Mr. Robot - On Organized Religion, On Consumerism

Dear Re@der,

I recen^ly st@r^ed w@^ching Mr. Robot and l0ved every epis0de. The h@cks, the ^heme, the ch@r@c^ers, the de^@ils, the ^hrill, the p@r@n0ia, the suspense, the direc^i0n, the scrip^, the music, the d@rkness of the sh0w and of c0urse Elliot. N0t to f0rge^ the E@s^er eggs, the hidden mess@ges, the twis^s and turns. Mr. Robot has bec0me my new f@v0ri^e TV sh0w and is se^^ing the trend in @udience eng@gement.

There are tw0 p@rticul@r m0n0l0gues that I especi@lly enj0yed in the sh0w. Elliot's m0n0l0gue on org@nized religi0n and Mr. Robot's m0n0l0gue on c0nsumerism. I've repr0duced the tr@nscript and vide0 of b0th bel0w, to remind myself of h0w p0werful and relev@nt these mess@ges are in t0day's w0rld.

C@n't wait for the next se@s0n to begin. What do you ^hink will be ti^le of the next epis0de?

Until the next hack.

_jy0^h.n

Mr. Robot - eps2.1_k3rnel-pan1c.ksd

Is that what God does? He helps? Tell me, why didn’t God help my innocent friend who died for no reason while the guilty ran free?

Okay. Fine. Forget the one-offs. How about the countless wars declared in His name?

Okay. Fine. Let’s skip the random, meaningless murder for a second, shall we? How about the racist, sexist, phobia soup we’ve all been drowning in because of Him?

And I’m not just talking about Jesus. I’m talking about all organized religion. Exclusive groups created to manage control. A dealer getting people hooked on the drug of hope. His followers, nothing but addicts who want their hit of bullshit to keep their dopamine of ignorance.

Addicts. Afraid to believe the truth. That there’s no order. There’s no power. That all religions are, just metastasizing mind worms, meant to divide us so it’s easier to rule us by the charlatans that wanna run us. All we are to them are paying fanboys of their poorly-written sci-fi franchise.

If I don’t listen to my imaginary friend, why the fuck should I listen to yours? People think their worship is some key to happiness. That’s just how He owns you. Even I’m not crazy enough to believe that distortion of reality.

So fuck God. He’s not a good enough scapegoat for me.

---

Mr. Robot - eps1.9_zer0-day.avi

Is any of it real? I mean look at this. Look at it. A world built on fantasy.

Synthetic emotions in the form of pills. Psychological warfare in the form of advertising. Mind-altering chemicals in the form of food. Brainwashing seminars in the form of media. Controlled isolated bubbles in the form of social networks. 

Real? You wanna talk about reality? We haven’t lived in anything remotely close to it since the turn of the century. 

Turn it off, take out the batteries, snacked on a bag of GMOs while we tossed the remnants in the ever-expanding Dumpster of the human condition. We live in branded houses trademarked by corporations built on bipolar numbers jumping up and down on digital displays, hypnotizing us into the biggest slumber mankind has ever seen. 

You’d have to dig pretty deep, kiddo, before you can find anything real. We live in a kingdom of bullshit. A kingdom you've lived in for far too long. So don't tell me about not being real. I'm no less real than the fucking beef patty in your Big Mac.

Deliver me to the Moon

Dear Reader,

Humans have always wondered about the universe and always strive to know more about the universe we live it. Our nearest celestial body, the Moon, has been the subject of many movies, books, songs, poems, moods, and even a means of rationalizing some of the things we do. We've now gone beyond the Moon and are stretching our arms towards Mars and beyond. And who wouldn't want to go to another planet and have an out of earth experience.

My nephews, together we call them ROAR are 5 and 2 year old. They first learned about the moon by looking up on a starry night in LA and were fascinated by this big round white object, that sometimes is a little orange and keeps changing shape every day. They learned more about other planets in our solar system in day care and ask plenty of questions about the Moon and how to get there. And thus were introduced to drones, airplanes, jets, rockets and shuttles. Here a collage of ROAR, roaring to the camera :)

But they didn't stop with how to get to the moon, they wanted to know where to go on the moon and asked me questions like "Can we go to someone's house?", "Can we land on the airport?", "Can we send something to the moon?", etc. When I told them that no one really lives on the moon and it's not easy for someone to live on the moon due to its gravity and atmosphere, they were heart broken and slowly they forgot about the moon. But their fascination with airplanes and anything that can fly didn't end.

This got me thinking about how would someone decide where to go on the moon or for that matter any planet?

There are no streets, landmarks, buildings or even countries on the Moon. Some locations on the Moon are named but thankfully the moon has coordinates just like our Earth and they are called Selenographic coordinates. One can pin point any location on the moon with its selenographic coordinates and even deliver something on the moon.

