This is a weekly blog that puts forward my thoughts, and my point of view.
You may agree with some. And probably disagree with most. And we can agree to disagree. After all, wouldn't life be boring if we all thought the same way.
My colleague Kurund made an interesting observation over lunch.
"Your data may reside in the Cloud. But you can only get to it through the Ocean."
And I realized that while this is true, I had no idea about how and what the Ocean transmission of data involved. I decided to find out a little more and its fascinating. Have a look at how the Internet is connected through the Ocean and you too are likely to be amazed.
How Undersea Internet Cables Carry The Internet Across The Ocean Earth Lab
The internet connects people all across the world, but how do fiber optic cables carry the internet across the oceans? BBC Earth Lab explores!
Inside the Beach House Connecting the World’s Internet
We visit Denmark and talk to a marine maintenance manager to learn more about how undersea cables are crucial to data transportation.
Undersea Cables Power The Internet
Every time you visit a web page or send an email, data is being sent and received through an intricate cable system that stretches around the globe. Since the 1850s, we've been laying cables across oceans to become better connected. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber optic cables constantly transmitting data between nations.
How Undersea Internet Fiber Optic Cables Are Laid On The Ocean Floor
On Feb 13, Ivy and I celebrated 25 years of our marriage. Ours has been a marriage of "Imperfect Understanding."
I've been Imperfect. And Ivy's been Understanding.
Freia sent a Tweet wishing us.
Although I must say that in 25 years, I've managed to turn that look of "What the hell am I getting into ...", into an awesome smile of, "It wasn't too bad."
I've got a zillion reasons to be thankful to Ivy for having tolerated me for 25 long years. To celebrate 25 years, here's my list of 25 Thank You's.
Thank you for ...
Freia.
Reia.
being the perfect daughter-in-law.
looking after Daddy.
looking out for and always supporting me. Unconditionally.
being a perfect homemaker.
giving me a a zillion cups of Chai.
adjusting to my work schedule.
doing 100% of the cooking. And making amazing food.
doing 100% of managing our house. And making it a beautiful home.
doing 100% of managing the kids. And raising awesome kids.
being a pleasing person for 25 years, just as you said when we first met.
Smiling. Always.
tolerating my tantrums.
making up, even though it was I who was being unreasonable.
expecting Nothing. And not getting mad when that's exactly what I got you.
caring for people you don't even know. Your patients.
tolerating and sometimes even encouraging my always changing idiosyncrasies.
never caring about money.
loving me.
caring for me.
accepting me as I am.
for the music you introduced me to.
being PERFECT.
and being Just The Way You Are.
And while I've not been a great husband for the last 25 years, I commit to being better during the next 25. With a hope that in case I fail, you'll continue to tolerate me. And love me as I Love You. Since Feb 13, 1994. And forever more.
25 years ago we set out on the Voyage of our Lifetime. And it's been an Amazing and Beautiful Voyage. Onwards to 25 more years of this Beautiful Voyage. Bon Voyage Mon Amie et Mon Amour
p.s.: I just realized I haven't given you a gift for our 25th. Or for the previous 24 anniversaries. How about I get something really cool for our 26th ? :)
Preema had recommended that I read Dr. Yuval Noah Harari. Like most other things, I hadn't heard about Dr. Harari. The first book I picked was his last. Homo Deus.
The book was fascinating. It gave a different perspective on the future. I recommend that you definitely read it. Am giving below some excerpts of Homo Deus.
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.
Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda.
What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.
With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow examines what might happen to the world when old myths are coupled with new godlike technologies, such as artificial intelligence and genetic engineering.
Humans conquered the world thanks to their unique ability to believe in collective myths about gods, money, equality and freedom – as described in Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. In Homo Deus, Prof. Harari looks to the future and explores how global power might shift, as the principal force of evolution – natural selection – is replaced by intelligent design.
What will happen to democracy when Google and Facebook come to know our likes and our political preferences better than we know them ourselves? What will happen to the welfare state when computers push humans out of the job market and create a massive new “useless class”? How might Islam handle genetic engineering? Will Silicon Valley end up producing new religions, rather than just novel gadgets?
As Homo sapiens becomes Homo deus, what new destinies will we set for ourselves? As the self-made gods of planet earth, which projects should we undertake, and how will we protect this fragile planet and humankind itself from our own destructive powers? The book Homo Deus gives us a glimpse of the dreams and nightmares that will shape the 21st century.
About the Book
Sapiens explained how humankind came to rule the planet. Homo Deus examines our future. It blends science, history, philosophy, and every discipline in between, offering a vision of tomorrow that at first seems incomprehensible but soon looks undeniable: humanity will soon lose not only its dominance, but its very meaning. And we shouldn’t wait around for the resistance, either – while our favourite science fiction trope sees humans battling machines in the name of freedom and individualism, in reality these humanist myths will have long been discarded, as obsolete as cassette tapes or rain dances. This may sound alarming, but change is always frightening.
Over the past century, humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague and war. Today, more people die from obesity than from starvation; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed in war. We are the only species in earth’s long history that has single-handedly changed the entire planet, and we no longer expect any higher being to shape our destinies for us.
Success breeds ambition, and humankind will next seek immortality, boundless happiness and divine powers of creation. But the pursuit of these very goals will ultimately render most human beings superfluous. So where do we go from here? For starters, we can make today’s choices with our eyes wide open to where they are leading us. We cannot stop the march of history, but we can influence its direction.
