This week, there are only recommendations. Interesting ones, if I may say so myself.
Anyway, the first one is a piece written by economist and author Vivek Kaul. India’s recent growth numbers have been promising with an expected growth rate of 7.3%. Although this is good, Vivek adds a nuanced perspective to look at India’s growth through private consumption expenditure which recorded its slowest growth since 2002-03 (excluding the pandemic year). Author argues that this implies that despite lots of investments in infrastructure and services, people are still struggling. Read more; he presents a convincing argument.
There are many unknown unknowns with AI, and I still don’t fully comprehend the implications of what AI will be in the future. A few years ago, the prevailing belief was that creative arts, such as writing and imagery, would be the last domains where AI could surpass human capabilities. However, we now realise that these are precisely the areas where AI has remarkably excelled first (ChatGPT, MidJourneys, etc.). Therefore, it becomes important to get to know the individuals steering the course and understand their values and motives to know where AI will take us. The guy who is at the forefront of technology is Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI. I came across this feature titled “Sam Altman Is the Oppenheimer of Our Age”.
I have started reading Backstage by the great Montek Singh Ahluwalia. He is one of the important people involved in the liberalisation reforms of 1991. He famously wrote the ‘M- document’ from which the ‘91 budget heavily borrowed. The book is kind of a memoir (though he refuses to call it one) of his time in the government. He is also coming to the Hindu Lit Fest on Jan 26-27. Attend his sessions if you can.
As it is Pongal today, I would like to share an old video of Karunanidhi arguing why Thai 1 should be Tamil New year. This is clearly reactionary to whatever was existing.
I do not believe that we should focus on finding something “pure”. All cultures are an amalgamation of varied influences. Tomatoes came to India through the Portugese as late as the 16th century. Can anyone in Tamilnadu imagine Rasam without tomatoes?
But it is still nice to watch videos of stalwarts like Karunanidhi talk.
the usual, drink water. sleep well.
Happy Pongal!!
