Captive Adaptations

Getting Laid Off was a concept that was totally alien to me especially because of my Indian upbringing. I was always taught that if one did their part honestly & correctly, there was nothing that would hurt them and that they will always be rewarded for their efforts, how naive, I was. Well, there is a first time for everything, and when I got laid off for the first time, it took many days for me to come to terms with reality. Of course being on a H1 visa here in the US, only compounded the trauma (yes that’s the right word for expressing how it felt like). But like with all experiences I walked away from this LayOff experience with rich rewards (applicable literally due to the severence pay ).

It was exactly this day that year. July 30th 2001, my Black Monday, even though it was 4 years ago, I have learnt to live with the same insecure feeling everyday now. Not that I feel insecure about competition or talent around me, I feel insecure about being exploited. And how vulnerable you feel after putting in your best efforts. It has definitely taught me to take notice and control of the people/environment/events around me much more. While, this is still an “illusionary secure feeling“, alteast I live with more hightened awareness of what is about to hit me.

Before I start sounding totally pathetic, and lose the attention of you my dear reader, let me admit the “jobless days” were also some of my most creative days. And here for the first time, is the public release of some creative content of those days.

The first is a Blues song titled H1-B blues, adapted and recomposed to express my helpless situation, delivered in the voice of Your’s Truly.

The second, well.. wait for a Hindi Version tomorrow, (I have some issues encoding it in mp3 right now - Aaarrghhh..!!#$@%#, here is what it sounds like right now)

Till then Blues be with You !!

I have not read “The Selfish Gene” myself, but mainly through self observations & also many events in my life, I had long before concluded that survival instincts in humans overrides all other instincts, essentially rendering all of us selfish at the core of who we are. There is nothing depressing about this idea, in fact all sportsmen/women mainly realize that their opponents will not go down without a fight, and inherently believe that fight for survival/dominance is every being’s birth right. And this realization has made me respect all those selfless individuals even more, simply because I know that they transend their very nature of being. In the face of Natural Selection and Evolution however, all such selfless acts tend to lose out, but they are corroborating evidence that humans can demonstrate “free will“.

The “Selfish Gene” was pointed to me by my close friend a few years ago, who recognized the parallels between my beliefs and the premise in the book. For the past 2 years however, I have started to notice that Memes - which Dawkins himself introduced may be more powerful than Genes. And I think the transmission of memes from generation to generation has more bigger impact than Genes itself. There is growing evidence that mind’s manifestations might be richer than genetic manifestations. Human knowledge is essentially a process that tends to build on the previous insights, and memes that are passed from generation to generation only provide more tools to aid better survival.

This is more reason to rejoice, because memes are transmitted via social interactions, which means that humans are not entirely selfish afterall, in a way contradicting the “Selfish Gene” idea, but never the less, up holding Dawkin’s idea of cultural evolution.

Today, I got a chance to revisit Mark Pesce’s lecture on Meme’s to the End delivered in 2003. This lecture has some very important details, and I like it not only because of its content and vision, but because the talk highlights the

• Idea behind the New Kind of Science, which I have written previously on my Blog, ( BTW, I am still trying to finish the book which I bought in late 2002)
• And it talks about Nanotechnology another subject, which I have been trying to keep track of since 2001, especially after being lectured by my friend Phil on our roundtrip from Phoenix to LA.

Make some time to listen to the lecture by Digital guru Mark Pesce, I am sure it will sprout a few new manifestations in your mind.

Interesting choice of words for the title, how do you bring back something that is present everywhere. I have no clues why my subconscious mind is more creative than my active mind, but lets save that for another day. Well, I just wanted to draw or bring back your attention to Google as a company, which we know is present everywhere. Just finished watching this 57 min video of a talk by Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google at the University of Washington.

By the end of the talk, I was completely engrossed with the possibilities/opportunities that lie ahead of us, and vastly important challenges that we can all contribute to solving, and more importantly how Google as a company is constantly reshaping itself or for that matter how sharply focussed a company can be about its goals and challenges.

Very engaging, to be honest as I write this paragraph right here, it just struck me how Eric Schmidt as a person can direct your mind and vision to addressing these issues, and how he projects the Company and his business space to the foreground while completely blurring himself into the background.

Since he is addressing this to the academic community, its leaves you with a very refreshing feeling of inquisitiveness, rather than the shallowness of the corporate pitches we are used to. Its dated May 26 2005, about 2 months ago, but I highly recommend that you make time to watch this.

Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is here in the US, and I have been trying to catch up with all the details. Work, undoubtedly is the spoilt sport, I have not been able to objectively summarize the importance of Mannu’s mission. As always the Devil is in the Details, Stupid !. So, I can’t afford to ignore it, and today I made it a point to nail quite a few things down. This update might span a few entries starting today.

