We are witnessing a revolution, the revolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking the world by storm. As ChatGPT and other AI tools gain prominence and become a talking point, scientists and theoreticians worldwide are engaged in a debate about the ethical implications, potential biases, and risks of misuse associated with this technology.“I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people design computer viruses, someone will design AI that improves and replicates itself. This will be a new form of life that outperforms humans,” said Stephen Hawking, in an interview to the magazine <a style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/stephen-hawking-interview-alien-life-climate-change-donald-trump">Wired</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_1_300x200_5dc27187d1.png" alt="image-1-300x200.png"> Stephen HawkingAs a Master’s student at the University of Reading, England, while researching AI, its ethical usage and biases, I stumbled upon a case study from Latin America during the Cold War times. In this article, I try to explore that study. The internet has become an integral part of our lives as a means to communicate, access information, conduct business, engage in politics, education and health, and so on. But what many of us do not know is that the Internet is the result of a significant contribution from an unlikely place – Chile.Its origins can be traced back to the 1960s, when the United States Department of Defence’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) created what was known as the ARPANET. While working at ARPA, a visionary named J.C.R. Licklider proposed the concept of a “Galactic Network” of computers that could be used to share information and collaborate on research projects. His ideas were ahead of their time, and it would take decades for them to come to fruition. But in Chile, a different kind of revolution was already underway.In the early 1970s, the first democratically elected Chilean government under President Salvador Allende embarked on a bold experiment in socialist democracy. He was a physician by training, and it may be rather a coincidence that elsewhere in Latin America another physician called Che Guevara was also advocating a more just and equitable society, albeit through different means. Allende’s government nationalised several industries, including copper mining, and implemented land reform programmes to redistribute land to the country’s poor farmers (That was a move strikingly similar to the land reforms initiated in Kerala under E.M.S. Namboodiripad government a few years before the Chile experiment). But the most ambitious project of Allende’s government was the creation of a decentralised, computerised economic planning system known as Project Cybersyn.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_2_300x223_bd790f566f.png" alt="image-2-300x223.png"> Salvador AllendeProject CybersynThe Internet was in its early stages in the 1970s when a small group of researchers in the U.S. were experimenting with ways to connect computers. The ARPANET research was in the direction of building a more resilient and decentralised communications network, motivated by the goal of strengthening the military use of this technology.Allende’s government launched the Cybersyn project in 1971, with the goal of building a network that would connect all the factories and enterprises in the country, allowing them to share information and coordinate their activities in real-time. They expected this system to help Chile achieve rapid industrialisation and economic growth, besides promoting social justice and democracy. To create this network, the Chilean government turned to Stafford Beer, a British theorist and the founder of management cybernetics, who had a vision of creating a decentralised network of computers that could work together to manage an entire economy. <img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/stafford_beer_300x238_1521737b81.jpg" alt="stafford-beer-300x238.jpg">Stafford BeerThe heart of the Cybersyn project was a system called the Operations Room, or Opsroom. Housed in a state-of-the-art building in Santiago, the Opsroom was a large, circular room filled with computer terminals and screens. It can be argued that the Ops Room of the Cybersyn project was the first example of a real-time command-and-control centre in the world, similar to the modern decision-making facilities used today for a variety of purposes, including political, military, business, and administrative functions.At the heart of Cybersyn was a system called Project Cyberstride, which used a network of computers to collect and analyse data about the economy in real-time. This data was then used to inform policy decisions for different industries and sectors and thus coordinate their activities.The ambitious groundbreaking project attracted the attention of technologists and activists around the world. <img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Untitled_768x432_15592bed29.jpg" alt="Untitled-768x432.jpg">Credit: Liverpool John Moores University LibraryIn 1973, just months after the U.S-instigated coup against Allende, the Cybersyn project was shut down and its leaders were forced into exile. The dream of a more democratic and participatory economy was thus crushed, and Chile plunged deeper into darkness. But the legacy of Cybersyn lived on. Its ideas and technologies inspired a generation of technologists and activists, who continued to fight for a more democratic and participatory society. And as the Internet began to take shape in the 1980s and 1990s, many of these technologists and activists saw it as a powerful tool for achieving these goals.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Untitled_1_768x421_b39a0d1785.png" alt="Untitled-1-768x421.png"> Snapshot from movie: Terminator 2: Judgment DayAt the time, a young Tim Berners-Lee, who was working at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) realised the power of hypertext and distributed information systems over the existing emails and FTP (file transfer protocol), and paved the way for a new research direction. He was focused on using computer networks to enable collaboration and communication on a massive scale, something that the Cybersyn project had attempted to do in the context of economic planning. It is this work of Berners-Lee that ultimately led to the creation of the World Wide Web and the Internet as we see today.While it can be argued that technically the WWW evolved from ARPANET, we cannot undermine the influence the Cybersyn project had on the next generation of researchers and scientists who wanted to use the technology for non-military purposes.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Untitled_768x370_1a19608227.png" alt="Untitled-768x370.png"> Snapshot from movie: Terminator 2: Judgment DayThe CoupThose were tumultuous times marked by intense political and ideological tensions of the Cold War. The U.S. government had been concerned about the rise of socialist governments in Cuba and other Latin American countries. The Richard Nixon administration viewed the democratically elected Allende government as a threat to the U.S’ interests in the region, and the Central Intelligence Agency began a covert campaign to destabilise the Allende government. In 1973, a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrew it. During the coup, the presidential palace was bombed and Allende was found dead inside. Pinochet proclaimed himself as the new President of Chile and ushered in a period of authoritarian rule that lasted 17 years.After the coup, a majority of the team members working on the Cybersyn project were forced to leave the country. It is believed that sensitive data related to the project was dismantled by the team members themselves out of fear of potential abuse, and whatever remained was subsequently removed by the Pinochet regime. Prof Beer returned to England, where he continued to write and speak about the principles of cybernetics and their application to social and economic systems. Today Beer is remembered as one of the pioneers of cybernetics and systems theory. His work continues to inspire researchers and activists interested in using technology to address social and economic issues.References:<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/stephen-hawking-interview-alien-life-climate-change-donald-trump">https://www.wired.co.uk/article/stephen-hawking-interview-alien-life-climate-change-donald-trump</a><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn</a><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/microsites/library/special-collections-and-archives/special-collections/stafford-beer-collection">https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/microsites/library/special-collections-and-archives/special-collections/stafford-beer-collection</a><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290742382_Cybernetics_of_Governance_The_Cybersyn_Project_1971-1973">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290742382_Cybernetics_of_Governance_The_Cybersyn_Project_1971-1973</a><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mashable.com/article/project-cybersyn-chile-kernel-panic">https://mashable.com/article/project-cybersyn-chile-kernel-panic</a><hr><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Subscribe to our channels on&nbsp;<a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/c/THEAIDEM">YouTube</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a 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We are witnessing a revolution, the revolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking the world by storm. As ChatGPT and other AI tools gain prominence and become a talking point, scientists and theoreticians worldwide are engaged in a debate about the ethical implications, potential biases, and risks of misuse associated with this technology.

