In 1920, the US prohibited the sale of ‘intoxicating liquors’. The idea was dressed up as a crusade against moral evil. It ended up strengthening the mafia that made exorbitant money in the illegal alcohol trade. Child support policy was framed as a way to make deadbeat fathers pay up for their child(ren). The ostensible... Continue Reading →
Man’s Search For Meaning
What if you found yourself in a concentration camp stripped of every semblance of human dignity, working like a beast of burden? Viktor Frankl's 'Man's Search For Meaning' is based on his experiences in the school of sorrow where the earthy lessons of life are taught. Frankl’s life and observations at the infamous Auschwitz concentration... Continue Reading →
Can I make a living as a writer?
“No,” opined my uncle to my teen self. At the time this observation was made, it was an objective assessment. In those days, the avenues open to writers were as: Authors of fictional or nonfictional works. Writing staff at a legacy print media (newspapers, magazines etc.) as staff writers, editors, columnists etc. A few people... Continue Reading →
Why podcasts are not for everyone, every time
Lately (and belatedly), I have realized podcasts are the new blogs. Most millennials prefer podcasts. One factor contributing to this shift is the way some humans are wired. As Peter Drucker posited in “Managing Oneself”, some people learn by listening. Of course, these people can learn by reading, but listening comes more naturally to them.... Continue Reading →
Writing for humans or algorithms?
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?", goes the famous existential question. An SEO professional would probably answer that with an emphatic “no”. In a world where the omniscient algorithm determines your content’s discoverability, it’s understandable why the content must be optimized... Continue Reading →
Has ChatGPT made writers redundant?
So ask people stunned by ChatGPT’s ability to provide well-written, coherent answers. Since people with even modest writing skills can use ChatGPT to come up with fairly well-structured, error-free communications, they infer that writing will no longer be a prized skill. Let us step back and look at this another way. When typewriters were in... Continue Reading →
Will ONDC repeat UPI’s success for India
That we could make payments via mobile across the spectrum, from street vendors to high-end retail outlets, would have looked far-fetched even a decade ago. Today, people are making road trips across India without needing cash. That’s how mainstream Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become in India. Consider the ripples UPI created in the ecosystem:... Continue Reading →
Can Threads Replace Twitter?
Last week, Meta released Threads, its competitor to Twitter. Threads has been launched as a standalone app based on Instagram. Not the political type? Threads plans to stay away from politics and hard news. As experiences of both Facebook and Twitter show, conversations around politics attract negativity and scrutiny that are best avoided. Bit ironical,... Continue Reading →
Why Hollywood writers fear AI?
Even as the ‘Writers Guild of America’ (Hollywood writers) is striking for better pay, it’s AI anxiety that underpins the movement. The writers are concerned about how Generative AI (like ChatGPT) could impact their future. They fear AI could be used to create the first draft of a script, which would later be refined by... Continue Reading →
The Hero’s Journey
Did you experience a deja vu while watching a movie you never saw before? Did you see a vague pattern that you could intuitively sense, but couldn’t really put a finger on? Did you feel there’s a method to the madness that surrounds movies? If you did, it’s because there really IS a *Formula* at... Continue Reading →
Musings by Madhav 