Film Review: CTRL on Netflix in India

Watch this film NOW. Not as a fiction film.

Here is the "review" element of the post:

The editor of the film had the capacity to make it an 80 minute film. Or less. I wish they had worked a little harder.
The performances are adequate.
The story telling is engaging. Not as taut as it could be. But engaging. One doesn't look away that much (at the phone, what else?)
The background score and cinematography both delight. I loved the AI avatar being put on screen again and again.
My favourite dialogue in the film (mostly because I keep saying it all the time): Please, please make an informed decision. Aap ek baar proofs dekh lijiye. (Joe's words from his last video).
The dialogues are not too witty. They are just realistic. A little extra work there would have led to some chuckles.
Joe is super cute!

This film does not deserve to be watched or reviewed as a fiction film or sci-fi.

Nothing shown in the film is in the realm of sci-fi. It is possible today. And much of it is happening (minus the idiot looking avatar. They don't need the avatar. They have the feed).

Then ask yourself:

1. Can I live my life without social media?

2. Am I aware of how much social media controls my thoughts? What I see in news, What i think about, which friends I get to see, which ones are ignored, what I (think I) choose, even what makes me feel good and what makes me feel bad. Who decides if you are on the side of Russia or Ukraine? Your feed. You never make the effort to read about the other side's perspective.

Think hard. Think very, very, very hard.

And you will realise why this is a very real cautionary tale.

You don't have to believe me, read what the experts said at the last International Dialogues on AI Safety (Venice, Sep 2024):

https://idais.ai/idais-venice/

Now, give this film to your teens.

Someone wrote about Insta putting teen controls in place. Let me add to that story. The CEO of Meta was summoned by the Congress. Behind him were parents whose kids had been severely harmed or died because of Insta. DIED. He did not bother to look at them. Finally, he was asked to turn around and apologise to them. He had to be asked TWICE before he turned.

THAT is the most haunting Big Tech video for me. This CEO, who KNEW his app was killing young people, not only did nothing to stop, but continued to promote the same algo changes. Without a pause.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwtYBPcTVPw

Sorry to break it to you, folks, but NO One has your back. No one is looking after your kids. There is no liability. Even the US Congress cannot protect our children (or us). Therefore, Watch CTRL, and as Joe says, make an informed decision.

That late self realisation

As a child, I used to be very distracted. It was easy to remember things, but really hard to focus! 

Like, I would be listening to my teacher explain the chapter in class, but my fingers would be writing poetry at the back of the book instead of making notes as she wanted us to do. The teacher would stop in the middle and ask me a question about the lesson. I would give the right answer. The teacher would have a flicker of self-doubt on her face. but would go back to explaining the chapter. I could never write those notes as intended!!! This happened most in History, English, and Hindi - all my favorite subjects, making the guilt index soar even more. 

***** 

Many years later, in office, I would get bored in meetings and conferences. So, while other people nodded sagely at the speaker, I would pick up a pad and start designing dresses and furniture. The meeting/conference and its sounds would be in the background and my focus would be on the dress being drawn - its colours, materials, thickness of piping and type of lace. 

But at the end of the meeting, I would make the Minutes accurately and ask relevant questions. Folks who could see I was distracted would not know how to get back. It was true. I was distracted. All the time. 

 ****** 

Until, one day, I realised, that the distraction was not distraction. It was a memory technique! When I look at the doodle, I can remember every single word that was said in the meeting. What's more, I can remember what was being said by who as each line was being drawn. All I had to do was to go over the doodle in the order in which it was drawn. Each leaf, each border, each silhouette, and each shading pencil stroke brought alive the words being spoken in the background. 

And that was how I accepted my lifelong distraction. Instead of feeling guilty about "being somewhere else", I started feeling comfortable in my skin. From being the person who is always distracted, I accepted self as the person who is "differently attentive". 

Why am I writing this now? 

Many of us find young people who are distracted or in their own worlds. I was blessed with a kind world. Teachers who never scolded for incomplete notebooks, nor suspected me of cheating when the marks came ok. Colleagues who saw me draw on and managers who did not say anything. Even I did not realise that the doodling was helping remember until much, much later. So, I kept judging myself for being so distracted all the time.  

I would like the post to perhaps create a kinder world for someone out there. Even if they have not yet figured it out, maybe its something that helps? 

*********** 

On an unrelated note, this could be the reason, but I didn't realise it then, or for the next 30 years: 

One day, I started a self-paced course on speed reading. In those days, these courses were delivered via books. The book started with FAQs before delving into the techniques. One of the questions was - 

Will it affect my comprehension if I speed read? 

The answer: 

If you are not understanding, it is not speed reading. Reading implies comprehension. But, speed reading will not reduce your comprehension, it will increase it! The human brain is capable of much more action than our senses can give it. When you read at 250 words per minute, your brain has free capacity to be distracted and therefore you may not understand so well. When you are reading at 2000 words per minute, there is no capacity for distraction. Therefore, you will understand BETTER. 

That seemed contrarian, but I tried it anyway, and realised that it was right!! At 1500 wpm, I was understanding better, but was also exhausted at the end of the reading.

Book Review: Miniaturised Travel Stories by Indrani Ghose

Imagine yourself at a hill station anywhere in India. It is mid-morning. Warm sun streams through the straw roof. In front of you are the mountains. Behind you is a door that leads to the house. Right there is a cup of tea on a cobalt blue painted wooden table. Next to the tea is a plate of pakodas. This book is that plate of pakodas - the perfect accompaniment to tea. Actually, the rest of the scene can fade away at this point. No matter where you are, the book is the perfect accompaniment to tea. The scene, the book will create on its own. 

