Amazon Kindle in Bangalore

Last week  I finally laid my hands on Amazon Kindle, international edition, which was released in several countries a couple of weeks ago.  It was very exciting  to be holding the gadget, that will surely change the book publishing industry radically in the years to come.

These are things I liked about Kindle:

- It is fairly lightweight, and easy to carry.

- The text does feel like it is printed text, and it is easy on the eye, like a real book

- Kindle directly provides access to thousands of e-books and buying them is just a click away.

What I did not like about Kindle is :

-         The price, at approximately 330 $ for it to be shipped to India, it was not exactly cheap. For that money I could have bought at least 10-15 imported books. And I am not sure, how many folks in India would be able to afford or be willing to shell out this much for books on a regular basis.

-         The e-books listed on Amazon, don’t seem to be that cheap, most are priced around 9.99 $, and on top of this price, one has to shell out 2 $ for a wireless access fee in India. At 12 $ or so , the books don’t seem much fun to read!

-         PDF format is not supported, and that is a big disappointment, especially compared to the Sony e Reader.  ( PDF docs can be converted by emailing them to a Amazon email address which converts them to Kindle format and makes it available on the Kindle )

-         I am not sure, if gives a feeling of reading a real book, when I read Kindle.

-         The keyboard is a bit large, and the screen smaller than one would expect. ( This has been fixed in the larger and the later model of Kindle though )

-         The overall design of the kindle, leaves much to be desired. Perhaps Apple would have done a better job.  The elegance of a Mac is missing , and it does not fit inside the casing neatly. And the touch and feel still does not come closer to a book, Amazon can surely work on that.

Kindle would be a useful device for those who read a lot and who have a need to carry a lot of documents and refer to them often like attorneys. But, with prices falling and improvisation in its design, it would not be too far in the future, before , everyone would own one.

There is another development that Kindle ( and similar devices ) might engender. Amazon , provides a platform for content producers ( like writers, journalists, bloggers etc ) to self publish their works electronically on Kindle. All the tools required are provided by Amazon, and Amazon shares the revenues from the published books , with the authors.

I would bet one day , this medium of self publishing would rival ( if not better ) traditional publishing ,medium, and could spawn e-authors, based entirely on ratings in the electronic book world.

I have been always an admirer of Amazon for its innovation, be it S3/Cloud or their neat website. And I think Amazon has got it right again with Kindle and has created a device and built  an ecosystem around it that could ensure revenues to Amazon and a dominant position. Though there are some kinks in the Kindle design that need to be straightened out.

I am fairly happy to own a Kindle. Being a voracious reader and given to buying books on impulse, Kindle’s one click buy has the potential to put a big hole in my wallet though.

The Aryan and Dravidian debate

The other day I was privy to an amusing and often funny conversation at work between a North India colleague and Bangalorean on who is Aryan and  who is Dravidian. Slowly the conversation veered towards notions of superiority, as my  North Indian  friend laid claim on the fact that he is an Aryan, and that fact by extension meant that he has superior genes ( what ever that means ) . ( Well it did not take long to poke into his ego when I gently reminded him that many of the states with predominantly ‘Aryan’ population are utterly backward ! )

When I gently asked, why does he think he is an Aryan and asked him to define what is Aryan, he was at a loss to define what Aryan was. When further probed about the origin of Aryan, he was entirely clueless, other than mumbling that Aryans are a Western European race and  that is what his friends and parents had told him. Well he is not alone. Calling oneself Aryan has become a fashion these days. The word Aryan was perhaps used in the modern times by Max Muller and other European ethnologists who propounded the Aryan ‘Invasion’ theory. Somehow , a term used to denote a class ( noble ) has acquired racial overtones and transformed into  a word meaning entirely something else.

While no one has completely refuted the Aryan invasion theory, no one has ever proved it with the kind of rigorous proof that can stand scientific scrutiny.

But with the advances in genetics , all this is set to change. We now have a very clear picture of various gene haplogroups that gave birth to modern Indians. And what that tells us is a different story.

