Not Flogging India

They have made a new movie. Slumdog Millionaire. It has won a couple of Golden Globe awards and has been nominated for a cartload of Academy awards. It has been hailed as one of the very best Indian movies. I am not going to watch it. I will explain why, and no this post is not about me bashing this movie.

One of the people involved with the production of this movie said with quite a bit of pride, “there has been a general trend to glorify India or sanitize India, in Slumdog, we have done neither”. Whether showing India's stark and filthy reality is a matter of pride or not, I am not going to discuss. (And to the patriotic ones who are going to mail me about “India's stark and filthy reality”, the garbage strewn back alleys of Mumbai and the heaps of urban refuse can hardly be called anything other than filthy).

I wrote this post to focus on an aspect of India that has been pushed to the sidelines thanks to our infatuation with crime, grime, corruption, destitution, failure and everything else that is negative. Yes our politicians are corrupt slobs, yes almost all the governmental systems are saturated with corrupt cockroaches. And thanks to a certain Mr. Raju from Andhra Pradesh, we have come to “realize” that the corporate world isn't all that clean either.

But look around you, we are progressing; and not by a small margin but by leaps and bounds. This country of so many contradictions of so many different kinds of diversities is not only managing to stick together as a coherent entity, we are actually working together. To paraphrase a dialog from a movie called “Namastey London” or something to that effect “India is the only country in the world where a Catholic lady stepped aside to let a Sikh gentleman take the oath of office of Prime Minister from a Muslim President in a Hindu majority nation.” Come to think of it, which country can boast of such acceptance of diversity?

The USA immediately comes to mind, but the point to be noted here and the question to be asked is this, would Mr. Barack Hussain Obama have been elected to the office of the President of the USA if he had not converted to Christianity? Would the people of the USA have elected a Muslim president?

Yes we have had pogroms in our country, the most recent being the Gujarat carnage, orchestrated by Narendra Modi, in which a tragic number of Muslims were killed, some of them brutally, I will spare you the details which are a mere Google search away. The point to be noted here is that the carnage, though tragic, remained confined to the state of Gujarat (certain parts of Gujarat if memory serves me right). It was not like the whole nation of India got divided among communal lines and erupted into civil strife.

Wherever there are differences, there are bound to be conflicts, they may be communal in nature or ideological or something else. The point is, that so many years after independence, we are still together as one single nation, even though we have been through events that should have torn this country apart.

Lets change the subject. Communal togetherness is not the only feather in our cap. We have several others. The space program for one is a huge asset. Sure, we haven't sent anyone to the moon or anything to Mars (yet), but there is one thing we can boast of that no other country or conglomerate can boast of. Our maiden voyage to the moon, the first time we ever tried sending anything that far away from terra firma, succeeded.

No country other than India, no space agency other than ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) can boast of succeeding at their first ever moon mission. How is that for a feather in our cap?

Let us talk about the military. It is no secret that we are not the most powerful nation on the planet. But ours is one of the largest armies. And if memory serves me right, ours is one of the most successful armies. The only time one army enforced a complete and unconditional surrender on another army was in the war of 1971 when the army of Pakistan (under Gen. Niazi) surrendered to the Indian National Army (under Gen. Sam Manekshaw) in Bangladesh (East Pakistan back then).

Anti terror and anti insurgent forces around the world are seeking the expertise of the corresponding commands of the Indian National Army in terms of training. Thanks to Pakistan our defense forces have become experts in matters of combating terrorism. Many would hold the 26-11 Mumbai attacks to mean the contrary, but on close examination reveal that the cause of the carnage was negligence on part of the civilian authorities as they disregarded the Intelligence reports provided by the RAW and IB (our intelligence agencies).

I am not denying the fact that its not all hunky dory in India, but there is an awful lot of good that is going on as well. Instead of concentrating on the bad news, working up a temper and coming down with blood pressure and other tension related disorders, we should concentrate on the good news. We should take pride in whatever successes our country can boast of, and use that pride to fuel our progress, while keeping the bad news in mind so that we do not repeat our own mistakes.

