The Empires of the future will be the empires of the mind

 

            “Mind is mightier than the sword!” The old saying that fits well in the context of what the future empires will be made of. Historically, those powerful nations that dominated had either a powerful army, or navy vessels or nuclear weapons as evident during the world war era. But at present and eventually in the future, it will be the mind that will dominate. But in all the above also, we had a mind that was behind the creation of those tools that led to the pursuit of power, isn’t it? Then, how will the future mind be different from those?

            During those times, a person feels “Eureka moment” while discovering something. And such a discovery intentionally or unintentionally becomes the start of the power conflict. Take in the case of steam engine. Its invention eventually led to the Industrialization which in turn led to colonization. Thus, making a tool for transportation into that of Imperialism.

            But now, the case is different. Most of the inventions are intentional and purposeful. Thus, the process is getting more and more competitive. So, mind requires more processing power and speed. So, recognizing the limitations of the brain capacity of humans, modernized supercomputers named AI comes to aid human.

            Take the case of ChatGPT’s Image creator. Now, it can create an image if you feed in with your specifications in the form of data. But it can also make its own changes. Which means the outcome consists of the inputs of 2 minds – one is of yours and other one is of the AI’s. This is why the future empire will be the empire of mind – let me correct it – empire of “minds”.

           This gives rise to the Data(s) model of livelihood where the people’s data becomes crucial for service delivery. Say for example, you order a pizza online. Your address, phone number and payment details are becoming necessary for the home delivery of the pizza. But is it guaranteed that these data will not be used beyond pizza delivery? Are you sure the right to be erased as part of Article 21 is followed in spirit beyond in letter?

            If you think so, let me remind you about the 2018 Google’s Data leak that exposed the personal data of millions of users. Why would a corporate company have to store all these personal data beyond its primary purpose for which it was collected?

            The answer lies in the customer calls and the personalized Ads you get. Immediately in your browser, a Ad pops up showing “25% Discount for Domino’s Pizza if bought New movie ticket”. This is how the corporates commercialize our private data. This is a form of “Data Imperialism” with which the superpowers like US and emerging superpowers like China tries to dominate the world.

            Those old times, a war was necessary for imposing dominance. Now, a “Blue Whale Challenge” is more than sufficient to manipulate people by controlling their private data as evident in COVID times. If there is another world war, it may more likely be fought with personal data more than bullets and bombs!

            But a coin always has 2 sides and so is the scope of the future minds.

Human-AI Interface

            Despite all the warnings, Ghost stories and fiction thriller narratives about the AI against humans like Terminator series, we cannot deny the opportunities it presents.

            Take in the case of healthcare. The Robotics has aided the Doctors in disease detection, patient-health monitoring and in complex surgeries like cardiac surgery.  The Compassionate nature of humans combined with the Surgical Precision of the robots in treating the patients made the hospitals truly a temple.

            One other such successful Human-AI interface was seen in Education field. In a school in Kerala, classes are taken by regular staffs. But the staffs cannot be with students all the time. Thus comes “Iris” the AI teacher to fill the vacuum by helping students get their doubts cleared anytime.

            This does not end here. The opportunities presented by the Human-AI Interface goes beyond imagination. Who would have thought a Bandicoot Robot would come to rescue the Safai karamcharis from Manual scavenging!

            Further these Interfaces will increase manifolds by the IndiaAI Mission which intends to build an AI empire in India. Thus, the opportunities are nothing short of imagination but it is mandatory to have a handle to wield the sword effectively in a way it does not harm the user.

String the puppet

            In this new era of dual minds, the stringing of the AI is crucial for maximum benefits with minimized harm. But since this age of AI has already begun, a swift action becomes necessary.

            Already Corporates like Google, Meta, X (formerly called twitter) are having Monopoly in the Digital Market and thus dictating the pace of Digital Economy. For example, You-tube algorithms can make you see what makes it profitable. It is important for India to bring key regulations to ensure free and fair market together with ensuring competition. Consumer protection Act, Digital data protection Act, and Competition Act etc. aid in doing so.

            In long-term, these market regulations need to be accompanied by domestic search engine developments like “Quamu”. Further data localization measures to protect the privacy of the users can instill confidence in digitalization.

            To build an empire, the regulations must be accompanied by innovation. This needs critical thinking which can be sparked during school education. In that way, the National Education Policy (2020), Atal tinkering labs and Atal Incubators fosters creativity among students to think beyond rigid curriculum. The one nation one subscription scheme also provides nationwide access research articles and journals thus facilitating high quality research opportunities.

            Inventions may be crucial for building the empire, but such assets need to be protected from misuse to sustain the empire. Securing the Intellectual property rights of the owners is important to foster further scientific temper among the researchers. This is done by GI tags, copyrights, trademarks, etc. and further by curbing Bio-piracy to safeguard the rights of Indigenous people.

            Final thing is to have a robust defense mechanism. Not the army, but the cyber-defense to shield against the cyber-attacks. One potential measure can be to introduce Indian cyber police service (ICPS) as a part of UPSC CSE. This will attract talented cyber-crime specialist into the service with added advantage of reduced cost of training as already they have required specialization in that field.

            This empire of the future will be the one with the mind that will be different from the past consisting of Human-AI Interface. Potential for challenges and threats may not be short of our expectations but it is also equally true that such threats can be effectively domesticated to bring us opportunities. Thus, recognizing that the foundation stone for the future empire has been laid already by the IndiaAI program, we need to build upon that swiftly to attain our goal by 2047 – the Viksit Bharat era.

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