For decades, white-collar work consisted of generating impressive-looking documents that few people read carefully and even fewer verified. This work felt productive. It kept people busy. It generated revenue. It filled time. This is why I call AI a white-collar revolution. It’s doing what the industrial revolution did to many blue collar jobs of its time. It changed what constituted value and forced people to add value in new ways.
AI Is Coming for Your Job — And It’s Already Here
I fact-check the cliché: “AI won't replace you, but someone who knows how to use AI will". I argue that AI is not just coming for your job, it’s here already. Exploring how AI is replacing the organizational pyramid, I observe how fresh graduates are at most risk at the moment. But it won’t stop here.
Why GenAI will not replace Human Writers
I argue why GenAI cannot replace human writers. GenAI is not magic, it’s a probabilistic sequence predictor. It is trained on data to predict what is most likely to follow a set of words (prompt). In contrast, human writing is thinking on paper.
How Social Media Changed Politics
I analyze how social media has changed politics and political campaigns. I argue that while social media has enhanced the freedom of expression, it has also created ideological echo-chambers. I borrow ideas from Jonathan Haidt, Neil Postman and Richard Hanania to build my case.
Are You Addicted to Social Media?
I talk about social media addiction, and how it affects our personal lives. We joined Facebook to connect with long-lost friends across the globe. Only to lose the ability to hold uninterrupted conversations with friends right in front of us. I dig into the perils of phone-based childhood and what young parents can do about it. Also, I briefly share my recent experiments to wean myself away from social media.
Is your Cloud Provider the Hotel California?
“You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!" So go the lyrics of the Eagle’s 1977 song, ‘Hotel California’. In many ways, cloud computing is this very hotel.
Can AI replace artists?
Commercial considerations aside, what do artists have against AI?
Bhopal Gas Tragedy: A Case Against Globalization?
Exploring the central question about the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. How could Union Carbide get away with it? How did Warren Anderson, UCC’s CEO at the time of the tragedy, go scott-free?
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 →
Musings by Madhav 