Learning by Proxy | Anger

I was watching the formula one race last weekend; it was a useless procession of cars. That sport has never been as boring as it is not. Despite having a commanding lead and having won by a huge margin, the victor could not even feign happiness for the others. Sports is not about enmity but an adversarial contest. I see this not only in Formula one but also in several other sports. Money has ruined sports!

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 as I was waiting at home for my semester to begin I used to endlessly watch CNN. There was an ad that would repeatedly play for the promotion of the 2002 Winter Olympics. I remembered it and wanted to share it with you.

You are my opponent, but not my enemy,

for your resistance gives me strength.

Your will gives me courage.

Your spirit ennobles me.

And, although I aim to defeat you, should I succeed,

I will not humiliate you, instead, I will honour you.

For without you, I am a lesser man.

Watch it here.

It should be true not just in sports, but also politics, business and every other sphere that we engage with one another in.

Where has that spirit gone?

Anger

When a lot of energy is suddenly released in the Earth’s atmosphere, the release of energy causes a shockwave that pushes the air molecules. The shockwave accelerates past sonic speed. As this happens it causes all the water vapour around it to condense, which we see as the mushroom-shaped cloud. It is true not just for nuclear explosions; but for all explosions of high magnitude. 

Most recently, we saw this in Beirut, Lebanon. The explosion became an emblem of governmental incompetence. To compound matters, the people saw the French President Emanuel Macron at the site of the devastation rather than the Lebanese Prime Minister. Lebanon has since been rocked by protests. Anger spewed out onto the streets; the government capitulated. 

The explosion has fueled outrage and protests against top political leaders and led to the resignation of the government Monday. The Cabinet is now in a caretaker capacity.

Parliament is due to discuss whether to extend the state of emergency in Beirut declared August 5 by the government before it resigned. The law requires parliamentary approval if the state of emergency lasts more than a week.

Source: Indian Express

Almost 6500 km south of Beirut, deep in the Indian Ocean, a Japanese vessel, the Wakashio which was en-route to South America, beached up and spilt out. Not crude oil but fuel oil which is the lowest grade of oil. In a place known for its bio-diversity, this has unleashed an environmental disaster. 

These were the two UNESCO Ramsar Protected sites of Blue Bay Marine Park, Pointe D’Esny Mangrove Forests, as well as the nature preserve of Ile aux Aigrettes that contained some of the rarest species in the country, such as Mauritius’ last remaining low lying ebony forests, not found on any other location on the island. 

[…]

Small organisms readily absorb an array of chemicals from spilt Heavy Fuel Oil. Once inside an organism’s tissues, when some of these chemicals interact with ultra-violet (UV) rays of sunlight, energy is released from the chemicals that cause damaging chemical reactions. These reactions lead to tissue death, with very small organisms falling apart. 

[…]

Whilst the entire world hopes for the best recovery of this critical habitat, it is important to start preparing for the worst. This is at least the lesson taught to the entire world from Covid-19, and from Heavy Fuel Oil spills around the world that continue to leak their deadly poison decades later.

Source: Forbes

The article referenced above has some devastating analysis of what the oil spill means for the region and its bio-diversity. But disbelief is fast turning into anger at Mauritius.

Thousands of volunteers pulled all-nighters gathering plastic bottles and skimming oil into barrels, while salons donated hair and children collected straw from fields to help soak up the oil. Mauritians abroad began social media campaigns to raise awareness, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were collected on fund-raising platforms.

[…]

“The reefs protect us from waves, and the seagrass belts and the mangrove play a critical role in absorbing carbon dioxide,” he said. With their roots covered in oil now, he said, “It’s a tragic story, which brings sorrow and anger.”

Source: New York Times

If you are interested in understanding the extent of the damage caused, I would recommend reading the article linked above.

Moving back 8700 Kms north, in the country of Belarus Presidential elections just took place. Belarus has had the same president since 1994. He won again by a landslide – 80% – according to “official results”. The opposition candidate left the country as soon as the results were announced. She vowed to protest peacefully against the results. 

The protests grew and the authorities inspired by the USA – sent the police out. Then inspired by China – over a 1000 protester were detained. This only made the protestors angrier.

