srijit

@srijit@shonk.social

Interests (not in order of preference):
Nature; Society; Free and Open Source Software; Industrial Automation; Design; Photography; Literature; Science; Music; Sports; History; Economics; Social Science; Privacy; Cybersecurity; Accessibility

At work, I focus on software systems for industrial process automation.

Though I live in Bengaluru (Bangalore), India, my favorite city is Mysuru (Mysore), India.

I must thank the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community of Bengaluru for positively influencing my outlook towards software and society.

I believe in building an inclusive culture rather than ignoring demographics regardless of percentage. Let many flowers bloom in the garden.

I envision the Fediverse services built on ActivityPub as a digital town square that fosters moderate and sensible discourse and promotes consensus.

I was born when global CO2 level was 323 PPM.

Hashtags
#FLOSS #FOSS #IndustrialAutomation #Design #Photography #Camera #Science #StreetPhotography #MastIndia #Bengali #Bangla #Kannada #Hindi #Bengaluru #Mysore #Kolkata #IndianHistory #History #Soccer #Football #Economics #SocialScience #Democracy #Science #Privacy #Cybersecurity #Accessibility #Education #Programming #Python #Julia #Haskell #Sustainability #ClimateChange #MachineLearning #Digitalization

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srijit, to india

Income and Wealth Inequality in India

As an Indian I am not surprised to learn from Robert Reich's post that the top 0.1% of Americans control $20 trillion in wealth and the bottom 50% control $3.7 trillion in wealth.

I have been haplessly observing the brutality of inequality since my childhood while putting my best efforts to remain on the other side.

From the paper titled "Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj" we learn the following.

Our estimates suggest that inequality declined post-independence till the early 1980s, after which it began rising and has skyrocketed since the early 2000s. Trends of top income and wealth shares track each other over the entire period of our study. Between 2014-15 and 2022-23, the rise of top-end inequality has been particularly pronounced in terms of wealth concentration. By 2022-23, top 1% income and wealth shares (22.6% and 40.1%) are at their highest historical levels and India’s top 1% income share is among the very highest in the world.

In other words, the ‘Billionaire Raj’ headed by India’s modern bourgeoisie is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces. It is unclear how long such inequality levels can sustain without major social and political upheaval. While there is no reason to believe income and wealth inequality will slow down by itself, historical evidence suggests that it can be kept in check via policy.

The root cause may be absence of appropriate policies through legislation.

The authors of the above mentioned paper lament that:> In line with earlier work, we find suggestive evidence that the Indian income tax system might be regressive when viewed from the lens of net wealth. We emphasize that the quality of economic data in India is notably poor and has seen a decline recently. It is therefore likely that our results represent a lower bound to actual inequality levels.

cc: @mastodonindians

RE: https://masto.ai/users/rbreich/statuses/112361975539771887

srijit, to india

Income and Wealth Inequality in India

As an Indian I am not surprised to learn from Robert Reich's post that the top 0.1% of Americans control $20 trillion in wealth and the bottom 50% control $3.7 trillion in wealth.

I have been haplessly observing the brutality of inequality since my childhood while putting my best efforts to remain on the other side.

From the paper titled "Income and Wealth Inequality in India, 1922-2023: The Rise of the Billionaire Raj" we learn the following.

Our estimates suggest that inequality declined post-independence till the early 1980s, after which it began rising and has skyrocketed since the early 2000s. Trends of top income and wealth shares track each other over the entire period of our study. Between 2014-15 and 2022-23, the rise of top-end inequality has been particularly pronounced in terms of wealth concentration. By 2022-23, top 1% income and wealth shares (22.6% and 40.1%) are at their highest historical levels and India’s top 1% income share is among the very highest in the world.

In other words, the ‘Billionaire Raj’ headed by India’s modern bourgeoisie is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces. It is unclear how long such inequality levels can sustain without major social and political upheaval. While there is no reason to believe income and wealth inequality will slow down by itself, historical evidence suggests that it can be kept in check via policy.

The root cause may be absence of appropriate policies through legislation.

The authors of the above mentioned paper lament that:> In line with earlier work, we find suggestive evidence that the Indian income tax system might be regressive when viewed from the lens of net wealth. We emphasize that the quality of economic data in India is notably poor and has seen a decline recently. It is therefore likely that our results represent a lower bound to actual inequality levels.

Billionaire

cc: @mastodonindians

RE: https://masto.ai/users/rbreich/statuses/112361975539771887

aral, to mastodon
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

Co-founder of Twitter joins new Mastodon board of directors. Right, so federating with Threads wasn’t a mistake. This is just the direction Mastodon is going. Oh, well. Another Mozilla emerges.

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2024/04/mastodon-forms-new-u.s.-non-profit/

srijit,

@aral

This is good news.

It would have been nice if the blog shared the Mastodon accounts of all the Board of Directors.

petergleick, to Futurology
@petergleick@fediscience.org avatar

As World Water Day approaches, more signs of the growing crisis.

https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-johannesburg-water-crisis-weather-fa8c921c6a063a31aec37e05864d61fb

srijit,

@petergleick

Bengaluru, home to nearly 13 million people and a global IT hub, is experiencing a severe water scarcity now.

Reference: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-climate/what-caused-the-water-crisis-in-bengaluru-9223131/

cc: @mastodonindians

srijit, to india

I wrote earlier that the presence of Indians, from India, in Fediverse is insignificant as on today. I don’t think the situation has improved during the last three months.

Recently I came across an article in Mint Lounge where journalist Shrabonti Bagchi shares the following regarding Mastodon.

I do have an account on Mastodon but even signing up for it feels hard and difficult to understand (what are “instances”?). I don’t want to be on Github, I just want my daily dose of LoLs and fights with men’s rights activists.

It is unfortunate and surprising that Shrabonti Bagchi found Mastodon challenging to understand and signup. She is a senior journalist and her opinions will obviously influence readers in India. It seems likely that her ideas on Mastodon are not isolated. I read and appreciate many of her columns or reports on Mint Lounge.

The best analogy of Fediverse, including Mastodon, is email. If we understand Gmail, GMX mail, Proton mail, Tuta mail, Outlook mail, Yahoo mail etc., then we should understand Fediverse. Fediverse is a collection of interconnected servers, also called instances, that run software compatible with a set of open protocols. Isn’t that similar to email?> Fediverse is a common name for social media sites that cooperate instead of competing. One can sign up for just one site, and follow anyone in the world, just like sending them an email.

In my opinion, the sign up process, in any Fediverse instance, is much simpler compared to X, Instagram, Facebook etc. All one needs is a verified email account, username and password. What further simplification is required?

This article also provides excellent clarity regarding what is Fediverse and how it might affect creators. I will be glad to help anybody get started with Fediverse.

cc: @mastodonindians

srijit,

Journalist Jason Koebler reaffirms my thought that an instance of Fediverse is not difficult to sign up and use. Though he talks about Mastodon here, it is applicable for Fediverse.

So, Mastodon:

  1. Not difficult to sign up for
  2. Not difficult to use
  3. Has an app like every other social media network
  4. Not owned by world’s richest man
  5. Not owned by a company whose main platform has been credibly accused of facilitating genocide by the United Nations
  6. Not funded by the guy who made the last place, which sold itself to the world’s richest man
  7. Doesn’t have a crypto thing going on
  8. Free and open source
  9. Administered by a crowdfunded nonprofit
  10. Decentralized, portable, and interoperable

I have been contacting Indian media outlets and journalists via email and private conversations for the past few weeks, asking them to publish their work on Fediverse. They most likely know everything there is to know about Fediverse and Mastodon. Since I value their work and thought that having them in Fediverse would have been advantageous for them in the mid term, I made the requests. My requests were met with silence and nominal response. They prefer Facebook, Instagram, X and Threads since they believe that they can connect with their audience better than those few in Fediverse.

