Tag Archives: religion

Look inside, not at your competition: Google CEO Sundar Pichai advises

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In an interview at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills early this week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai retorted to a question about competition in artificial intelligence stating clearly that it’s not always the competition but lack of focus within that leads to failure.

“I have always held the view that you tend to go wrong by focusing too much on competition. Big companies, particularly, fail because they stumble internally.”

In a well-connected world, companies are often struck in their plans based on the capabilities and pursuit of their competitors than what their own assessment is. Almost every business ends up paying more attention and time about the competition than it should, which is detrimental, he elaborated.

He reiterated that big companies also fail because they make bad decisions or fail to execute decisions on time. While competition remains to be watched, it should not leverage on your own plans and future prospects. Instead, it should help you revamp inside and be prepared, he suggested.

Sundar Pichai on competition and “Dharma”

“You want to be aware of everything that is going outside. But at the end of the day, your success depends on your execution,” he reminded, which means not to be naive or ignorant of happenings around you but focus on your job first. Your job is to deliver whatever it is you do.

Here, people familiar with Hindu holybook ‘Bhagavad Gita’ can infer that Pichai was referring to Indian philosophy that a person’s “Dharma” is to do his job sincerely regardless of results or rewards. At a broader level, it encompasses ideas such as duty, rights, character, vocation, religion, customs and all behavior considered appropriate, correct or morally upright, but in this context, it entails doing one’s job properly.

Since nobody knows from where the competition might come, Pichai advised companies to focus on serving customers better and at the same time take a note of the competition. “Look, I think–the thing about being in tech is competition comes from nowhere. None of us were talking about TikTok three years ago,” he reminded the audience at the code conference.

His advise remains simple — focus on what you can control.

Emotional AI and gen Z: The attitude towards new technology and its concerns

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Artificial intelligence (AI) governs all that come under “smart technology” today. From self-driving cars to voice assistants on our smartphones, AI has ubiquitous presence in our daily lives. Yet, it had been lacking a crucial feature: the ability to engage human emotions.

The scenario is quickly changing, however. Algorithms that can sense human emotions and interact with them are quickly becoming mainstream as they come embedded in existing systems. Known as “emotional AI,” the new technology achieves this feat through a process called “non-conscious data collection”(NCDC), in which the algorithm collects data on the user’s heart and respiration rate, voice tones, micro-facial expressions, gestures, etc. to analyze their moods and personalize its response accordingly.

However, the unregulated nature of this technology has raised many ethical and privacy concerns. In particular, it is important to know the attitude of the current largest demographic towards NCDC, namely Generation Z (Gen Z). Making up 36% of the global workforce, Gen Z is likely to be the most vulnerable to emotional AI. Moreover, AI algorithms are rarely calibrated for socio-cultural differences, making their implementation all the more concerning.

“We found that being male and having high income were both correlated with having positive attitudes towards accepting NCDC. In addition, business majors were more likely to be more tolerant towards NCDC,” highlights Prof. Ghotbi. Cultural factors, such as region and religion, were also found to have an impact, with people from Southeast Asia, Muslims, and Christians reporting concern over NCDC.

Research by Team:

“Our study clearly demonstrates that sociocultural factors deeply impact the acceptance of new technology. This means that theories based on the traditional technology acceptance model by Davis, which does not account for these factors, need to be modified,” explains Prof. Mantello.

The study addressed this issue by proposing a “mind-sponge” model-based approach that accounts for socio-cultural factors in assessing the acceptance of AI technology. Additionally, it also suggested a thorough understanding of the potential risks of the technology to enable effective governance and ethical design. “Public outreach initiatives are needed to sensitize the population about the ethical implications of NCDC. These initiatives need to consider the demographic and cultural differences to be successful,” says Dr. Nguyen.

Overall, the study highlights the extent to which emotional AI and NCDC technologies are already present in our lives and the privacy trade-offs they imply for the younger generation. Thus, there is an urgent need to make sure that these technologies serve both individuals and societies well.

End of the World champion Meade surfaces again, says April 23 the Doomsday

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Numerologist and Christian conspiracy theorist David Meade never relents despite series of failures to his predictions in the past and now he has come up with the Doomsday as April 23, 2018, suggesting that the world will end ten days from now.

Citing the Bibile codes, he said earlier that the end of the world would come on November 23, matching the book of Revelation 12:1-2. Now he has revived his prediction suggesting April 23 to be the Doomsday, as per the code in Bible, the passage that signals the start of the Rapture and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The passage 12:1–2 in Bible says, “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.”