I take pride in being an Indian, and I know most (if not all) of you do, ergo its time to show it by working for the betterment of our country, after all, the government is not solely responsible for national development, we all are, whether we like it or not, so why not start liking it?

I am not going to watch Slumdog Millionaire because I do not want the image of gargantuan garbage dumps and back alley slums thrust in my face. Yes they are a reality and I will do my part in bettering that aspect of India. But I do not want to have the bleakness and precariousness of that society thrust into my face.

The Robots of Asimov

I plan to make a career for myself as a scientific researcher (I have already embarked on that endeavor). The domain I chose for myself is Artificial Intelligence. Many people have had many interesting things to say to me. The most disconcerting fact is that most people I have come across have said negative things to me in this connection. They did not insult me or do anything of that sort; they expressed their fears (some of them quite justifiable) about the act of empowering a machine with intelligence. They have given examples of movies like “Terminator”, “The Matrix”, “I, Robot”, etc as what could go wrong if we did (empower machines with intelligence). I myself can think of a far better example which is easier to imagine than the examples they put forth.

The story of HAL the computer from the Stanley Kubrick movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” comes to mind where a computer which is in charge of a space ship kills the crew because it calculates that the crew would be a hindrance in its functions. This to me is easier to imagine because I do not see the possibility of being able to replicate the human body using mechanical devices in the near future.

When faced with these facts and the (silent) accusation that I might be working to bring about the “end of man” or the “extinction of humans”, I turn to the works of Isaac Asimov for solace. He, in his books had formulated the 3 laws of robotics to prevent the confrontation between humans and robots. The three (slightly altered) laws are:

1. No robot shall ever harm a human being;

2. No robot shall, through action or inaction allow a human being to come to harm, except where
doing so conflicts with rule #1;

3. A robot shall protect itself from damage, except where doing so conflicts with rule #1 and
rule #2.

These 3 laws effectively prevent a robot from “hurting” its human “owners”. Then Isaac Asimov wrote two other books; one was called “Bicentennial Man” where he explores the possibility that an intelligent robot would acquire a certain level of sentience that would allow it to experiment with the ideas of “freedom”, “family” and “society”. This is depicted at many points in the novel where Andrew Martin the intelligent and sentient robot tries to buy his freedom from his master. In yet another scene, he embarks on a mission to seek out others of his kind.

The other book of by Asimov, “I, Robot”, explores the darker aspect of his “Three Laws of Robotics”. In this book, one super computer which controls all the intelligent robots uses them to stage a coup and “take over the world”. When confronted by the principal protagonist, the computer “VICI” explains that “she” decided to stage the coup because that is where a series of logical deductions starting from the 3 laws of robotics ended. I do not remember her deductions, but I definitely do remember my deductions based on my inferences from that movie. Her deductions, were because of the ambiguity of the word “harm” in rule #1. It seems that in his first rule, Asimov took the word “harm” to mean only physical harm and not emotional, psychological, mental and (maybe) spiritual harm. If all these are taken into consideration, I believe that the situation that arose in the book would not arise in real life.

Let’s say that these three laws are enforced and hard coded into the brains of each and every robot ever created. The truly pessimistic will still argue using the “what if” clause or stay just plain adamant that the events that folded out in “Terminator” and or “The Matrix” will also fold out in real life. I have the following to say to them. The hand that started the war would be human. Western philosophy is a philosophy of control. And what cannot be controlled should be feared according to western philosophy, and thanks to the proliferation of western media in the form of movies and songs and the like this ideology is spreading all over the world.

The act of empowering a machine (a robot or some other device) with intelligence is the result of an endeavor to take some responsibilities off the shoulders of humans. In other words, the creation of artificial intelligence is an act (either explicit or implicit, depending on your perspective) of relinquishing control.

Furthermore, the act of creating and AI, is the result of an endeavor to create an entity equal in intelligence to us. And once we create it as our equal, expecting it to acknowledge us as its superiors would be immoral to the point of being hypocritical. The poet Khalil Gibran once said:

“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you…”

Though he said this about the way parents should treat their children, this can be extended to pertain to AI if we humans are prepared to treat AI as the child of human intellect. AI will be created, whether we humans like it or not, we can either accept it and live with it (and I can assure you that life will be enriched beyond anyone’s wildest dreams). Or we can reject it and live a sub-standard life. There is a good chance that AI will not drive us to extinction. No truly intelligent being will cause the extinction of a species. But our lives will be filled with so much regret, hatred, animosity and depression that they will just not be worth living.