Belarusian authorities have released about 1,000 people detained amid demonstrations contesting the results of the presidential election, in an attempt to assuage public anger against a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests.

Source: Tribune

and then…

President Putin is offering help. Sending in the Russian army!

In the neighbourhood, protests have been tearing through Bulgaria. The people, tired of corruption, have been out on the streets seeking a constitutional overhaul. But they want it done right!

Three-times premier Borissov promised to resign if lawmakers approved his call for the election of a grand national assembly tasked with voting on a new constitution that should improve the efficiency of the much-criticised judiciary among other changes.

But protesters, as well as opposition, left- and right-wing parties who support them, dismissed the proposal as a ploy by Borissov, who has dominated Bulgarian politics since 2009, to win time and stay in power.

Source: Reuters

Meanwhile, a place that is known for its cool beaches, drugs and sex – Thailand is seeing large protests. Like most other countries run by right-wing leaders, Thailand has not taken to dissidents too well. They have been putting them down with an iron fist.

At least 10,000 protesters, many first-time participants in political rallies, gathered in Bangkok on Sunday, demanding change in a country where military tanks have tended to shape politics more than the ballot box has.

[…]

A state of emergency instituted because of the coronavirus made the demonstration technically illegal, and every participant could have been arrested simply for showing up. The police stood by, however, some idling behind a Mercedes-Benz showroom.

Source: New York Times

Under normal circumstances, these incidents would not have resulted in such a sudden and intense anger. The current economic circumstances, combined with the fear and uncertainty sowed by a virus that we are struggling to fight has left very little patience in people to suffer foolishness silently. 

America has similarly been roiled in protests over Black Lives Matters for the last few months. Hong Kong over its sovereignty. India over the death of an actor – yes, we roll like that.

The Nuclear Reactor and the Nuclear Bomb are the same things in theory. The former operates in the narrow range of self-sustenance while the other goes far beyond. A societal equivalent would be a protest and a revolution. Will these protests go far beyond self-sustenance?

Epic Battle

A couple of editions ago, I had written about the antitrust hearing against the four large Tech companies in the US. App developers listed on the App Store dislike paying Apple the 30% commission that it takes. Especially, if the app developers are large companies. 

Trying to take advantage of the current situation [the hearings], Epic Games, one of the largest gaming companies in the world played with fire, using their most popular game – Fortnite. To turn the discussion into one of the consumers forced to pay more, Fortnite started offering its ‘V-Bucks’ at a discounted price on the app if the user picked a payment gateway outside the Apple eco-system. A clear violation of Apple policy, which they were aware of. Apple promptly removed the game from the store and Epic Games filed an antitrust case in the court. Google did the same citing the same violation.

Apple will terminate Epic’s inclusion in the Apple Developer Program, a membership that’s necessary to distribute apps on iOS devices or use Apple developer tools, if the company does not “cure your breaches” to the agreement within two weeks, according to a letter from Apple that was shared by Epic. Epic won’t be able to notarize Mac apps either, a process that could make installing Epic’s software more difficult or block it altogether. Apple requires that all apps are notarized before they can be run on newer versions of macOS, even if they’re distributed outside the App Store.

Source: Verge

Apple has decided to go thermonuclear with this one and ensure that Epic is not using this situation to milk more media scrutiny into this. Epic is no saint here. They pay the same 30% to Nintendo and other console makers – which they argue is a fair price. It is just that the income that they get from Apple users is far more. It would heavily buttress their bottom line if Apple is forced to reduce the commission. They are not going to be selling at a discount if Apple were to reduce their fee; they would just put it in their wallet.

In the anti-trust case, Epic Games is arguing that they should be allowed to run their own app store.

Sleight of Hand

When a magician tries to attract your attention towards a hand, you need to watch the other one.

Last year ended with protests disrupting life in Delhi. The government wanted to implement the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. The protests lasted 101 days till the lockdown came into effect on the 24th March this year. Let alone that fact that nobody seems to be concerned with CAA anymore, 50 of the protestors who were at the Shaheen Bagh joined the BJP this week!

