united states

Inclusive Society

The Idea of An Human-Centered Capitalism

November 17, 2019 Design Happenings

There’s plenty to appreciate about human-centeredness in design, undoubtedly, if there’s ever an era in our history to look into the depths of human needs to innovate it has come now. We have been doing it all with technology but now it requires us to move away from tech talk and focus on social justice for an inclusive society with ‘human-centered capitalism’.

“We need to move to the next stage of capitalism, a human-centered capitalism, where the market serves us instead of the other way around.”

The “Freedom Dividend”: Inside Andrew Yang’s plan to give every American $1,000

Quoting the Democratic 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate, entrepreneur and non-profit founder Andrew Yang, from an event in New Hampshire. His policy proposal called “Freedom Dividend”, a universal basic income (UBI) plan that aims to provide $1000 per month / $12000 per annum for every American adult above the age of 18. Although the concept of universal basic income isn’t innovative in itself but the idea of designing an economy centred around human-needs does produce an intriguing justification. The task of designing an economy centred solely around human needs & desires, employment challenges, cultural mindsets and based on considerations such as the demographics of the population and their skills would be compelling. Depending upon how it matches up to the potential of some populist dimensions ‘human-centered capitalism’ could be a permanent feature for governments to steer the economy in various directions. And I’m seriously drawn towards making the idea of social justice for an inclusive society through ‘human-centered design’ possible.

“The freedom dividend stacks on top of Social Security, it stacks on top of anything healthcare related, such as Medicare. It stacks on top of housing assistance,” Yang replied. “The things it does not stack on top of are essentially cash and cash like benefits. So this is SNAP, heating oil, other programs that are essentially trying to put cash in your hands to manage an expense.”

The “Freedom Dividend”: Inside Andrew Yang’s plan to give every American $1,000

It means, regardless of whether individuals who are above the age of 18 are employed/unemployed, the government promises to pay $1000 to enable them to pay their bills, which I believe if and when it’s implemented, would be a safety net to safeguard people’s future. It’s a brilliant strategy to put money into people’s hands and set free the future generations from the clutches of rising debt, unemployment, and above all, prevent them from abject poverty and finally, homelessness.

The Crux of Human-Centered Capitalism

Apart from the benefits that I have already outlined so far, the implementation of the UBI plan would instinctively kickstart economic growth and rise in employment. As stated in the brief on “Freedom Dividend” which would “[…]permanently grow the economy by 12.56 to 13.10 percent—or about $2.5 trillion by 2025—and it would increase the labour force by 4.5 to 4.7 million people.” However, it doesn’t mention an important aspect of the UBI which is, there might be a significant drop in the rate of chronic diseases and mental disorders owing to the apparent change in the overall lifestyle choices of the people, that would also stop taxing the economy. There’s no doubt that rolling out the UBI would definitely prove to be a boon for the economically weaker section of the society on a global scale without getting caught in the hype of ‘taxing the rich and gifting the poor’.

What’s An Inclusive Society?

In passing, I loved the definition of an ‘Inclusive Society’ from the draft of a UN’s document on the subject, and I’m going to leave it right here for readers to think about and envision what kind of world they’d like to live in? Most prominently, I’m excited about the possibilities and looking forward to the time when an opportunity would arise to collaboratively design an inclusive society using the principles of human-centered design as a pivoting tool.

An inclusive society is a society that over-rides differences of race, gender, class, generation, and geography, and ensures inclusion, equality of opportunity as well as capability of all members of the society to determine an agreed set of social institutions that govern social interaction. (Expert Group Meeting on Promoting Social Integration, Helsinki, July 2008)

Creating an Inclusive Society: Practical Strategies to Promote Social Integration; DESA 2009
Photo by Papaioannou Kostas on Unsplash

3 Ways Netflix Could Personalize Viewer Experience

July 19, 2019 Happenings Movies

Tech publisher TechCrunch reported yesterday that the world’s largest video streaming service Netflix (NLFX) has posted a loss of net subscriber base in the U.S. fixing the blame on hikes in subscription costs. Netflix’s loss of U.S. subscribers happened for the first time in eight years and it also missed its targets for overseas customers. Shares of Netflix tumbled more than 13% in after-market hours on July 18.