The Internet, Socialist Chile and The Revolutionary Connection

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The UN Climate Change Technology Executive Committee (TEC) launched an AI challenge for climate solutions at the venue of COP 28 yesterday. Titled, AI Innovation Grand Challenge, this is about an ambitious dream to develop AI-powered solutions for climate action.

A Himalayan Plea for Climate Action, an AI Challenge and a Letter from 1000 Scientists Plus CEOs

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Unremitting Wars, Never Ending Displacement 

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How far and how fast will AI and its applications impact employment opportunities and the larger economy? Innovation scholar Neil Thompson, who is also the Director of FutureTech Project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT), USA has done extensive research on this. Akriti Puri, Assistant Producer with PTI-Videos, New Delhi, talked to him at length on these and other related questions in an online PTI Exclusive video interview. Along with the transcript as well as a gist of the interview. Read on.

‘AI’s Impact and Economic Limits to Job Automation’ 

<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Renowned international affairs journalist Saeed Naqvi analyses the significance of the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Naqvi’s special focus is on how the resolution would impact relations between the USA and Israel and what medium – long term relevance it has for West Asian politics as a whole. The resolution was passed 14-0 after the US desisted from vetoing the measure, in a shift from the position it had held throughout the current war, which started in early October 2023.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Naqvi points out that this is a big shift that underlines the steady decline of US hegemony in international politics. Watch the full interview with Venkitesh Ramakrishnan here.

