Marketing tends to target human aspirations. That is a broad theme which is used stateside to snare the gullibles. It has reached heightened proportions with everything from water to phones to cars being labeled as smart. Clearly we see a trend that highlights the fact that people are not - smart. That they are aspiring to be and therefore affiliating to these items that are labeled smart hoping some of it would rub off.
The only thing that gets rubbed off amongst this aspirational generation is their petty bank balance. But no matter. Soon they are amongst the most talked about and hip crowd who having seen the smartness they exude have also jumped on the bandwagon and are now all sporting smart water bottles in one hand juggling the smart phone in the other.
But wait don't text and drive - also don't drink and drive - even if its a smart car! Some may have managed to shove their device down their throat while pouring water in their ear. Oops!
Time magazine did a cover story recently about how these self-absorbed, texting and picture taking jobless youth would actually help our civilization but I don't feel that cheerful. On the other hand one has to realize that the luxury of zero fee credit is only possible to a select few when there are tons of lackluster, texting cardholders that default and keep the bankers happy.
On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
Maybe the time is ripe to have a new theory- that the total smartness (or idiocy-that sounds more interesting) in the world remains constant. Smart people are being replaced by the gadgets.
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