Designations Define You

Following is an extract from a Business Line ( 28 July ) report titled :

“ Flat response : Tata Motors brings back designations “

Tata Motors has decided to do away with the ‘no designations’ policy that was implemented early last month.

As a result, all the original hierarchical tags, such as ‘manager’, ‘general manager’, ‘vice-president’ etc., will be back again within six weeks of change.

In an emailed response, a company spokesperson said: “...it was earlier decided to do away with the designations of the employees, across the five management levels.

By removing hierarchical barriers, it was also widely believed that performance would be enhanced.

Gajendra S Chandel, Chief Human Resources Officer, had then admitted that this was a challenging task and there was a lot of debate on how people within would react to the move.

Yet, it is now pretty clear that not everyone was happy with the move and for a senior employee who wore his designation on his sleeve, the abrupt scaling down would have been quite disheartening.

In the Indian context, hierarchy is a big thing even though it may not be such a big deal in the West.

It is quite likely that employees were concerned about external perception and how other associates in the supply chain, such as dealers and suppliers, would gauge their standing in the new ‘designation-less’ regime.

This is not a “ surprising “ reversal of a decision

In any case , TATA MOTORS management must be congratulated that they were ready to admit ( - although , Sotto Voce ! ) , that they had goofed up and made the reversal

Of course , HR managers / Recruiters and Head-hunters , have known all along , the fact that , in the Indian context , “ Designations Define “ who you are and what is your “ worth “ in the job market

Some 25 years ago , I managed to persuade the “ General Manager ( Operations ) “ of a large , nationalized bank to meet me

I wanted to persuade him to consider the position of  “ Vice President ( Treasury ) “ with one of my client , a very big , diversified Indian Conglomerate - salary no consideration !

After he talked for 30 minutes re the “ CONTENT “ of his current job , I mustered the courage to say :

“ Sir , Can I have a copy of your resume ? “ ( - this happened before arrival of E mails ! )

He pulled out from his wallet and handed me , his BUSINESS CARD , saying :

“ My designation and the Company that I currently work for , is all that your client need to know , to consider whether I can do that job they are offering “

In the 25 years since this incidence , designations have not only multiplied manifold but also got imaginative to the extent that , after looking up the Business Card of an executive , you have to ask :

Sir , what is your job ? What do you ( really ) DO in your company ?

28  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Can Supreme Stop This ?

Times of India ( 26 July ) carries following report :

“ First US co puts chips in workers “

On August 1 , employees at Three Square Market , a technology company in the US can choose to have a chip , the size of a grain of rice , injected between their thumb and index finger

Once that is done, any task involving RFID ( radio frequency identification ) technology – swiping into the office building, paying for food in the cafeteria – can be accomplished with a wave of the hand

Alessandro Acquisti  , a professor of IT and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College , says ,

“ Technology designed for one purpose may later be used for another , A micro-chip implanted to allow for easy building access could , in theory , be used later , for example , to track the length of employees’ lunch breaks , without their knowledge “

Todd Westby, the chief executive of Three Square, emphasized that the chip’s capabilities were limited.

“ It’s not a GPS tracking device . Your cellphone does 100 times more reporting of data than does an RFID chip “

I had described a similar experiment , under way at the Belgian firm , NewFusion , in my earlier blog :

Internet of  Humans  [  09  Feb  2017  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/02/internet-of-humans-ioh.html

With the raging debate ( in the Supreme Court and the popular media ) re the “ Right to Privacy “ , there is no chance that this chip implant technology will find its way to India , any time soon

But as Todd Westby hinted :

A SMART PHONE COULD DO ALL THAT THE IMPLANTED RFID CHIP CAN DO – AND MUCH MORE !

================================

Marking attendance using a Smart Phone , is a “ No Brainer “  !

To know how this can be done , read :

From  BAD  to  MAD ( 01  Jan  2016  )

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/06/from-bad-to-mad.html

“ HOW “ part is no Rocket Science !

