Monthly Archives: February 2018

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (PART-1: Introduction)

 

As we usher in new century, we entered a new world-a world of artificial intelligence. Though people were working on AI from last 50 years or so but only now we are able to see practical application and fast development in this area. AI is the simulation of intelligent behaviour in computers using programming. That means AI imitates human intelligence without emotional interference. Since the programming is based on lot of research data AI can perform better than human. AI machines beaten human in games like chess and Go. Silently they are entering our daily life. If you use iPhone you must be familiar with siri- an AI application.

Artificial Intelligence is still in developing stage. Yet many Peoples find it dangerous for human kind. Their intuitions might be right. There are two ways AI research can proceed in future. One is called slow takeoff and other is fast takeoff. A slow takeoff is a situation in which AI goes from sub-human to human to superhuman intelligence very gradually. We will have enough time to study dangers associated with it and to remove those dangers. But in fast take off in few years we will develop super artificial intelligence and that will not give us enough time to study, understand and restrict dangers associated with it. We can not predict behaviour of anything which is more intelligent than us. Presently all data suggest medium to fast takeoff because all big companies and developed countries are spending billions of dollars on it. Within ten years we might reached  singularity a term used for AI reaching human brain power.

Machine learning is another major part of AI. Learning without any kind of supervision requires an ability to identify patterns in streams of inputs. It is much more like how a baby learns to interact with world. I find it more powerful than AI based on programming every known thing. Because in that case you cannot expect more than what you input and intelligence of machine is dependent on programmer intelligence. If programmer is not careful enough, machine will make mistake. But in machine learning, based on sensors machine learn itself from its surrounding. It gives machine ability to learn from data without programming it explicitly. This process is slow but has more potential in long-term. We might be able to make a machine which can answer some of the ultimate questions which we can’t answer because of our limited capabilities.  Google Deep mind uses reinforcement learning and thus it can improve itself. Alpha Go made by Google deep mind division already beat human in Chinese game of Go which is much difficult than chess.

to be continued in Part-II

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Cars fitted with Hydrogen fuel cell is better solution than Electric Vehicle in India :

Search for clean fuel for automobile took us to two different directions: one towards Electric vehicle which uses lithium-ion batteries and charging ports and another is hydrogen cell which use hydrogen from filling station. Both are clean solution. Electric vehicle has no effluents and Hydrogen cell cars produce water. But the most important difference is that for electric vehicle we have to first produce electricity using other sources, some of them may not be renewable like coal and thus still cause pollution. So basically we are just shifting problem from one place to another. In developing countries where we do not have enough electricity for 24 hours supply in cities forgets about villages, adding more consumption will be disaster. If electricity will be cheaper than petrol (which seems likely in few years) when use in automobiles, for economic reason people’s will buy electric vehicles. Electric cars are far better than combustion engine cars and have less maintenance. Thus there will be huge increase in demand of electricity in future. Big question is how we will manage the increasing demand of electricity when we are already short of supply?

Hydrogen fuel cell is the solution. Already many countries started using hydrogen fuel cell. It is a proven technology. Instead of electric charging station we have to build hydrogen charging station. No more infrastructures required! No burden on electricity production. No need of batteries. Japan is producing and paving the way for hydrogen cell vehicle. Japan, Germany and US are increasing hydrogen filing station. UAE also opened its first hydrogen filling station. Though this technology is expensive but is the real solution of pollution. With tie and more and more use of this technology it will become cheaper and better.

Digital India- A dream without the vision.

According to the 2011 census of India, 68.84% of Indians live in Total 640,867 different villages. These villages neither have permanent electricity nor do they have computers and smart phones. They simply cannot afford computers and smartphones because 30% Indian lives below poverty line and most of them are found in villages. They are uneducated and unlettered. They do not know whether they will get food tomorrow or not. They need good agriculture policies.

Government must start from building Infrastructure. First let there be electricity for more than 18 hours a day. Than bring network cables and mobile towers in all villages and connect them with internet, Schools, Banks, Hospitals and Roads. Once we have this basic infrastructure ready it will be the right time for starting “Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan”.

Will you give a windows software to someone who don’t have a computer? How about teaching villages about Mars mission or perhaps Artificial Intelligence? Will it work? I don’t think so. First make them literate. Improve standard of Government schools. Appoint more teachers. Don’t waste money in unproductive and unaccountable things like Digital Saksharta.

We have to be practical in our approach. We must move forward step by step. For that we need leaders with vision. Without that we cannot achieve any substantial growth. If we want to develop India we have to start developing villages. But villages are dependent on agriculture. So we have to provide latest technology related to agriculture like irrigation technology, information about fertilizers, high yielding seeds, information about soil, crop rotation, water harvesting, biogas and solar energy utilization.

Now question is how we develop villages? First, we have to complete electrification of villages. That means minimum 18 hours’ electricity in every village. To achieve this, we have to increase production of electricity. Which no government is doing. Till the last year officially there were villages without electricity. Now government has installed few solar panel here and there and claiming that all villages are electrified. Congratulations!