Strategic Importance of Mannu’s Mission
Knowing that India will be the perfect counterfoil for China in South Asia, this mission from India’s Globalization Architect is as crucial to US as it is to India. India of course is well on course to stamp its supremacy on the Global Map, and hence this mission and the support from US for its agendas is vital for its show of strength and backing. Think tanks from both the countries very well realize this. These are some of the observations I have noted from the best startegic thinkers around.

Thomas Bernett believes that if any one wants to learn & know exactly how Globalization will unfold across the world, they better start watching India. In his own words, let me quote

“India remains a microcosm of globalization: some of the most amazing and cutting-edge connectivity and some of the oldest and most nonsensical violence designed to drive people apart and keep them disconnected.”

Thomas Bernett remains one of the no-nonsense strategic expert, and I have watched some spell binding sessions of him laying out the Global scenario for the next 20 years. It left my jaw dropping even when I watched the same sessions a couple of times. On this blog I have also made references to his Pentagon’s New Map of the Core and Gap nations existing today.

Secondly, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the primary reasons for US to align with India are

• By 2015, it will have the fourth most capable concentration of power
• It will be among the five major economies in 25-50 years
• Can be a counterfoil to China
• Can stabilise the region littered with failing states

While I myself am relatively new, to come to terms with the publications from Carneige, I can assure you that they have some really sound & promising action plans. These should provide sufficient fodder to my dear readers as justification for the relevance & significance of Mannu’s mission.

Current Status and Possible Outcome of Mannu’s Mission ?
Going by the reports I have read so far, it seems quite a historic step, but its too early to say anything. At this point it is like a SandCastle as shown in the picture below (BTW, its a very interesting photograph - but I don’t want to digress right now).

The current status is like viewing a snap shot of a sand castle, which in itself might be all sand.

But I don’t have to be so negative either, because in a few photographs of the PM’s address to the US Congress, I happened to notice some of the most brilliant minds eagerly watching the proceedings. One of them was none other than Ashley J. Tellis, whom I consider equivalent to Thomas Bernett from India. And to my surprise he was also the man behind the report from Carnegie Endowment itself.

If you are interested in tackling the devilish details yourself follow these links below.
A Hammer Looking for Nails: The Gap, The Core and The Final Frontier
India-U.S. ties more secure than they have been in past 50 years
Indo-US Relations Headed for a Grand Transformation?

Alright, this is something that I wanted to erupt out from within me. I have unleashed it earlier too, but I am fuming right now. What is it with us ? Yes, I am referring to people, not monkeys, at least not yet !. For a significant portion of my past 3 years I have had to put up with people who are my close friends, family members, parents, well wishers, question about my single life and educate me about married life and its nuances.

And lastest to register into the band was one of my close friends who very recently got married. Now, what is it with married people ?. Why do people conclude that their way of life (mostly married people think this way), is better and more gratifying than people living a different type of life (mostly referring to singles). Sure I accept that may be 90% of the time, the quality of life, of people who get married might improve in their own view, and same may be true for this friend of mine.

But that perception (note the word perception) alone does not merit people to qualify that their life is better than somebody leading a single life. As soon as people make that conclusion (which is actually a conjecture), I am afraid they are out of touch with reality and for all practical purposes are imposing their observations on others, which is a big fallacy, leading its way to subjective thoughts and ultimately to acts of discrimination. The intention may be good, but hey, haven’t you heard, the road to hell can be paved with good intentions too. Its like, let me quote “The monkey said to the fish, here let me give you a better life, and put him on a tree“.

So folks, while I appreciate all the good intent behind your consistent nagging & taunting about my single life, I am afraid I have to correct a few things.

No matter what, please don’t conclude that people who have chosen to lead a particular way of life (be it single or a married lifestyle, be it based on religion, on economic structure, political structure, social structure - whatever ), have chosen a life that is in anyway inferior to the life you have chosen. Its a choice people make based on their priorities, limitations, circumstances and comfort levels. Heck, some people don’t even get to make the choice, they just have to deal with what is thrown upon them (like many unfortunate souls in Iraq right now, they just have to deal with what life has offered them, because some stupid chimpanzee like you thought democracy was right for them !!). All of you who have had the luxury to make a choice, spare a thought before making such comments.

Its no big secret now, what I think about all you experts, and the next time you try to impose/advise something, pray that I am in a humorous mood, so as to just brush your comments aside, for if you catch me with such comments in a bad mood, only murphy’s magic can save your day !!

A few days ago my friend was filling a US Visitor Visa Application form, for his parents to visit him, and one of the queries, asked the Employer details for his Dad. The query also requested to provide further details regarding atleast 2 former employers for his Dad. Now he shared this with me the night before and we humorously and quite suddenly realized how alien this concept was for most of our parents. The fact was all (4 of us were in that room) our fathers had just one employer their entire lifetime, and they remained perfectly loyal to the first job they landed and right through the course till retirement.