Reading the book is like being on twenty different journeys with the author and her family. From the roosters to blown glass, from gangajal to hippos who have no legs, the book is replete with interesting fables, sweet memories, and a sense of nostalgia. 

At just 159 pages, it is an easy read. But not a quick one. After reading each story, you feel like staying for a while, thinking about that place, the souvenir shops, and if you have been to the place, then, of course, your own memories. 

Indrani is already one of India's best known travel bloggers, so writing about travel comes naturally to her. One would have liked more pictures (colour pictures, may one add), but perhaps their absence makes the imagination (or memory, as the case may be) work harder.

My favourite souvenir is Goddess Tara (for purely personal reasons, I love Goddess Tara), but the story I most enjoyed was the one on Morano glass (again, I love hand blown glass). 

Do read this book. :) 

Book Review: Bodies from the Library 5

Bodies from the Library is one of my most favorite series. Each new one is much awaited and instantly bought. 

The stories themselves are great, but the introduction to the author at the end of each story is really well written, and introduces us to some of the other work by the same author.. Which means if we like someone, we can read more of them. 

This compilation, however, does not meet the same high standards. 

Because every single story ever has been stellar, even a 'normal' crime story kind of appears to be falling short. 

Vacancy with corpse, though long, justifies the length. 

The Magnifying Glass by Cyril Hare and The Predestined by Q Patrick are the other stories that stand out. Both stand for natural justice. 

The year and the day by Edmund Crispin is a delightful, intriguing read. 

Murder in Montparnasse has to take the credit for being the most convoluted plot and somehow, magically, it still manages to bore the reader to death.

If you are a Bodies from the Library fan like me, do collect this one. its worth keeping in the library. But if you are just starting out on the genre of Golden Age of Crime Fiction, this is not the right book to start with. Start with Bodies from the Library 1, or the Strand magazine, which, I believe is now free to read somewhere on the internet. 

 

2 more book listings for The Small but Ultimate Book of Online Safety

Hatchards UK: 

https://www.hatchards.co.uk/book/the-small-but-ultimate-book-of-online-safety/nidhi-arora/9798893223002

Waterstones.com: 

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-small-but-ultimate-book-of-online-safety/nidhi-arora/9798893223002

Behavioural Security

We readily acknowledge that humans are the weakest link in the security chain. 

BUT, people do not want to be conned. NO ONE ever said - Its ok to get conned. What's the issue?  

So, why are they the weakest link? 

I have been thinking about this very deeply. 

In one line, its simply that security has been projected as this esoteric discipline (rocket science) instead of making it a natural everyday thing to do. 

The second is that the approach to security in human behaviour has been directive - Do this, Don't do this, be Scared of this... 

This is never a good approach to take in behavior change. 

Presenting, a new discipline: Behavioural Security - the discpline that focuses on understanding human behaviour and creating models of change that lead to safer behaviour. Much like any other change management. 

Why do we need an entirely new discipline for this? For the simple reason that there is plenty of work to be done. 

I created one video to make it easy to create a complex password that is also easy to remember. And then it hit me - Why do we make it so hard for normal people? You are told to change  your password once a month, to make it Greek and Latin, but no one tells you HOW to do it! 

The education is largely directive, the verbiage fear-inducing rather than supportive. 

But the worst thing is the victim shaming. NO ONE wants to be duped. And yet, after every single episode, the victim is made to feel like a culprit. 

For far too long, companies and governments have focused on the tech side of cyber security - Bounty hunting programs, firewalls and AVs, zero day vulnerability assessments, VAPT... even the OWASP Guides and Top 10 are all tech. They do not focus on human centric security design. It is time to change that.  

So, let's get the work started! Let's research, create experimental models of change, verify those models, and end the era of humans being the weakest link in the chain. We are smart enough to deserve better. 

On victimhood

It just occurred to me that our religions are basically determined by our mindset. We may be born into the same religion, but we will practice it according to our own thoughts and emotional needs. 

For some people, their religion is victimhood. Whatever their birth religion, they will convert it to victimhood. 

I call it a religion bcs religion is basically a way of life. It percolates into every thought, action, and belief. It guides us. For these people, that keyword is victimhood. It is all pervasive -  in their thought, belief, and action. 

These are the signs of a follower of this religion: 

A. It is never their fault. It is always someone else's fault. They may kill someone, but it will be the fault of the victim, the society, or the person who stared at them when they first started assaulting the victim. 

B. They don't need AR. Because they basically live their lives in AR - Alternate Reality and Augmented Reality. In that reality, their own contribution to the world is greatly augmented in their minds and the world's contribution to their lives is greatly altered. 

C. No gratitude - this is the most telling symptom. A perpetual victim feels no gratitude, only a deep sense of being owed. Everyone and everything owes them (Read B above). 

If you find such a person near you, first: 

A. Do not marry them. 

B. Do not hire them if they are expected to be a part of a team. 

C. Do not work with them in the same team. Ever. 

D. Be aware of the level of AR that you want to deal with, and keep the friendship accordingly. 

PS: This is meant to be a funny post rooted in reality. Please don't kill me for the use of the word religion. I have already explained the reason religion has been used.