Gaza Ceasefire: The Larger Import of the UNSC Resolution for the USA, Israel and West Asia

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_2024_07_10_T200715_256_dc8ca48120.jpeg" alt="images-2024-07-10T200715.256.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_2024_07_10_T200715_256_dc8ca48120.jpeg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_2024_07_10_T200715_256_dc8ca48120.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings in numerous benefits, changing various aspects of our day to day lives. It enhances efficiency and conserves time by simplifying complicated and complex tasks. The reliability it offers, free from biases and errors, ensures accurate outcomes and it also has the ability to operate 24/7, thus providing dependable support whenever and wherever needed. AI’s ability to gather and analyse vast amounts of information enables deeper insights and better decision-making.However, its implementation is often expensive and it raises concerns about job displacement. There are also questions about the ethical parameters in which AI is applied in social and professional realms. Along with all this, the fear of AI taking control over the planet has also come up as a dominant point of discussion. It has been flagged time and again by many scholars, activists and academics from all parts of the world. Parallely, there is also the strong argument that AI cannot replicate human creativity and emotional understanding.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_25514" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-25514"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2023_12_19_at_14_07_42_768x432_9e567e1b4a.jpeg" alt="WhatsApp-Image-2023-12-19-at-14.07.42-768x432.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2023_12_19_at_14_07_42_768x432_9e567e1b4a.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2023_12_19_at_14_07_42_768x432_9e567e1b4a.jpeg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Whats_App_Image_2023_12_19_at_14_07_42_768x432_9e567e1b4a.jpeg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-25514">Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT; a product which popularised AI to the masses</figcaption></figure>It is in this background of this multifaceted debate that the historical address by Pope Francis, the Spiritual Head of Catholics, at the G7 special session on ‘The perils and promises of AI’ acquires special significance. The Pope spoke at the session held in Puglia, Italy, on June 14, 2024. Through this he became the first Pontiff to address a G7 Summit.However, this was not the first time he talked about Artificial Intelligence. The Argentine Pope himself has experienced the power of AI, which is why he termed it as an “exciting and fearsome tool”. All of us might remember a deep-fake photo of the Pope with a white puffer jacket which went viral in 2023 and some even thought that it was a genuine one. The Pope dedicated his message for the World Day of Peace on the theme of “Artificial Intelligence” in January this year and called for an international treaty to ensure that AI is developed and used ethically. He said “We must make sure that artificial intelligence is put at the service of peace in the world, rather than being a threat.”<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_28859" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28859"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Screenshot_20240710_193614_You_Tube_768x346_5eb1a8f9ed.jpg" alt="Screenshot_20240710_193614_YouTube-768x346.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Screenshot_20240710_193614_You_Tube_768x346_5eb1a8f9ed.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Screenshot_20240710_193614_You_Tube_768x346_5eb1a8f9ed.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Screenshot_20240710_193614_You_Tube_768x346_5eb1a8f9ed.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28859">Pope Francis along with leaders from various countries (Source: Reuters/YouTube)</figcaption></figure>The crux of his argument was that a technology lacking human values of compassion, mercy, morality and forgiveness is too perilous and there is a need to develop checks on it. He did not repeat that call explicitly in this session, but he did raise an alarm on some key issues before the leaders of US, UK, Italy, France, Canada, Germany, Japan and India. The Pontiff’s call for a Human Centric AI assumes significance as the whole of both developed and underdeveloped countries are in the grip of artificial intelligence.The Pope looked upon science and technology as brilliant products of the creative potential of human beings and talked about how artificial intelligence also arises precisely from the use of this God-given creative potential. He said “it generates excitement for the possibilities it offers, while on the other, it gives rise to fear for the consequences it foreshadows.” In his view, “artificial intelligence represents a true cognitive industrial revolution, which will contribute to the creation of a new social system characterised by complex epochal transformations.”The Pope highlighted both positive and negative potentials of AI. For example, the positive dimensions would include,” democratisation of access to knowledge”, the “exponential advancement of scientific research”, and a reduction in “demanding and arduous work”, while the negative impacts would be for instance, “greater injustice” between advanced and developing nations or between dominant and oppressed social classes that a “throwaway culture” would be preferred to a “culture of encounter”.The Pope reminded the august audience that AI is “above all, a tool”, and discussed what he called the “techno-human condition”, which is nothing but the fact that “human beings have always maintained a relationship with the environment mediated by the tools they gradually produced.” We are “radically open to the beyond” which is the root of our “techno-human condition.” It is also the root of our openness to others and to God, as well as the root of intelligence with regard to culture and beauty. Our technical capacity also stems from the same root. Artificial intelligence is a more complex tool because it is not under the control of the person who uses it and the grave danger here is that it “can autonomously adapt to the task assigned to it” and, “make choices independent of the person in order to achieve the intended goal.”<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_28857" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28857"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Screenshot_20240710_194055_You_Tube_768x346_16f85f87fb.jpg" alt="Screenshot_20240710_194055_YouTube-768x346.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Screenshot_20240710_194055_You_Tube_768x346_16f85f87fb.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Screenshot_20240710_194055_You_Tube_768x346_16f85f87fb.