2020 and the Comfort of the “Bubble”

As we lurch forward into the next stage of Covid 19, “vaccination anxiety”, 2020 has run away. In confronting this diabolical virus, humanity has struggled to establish and maintain life in secure bubbles.

It is palpable that this - bubble in - phenomenon has also impacted our discrimination and reasoning. Comfort of the “Bubble” has made opinion making, largely contingent on a slew of electronic screens.

In a democracy Media as the Fourth Estate is intended to serve citizenry, by keeping them well informed of facts and conveying balanced opinion. It is to be a watchdog of the State and society. The advent of the infotech (IT) revolution, in the 20th century, brought with it a hurricane of expectancy.

Bright eyed, we beheld the democratisation of knowledge and information. We regaled at the reach of the common citizen previously unavailable. We never listened to the whisper of Power and Commerce in the shadows. Resultantly now, in the early years of the 21st century, significant sections of the media are in the dynamic clasp of Media Moguls, and IT Tsars.

Visible discomfort of the IT CEOs in the US Senate Hearing (Oct 2020), allegations of interference in National elections, exposés of whistle blowers like Snowden reveal unsettling facts. While Frankenstein has been conclusively spotted below the desk, we are unlikely to get him out.

In India we are second to none. A vocal section of our Audio-Visual Media has generated a cacophony, where only the banshee wail can prevail.

Clever questioning, excellent use of mute and fade outs, irate participants, have left us unsure of facts and saddled with opinions, seemingly pre-ordained. While all are not in this rocking coracle, when in the “Bubble”, infotainment is a clear preference to news and analysis, sans performance.

The print media whips itself to catch up, but readership lags far behind viewership especially in the “Bubble”. We must however thank responsible sections of media, visual and print, that remain in the bridge-head for their character, courage, and commitment to ideals.

The story however gets more intriguing. Artificial Intelligence (AI), from its stumbling beginnings, in 1956, has today developed a momentum and trajectory unimaginable. Gone are the days of Deep Blue defeating Kasperov at Chess. AI Pluribus in 2019 while winning 15000 hands of multiplayer Poker displayed use of Mixed Strategies and Unpredictability. These we presumed were uniquely human preserves. Unsurprisingly, AI which has extensive clients, is firmly in the domain of human perception management.

It has trespassed into human free will, orchestrating choice. Unless you are a greenhorn, your on-line music, shopping, search preferences, the so-called private social media, all have an active AI overwatch. AI may be hungry for Big Data, but during the Pandemic it has taught itself to learn from Slim Data. Called machine learning, it makes no mistakes, has no morality and is not emotionally persuaded. AI loves to cuddle up to you, so social media is its natural home. Here it can convincingly whisper to you, one on one. The “Bubble” it finds you in today, is an AI dream.

Humankind has progressed by one unique quality. The ability based on facts and challenges to precognate solutions and strategies. Whether hunting the mammoth or structuring National Security, the process remains unchanged. When unsure of facts, untrusting of opinions, divorced from contact and interaction and distant from authoritative sources, misleading citizenry is simplified. Media dynamics and AI proficiency over fakes, deep fakes and clear false, is a dangerous cocktail.

The latest object of Media Magic is the Farmers’ Agitation. Perhaps we take for granted the transition from queuing up for hours in the 50’s and 60’s for rations and a bottle of milk, to today’s overflowing food and food product shelves. If from dawn to dusk we are fed, overfed, and spoilt for choice it is due to decades of toil, labour, and perseverance of the farmer. We can keep debating the ecological costs, but we are a nation that has food security.

As a soldier we lived with farmers 3 to 6 months a year when on manoeuvres. How can a soldier forget? As a young officer in Balsamund (Haryana), after a week in the vicinity, the farmer of one and a half acres, sought to give us a meal. The tank crewmen, all farmers, fully aware of the sensibilities, negotiated that he only cook for the officer crew, four of us. As he proudly hosted a simple meal, he told me he had cooked a vegetable in my honour.

In Haryana and Punjab our tanks rolled out as soon as the crops were cut, to an escort of wildly excited children running along with buckets of fresh Lassi. They would wave us down relentlessly till we drank it, as their families looked on approvingly.

In 1989, from Batala, Qadian, 200 plus Tanks and armoured vehicles, raged across a wide swath and inducted across the Beas River. Each 40 plus ton instrument of rage, ripped across fields and while avoiding brick lined waterways, breached earthen bunds magnifying the farmers labour manifold. On termination of the exercise, a small army of jeeps went to every village, every panchayat to pay compensation.

A Punjab still in the throes of its post ‘84 trauma, refused any compensation. We repeated the circuit to no avail. The words spoken by simple farmers were “aap koi private kaam nahin kar rahe, Desh te sadhi raksa lie training kitta”. The sentiments abhor translation. While training near Banasar, in Rajasthan, the village of Major Shaitan Singh PVC (posthumous 1962, of the Rezeng La battle), the elders approached us and generously desired to host the full Regiment. We respectfully accepted and dined on the pristine sand and open air of the desert.

We were fed with loving hospitality, amid memories of the valiant officer. As we made our way back to our bivouacs that night (Nov17/18 1999) the sky lit up with meteor showers. Farmers all - large hearted, spontaneous, proud of their Army. We were privileged to wear Olive Green.

While there is an incessant effort to daub the agitation in various colours and link it to disparate isims, thousands are on the road. Farmers, at the base of our existence, are saddled with a tenuous livelihood, the world over and we are no exception. It is surreal to hear talk of rich farmers, and farmers wanting to get rich, as though they should willingly give up aspirations for prosperity.

As we are likely to continue in the “Bubble” for the better part of 2021, we may have to strive to enhance our empathy and protect our opinion formulation. Facts must be recognised and truth established. As Indian Citizens, this pursuit would be appropriate, since under the watchful gaze of the Ashoka Lions is inscribed and emblazoned “Satyameva Jayate”.

Lt General Sanjiv Langer PVSM,AVSM is retired from the Indian Army.

Cover Photo: MOHIT DOCK/The Citizen