacing the human labour in the factories. The miracle machine had  greatly enhanced Production and productivity  and brought many comforts to society. The Tractor running on a stream engine replaced horses, improved harvest cycle, and agricultural output. Textile factories produced better quality fabrics.

Until the onset of steam engine, the textile factories were built near the waterfalls to garner the kinetic energy of the falling water to run the “Water Wheels”, connected to the machines. It imposed restrictions on the location and Watt’s invention moved the factories to the cities close to the availability of skilled workforce, improving the overall performance. Besides, it freed the Cotton industry from the vagaries of Nature.  Though the first Industrial revolution claimed colossal achievements, the real winner, in the words of James Watt “we can conquer the nature, if we can but find her weak side”; thus, man began conquering the Nature.

In the ensuing decades, the invention of electricity, with sociological changes - democracies replacing oligarchies and evolving of organised labour paved way for, sometime in 1870, the Second wave of the industrial revolution. Further inventions in electronics, aviation and communications accelerated industrial growth leading to mass production of automobiles and consumer items to keep pace with growing desires and demands of the society.

While the first industrial revolution is about mechanization, the second wave is about consolidation and enrichment by further inventions. However, the speed and time, two components still remained a puzzle for man in winning over nature. That incessant desire lead to the inventions of computers and networking them on one highway with internet sowed the seeds for third wave of the Industrial revolution in 1969.

The powerful microprocessor produced high-speed computation and evolved industrial automation to a higher degree with safety and fault-tolerance as standard features, besides improving the productivity. The launching of Geo-stationary satellites with advanced communications technologies gave a handle to understand and monitor Nature’s most wavering aspect – the weather.  It also opened a window to widen our comprehension on the origins of the universe through space travel. The third wave helped us to master and unravel the human anatomy aiding us to stretch the longevity and quality of life .While first two waves allowed us to conquer space, the third wave allowed us to access to the fourth dimension, the time. It made us to be present in more than one location at the same time thru video streaming, bestowing us an Omni-potency to a greater degree- a step closure to conquering the Nature.

Coming back to the Fourth wave, as predicted, it will be the Digital Revolution. It is about Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Industrial Internet of things. Robots will be deployed for clearing nuclear waste or treating patients afflicted with contagious dieses; Vehicles will communicate with each other (V2V) for safety and communicate with Infrastructure (V2I) to manage around traffic signals for fuel efficiency. The health of people will be monitored on a continuous basis and predicting the need to visit Hospital. Wearable devices will take us to “augmented reality”; we will be where we want to be, of course on virtual world. Having mastered Space and time, we will be conquering “Reality” by designing it to our wish. Perhaps, we will, soon be living out of a Sci-fi movie as detailed out.

 Nevertheless, we collectively committed a crime while enjoying the benefits of the three waves of industrialization - the assault on climate, making the mother earth feverish. In our pursuit of good life in the fourth wave, we need to redeem that sin consciously. Let us welcome “The Forth wave – the Digital Disruption”.

-----------------------

Tornado in Syria 

The destructive tornado starts as a gentle breeze. The hot air, being lighter goes up, but sometimes, cool air above acts as a shield preventing its natural upward movement. The hot air remains down, gets hotter due to (warm) earth’s surface, gains momentum, and starts whirling around. It gains energy by heating up further and breaks through cold air, spouting up. Then, the monstrous tornado begins to swallowing everything on the way, until it expends all its energy.

The “Arab Spring” started as a gentle breeze in Tunisia swept through many countries and still raging in Syria swallowing many lives, displacing millions of innocents.

The Beginning. May 2010

 26 years old, Mohamed Bouazizi left his home as usual to sell fruits and vegetables in the sidewalks of Tunis in Tunisia. He had been doing it, eking his living, earning close to a $ a day, barely enough to sustain his widowed mother and five of his kin. Three inspectors from the council have asked him to pay bribe. The amount demanded if paid, would leave him broke at least for that day. He refused.

 Then, one of the officers, a woman, Mrs. Faida Hamdy had slapped him, threw his cart and scales. He refused to yield.  She did not realise, at that time, the consequences - as how the rest of the world would pay for it. He ran to the council office to report to higher ups, but to no avail.

 Then, something stirred deep within; he picked up a can of petrol, poured over him, and ignited up into flames in front of the same council office.