In India there are broadly three major substratum’s of incursions.

1. A major influx of first ever humans who were primitive hunter gatherers out of Africa traveling along the coast around 70000 years ago. This is predominantly characterized by M130 marker which is also found in Australian aborigines, some Malaysian tribes.

2. A second major incursion of farmers from middle East, carrying with them agriculture , domesticated animals, quickly displacing and as well inter mixing   with the original inhabitants around 15000-20000 years ago. This is predominantly characterized by J2/M410 marker

3. Another incursion of horse Riding and pastoral Indo Europeans from central Asia, mostly carrying R1b, starting  4000 BC perhaps till 2000 BC. This is predominantly R1a/R2 markers.

While many claim that R1a is the Aryan marker, R1a presence may not mean any Aryan presence, as the later tribes like Huns, Greeks, Scythians, Kushans, Gurjaras, all of them are predominantly R1a , as their origin is Central Asia.

In addition there were incursions of Greeks, Arabs, Moslems and several tribes from Central Asia during early and late medieval ages.

And modern days Indians seem to be a admixture of these three populations. While there is an attempt to identify current day castes to these three populations, I would only there is  some correlation.  Upper Caste populations across both North and South India seem to have a higher percentage of R1a/R2/J2 markers compared to M130 marker which is found more among the tribal population. And all caste groups in India, seem to be more closely related to each other than to tribals. And Indian caste groups and tribals are closer to each other than they are to outside populations like East Europeans or Iranians or even South East Asians.

And another fact that emerges is that caste system is a very recent construct, something that did not exist prior  to the time Buddhism came into existence. And all the mixing of populations has been going on a few thousand years before that.

1. Every single caste in India seems to be an admixture of various haplotypes

2. There is a gradual variation in percentages of different haplogroups across India, consistent with proximity to other regions neighboring of India.

3. R1a, which is a European gene is absent from India.

4. R1a which is identified an Indo European Gene is present across various castes India, suggesting that haplogroups are caste neutral to a large extent

5. There has not been a major gene influx into Indian subcontinent in the last 10000 years years, and the population substratum’s are more or less constant since the last 20000 years or so. However, cultural or linguistic changes due to arrival of Indo European speakers is highly possible, as has happened in Europe ( Spanish and Portuguese or French have only R1a in their blood ,but they speak Indo European languages )

6. The caste system has complicated the haplogroup mixing, with each caste forming a sort of genetically isolated sub group for 2000 years. This means, often the founder effects of castes is more prominent and sometimes evolutionary selection pressure has probably played out at the caste level  and sub regional level

One marker that has often been touted as Aryan, the R1a, is present many of the north Indian castes, as well several castes in south and west India. This obviously means that no one caste from any part of India, can claim to be Aryan, even if the term is assumed to be legitimate.

Well, then what is all this debate about this Aryan theory?. We  all know that Indians tend to be more talkers than doers and we associate ourselves with any European race that we consider as superior.

The other part of the debate is about the connection between IQ and race. By IQ I refer to the average IQ of people residing in a geographical area rather than IQ of individuals. Now, that is a very dangerous territory for me to tread in.  But, in the context of India, I  definitely have some observations to make.

If we go by the fact that technological advance is an indicator of intelligence, then South ( dark brown )  and Western India and parts of Punjab appear to be more intelligent than the rest of Indians.  some of the primitive tribes in India also seem to be indifferent to technology. Are we to conclude that South Indians, Punjabis , Gujaratis and Maharashtrians are more intelligent than the rest of the Indians.  I really don’t know, but I am sure my Bihari friends will bristle with anger at the mere mention of this.

My take on all this is that, at the end of the day, there are may be more like 100 factors that affect the IQ of an individual, inheritable brain size being just one of them. So instead of swearing allegiance to any race ( Aryan or Dravidian or other ) or trying to show other races in bad light, it is probably good idea to confine pride to an individual’s achievements rather than a race. And leave the job of ethnic and racial taxonomy to professional anthropologists.

