Data, data everywhere

These are the times of information revolution, more fashionably called information age. When was information nor crucial is still not clear. But let us not debate that. So the new jargon is ‘big data’, ‘cloud computing’ and many more fancy coinages. So there are companies into the manufacture of so-called intelligent machines, claiming that these provide insights without limits. Well, for a student of Abnormal Psychology, that is more of a problem than a solution. Yes, insights without limits are reasons for fantasising and causing delusions, of both persecution as well as grandeur. And, of course, they also convert bounded rationality into unfounded assumptions. Anyway, we are in an era where people use stylish phrases like ‘data is the next oil’ for this world. Whatever that means may not be easily inferred but the fact remains that mankind can survive without data or oil but not without water, which is the real impending threat lurking round the corner. As city after city go waterless, clues are hardly discernable. Nevertheless, as this craze for data grows to maddening levels, there is a need to exercise some caution. While we are slowly but surely getting submerged in the ocean of information, nay data, an old poetry comes to mind. It was Samuel Taylor Coleridge who wrote this sometime around the end of the 18th Century in his Lyrical Ballads. It was the ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, a sailor’s plight on board a ship surrounded by water all over in a vast ocean, forcing him to recite the famous rhyme: “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” The modern-day human’s plight can be summed up with just a little modification: “Data, data everywhere, not a byte to think.” Yes, that is what is happening, and rather fast. Bombarded with data, all kinds of data on all types of subjects, the human mind is gradually slipping into an oblivion of its own making. It is losing its ability to think and analyse, thus increasingly developing a dependence on gadgets to aid the mind to think. What is worse is that these gadgets are systematically being made a substitute for the mind. Look what is happening: Machine is learning and human mind is losing the ability to learn. That it may lead to disastrous consequences is still a subject matter of huge global debate, but the fact is that our thinking is being outsourced to the so-called intelligent machines. Resultantly, human beings are likely to become what O’Henry, had he been around, would have termed as the Banana Public drawing an analogy from his famous expression “Banana Republic”. Overdependence on these thinking devices is subjecting the brain muscles to a kind of disuse atrophy, which may lead to the same fate that strikes the other bodily muscles making them flaccid. This in all likelihood is going to affect the human mind and its thinking ability in the long run. Some glimpses can already be found with amnesia and ability to retain and recall information declining. There are people who do not even remember their mobile numbers. Even simple calculations need to be carried out with the help of mechanical devices. Such a data-induced dependence syndrome is not far off that will render the mind dysfunctional and blunt the thinking process. But it seems that in the cacophony of differing noises, no one is ready to believe that minds, if not used, can well become a vestige like the appendix.

Fear is the key

By the time this column gets published, many things would have changed, for good or for bad. That is, in the context of the recent surgical strike of the Indian Air Force. Depending on what course the events take, opinions also may be expressed, not necessarily one-sided. Some may advocate virtues of restraint, while others may want greater offensive. But the point is to understand that India had limited options. The mischief of the terrorist outfits from across the border was getting more and more painful and there is every reason to believe that the military establishment of Pakistan was abetting them. No one is advocating a war, at least on this side of the border. We have all seen the wars India faced and the price we have paid. Wars come at a cost, and a huge cost. So it is always the last option. But there are times when one is left with no choice. The surgical strike was that choice, as the terrorists were getting emboldened with every passing day. It, then, was a timely and fitting action and no questions can be asked. In fact, we may do well to take out a leaf or two from the eternal work of Goswami Tulsidas — the Ramcharitmanas. In the Sundara Kanda of Ramayana, Lord Rama wants the ocean God to give way so that his army can cross. He has been very humbly requesting the ocean God to allow his men to cross without hassle and reach Lanka. But when this request goes unheeded for three days, Lord Rama loses his temper. He asks his younger brother Laxman to get him the bow and arrow. Lord Rama states that some people do not understand the language of humility because they are pig headed. These people only understand one language: The language of force. They would only respect you if they fear you. Saying thus, Lord Rama picked up his bow and prepared to shoot at the ocean. And that brings a trembling ocean God with folded hands, praying to the Lord that he will do whatever Rama desires. The basic premise of Lord Rama is summed up in the next two couplets of Ramayana as paraphrased below. He says that fools do not understand the language of love, nor do the crooked deserve to be loved. The miserly cannot be made broad-minded. The greedy do not listen to the virtues of charity and the short-tempered do not like peace. For such people, these words of wisdom do not work. They need to be shown their place. The same holds good for the terrorists. They will not understand the language of reason. You need to be one degree more unreasonable if you want them to listen. So it was in fitness of things that India used force with precision. It was the best strategy because for such elements, there is a need to instill fear. Further, there is also a need to understand the basic political compulsion of the Pakistani Army for whom India-bating is the only way to rule. And for the Pakistan politician, India bashing is a means to stay in power. Or else there is little reason to beg and borrow to fight a stronger adversary. True, you must avoid wars at all cost and the solution can only come through dialogue. But to bring the unreasonable to the negotiating table, fear is the key.

