25 February 2023
18 February 2023
23 January 2023
Social Media Culture
Social media networks are widespread on the internet. However, this experience is good for some people but very bad for others. The bad experiences often lead to hightened states of depression. Social media invariably is all about popularity. But, this popularity is also overshadowed by not only influence but also the level of negative sentiments one can receive from people. In most cases, the person that subscribes or follows a person is totaly a stranger. This strangeness and unfamilarity of people leads to a very cold and defensive state of interaction especially among women. Removing someone from your follower/subscriber count may mean nothing for one person while could mean the world to another. In other cases, not getting reply from a person can be quite an issue for others. Other cases might involve blocking which the person might take quite personally. In general, people of celebrity status have had it quite easy as they already can gain plenty of followers from just influence or even hiring a separate marketing agency to manage their social accounts. However, other people likely would have to work towards it. People often may only reply to you based on your popularity as that would increase their follower count. Social media also seems to be a network of hierarchies. In many cases, it reflects the way people climb the social ladder, in associating with people who are more popular or influencial. When people get a very high follower or subscriber count they also have a tendency of becoming quite bigheaded and proud of their achievement. You never really know whether you are talking to a human or a bot on social media. And, whether someone's post is a scheduled post or something they directly replied to. In fairness, this could also be a reason why so many people are less empathetic. Social media as a result tends to be more about playing the game. It also seems to be a very cold place to hang out. Some people obviously don't care for popularity, influence, nor take the whole experience that seriously and this likely also negatively impacts their experience. Often the way the person looks also effects their popularity. Social media networks tend to be a breeding ground for shallow people, like an ego network. Recommendations are also geared towards popularity of content which further compounds the biases. No doubt social media can be addictive. But, it has also become a battle ground for people who want to display their frustrations, their hypocrisy, and be who they want to be outside of the confines of the real world. This often leads to some people being very unempathetic towards the people they interact and communicate, often with an unconscious bias. In many respects, social media reflects the real world, only worse. It also can be an opportunity to take a glimpse through the looking glass as to the reality of character and ideological mindset of people, especially as so many feel they can say whatever they like and treat people however they like without much regard for consequence. They are also great for mining data and analyzing human behavior. Take a step away from social media and see how the world suddenly feels simpler, more productive, likely less stressful, and frustrating.
12 January 2023
Top UK Villages
- Hodnet, Shropshire
- Saltaire, near Bradford, West Yorkshire
- Forest Row, near Crawley, East Sussex
- Craigellachie, Moray
- Abersoch, Llyn peninsula, Gwynedd
- Church with Chapel Brampton, Northamptonshire
- Castle Combe, near Chippenham, Wiltshire
- Braemar, Aberdeenshire
- Alderley Edge, Cheshire
- Burnham Market, Norfolk
- Studland, near Poole, Dorset
- Harome, near York, North Yorkshire
- Great Tew, near Banbury, Oxfordshire
- Ballygally, near Larne, Co Antrim
- The Witterings, near Chichester, West Sussex
- Hopeman, near Elgin, Moray
- St Mawes, Roseland peninsula, Cornwall
- Mells, near Frome, Somerset
- Solva, near St Davids, Pembrokeshire
- Walberswick, near Southwold, Suffolk
29 December 2022
Key Events of 2022
- Russia-Ukraine War
- Covid-19 Pandemic and Vaccines
- Turmoil in British Politics
- Turmoil in Pakistan Politics
- Iranian Protests
- Global Inflationary Movements
- Energy Prices
- Climate Change Movements Intensify
- US-China Tensions
- Football World Cup
- Overturn of Abortion Rights in USA
- Queen Elizabeth II dies
- Prince Charles becomes King
- Kurdish Protests in France
- Elon Musk takes over Twitter
- UK Gets a First Indian PM
- Record breaking Heatwaves
- Droughts around the World
- Floods in Pakistan
- Cop27
Hypocrisy of Climate Change Activists
Climate change activists alert the world of the effects of having a high carbon footprint. However, one only needs to look at these activists and realize how hypocritical they really are in their own lives. Take for example Greta Thunberg. She talks about climate change and yet uses a plane, lives in a house, consumes electricity, produces waste, celebrates xmas, lights up a tree, receives gifts that use wrapping paper, while complaining on the world stage as how everyone has ruined her childhood. And, all her supporting crew had to be just as hypocritical in building their own carbon footprint just to enable her to travel via a zero-emissions sailboat and jet set around the world, provide for freeze dried meals that use plastic wrapping, the use of train, and the amount of water needed to grow cotton for t-shirts. Most climate change activists can't live without electronics and internet. She even seems to have a social media presence. One generally has to use the internet to be active on social media. According to estimates, all the gadgets, the internet, and systems we use today equate to 3.7% of the global greenhouse emissions. And, when one looks at it in realistic terms, her complete carbon footprint is greater than an average individual on the planet. And, in the time that she has taken center stage, has she provided any quantifiable and qualitative evidence with a set of constructive solutions? During conferences and summits one can see her ranting to the audience but passing on technical questions for other people to answer. Is this an indication of her being totally out of touch with reality? People that posture and rant to others while not practicing what they preach makes them rather hypocritical as they appear to have lived in a very protected environment of self-entitlement and don't seem to understand the complex social constructs and the global dynamics of the world.