Netflix

Netflix’s continued subscription price hikes might finally have reached the end of some customers’ patience in the U.S., judging from an overall paid subscriber decline the company reported in its quarterly earnings for its fiscal second quarter 2019 results. The company’s overall growth for paid subscribers climbed by 2.7 million worldwide, but it actually added 2.83 million new subscribers around the world — while losing around 130,000 net in the U.S. to account for the difference.*

* Netflix reports first net subscriber loss in the US, misses global subscriber growth predictions

Last year I wrote a piece on the creative freedom currently afforded by several streaming platforms such as Netflix’s. And the plethora of critically acclaimed movies and TV series, including Oscar winners, that audiences are served on demand some of which otherwise wouldn’t have seen the light of the day being ruthlessly entangled in financial disputes, creative controversies, or sheared mercilessly under the garb of censorship laws across the globe. That creative freedom allows viewers to watch immersive content in high-definition at a nominal rate while bestowing acclaimed filmmakers like Martin Scorcese, Alfonso Querón or David Fincher a safer platform to pursue their innovative endeavours without having to think about compromising their intellectuality, least of all getting jammed in the filmmaking process due to stringent production cost controls. As always I will attempt to look at the subscriber slump from a customer’s viewpoint to analyze if the dots could be connected in innovating the viewer’s experience.

To simplify the challenge in clear terms, how might we innovate the viewing experience to keep the audiences engaged? The launch of Apple TV+ has just made the online video streaming service industry that much more interesting, it joins a bevvy of other subscription services offering loads of original content. So what could Netflix do in order to retain or enhance its customer base regardless of this slump they are facing? I have 3 creative solutions.

Continue reading…
Energia/Buran

Buran – The End of The Space-Race Age

November 15, 2018 General

Exactly on this day, 30 years ago, the Soviet Union under the Buran programme (meaning “snowstorm}, or “blizzard”) launched the Orbiter K1 (or OK-1K1), a reusable spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in response to NASA’s space shuttle program. If the Sputnik marked the beginning of the space race, then the Buran ended it conclusively, and in the process proved once again that the Soviets could match, or even surpass, the technological prowess of the west on their own. As history suggests, NASA’s Space Shuttle programme had an enormous payload capacity, several times that of the previous US launch vehicles, which made the Soviet military suspicious about its military purposes which provoked them to build one of their own reusable spacecraft. But unfortunately, 1988 was the first and the only time that the unmanned OK-1K1 would lift-off and land in a fully automated mode, a first for any space shuttle variant. On the other hand, the Buran-class spacecraft used the expendable Energia super-heavy lift launch vehicles fitted with the RD-170 liquid-fuel rocket engines, considered the most powerful in the world even today. 

Despite its structural resemblance to NASA’s spaceplanes, the difference between the two orbiters was evident in the payload capacity in which, the Buran proved to be more efficient with a volume of over 90 tons which was due to the use of the Energia vehicle. All things considered, in spite of the ‘Cold War’ rivalry the Soviets developed a pretty advanced space vehicle to surprise the west again; who could forget the supersonic Tupolev Tu-144, the ‘Concordski‘. Quite disappointingly though, this fabulous spacecraft met with a climactic ending when the Buran OK-1K1 was destroyed in 2002 with the roof of its hangar at Baikonur collapsing and crushing underneath the lasting memories of the space-race era.
Buran vs STS Stats

A quick comparison of the OK-1K1 vehicle and the Space Shuttle

Featured Photo: Scale drawings of Russian cosmoplan complex Energia/Buran

Jimmy Kimmel On Mass Shooting At Las Vegas

October 3, 2017 General Happenings

I don’t think anyone could have articulated the emotions of this tragic incident in words that Jimmy has managed to do. It’s not just the mass shooting at Las Vegas which is a horrific incident to recount but his profound use of words that brought tears to my eyes. He’s just brilliant!

Thompson's Travels

The Great Explorer

November 13, 2015 General

Had I not been watchful about the TV commercials, I would have completely overlooked discovering this great explorer of Canada (or should I say North America). It came as a total surprise to me that over his longish career Thompson mapped over 3.9 million square kilometres of North America and he was described as “the greatest land geographer who ever lived”.