Kumbh A unique confluence

Customer delight’ in marketing jargon explains the feelings of the customer who gets more than what he expects from his buy. This, precisely, was my experience on getting down at Allahabad, nay Prayagraj, railway station in the early hours of a morning recently to be a part of the mega event Kumbh. The light and life in those hours was a pleasant surprise in that sleepy old city. It is not just the name, but the DNA of the city has also changed. The Kumbh experience may be ecstatic but the changed city feel was more concrete. The development, orderliness, and  cleanliness — all suggesting that Godliness can also be a cause for development. Thanks to Kumbh, religion is not just the opium of the people, the soul of the soulless conditions. It also leads to development, if used purposefully, with both the ordinary and elite, the Nagas and the Rajas rubbing shoulders. Kumbh has been a spectacle that served not just the needs of the faithful but also fulfilled the requirements of the state. A wonderful confluence of religion and economics, the Kumbh has proved how faith can be used to work wonders for developmental purposes. A development that was alien to the city was there on the ground in bricks and mortar. That Kumbh has been a global event for quite some time is known, but the kind of gentry that the melaattracted this time, it seemed as if all roads led to Allahabad. Not necessarily for those drops of nectar that a holy dip in the Sangam would make one taste, but certainly for the novel experience that one was expected to get. That is what marketing does. It creates a need for the kind of feeling one expects to get from some product, service or experience. Kumbh did exactly that. All kinds of people, those driven by religious faith and those attracted by the grandeur, the aura that was so beautifully created by the media, flocked at the Sangam just to get that feel; salvation not being the only goal. It was religious tourism of the highest order as the mela, that has concluded, witnessed around 20 crore people take the holy dip. The hoi polloi, the elite, the political masters, and the delegates from around 200 countries, all keen to get that experience. India, then, is not just the country of snake charmers and sanyasis. It is also the country of wonderful experiences, the real and the surreal, the ritual and the spiritual. A mela that could attract such a large sea of humanity in a span of only 48 days can well be termed as the world’s greatest event, which no marketer can think of packaging and selling. But it is not just about religion, nor only about faith, though these were the key drivers. Kumbh is also about economics and development. The State Government invested, organised, marketed and sold Kumbh, getting handsome returns in the process. How it became such a brand may well intrigue the best of the marketing brains. But one golden rule that explains this is — you can only sell that which people believe in. Marketing is then not just the tricks the marketers think they play to allure customers. Marketing is when you are able offer something that matches with the belief system of the customers. Gimmicks and mimics notwithstanding, marketing is about understanding real customer needs and providing the offers that would satisfy those needs.

The opiate of the masses

Karl Marx, who propounded Marxism, might have been right, seeing the way religion is being used to brainwash the masses. The recent suicide attack by a young Kashmiri youth vindicates the Marxian dictum that religion is the opium of people. Religion for Marx was the sigh of the oppressed, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of the soulless conditions. So, he advocated the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of people and wanted them to get real happiness by negating religion. The young man, who is the prime suspect in the Pulwama case, is found saying in a video created only minutes before the dastardly act that he will find a place in heaven for carrying out this operation. It certainly is the height of gullibility, but that is besides the point. The degree of conviction that is the qualifying feature of this and all such members of various terrorist outfits is the real matter of concern. There can be little doubt that some smart mischievous characters are exploiting this vulnerability of young impressionable minds to turn them into human bombs. But the point that Marx seemed to have missed is that it is not just religion that can be the opiate. Had that been the case, how could we explain the same degree of conviction of the young members of various Naxal outfits or for that matter the extreme dedication of the young members of those willing to die for the Tamil Elam in Sri Lanka not very long ago? There is a need to think on these issues.

How are the perpetrators of these mischievous paradigms able to motivate people, rather indoctrinate them with ideas of this kind that they lose all sense of reasoning? True religion is the easiest of the traps, given the belief system of a large majority that don’t apply reason to the question of religion. But the same cannot hold true in the cases of other forms of extremism. Ultra-Left, for instance, is a case is point. They, in fact, are irreligious people and follow Marx to an extent that would even surprise Marx. It is not religion that seems to be the reason. It is embedded far deeper in the human psyche, the desire to live beyond life, the desire to die for a cause that will make you eternal, to use a management jargon — self-actualise — which in one motivation theory is the highest need. But gullibility is, of course, a necessary condition in order that someone buys these kinked ideologies. But how does this gullibility grow? Take the case of the Pulwama youth. He was earlier a moderate and adhered to the Barelvi school of thought, that is nearer to Sufism, and does not propagate violence. What made him change so that he became a Jaish cadre? An intriguing question we must answer. The answer may hold clue to the growth of all extremist outfits that have been cleverly able to attract youth to be an instrument in the achievement of their devious designs. The psychology of such young people must be probed deeply. Though no conclusive research is there, socio-economic factors definitely have a powerful influence in making them vulnerable to the indoctrination of radical outfits. It certainly has to be a case of low self-esteem and poor ability to adapt to adverse socio-economic conditions that makes the young veritable instruments of destruction.