Do you think technology has gone too far?
I'm afraid we've traded quality for quantity in so many aspects of our lives.'' We want whatever we want and we want it now. Or rather, yesterday. We're not happy with picking up some milk anymore. We want 1%, 2%, Skim, Fat free, Lactose free, and we want them available in 1/2 pint, 1 pint, 1 quart, 2 qts, gallons and we want them in both cardboard and plastic, and at least 4 dairies to choose from, then we want all that in our chocolate milk, mocha milk, strawberry milk, coffee flavored milk, and we want all of those in non-fat, sugar-free, 2% and skim. Separately we buy the cream; whipping, coffee-cream, half and half, and we want non-flavored, vanilla flavored, coffee-chocolate flavored, hazelnut, strawberry, and creme de mente flavored; and that only begins to cover the milk and not milk products. Cheeses, God let's don't even go there. Same thing with a loaf of bread, a box of cereal, or a bottle of aspirin. Shelves and shelves and shelves. It makes me nervous. The computer, too much information, too many choices. Technology - I needed an alarm clock. Just a plain old alarm clock, so I went to see at K-Mart (hate donating to Wal-Mart). I left after 2 hours and didn't have a clock. Too many choices, too much information, sales-kids that talk a mile a minute and don't get that I don't get it. But you know what, it's our generation that created these things for them. Our generation put a man on the moon and satellites around the globe and missions to Mars, and computers, and then high speed internet into nearly every home...we put two vehicles on planets with cameras that tell us everything. In fact one of them is stuck and spinning it's wheels on Mars - and it's been up there for years and in a couple weeks NASA is going to instruct it to back out! Meanwhile it kicked out rocks, and they're all thrilled by the notion that there are rocks there under the layers of dirt and dust. And we wonder that the young want toys? The artic snowmobiles, supersonic jets, jetski's, and 4-wheelers were the catalysts for the space probes. We had plenty of outside toys, today the young people like them to fit in their hands and pockets. It's good they're young.
I sometimes feel that technology is making my life more messed up then useful. Is this a common feeling?
It is a very correct feeling and common as well.Every "technology" created by human innovation is prone to a pro or a con. Always. You can start with Fire - fire accidents, Wheel - road accidents, Electricity - fatal, Nuclear...and so on...Of course my favourite innovation of mankind causing several "difficult to solve psychological accidents" - has been "language" ... So great is use of language and at the same time like they say in Mahabharata is the weapon to kill any ones "spirit" as well !So any technique - has to be understood and leveraged rightly ! There is no technique with out a side-effect.Today technology is applied very very well in media and communications. We have more option to communicate ! I have already hinted on the fatalities of language and its use from ancient days ! With more improved and powerful technologies for media and communication - it is very easy for us to get sucked into "seemingly whirlpool of information", "stirred endlessly" and "thrown out to some other end" :)! - this is just media and communication !We should be very careful with leverage of any technology at an individual level. Sure as a society, we need all the technologies to mix-and-match and solve problems quickly !
Do you think environmental problems can be solved by technology ?
Any environmental problems that have been identified so far and have been solved or reduced have been solved or reduced by technology. However what some people call "high technology" i.e. computers is mostly irrelevant to the actual job. That involves the world of moving objects about, not information. When someone was raving on about the wonders of e-mail years ago, a friend of mine said "So e-mail me a pizza." Shoveling soil into a wheelbarrow is using technology. So are things like compost heaps or substitution of a biodegradable insecticide for one that is not so biodegradable. Bag house filters and electrostatic precipitators in coal fired power stations are technology. So is cleaning coal before it goes into the power station. Catalytic converters on car reduce pollutants. Electronically controlled fuel injection and variable valve timing in cars reduces fuel use and the need for high octane fuels, thus reducing or eliminating lead pollution. High sensitivity chemical analysis, which is largely but not entirely independent of computers, depending on the method. In many cases the fact that something was contaminated would not have been known without equipment that can measure stuff in the part per million or less range.
Do you think today’s technology is worth the side effects?
I once read about an English queen who gave birth to 18 children, NONE of whom survived to adulthood — and she had every possible advantage in her day. What her subjects went through was squalor in most cases. So before we condemn technology, which has allowed me to survive appendicitis and three different cancers, let’s remember that most of humanity has had to struggle to stay alive in any condition. In Africa and much of Asia and South America, many people still do.That’s not to let technology off the hook, for examples, dumping chemicals (Google “perfluorooctanoic acid”, dumped into streams by DuPont) and heavy metals (steelmaking and metal-plating residues, mining solvents, and lead in water in Flint, MI), agrichemical use leading to water pollution, radioactive residues from uranium processing in Hanford, WA), release of about 80,000 largely untested chemicals into the marketplace, and often-lavish overuse of pesticides and insecticides). Our society has basically failed in cleaning up the messes it has made, frequently choosing just to flush them or dump them and assume that everything will turn out fine.Cleaning all this mess up would cost money, but governments at every level have failed repeatedly to muster the will to deal with the problems. Many side effects could be prevented by spending the money and marshaling the people to do the job, and this could be done without becoming eco-Nazis or tree-huggers. (Actually, society owes them gratitude for insisting that real problems existed and should’ve been dealt with.)The side effects aren’t mild, either, as we see from China’s air pollution, which I read causes premature deaths of a million people per year. (China, to its credit, is moving actively to deal with it — phasing out coal, mandating use of electric vehicles, etc.) Here in the USA we have big increases of diseases that were once rare, such as cancer, autism, degenerative neurological diseases, as well as a near-epidemic of diabetes.
