The Day a Computer Blogs

The prospect of a novel written by a robot winning a literary prize (as it happened in Japan late March this year) should be worrying us. This can mean potential ability to write & publish hundreds of books in a single minute while being consistent in narrative, themes, and plots. Imagine what this would do to the human attention - which is faced with the prospect of filtering out thousands of books to select a particular book. Apart from the effects on the attention, this will put human authors (never could imagine using this phrase) in direct competition with a robot.

If the sources for content for a human to write a book include experience, imagination, observation or some level of constructs in the mind, what would be the sources of content for a book written by a robot? As the current case is, it is from some inputs from humans on key words and phrases or storylines (perhaps).

Keeping the potential problems aside, this is a big step for human race and there are many similar developments that aims to make life easier. Take Gmail's smart reply feature for instance. The intention is to save time and that life will become simpler if you don't have to type out replies to every email you receive.

Then, there are solutions such as wordsmith that will create - not just articles - but personalized articles given a data set. When the intention becomes 'to make what is possible', then objectives like 'making life simpler becomes miniscule'. 

With these, imagine the news industry - all they would need is the editor. Then, just like that, that's all we would need - an editor who would screen, filter and separate - not what is good from what is bad - but, what suits the taste to an individual creating personalized books, newspapers, magazines etc., 

With services like Flipboard and even Facebook delivering the same, you just have to see your phone for the personalized news & magazine that is waiting for you. The day will not be far when you have to fire up your device (whichever that is) to find the new book written exclusively for you. That day, it will not matter who writes the blogpost. The day the computer writes a blogpost will not be noticed by humans and may become a data point.

Coffee Shops: Providing Uninterrupted Personal Space & Time

As I sit in this Starbucks coffee shop here in Connaught Place, New Delhi, I can't help but observe how many people have made this place their office or adda. A couple of days ago, I was in Indiranagar outlet in Bangalore and believe me, that place was overflowing. I overlooked an outlet in the Mumbai airport and there was no place to sit. It is not a different story here in New Delhi either as there is not a free table that you can select. I have had no option but to share a table with a couple of other individuals, who, to my surprise, were welcoming.

As I sit here, I see some people who look like students, studying & making notes. Some people staring on their phones, a few animatedly catching up with their friends. A couple of backpackers replenishing themselves and people like me, typing away into their laptops.

It is amazing what coffee shops have done to providing uninterrupted personal time. One other place I can think of that does this is the library. Apart from the ones attached to the educational institutions, I don't recall any other library that one can go to as of today. Perhaps, a costlier alternative would be to get into a hotel room who charge by the day and the personal time required is in hours.

If there are really so many of us wanting uninterrupted personal space & time, why are more businesses not cashing in on this? 

It is possible that only a section of the population would like this and it is easy to wrongly assume that everyone needs this. It is also possible that more people are here in this part of the year to get away from the searing heat of the sun. 

As far as I am concerned, if I want to get something done and be productive, I head to the nearest coffee shop! If there is none, you can create a virtual coffee shop here: https://coffitivity.com/ which will provide the sounds that you hear in a coffee shop. There are a couple of youtube videos as well that provide this background noise for us to focus.

Waiting For An Indefinite Amount Of Time

“He’s just barging into me!” she complained to the man with her as they made their way to their seat in the aircraft.

As they sat in the emergency exit seat listening to the customary instructions by the air hostess, the person at the window started laughing and soon she and her partner joined as well. The laughter, much to the amusement of the people in the adjacent rows, lasted well after the hostess finished her discourse.

Weird things were happening around her this evening and she had started to believe that she attracts weird events and actions from people. The recent one was a few minutes ago on her way to the airport, the instance where what she thought was a truck coming towards her was actually two motorcycles and hence passed right through her. Thinking that nobody had laughed at the air hostess when she says the windows need to be open at the time of take-off and landing, she concluded this could be the last for the evening, a few minutes later she would dismiss the thought.

The baggage never seem to arrive and she was with only a couple of people who were waiting for the baggage near the empty belt.

When she went to the baggage services, she was told that she had to now wait for an indefinite amount of time as she was in a dream and the person in whose dream she was in, had woken up for the day and there was no certainty if he'll see the same dream again.