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Screenshot_20240710_194055_You_Tube_768x346_16f85f87fb.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28857">Pope Francis addressing the G7 outreach roundtable (Source: Reuters/YouTube)</figcaption></figure>AI is capable of making “algorithmic choices” “among several possibilities based either on well-defined criteria or on statistical inferences”. Human beings on the other hand “not only choose, but in their hearts are capable of deciding.” He said “amid the difficult task of governing, we are called upon to make decisions that have consequences for many people” and human reflection has always spoken of wisdom. He asserted that decision-making must always be left to the human person. In order to ensure human dignity “we need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs”The Pope insisted on the ultimate banning of “the use of devices like the so-called lethal autonomous weapons” and called for “an effective and concrete commitment to introduce ever greater and proper human control.” His assertion was “no machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being”. He cited examples of “programs designed to help judges in deciding whether to grant home-confinement to inmates serving a prison sentence” and “may implicitly incorporate prejudices inherent in the categories of data used by artificial intelligence.” He said “In reality, however, human beings are always developing, and are capable of surprising us by their actions. This is something that a machine cannot take into account.”<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:700px;" id="attachment_28860" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28860"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/1700218180_Editorial_image_25ee6233e6.webp" alt="1700218180_Editorial-image.webp" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_1700218180_Editorial_image_25ee6233e6.webp 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_1700218180_Editorial_image_25ee6233e6.webp 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28860">A pair of LS3, an autonomous robot developed by Boston Dynamics</figcaption></figure>He brought to the attention of the audience the fact that AI is always shaped by “the worldview of those who invented and developed it” and called for the development of an “algor-ethics”. It is “a series of principles that are condensed into a global and pluralistic platform that is capable of finding support from cultures, religions, international organisations and major corporations, which are key players in this development.” He felt that political action is urgently needed in this regard. He concluded his speech by stating that “It is up to everyone to make good use of it but the onus is on politics to create the conditions for such good use to be possible and fruitful. “If these words of wisdom are not taken seriously by world leaders it will be a future without hope.”Pope Francis urged leaders of affluent democracies to prioritise human dignity in the evolution and application of artificial intelligence. He cautioned that this potent technology could reduce human interactions to mere algorithms. He warned that humanity would face a bleak future if people lost their decision-making power, becoming reliant on machine choices. The Pope called for safeguarding human oversight in AI decisions, stressing that human dignity is at stake. “We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines,” he said and that “We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs: Human dignity itself depends on it.”<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_28858" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28858"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Screenshot_20240710_194017_You_Tube_768x346_89d125615f.jpg" alt="Screenshot_20240710_194017_YouTube-768x346.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Screenshot_20240710_194017_You_Tube_768x346_89d125615f.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Screenshot_20240710_194017_You_Tube_768x346_89d125615f.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Screenshot_20240710_194017_You_Tube_768x346_89d125615f.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28858">US President Joe Biden greeting Pope Francis (Source: AP/YouTube)</figcaption></figure>The G7 leaders’ communiqué, which had evidently imbibed the message from the Pope, said that The G7 will launch an action plan on the use of AI in the world of work and develop a brand to support the implementation of the International Code of Conduct for organisations developing advanced AI systems. The G7s commitment in managing the risks of artificial intelligence and ensuring safe, secure, and trustworthy AI will be clear in the coming days when they translate these words into action.In this background, the points that came up at the colloquium on ‘Emerging Challenges and Scope for Peace’s session on artificial intelligence’ organised by Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan in January, 2024 in the historic premises of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram at Sevagram, Wardha, also have a special significance. Speaking at the colloquium, renowned Peace activist and philosopher Louis Campana, who is serving as President of Gandhi International, France, expressed grave concerns about the dangers involved in the use of AI even in sectors like health and agriculture. He pointed out that it is a matter of concern for all.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_28863" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28863"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/1200px_Louis_campana_768x618_9b562b0b26.jpg" alt="1200px-Louis-campana-768x618.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_1200px_Louis_campana_768x618_9b562b0b26.jpg 194w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_1200px_Louis_campana_768x618_9b562b0b26.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_1200px_Louis_campana_768x618_9b562b0b26.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-28863">Louis Campana</figcaption></figure>Looking at the current trends and developments, it is undoubtedly going to play an important role in shaping the very future of humanity at large. AI has been a constant point of reference in discourses all over the globe and has figured prominently in international organisations, institutions and forums. It was clearly one of the main concerns for the leaders who assembled at the G7 Summit which concluded on June 15, 2024 in Puglia, Italy. And there is little doubt that the message from the Pope’s address has great relevance in the continuing efforts to make AI a creative and ethical tool for humankind. The G7’s commitment in managing the risks and ensuring safe, secure, and trustworthy AI will be clear in the coming days when they seek to translate their proclamations into concrete measures and actions.</div></div>

