** The existence of Intelligent Extraterrestrial life is a common topic for Science fiction - stories, movies or even discussions. There are various visions of an alien proposed - doomsday / apocalypse themed movies portray them as reptiles with high frequency reproduction capabilities. However, few other more benevolent themes like the E.T.  or Avatar show them as humanoid. Which of these two versions are more likely to be true? Let us look at it from another perspective, what are some of the characteristics of an intelligent animal? Some which come to mind are [ Source ]: The use of tools The ability to learn and remember (obtain knowledge) through experience, study, or instruction The ability to communicate (the ability to give and receive information) The ability to solve complex problems Humans have fingers which gives them a lot of flexibility to handle complex tasks such as writing or drawing art. We can't be exactly sure whether our fingers evolved by usag...

I tweeted this morning about an article which proposes to help your productivity by urging you not to empty your mailbox or at least not be fussy about emptying it every day. The best advice on productivity in today's age of information overload - trying to empty ur inbox is a waste of time https://t.co/QNVXL2CyBy — Nikhil Kulkarni (@kulkarninikhil) October 21, 2016 Does the advice mean that you should procrastinate or as some one sarcastically put on my Facebook wall - "[Don't bother with replying to an email the moment you get it] If they are important enough they will be resent and sent again ...." :-) Such conclusions drawn from the article above only make the message weak. Organizing the Inbox and emptying it are two different issues. Those who don't use Inbox as a todo list might have other ways of managing to-do. The article above is meant for those who rather than organize emails and prioritize them according to their importance, choose to use ...

Read Hillary Clinton 's answer to Is bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US a realistic venture, given that manufacturing is so much cheaper elsewhere? on Quora So, now Hillary wants you to "Make It in America", Modi wants you to "Make in India" and China has already built factories to make the whole world's output inside its borders. If all of them succeed, at best manufacturing capacities will meet the same fate as undersea Fibre optic networks, which subsidized the second wave of the Internet by providing cheap communication infrastructure at the cost of bankrupt companies who laid those cables in the first place. But chances are that all of them will fail and the world will rise to a post manufacturing world as Alvin Toffler predicted . There are 3 major trends which will determine the future of manufacturing in a post globalization world (note that a post globalization world is where the rules of globalization such as manufacture where i...

In my previous post , I advocated that learning for the purpose of making ends meet (making a living) is soon going to be passe. So people are going to learn for the sake of learning! Some rights reserved   by  LeanForward lf This also means that the paraphernalia built by Universities across the globe - that of placement cells, industry-institute-partnerships, alumni programs and all such stuff to ensure that their students get 'placed' in the corporate world  - are soon becoming effete. But as technology and tech entrepreneurs continue to disrupt methods and means of education; possibly even the basic infrastructure - classrooms, campuses, hostels, dorms, auditoriums - might start becoming defunct. The future of learning will possibly just need an internet connection and a device (laptop or tablet or even a phone) to get connected to the internet. The shift is not merely converting the physical to virtual. Using the power of 'virtual', apps and services li...

  Some rights reserved  by  Kevin Steinhardt Learning today is assumed to be meant to lead to jobs. The objective of learning today is not to enable us to perform greats, it simply is expected to get us closer to the job where we will earn a loving for ourselves. Calling education as learning is probably misleading in today's world when there is more clamour for 'employable skills' to be imparted to our kids. From India to Europe to the US, we are all squalling for education in STEM or teaching kids to Code so that they can get jobs which give them better lives. The purpose of education to merely ready you to earn a living, live a life is an ancient concept now and needs to be deprecated as early as possible. In this age where some developed societies are planning to provide for minimum basic income to all citizens [ Reference ], the concept of education for earning a living is soon going to be defunct. In such scenario, how do we motivate you people to aspire f...

  Some rights reserved  by  Kevin Steinhardt Learning today is assumed to be meant to lead to jobs. The objective of learning today is not to enable us to perform greats, it simply is expected to get us closer to the job where we will earn a loving for ourselves. Calling education as learning is probably misleading in today's world when there is more clamour for 'employable skills' to be imparted to our kids. From India to Europe to the US, we are all squalling for education in STEM or teaching kids to Code so that they can get jobs which give them better lives. The purpose of education to merely ready you to earn a living, live a life is an ancient concept now and needs to be deprecated as early as possible. In this age where some developed societies are planning to provide for minimum basic income to all citizens [ Reference ], the concept of education for earning a living is soon going to be defunct. In such scenario, how do we motivate you people to aspire f...

Reproduced from a Quora Answer by me here . There are many possible answers to this question depending upon what stage of life you are in - just graduating, within 5 years of work experience, beyond 5 years etc.; and whether you plan to get a good job or want to start on your own. I will provide the most generic answer here and refer you to few blog posts of mine for variations of it for different scenarios. What value does an MBA provide: Network : As you go forward in life, you will realize that success depends on what kind of people you are connected to who can help in climbing the ladder of success. For example, as an entrepreneur, your company requires to connect to stakeholders - customers who buy your product / service, service providers who can feed into your product with minimal cost, investors who provide funding etc. Similarly, in a job, if you are connected to your superiors, you get more opportunities to excel and play a more impactful role. An MBA gets you that...

I have written previously on Education, my own bias towards Gandhiji's Nai Talim philosophy and my mentor Prof. Prasad's attempts to implement Nai Talim in Post Graduate studies. However, I keep getting disappointed at the lack of any support whatsoever to this (almost 80 year) old but pragmatic approach in primary and secondary education, even when the need for this is observed. I read this article in Mint by senior policy managers for J-PAL South Asia, they talk about "concern(s) that while enrolment in elementary education has increased, education outcomes have declined, with abilities in reading, writing and other comprehensive skills deteriorating"; suggest " Pedagogical solutions such as restructuring classes by learning level, rather than by age or grade and improving School governance like incentivizing teacher presence and effort, and putting in place properly designed monitoring and accountability structures ". What is lacking however ...

My daughter was watching one of those Kindergarten videos on shapes [ YouTube ] and at this scene where a car is waiting for the 'Shape Train' to cross the level crossing; I ruminated a conversation between the vehicles where ... The car wonders to itself  - "I wish I could go as fast as the train!" The train itself responds "I wish I could roam anywhere like the car does!" [ and not be forced to run only where the track goes ] I realized my rumination had a lot of similarity to the differences, perceptions and expectations of 'Corporate' vs. 'Entrepreneur' career paths. Corporate career is like the Railway - you have a defined career path to progress up, if you perform well, play your moves properly (including living with or harnessing office politics and networking), you can reach the top echelons very fast and without much financial risk on yourself. Entrepreneurship is like driving a car on the road - you have a lot of freedom w...

The irony of our times ... Those who oppose crimes against themselves, inflict crimes on their own people  Those who want peace within, advocate bombing the 'criminal' states  Those who oppose 'repressive' regimes, side with them when the 'rebels' start bombing their countries  Those who work for off-shoring IT businesses, condemn governments for allowing cheap Chinese imports  'Export' cloth manufacturers encourage laws restricting of foreign manufactured vehicles Families who built houses with repatriation money castigate illegal immigrants from neighboring countries  Those who worship most feverishly are also those who preach hatred People conduct 'culture' festivals at the Bank of rivers damaging fragile ecosystems on the riverbed  Those who find affirmation action 'unfair' to the majority cringe when the government taxes their savings  Minorities always cite the law; majorities make the law!  My opportunity is fair - ...