inXights
First-hand original insights from the creative ecosystem. Read, learn, share!
Embedded Files
Digital growth and urban hubs – Bangalore Business LitFest authors analyse GenAI and civic governance >
by Madanmohan Rao [September 11, 2024]
This weekend, the Bangalore Business Literature Festival (BBLF) will kick off its tenth edition at Catholic Club. As network partner for BBLF 2024, MXR.world is delighted to present its fifth preview article, with insights on tech impacts and urban hubs.
Other themes of BBLF 2024 include career planning, corporate governance, industry leadership, investigative research, urban habitat, ESG standards, and the startup ecosystem.
In this article, we share insights from two speakers: Tanuj Bhojwani and V. Ravichandar. Bhojwani is co-author (with Nandan Nilekani) of The Art of Bitfulness: Keeping Calm in the Digital World, and board member, Digital Public Goods Alliance. Ravichandar is a renowned civic evangelist; Honorary Director of the Bangalore International Centre; former Co-Chair of the Karnataka Tourism Vision Group; and Chairman of Feedback Consulting.
GenAI and information overload
Bhojwani’s book was published before the age of AI, but he thinks it holds strong in the face of the information deluge. “Ultimately the art of bitfulness is about creating systems that help you stay in control. The new AI tools available to us are very powerful and very customisable,” he describes.
“Now, more than ever, it seems necessary to build habits of bitfulnesss. One of the key insights that has worked for Nandan Nilekani in the pre-internet era, and for me in the social media-era, and hopefully for all of us now in the GenAI era, is to create digital environments that are conducive to what we want to do,” he advises.
This was evident in the case of physical spaces. “If you wanted to do deep thinking work, you'd go to a library where there was silence. If you wanted to socialise or let out some steam, you would go to a bar or a music festival. Today, all of these spaces are accessed via our phone – so there are very thin boundaries between them,” Bhojwani observes.
He suggests using different identities in one’s devices to split time as per the desired mode. “For example, I use two different profiles on my browser. I am not logged into any social media on my work profile and even use some extensions to limit the amount of time I spend on news sites,” he explains.
This leads to a conscious friction to change mode and waste time during the day. “I try to check WhatsApp messages only from my phone and not my laptop. This means that if. I can just keep my phone physically away from me when I'm at my desk, then I usually tend to stay focussed,” Bhojwani adds.
AI now provides news ways to curate and consume information. “I'm actually quite excited by the power of GenAI in this. It can be possible to get our news via a briefing bot – one that tells us a summary of the most important news, but then can retrieve summaries or answer questions for the stories that matter to us,” he describes. He has used such tools to save time in preparing discussion questions with another author.
Youth
Opinions are divided as to whether the youth of today have a significant generational advantage when it comes to harnessing digital media, or whether they are hopelessly distracted and addicted.
“Let me start by acknowledging that we are failing our youth. They are affected differently by these technologies than we are. Social pressure or FOMO is higher when you are in your teens and twenties,” Bhojwani explains.
There are many studies indicating that this is causing massive mental health issues. “So not distracted, but dangerously addicted and also generating massive insecurities - that's a generational disadvantage,” he cautions.
“Second, I do think we have to give them credit despite that disadvantage. The average 19-year-old I meet today is better informed, has a wider variety of interests, and is more ambitious than I definitely was,” Bhojwani admits.
He is surprised by the quality of interns who have applied to this organisation, some doing their internship in their first year itself. “A lot of this is due to their information diet. When I was growing up and the internet was still just rolling out, we dreamt of a future where All the world's information is available at our fingerprints. They live in this world, and for the large part can do well with it,” he observes.
The problem is not that youth do not understand the power and advantage of the offline world. “While many have complained about the Gen Z attitude to work, I find the opposite true in my organisation. If you are willing to give them autonomy, mentorship and a chance to express themselves at work, they are amazing to work with. They are unafraid to experiment, and extremely skilled at learning,” Bhojwani affirms.