Second step must be quality education for all. We are really lacking in it. Government schools in villages are becoming worst place for education except few exceptions. In some primary schools there is only one teacher. Some don’t have basic facility like class rooms, fans, chair and toilets. Some students have to go more than 5 KM for attending school. A survey named Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), shows that even though the number of rural students attending schools is rising, but more than half of the students in fifth grade are unable to read a second grade text-book and are not able to solve simple mathematical problems. What is the benefit of such education where students are not learning anything? Should not it be government first responsibility to improve basic education and hire more teachers than to start digital education. If there are good schools, digital literacy can be made part of curriculum. But without basic quality education there is no meaning of digital elementary literacy.

Finally comes the IT (information technology). Technology is changing with such a rapid pace that what you learn today will not be useful after 5 years. There was a time when we used floppy disk. Now it’s no more in use. New computers do not even have slot to insert floppy. Now we use CD and DVD or USB. Every years Microsoft launch new version of Windows. Similarly, smart phones are changing rapidly. Ten years back there was no touch screen mobile phones. Apple Inc.  changed everything with touch screen smartphones. If you are not educated and if you do not keep yourself updated, you cannot catchup with technology.

Everyone have dreams, only great Peoples have vision. Without long-term vision India will not become developed nation. A government that makes policies for billionaire businessman and change them according to expected elections result can never take India forward. We need a government with long term Vision.

Should Government make it compulsory for IIT students to serve nation for minimum 2 years?

 

There are two kind of persons who leave India for work:

  1. Those who are the best and want more and more money. They mostly want to go to USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan. Once settled, they do not want to come back. They hardly sent money to India for family as they have so many expenses there.
  2. Those who fail to find decent job and decided to go out of nation for earning living. These people normally find jobs in Asian and African Countries. The highest density of such peoples is found in middle east. They always dream to go back to India and start some business or to find a decent job back in India. They send most of their earnings back to India pumping billions of dollars of foreign money to home country.

The very purpose of creating IIT’s were to produce excellent talent to serve the nation and not to throw away the Taxpayers money spent on IITians. The fees IITians pay is a fraction of expenditure on them by Government. Everyone has right to have good job decent life but our first duty is towards our Nation. If we are able to secure good job here, we must not run behind Dollars. India need talented people. Our country will become poorer if we continue this brain drain. I know here we have lot of problems. But running away with problem is not bravery. Facing them is bravery.

30% Indians are living below the poverty line. Only cutting edge technology, Industrialization and modernization of agriculture can uplift them. For all that we need talented people to stay here and work for Nation. So students of all premium colleges should dedicate 2 years in service of motherland from where they received everything before they start thinking about themselves.

Share your feedback in comment section. Thanks.

Bleeding Hearts

 

Muslims are biggest minority in India and ever since they settled in India, they enriched Indian heritage and culture.Considering the ratio of population, in many areas Indian minorities contributed more in development of Nation than Majority.

Indian Muslims are Unique in many ways. One reason for this might be long association of Muslims with Indian subcontinent. Muslims arrived in Kerala in 8th century AD. They came through sea route from Arabian Peninsula. Most important impact of Muslims can be seen during Mughal period and later in struggle for independence. Muslims are living in India from more than 700 years. Before 1500AD Muslims came to India for various reasons such as trade, learning, preaching Islam and looting and robbing Indian wealth. They were foreigners like British who returned back after finishing their mission. It was only during Mughals, that Muslims made India their home country and settled permanently here. They were not the robbers who took Indian wealth outside the country. But they gave India a rich heritage to cherish. Redford, Taj Mahal, Humayun’s tomb, Jodha Bai’s Palace Fatehpur Sikri , Kutub Minar are few such examples made by Muslim rulers. Akber-The most successful Mughal emperor united the whole nation and expanded its border. Many brave and intellectual Hindus were part of his Court. He was a secular King who treated everyone with fairness and equality irrespective of his religion, caste or color.

It requires a whole book to write about Muslims contribution in struggle for independence. But Alas! After 60 years of independence, Muslims need a certificate of Patriotism from those organisations who never took part in the struggle of independence. We are supposed to say certain slogan to prove we are Indian!

India is a Great Country! It’s rich culture, freedom of expression and history makes it even Greater. I am a proud Indian and I love my country. I respect Constitution of India and I am a law-abiding citizen. My heart bleeds when somebody calls someone a traitor just because of his/her name. My heart bleeds when someone tells me or to someone else to go to Pakistan because we do not agree with their hard-line communal ideology. My heart bleeds when people’s divide us into we and them!

Blind Marriages

 

There are many broken marriages because of the physical or mental incompatibility. People marry without knowing each other. They take the oath of living together forever as soul mate and in very first night they come to know this relation will not last any longer because of incompatibility! Still you tried to patch up things but within a year or so you feel like enough is enough. You can’t spoil your whole life for your oath. You deserve a better life and with a heavy heart you broke up and move on. In Indian sub-continent, this is a tremendous problem. We can call such unions as blind marriage where boy and girl didn’t see and talk to each other until they get married. Families of bride and groom make all the arrangements and they feel quite proud about it and believe it is morally correct. We can minimize such incidents of illogical practice if we let boy and girl to meet and understand each other completely before marriage. Let them spent some time together before they marry each other.