Now, after reading Jason Koebler's article, I have a better understanding of this context.> Anyways, I am using Threads, and I will continue to use Threads, because I am a pragmatic person who wants to connect with readers wherever they are because my livelihood and my reporting relies on it. If Threads "wins," I will submit and use it daily, probably for the rest of my career. Right now, I feel like my brain is falling out of my skull at all times because in order to spread the articles we publish on this upstart website, I need to think about the slightly different ways in which I will share it on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Instagram, LinkedIn, BlueSky, TikTok, etc. All things considered, I’d like to pick one and stay there, but that will result in fewer people reading our work and not meeting our readers wherever they are, which isn’t a smart move at this juncture. So, I’ll keep using Threads, but I will not become an evangelist for one of the biggest companies in the world because it is slightly less bad than the alternative, when an actually moral alternative with none of that baggage exists.

cc: @mastodonindians

srijit, to india

Dear Bengalureans,

Ever since FOSS.IN, Bengaluru has always been a home of Free and open-source software developers, evangelists and enthusiasts. I believe that is just a matter of time before Fediverse is lovingly embraced by Bengalureans.

ActivityPub (a W3C standard) based Fediverse provides several benefits compared to traditional centralized social networking platforms such as decentralization, user choice, reduced risk of data breaches and misuse of personal information, enhanced user control, increased resiliency, greater leeway for content creation, alternate monetization models, self hosting etc. Nearly all Fediverse platforms are free and open-source software.

I look forward to you, Bengalureans, joining The Fediverse and actively participating with vibrant posts using the hashtag . However, in reality, many of us are not using hashtags. So I created a new Fediverse Group.

If anyone mentions the address !@nammabengaluru in a post, it will be boosted to everyone who follows the Group. (Note: adding ! at the start of the address will not boost the post). For now, I have chosen to add a restriction of approving new followers. Only public posts and replies are boosted. Private messages to the group are rejected.

Let's hope both the hashtag and the Fediverse Group !@nammabengaluru will be popular.

cc: @mastodonindians

srijit,

@kingslyj @mastodonindians @nammabengaluru

faux open non-community event

This is an interesting observation. Let us appreciate the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, Linux Bangalore and later FOSS.IN were pioneers in creating awareness of Free and open-source software in Bengaluru and, to some extent, rest of India. Also Atul Chitnis is no longer with us, since last eleven years, to pariticpate in such discussions. That chapter is closed and we have moved on.

srijit, to bengaluru

The Global Liveability Index 2023, from Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU), is available now. It ranks the cities that have the best and worst living conditions and quality of life around the world. EIU’s liveability index quantifies the challenges presented to an individual’s lifestyle and standard of living in 173 cities worldwide. The index measures cities on five broad indicators — stability, culture and environment, healthcare, education and infrastructure. The highest score a city can get is 100.

Bengaluru (Bangalore) secured 148th spot with a score of 58.7. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmadabad have slightly better scores.

I believe Bengaluru (Bangalore) has the competence and the bandwidth to rank much better. All that is required in political will. If somebody has lived in Bengaluru even for few weeks, the first obvious expectation for improvement will be better traffic management, roads, public transport and cleaner city with less pollution. Bengaluru has the highest traffic density of any major Indian city, with close to 12.5 million vehicles for a population of 11 million. This clearly shows that there is lot of scope to improve the efficiency of public transport system which will deter people from using personal vehicles.

cc: @mastodonindians @srijit

srijit, to generativeAI

The global risks due to misinformation and disinformation may be more than that posed by climate-related risks such as the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem collapse.

On 10th January 2024, Global Risks Report 2024 was published. While climate-related hazards remain a prevalent topic, the report identifies misinformation and disinformation as the most serious short-term threat.

According to the report

"foreign and domestic actors alike will leverage misinformation and disinformation to widen societal and political divides" during the next two years. This risk is heightened by a huge number of upcoming elections, with more than 3 billion people expected to vote in 2024 and 2025, including in major economies such as the United States, India, and the United Kingdom. The proliferation of mis- and disinformation around the world may cause civil upheaval, but it may also lead to government-led censorship, internal propaganda, and restrictions on the free flow of information.

