Philosophy and Methodology of Intelligence and Big Tech – Part 2

India Must Turn the Table with Bhartiya Mind

ALSO READ: Philosophy and Methodology of Intelligence and Big Tech – Part 1

Human Error – ‘Free Will’ is the Hurdle

The paper points toward an interesting thing – the element of ‘Free Will’ in human minds. It says that in the future, with the invention of technologies and enhancement in intelligence research, the exactitude of predictions will certainly grow but it will never reach total precision. And the reason for that is the “Man has an element of free will, and can always act irrationally, even against his own interests.” As long as men with ‘free will’ are there, there is no way to verify the conjectures about the intentions, and free will can surprise anytime. One can say that the ‘Human Error’ that these tech products and improvisations are trying to minimize is Free Will, which was a key hurdle in influencing/controlling the system in the past.

New Improvisations

Nothing has affected the ‘Free Will’ of humanity more strongly than the Corona pandemic. While waiting for the lockdowns and restrictions to go over, everyone was literally forced to spend more and more time on technology platforms. Many businesses around the world and the very idea of their existence vanished during this phase and everyone seems to lose something or the other but we cannot let this fact go unnoticed that it is the Big Tech club that has emerged as the biggest beneficiaries of Covid pause. The recent stats on their quarterly revenue tell a lot.

Google, Microsoft, and Apple’s combined revenue crossed over $50 billion in the April-June quarter. Facebook saw a 101% increase (as compared to the same quarter in 2020) and for Amazon, it was the third consecutive $100 billion quarter, its sales grew 27% to $113 billion, in the last three months.

On one hand, in between the news on new variants and third wave, many countries are still struggling to recover, and to restart their economic cycle, on the other hand, the Big Tech owners have started pursuing new aspirations in new domains, not in cyber but in the physical world i.e. farmland, sea and space.

The Case of India

In Arthshastra, Aacharya Chanakya has said: “ACQUISITION and SECURITY, are dependent upon peace and industry. Efforts to achieve the results of works undertaken is – industry. Absence of disturbance to the enjoyment of the results achieved from works is – peace.”

While the Indian government is drafting the guidelines for social media and eCommerce, these tech giants have already started entering into new domains and sectors. Companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon have already started capturing the fin-tech and payment markets; there are already Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Facebook Pay and WhatsApp’s recent P2P money transfer feature.

Now they have started exploring microcredit, digital insurance, MSMEs, retailers and social commerce and their growing financial portfolio is a serious matter, from the national security point of view. Recently, the RBI warned against these patterns which can cause financial destabilization in the long run.

After one and a half-decade of behind-the-scene predatory practices, they are now in an open fight with the domestic companies. Now there is frequent news about small traders, retailers, startups and telecom operators raising concerns over the FDI and trade policy violations and on the unethical/discriminatory business approach of these US content providers. The confederation of all Indian traders (CAIT), a body of over 8 crore Indian traders, was forced to move the Supreme Court against the hegemony of Amazon and Flipcart kind of eCommerce platforms and their alliance with selected suppliers and local private banks.

In 2019, during Reagan National Defense Forum, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos shared his deep commitment toward the home country’s intelligence and defence department’s interests and criticized fellow Big Tech players for not doing enough on their part, out of the pressure of some of their employees and socio-public groups. And he said: “If Big Tech is going to turn their backs on the Department of Defense, this country is in trouble. That just can’t happen.”

A recent development is that Amazon is planning to diversify its entertainment portfolio in India too and looking for ways to acquire multiple film and media distribution players.

Economic security is one of the most important dimensions of national security, and the question before countries like India, who are embracing the Big Tech products to the fullest is – how they will deal with this situation where things are now beyond simple profit/loss calculations.

Perception Management

Social media platforms are the biggest mediums of trend creation, and trends can build/affect/and can damage the perceptions.

When the song of a school kid from some remote village, goes viral on social media, the chief minister of the state invites the kid to his house and felicitates him, literally, for being viral. Even though it seems a normal and healthy trend but unknowingly such activities legitimize social media to shape and control the narration. And this is not the first time, there are many such incidents in the past when some street singer, some Baba ka Dhaba, some housewives, some old person, getting the name, money and fame overnight and all these heart-touching stories, for a moment make people think that is the real power of social media, this is the real empowerment of the common people!

Now, this is something which is visible, it is a visible trend, there is a need to look at that is not visible, which is hidden and, if speaking in the language of intelligence, then let us test those hypotheses for which there is not enough information that can refute it.

From the last 3-4 years, a tsunami of social media influencers belonging to all age groups, all castes and communities and all classes of the society is emerging on these platforms. There are thousands of influencers who are running their shops on these tech platforms – YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. They have enormous viewership and one can say that if these are the real numbers, then they have good public support too. When they produce something viral, their content spreads like corona virus, they go global and then they receive endorsement/promotion from the local and global perception management ecosystems, existing in politics, media and businesses.

These tech platforms provide the opportunity to not just earn money but to earn name, fame and brand as well. On one hand, these trends develop some aspirations in the rest of the young minds. Today, we see engineering kids turning more and more YouTubers, Rappers, and Standup comedians, at a time when we need the engineering talent most. There is nothing wrong with pursuing creative talent but it is about the mindset of switching on or off a trend.

On the other hand, what kind of content these influencers produce needs to be seen as well. Around 98 per cent of these influencers produce content that promotes anti-national sentiments and social divide in the name of caste/ community/ regionalism/ language, etc. They promote violence, vulgarity, abuse and all sorts of objectionable/ unethical things. In a way, they are trying to bring some of those challenges of the past, from which India is working hard to move on.

Let us assume a future scenario – what if the Indian government has passed some bill in parliament, which is in the interests of the business, economy or any other larger national interest like the Article 370 abrogation, CAA or recent agricultural reforms. What if these foreign tech platforms would ask their influencers to use their power to create chaos in the society (if that law does not suit their particular interest group/ lobby)?

This is a job of creating misinformation and disinformation. Can one expect these social influencers to act independently and freely and with some sensitivity toward the national security interests of India? Unfortunately, for a majority of them, we cannot! And what if they continued with the foreign agenda? How would the security agencies be able to deal with the tsunami of social influencers, which is paid by, nurtured by, promoted by foreign platforms!

That’s a serious national security concern.

Conclusion

What is the solution? Solutions come to mind only when we think about changing our role – from Guest to Host. We are more on the receiving and defending side. The situation needs to be turned around.

Big Tech is a business model that is based on the study of psychological and behavioral aspects of the human mind. We will have to think about what unique capabilities do we possess and what, as a country, we can offer to the world, which would be more magnificent and productive for the future of humanity!

These platforms are the result of a few decades of investment (on information, technology, and the human mind) but we have a unique asset with the history of thousands of years of investment – the Bhartiya Mind.

To recall that heritage and to encourage the young Indian minds, there is a need to work on the two dimensions simultaneously, and with equal priority.

The potential of business and market information of India, as well as the war strategies/ doctrines of the world, need to be promoted in a big way, among the youth and professional community.

This will help them in developing self-consciousness and with a self-conscious mind, they will be able to explore their own country’s potential in a better way and will be able to craft business strategies, based on an understanding of human instinct/ psychology. That in the future would be able to disrupt the tech dominance.

[Also Published at : Indian Military Review]