Internet of Humans

I have blogged a lot before, on topics ranging from personal, political and even gibberish. But never ventured into anything which our life has become today. The online world. That internet has now transformed into a 'right' for every human is almost a given. But imagining humans as mere ‘things’ is beginning to increasingly take shape.

A few years back it used to be common to see rickshaw wallahs flaunting and speaking on feature phones. Now the transformation is complete with smartphone prices plummeting. With the advent of ultra affordable data plans in India, the world as also India is truly transforming into a data munching machine. But wait ..

Something odd just struck me. There are many places in India where there is no water or electricity. But data thrives. The looming water wars don't seem to worry or bother anyone. Can internet or mobile data replace water? Several times in our apartment the water tankers wouldn't show up and the taps would be dry. But internet is still accessible.

Are we in a world where the priorities of life are misplaced? The focus is more on tapping zillions of bytes of data for our new age businesses. And no one is spared from this, not even that newborn whose photo gets uploaded within seconds of birth.

The fact is, humans are increasingly becoming bots. Our needs are being analysed and automatically fulfilled faster and faster. What would be left of our so called emotions, if the machines predict everything for us. Sometimes I dream of mobile borne humans as mere bots who can be tracked by multinationals - to predict their next buy, to predict their next destination and in future even suggest what to emote!

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Media Sedation, not Kanhaiya Sedition

The more the news around Kanhaiya Kumar spreads, less inclined I am towards believing in anybody, let alone his own version. Among all this drama and confusion, the one source which keeps escaping scotfree, is the media. On the one hand the media reports of instances of intolerance, on the other hand, they want the freedom to continue reporting incidents and blowing them into such major proportions, there is no one who knows what the truth is. And then what happens? The so called anti national gets the sympathy of many, courtesy the media and no one now is willing to even know what the truth is.

The reporting media has become so powerful and opportunistic today, that an entire nation is held ransom to its opinions and views. It is quite appalling for the media to report incidents of intolerance when they themselves demand so much of tolerance. If I were given an opportunity, their wings should be clipped, not to subdue their reporting, but the constant debating and putting words in the mouths of politicians or students, you name them. It is disturbing to air debates which are fruitless given the media's reach and clouded views.

Freedom of speech is something which every Indian is proud to have. But does it give anyone and everyone to air their opinions and generate anti national sentiment? No. But hey, counter question would be - is there proof to show there were anti national slogans at JNU? But do we have proof to prove otherwise? No. But when you see news channels, Kanhaiya Kumar has become the victim. Irrespective of whether he is in the wrong or not, media will report he is the victim, and track him for 6 months and more.

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Snapped-deal - naps on a dil ki deal

Bought this product from snapdeal - Sony Alpha SLT A58M. Of course its currently sold out. But the order was supposed to come with a combo kit as advertised. Screenshot below:

While the camera arrived, the combo kit never did. And the I had to follow up with a ticket to make the seller send the combo kit via DTDC. The sellet though, showed no remorse in trying to bargain with me into sending whatever tripod or SDHC card or screen guard he had at his disposal which I promptly refused, Talk about customer insensitivity! 

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