Africa-Press – Mauritius. If health warnings on cigarette packs could deter people from smoking, why can’t we have similar hazard warnings on social media platforms? Perhaps such warnings will compel users to question if they really need these services.
IT has also promoted the idea that disruption is good for economic development. Since we have lost the imagination to build something people want, we must tear down existing systems to create space for a semblance of economic activity.
Even this disruptive model would have done some good if it had opened up avenues for employment. Not so, the disruption is coming through increasing use of IT, questionable business models of big data analytics and predatory pricing for market penetration, which destroys existing businesses before itself going bust.
Ever wondered how some online start-ups can sell fruits, vegetables and dairy products at less than the price offered by conventional establishments? Carrying on with more questions, the next one should be, if data is the new oil and the ‘captains of industry’ are salivating to cash in, then we must ask where this new oil is being mined from.
If the data belongs to the people, as all physical national resources do, then who is permitting this mining activity? If there are no permissions or regulations governing this activity, then it is not mining – it is theft.
National data is sacrosanct and adversary intelligence agencies used to spend millions for accessing it. Today by placing everything on-line and permitting private players to collect and process data, we have provided free access to all critical information for unauthorized use.
The people have been rendered transparent and vulnerable while big corporates have created walls of secrecy around themselves. The more data we collect and process on activities of our citizens the more vulnerable the nation becomes to its misuse by big players, foreign agencies and global as well as domestic corporates.
We must now ask, where does the demand for more and more data come from? Who is asking for faster rates of data transfer? Why don’t nations demand a pause in introduction of 5G or 6G type of technologies when there are concerns about their radio interference and ionization levels, which can potentially affect safety of communications and cause damage to animal life, including human life? If the need is for vital activity like national security, we must let it be used for a select purpose by regulated institutions.
Not by the people who are looking for avenues for more data theft, digital marketing and strengthening social media platforms. Believe me, if there is war, you will find none of these IT advocates, or their progeny, on the frontiers.
The soldiers will lose their lives as will civilians living in border areas, but our vile technology advocates, seeking high speed internet, will never be ‘collateral damage’.
(Just mull how words can hide the horror of criminal activity?).
I sometimes wonder if the world of these data-hungry people living in the ‘fast lane’ has a single lane leading up to our ‘lava-hot’ borders in the North and the West!
The ultimate dumbing device
IT and AI are the backbone of a majority of our recent start-ups. Lot of youngsters have done very well through their innovative service aggregation platforms, or Apps.
So, money is being made here – which should please us. The problem is most of these Apps are producing nothing! No tangible goods and products, which are still dominated by old-fashioned industrial establishments.
If anything, these Apps are actually doing a disservice to the manufacturing sector by pushing down profit margins and also suppressing wages, even while they suck out transaction charges from the real producers.
Promising efficiency in delivery of services, they make industry unviable and promote a highly exploitative ‘gig economy’. A large number of these start-ups, including many big ones, end belly up in a short time, after their bogus business models break down.
Please remember, in the new economic models, ‘Smart’ means ‘Street Smart’, i. e. you should have no qualms in fooling or cheating unsuspecting people if you can make money out of their ignorance.
Reminds you of the snake oil seller? At least he was not destroying normal social intercourse. The smart phone is the ultimate dumbing device known to man.
So who is in charge of the IT systems which are replacing systems of say, school and college education, travel and hotel bookings, keeping records in government departments, Income Tax processing etc.
? Yes, there was potential for corruption in our earlier systems but we also had systems to punish the deviants. That we failed to use those provisions is another story.
What is happening today is that the control has been taken away from trained and experienced people and handed over to a faceless, unfathomable system which overrides human ability to understand and empathize with fellow humans. How often have you got the feedback – system accept nahin karra ha, i. e. “system does not accept”?
For More News And Analysis About Mauritius Follow Africa-Press
