2024 ! – V 2.0 of Orwellian 1984 ?

And it is happening faster than you think !

 “ SOUND WAVES “ ( Audio ) :

These got captured / encapsulated and got broadcast / narrow-cast , all over the World to anyone of your choice , using landlines / mobile phones , in a matter of seconds

 “ LIGHT WAVES “ ( Video ) :

These too got captured and transmitted to anyone , anywhere in the World , as your Selfie Photo / Video , using a lowly smart phone – and again , in matter of seconds

And only yesterday , digital camera maker RED, announced that it’s building the Hydrogen One, and they’re calling it the world’s first “holographic” phone. It is expected to have a retina-display screen that can switch from 2D content to holographic multi-view content, 3D content, and interactive games – without needing special glasses !

I suppose , that would enable you to conduct “ Holographic Conferences “ from your living room or office !

Let us not forget that , ISPs / MSPs and other SERVICE PROVIDERS , are already storing all of your CONVERSATIONS and your LIFE EVENTS , when you use a Mobile Phone !

“ TOUCH WAVES “ ( Feel the SKIN ) :

Hepatic devices are already enabling you to feel the skins of friends ( or patients ) , from thousands of miles away

“ SMELL – TASTE “  WAVES  :

With arrival of Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality , day is not far when , sitting in your sofa , you can smell / taste that pizza , from across the World

But Japanese firm FutureLeap says : this is nothing !

It claims it has just the thing for the in-the-mood couch potatoes with a Virtual Reality System so realistic you’d swear that cyber date just whispered sweet nothings in your ear !

 “ BRAIN WAVES “ ( EEG ) :

Scientists are attaching a few sensors to your head, capturing your Brain Waves , and accurately interpreting these as “ Specific Thoughts / Sentiments “ !

It is only a matter of time before the bulky wired headset gets replaced by a mobile or a wrist band , capable of capturing your “ BRAIN WAVES “ and ( without your explicit permission ) , transmitting any of your thoughts which it considers “ EVIL “  to a CENTRAL SERVER of the ESTABLISHMENT !

And it will do this SURVEILLANCE , 24*7  ! – even when you are asleep !

Those who managed to escape the “ 1984 “ of George Orwell , were lucky

Those who will be around when 2024 arrives , may not be so lucky !

Those who have any lingering hopes , should read following new report , which appeared in Times of India ( 06 July ) :

Snapchat's controversial new feature allows other people to see where you are in real time…

Snap Map uses data such as your location, speed of travel and phone usage to work out where you are and what you're doing, and shares this you're doing, and share information with you friends on an interactive map. The map, which you can launch by pinching the Snapchat camera, is precise enough to show not only what street you're on, but also whereabouts of that area.

Fortunately , Snapchat lets you opt out of sharing your location with “Ghost Mode“, which is enabled by default. However, while “Ghost Mode“ hides you from your friends' maps, it allows you to track any of your friends who haven't turned it on.

 “Some people share their Snapchat username on other platforms and this allows other users to request to follow them on Snapchat. Users can also add others using their phone number, therefore sharing a mobile number means they may be added on Snapchat.“

08  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

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V 3.0  ?  [  20  Jan  2018  ]


There are 7,000 million people on the earth

It is possible that , at any given time , some 7 million of these are lying in ICU , connected with :

*   Electroencephalogram ( Brain Monitor )

*   Electrocardiogram      ( Heart Monitor )

*   Pulse Rate Meter

*   Oxygen Level Meter

*   Glucose Level Meter........etc

As soon as these instruments get embedded with Internet of Things ( IoT ), a central server could collect all of these " measurements / readings " on 24*7 basis , for all 7 million persons 

Then it will combine these readings with following data about each of those 7 million persons :

*   Country / Region / City  /  Language 

*   Race /  Religion  /  Gender /  Age

*   Height /  Weight  /  Colour  /  Biometrics 

*   Blood Group / DNA  / Past Medical History.....etc


It will also record , who died / when  !

Using such massive data base, can BIG DATA / Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning , figure out what " Customized healthcare / Medical treatment / Supplementary diet " should be " prescribed " for each human on this earth ?

Shall we support such " Invasion of Individual Privacy " , in the larger interest / benefit of entire mankind ?

I think , we should 

In the Eyes of Insiders

How do employees see their company ?

Way back in 1987 ( when I was with L&T – Powai Works ) , that question bothered me

So I devised following SURVEY FORM and asked the Supervisors / Officers and Managers to “ rate “ the company on each parameter

The survey was anonymous but the respondent had to mention ( tick ) whether he / she was a Supervisor , an Officer or a Manager ( since perceptions vary with the hierarchy )

Unfortunately , I do not have the SURVEY FINDINGS , but I think the FORM may prove useful to readers – although it was designed keeping in mind , the internal ( to L&T ) and external ( in the country ) conditions prevailing at that time , many of which have changed over the years

RATING  SCALE :

·         Very Strong  /  Strong /  Just Adequate  / Weak  /  Very  Weak

PARAMETERS  :

1…. Technological Competence

2…. Superior Product

3…. Long Product Cycle ( low obsolescence rate )

4…. Scale of Operations

5…. Manufacturing  Capabilities

6…. Planning & Control ( in Mfg , Sales etc )

7…. After Sales Service

8…. Saleability of Finished Goods

9…. Quality Consciousness ( company wide )

10….Trained / Skilled Manpower ( for all Functions )

11…. Diversified Activities

12…. Geographically Dispersed Mfg Units

13…. All  India Marketing Set up

14…. Marketing Organization

15…. Organizational Systems & Procedures

16…. Financial Soundness

17…. Large Asset Base

18…. Company Image / Goodwill

19…. Well Defined Organizational Structure

20…. Cost of Operations

21…. Pricing of Products

22…. Timely Decision Making

23…. Delegation ( Decision Making )

24…. No of levels in Management

25…. Disciplined Work force

26…. Commitment of Unionized Staff

27…. Non Multiplicity of Unions

07  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Transparency in Political Funding ?

