WILL MY HEART GO, TOO?

 

“The question of whether a computer can think

is no more interesting

than the question of whether a submarine can swim.”

Edsger W. Dijkstra

 

I am a slow coach; especially, when it comes to technology and gadgets. It is an everyday sight to behold: while I make fuss about my young students not doing their homework, or not being able to grasp some ‘simple’ accounting entries, I ask them to fix my ‘simple’ issues with my phone or laptop… I know, I am not alone in this situation from my generation of teachers and parents… I, also, know how kindly we comfort ourselves saying, “It is okay… It is okay not to know some things, sometimes”

Actually, it has come to - not knowing ‘many things many times!”

Yes Sir, I do not know, actually, many things, many times…

But, again, I comfort myself, saying this: “I know some things well… and, that’s enough to see me through the rest of post-65 life.”

The way we live life has changed so much and so fast!

Now, they say, it’s the age of ‘Artificial Intelligence’… which means, our computers/machines can do for us almost all things… which means, no need to waste our time thinking hard, breaking our heads etc…

There is an App for every conceivable need of ours… It is all just a click away… Just a blink away…

Life has been made very, very easy and comfortable for us… We have become quick and efficient…

At least, that is what we are made to believe…

Two days ago, these parents had come with their eighteen-year-old son to see me… The parents were keen, that the young man needed to build his self-confidence. But, I found the boy to be very confident and articulate. I spent some twenty minutes discussing the issues pertaining to self-confidence… “I strongly feel, that your young boy has enough self-confidence… Let us not make him feel, that something is missing in him,” I said to the boy’s parents.

The parents were relieved to hear what I had just said. The boy was looking at his parents as if to ask them, “Didn’t I tell you, all the time, what Sir has just told you?”

After twenty minutes, while they were leaving, the mother gently said, “Sir, please let us know how much should we pay for today’s session.”

I smiled and placed five of our motivational books in the young man’s hands, saying, "Beta, can you read what is written here?”

“This book is not for sale,” the young man read out…

So, they were taking away my five books and twenty minutes counselling – all free of charge!

Strange! Crazy! Bad business! 

Before I could get any reaction from them, I said this: “Some things in life do not have a price – Hence, they are called ‘Priceless’!

“Thank you, Sir,” said the parents and their young son, together, “We will remember it.”

Just outside my workplace, there is a Gurudwara. On one corner, they have opened a food counter, where breakfast and lunch items are available at a subsidized rate. Today, while passing by this food counter, I casually checked their menu… The dry chilly-garlic chutney (served along the vada-pav) tasted so good, that I asked the man at the counter to give me only the dry chutney worth rupees twenty-five. The take-away parcel contained quite a lot of dry chutney. But, the man there smiled and said (in chaste Punjabi) “Happiness is free, Sir ji.”

“Thank you, brother,” I found myself saying, “I will remember it.”

On my way back, I was wondering: “Can AI make us feel so, behave so, say so?”

Will my heart go, too?

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: 1. Pixabay/dashkabudich 2. truthseeker08

Video: Zlata Life