I have messed up my B.Tech (Chemical Engineering, IIT Delhi). After 2 years my CGPA is 5.5. I don't know what to do. What should I do now?
Thanks for A2AI know there could be many reasons why your CGPA is low, probably you were not interested in studies much after JEE , you did not attend classes or you had other commitments. Remember you still have got 2 years in hand and you can still make your CGPA go up to 7, that will be a great achievement from your perspective.If you are not interested in studies much then you must find thing/s which interests you and try following it. Just keep in mind or try not to get any fail grades in acads so that you can concentrate on things. Believe me if you just go to classes regularly and pay attention to what is happening there, you will certainly get SGPA over 7 or 7.5 easily, you are an IITian and you have already cleared the massive JEE, just have a faith in yourself and try to do things in a better way.If you are worried about your placements and what will happen at that time if you have a low CGPA, you need not worry about it, if you work hard for next two years you will definitely have a good go at the situation. Also if you are worried that even after studying your CGPA won't increase then you are trapping yourself, you just need to give yourself a chance and have a go. Do watch some motivational videos and encourage yourself. One I will suggest is, "Talent Vs Attitude" by Harsha Bhogle it is an awesome one.
Why is Tech Mahindra so messed up?
The main reason which has messed up techM is regionalism. Managers are letting go experienced and key resources and are hiring fresh cheap resources from other organizations.I have seen this happening in my very own project (client spark telecommunications new Zealand and location Pune), where Bengalis are dominating the entire project. Bengalis are preffered for on-site opportunities over others who worked long in this project and have given it there all.I know a guy (very weak technically) was hired last year (2017) from Infosys (third tear college, two year gap after college and Infosys) and was given on site opportunity just after completing one year, so he went to Auckland and is now a pain for the entire offshore team (because all he does is causing confusion between client and team). Few experienced guys left the team after seeing him going on site (and after they got tired of fixing his mistakes).I am also planning to put my paper and leave tech Mahindra soon because it seems like I am working for a bengali family business and not a MNC in this project.As far as project is concerned, it is doomed because in the end they will some experienced and skilled guys to keep the project running, right now they are getting a lot of leavarage also due to the fact that a lot of spark telecommunications employees are ex infy / ex techM guys..Hoping that some one from upper management reads this and stops the project from turning into a fish market which it has become now..All the bengali employees who were sent to Auckland for spark project from pune DC should be called back or they should be asked to perform instead of creating mess and pressure on the offshore team here
Why do people think the new generation is messed up?
I dont get it. They say our new generation is lazy and depends on technology but it takes brains to keep up with it and with time as the generation ages they will continue and advance our world. They say the new generation lacks respect when most parents are always working or fighting or handing their child off to a day care or nanny (yea so much good parenting *sarcasm*) They say the new generation is full of crime but if I am correct they are just children and the one's inflicting the crimes are mostly ADULTS. They say the new generation is not responsible because of all the teen pregnancy. Okay yes I know the rate is much higher now but teen pregnancy has been around FOREVER. It's no new thing and neither are hormones and with so many parents lacking to discipline their kids in the early ages they dont know how to handle it or they give into peer pressure. They say the new generation is too stupid and lack knowledge. Frankly bring that up with the schools or the government or THE PARENTS, I realize some kids just dont want to learn but thats not everyone. They say the media is ruining the new generation. again, those channels and programs and the news and pornography and video games were created by mostly adults. Blame the parents for what the kids do, say, act, and think because even though the parents are not at full blame, they do have a HUGE impact on how their child ends up. I think the new generation is not at fault. they didn't pick when they were born and how the society shifted them. I am proud of the new generation and I have yet to see why people think the new generation is messed up.
Can someone explain me why is our legal system so messed up when it comes to death row? (read fully)?
The idea is to avoid executing innocent people. So far, there are 142 known cases where wrongly convicted people were sentenced to death. They were eventually exonerated and released from death row after an average of 9.8 years. If the process was faster, many of them would now be dead. The system can make tragic and irreversible mistakes. DNA is rarely available in homicides, often irrelevant and can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people. Capital juries are dominated by people who favor the death penalty and are more likely to convict. The list continues to grow- even since DNA technology has been around- innocent people get sentenced to death. And appeals courts are not set up to revisit the critical question of actual guilt or innocence. Their purpose is only to make sure that the trial met constitutional standards of fairness, not that the jury reached the right conclusion. That's why the appeals process can hinge on technical errors. But it is the only way defendants can get evidence of actual innocence heard by an appeals court. In too many cases, prosecutors (to their great discredit) have fought against post conviction testing of DNA evidence. The Supreme Court has never ruled it unconstitutional to execute someone who is factually innocent. In the case of Herrera v. Collins, the Supreme Court ruled ruled that In the absence of other constitutional grounds, new evidence of innocence is no reason for federal court to order a new trial. (Case of Herrera v. Collins, 1993)