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The Need for Human Centric AI: Lessons from The Address of Pope Francis at G7 Summit

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Because We Must Not Forget: An Andolanjeevi Artist Holds Up The Dark Mirror

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Joe Sacco’s Human Lens on War and Suffering: Palestine and Beyond

Malayalam (ml)

Tamil (ta)

English (en)

Hindi (hi)

Telugu (te)

Kannada (kn)

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Dancing To Her Tune

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An Unwritten National Autobiography

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_1_6258d15665.jpeg" alt="images-1.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_1_6258d15665.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_1_6258d15665.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">People who read literature in India knew him, MT Vasudevan Nair. Language was no hurdle for his works to reach out beyond the state borders of Kerala. While Malayali diaspora took a handful of nostalgia along to the places they went, a little bit of MT was also in that.Today, the big business of literature finds translators to translate anything that moves. All tetrapods of literature are given awards that stink of corporate imperialistic nexus. But MT belonged to a different era when blood recognised blood, genius recognised genius. He got translated not once but several times.Basheer, Takazhi and MT were the triumvirate that could transcend the borders and stand tall among the Indian modernist literature. Yes, MT’s literature also had a fair amount of auto-fiction but he hoodwinked it with the magic of text. He was a persuasive minimalist both in writing and in person.An unsmiling MT could generate generations of readers who could smile through tears. MT wrote about a collapsing social structure that divested the old feudal class with their ill-gotten properties. But their social capital remained intact and could exert a lot of influence among the readers by becoming the surrogate emotional ethos of a transition time of Kerala’s socio-political history.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:1196px;" id="attachment_31084" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31084"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg" alt="mt-1024x575.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 750w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31084">MT during his Interview with Sabha TV (Watch <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NttnjeaVqn0">Here</a>)</figcaption></figure>When society evolved into a different being altogether, MT turned to the treasure trove of myths and itihasas to eke out allegories that explained the pain of loss, of class, roots and love. His literature spat on the face of bigotry, whether it was religious or familial. He was so stoically poised in his literature that none could have challenged him and expelled him from the world of literature.MT’s literature spoke of love and separation as vehemently as he wrote about the changing social complexions. But he was not sentimental. There was something in his writing that touched some chord in every reader. Before initiating themselves into Ambedkarite politics, the Dalit ideologues also, in their torturous nights of youth, pined for MT’s characters.Those who call the modernists, Dad Vibes, have really lost the sight of the forest while focusing on shrubs and thicket. MT was a forest that moved, as in the great tragedies. He remained a serious writer while the post modernists fell in the trap of publishers and wrote lightning stories and became laughing stokes.MT remains, so is the MT critique. That’s the beauty of a great writer’s life and of course, death.</div></div>