And government policies aimed at helping people should target individuals based on their IQ rather than their membership in any race or group.

Immortality and the prospect of living Forever

Immortality is not new to Indians. Many of our ancient scriptures talk about immortality as something to be aspired for. And many of us are familiar with the immortal characters Aswathaama and Vibheesan. One of Hollywood’s favorite subject is immortality, 6th Day , is one such movie that deals with immortality through cloning.

Well, going by the recent advancements in medical sciences, it may not be a stretch to say that immortality , at least in the sense of living for several hundred years by postponing death, may be closer to reality than many of us think. As a kid in the seventies, I witnessed a few relatives who died because , medical treatment used to be expensive and there were several diseases that were either not treatable or only can be controlled for a long time.

All that has changed in the last 2 decades or so, we have seen everything from bionic arms, to cochlear ear implants, pace makers for heart and recently  even artificial retinas, and skin grafting and these have all given a new lease to those whose organs have failed or been damaged in accidents.  The list of body parts that can be transplanted or manufactured artificially does not seem limited, except perhaps for a brain transplant.

Going by all the things that were impossible decades ago but have become commonplace now, we can safely extrapolate that  in the future  most of the medical procedures for transplanting body parts , that are difficult now, will become common place and less expensive. However what is likely to be challenging is more of the political and moral issues that extended longevity will throw up.

The whole concept retirement, old age care , the age of marriage will be turned upside down, if people started routinely living beyond the age of 100 or 200 years.

Until now, there was one certainty that mankind was never unsure of across all cultures, and that was the inevitability  of death. This has shaped the many of the institutions like marriage, education and work. But when the assumption becomes no longer valid, all these institutions will have to change  and new norms and institutions have to come up.

If I knew that I will live up to a couple of hundred years, and still have kids, I would surely have postponed my marriage and perhaps would do a little bungee jumping and perhaps throw my job away and start my own company!. But what if I start drinking heavily, knowing that my liver can be replaced, or smoke incessantly because my lungs can be replaced with a plastic replica?!. I have no answers for these questions, but the dilemma’s and change of perceptions are real.

What longevity will also bring in is a change in perception about the fear of death, and threshold of death will be much higher, and I bet mankind will take many risks, that they cannot think of currently, for they know that they have an artificial heart or a limb or an eye that  is available off the shelf!.

When death itself is postponed, I  wonder if gods too would take a back seat!.

The untapped potential of aggregate demand in India.

The untapped potential of aggregate demand in INdia.

Aggregate demand is a word I coined, to denote processes and methods that tap into the cumulative effect of combined demand

from a very large number of customers, even though the individual demand from each is small or even tiny . When you pay monthly insurance for your self or

the automobile and get paid a sum when  you are sick or your vehicle is damaged, you are seeing aggregate demand in action.

It is not hard to extend this concept to many other sectors of the industry. We have thousands of street corner grocery stores across India. THe

aggregate demand from these is huge, but an individual grocery store has no way to leverage the purchasing price  from the

manifacturers of as his demand is small. Imagine a system that aggregates all the demand from a no. of gorcery stores and

puts some leverage of price into the hands of the grocery store.

Such a system , most likely will have to be web based and perhaps use maths models to combine scattered demand into predictable

and repetitive demand patterns that can be leveraged with goods producers to lower prices. Some of the challenges

would be to

gaining the trust of grocery store owners and enlist them in such schemes, and the reluctance of small stores to adopt web based software

Another scheme that comes to my mind is bringing affordable health insurance to millions of workers in the unorganised sector, folks like

plumbers, domestic maids, electricians, construction and agricultural laborers etc. A large organisation like , say TCS or KSRTC , has the

advantage of numbers to negotiate a discount on insurance payments from insurance companies. Workers from unorganised sector do not have such advantage.

Companies can aggregate membership from thousands of workers and pool this demand to elicit discounts from insurance companies. Of course the

scattered nature of such workers, temporariness of their jobs are some challenges that have to be overcome.  Companies that run on this principle

exist in the USA, but i beleive this is scheme well suited to India. This scheme will also work for startup companies, which typically are not large

and find providing health insurance to employees expensive.

In principle this aggregate demand can be extended to many other areas as well. Building of roads in inner cities, constructing parking lots,  can be

built with money pooled from the population in a locality. For instance, in the locality i live in , Ramamurthy Nagar, assuming a population of 2 lakhs

collecting a mere 500 Rs ( or a varibale amount based on the family income ) from each person in the locality amounts to more than Rs 10 crores. Such money

collected over a couple of years is sufficient to build nice world class roads in the locality. But the true bottlenecks for such large schemes are likely

to be administrative and management, but in theory the potential of building world class infrastructure is huge.

Aggregate demand is a word I coined, to denote processes and methods that tap into the cumulative effect of combined demand from a very large number of customers, even though the individual demand from each is small or even tiny . When you pay monthly insurance for your self or the automobile and get paid a sum when  you are sick or your vehicle is damaged, you are seeing aggregate demand in action.

It is not hard to extend this concept to many other sectors of the industry. We have thousands of street corner grocery stores across India. The aggregate demand from these is huge, but an individual grocery store has no way to leverage the purchasing price  from the manufacturers of  goods as his demand is small. Imagine a system that aggregates all the demand from a large number  of grocery stores and puts some leverage of price into the hands of the grocery store.  This puts the grocery owner in the same league as a large superstore like Bigbazaar or Reliance fresh.

Such a system , most likely will have to be web based and perhaps use maths models to combine scattered demand into predictable and repetitive demand patterns that can be leveraged with goods producers to lower prices. Some of the challenges  would be to  gaining the trust of grocery store owners and enlist them in such schemes, and the reluctance of small stores to adopt web based software .

Another scheme that comes to my mind is bringing affordable health insurance to millions of workers in the unorganised sector, folks like plumbers, domestic maids, electricians, construction and agricultural laborers etc. A large organisation like , say TCS or KSRTC , has the  advantage of numbers to negotiate a discount on insurance payments from insurance companies. Workers from unorganised sector do not have such advantage.

Companies can aggregate membership from thousands of workers and pool this demand to elicit discounts from insurance companies. Of course the scattered nature of such workers, the temporary nature of their jobs are some challenges that have to be overcome.  Companies that run on this principle exist in the USA, but i believe this is scheme well suited to India. This scheme will also work for startup companies, which typically are not large  and find providing health insurance to employees expensive.

In principle this aggregate demand can be extended to many other areas as well. Building of roads in inner cities, constructing parking lots,  can be built with money pooled from the population in a locality.

For instance, in the locality i live in , Ramamurthy Nagar, assuming a population of 2 lakhs, collecting a mere 500 Rs ( or a variable amount based on the family income ) from each person in the neighborhood amounts to more than Rs 10 crores. Such money  collected over a couple of years is sufficient to build nice world class roads in the locality. But the true bottlenecks for such large schemes are likely to be administrative/managerial and political , but in theory the potential of building world class infrastructure is huge.

Healthcare and IT in India

I was reading an article on Obama’s health care initiatives to reduce cost of health care and

make affordable health care accessible to a larger section of the population in the USA. I can definitely

say that this is a big initiative that will have a far reaching impact on the society in the immediate to long run.

I cannot help noticing the spiralling cost of health care in India. Though it is cheap compared to

the cost of healthcare in

western countries, compared to the spending power of an average Indian,

The costs are spiralling at a pace that some day might soon make it hard for common folks to get quality healthcare.

The need for HealthCare reforms very much exists in India, and on the top of the list of reforms should

be the push to digitize healthcare industry, specifically Electronic medical records.