Policy and regulation
On the digital policy front, Australia has introduced the ‘right to disconnect’ – raising questions about whether other countries should also be following suit.
“I think implementing a right to disconnect is only useful if we can meaningfully enforce it. Usually, these acts are preceded or accompanied by a deep cultural shift as well. In India, unless we have more jobs than people, there is always going to be someone willing to work harder, longer or cheaper – and the right to disconnect can be given, but not executed meaningfully,” Bhojwani observes.
It is probably more effective and only marginally easier to start a culture of not accessing one’s phones in conversation, he adds.
Personal habits
Looking back at his book’s findings in the context of today’s AI wave, Bhojwani thinks the biggest learning that is not as explicit in the book is to make peace with the fact that you will always be a little behind on your ‘to do’ list, reading list and/or watch list.
“We have ambitions to finish every project, learn everything, travel everywhere, and pick up every hobby – but we aren't going to get there. You need to be able to be honest with yourself about what you can do and what you want to do,” he explains.
He shares with us one of his recent tricks – he switched his main WhatsApp number to WhatsApp Business. “This allowed me to set an auto responder saying I'm on vacation for two weeks and to direct any work requests to email, and to assume that any personal requests will not be read – so that if the request is still relevant in two weeks, only then should I be messaged again,” he says.
“Over the next few months, when people often met me, they would let me know how they wished they'd done the same for their own vacation,” Bhojwani recalls.
Tech hub Bengaluru
Bengaluru has now become a hub not just for back-office IT services but corporate digital innovation, startups, and global AI talent. Unfortunately, this tech boom has taken its toll not just on social sustainability but environmental sustainability as well.
“The news on the tech and entrepreneurship front is great. Bengaluru continues to be the top city for it. We need to do much more when it comes to sustainability – be it waste management, transport, or energy,” Ravichandar cautions.
Many of the current choices being made are not sustainable. “It will need political will, administrative firmness, and citizen cooperation to grow in a sustainable manner,” he urges.
As some of his civic involvement achievements, he points to the self-assessment scheme for property tax; making Lalbagh sustainable on the water front; and Tender SURE (Specifications for Urban Road Execution) roads built around pedestrians.
“On governance, though we did work on a transformational Greater Bengaluru Bill, it unfortunately was not the version accepted by the government. Bengaluru has many super citizens and citizen welfare groups – we could do a lot more if the government was more receptive to their involvement,” Ravichandar suggests.
He warns against the myth that there will be no price to pay if we all live irresponsibly in an unsustainable manner. “The rising temperatures, the flooding, the water scarcity, the toxic landfills will extract a heavy price for us all. It's a tad sad that public spaces are shrinking and while there have been greenshoot efforts to fix it, there is a lot more that can be done by government and civil society,” he adds.
Growth and ecosystems
Ravichandar sees collaboration as the way forward to solve Bengaluru’s challenges. “The problems are too complex for any one group to fix, least of all the government. For this to work, government needs to be an enabler and welcome participation of other stakeholders for the greater good,” he advises.
The non-government stakeholders need to step up, avoid conflict of interest, and bring in their complementary skills. “They should fund and showcase proofs of concept that can then be scaled by government,” he adds.
For their part, startups should not put off giving back to the city or becoming involved in governance issues at a later date. “Founders need to realise that if the city does not work, their business will suffer in terms of productivity and attracting or retaining talent,” he cautions.
Startups need to see their non-involvement as a cost that impacts the bottom line. So it's not just ‘giving up’ but enlightened self-interest that could drive their 'giving,’ Ravichandar suggests.
Looking ahead, he foresees that there will be new stories of high-achieving individuals and firms in the tech entrepreneurial sector.
“If we are successful, the annual BLR Hubba in December would have made a dent in celebrating Bengaluru across arts, culture, heritage, tech, design, literature, and more. However, on the infrastructure front, I worry that the challenges will continue,” he cautions.
“But I am a realistic optimist. Things will get better in our quality of living, but in incremental steps,” Ravichandar signs off.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse