Let us all be happy. We are in the pursuit of happiness and well-being. Individually, collectively, socially, spiritually and now through governance. Are we, really? Is it more than lip service? Gross value of production and services, life expectancy, poverty, inequality/inequity, planet protection, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption contribute to societal happiness and well-being. And, therefore, we need to work on and track these. Plus, a simple rating question – ‘how satisfied are we with life nowadays?’ can tell us how happy society is. The score (0-10) so generated is good enough as a score of happiness and well-being, apart from the values of parameters as above. Can we see life becoming life worthwhile? Can we transcend incomes/expenditures to happiness/well-being? Can we see happiness/well-being budgets across, to maximize well-being score(s)? Sarvodaya, Antyodaya? If we are at 4/10 today, how do we double it in the next 20 years?
We forget development is complex and takes several cycles. Can this be reduced to just some meetings, consultations, reports, logframes/results matrices, case studies, capacity building exercises and listed learnings? These transactions need to be in reports that Grant-makers need. Grantees somehow manage to write. To keep asking, up to the community, as if we have all the rights for this. Where is the issue, and where is the solution to this? How are the communities figuring these out?
The Digital India Act is expected soon, in place of the IT Act. It may include personal data protection, data governance, penal code for cyber crimes et al. There is a talk of regulating AI. Governance of superintelligence. Nationally and internationally. Already LLaMA (meta) is almost open source as against OpenAI et al. Is oversight, and regulation possible? Justiceable? Punishable? Would the internet ethic/code ‘No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider’ remain?
Just 5 companies – Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Nvidia and Facebook – account for USD 9 Trillion. Only US and China’s GDP cross this figure. AI can make them bigger. Hope it is meaningful. No user harm.
As the AI progresses, the issue is no longer having vast amounts of data. It is going to be our ability to pay attention to what matters, ask the right questions, analyze well and discover meaningful insights. Can we be there? Can we truly care about useful impact to our world?
Can we be leaders, with a consistent micro-macro leadership frame, day-in and day-out? Inspire. Influence. Engage. Care. Open. Curious. Inquisitive. With no spotlight. For this, are we unlearning and learning? Are we revisiting learning with different and multiple lenses? Are we asking questions and listening to responses, said and unsaid, between the lines? Not as interrogators but as listeners of the story(ies). Are we letting others ask questions? Challenging assumptions. Are we facilitating interactions, inter-teamwork, evolving circles? Do we get intentional non-expert perspectives?
Are we in the leadership journey for happiness, well-being and usefulness? Let us know the missions do not get resources and people. The leaders/champions of the missions get. Are we there? We may not get everything we desire. And many a time we get more than we expect/imagine. Therefore, can we remain humble? We are not the masters. Period. Yes?
Can we decide endogenously, with information we have now, within the bounds of our values and purposes? As we progress, and have more information we make changes. Can we live in the present? Can we be silent? Meditate silently, within or without, alone in a group. For seeking and understanding through all our senses, physical, mental and spiritual energies, rather than just meaning with intellect.
Yes, we can. If we are bound by the values – hope, faith, promise, love and coexistence. Leading the flow in the direction of our life purposes. The flow of N. For 7L.
Join us in the yoga of useful wellbeing in nature – sukhayoga for 7L.
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