Of Courts and Mini-Stars and Cyber-Gabbars
And for another week-end, a few stray thoughts and a few
general observations and a few points of view (some of it my own work and some
as reported by media):
Like as we speculated last week, our vote of confidence in Indian
judiciary did turn out to be a bit premature. Amma got a reprieve which clears
her way to occupy the throne once again rather than being just the “power
behind throne of some non-entity.” Some
say this must have been a gift to Amma on the Mothers’ Day which was also
celebrated last week. As a rule I don’t have anything against gifts to mothers
but feel that if only we had the best interests of the Mother India close to
our heart, things would have been much much different.
Like I am happy to see that a few active citizens are
questioning propriety of Salman Khan receiving
bail in such a hurry while on an average an under-trial has to wait for
months before he can get a hearing even when he can raise the bail money. It is
clear that the relief they pray for requires “salve” that comes at a very high price
that you and me can not afford.
Like Mumbai Indians are making a habit of springing up
surprises every year and gate-crashing into the Qualifiers of IPL. Harry
Houdini would have been proud of them. At least one good outcome of this is
Shah Rukh Khan does not have to worry whether MCA will allow him to watch the
Eliminator at Wankhede. Poor chap can safely concentrate on getting his roji-roti and sign up a few contracts for multi-crore multi-starrers
with Karan Johar.
Talking of stars, International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor (ITER) is creating a mini-star in Southern France which will create the
world’s first nuclear fusion reactor, the holy grail of nuclear science. The
project will generate 10 times the energy it will consume employing the same
thermo-nuclear reactions that take place inside a star like our Sun. The project was launched in 1987 and is
expected to be operational hopefully sometime in the next decade fulfilling
Michio Kaku’s prophecy that fusion will be a reality by 2030. The project is
sponsored jointly by EU, US, India, China, Korea and the Russian Federation. Glad
to find India among the participants. I think whatever one may say about the
caliber of our politicians, they are at least smart enough to listen to good
sound advice from our scientist community and ensure that India collaborates on
such important projects. The project is headed by a Frenchman, Bernard Bigot.
This is one bigot I am willing to cheer and support all the way.
This technology will surely revolutionize the energy sector
and change the geo-politic scenario permanently and rather drastically. The
conflicts over oil and other energy sources will be a thing of past leaving the
mankind free to concentrate on other things like, well, the coming water wars.
Technology is also opening other frontiers. Smart
implantable devices which can regulate the functions of internal organs like
the heart and the pancreas are already available and many more such devices are
on testing boards. This threatens to give birth to lucrative new industries,
“Personal Cyber Terrorism” and “Cyber Murder”. Imagine you getting a call from
a member of some alphabet gang (D/E/F gang) and you hear him / her tell you “I
have got access to your pacemaker and unless you transfer X million into my
account in next two minutes.....” and proceed to demonstrate his control by
stopping your heart for 10 seconds. Let me tell you, there is no better way to ensure
that you comply with his / her instructions rather promptly.
On the other hand, if you want to get rid of your old
wealthy uncle and get your hands on the money he has promised to leave you in
his will, all you need to do is to call your friendly neighbourhood hacker and give him the supari . I am sure the 2025
remake of Sholay will no longer have dialogues like “Yeh Rampurwale kaunsee
chakki ka aata khatey hai?” or “Kitney aadmi the Samba?” instead Gabbar will
ask “ Kaunsa encryption kiya hai in Rampurwalone?” and “ Kitney firewall the
Samba”?
LazyBee aka Shirish Potnis
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