With 90% burns, Mohamed Bouazizi died in the hospital within few days. This incident gained huge nation-wide sympathy among Tunisians, soon catapulted into revolution, bringing down the government eventually. This is the beginning of Arab Spring, which spread to neighbouring country, Egypt, toppling the Government. And, then to Yemen, resulted in civil war.

 Most of the Middle Eastern countries are oligarchical societies run by Royal families and not by elected governments. What King says will be the law.

Women are not respected and do not have basic freedom. They have to wear burkha or hijab in public. Any violation in conduct of dress will attract severe punishment, while men are  allowed to practice polygamy. Syria is one such country ruled by Al-Assad, wielding power for more than 2 decades. The Arab spring arrived here sometime in 2011.The tipping point was, when schoolchildren made a protest march in Derra (a Syrian city), Al- Assad deployed military and arrested them. The protests against arrests were peaceful, to begin with, from People of Syria, but four children were tortured for writing graffiti against the establishment. That led to revolt against the government, and the government responded angrily by opening fire, killing many people. Then, people wanted Al- Assad to step down. Al-Assad did not agree. However, some section of the people supported Al-Assad and some were against him. This was in 2011 when Arab spring found its roots everywhere in west Asia. Anti-establishment protests continued for two more years. Since the military is with Al-Assad, the rebels found themselves at the receiving end devoid of any weapons to fight against armed military.

Exactly, during that time, Al-Queda was on the verge of disintegration. The unrest in Syria breathed life into it. With a change in leadership, the erstwhile Al-Queda had re-framed as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.) with changed ideology. The group’s new ideology is a caliphate (means Islamic state in the world with Calif as head) as Salafists of Sunni Muslims. That means even their brother Muslims, Shiias are enemies for them. The open secret is that ISIS has backing and financing from Sunni kingdom Saudi Arabia.  

ISIS had befriended the rebels in Syria to support them with military equipment – Guns, ammunition, etc to fight against Al- Assad. The rebels of Syria were caught between devil and deep Sea, Al-Assad or ISIS. They chose to join hands with ISIS, which was fatal. Rebels perhaps thought enemy’s enemy would be a friend. That was a blunder. And, that led to full blown civil war in Syria. Al-Assad vs innocent rebels supported by ISIS terrorists. By this, tyrant Al-Assad had become a good boy in the eyes of Russia deemed fighting against terrorist outfit ISIS. So, Russia started supporting King Al- Assad and began bombing ISIS. Meanwhile ISIS had occupied part of Syrian territory and started discarding revolting people or at best started using them as pawns.

In the occupied territory, ISIS started collecting taxes, water and electricity cess from people and that is their revenue. Now Syria is part ruled by Al-Assad and part by IsIs. Common people who started as rebels with a cause are now facing the tyranny of ISIS. ISIS, the scoundrels had begun committing atrocities on women - using them as sex slaves or even selling them like commodities. Since Syrian people are suffering from both sides, they started fleeing the country for safety to nearby Turkey, Lebanon and to Europe.

In this scenario, Paris with recent terrorists attack joined Russia and bombed Raqqa, the headquarters of ISIS in Syria. Britain forced to join them. GOP is criticizing President Obama for his uncommitted stand on Syria. In my opinion, the ambivalence is understandable. Rectitude can never be measured on a scale, and to side the lesser evil over bigger bully. Rather, the central theme must be to protect human values and action must be towards saving the innocent Syrians who have been suffering between two wrongs.

It is four years since onset of war in Syria. So far, 60 million people, half of them children are misplaced. Over 100,000 killed in the war, over 35,000 drowned while illegally crossing Mediterranean Sea. Neighbouring Islamic countries – Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Turkey all wish to end the war but it is their second priority*. Every one of them have their ulterior interests in Syria, clearly laid out – Sunni domination for Saudi, Denouncing Kurds(another rebel group) for Turkey, Shiia resurgence for Iraq…..With so many emotions at stake, the end seems unlikely in near future.

The Arab Spring, the Tornado is yet to expend all its energy.

* Recently, Turkey, Russian alley in Syrian war, shot down Russian fighter plane on the ground it entered (incursion) Turkey’s air space – too silly, that left whole world perplexed. It is because Turkey perceives Russian actions in Syria are not in tune with their interests. Too complicated. Is n’t it?

 ----------------------------------------------

---

 [V1]