Annually thousands die due to medical negligence and error. Millions of tons of paper are used up in storing and archiving

medical records. And epidemics spread across the country quicker than the ability of the government to contain them. All these are

avoidable.

Digitization of medical records leads to lower cost for the patient in the long run, by

reducing paperwork, reduce medical errors in prescriptions ,enables faster and more accurate patient record search

Considering that a large percentage of our population lives below poverty line and

an even larger percentage has no access to insurance, the necessity of bringing down the cost of healthcare

becomes all the more important.

Healthcare is just one among many other areas of the economy that urgently should be digitized and automated as our country

marches into this century. The usual advantages are the reduction in cost, increase in efficiency of performing

workflows across a range of industries. But the advantages are not just these few. Embracing Digitization will enable the

country the join the larger trend that has characterised the advanced economies, and will provide a wide range of functionalities

and services that hitherto would not have been possible, and it will project a modern face of the country to the outside world.

For example, if the medical records of all citizens were digitized, collecting medical statistics like prevalence of an epidemic or

effectiveness of drugs becomes a breeze. Controlling epidemics especially is very important in our densely populated country.

I was reading an article on Obama’s health care initiatives to reduce cost of health care and make affordable health care accessible to a larger section of the population in the USA. This definitely  is a big initiative that will have a far reaching impact on the US society in the immediate to long run.

I cannot help noticing the spiralling cost of health care in India. Though it is cheap compared to the cost of healthcare in western countries, compared to the spending power of an average Indian, The costs are spiralling at a pace that some day might soon make it hard for common folks to get quality healthcare.

The need for HealthCare reforms very much exists in India, and on the top of the list of reforms should be the push to digitize healthcare industry, specifically Electronic medical records.  Annually thousands die due to medical negligence and error. Millions of tons of paper are used up in storing and archiving medical records. And epidemics spread across the country quicker than the ability of the government to contain them. All these are avoidable.

Digitization of medical records leads to lower cost for the patient in the long run, by reducing paperwork, reduce medical errors in prescriptions ,enables faster and more accurate patient record search considering that a large percentage of our population lives below poverty line and an even larger percentage has no access to insurance, the necessity of bringing down the cost of healthcare becomes all the more important.

Healthcare is just one among many other areas of the economy that urgently should be digitized and automated as our country marches into this century. The usual advantages are the reduction in cost, increase in efficiency of performing workflows across a range of industries. But the advantages are not just these few. Embracing Digitization will enable the country the join the larger trend that has characterised the advanced economies, and will provide a wide range of functionalities and services that hitherto would not have been possible, and it will project a modern face of the country to the outside world.

For instance , if the medical records of all citizens were digitized, collecting medical statistics like prevalence of an epidemic or effectiveness of drugs becomes much easier and moer accurate. Controlling epidemics especially is very important in our densely populated country and EMR facilitate tracking of epidemics seamlessly.

Commuting by bicycle in Bangalore

Commuting by bicycle in Bangalore.

After almost a year , i decided to dust off my bicycle and pedal to office on a bicycle. My

initial apprehensions about the traffic and pollution, gave way to fun and I dont regret it a bit.

I live in Ramamurthy Nagar, a northern suburb of  Bangalore and work at Koramangala, a good 15 km away. 30 KM of

cycling a day definitely proved to be fun for my body and soul. The only worry for me is that I may not sustain the interest, in the long run

as i tend to fall prey to laziness.

The hazards of cycling in Bangalore, the ruthless motorists, the killer BMP buses and the king sized potholes are things to watch out.Another problem would

be the sweat, that necessitates dress change at office. If your office does not have a changing room, it is hard to change.

The benefits of cycling

are many. First financial benefits. One  ends up saving thousands of Rs of fuel

and cost of gym saved, ( that i may have had to join otherwise ) , another few thousand bucks on maintenance, depreciation and other costs.

And there are other benefits like improved fitness, a positive self image, less parking space at office, helping to lesser decongest.