Prepare to be amazed by the WHY , as explained by me , in this blog !

If Mukesh Ambani were to read this , he would make “ Attendance Recording  App “ , a built-in feature of his about to be released JIO ( 4G ) phone ( HR managers would endorse this )

That would persuade  millions of Indian Employers to fork out Rs 1500 deposit , and give  these  JIO phones to ALL of their employees  !

Wrong Question :  “ Can Supreme stop this ? “

Right  Question  :   “ Should Supreme resist this or direct the Central Government to

                             implement this Mobile based Attendance  System ? “

27  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Reducing Black Money : The Grand Strategy ?

Today’s Hindustan Times reports :

·         RBI stopped printing Rs 2,000 notes about 5 months ago

·         It is unlikely to print more 2000 rupee notes in the current financial year

·         Total Rs 2000 notes printed so far =  Rs  7.4 trillion  (  3.7 billion pieces  )

·         Rs 1000 notes withdrawn              =  Rs  6.3 trillion  (  6.3 billion pieces  )

·         New Rs 500 notes printed so far    =  Rs   7   trillion  (  14 billion pieces   )

·         Old Rs 500 notes withdrawn          =  Rs  7.85 trillion ( 15.7 billion pieces )

·         Currency in circulation                  =  Rs  15.22 trillion(86 % of “ before Demo “)

·         Rs 200 notes under printing to come into circulation in Aug

·         Initially , about 1 BILLION pieces of Rs 200 notes will get released

==============================

The ostensible reason being advanced for the introduction of Rs 200 notes is :

It will make life easy for citizens who badly need a currency note smaller than Rs 500 , for their day to day expenses ( so true ! )

Could it also be that , the Government plans to gradually  WITHDRAW  from circulation , Rs 2000 notes ?

Thereby making difficult , large scale transactions in CASH , involving Rs 2000 notes ( - obviously , BLACK MONEY transactions ) ?

You need to carry only ONE KG worth Rs 2000 notes for a transaction of Rs 20 lakh

But same amount in Rs 200 notes , will require to lug 10 KG ! Not very inconspicuous !

If so , this step is very welcome

But that GRAND STRATEGY will remain incomplete without introduction of ULTRA NEW notes of Rs 2000 , made out of plastic and embedded with RFID chips , as suggested by me in :

Embrace  the Inevitable  [  13  Nov  2016  ]

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2016/11/embrace-inevitable.html

And with RFID chip embedded , there will be no need for :

·         Top Secret  / sudden / surprise announcement

·         A small 50 day window for exchange

In my plan , both ( old and the new notes of Rs 2000 ) , can continue to be legal tenders , with ONE YEAR overlap !

26  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Artificial Intelligence : Destroyer of Privacy ?

Hindustan Times ( 26 July ) carries following report :

“ Elon Musk escalates row with Zuckerberg over AI “

The ongoing spat between tech honchos Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg escalated on Tuesday, with the Space X and Tesla CEO saying the Facebook creator’s understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) is “ limited ”.

Zuckerberg had earlier claimed Musk’s warnings of the dangers of AI were “irresponsible” and castigated him for arguing that care and regulation is needed to safeguard the future if AI were to become mainstream.

“I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios – I just, I don’t understand it. It’s really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible,” Zuckerberg had said.

In response, Musk shot back with a tweet on Tuesday, writing, “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.”

Musk had ignited a global discussion on the dangers of AI back in 2014, when he predicted that machines that are smarter than humans would spell “doom” for mankind. He is involved in a startup called Neuralink that intends to build devices to connect the human brain with computers.

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg considers himself an optimist when it comes to AI. Inspired by Iron Man’s AI assistant Jarvis, the Facebook chief has coded and developed his own artificial assistant which can control his home — including lights, temperature, appliances, music and security — that learned his tastes, and can even entertain his daughter Max.

The system he developed uses several AI techniques, including natural language processing, speech recognition, face recognition and reinforcement learning.

