So the ideas behind this entry have been going on in my mind for a couple of months now, but I just couldn't get to it. Back in the US, I'm trying to get back to " the high energy levels with low sleep while getting a lot of things done " self, and so haven't been spending time on hobbies as much. Today, something changed.
So as I said - I've been thinking about machines and people. And how I trust the machines a lot more than I trust people - which doesn't mean that I don't trust people. Just that if I was stuck in the middle of a lake, I would prefer a remote controlled boat with the remote in my hand over a person standing on the shore watching my predicament.
People are fickle. Machines are not. My computer has 3 hours and 19 minutes worth of battery left and if I do not charge it, it's not gonna complain - maybe remind me but never accuse me until it's dead (switch off due to lack of electricity). In my dictionary that's selflessness though to argue the point there is not self in case of machines. But that is what makes machines different from humans and slightly more reliable. If a machine stops working - there is always a logical reason. If a person stops talking, or changes their behaviour - logical may just be a perspective.
Now this thought originated while listening to one of my American friends talk about his other Indian friends suddenly behaving hypocritically. I have always believed that we as Indians learn the art of hypocrisy (or softly putting it - art of being politically correct) at a very young age. We love manipulating people - mostly coz it adds to the drama that happens around us and we love drama. However, a lot of people do not understand that and still believe in the age old ways of "Do I have your word?" and take you on it. But when the "sudden circumstances" stop you from keeping your word - they do not understand. And this is where the machines start gaining an edge. The sudden circumstances are mostly related to the comfort of self. Oh well! It was so hot and we were tired so we couldn't do this. However, the machines would blow themselves out trying to do what they were supposed to.
The thought compounded by the additional observations I made around myself - looking at various people and different transactions happening and actually seeing how little people in the world today are ready to go out of their way to help someone.
The thoughts going through my mind today - have been a huge swing factor in favor of the machines.
Because, there's no thinking involved and there's no sense of self - there are no ego clashes while dealing with machines. There's no one who has to be better or worse. A logical plan can be implemented flawlessly if machines are involved. That's coz the human factor is reduced. We have six sigma process for creation of machines to reduce the errors and to achieve flawlessness. We discard the machines that do not live upto the quality standards. No such process exists for humans.
As usual, I can go on and on - but wanna get some sleep and before concluding let me mention (and kinda repeat) - this does not mean that I'm anti-human.. Mistakes are what make us human. However, sometimes dealing with humans can get a whole lot frustrating - well.. just coz they're humans. With machines - logic always works.