Though the climate-related risks represent 5 of the top 10 threats during a 10-year period as the world approaches or crosses "climate tipping points", I believe misinformation and disinformation will continue to be ranked among top three risks much beyond the next two years. There is apparently no short term contingency plans and long term mitigation plans apart from effective role of independent fact-checking organizations. I do not know how these fact-checking organizations can deal with the assault of bad actors using Generative AI (including deepfakes) that will dominantly contribute to misinformation and disinformation by flooding the global information systems with false narratives in future. Misinformation and disinformation will also aggravate climate related risks. According to a research done by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, we have "reached the tipping point where humans are unable to meaningfully differentiate between AI-generated versus human-created digital content." I am convinced that Zero Trust Information is the right paradigm in this age of ChatGPT, Google Bard and Bing chatbot for regular end users.

Journalist Harini Calamur's article titled "Analysis: The Unbearable Risk of Misinformation" is worth reading. She expresses her deep concerns regarding misinformation and highlights the following.> The rise of misinformation and disinformation as a primary global risk underscores the danger it poses to individuals, societies, and economies. It needs to be addressed with the seriousness it deserves.

srijit,

The fact that misinformation and propaganda existed even in the Roman Empire and prior to the battle of Actium during 31 BC between Octavian and Mark Antony, shows that the perils of misinformation and disinformation are here to stay with us for ever. Disinformation is a subset of misinformation that is spread intentionally.
The paper titled "The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction" discusses in great detail regarding why people share misinformation, barriers to belief revision, information to combat misinformation and related practical implications for practitioners, information consumers and policymakers. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer. In addition to regulations without curbing freedom of speech (which does not include amplification of that speech), the authors suggest that the most important approach to slowing the spread of misinformation is substantial investment in education, particularly to build information literacy skills in schools and beyond.

Overall, solutions to misinformation spread must be multi-pronged and target both the supply (for example, more efficient fact-checking and changes to platform algorithms and policies) and the consumption (for example, accuracy nudges and enhanced media literacy) of misinformation. Non-text-based corrections, such as videos or cartoons, also deserve more exploration. Additional transnational research is needed to explore questions about causality, including the causal impacts of misinformation and corrections on beliefs and behaviors.

Crowdfunded news portals, which are based on donation from individuals while maintaining high stands of accountability and transparency, are a relatively new phenomenon in the media landscape. These new generation news portals have several potential advantages like financial independence, public engagement and diverse content and content creation outside of mainstream media scope.

srijit, to india

My tribute to the Primary Caregiver or Homemaker of the House

It is not easy to earn money to bring food on the table for the family and pay the bills.

And it is not at all easier to maintain the house and actually execute to bring the food on the table for the family 24x7x365. This is what the Primary Caregiver or Homemaker of the Indian family relentlessly does till the last day of their life, under normal circumstances, without expecting any returns. A home assistant or a cook may reduce the burden to some extent. But the mind share and the ownership remains with that unconditional commitment to perform the duty even in the absence of a helping hand. Also, under unfavorable health conditions and circumstances, the tasks and the responsibilities usually neither get lighter nor get delegated as long as they is able to stand on their legs.

The situation can actually get worse when the Homemaker seeks a professional career. Now it is akin to moving with two legs on two different boats in a river. For example, recently I got to know of a primary caregiver and a busy anesthetist who had to arrange the pick-up and drop of the child and milk for the aged parents even while in the operation theater. The show has to go on come what may!

Only those who suddenly get plunged to perform this mind-boggling humongous and to a large extent monotonous task, due to mishaps or other unfortunate reasons, realize in no time what the Homemaker was capable of!