Even if we are not sold on Musk’s idea that AI powered Robots will spell “ doom “ for the mankind , there is no doubt that Zuckerberg has designed his assistant  JARVIS  in such a way that it observes Mark – and his daughter – all through the day and “ learns “ WHAT THEY ARE DOING , HOW THEY ARE DOING , WHY THEY ARE DOING

With all this “ learning “ ( info shared voluntarily by the Zuckerberg household ) , Jarvis keeps getting better

Not so frightening , as yet !

Now extend this scenario to JARVIS ( and similar devices from Microsoft / Google / Amazon / Apple etc) sitting inside a million households and picking up info about the behaviours ( including spoken words / facial expressions ) of a BILLION persons and relaying to the CLOUD [ - in 2 years , JARVIS will shrink / morph into that smart phone in your pocket ! ]

That is , “ accumulating / filtering / multiplying / analysing / extrapolating “ HUMAN INTELLIGENCE  of a billion persons

This will be the TIPPING POINT , when Artificial Intelligence will overtake the Human Intelligence !

AND THIS WILL COME ABOUT THROUGH VOLUNTARY ( - OR INVOLUNTARY ) SHARING OF PERSONAL INFO BY A BILLION PERSONS

If you still entertain doubts about  the future of  PRIVACY , here is what Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen ( both of Google ) wrote in ,

The New Digital Age ( pg 57 ) - 2013  :

" In an open democracy , where free expression and responsive governance feed the public’s impulse to share, citizens will increasingly serve as judge and jury of their peers

More available data about everyone will only intensify the trends we see today

Every opinion will find space in an expansive virtual landscape , real-time updating will foster hyperactive social and civil spheres, and the ubiquity of social networking will allow everyone to play celebrity, paparazzo and voyeur , all at once

Each person will produce a voluminous amount of data about himself – his past and present , his likes and choices , his aspirations and daily habits

Like today, much of this will be “ opt-in “, meaning the user deliberately choose to share content for some undefined social or commercial reason ; but some of it won’t be

Also like today, many online platforms will relay data back to companies and third parties about user activity WITHOUT THEIR EXPRESS KNOWLEDGE

PEOPLE WILL SHARE MORE THAN THEY’RE EVEN AWARE OF "

26  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs

Seeing AI through Google Glass ?

In my yesterday’s blog , I mentioned Microsoft’s Mobile app “ SeeingAI “

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/07/supreme-may-propose-technology-will.html

It is supposed to “interpret the EMOTIONS “ of the person being photographed

Later , in the evening , when someone took my photo ( iPhone required ) , “ Seeing AI “ screen read ( it can SPEAK too , since it is meant for blind persons ) :

“ A 85 year old man with face showing neutral expression “

100 % correct  !  100 %  spooky  !

What would “ Seeing   AI “ tell you if you were to take a photo of ,

#   Now illegal currency note of Rs 1,000  ?

#   A 8 month pregnant woman ?

I do not want to spoil your amazement  !

Next year , I expect  “ Seeing AI “ ( an Android version ) to read / speak :

“ 86 years old Hemen Parekh , with an expression of amusement listening to the futile

  debate on Right to Privacy “

And in another 3 years , no need for that intruder of your privacy, to carry a iPhone .

Just watch out for anyone wearing  the latest version / imitation of Google Glass and looking at you from 20 feet away (unfortunately , every glass-wearing person you meet in a Conference Room , cannot be sued for breach of privacy ! )

Not only will he READ on the glass screen , EVERYTHING about you , but also LISTEN every word that you are uttering ( lip-reading apps are already being experimented )

Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen ( both from Google ) wrote in 2013 ,

“ The New Digital Age “( pg 56 ) :

 “ Individuals will still have some discretion over what they share from their devices , but it will be IMPOSSIBLE to control what others capture and share “

To know what those devices would  “ capture and share “ about you , look up :

Privacydoes not live here ! 

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/07/privacy-does-not-live-here.html

To keep your BP down and your Sanity up , resign to the inevitable !

25  July  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogs