1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Domain Knowledge

At 1Mby1M, we believe in learning from case studies of successful entrepreneurs. These case studies involve discussions on opportunities and challenges specific to the domain such as Generative AI, E-Commerce, Digital Health, Cyber Security, and FinTech. 

Man and Superman: A Case for Human Happiness

By Guest Author Ajit Narayanan

This Man-Superman terminology smells like some adolescent Ayn Rand-ian fantasy, but I agree that humanity will bifurcate into two types of people: the Happy and the Not-Happy. And entrepreneurship or capital (or even skill) will not be the dividing line here.
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Featured Videos

Man and Superman: Is There an Action Item?

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species; What CAN Be Controlled?; Rationalizing Populations; How Long Does Democracy Survive?; The Environmental Time Bomb; Role of Religion, and Will There Be Revolution? Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

As this series has developed, I’ve had the privilege of listening to various perspectives about the possibilities. I’ve also had very interesting exchanges about questions, alternatives, and ramifications.

One particular point of view, over a beautiful luncheon at my friend Enrica’s, concerned online learning.

Clearly, the distinction between Man and Superman is largely in intellectual capacity.
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Man and Superman: Will There Be Revolution?

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species; What CAN Be Controlled?; Rationalizing Populations; How Long Does Democracy Survive?; The Environmental Time Bomb; Role of Religion. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

I’ve had several conversations about this series at various dinner parties, and a few points that have come up are worth further discussion.

One of them is the rebuttal that if Superman stops supporting Man through extensive welfare, there will be revolution.

I agree. This is a very logical possibility.

So let’s do a thought experiment on what leads up to revolution and what happens in the event of revolution.
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Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Josh Sutton, Data & Artificial Intelligence Global Head at Publicis.Sapient (Part 1)

There is a clear trend in Artificial Intelligence whereby major companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Google are creating the plumbing with layers of abstraction on top such that mere mortals can leverage capabilities such as Machine Learning to build complex systems. This interview offers an excellent overview of the state of the union on this topic.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to Sapient.

Josh Sutton: I lead Artificial Intelligence at Publicis.Sapient, which is focused on digital business transformation. We have a number of brands that operate as part of Publicis.Sapient. Collectively, we represent a little over a quarter of the Publicis group, which is one of the largest advertising companies in the world. >>>

Man and Superman: Role of Religion

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species; What CAN Be Controlled?; Rationalizing Populations; How Long Does Democracy Survive?; and The Environmental Time Bomb. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

In recent times, Islam is facing a tremendous backlash because of the mindshare that ISIS and Al-Qaeda have managed to garner. Anti-Islam sentiments are appealing political fodder for populist candidates.

But the religion that actually holds humanity together is one that cuts across all major religions: Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and most other smaller sects. In fact, that religion is one that even the Atheists and Agnostics subscribe to.

Humanism.
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Man and Superman: The Environmental Time Bomb

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species; What CAN Be Controlled?; Rationalizing Populations; How Long Does Democracy Survive? Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

Parallel to the forthcoming disruption due to automation, there is another growing threat to humanity: the Environment.

In China, every year, a million people die of pollution related illnesses.

New Delhi, with a population of 18.6 million people, is the most polluted city in the world as of 2016.
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Man and Superman: How Long Does Democracy Survive?

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Two Distinct Species, What CAN Be Controlled?, and Rationalizing Populations. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

The basic principle of Democracy is rooted in Humanism. Every life is equally precious and worth preserving.

It seems though that with the Man and Superman bifurcation, this sense of equality is no longer sacrosanct.

If these two segments of the population need to work within the same social structure, with the assumption that each person has one vote, then Man can pretty much steamroll Superman’s interests.
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Man and Superman: Rationalizing Populations

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous articles in this series: Man and Superman: Two Distinct Species, Man and Superman: What CAN Be Controlled? Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going.

World population has been ballooning for years. As of August 2016, it was 7.4 billion, projected to increase to 8 billion in 2024, and 11.2 billion in 2100.

If the Man and Superman bifurcation happens, and a very small population of very rich, highly enhanced human beings segregate from the mainstream, the world will be in a deep funk.

Providing welfare services – universal basic income, food, healthcare – for 10 billion people will be an impossible task.
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Man and Superman: What CAN Be Controlled?

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. The previous article in this series: Man and Superman: Two Distinct Species. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going

It has been 500 years since the Scientific Revolution.

It has been a mere 200 years since the Industrial Revolution.

The pace of change humanity has experienced in the last 500 years, especially in the last 200 years, is immense. Science, coupled with the force of Capitalism, has created an intoxicating pace of change.

We call this change Progress.

Now, humanity faces the critical question: Will relentless Progress eventually lead to the extinction of humankind?
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Man and Superman: Two Distinct Species

In order to give focus to some major changes she sees on the horizon, Sramana Mitra has written several pieces that grew out of her original article, Man and Superman: Human History Bifurcates. Please share your thoughts and help get the conversation going. 

In the first segment of this series, I said that human history is about to bifurcate into two distinct classes: the wealthy, powerful, highly educated class that will come to dominate the future; and the useless zombie class that will be the planet’s majority.

Let’s explore this in some detail.
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