The above is based on my observation of Indian society as an Indian who has always lived in India. The same could be true in all other countries and societies.

cc: @mastodonindians @srijit

HeavenlyPossum, to random
@HeavenlyPossum@kolektiva.social avatar

“The low expected turnout in the upcoming elections reflects a popular rejection of the…political system, which is suffering from a legitimacy crisis and the absence of real opposition forces to vie with the parties in power…”

We have no problem identifying low voter turnout as a consequence of political illegitimacy. People decline to vote because they recognize that voting will not produce meaningful change, because it’s not worth it and because they don’t want to participate in a corrupt system…

…as long as we’re talking about countries other than the US. When US voters withhold their participation, they’re almost certainly going to hear about how they personally want fascism to win. Haven’t you heard that this is The Most Important Election in Our Lifetime? All systemic analysis goes out the window and all we can talk about is personal failure.

https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/iraqi-political-systems-legitimacy-problem-low-expected-turnout-provincial

srijit,

@HeavenlyPossum

“The low expected turnout in the upcoming elections reflects a popular rejection of the…political system, which is suffering from a legitimacy crisis and the absence of real opposition forces to vie with the parties in power…”

People decline to vote because they recognize that voting will not produce meaningful change, because it’s not worth it and because they don’t want to participate in a corrupt system…

You are only highlighting political apathy. That may not be the only reason in India. In mega cities of India, including Bengaluru, the calculation of low voter turnout percentage is wrong due to:

  1. Out-of-sync voter lists in mega cities that have a lot of migration and inter-city movement. It may require significant effort to get the name added in the electoral roll after migrating to another city.
  2. Duplicate entries and improper deletions, during an effort to clean up the electoral rolls, leading to the disenfranchisement of genuine voters.

The above does not necessarily mean that citizens can be absolved. Indian political parties must introspect why their election manifestos and candidates are failing to motivate voters to come out and vote enthusiastically.

Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/elections/karnataka-assembly/low-turnout-not-poll-apathy-but-out-of-sync-voter-lists-say-analysts-and-citizens/article66839921.ece

srijit, to random

@HeavenlyPossum

You stated here:

The more intensely capitalist we become, the less revolutionary our scientists are able to be:

Can you please provide an explanation?

srijit, to Palestine

I stated here the following.

There is no sign that the 2023 Israel–Hamas war will stop soon and peace will prevail on either side.
This Israel-Hamas conflict is fueling profit machines. Therefore, the war will continue to rage as thousands of civilians are getting killed as collateral damages.

I made a mistake here by only stating the economic aspects. The Israel-Hamas war has complex dynamics. It is important to consider the broader political, historical, and ideological factors that drive the Israel-Hamas war in addition to potential financial gains. These factors are interconnected and influence each other.

Now we see that Netanyahu says Gaza war on Hamas will go on for ‘many more months,’ thanks US for $147.5 million emergency new weapons sale to Israel.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening, with hunger and mass displacement is deepening as fighting rages on across the strip. The ongoing conflict may have resulted in the displacement of 85% of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, leaving Palestinians feeling unsafe and lacking basic necessities such as water and food. The economic costs of the conflict are also significant, with Israel estimated to lose around $400 billion due to the war. For Palestinians, the costs may be so large that they undermine the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.

How can such a situation persist without profits which will be related to ideological, political and financial aspects? The ideological, territorial and political aspects are well documented. Despite the ongoing conflict, there are business and financial benefits for certain industries as mentioned in this article. Additionally, the coastal strip of Gaza and Israeli occupied Palestinian territories sit above sizable reservoirs of oil and natural gas, which offer an opportunity to distribute and share $524 billion among different parties in the region.

The war has caused significant human suffering and loss of life, and, as stated before, it is not appropriate to view it only through an economic lens. It is important to focus on finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict and supporting the humanitarian needs of those affected by the violence. Is war a prelude to peace in this case? In some cases, war can lead to further instability, violence, and suffering, making it difficult to establish a lasting peace. The relationship between war and peace is complex and depends on various factors, including the involvement of international actors, regional dynamics, and the will of the people to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

I conclude this article by quoting Anthony H. Cordesman from his article titled Gaza: Why the War Won’t End (dated 02nd November 2023).> What does seem clear, however, is that both sides now have no good options that will bring lasting peace or stability. Israel will almost certainly be able to contain Gaza and seriously weaken Hamas. At best, Israel can use force to occupy and control Gaza but never be accepted by Gaza’s population and able to offer successful development or a decent life. Israel’s actions have also, however, sharply increased Gazan, Palestinian, and Arab hostility to Israel and undermined the sympathy and support it gained after the initial invasion by Hamas. The best outcome from Israel’s current offensive seems all too likely to leave Israel either as at least a partial occupier of a hostile Gaza or create and maintain a far larger set of security barriers that may have to extend well beyond the present border and require a much larger forward-deployed security force.