27 December 2022
How To Identify A Racist Company
- They will reject your CV even if you are appropriate for the job
- They will keep talking about skills shortage even though they keep rejecting good candidate CVs for the job
- They seem to want to give you an interview invite if the name is not disclosed but not when the name is disclosed
- They don't want to shake your hand after an interview
- They isolate you from communications so it prevents you from doing your job
- They block your bonus or pay increments
- You have to work harder than everyone else to prove your worth
- They incessantly talk about your background like you don't belong
- They try to talk to you like you have entered civilization for the first time
- They avoid going to lunch with you
- They look at you differently
- You get stared at work
- When you raise issues of racism with the company HR they deflect the topic or brush it aside
- They block you from contributing to any technical project work
- They try to put you on the spot as a scapegoat for all their politics
- They will try to blame you for all their wrongs and mistakes
- You will likely be the first person they will consider to make redundant
- They will racially profile you in the workplace
- They will talk to you like you don't understand their language
- They will talk to you like you are beneath them
- They will even talk about how they feel about 'your kind' in the workplace and you may have to put up with it as the HR don't want to do anything about it
- They will try to harass and bully you in the workplace so you end up leaving the organization
- They may expect you to put up with their verbal abuse and hostile intimidations
- They may even overly criticise you for your lack of abilities
- You might have to put up with microaggressions
- You might have to put up with your complaints being dismissed
- You might see it in the hiring and interview process
- You might see it in the lack of diversity in both the management as well as in the general workplace
- You might hear the term 'cultural fit' being used a lot by people that are mostly similar to each other
- Your ideas for change and opinions will get dismissed without much thought
- They may even try to take credit for your work
- They will avoid having a desk next to you
- They will constantly complain about you behind your back and keep tabs of your work
- You will be expected to work harder for the same level of work and put in more hours
- They will treat you like someone that doesn't have a voice in the organization
- They will avoid giving you access to things to be able to do your job
- They will overlook you from attending organizational events
- They will not be willing to pay you the same level of compensation but expect to pay you less
- They will put you in the hiring process for diversity but will not consider you for the interview or have any intention of hiring you
- They will go out of their way to keep tabs of your whereabouts and have a heightened sense of distrust for you than is normal - what time you go to lunch, what time you leave office, how much time you spend at the desk, how long you spend time in the restroom, what you are doing on the computer, what time you get into work, checks and balances for everything that you produce
- They will scrutinize your background alot more than is typical for their candidates in an interview process and likely will give you more tests to do
- They will likely consider you an outsider and not part of the team
- During the breakout periods in an organizational induction you will typically see the first signs of racist employees where they openly talk about how they hate a particular group of people, religion, etc
- Their organizational culture, marketing, and advertising campaigns are not considerate towards the protected characteristics
- The managers, co-workers, and colleagues are generally rude, unapproachable, and hostile towards you
- Many times the security will block you from entering the building and likely also do more random searches on you
- The receptionists will generally have a rude and hostile demeanor with which they greet you and how they interact with you
- They will excessively question and scrutinize your right to work in the country even though you might have been born there, are a citizen of that country, or have already shown proof of id
- The contract will at times display signs of it in the wording and particular sections
- They make bigoted and inappropriate jokes and comments about race, color, nationality, ethnicity and other cultures
- They show favorable preference for people of a specific nationality, race, color, ethnicity, or culture
- They refuse to do business with companies that are run by minorities
- They play down acts like slavery, human rights, affirmative action, and equality
- They use offensive terms to describe people of certain race, color, nationality, ethnicity, or culture
26 December 2022
Statistics is Pointless in AI
One can blame all of complexity in AI to statistics. The main reason why AI is going no where is because of statistics. Machines have no understanding of what they are learning in a statistical model. There is no formal method of testing statistical models that work in a blackbox. So, why bother working through something that can't be fixed? To explain the model, one will have to build an explainability model - uncertainty to explain the uncertainty. One is going from complexity to another form of complexity. As the old adage goes - 'keep things simple, stupid'. Even the machine needs an interpretation device to work out the statistical model which may be provided in form of a codified language. When one codifies a model they are right back to using logics and an instruction set that a machine can then understand and process. So, why not reduce the process to logical set of representations and let the machine figure out the rest of the statistical invariance through axiomatizations? After all, even when one builds a statistical model, it will eventually reduce to logic anyway.