The Beginnings
David Thompson was born to Welsh migrants on 30 April 1770 in Westminster, England. Through personal hardships including losing his father at age two he eventually graduated to the Grey Coat mathematical school where he was introduced to basic navigation skills. His studies included algebra, trigonometry, geography, and navigation using ‘practical astronomy’. This would form the basis of his interest in exploration and his future career. In May 1784, at the ripe age of 14, he entered into a seven-year apprenticeship in fur-trading business with the Hudson’s Bay Company and arrived in Churchill (now in Manitoba). He never saw his mother or England again. At Churchill he was put to work copying personal papers of the governor of Fort Churchill, Samuel Hearne, and then transferred to nearby York Factory, a fur-trading post. And over the next few years spent time as a clerk at Cumberland House, Saskatchewan and South Branch House before arriving at Manchester House in 1787.

Training and First Measurement
It was at Manchester House that Thompson had a serious fall breaking his leg and spent the next two winters convalescing. During which time he refined and expanded his mathematical, astronomical and surveying skills under the supervision of Hudson’s Bay Company surveyor Philip Turnor. It took Thompson a full year to recover but was left with a limp for the rest of his life. It was here on February 1, 1790 that Thompson recorded his first navigational measurement to gain the longitude of Cumberland House. Over the next 4 months he would also calculate the latitude for the same location at 53° 56′ 44″ N by 102° 13′ W. During this navigational training in that winter, Thompson was left blind in his right eye probably due to observing the sun without proper eye protection.

End of Apprenticeship and Surveys
Thompson’s apprenticeship was due to end in 1791. So he appealed the company to give him surveying instruments instead of a suit of clothes. He traveled to York Factory where he presumably took possession of his new instruments. With these new instruments he set out to find a new shorter route to the fur-rich Athabasca country by way of the Churchill River and it wasn’t until 1996 and several trips that Thompson could find a more direct route to that country. In the winter of 1796-97, unhappy with Hudson Bay Company’s strong emphasis on trade, Thompson left the organization to cross over to a rival company called the North West Company. It was here that Thompson was asked by his new employers on his first major survey to explore the territory west of Lake Superior and the 49th parallel, which eventually became the US and Canada boundary. It’d be interesting to note that his journals contained hundreds of pages, of not just mapped land but also the cultural and religious practices of the inhabitants. His maps provided complete records of more than 3.9 million square kilometre and dozens of First Nation bands. Thompson thus also contributed to the knowledge of the overall geography of the northern part of the American continent.

Later Years and Death
He spent the next 15 years at North West Company exploring various parts of North America the details of which are beyond the purview of this article. But in all he spent 27 years mapping the west and over his entire career he had travelled and surveyed 100,000 km by foot, canoe and horseback! Thompson was aware that much of the lands that he had helped put on the map would eventually become farmlands pushing the aboriginal people out of it. He moved to Montreal in 1812 so that his children could get formal education doing odd jobs to pay the rent and kept working on the maps he had drawn of the west. The Canadian Encyclopedia mentions that he couldn’t find a publisher for his maps eventually selling it to Arrowsmith, a London-based publisher for 150 pounds. Arrowsmith didn’t publish it in Thompson’s name to earn him credit for his work, instead used the maps to correct their own. Thompson died in poverty and obscurity in 1857 and three months later his wife Charlotte passed away. Their marriage had lasted almost 60 months. Both are buried side by side in Montréal’s Mount Royal Cemetery.

Conclusion and Legacy
David Thompson’s survey and maps delineated the boundaries we live with today. He’s also credited with envisioning Canada as a modern nation which included vast western territories. David Thompson’s effort to not just mapping the lands but also the aboriginal cultural and religious practices is commendable and invaluable. Of course I can also value his work more closely because I have an impassioned love for hiking and geography. Though I still can’t find a ready reference of a timeline of Thompson’s surveys, I’d continue my efforts towards making that list. The Canadian government issued a commemorative stamp in 1957 on the centenary of his passing away.

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