Man isn't just restricting him/her to the Moon. We have even started thinking about how to deliver to Mars and have figured out how to send stuff to Mars via a postal service!

It would be interesting to see what is the first thing we deliver to the moon (or for that matter even Mars). I, for one, am curious to know. What do you think?

Until next time.

Regards,
Jyothin

PS: ROAR miss you guys!

Lose Yourself

"Lose Yourself" - Eminem

Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted. In one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?
Yo
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs,
But he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down,
The whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's choking how, everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up, over, blaow!
Snap back to reality. Oh, there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that
Easy, no
He won't have it, he knows his whole back's to these ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that but he's broke
He's so sad that he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again, yo
This whole rhapsody
He better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him

[Hook:]
 
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go (go)
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime (yo)
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go (go)
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime (yo)
(You better)
The soul's escaping, through this hole that is gaping
This world is mine for the taking
Make me king, as we move toward a new world order
A normal life is boring, but superstardom's close to postmortem
It only grows harder, homie grows hotter
He blows. It's all over. These hoes is all on him
Coast to coast shows, he's known as the globetrotter
Lonely roads, God only knows
He's grown farther from home, he's no father
He goes home and barely knows his own daughter
But hold your nose 'cause here goes the cold water
His hoes don't want him no more, he's cold product
They moved on to the next schmoe who flows
He nose dove and sold nada
So the soap opera is told and unfolds
I suppose it's old partner, but the beat goes on
Da da dum da dum da da da da

[Hook]

No more games, I'm a change what you call rage
Tear this motherfucking roof off like two dogs caged
I was playing in the beginning, the mood all changed
I've been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
But I kept rhyming and stepped right into the next cypher
Best believe somebody's paying the Pied Piper
All the pain inside amplified by the
Fact that I can't get by with my 9 to 5
And I can't provide the right type of life for my family
'Cause man, these goddamn food stamps don't buy diapers
And it's no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life
And these times are so hard, and it's getting even harder
Trying to feed and water my seed, plus
Teeter totter caught up between being a father and a primadonna
Baby, mama drama's screaming on her
Too much for me to wanna
Stay in one spot, another day of monotony's gotten me
To the point, I'm like a snail
I've got to formulate a plot or I end up in jail or shot
Success is my only motherfucking option, failure's not
Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got to go
I cannot grow old in Salem's lot
So here I go it's my shot.
Feet, fail me not
This may be the only opportunity that I got

[Hook]

You can do anything you set your mind to, man 

Shopping High

Dear Reader,

Its been a while since I've blogged. I can't think of any one excuse and there certainly are myriad number of reasons for not having the time to sit down and write one. However, I've had some interesting experiences in the past couple of months worthwhile sharing. Once such experience was on a trip to Seattle for a week and what I learned about people's shopping habits while traveling.

I was waiting to board my flight in Hyderabad getting ready for the long flight and noticed a young woman swiping through apparel after apparel on her smart phone. I couldn't identify which mobile app she was using and what was the e-commerce company but I could see that she was searching for something specific - a specific kind of dress.

It looked like she was unable to find it and it was soon time to board the flight. She had to put away her smartphone. I didn't see her again until the flight took off. Once in the air and after the seat belt sign was turned off. I took the liberty of walking around a bit to see if I can spot her. Unfortunately, I couldn't and had to return to my seat. However, I kept wondering, given an opportunity would she have continued her shopping experience on the flight?

Most activities on a long haul flight center around, eating, watching something on the In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system, listening to music, sleeping, reading, using an electronic device (such as a laptop, tablet device, portable DVD player, etc.) and such. Shopping is not a big activity primarily because there isn't a wide ranging collection of items to shop from. The prices too seem unreasonable in some cases. Shopping is one way to spend time on a long boring flight. Better still, if it is part of the IFE then it makes it that much more easier to look for something that you want to buy. And what could be better than using a more familiar e-commerce experience to shop.

After my trip, I spent some time understanding the in-flight experience industry and below are links to some research reports.

Global IFE Market Overview
The Future of Airline Retail - The Quest for Growth

Albeit old, the reports do throw some interesting insights on how airline passengers spend their time in-flight.

Connectivity will certainly bring new experiences to airline passengers. With connectivity a means to shop "in the air" or "Shopping High" will be a reality. But what makes the "Shopping High" experience memorable is when one can promise a delivery on a certain day/time and at a certain location. This also throws some interesting questions -

• Can one promise delivery when the plane lands? It could be on the shorter leg of a multi-hop longer flight or it could be on the longer leg itself.
• Maybe the package is too big for the customer to carry from the airport hence wants it to be delivered to their home the next day (airline passengers are typically in a rush to get home after a long flight and may not even want to have the extra luggage to carry home).
• Maybe they forgot to buy a gift for someone and want to order something that will be gift wrapped. 
• Maybe they just want to look at what's new and interesting.