Why Airlines Need to Think For a the Customer

Every visit to the airport has my body parts twist in frustration. I may have unconsciously chosen to vent using this medium giving the blog much needed attention as well.

I have my own workarounds and hacks for each airport - which line would move faster, security frisking station offers the most flexibility to minimise time taken. This coupled with my own preparation that would enable me to save time tremendously from the way I pack, why I always wear a jacket if I'm traveling, the size of the bag I carry, leveraging one of the biggest lines that eats up all the time.i never check any of my bags in. Which would mean, I don't carry much and also I don't carry the hazardous items. This has impacted my choice of dressing and eventually - hold your breath - my first choice of colour for my clothing, my already abysmal fashion sense, etc.,

So, what's the point I'm trying to make? The reason one needs a hack is that the current process causes discomfort to the user. It is the responsibility of the airlines to make it easy for the users of the service it offers. Innovating to solve customer problems can go a long way in addressing these issues. A process to identify the problems could be a useful first step. 

Motivating the Lizard in the Kitchen.

Dear Lizard in my kitchen,

You very well know that running & hiding has always been associated with fear. Think of Rat or a Cockroach. When you run & hide, you are giving me power to chase and find. When you know someone is chasing you, you automatically give me that power. When you give power to me, you feel powerless and scared.

For you to retain power, you should not give it away. If you should not give it away, you should not run and hide. If you don't run & hide, you will stand still and face me. When you stand still and face, I wouldn't have to chase. You'll have me to 'think' and do something else.

Trust this helps.

Warm Regards,
Sleepyface.

(In an alternative universe, this is read and the lizard is in a deep contemplative mood sipping Long Island Ice Tea)

Conversations are Costly

Dear Conversation,

I have been searching for you for a long time now. I don't find you. 

I see people and I talk to them. All my attempts at conversations have been disrupted. Either by the context or by my need for a distraction.

I see that you are not attracted to me as much as I am attracted to you. Like the resigned lover, I have opted to resign.

I think I cannot afford you. You are costly.

Lots of Love,

Sleepyface

What happens next?

Every minute. Every second. We want to know what happens next. In the Akshay Kumar flick. In Moment of Truth. In The Weakest Link. In the book I'm reading. In the choices that are made. In a much larger context. In the CWG athlete's mind. In the news channels... You get the drift.

A case in point is the boy's photo here, "what happens next" is in its exaggerated state and only the answer to this question can save him. In my conversations with this boy, I am surprised the extent to which he has internalized the bewilderment this question leaves people. In its extreme cases, it can give birth to a sense of confusion which propagates internally, externally and cosmically.

The "One" question that nobody can answer, but, can only know by surrendering to the flow and the events. What Happens Next?

I told you so

Ever heard of the phrase "I told you so"? In my experience its not a very good thing to be at the receiving end of this. I think it is a disrespect to human-ness to say it. It represents and carries the culture which believes in imposing one's thoughts on the other. Whenever someone says "I told you so" what that person is saying is "You should've listened to my thoughts instead of disregarding them. Your thought process is not all that great. You shouldn't have decided and acted for yourself."

"I told you so" mocks the person's choice making, experiencing, failing and learning by himself. It has the potential to block the individual to act on his own the next time he faces a situation. Why would you want to deny him that? Where is your respect for his choice and decision? How 'bout the line of thought that says 'he/she can think for himself, in the same capacity as I can think for myself'? While thinking for the other is one thing, imposing the same on the other is unacceptable. What do you think?

A dialogue with a house

A house talks. It talks in a language that is a monologue. It is up to you to make it into a dialogue. It is when this dialogue happens that the house becomes a home - a space which you'd like getting back to. The dialogue also happens when you put everything back in the place created for it. The space created for the little things show the investment made - time and energy.

I stayed at one of my very good friend's house in Pune and it was this place that made me feel inspired to write about. It is here the dialogue happens. It is here the monologue could happen. And the owner - my friend - seemed to have such a nice dialogue going that I could do nothing but admire the beauty of it.

Why do you seek categorization?

Is it to keep like things together (inclusion)? Or is it to keep unlike things away from each other (exclusion)?