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said over 100 people from the community had joined the party as they support the Prime Minister’s effort to reach out to every section of society and end triple talaq: “These people were influenced by BJP’s effort to reach out to everyone, and not use them as a vote bank. Today’s event shows that Muslims’ faith in the party has increased.”

Source: Indian Express

If Shaheen Bagh was the smokescreen, what was being hidden?

Flying High

I have often cited Swiggy as an example of how financially fraught the idea of scaling a people dependant business can be. Not in my wildest dreams would I have thought that India would be one of the first countries in the world to deploy drone fleets for delivery! 

A couple of years ago, India announced its first drone policy and there is a second version in the works. The first drone policy had something called the Digital Sky Platform which would be able to track every drone in the Indian sky. All drones would need to register on this platform before taking flight.

On August 15, when India celebrated its 74th Independence Day, the country’s drone policy silently took a giant leap. Now, over 70% of India’s landmass of 3.28 Mn sq Km is open for drones to operate. Under the Digital Sky plan, companies can now get single-window clearance for drones which comply with India’s ‘no permission, no take-off’ (NPNT) protocol to operate in areas demarcated as green and yellow zones.

Source: Inc42

As mentioned earlier, for many of the hyperlocal delivery startups which are reeling under the blow that COVID has delivered this is a godsend. They are not wasting a moment. Dunzo was the first one to jump on the bandwagon.

Dunzo, alongside Alternative Global India (AGI), claimed to have started a drone delivery trial last month. After Dunzo, Bengaluru-based B2B e-commerce startup ShopX has now collaborated with aerospace and robotics company Omnipresent, to kickstart its last-mile drone delivery trial from September 1.

Source: Inc42

For a country where according to statistics 19 Million have lost their jobs since April, this does not augur well. Over some time, this will cause further job losses for those who can ill-afford to lose their jobs.

Showing Love

What if someone professed a lot of love for you. Then took away your right to do what you liked and sent you to solitary confinement. Just the right metaphor to describe what we did to Jammu and Kashmir. After professing that the land was an integral part of India; we turned it into a Union Territory and cut off the Internet. Businesses suffered and startups that depended on the internet tried VPN and many other tricks before either moving out of the valley or giving up! Finally, the solitary confinement is over.

“High-speed mobile data services in the districts of Ganderbal (Kashmir) and Udhampur (Jammu) shall be restored forthwith, on a trial basis, while in rest of the districts, the Internet speed shall continue to be restricted to 2G only,” Principal Secretary (Home), Shaleen Kabra, said in an order. “While postpaid SIM cardholders shall be provided access to the Internet, these services shall not be made available on prepaid SIM cards unless verified as per norms applicable for post-paid connections,” the order added.

Source: Indian Express

There is a need to return normalcy to the Kashmir Valley and allow commerce to drive growth. This is the only thing that would cause the locals to strive for its continuity. If we play disruptors ourselves, we are playing right into the hands of the terrorists.

Silicon

A few weeks back, I had written about the investment being made by the US government to bring silicon fabrication back to the US. Given the strategic importance of chips and microprocessors in our electronics; the extent of its penetration in a variety of applications including defence; there is a need to safeguard it. The US is investing several Billion to create this capacity. 

India realises the same and is throwing open a challenge with prize money of USD 600,000.

In an official statement, Prasad said the challenge calls on innovators, startups and students to use microprocessors to develop various technology products. “This initiative is aimed at not only meeting India’s future requirements of strategic and industrial sectors but also has the potential to mitigate the issues of security, licensing, technology obsolescence and most crucially cutting dependency on imports.”

As part of the challenge, which will be conducted over 10 months, the government will offer financial support of INR 4.3 Cr at various stages of development of the hardware prototype. It will also support startups through an incubation programme.

Source: Inc42

A few years ago, I had met a group of Intel engineers who were seeking to start a company fabricating silicon in India. They told me, they would at least need USD 10 Million to get started. I told them to shift to the US, they did.

Also

Inflatable Scooter – It is important to reduce our ecological footprint, would an inflatable scooter be the way?

Speaking of smokescreen earlier, do you know what a real smokescreen looked like?

Slippers made out of Algae

Signing off…

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Vivek Srinivasan

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