Disconnect

Problem

• Research suggests that as compared with 410 million multi-dimensionally poor people resident in 26 of the poorest African countries there are as many as 421 million in just eight of the poorer Indian states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal)
• 46 per cent of the children in India are malnourished
• 10,688 lakh tonnes of foodgrains were found damaged in different FCI warehouses as on January 1, 2010
• India loses food grains worth Rs. 58,000 crore every year due to lack of storage facilities
• Food inflation has remained above the 16 per cent level for most part of the year
• India has been self sufficient in food grains since the 70s but still half of our population starve.

Reasons

• Lack of infrastructure especially inadequate storage facilities
• Public distribution system is fragmented and steeped in bureaucracy.
• Lack of a central distribution and utilisation plan.
• Movement of goods (transport through air, road, water, rail etc.) among the most inefficient in the world. 14% of our GDP is spent on logistics alone.
• Alleged existence of a private lobby that blocks PDS distribution to drive up prices

Sure, we may be

• Trying to go to the moon
• Trying for a permanent seat in the Security Council,
• A member of the “emerging countries” list
• Shipping aid to Africa and Afghanistan
• Having our own currency symbol, which some “experts” say, is a step towards becoming an important economic power
• Growing at an enviable 9%

It all just seems quite futile.

A Big Brain

Cogito Ergo Sum means ‘I think, therefore I exist (am)’. It answers the question of our existence of whether we exist or if we are characters in some chap’s wild imagination. Well now the question is- How do we think? What happens in our brilliant brains that makes us think?

Microprocessors,the brains of computers and smart devices; are made up of millions of components called transistors. Each one just makes one decision- to be in 0 or 1 state. Programmers, with help of complex algorithms employ many of these simple transistors simultaneously to create computing power.

Our brain is made up of 50-100 billion neurons connected together with 1000 trillion synaptic connections as in a microprocessor. If you take a single neuron, it doesn’t exhibit intelligence as such. When billions of them are connected together, something amazing happens- Intelligence.

Now let’s consider another network- the internet. An estimated 1.8 billion users are connected to this big web. Millions are getting hooked up every month. The advent of smart phones and cheap data rates are pushing these figures off the roof. Nowadays there are about 500-700 million transistors in a single processor. If we were to consider the trillions of transistors connected together through the internet, it does come very close to the number of neurons in our brains. Sure, the number of synapses is still very small, but wouldn’t it be enough for primary intelligence?

So the big question is, whether the internet is aware of its self? Can it think for itself? If so, by Cogito Ergo Sum, does it mean that it exists?

-This can be also explained by Swarm Intelligence, like how Craig Reynolds did with Boids to explain flocking behavior of birds-

‘80s

“I pity the fools who were born in the 80s”. Mr T would have said something like that. I bet a lot of people don’t know who Mr T is and that is exactly my point. I felt the first pang of the gender gap when I was talking to my little brother (now not-so-little). I was taken aback by his priorities, because he had them.

People born in the late 80s and the 90s( you can add 3 years to people who were bought up in villages) were exposed to a liberalized India, an India were western culture-aping was possible. This exposure, however small had a profound effect on the kids, they now had a clear direction to follow. The 80s guys are confused; they are stuck in a rut to either adhere to tradition or convention, to shake hands or to hug, Def Leppard or Lil Wayne.

This generation has a constant need of reaffirmation of their acts; they are torn between individualism and obligations. Their tryst with the ‘Culture of self’ has left them shocked and awed at the same time. They envy the people who accomplish that and condemn them for their lack of social sense.

Creating a positive anosognosia which suspends reality or rather becoming oblivious to it, to muster up a list of priorities and sticking to it seems to be the only way this generation can hope to cope.