If you seek exclusion, then, you are progressing towards a goal and don't want to waste your time unnecessarily on things that are not related to the goal and hence, you are excluding.

If you seek inclusion, then, you could be exploring options in order to set a goal, which you don't know or haven't been able to arrive at earlier. Or, you could be plain confused and don't know where to go and hence are collecting information from every place possible and hope to act on it.

Categorize to "Exclude", if you want to go ahead. Categorize to "Include" if you want to ponder.

For example, I cannot imagine the amount of information a person following 356 people in twitter and having a reading list which generates about at least 100 unread items per day. Add to this, emails and links being suggested in twitter.

How much of this information is really useful? How much of this can actually be read? I can categorize by labels like sports, entertainment, tech, blah. But, what is the whole point?

(cross posted on oooligans)

Insomnia, Ken Follet and Google Spreadsheets

The time is 0106 hrs between Monday & Tuesday... Sleep just not happening ( If you're raising an eyebrow, sleepyface without sleep is possible. Its only the face that looks sleepy all the time. okay?)

Insomnia experienced first hand.

I just started to read -my first ever - Ken Follet's Eye of the Needle & its damn impressive. Making use of the the social networking site Orkut, I searched and found the author's community. There was a thread which talked about the 'best' books.

Thanks to Insomnia, I had the energies to open a spreadsheet and analyze the data (which can be found here)

and, there! the link to the three words in the title of this post!

My Next Ken Follet: The Third Twin. Any comments?

Words of J Krishnamurthy

If the thinker is not understood, obviously his thinking is a process of escape.

Cauvery - A Solution

Simple. .

Group all the cities / towns / villages that the river flows through as one single state.

Call it the Kaveri State.

Then, award pink-slips to the members of the committee who passed the Cauvery Tribunal

(Yes, I mean, starting from Talakaveri, through Srirangapatna, Talkad, ..... Srirangam, Trichy, .. ... ... )

Racism against odd numbers

Whenever I'm asked to pick a number, I choose an even number. Its the odd numbers that I don't like. I find them distasteful, and difficult to deal with. Starting from the way it rolls out of your tongue, until the manner in which it appears when you pen it down. Yes, I hate them, biased against them. They're, you know, odd!

You call this racism? Go ahead!

Snooze...

...is the button I press, whenever gymnasium calls me.

I only hope the whole process will not reverse.. (you know, gymnasium snoozing on me...)

Yesterday...

...was the day I wanted to write what I'm doing today..

Today is the day I have postponed "something else"for tomorrow..

The beauty of the whole thing is that, I will be coming to know about the "something else" that is postponed only tomorrow!

To Sleepyface

The moment you read this, you gotta sleep. Its pretty late and you have work tomorrow.

You're gonna watch "Back to the Future" movie. Immediately after that, sleep, don't blog. else, you'll be late to the office. and on the way to the office, overtake whichever red maruti omni is in front of you. Else, you'll be in trouble.

(fyi: you just watched Back to the Future (wiki link)- part 1 and part 2)

sd/-
lets say.. a distant relative?

Thus Spake, Hobbes

Why waste time learning when ignorance is instantaneous?

~Hobbes,

So, can we make learning instantaneous? a rapid knowledge transfer process? Just like the way they do it in the movie Matrix? yeah?

It would be such a nice thing. Engineering would be for four minutes with a two minute break. and come to think of it, i needn't use so many words to explain you this. may be a gesture from my side (wink, if you're a girl) is enough to make you understand what I'm trying to say. wow. nobody would need to use alphabets or the keyboard! My my. This is too much for me to handle right now .

I suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder

I nay my existence

The statement above discredits itself just because it has started with the word I

The statement above takes advantage of the dual character of I - I the alphabet and I the word

The statement above helps the reader to conclude that I suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder

Who decides whats the best?

Yeah. You? or they?

Whatever you consider "best" is situational? personal? data-driven? collectively agreed upon?

If something thats best today, isn't anymore tomorrow, it will be situational, then, am i not going back on my word tomorrow when i say its not best?

does the "best" tag come with a validity period?

probably, "do what you think is the best" is the best freedom anyone can give. what do you think?