It does not surprise me, like so many other good things missed, that BMP, Bangalore has not considered adding seperate cycle lanes on newly constructed roads

if not on the older roads. Many cities worldwide are considering providing infrastructure for cyclists. Chicago aims to be a cycle friendly

city by 2015. Portland, OR, USA has turned the most cycle friendly city in the US with many roads modifed with extra cycling lanes. Amsterdam has been a

cycle friendly city for a long time. But we Indians , being a middle income country we are going after cars and motorised commuting, loading our cars. As my friend once observed, we seem to

be lapping up all the bad ideas that west is discarding!. Cycling is a eco friendly, dynamic and sustainable mode of transport and should be encouraged

by all means.

I am making a vow to cycle as much as possible to commute to office.

After almost a year , i decided to dust off my bicycle and pedal to office on a bicycle. My initial apprehensions about the traffic and pollution, gave way to fun and I dont regret it a bit.

I live in Ramamurthy Nagar, a northern suburb of  Bangalore and work at Koramangala, a good 15 km away. 30 KM of cycling a day definitely proved to be fun for my body and soul. The only worry for me is that I may not sustain the interest, in the long run as i tend to fall prey to laziness.

The hazards of cycling in Bangalore, the ruthless motorists, the killer BMP buses and the king sized potholes are things to watch out.Another problem would be the sweat, that necessitates dress change at office. If your office does not have a changing room, it is hard to change.

The benefits of cycling are many. First financial benefits. One  ends up saving thousands of Rupees of fuel and cost of Gym saved, ( that i may have had to join otherwise ) , another few thousand bucks on maintenance, depreciation and other costs.

And there are other benefits like improved fitness, a positive self image, less parking space at office, helping to decongest.

It does not surprise me, like so many other good things missed, that BMP, Bangalore has not considered adding  separate cycle lanes on newly constructed roads if not on the older roads. Many cities worldwide are considering providing infrastructure for cyclists.

Chicago aims to be a cycle friendly  city by 2015. Portland, OR, USA has turned the most cycle friendly city in the US with many roads modified with extra cycling lanes. Amsterdam has been a cycle friendly city for a long time. But we Indians , being a middle income country we are going after cars and motorised commuting, loading our over crowded roads. As my friend once observed, we seem to be lapping up all the bad ideas that west is discarding!. Cycling is an eco friendly, dynamic and sustainable mode of transport and should be encouraged by all means.

I am making a vow to cycle as much as possible to commute to office.

The education system in India – need for reform

In my other post i briefly touched upon the need for education reforms. In this current article i will attempt to discuss this topic a little more indepth.

I have always been puzzled by the school system since my childhood. Locking a bunch of kids inside classrooms from 9 to 5 and making all of them go through the same set of textbooks and teachers and evaluating at the end of the year, if they spent time reading those text books properly seemed a little assembly line like to me. The more efficiently a student is able to recall the books by way of the exam, the better the school is rated. And the school system seemed even more strange and archaic when i came out of college.

There was nothing in the years of schooling i recieved, that suggested that all education i recieved was being used in real life. And the change i saw in the society outside and in the business environment was astonishing, the schools never changing syllabus seemed to be set in a different era and preparing the school kids for jobs that existed in the 1960s or 70s. As Alvin Toffler and many others have pointed out, the school was designed for an industrial society that existed in 1800s ( and is on the ebb since 80s)

Here are a few measures i suggest that I think might provide some answers , if not all , to the many problems plaguing our school system.

• Customise schools, to fit students needs.
• Make exams optional.
• Make revision of syllabus mandatory every year. Yes every year, as it is necessary with the high pace of technological change
• Make interaction with industry, businesses, and other outside institutions ( outside of school ) mandatory and that interaction should start much earlier than college.
• Structure learning and knowledge in such a way, that it always combines theoritical information with hands on approach
• Come up with more effective systems for measuring proficiency of a students skills in any area. Objective type exams are one way to do that. But relying on exams alone might not be sufficient ( as exams become an end in themselves rather than the subjects being measured ), adding ways to test a students hands on skills might be one way.
• All education should have a fairly moderate to high component of maths and science and perhaps finance. I believe  this is very important to have these skills for an individual to deal with the increasingly complex technological society that we are headed to.
• Make the school system more innovative and open to change and less bureaucratic.  The school system should become more entreprenuerial , ( not in the money sense ) but more in terms of delivering results. This is ncessary for it to deal with the new world effectively. In fact all the points above can be implemented much more effectively in a less  rigid school system.

