Floccinaucinihilipilification

AI is the talk of the town at present as the future ‘depends’ on it. The fear of it dominating humanity is in the air. It is appropriate to say that AI will not dominate, instead we surrender willingly to it. To elucidate, I will dwell into a few facts.

Early humans had highly capable cognitive abilities which debilitated with inventions. While commuting to distant places, they reach their destinations by detecting the directions based on the location of celestial bodies and natural landmarks. This is now taken over by GPS, which does the thinking for us, and we depend on it even to reach a nearby location. This has made dormant a part of our cognition, but it is never lost as the forest dwellers are still capable of ‘self-steering’.

The fact that AI can produce any literary piece in no time has people questioning the authenticity of genuine literary works of modern times. The current generation finds it incredible that someone can produce amazing art or written work. They need to be guided and motivated to believe in their creative abilities. Constant pen and paper activities will facilitate them, instilling confidence in themselves.

Technological development is always looked at with apprehension. The naturalists try to maintain a healthy balance between nature and technology, the Luddites blindly reject it and the rest try to keep pace with it. Human beings are made to evolve and adapt.

The Parable of Talents (Matthew 25:14–30) finds significance here. Our talents should be utilized to benefit the world around us. Many ground-breaking inventions made so far, were met with fear initially, but were gradually accepted and became part of our daily lives. A level-headed approach to innovations and inventions will never make AI floccinaucinihilipilification of humans.

Blowing Hot, Blowing Cold

Zephyr, spring's harbinger, caressed the trees,
Susurration, the wind's whisper, filled the air,
Clouds rained pebble drops,
Wrapping all in chrysalism,
Cooling the earth scorched by the summer sun,
Healing the land chapped by the blistering heat
This is the course of Nature
Blowing hot, blowing cold and so it goes.

We saw the Power

Faraway in the mountains, sheared a mammoth ice chunk
Earth tremored, river swelled, water coiled in funk,
The weir breached, the darting deluge swallowed the obstacle,
Making the crown of creation watching in despair the spectacle,
Boulders rolled like marbles, buildings tumbled like deck of cards,
A splash of dirt here, a lash of water there, trespassing your yards,
The torrent wreaked havoc, with its course errant, nature enraged
We saw the power, we saw the powerless and we gauged
When the mighty is messed up, invincible is the force!
(Dedicated to the tragedy of Nepal 26th August, 2026)

(The poster made for the poem.)

Flashback-II

Once upon a time, in Kerala, people used a vehicle called villuvandi. My great, great grandfather owned one, the scraps of which were seen in our ancestral house when we were kids. It was a decorated bullock cart pulled by bullocks and manned by a handler. Though we have never seen it, we have heard of certain travel stories of my ancestors in that vehicle. (More to come in next post)

Flashback to the 70s- Part 1

Recently, I met a friend of us who had come from abroad after a long time. During the conversation we discussed the conspicuous changes in children post covid. The most alarming observation made by my friend, who is a Bharatanatyam instructor, was the cognitive tardiness of students. Pre covid, her students used to learn the dance in a year, but the present-day doom scrolling addicts find it difficult to maneuver hand-leg-eye in co-ordination, leaving them struggling to learn even after two and a half years. A sad reality, which hopefully will change in due course. Some countries had already shifted away from technology-based learning to class room teaching and pen and paper. As a quinquagenarian born in the 70’s I consider myself lucky to be able to grow up in world devoid of technology, albeit technology helped me later. It opened a world of knowledge, information, tai chi for health, global cuisine and so on.

In my childhood we connected with relatives and friends through regular get-togethers and letters. We got to know about what happened around the world through newspapers and radio. During vacations, at my maternal grandparents' place, we used to sit with them and cousins at night listening to drama aired through radio, which was a prized possession in homes at that time. Other major entertainments were outdoor games such as tag, hopscotch square, hide and seek, blind man's bluff, watching movies at the local theatre etc……. TO BE CONTINUED