We humans definitely need a change in ideology. The concept of war is obsolete; weapons should cease being an instrument of war and start being an instrument of peace. The sooner we realize that, the better it will be for our whole race. AI is just the next step in our intellectual evolution, preventing its invention for fear of its consequences would be akin to advocating that a child should commit suicide for fear of puberty and the complications it would introduce in life.

The ramifications of AI depend heavily if not solely on the way we humans perceive it and the extent to which we are prepared to accept it.

Wall-E

Wall-E, I wonder if I can say much about this movie without gushing. For one, it’s one of the few movies (perhaps the only movie, if memory serves me correctly) that has completely won me over, charmed me. Ever since I saw this movie for the first time, the images have left a permanent imprint in my mind. I cannot stop myself from watching it over and over again. If I don’t watch it over and over again, I tend to see it in my mind’s eye. The limited dialogue plays over and over again in my head like a broken record. All this, despite the fact that it is an animation and despite the fact that it is a romantic movie; what is it that makes Wall-E so endearing and charming?

Firstly, the animation is superb (which isn’t a surprise as it was made by Pixar, and everyone knows that their skill in animation is superlative). Secondly, it is a love story set against the backdrop of an Earth so polluted that all humans are forced to evacuate. There is a male character who falls in love with the female character and he does everything he can for her, even putting himself in harm’s way for her. Finally, the two lead characters of the movie are robots!

Wall-E, pronounced “Wally” (an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth class) is one of a number of robots left on Earth by the humans who have evacuated the planet to clean up the trash. Over the centuries, he has developed a sense of sentience and he collects things he finds among the trash that capture his interest (e.g. a light bulb, a Rubik’s cube, cigarette lighter, a plant, etc). He also finds a video cassette of an old movie called “Hello Dolly” which he watches over and over again, this enables him to learn emotion and the importance of holding hands, a gesture which he understands as an expression of love. But having no company other than his pet cockroach, he is forlorn.

Enter Eve, an ergonomically designed probe which has the task of finding evidence of ongoing photosynthesis on planet Earth so that the humans can return. Wall-E falls in love with her at first sight, but she does not reciprocate this; although she shows interest in him and finds him cute. He takes her to his bachelor pad and shows her the interesting things he collected from among the trash. When he shows her the small plant he found, she stores it within her and deactivates. Wall-E is sad; he goes to great lengths to try and revive her and to protect her seemingly lifeless body. One day when he is at work, the ship that delivers Eve to Earth comes to retrieve her. As the ship is blasting off earth, a distraught Wall-E clings to its outer hull for a ride through space after which he ends up on the Axiom. The Axiom is one of many ships in which humans have evacuated Earth. On the Axiom, he meets many robots and humans. Their encounter with him changes their lives drastically for the better. Because of Wall-E, Eve is able to fulfill her mission to deliver the plant into a part of the ship that enables the ship’s return to Earth. After they return to earth, humans and robots start working together to revive the Earth’s biosphere and make it habitable again. During their ordeals to get the plant to its destination despite the ships autopilot (who is the “bad guy” of the movie), Eve comes to know of the things Wall-E did for her while she was deactivated and she too falls in love with him.

Wall-E has a box like body, a pair of caterpillar tracks for locomotion and two arms for doing his work. Atop his box of a body he has a pair of eyes. The designers at Pixar have designed this simple construct in such a way that every minute emotion is clearly, intelligibly and precisely portrayed. The absolute selflessness with which he helps Eve (whom he calls Eva) is endearing beyond all limits. She never tells him what her directive is or why the plant is important to her, but because it is important to her, it’s important to him. He goes to great lengths, even risking his life to help her complete her mission. Thanks to the intonation in his voice, his body language and most importantly his eyes, the audience has little or no difficulty understanding what’s going on in his “mind”. Every single aspect of this character, right from the way he explores his surroundings, to the way he interacts with other characters is endearing. I feel compelled once again to get back to his expressive eyes that convey every emotion, from awestruck bewilderment, innocent wonder, to being love struck and a plethora of other emotions; the most charming of which is the innocent wide eyed wonder with which he takes in the world around him. His attitude is similar to that of a child but has elements of adulthood in it. Kudos to Pixar for the design of this character.

