We had sensed it coming in the carefully worded corporate announcements and in whispered conversations beside the water coolers. The uncertainty was nerve racking. But when the layoff was announced, it was almost a relief for me; the agonizing suspense was finally over. I was face to face with reality. Continue reading
Pictures of desperate migrants fleeing the war ravaged regions of the Middle East and the economically ravaged regions of Africa and Asia have been with us for decades. But only recently has the pace, scale and the attendant TV and digital media coverage overwhelmed us and the authorities. Countries in the Eurozone are scrambling to cope with the crisis, but the response is not uniform. Some countries like Germany with their Willkommenskultur, have taken in the lion’s share of the refugees from war-torn Syria and Afghanistan. But, as is also becoming clear, there are limitations to how many refugees Germany and eventually the EU can accommodate. However, granting asylum is a temporary fix, a Band-Aid. Let us look at the problem from a different perspective.
As a scientist, let me use an analogy from physics. Imagine two chambers A and B filled with air and connected by a tube with a valve. Chamber A has air at a higher pressure than B. The natural tendency of air is to flow from regions of high pressure A to regions of low pressure B. How do we prevent air flowing from A to B?
I get up in the morning and decide what to do that day. There is no obligation, no hurry, no compulsion. Should I go to the beach, practice my golf swing or begin that novel that has been buzzing in my head. I don’t have to go to work, not today, not tomorrow not ever. This may be a vision of the not too distant future.
I read with interest the post Rise of the Robots by Martin Ford. In that piece, Martin suggests that supremely intelligent robots, capable of thinking and learning, will be able to do most tasks performed by humans today, putting many out of work. Is this desirable? This is an important question and we have heard it asked many times in our history with the advent of any new technology.
Ranjan's Writings 