Future-casting typically assumes that tomorrow, at its heart, will look much like today – we will possess amazing new technologies, but old humanist values like liberty and equality will still guide us. Homo Deus dismantles these assumptions and opens our eyes to a vast range of alternative possibilities, with provocative arguments on every page:
After four billion years of organic life, the era of inorganic life is now beginning.
The main products of the twenty-first century economy will not be textiles, vehicles and weapons, but bodies, brains and minds.
While the industrial revolution created the working class, the next big revolution will create the useless class.
The way humans have treated animals is a good indicator for how upgraded humans will treat the rest of us.
Radical Islam may fight rearguard actions, but the truly impactful religions will now emerge from Silicon Valley rather than the Middle East.
Democracy and the free market will both collapse once Google and Facebook know us better than we know ourselves, and authority shifts from individual humans to networked algorithms
We will knowingly renounce privacy in the pursuit of better health.
Humans won’t fight machines; they will merge with them. We are heading towards marriage rather than war.
Most of us will not get to decide how technology will affect our lives because most of us don’t understand it (how many of us voted on how the Internet would work?).
This is the shape of the new world, and the gap between those who get on-board and those left behind will be bigger than the gap between industrial empires and agrarian tribes, bigger even than the gap between Sapiens and Neanderthals. This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.
For the last 6 months, ever since Ivy was transferred to Kalaburagi and we have been using the Railways extensively, I've been going on about how impressive the whole system is.
Recently Claudian made an interesting observation to me. He mentioned that this is relatively new and that the Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and the current government had a big role to play in the improvement. He sent me 2 articles that showed exactly how they had managed it. Have a read.
Train delays to cost top railway officials their promotion
During an internal meeting last week, the Railway Minister told Zonal Managers that they cannot hide behind the pretext of maintenance work to explain delays in train services. He warned the heads of Zonal Railways that delays in train services will defer their annual appraisals.
Train passengers in India have one common complaint that the trains don't come on time. But, maybe not anymore - except in some emergency situations. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has asked senior Railway officials to improve train punctuality in one month or lose appraisal proportionately.
In 2017-2018 fiscal, 30 per cent trains were running late on the railway network.
During an internal meeting last week, the Railway Minister told Zonal Managers that they cannot hide behind the pretext of maintenance work to explain delays in train services. He warned the heads of Zonal Railways that delays in train services will defer their annual appraisals.
The Minister called out every zonal head individually and asked them to explain the poor punctuality figures. But, he came on heavily on Northern Railway- General Manager as his zone recorded 49.59 per cent punctuality performance till May 29- lowest on the index.
Last month, Prime Minister Modi had asked Piyush Goyal about the state of train punctuality and told him to improve it. A railway official told PTI that the Minister has taken a lot of flak for the delays, but Goyal knew it was a price he had to pay for the large-scale renewal of tracks. "However, the punctuality figures are way worse than what we had expected. Clearly, the zones are using maintenance work as an excuse to hide their inefficiency," the official said.
After Northern Railway, Northeast Frontier Railway and the Eastern Railway have performed poorly in punctuality performance index - 27 per cent and 26 per cent plunge respectively.
Railway Minister Goyal quoted media reports to explain how misusing resources have led to delays. He recalled a recent incident when engineers wasted Rs 25 lakh in a failed attempt to replace a girder at Nizamuddin railway station in New Delhi. "The Minister demanded accountability from the General Managers and said such wasteful blocks should not be taken. He was aghast that such unnecessary delays were happening during the holiday season when trains are in high demand," the PTI quoted an official as saying.
According the officials who attended the meeting, Goyal has made it clear that by June 30, if punctuality of the trains in all the zones does not go up then their General Managers will not be considered for promotion. He also said that their performance ratings will depend on where they figure on the delay list. The lower they are, the worse for them," the Minister added.
Earlier in April, the Minister, while addressing the 63rd Railway Week National Awards Function-2018, had said that "Punctuality of trains should be like that in Switzerland where clocks are set to the arrival of trains".
Stop fudging data to show improvement in punctuality figures: Piyush Goyal to railway zones
The national transporter had released figures that showed 76 per cent trains were running on time, as compared to an average 60 per cent all through.
NEW DELHI: Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has warned zonal railways to stop data manipulation to show improvement in punctuality, indicating that punctuality figures provided by zones varied from passengers' feedback.
The national transporter had released figures that showed 76 per cent trains were running on time, as compared to an average 60 per cent all through.
In a letter to the zonal heads, the Railway Board last week warned against such fudging of data.
"Wrong feeding of arrival/departure of trains at terminals and interchange points continues to be adopted by zonal railways and divisions falsify records to improve punctuality.
"Feedback from general public through social media is continuously being received on daily basis. MR (Minister of Railways) has expressed his serious displeasure and directed that the practice must stop forthwith. Please ensure strict compliance to avoid any unpleasant situation," it said.
Punctuality performance of mail/express trains during the period from September 17 to September 23 showed that the Ranchi division in the South Eastern Railway had achieved 100 per cent punctuality and 21 divisions had recorded punctuality of 90 per cent and above during the period.
This is a major improvement from the average 60 per cent punctuality being maintained just two months back.
In the new time table, the railways has set a target of achieving 95 per cent punctuality.
On looking further, I found an even more interesting document.
I went through the document and was floored. It was amazing. I haven't seen such an effective document with totally clarity from large private organizations, let alone the Government. It has everything. What needs to be done. How it'll be done. When it'll be done. What the results should be. And how will they be measured.
I was super impressed with the Indian Railways. Now I'm even more impressed with the Indian Railways and the Government.