Going back to my home, and being a quasi-philosophical being that I am, I just started my own set of introspections on this new epiphany. Take for example my own case. I have already switched like 6 employers in the past 6 years alone, and I am averaging an Employer per year right now. And for me this seemed perfectly normal, since most of my peers are in the same boat too, barring a few exceptionally “loyal” friends. Added to this my parents had never questioned any of my dynamic natured decisions either, although they must have surely had such questions in their minds.

Now, this led me to just do some data gathering,

• one, because I was really questioning the belief systems that our parents lived with and the belief systems we live with, and
• secondly, the demographic data even amongst us was indicating a 100% paradigm shift and a completely new trend in our professional lives which was significantly different from that of our parents.

So, to see if there was any empirical evidence to what I was observing, and of course to find some answers, I started with the following questions..

1. Have we become more empowered as individuals, and is that what drives us to quick decisions ?
2. While we live in the age of increased sophistication, our world is filled with ever more opportunities. But are these real opportunities or just fads that keep us hopping over nothing ?
3. How easy or tough is it for us to make such decisions, since every opportunity comes with its own risk ?
4. Are we inherently insecure in each job, and our lifestyle, and is it insecurity that drives us to look for new avenues ?
5. How will this trend likely be in the near future especially with Globalization and a Global Marketplace ?

A little bit of googling and with some luck, I stumbled upon this idea of the “New Normal“. The introduction itself was right as if to answer my basic questions. Here is what it says…

Back in the 40s, 50s and 60s, it was fairly easy to plan for a secure future. People picked a career, a spouse and a place to live, and those basic decisions put them on a predictable course for the rest of their lives. Especially if they were lucky enough to land a job at a big corporation with great benefits and were also smart enough to buy stocks.

But now we’ve entered a totally new era, which Roger McNamee calls the New Normal. It’s a time of great uncertainty—about terrorism, corporate scandals, the outsourcing of jobs overseas, and much more. The old safety nets aren’t coming back, even when the economy recovers.

You might also want to check out the excerpts and may be give the book a weekend reading. At least it will give an insight into an investor’s mind !

The Indian Cricketers now have to dabble with T’Hats a Six (Thinking Hats - and that too six) along with their regular Indian Hats !. Yes, thanks to Greg Chappel, and Siva Subramaniam from TCS, they have just been trained to adopt and practice De Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” and its mindmaps.

Edward De Bono is the guy, I vaguely remembered as somebody who originated the idea of Lateral Thinking, but reading this article I also learnt that he is behind “Six Thinking Hats” too.

Here is a pictorial depiction of the “Six Thinking Hats” and the process behind it.

Our Cricketers seem to forget even the single hat — their country hat — when it comes to playing as a team, will they master all these six hats or will they toss them for a six.., only time will tell.

In the mean time, I have my own home work to do on these six thinking hats. If you guys have studied this before, post the links to any reference material in the comments below.

Now this is how you weave technology into life. I was catching up with JavaOne 2005 updates and in the process stumbled upon this. I have provided many postings about Jonathan’s articles on this blog, about participation age, about open source and how technology is changing our day-2-day lives. But Sun has gone a step further and here it is trying to say something about genesis of life itself. Check it for yourself.

In the image below these are some goodies Sun apparently had for this year’s JavaOne.

BTW, I also learnt last year’s JavaPolis 2004’s theme was “Only the Best Get In” & this year in JavaOne we are talking about “Compatability Matters“. Sun is definitely advocating technology for love rather than love of technology these days !

We have seen the personalization of internet happening pretty rapidly, and major companies like Yahoo, Google, MSN are trying to find a foot hold in this new “personalization abstraction - the personal internet“. Remember when Computer was getting personalized, yes, yes I am talking about the PC era. There was a WAR to win it, we are on a similar course right now. I know a few years ago the same “My web” has done the rounds, but that was just too early for any sort of adoption, this time around everybody knows what they are fighting for. Okay, my mind just flicked & morphed the previous sentence from “Cinderella Man” .

Sorry for the digression. Now, if the Network is the Computer, “Personalized Web” is our “Personal Computer”, what will be the new Network ?. Well, Social Networks will be the new Network. And me along with a few friends have been using a good tool called getoutfoxed for the past couple of weeks. Try it and see for yourself.

I am making a Prediction and Mark my words - Just like IPNetworks with Ethernet and TCP/IP revolutionized “Computing” as we know, SocialNetworks with Identities and SCP/SP (Social Context Protocol)/(SocialNetworking Protocol) — all right I made this up , don’t hit me **ducking for cover** — will revolutionize the new forms of “Computing”. And hey, I might have spilled the beans on some great ideas here.

This post will tickle a few ribs, raise a few eye brows, redden a few faces, surprise a few minds, but overall will leave everyone with a sense of shared amuzement. This apparently is the future of media right here, a Flickr style video service. Check it out.

Kehl Dekho and Living Dangerously, is now on a Global Playground, lets enjoy our 20 seconds of fame, thanks to some nice camerawork, some good commentry, and above all the slick performance under pressure from our very own star !!