On the whole, its the complete experience that will make in-flight shopping a maker or breaker of a new market segment for e-commerce companies. Who knows, one might get more orders when the customer is in the air than when they are on the ground.

So, what would be the first thing you'd order on a Shopping High! Let me know in the comments section. Do drop me a note if you find some interesting reports on the same topic.

Until next time.

Regards,

Jyothin

Roti, Internet aur Makaan (Food, Internet and Shelter)

Dear Reader,

If you are entrepreneur (or have ever been one) and didn't have the luxury of getting funded early on, you may have faced numerous situations where you have to cut costs both in your business as well as in your personal life. What are the bear essentials that got you through?

There may also have been numerous times when you doubted your start-up course or wished you had taken on a path that you initially did not want to. Did you stick to your course or take the path of least resistance?

Roti, Kapada aur Makaan (Food, Clothing and Shelter) - is a 1974 Bollywood movie about a protagonist struggling to support his family in a life of poverty and trying to get out of poverty, in-spite of being educated and unable to find a job. Eventually, he is faced with a dilemma; whether to stick to his morals or take the path of least resistance (possibly even illegal).

I have NOT seen the movie and I don't know how it ends. I'm not much into 3-hour melodramatic movies. In fact, I was born years after the movie was released!

Side Note: There is a song in the movie, Mehngai Maar Gayi, which is essentially a plead by a bunch of labourers about how 'Mehengai' (inflation or expensiveness) will eat away everything of what is left... or something like that (my Hindi fails me here). I still think this rant is applicable even in 2015

But here's the difference...


The essence of a similar 2015 movie is no longer Roti, Kapada aur Makaan but Roti, Internet aur Makaan.

One cannot do without Roti. You need food to survive.

One cannot do without Makaan. You need some kind of shelter preferably your own.

I don't mean to say that kapada is longer required. It is, and it is essential but Internet access provides many advantages and conveniences.

Kapada - non-designer and designer, affordable and not-affordable - is accessible in 2015 with a little effort. Internet, on the other hand, provides access to and convenience of communications, banking, shopping, education, news, weather, music, videos, entertainment, games, real-time events, real-time prices, information of all kinds, you can market yourself, you can sell something, you can rant, you can comment, you can protest, you can gather support, you can contribute, you can make friends, you can find a life partner, you can watch porn, etc. You name it and you have it (you can't, however, exercise on the Internet!)

You can buy unbranded clothes for as low as Rs. 200 ($3.5) on the Internet!

Some would say, it is no longer Roti, Kapada aur Makaan but Roti, Gaadi aur Makaan (this is true in countries where automobile dependency is high, or maybe it is not! I don't have a better counter argument nor any supporting data. Maybe we should just ask someone who doesn't have both, knows the advantages/disadvantages of each, and see what their preference is, Gaadi or Internet).

Going back to an entrepreneurs life... if you are an Internet entrepreneur, perhaps Internet is more important to you than even Roti and Makaan :)

What do you think? What is your Roti, ________, Makaan?

Regards,
Jyothin

PS1: Gaadi here refers to an owned 2-wheeler or a 4-wheeler.

PS2: For a while I felt I was not doing justice to this blog. I felt I was biased towards Internet when compared to Gaadi. So, I drew on some of my own experiences of other's personal preferences. I was, of course, limited to only those who live in the cities, earn well and personally don't give a damn either way. But nevertheless, 1) at a dinner with friends, the topic of discussion was about a couple who recently bought their second car; which car was better, who used what and when. It even went down to the husband and wife upping each other on which one of them had the better car. Needless to say, the bigger car won, 2) owning your own vehicle is a dream come true for some, especially those who never had the luxury of owning one. For them, Gaadi IS more important than Internet. After all, personal vehicles have been around longer than the Internet, 3) the comfort of having your own vehicle means you can go anywhere, anytime, have your own personal space, etc. which to some means more than having an Internet connection, 4) you don't get an adrenalin rush with high speed Internet but you do get one driving fast. What other reasons can you think of?

Therefore, a more apt title to this blog is, perhaps, Roti, Internet, Makaan aur Gaadi!!

PS3: I met a fellow entrepreneur in the transportation & logistics space and for some reason, out of the blue, he was telling me that Gaadi is important to get 'access' to Roti, Kapada aur Makaan. I wasn't too convinced. What do you think?

PS4: If you know how the movie ends, drop me a note in the comments section.

PS5: I have increased the font size in this blog

PS6:
Aaja meri gaadi mein baith ja
Aaja meri gaadi mein baith ja
Long drive jayenge, full speed jayenge, kahi rukenge na hum
Gaana-bajana khaana-peena gaddi mein hoga sanam

Is not the same as...

Aaja meri Internet mein surf kar
Aaja meri Internet mein surf kar
High speed upload, full speed download, kabhi rukenge na hum
Email-chatting shopping-vidoes Internet mein hoga sanam