Another change i am advocating is that, abolish the whole concept  of lifetime teachers. Instead teaching should be done by an individual in blocks of 3-4 years, before he/she goes back to industry. And others employed in the industry should be encourage to teach for a few years atleast once in their life time.This is essential for cross fertilisation of ideas and people and cultures between different demoghraphic  segements of society. And will make the teaching much more enjoyable  to the students.

This is essential for cross fertilisation of ideas and people and cultures between

different demoghraphic

segements of society. And will make the teaching much more

enjoyable  to the students.

The above items by any means do not provide answers to all  the problems we have with our education system. But i do believe that , they do provide a beginning to be made in radically altering our education and school system in a way the prepares the students to the world they are going to be in in the future.

In just 2-3 generations, almost all of us Indians have been witness to a different system of schooling than the one that our forefathers were  accustomed to  for generations. For all of us, the current class room based schooling system started with our grand fathers or atmost great grand fathers. Prior to that it was the traditional occupation based education that all of us recieved, which in most cases was passed on from father to son.

If we can adopt to a new education system in such a short time, i would say, there is no reason why we should not feel free to tweak our current system to make it better suited to the increasingly technological future.

Alvin Toffler, the famous futurologist ( and one whose works i have enjoyed thoroughly ) proposes many of these views here http://www.edutopia.org/node/3149

The age of the startup

Well i could not help posting an entry ( in the style of one of my favorite icon Paul Graham) on one of my most favorite topics – startups. I have always had this burning desire to be associated with a startup, either to be employed by one or even better start one. The former wish had been fulfilled, and the latter wish may soon turn to be a reality.

In any case, this whole phenomenon of startups ( micro corporations as i like to call them ) has blossomed in the last 20 years or so in the USA, and in India has been noticeable only in the last few years. Something tells me that this phenomenon of startup culture gaining ascendancy is indicative of a larger shift in the world of business, and i firmly believe and suspect, that we are at the cusp of a major shift in the way wealth is created, sort of akin to the industrial revolution.

I feel that the center of innovation, wealth creation and the focus of technological progress is increasingly shifting to smaller and agile firms and startups, the world over. While they may not replace or dominate larger corporations, they definitely , will peform some aspects of business in a far more efficient and productive manner than large coroporations.

( Well before those readers familiar with Paul Graham’s articles on the same subject accuse me of plagiarism, let me admit that , my prediction above, is definitely, influenced, if not originated by , Graham ! . The original is here Paul Grahams Predictions  ) 

I think, internet ( in particular and cheaper communication technologies in general ) is one of the major reasons for this shift. Other reasons are globalization, and the wide availability of cheap capital combined with the dramatic price reductions in the computer software ( read open source ) and hardware.

There is another major reason as well that is not so obvious. That is the unlocking of previously undiscovered human capital ( potential ) worldwide due to better education , nutrition and exposure in the last few decades. More young and smart people are joining the ranks of worlds middle class ( China and India being the two that come to mind most ) and are giving vent to their desires, aspirations using cheap capital, technology and internet.

This unleashing of the creative potential of millions across the world will fuel the next wave of startups and will further accelerate the pace of technological advancement. This can only be good for everyone, and the resultant wealth creation and the technological advances, will definitely transform and change the world into a more wealthier, healthier and peaceful place than the current one we live in.

The demise of Anonymity

Being anonymous is not easy anymore. There was a time, when celebrities were the only ones cribbing about not being able to remain anonymous. That was ages ago. Now, for most ordinary citizens of any country, wishing to remain anonymous is a luxury.