We do see some successful blind marriages, but in most of the cases such marriages succeed only because the wife does all the sacrifices to save her marriage. Her parents always tell her that if she disobeys her husband she is wrong, and there is no space in their home for her if she came back after fighting with her husband. Can there be anything more ridicules’ than this? Society preaches such behaviour as morality! Time had come when we should raise our voice against such stupidity so-called morals. I do not understand logic of it in a society which allows co-education and stranger boys and girls can talk. But when it comes to marriage it becomes somewhat objectionable if bride and groom want to see or talk to each other before marriage. In small cities and villages you can still find such practice.

Sustainability in Everything

Scientist and Futurist are finding ways to terraform Mars for future use in case earth became inhabitable. But if we implement sustainability in all walks of life, we will never need another planet. Our earth is sufficient for the need of everyone. However, it is not sufficient for the greed of everyone.

Form last few centuries world is under capitalist power. Their main goal was to increase production by exploiting all natural resources. They needed huge supply of energy. Coal and Petroleum was the solution. Irrespective of its effect on ecosystem, human keep on using fossil fuels like coal and petroleum to bring about industrial revolution. Later they realize that something is wrong, air is getting polluted causing health hazards, acid rain and global warming. Ozone layer started depleting. But still no one stopped production, no one switch to renewable source of Energy. Even today, fossil fuels are the main source of energy. In many densely populated industrial cities, effect of pollution is visible. Respiratory diseases are increasing. In winters there is a thick fog causing difficulty in breathing.

Slowly we are shifting towards green energy and green building. But this is not enough. We need to be more serious about it. First we need to terraform earth rather than planning for mars. We need to find more efficient ways to use and produce energy. We have to shift completely to renewable source of energy like solar, wind and hydro. Trees are not enough; as they only exhale oxygen in day time. We need artificial plants converting CO2 into Oxygen 24 x 7. We have to promote culture of roof gardening and city plantation. Arrange water for existing plants. There should be separate plants which can be used for furniture. Or we must start using alternate material for furniture, doors and windows. Government must make strict rules for stopping cutting of jungles. If you are cutting a tree, you have to sow two saplings. Barren and hard lands to be used for making homes and fertilize lands to be reserved for only farming and plantation. Villages to be modernize to produce enough food for all.

Sustainability is very important concept. If we need sustainable future, we have to implement sustainability everywhere. Sustainability in society, Sustainability in work, Sustainability in energy use, sustainability in environment conservation etc.

Even your small contribution can make a big difference. Try to adopt below habits:

  1. Reuse and recycle everything that you can. Do not mix different kind of waste. Keep paper waste separately and give it to recycle.
  2. Conserve energy. Do not let AC and lights and fans turn on when you go out for long time.
  3. Do not waste water.
  4. Use both side of paper for unofficial work. Do not print until deem necessary.
  5. Use renewable energy. Buy a solar panel and install at your roof.
  6. Switch to Electric cars. They are quitter and trendy. More importantly do not cause pollution.
  7. Harvest Rain water.
  8. Use LED bulbs and energy-efficient equipment. Though they may be expensive initially, but within a year you will reach to break even.
  9. Do not put frozen items directly in microwave for heating. Plan in advance. Leave frozen items out for some time and then heat it. Similarly, do not keep hot items immediately in refrigerator.
  10. Do not install AC in front of a door. In that case all cool air will go out when you will open the door.
  11. Plant trees around your house and reduce heat entering inside building.
  12. Insulate your overhead water tank to avoid water over heating in summer and too cold in winter.
  13. Do not leave geyser (Electric hot water heater) on in night.
  14. In restaurant, do not order excessive food. Eating less is better than wasting food. Even if you order extra food, ask waiter to pack the remaining food. Even if you don’t want to consume it, give it to some poor road side beggar.
  15. Store less food unless required. If you have nearby supermarket, then try buying fresh food. Less food in fridge means less power consumption. Some fruit and vegetable not require to be preserving in refrigerator like onion, potatoes and bananas. Learn about what need to store in refrigerator and what not!
  16. Switch back to outdoor games, books and chatting to real people’s face to face rather than computer games and chatting to unknown persons on net.
  17. Avoid dark color paints and wall papers inside home. While buying or making home take care of proper natural ventilation and sunlight.
  18. Use walking or bicycle for small distance.
  19. While giving charity, make sure to donate one portion to NGO working for environmental cause.
  20. Share your innovative ideas to world. May be it change someone’s life. For example below is a very simple innovative product available on Amazon. This plate is made up of aluminium and increase conduction rate of heat transfer by increasing surface area. You can buy it at affordable rate by clicking this link.