Taking Virgo as the woman from the passage, on April 23, the sun and moon will be in Virgo, as will Jupiter, which represents the Messiah. The celestial astrological alignment happens every 12 years. But the conspiracy theorists claim that another planetary alignment, representing “the Lion of the tribe of Judah’, will make the Rapture this time.

David Meade has been in forefront predicting a mythological planetary system Nibiru or Planet X will appear in the sky on April 23, triggering the Rapture with volcano eruptions driven by its gravitational force. In an article, titled “Will the World end on 23 April”, he said, “As usual with any astrology, one cherry-picks the stars that fit the desired conclusion. There is nothing to suggest that April 23 is a momentous date for biblical prophecy, and Christians need to be careful about being drawn into such sensationalist claims. We won’t know the day or the hour—so we should be prepared at all times!"

Ever since he said in November that a series of mishaps and natural disaster will hit the earth, the Hurricane Irma on September 11, 2017 over the Florida Keys, Florida. emergence of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with his nukes, and every natural disaster started looming large as Nibiru effect. This time, he tried to make it sound more Biblical and rational.

"During this time frame, on April 23, 2018 the moon appears under the feet of the Constellation Virgo. The Sun appears to precisely clothe Virgo… Jupiter is birthed on April 08, 2018," he explained his prediction. "The 12 stars at that date include the nine stars of Leo, and the three planetary alignments of Mercury, Venus and Mars – which combine to make a count of 12 stars on the head of Virgo. Thus the constellations Virgo, Leo and Serpens-Ophiuchus represent a unique once-in-a-century sign exactly as depicted in the 12th chapter of Revelation. This is our time marker,” he wrote.

However, US space agency NASA has vehemently denied such rumours and debunked the existence of Planet X terming ait as a mere Internet Hoax. Astronomer Jonathon Sarfati said the phenomena is not new and has occurred four times in the last millennium. We are still alive, he reminded the readers.

No Religious Bias in GST Law, Clarifies Finance Ministry but Silent on Exemption

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Following uproar in social media that the Good s and services tax (GST) rolled out on July 1, 2017 was against the interests of temple trusts as taxes them heavily while obliterating the presence of Waqf Boards and Churches, the government has clarified that there is no such religious bais in GST.
“There are some messages going around in the social media stating that the temple trusts have to pay the GST while the churches and mosques are exempt. This is completely untrue because no distinction is made in the GST Law on any provision based on religion. We request to people not to start circulating such wrong messages on social media,” said the government in a statement.
Ironic but the ministry did not clarify whether Hindu temples, Sikh Gurudwaras, Mosques and Churches are expemted from GST for the services, especially for free food to pilgrims they provide. Secondly, the GST is silent on temple trusts or boards whose income was in the past exempted in several forms.
Otherwise, GST clearly states that Puja Samagri is exempt from taxation. The provision in GST reads:”Puja samagri including havan samagri will be under the Nil category. However, exact formulation for the same is yet to be finalized.” Taxation on temple trusts, waqf boards and churches will be finalized by the ministry soon.
The government has rolled out the GST from July 1 with a view to introduce uniform indirect taxation system throughout the country, while concessions are given to States in certain areas like entertainment tax that has led to closure of cinema theatres in Tamil Nadu.

Textbook Shows Mosque as Source of Noise Pollution Alongwith Car, Plane

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In a glaring oversight, an ICSE Class 6 science textbook shows a “mosque” as a source of noise pollution depicting a man below closing his ears to the sound from loudspeakers from mosques.

Other noise-producing symbols like train, car and plane were seen in the picture but the osque has triggered uproar. While the textbook is not published directly or prescribed by the ICSE, it has denied any role in dipicting a religious symbol in the textbook in a negative tone.

Gerry Arathoon, Secretary of the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations, told news agency PTI, “If any book with objectionable content is being taught at certain schools, it is for schools and publisher to ensure such a thing does not happen.”

However, social media is abuzz with an online petition launched to demand ban on the book and the private publisher has apologised for the mistake and assured to remove the offensive picture.

Hemant Gupta of Selina Publishers, said, “We do apologise if it has hurt the sentiments of anyone,” as the picture consisted of “a structure resembling a portion of a fort and other noise producing objects in a noisy city”.

The textbook row follows similar controversy when Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam said he was woken up by the sound of “azaan” or early morning prayers from mosques over loudspeakers. Before the controversy subsided, the ICSE textbook row had hit the social media.

Religious portions in textbooks have often triggered major controversies and recently a Class 9 Hindi textbook has referred to Jesus Christ as a demon. Another tongue-in cheek description in Class 12 textbook on physical education suggested ideal feminine body size as 36-24-36.