In this information age, there is a trail left of anything one does. Take me for e.g. I have a credit card and debit card. I use my internet connection at home and work. And I blog at a couple of places, and have accounts in orkut, facebook, linkedin and a few other popular sites. With the information in these profiles, it is relatively easy to construct a fairly accurate profile of mine. Well atleast a determined hacker could construct my profile relatively easily.

I have a digital trail of my credit card usage, i am captured in the video camera of the departmental store that i shop at regularly. When i surf internet, my ip address and location is logged by my ISP.

Though one can remain anonymous by taking some precautions, it is still hard not to be audit logged somewhere, either in the digital internet world or in the real world. There has been this endless debate between those who peddle anonymity as an inalienable right and those who see problems of crime and fraud associated with anonymity.

Anonymity has its pros and cons. A determined criminal or an identity thief could mine information about me that could be used in nefarious ways for gain. On the other hand, a suitor dating a potential partner or an employer wanting to know about his future employee, could gather enough information, to make an informed conscious decision so that it does prove to be costly.

I prefer anonymity to a reasonable extent while i surf the net, or shop or whatever hell I do. But when it comes to the safety of a country or dealing with a terrorist threat or any fraud that could destroy individuals, i would gladly give up my my right to remain anonymous for public good.

Education Reforms in India

The current education system that we have in India is essentially, a by product of our British legacy. The degree based education system where degrees are granted after 12+ years of schooling are modeled on the British system in existence since the 1700s.

Indian university education system has not evolved with the demands of businesses and Industry. The current degree is not need based. Though degrees by themselves serve a purpose of benchmarking students based on their skillets, aptitude and interests, their utility is questionable in subsequent career success. In real life, training in a specific technical skill, attitude, willingness to learn come into play and a BSc from Mount Camel may perform better than a BE from IIT in a specific area.

A good example would be me. I have double degrees, a B.E. and an M.Tech. ( one from an NIT and another from IT-BHU ) in Mining engineering but  ended up in the computer software industry as a programmer, ( I have been very happy in this profession of mine for more than a decade) . But the sad part is , except for a few subjects, I do not believe there is any subject I learned in college, that has been useful to me in my career.  Of  course, there are other learning’s from my college days, like learning to live independently, people skills, network of friends from all over India etc. that my college education has given me.

I never attended any formal training program and all my computer skills have been self taught. And even the skills I know  have changed and evolved over the years. Other than my basic programming skills in C++ and C, I also had to quickly learn and  adopt myself to a variety of technologies over the years. Java, .NET, C#, SQL Server.

Perhaps, all college goers ( of all degrees ) , can be taught a set of basic courses, on language skills, basic finance,  people skills, and basic computer programming and some sports perhaps in the first year of degree. During subsequent years of the degree students can be taught more specialized subjects, solely based on the student’s interest and aptitude. And in the last year of any degree program , students can be taught courseware that reflects industry trends and can be developed in collaboration with the business and industry. And also options should be provided to students to change their specialization any time during the duration of the degree, if that makes more sense from a student’s career or interest’s perspective.

There is also an explosion in the number and complexity of new technical areas, and subjects that did not exist 20 years ago. Nanotechnology, Protein Modelling, e-commerce are some examples. Education system should be designed so that it can prepare  the students, to be successfully part of the future workforce in these highly technical and specialized areas.

Of course there are also societal attitudes towards degrees at play. InIndia society Degrees are revered. A 12th standard pass is considered inferior to a person who has completed a degree in BA, who in turn is considered below par with someone  who has completed B.E. ( it does not matter if the BE is from a degree mill college which takes donations from students with  very low aptitude and has minimal infrastructure ). These attitudes are a throw back to our parent’s generations where jobs  were scarce and a degree was often a stepping stone to job. Though these attitudes have changed somewhat, the general  perception is that degrees are good for career.