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MT: A Forest that Moved

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An ‘Overture’ Stringing The Pope, Yesudas and the ‘Songster Chaplain’

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/1_cc9df0fe47.png" alt="വലതുപക്ഷവുമായുള്ള-സംവാദത്തിൻ്റെ-വ്യർത്ഥത-1.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_1_cc9df0fe47.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_1_cc9df0fe47.png 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">When old age shall this generation waste,Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woeThan ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is allYe know on earth, and all ye need to know.” (John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn)<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/6_904b2e9f2a.jpg" alt="6.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_6_904b2e9f2a.jpg 147w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_6_904b2e9f2a.jpg 470w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">Siddharth Tagore, Founder Director of Delhi’s <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.facebook.com/artkonsultindia/photos">Art Konsult</a> Gallery is no more. He cannot be contained in such a cold statement, so matter of fact like death itself. Besides the gallery, he founded magazines such as Art and Deal, Travel and Deal and many other publications. Even when he knew that he wouldn’t make any profit out of the publications, he invested money in them because he knew art wouldn’t survive without the literature surrounding it.&nbsp;Yet another venture of Tagore’s was an auction house, namely Art Bull. The name was perfect for a bullish art market of the 2000s. But the glitch was this: Siddharth Tagore was not bullish. Nor was he bearish. He was cherubic, complete with a benign smile on his face and a burning cigarette between his fingers. Whenever I came out after having a meeting with him, I would ask myself, was he cut for this business?&nbsp;Tagore could have been a poet and dreamer like his internationally renowned namesake of yesteryears.. After the pandemic period I met Tagore after a gap of four years at the Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre where Art Konsult had organized a group exhibition. After the inaugural function, I shook hands with him and I realized that his hands had lost the firm grip though the warmth remained. “I have not been keeping well,” he told me.&nbsp;<div class="gallery galleryid-31051 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-full" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px -8.96875px 0px;padding:0px;" id="gallery-1"><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg" alt="c-768x993.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 121w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 387w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 580w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg" alt="b-768x985.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 122w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 390w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 585w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/a_7888f94e4b.jpg" alt="a.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 121w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 385w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 577w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure></div>Then on another occasion, at the same gallery, I met him again, this time without the crowd. He preferred to wear a pair of fading blue jeans and white shirt, a reminder of those romantic 1970s when every youth in West Bengal dreamt of poetry, love and revolution. Jeans and Shirt were the uniform of love and revolution. I think, when Tagore came to Delhi as a young man, he carried those qualities along, plus his sense of dressing. Lovers in those days smoked rather constantly and drank Old Monk Rum.&nbsp;On that day when I met him, Tagore told me that he had quit smoking, which was news to me. I couldn’t have imagined the man without a cigarette between his fingers or at least a packet of cigarettes to fuss with. I understood the gravity of the situation.&nbsp;Then again, we met when Praveen Upadhyay of the Progressive Gallery at Laddo Sarai organized a talk session with art professionals that included Tagore, Prayag Shukla, Vinod Bharadwaj and myself. Tagore was supposed to talk about the art market. When the mike was handed over to him, he fussed with it for a while and said that he always wanted to make it big by promoting young artists, but somehow, he never made huge business.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:689px;" id="attachment_31054" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31054"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg" alt="7-768x511.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 235w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31054">Siddharth speaking to the media at Art Konsult</figcaption></figure>Then I remembered Tagore telling the same during the market boom years that lasted in India for around ten years starting from 2005 to 2015. In 2008, the world market had collapsed, but the Indian art market using its cunning and reserve withstood the pressures and dragged the impending failure for a few more years only to revive itself by the beginning of the third decade of the new millennium.