Just in Time. Really !!

There are numerous events in life which we would have managed just in the nick of time. This is one such true life anecdotal incident which I want to reminisce through this blog.

The final year of Engineering is a blissful period especially when one has secured a job and is about to wrap up studies. It was at this juncture when four optimistic youngsters ventured into a research level project. Though it was a pride to brand it as a project in collaboration with the elite IISc (Indian Institute of Science), the project had its own twists and turns. Let us not get into its technicality but head straight to the day before submission.

I still remember rambling around the corridor of my college campus for we had to follow-up on a few important formalities before the next day. Amongst those, the tasks were to:

• Get the project reports printed from the printing press
• Get the reports signed by Head of Department (HOD), Principal and the advisor at IIsc

First was the marathon to the press to get the report which happened scarily close to the time the HOD was about to leave for the day. 'The HOD has just left the office' was the outcry over the phone from one of our vigilant source. Thankfully, the huge infrastructure of the college had a long walk from the staff room to the staff parking area through the Principals' office in the lobby. Every bit of this buffer time helped us in finding the HOD just as he strolled through the front foyer. There was no mark of hesitation in signing the reports 'the HOD is eager to reach home soon' was our surmise. Indirectly, the on time delivery of our Bachelors degree was in the hands of this printing press. But nonetheless, phew! 'Just in Time' we thought. Next was an insane attempt to get the Principals' signature without even bothering to make an appointment. Despite an annoyed look from his secretary, we barged into the room to get his signature. Voila!! Another 'Just in Time' event. In the midst of our recuperation, the premonition of missing the other signature invaded us. Miraculously we ended up getting all the signatures 'Just in Time'. What fun does it make when everything happened 'Just in Time'?

The fun lies in the answer to this question: 

For our project, we worked on an optical networking protocol. Based on your reading thus far, can you guess the name?

Yes you are right if you guessed 'Just in Time'. 'Just in Time' also known as JIT was indeed the protocol we worked on. A memorable happenstance. This blog post goes in dedication to my wonderful project mates Roopesh - AKA Professor, Rutwick - AKA Toothpick and Sagar - AKA Sucre and also to my ever inspiring friends - Viju, Ajit, Vikas, Sameer and BT.

Limitless Automation

The quest for automation has been the prime reason for technological advancements. Engineers, and perhaps in an indirect manner, even scientists seem to be intent on making the common man lazier. Being an engineer, I find this pursuit towards advancement quite exhilarating, interesting and challenging but I find myself in a fix when a new invention is presented to humanity. A part of my mind rebels and thinks like a Luddite (don't worry if you are not aware of this term for now). The thought of blogging about this topic ahead of my Amsterdam trip adventure arose when I was working on an interesting algorithm. It became more intense when I watched the employed factory workers in the movie "Schindlers' List" last weekend. No, this is not about the eventual fate of those workers. In this blog, I want to briefly take you through history and then explain my dilemma. This blog (though most of it is under the grasp of a layman) might be of more interest to my tech savvy friends.

The dilemma which I am referring to is 'our over indulgence with machines'. While often I feel that it is good, there are also several instances when I wonder whether it is potentially damaging to us. This topic is debatable. Let us see what happened in the recent past and what's happening now. This dilemma can be compared to the interesting "Luddite Fallacy" of the labour workers. The Luddite movement began during the Industrial Revolution in the earlier years of the 19th century. They protested against excessive use of machines which gave rise to unemployment on a massive scale. Many  workers became redundant as machines did most of their work in a faster and efficient manner. I cannot be sure when it comes to sympathising them. Looking at the current advancements, we may now conclude that they were insane. But may be, during those days, their ideology was a self-proclaimed truth. Okay! Too anachronous? Let us examine the current scenario just to try and understand the reason for their fallacy.

What happened since then is that we saw the advent of marvellous machines and skilled labour which, no doubt, has led us to where we are now. But, now there is a sudden shift in paradigm. One might argue that there is still strong employment potential because we still need people to operate such machines given the fact that machines are dumb. But what we might not readily be aware is the second level of intelligence we are trying to add through "Machine learning" and other intelligent algorithms that makes human intervention and supervision unnecessary. Okay! earlier machines took away work from manual labourers and now algorithms are snatching jobs from skilled labourers. Again, one may ask "Aren't we progressing after all? Further, has that not spawned a huge job market for algorithm developers?” To that my answer is definitely YES but, I also ask for how long and at what cost? Imagine an algorithm developer now being replaced by a powerful machine which synthesizes algorithms for any problem with sheer efficiency and accuracy. Meaning - we advance intelligence to such an extent that algorithms are generated automatically for a given problem (and I bet you that it is not a distant future). Can you envision the fate of algorithm developers then? I mean I am just imagining a day when there is so much of automation that there is no need of any workers apart from machines. Otherwise, you can recursively keep trying to ask questions to please yourself till you hit that bottommost case at which a machine replaces your skill.

So this is the 21st century Luddite Fallacy that I have now. The topic is open for discussion. With conviction, can you tell me if it is good to be inordinately machine dependent? Or is it bad?

Some reflection helped me conclude by giving myself the following answer:
We live in an age of Limitless Automation. So long as we stay updated, we can bring continuous improvement in human condition thereby evolving mankind to a new level. In this pursuit we should ensure that we do not neglect the very home (nature) that we live in. I hope we are intelligent enough in keeping machines one step behind.

Hopefully I did not confuse you whilst recounting my dilemma. Nevertheless, few insights from you will be appreciated.