As for Hamas, some three weeks after its attack, it was still unclear what its strategic objective was in launching an attack whose very success was certain to provoke a massive Israeli military response without achieving any clear strategic gains for Hamas. Given its long history of defeats in previous fighting, Hamas had to realize that Israel’s almost inevitable violent response might limit or end the progress made in improving Arab-Israeli relations and the Abraham Accords; and it had to realize the result would sharply weaken or destroy Hamas and lead to massive damage to the civil population in Gaza. To quote Henry Kissinger in a very different context, “The threat of committing suicide is not an adequate deterrent to being murdered.”

cc: @mastodonindians @srijit

srijit, to climate

Climate change is about saving the humanity and the corresponding ecosystem so that we people are saved. It is not about saving the planet which will change and continue. It is all about us.

Reference: Climate change isn’t about saving the planet: It’s about saving the people

srijit, to Life

Impact of social media and instant messaging apps on interpersonal relationships

My Perspective

Instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram Messenger, Signal Messenger etc. (primarily WhatsApp in India) do boost one to one connectivity among friends, acquaintances and family members. It also helps improve communication related to mostly once in a while transactional and sometimes friendly topics like family matters, medical, school and college education, fun side of personal life through photos and videos. Jokes and memes, through forwards, add spices to one to one communication. Group chats and social media like Facebook and Twitter strongly influences one to one communication through instant messengers.

There is another side of instant messaging i.e. the not so nice aspects. Dopamine is a brain chemical that plays a vital role in mood regulation of human beings. It seems that entire society is driven by the feel good factor due to constant availability of cheap dopamine through group chats and social media. Unless it is transactional or related to business, most one to one chats survive as long as the recipients gets positive social stimulus and dopamine influx. It doesn’t matter if something is good or healthy for us, as long as we get that quick dopamine fix.

From my experience of chatting since the days of Yahoo! Chat, I see that loss of reward stimuli and dopamine activity lead to one or both the recipients disengage at the slightest pretext. Read receipts, online status, last seen status etc. further add to anxiety and feeling unimportant or betrayed. There is lack of patience and empathy. Sharing contrarian or critical views, on matters connected to society and politics, often cause functional impairment and getting ignored or blocked.

Reference: Dopamine, Smartphones & You: A battle for your time

srijit,

The day before yesterday, I learned that a neighbour we had known for nearly seven years had passed away. We were not in touch for the last many years. I did think about him a few times during these years and wanted, at least, to send a text message and inquire about his well being. It never happened.

Now the fact that I can never contact him has left an unexplained void in my mind. And also a tinge of lasting regret.

There are many people with whom I should be in touch but this does not happen. I keep thinking if this is the result of a traffic-infested, hectic city life with a terrible work-life balance, my own negligence, or the present impact of social media and instant messaging apps on our lives and societies.

I have lost those days and times when I used to meet people just to spend some time together with no business or vested interests..

srijit, to fediverse

@Amelia
@Marie

I strongly suggest that only stable builds be considered for usage in this flagship instance.

In case of Firefish, making the flagship instance a sandbox was not a good decision. Also, the major database update did not live up to the expectations as timelines still continue to feel buggier.

Though not dead, since Firefish is not fast enough in fixing issues that affect real users and real admins, I see that some Firefish instances are migrating to Sharkey or Iceshrimp.

Otherwise, for the most part, usage of Firefish has been a nice experience.

From a user perspective, both Sharkey and Iceshrimp have good prospects.

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