&nbsp;Had Tagore acquired a penchant for failure despite his resilience in running a gallery, publications and an auction house for over three and a half decades ? Did he enjoy calling himself a failure in the art market? Was he romantically involved with the idea of failure even when he kept others who were with him in the business, floating? I don’t know for sure. But Tagore remained grounded and rooted; he tried his best to keep himself away from the nefarious market practices.&nbsp;There were a few people who stood with Tagore in his highs and lows (lows that lasted for not some months but for years together), never deserting him, following his orders. Prashant Seal and Rajula Bisht are two people I remember. These two people have been so close to his heart and even after his twin daughters joining him in the business, both Seal and Bisht never lost their position as the confidantes of Tagore. He loved them like family.&nbsp;I met Siddharth Tagore in 1995. He had started Art Konsult in Hauz Khas Village. Meena Tagore (now Meena Varma) was with him then. Late Vijayan Kannanpally was the editor of Art and Deal. With the growth of art scene, Tagore’s gallery also grew in stature. Art Konsult was one of the few A listed galleries in the city. Tagore took it to South Delhi’s art district, Laddo Sarai during the boom years and later relocated it to Hauz Khas again.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:562px;" id="attachment_31055" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31055"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg" alt="0-768x512.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31055">Siddharth Tagore with art critic and curator Jyoti A Kathpalia at the Art Konsult, New Delhi</figcaption></figure>It was in his Laddo Sarai phase that I joined him as the Editor of Art and Deal. It was the same when he decided to start Art Bull and Travel and Deal. I brought out around ten issues of Art and Deal between 2010 and 2013, with a gap in 2012 when I joined the United Art Logistics to establish the United Art Fair. Tagore literally lent me to the other organization with a promise that I could walk into the editor’s office at any time that I wanted. And I did go back.&nbsp;As a part of Tagore’s team, he gave me full freedom to edit the magazine and curate exhibitions. I curated a few shows and introduced a few new artists of which some are very reckonable names in today’s art scene. The exhibition ‘Merging/Submerging’ was a showcasing of contemporary photography art and ‘R.A.P.E’ (Rare Acts of Political Engagement), an all-woman show responding to the brutal murder of Nirbhaya in Delhi. This exhibition was a super hit and was discussed in all the print and television media. Art Bull did do a couple of exhibitions and auctions. I did not take much interest in it though Tagore hoped that his auction house could change the scenario and also break certain monopolies. Tagore also initiated an Art History Lecture series which I conducted on his behalf.&nbsp;Siddharth Tagore remained true to his calling. With a kind of detachment, he sponsored exhibitions that he knew well, would not bring any business. He was an avid collector of folk and tribal art and together with Meena Varma, he initiated an organization called ‘Art of the Earth’ for promoting the folk and tribal art of India, much before the ‘folkploitation’ of today’s art market became rampant. Tagore helped whoever came to him with a request for an exhibition or an immediate financial relief. &nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_31053" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31053"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg" alt="3-e1734762508660-669x1024.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 102w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 327w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 490w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 653w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31053">Siddharth Tagore signing the <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://amzn.in/d/4TijcgO">book</a> “Ganika- In the visual culture of the 19th-20th Century India” at the Art Konsult</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg" alt="4-560x1024.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 85w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 273w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 410w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 547w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">When artists in Calcutta packed their wares and set out for Delhi, they knew Siddharth Tagore was there if nothing else worked (perhaps he was their primary destination), along with cigarettes and Old Monk Rum. He never discouraged the people who came to him with a clear intention to exploit. He was not cautious about relationships that brought him a fair amount of heartburn. As I said elsewhere, Tagore was a poet in his heart, with a heart ready to bleed for love and art.</div></div>

The Internet, Socialist Chile and The Revolutionary Connection

A Himalayan Plea for Climate Action, an AI Challenge and a Letter from 1000 Scientists Plus CEOs

Unremitting Wars, Never Ending Displacement

‘AI’s Impact and Economic Limits to Job Automation’

Gaza Ceasefire: The Larger Import of the UNSC Resolution for the USA, Israel and West Asia

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