Eve on the other hand can be described as beautiful and girlie. Her design was inspired by the seamless design of the Apple IPod and Apple Computer Inc’s Jonathan Ive had a hand in her design. She has expressive eyes and the ability to fly. Her vocabulary in the movie is restricted to a few select words such as “Wally”, “Directive”, “Come”, “Plant” and “Earth”, each recorded with different vocal intonations to indicate various feelings and emotions. Initially she is interested in nothing but her directive but towards the end of the movie falls in love with Wall-E.

Well, I have said quite a lot about this movie (hopefully without giving any spoilers) without gushing, but I fear I haven’t been able to express the reason why I find this movie incredibly charming. I guess the charm lies in the perfection and attention to detail that is evident in each and every frame of this movie and Wall-E's child-like characteristics.

As a closing statement, all I can say is that if you haven’t seen this movie, you most definitely are missing something wonderful.

To A Special Someone

Darkness descends upon me.
I cant find my path.
My mind is clouded by rage.
My senses never relax.

I am constantly reminded
Of the failure that I am
I am always expected to fall
At every place one possibly can

I am treated like some kind of investment
Without a soul of my own
I have always been an embarrassment
To everyone I've known

But then I see your face
Something inside me calms
I can think straight again
And you set off no alarms
Whoever I meet
Triggers an alarm in me
Alerting me to something not right
Alerting me to a judgmental mind
But I sense none of that from you
And for this I am grateful

I guess I just wanted to say thanks
But that seems barely sufficient
Though this life may be ephemeral
My feelings for you are permanent


P.S.: This poem is not dedicated to any real person. Though she is real to me, the rest of the world will deem her a figment of my imagination.

We have screwed ourselves

I break down
My knees buckle under my own weight
But I gotta keep going on
Its not about looking good anymore
Its not even about living
Its about staying alive
About surviving

The will to live surpasses all else
But this urge doesn’t numb the pain
It just makes it easier to live with

Cry out for help
But none comes
Reach out in despair
But there’s nothing out there
To hold on to
As you find yourself sinking
Into this quagmire

You gotta run as fast as you can
To stay in the same place
They say
The “they” is the omnipresent collective
They tell you what to do
What is right and what’s not
They dictate your life
They own your soul

There are those who crumble
They turn to drugs
They fall apart
And sink into oblivion
They are the ones who
Are inherently weak
They are the ones who
Nevermind…

It’s a dog-eat-dog world
It’s a rat race
Its almost like saying
We are all dogs in a rat race
No wonder the world is such
A messed up place
For dogs do not belong
In an event meant for rats
Yet they are thrust into it
Like square pegs in round holes
Or round pegs in square holes
No matter how you put it
It makes no bloody sense

Re-enforce your knees with steel
You’ll need it to bear the pressure
Of a million dreams that do not belong to you
Weighing down upon your shoulders
On second thought
Re-enforce every load bearing joint
Your shoulders, spine, ankles and all
Lest you fall under the pressure
And get crushed by the dreams
That weren’t yours to begin with

One hears the adages
About dogs and rats
And one begins to wish
That one were a dog or a rat
For their lives seem far more uncomplicated
Compared to ours

We were meant to live
But we make do with existing
I have no idea what’s wrong with us
But something definitely is wrong

“Screw the world”
One is forced to shout
But that is hardly possible
For we need the world to survive
And the world ain’t to blame for this
Sorry state of ours
It is us
We are the ones who have
Confined ourselves in this metal coffin
And unlike wood,
One can’t even claw one’s way out of it
There’s only one conclusion to draw from this:

We have screwed ourselves,
And who can “unscrew” us?
We.