Economic Times ( 06 July ) carries a report titled :

“ Political Funding Next on Radar : FM “

As per this report , Shri Jaitley said :

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“ We are looking at some major steps to be announced by which we want to cleanse the entire political funding in India

For the last 70 years, the world’s largest democracy has survived on funding which really brings no credit to the democracy and I think it has been the prime minister’s insistence that this has to be one of the subjects that the government has to take up now as a top priority “

We are aware of some modest reforms ( electoral bonds / cap on cash payments ) that Shri Jaitley introduced in the last budget

But no one believes that these reforms go far enough ( - including CEC ! )

Millions of Indians ( but no political party ) want ALL donations , irrespective of the amount involved , to be by official / transparent channels ( cheque / Online Payment etc ) , and want mandatory filing of INCOME / EXPENSE statements with CEC !

I request Shri Jaitleyji to consider following suggestion :

STRUCTURE

·         No direct donations ( even Rs 5 ) by anyone to any Political Party or to any Political Leader ( even as birth-day gift ! )

·         Creation of a CENTRAL ELECTION FUND ( CEF ) , controlled / administered by the Central Election Commission

·         Donations can only be given to CEF – and only by cheque / online etc , quoting Aadhar number

·         Donations will get tax exemption as CSR

·         CEC will publish , on its web site , a continuous / dynamic / daily ACCOUNT of amounts received ( with Aadhar No of each donor ) and amounts spent / disbursed by CEC to Political Parties / Candidates ( with full details of each )

·         From CEF , Election Commission will distribute FUNDS to political parties for fighting elections / other expenses , on predetermined ‘ Occasions ‘

PROCESS

·         Funding of Political Parties by CEC ( from CEF ) , can be made as per following two alternatives :

[ A ]    AFTER  THE  ELECTION ( CANDIDATE – based Reimbursements ) :

#  After each Election ( Central / State / Municipal ) , ALL candidates contesting the election ( including independent candidates ) , shall submit to CEC , a STATEMENT of EXPENSES incurred in fighting the election.

Even if a group of parties have come together to fight the election ( MahaGathBandhan ), each candidate will get linked to ONE party only

#  Statement will be as per format decided by CEC , giving category-wise expense details ( all payments listed in the statement , must be through legal / official channels , such as Cheque / Electronic Bank Transfer / Mobile Wallets etc )

#  There will be UPPER LIMITS of REIMBURSEMENT for each category of expense and an overall limit

#  The statement will also show the “ Sources of Funds “ ( with full details such as OWN or borrowed from CLOSE RELATIVEs , with names )

#  Actual amount to be reimbursed to each candidate , will be computed based on a number of factors , main factor being the “ percentage of popular votes polled “ by that candidate ( no reimbursement for those candidates who get less than 5 % of popular vote )

#  Actual re-imbursements made by CEC , shall not be counted as INCOME of that candidate , for Income Tax purpose

[ B ]   BEFORE  THE  ELECTION ( PARTY – wise ADVANCES ) :

# Before each election , All recognized Political Parties will get ADVANCES from CEF , computed using a TRANSPARENT , mathematical formula , based on following factors :

# FACTORS with POSITIVE WEIGHTAGE :

·         In all the elections since independence ( Central + States + Municipal ) , percentage of popular votes polled by each party in those elections along with the percentage of seats won by each party

·         Number of years for which the party has been recognized by CEC

·         Cumulative number of “ Days “ ( not months or years ) , each party was in power ( Centre + States + Municipality ) since independence

·         No ( or percentage ) of seats “ won “ in each election

     #   FACTORS with NEGATIVE WEIGHTAGE :

·         No of MPs / MLAs having criminal cases pending against them

·         No of times candidates / parties were “ warned “ by CEC ( for any reason )

·         No of years for which Annual Return NOT filed with EC

·         No of candidates / Legislators convicted by a Court

DEAR SHRI JAITLEYJI :

Above mentioned suggestion , is by no means , comprehensive

You may want to consider a HYBRID MODEL which is a combination of the alternatives listed above

It is important that all the figures / data used in the FORMULA , are supplied only by the Election Commission and the Speakers of various legislatures – and made public

Since there is no way political parties will reach a consensus on my suggestion , best way would be to publish an online SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE and ask citizens to vote / rate , against each item of suggestion and then publish the FINDINGS ( on ALL government web sites ) , on a continuous basis

It would be too much to expect the Political Parties to accept this reform without building up pressure from 800 + million voters .

You may even consider a REFERENDUM !

07  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

A Wasted Effort ?

Mumbai Mirror ( 05 July ) carries following news :

“ No space to treat waste , say housing societies “

The civic body’s latest decision to not pick up wet waste from housing complexes and let the societies treat the garbage on their own from October has Mumbaikars worried

But members of several societies said that they don’t have the space required to take up such large-scale composting of trash collected from all the flats, others claimed that they lacked the knowledge to undertake segregation of waste at source and then treat them

According to civil officials , the city’s piling solid waste has been giving nightmares to the BMC , which wanted the housing complexes to reduce waste generated at source by undertaking segregation . But very few societies actually did that

While welcoming this initiative of BMC , I have serious reservations re the outcome of this effort

What can really make a difference ?

Read my following blog :

Incentivize  Housing Societies  ( 27  April  2016  )

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/04/incentivize-housing-societies.html

06  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs