Top Environmental Sustainability issues globally

Based on the information from sources across the world, here are the top 10 interesting issues in environmental sustainability that are problems for society and the environment:

1. Climate Change: A pressing issue impacting the world with rising global temperatures and extreme weather events.
2. Natural Resource Use: The challenge of sustainable use of natural resources to prevent depletion and environmental degradation.
3. Waste Production: Managing waste production and disposal to reduce environmental pollution and promote recycling.
4. Water Pollution: Addressing water pollution to ensure clean and safe water sources for human consumption and ecosystem health.
5. Deforestation: The loss of forests and its impact on biodiversity, climate regulation, and ecosystem services.
6. Overfishing: Unsustainable fishing practices leading to the depletion of marine resources and disruption of aquatic ecosystems.
7. Ocean Pollution: Protecting oceans from pollution, plastic waste, and other harmful substances to preserve marine life and ecosystems.
8. Energy Transition and Renewables: Transitioning to cleaner and renewable energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
9. Sustainable Food Production & Demand: Promoting sustainable farming practices, reducing food waste, and ensuring food security for a growing global population.
10. Decreasing Biodiversity: Addressing the loss of biodiversity caused by habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, and overexploitation to maintain ecosystem resilience and services.
11. Ocean Acidification: Ocean absorbs almost a third of the carbon dioxide released into the world. Increased carbon emissions can also impact water quality, altering the pH of the ocean itself. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has noted that the past 200 years has seen “approximately a 30 percent increase in [ocean] acidity,” which directly impacts so-called “shell building” creatures. Studies have linked reef bleaching, reef death, mollusk death, and ecosystem disturbance to this increasing acidification.  

 

Digital India - videos ..

The Digital India scheme is the government of India’s flagship initiative, with the goal of transforming India into a digitally enabled society and knowledge economy. On July 3, 2015, the Digital India program (1.13 lakh crore cost) was started with the goal of digitally empowering every citizen of the country. Its goal is to ensure that citizens may access government services electronically by eliminating paperwork.  

Here are some interesting videos on Digital India ..

 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhfollrhS6Q 

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMhuzm-w3DE

Neobanks, a major Fintech Digital Disruption ..

 https://www.developeronrent.com/blogs/neo-banking/amp

 

 

Role play, Model UN - 100% Carbon Neutrality by 2050 and deviations, national arguments...

On 13 April 2024, for the Alliance School of Business, Bangalore, India BBA sem 6 subject of Green Energy and Sustainability, a role play of a Model UN General Assembly meeting was done by the students in the class. 

The Master Plan to reach global Carbon Neutrality by 2050 AD (Source IEA, '21)

The role lay consisted of 5 top global polluters China, US, India, Germany and UK stating their national govt stand on the 2015 Paris Treaty on the floor of the UN General Assembly.  The main agenda was countries presenting national arguments in attaining 100% Carbon Neutrality by 2050 and deviations.

The commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 is a global mission that requires the collective efforts of countries, cities, financial institutions, companies, and individuals. The European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the incoming United States administration, and over 110 countries have committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 except China and India. As per the Paris 2015 treaty, all global nations have promised to the UN General Assembly 100% Carbon Neutrality by 2050 AD, China by 2060 AD and India by 2070 AD.

The reasoning given by China and India to extend the dates for 100% Carbon neutrality is that the developed western nations have polluted planet earth for the last couple of centuries and is now asking all countries to exercise restraint by controlling their Carbon emissions. China and India feels it is very unethical and wants time to take their people to developed nation status (in the process resulting in some unavoidable Carbon emissions till 2060 and 2070 AD respectively for China and India).

A document (click here) was shared with the students that detailed the steps taken by these top 5 polluting nations to reach their goals of Carbon neutrality as a guiding document. The students were motivated to do some extra reading in the class with their partners to understand in detail the different steps taken by the individual countries to achieve Carbon neutrality. 

The team members had to come to the front of the class and explain in some detail, details regarding their actions to achieve Carbon neutrality. For some of the students, who had attended Model UN sessions earlier, the concept was not difficult to understand. Two of the students were thus ready to help the other students with ideas and steps on how to progress to make the brief presentation to the UN General Assembly.

It was a good learning experience for everyone.. 👍👍🙂

EV - advantages ..

How does User Experience (UX) differ from User Interface (UI)

 

1. User Interface (UI) Design: Focuses on the presentation and interactivity of an application, including elements like screens, buttons, and visual components that users interact with
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2. User Experience (UX) Design: Aims to enhance the overall experience of users when interacting with an application, focusing on user satisfaction and creating a seamless experience
3. Information Architecture: Involves designing the structure of information within an application to ensure easy navigation and user-friendly access to content
4. Interaction Design: Focuses on creating the conceptual design that dictates how users interact with the product, including aesthetics, color, font, icons, and other interactive elements
5. Usability: Refers to the user-friendliness of an application, ensuring that users can easily find information, navigate the app, and handle errors effectively
6. Wireframing: Involves creating a sample of the application to test features, look, and usability before the actual launch, allowing for evaluation and refinement of the application's purpose
7. Visual Design: Defines the brand's visual identity through the selection of images, colors, icons, fonts, and overall appearance, impacting user behavior and interaction with the application

  

Launch of SpaceX Starship 3 rocket ..

This evening at 5.30 PM IST (12 noon GMT) SpaceX Starship3 is going for a launch, streaming live on X . Great news for the whole world, why ??

Jn its quest to start human settlements on Mars, SpaceX has great space fariing plans. As a first step, the biggest and most powerful launch rocket ever, this 121 m tall rocket, *first phase reusable booster* takes the rocket to 70 km altitude. The *second phase is also reusable*, making turning around and relaunching fast and cheap.

While Starship 1 and 2 (20 april 2023 and 18 November 2023) failed, SpaceX believes in failing fast and learning from each failure and improving. They are not sure that this flight 3 also will be successful, it can fail, but they are ready to learn from the failure and be ready for Starship 4 launch in a couple of months time.

Three major tasks are planned in this developmental flight of Starship 3 - firstly open and close the payload door, secondly shuffle fuel from one tank to another, focusing at future refuelling of one Starship by another in space to help long missions to Mars and beyond and thirdly, re-ignition of its engines for a controlled re-entry to earth atmosphere. Stage 2 after re-ignition is supposed to splash into the Indian Ocean, ISRO may be giving expert guidance in this sector of earth re-entry. 

The version 3 Raptor engines with 269 T thrust each, 33 of them, *8877 T total thrust, makes this possibly the most powerful launch rocket in the world*. 

In comparison ISRO most powerful rocket (?) GSLV3 first stage had 5.2 Meganewton thrust (530T thrust each) 2 nos. of solid rocket boosters, total 1060 T thrust.

Whether the Starship 3 fails or not, the learning is what SpaceX is interested .. *FAIL FAST and improve* ..🙏🙏🙂🙂

Avoiding hallucination in AI output ..

AI hallucinations are incorrect or misleading results that AI models generate. These errors can be caused by a variety of factors, including insufficient training data, incorrect assumptions made by the model, or biases in the data used to train the model.Hallucination is one of the man objections raised on the output from Generative AI and is indeed a scary matter to be reckoned. It ca change the context of discussion and evaluation.

Generative AI, while powerful, can sometimes produce hallucinations—nonsensical or inaccurate outputs that deviate from the intended purpose. To improve the quality of AI outputs and prevent hallucinations, the industry employs various technical methods. Here are key strategies that can be used to handle hallucination:

1. Rigorous Testing and Evaluation:
   • Testing AI models rigorously before deployment and evaluating them continuously are vital steps to prevent hallucinations and enhance overall performance
   • Ongoing evaluation allows for adjustments, retraining, and ensures that human oversight is available to filter and correct hallucinatory outputs
2. Improved Data Quality:
   • Providing generative AI models with well-structured, diverse, balanced, and augmented training datasets can significantly influence their behavior and minimize biases in outputs
   • High-quality training data helps AI models gain a better understanding of real scenarios, reducing the likelihood of generating hallucinatory content
3. Model Regularization:
   • Implementing model regularization techniques can help control hallucinations by penalizing unrealistic outputs and encouraging models to align with the training data distribution
   • This approach minimizes the generation of irrelevant or nonsensical content by ensuring that outputs are more aligned with the intended purpose.
4. Human-in-the-Loop Validation:
   • Incorporating human reviewers in the generative AI pipeline plays a crucial role in preventing hallucinations by providing human oversight and validation of AI-generated content
   • Human reviewers can identify inaccuracies, provide feedback, and make corrections to ensure that AI outputs are accurate, coherent, and aligned with expectations.
5. Continuous Monitoring and Validation:
   • Regular model evaluation and continuous monitoring of AI performance are essential to identify patterns of hallucinations and make necessary adjustments to the training process
   • By closely monitoring AI outputs, developers can address emerging issues promptly and ensure that the models generate reliable and trustworthy content.

By implementing these technical methods—such as rigorous testing, improved data quality, model regularization, human-in-the-loop validation, and continuous monitoring—generative AI industry aims to reduce hallucinations, enhance output quality, and ensure that AI systems generate accurate, coherent, and reliable content aligned with user expectations.

Avoiding bias in AI output ..

Bias in AI output refers to the presence of systematic prejudices or inaccuracies in the results generated by artificial intelligence algorithms. This bias can stem from various sources within the AI development process, leading to unfair, discriminatory, or skewed outcomes.

There are several types of bias that can manifest in AI output:

• Selection Bias: Arises when training data is not representative of the reality it aims to model, leading to unrepresentative datasets and biased outputs
• Confirmation Bias: Occurs when AI systems rely excessively on pre-existing beliefs or trends in data, reinforcing existing biases and hindering the identification of new patterns
• Measurement Bias: Arises when collected data systematically differs from the actual variables of interest, impacting the accuracy and reliability of AI predictions
• Stereotyping Bias: Reinforces harmful stereotypes, such as inaccuracies in facial recognition systems or language translation tools

Companies are motivated to tackle the challenge of bias in AI not only to achieve fairness, but also to ensure better results. If the public end user gets the feeling that a particular AI system is biased it can lead to endless litigation and court cases. In the real world, it is difficult to eliminate systemic racial and gender bias, likewise eliminating bias in AI is no easy task. This bias can be a major concern in AI systems when organisations provide AI resources to their customers. 

To ensure that any AI does not have any bias, several measures can be wilfully and consciously implemented:

1. Transparency: Ensure that the said AI should maintain transparency in its operations, algorithms, and decision-making processes. By providing clear information on how the AI functions and how results are generated, users can better understand the system's workings
   
   
2. Diverse Data Sources: Utilizing a wide range of data sources helps mitigate bias by offering a more comprehensive view of information. When diverse perspectives and sources are incorporated, the AI can reduce the risk of bias in its responses
   
   
3. Regular Audits: The organisation needs to conduct regular audits and evaluations of the AI system that can help identify and address any biases that may exist. Continuously monitoring and reviewing the AI's performance, are the only ways by which biases can be detected and rectified promptly
   
   
4. Ethical Guidelines: Adhering to ethical guidelines and standards in AI development is crucial for ensuring fairness and impartiality. Following ethical principles and guidelines in the training of the AI system, AI can uphold integrity and minimize bias in its operations
   
   
5. User Feedback: Encouraging user feedback and actively seeking input from users can help identify potential biases or issues within the system. When the interaction with the end user is strong by incorporating user feedback into the development process, any AI can address concerns and improve its performance. 

Continuous Improvement or the Japanese term, Kaizen is the key to giving better output from an AI system. Organisations focusing on providing AI services or Intelligence-as-a-Service (I-a-a-S) need to be super vigilant and careful that such inaccuracies and biases do not creep into their training data. 

In the next couple of years we can expect AI systems to be super powerful and would have permeated many core areas of human existence, enterprise, services and development particularly the environmental, educational, energy, utilities, biotech and healthcare systems. With proper training data from authorised sources and correction to remove any bias in the training data, right at the source, we can ensure the AI system does not  output erroneous and biased results.

George..

SpaceX phenomenal growth..

SpaceX has shown remarkable growth over the years. In 2012, its value doubled to $4.8 billion all the way to the present $180 billion.

By 2023, SpaceX aimed for 100 launches and exceeded expectations with 105-110 launches.

The company's Falcon family achieved a world record with 96 launches in 2023, surpassing their previous yearly record of 61 launches.

Notably, SpaceX completed 100 launches within a year between December 2022 and December 2023. This growth is evident in their consistent improvement and increased launch cadence, marking significant milestones in the space industry.

In 22 years after establishment of SpaceX in 2002 by Elon Musk, see the quantum of outstanding space missions, one partly successful lunar mission, establishing the satellite network Starlink for providing excellent Internet bandwidth both across the oceans and land, are mind boggling to come out of the hard work, ingenuity and imagination of an individual. 

Presently Internet access is continuously available only over land and expensive. Starlink now with only 5000 satellites and another 40,000 plus ready for launch will help reduce costs and improve global Internet access. Future Mars related exploration will be  from a SpaceX lunar base, all these actions are out of this world and set to benefit humanity beyond what human mind can even conceive. Future SpaceX growth is bound to be  synonymous with human development.. 👌👌🙏

 

George..

Odysseus 2 ..

*First ever Private Lunar Landing* - it's significance ..

The landing time and date (*Indian Standard Time*) of the all private Intuitive Machines' Odysseus 2 lunar lander (with NASA payloads) is *Friday, February 23, at 4:19 AM IST* All US mission, and the first private lunar mission ..

The spacecraft is expected to land on the Moon's South Pole region near the Malapert A crater. US ET is Thursday, February 22, at 5:49 PM.

The landing will mark the first-ever private landing on the Moon and pave the way for private lunar bases or hopping points for onward interplanetary trips to Mars and beyond (a Musk dream.. 🌹) 🙏

Kudos to SpaceX for providing the workhorse, Falcon 9 reusable launch rocket and Intuitive Machines for designing the spacecraft Odysseus 2 and the landing logistics.

The total cost of this private lunar mission is $118 million, (Chandraayan 3 cost $75 million only), while a NASA lunar mission will now cost $4200 million .. 😳😳🤔🤔

For more details and explanation, click the link here.. https://youtu.be/2L0PEcioDJo?si=pFG4LnPMWbPlz2uO

Thought Provoking questions on Generative AI ..

  Here are ten thought-provoking questions for your class discussion on Generative AI

1. Ethics and Bias:

   • How can generative AI models unintentionally perpetuate bias, and what steps can we take to mitigate this?
   • Should AI creators be held accountable for biased or harmful outputs generated by their models?

2. Creativity and Originality:

   • Can AI truly be creative, or is it merely replicating patterns from existing data?
   • What distinguishes a genuinely novel AI-generated artwork or story from something derivative?

3. Human-AI Collaboration:

   • How can humans and AI collaborate effectively in creative endeavors, such as music composition or writing?
   • What roles should each play to maximize synergy?

4. Limits of Generative AI:

   • Are there inherent limits to what generative AI can achieve? If so, what are they?
   • Can AI ever surpass human creativity?

5. Ownership and Attribution:

   • Who owns the rights to AI-generated content? The creator, the model, or both?
   • How do we attribute authorship when AI contributes significantly to a work?

6. Unintended Consequences:

   • What unintended consequences might arise from widespread adoption of generative AI?
   • How can we anticipate and address these?

7. Human Emotion in AI Art:

   • Can AI evoke genuine emotional responses through art, music, or poetry?
   • Is emotional impact a necessary criterion for successful AI-generated content?

8. Exploring AI’s “Black Box”:

   • How can we demystify the decision-making process of generative AI models?
   • Should we prioritize interpretability over performance?

9. AI and Creativity Enhancement:

   • Can generative AI enhance human creativity by suggesting novel ideas or pushing boundaries?
   • Or does it risk stifling originality by relying too heavily on existing patterns?

10. Future Implications:

• What societal shifts might occur as generative AI becomes more prevalent?
• How can we prepare for a world where AI-generated content is commonplace?

If we can have a discussion on these points in the class, we will be able to demystify Gen AI to a large extent to students.

George.

Elon's unique Leadership style ..

Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur, has left an indelible mark on the business world. Presently across the world we cannot find anybody else with a greater impact on global science and technology.

His leadership style is transformational, characterized by 

• audacity, 
• innovation, and 
• relentless pursuit of improvement. 

I have been reading the 620 page Musk's biography written by Walter Isaacson and published by Simon Schuster NY. It is explaining in great detail how Elon goes about his day taking decisions qand motiavtng his employees. In trying to understand what is his unique leadership style, I have identified the following points. 

Let’s delve into the key aspects of his leadership:

• Big Ideas and Vision: Musk believes there’s always a better way to do things. He sets his sights on grand objectives, whether it’s revolutionizing space travel with SpaceX or disrupting the automotive industry with Tesla. His vision is often bold, even outrageous, but it unites his teams around a common purpose for the sake of benefitting the planet and humanity
• Out-of-the-Box Thinking: Musk’s approach involves pushing boundaries. From manufacturing rockets to creating electric cars, he consistently challenges conventional norms. His willingness to explore uncharted territory fosters creativity and innovation within his organizations.
• Ambition and Audacity: Musk’s goals are audacious. He aims high, and his teams rally behind these ambitious targets. Whether it’s colonizing Mars or achieving sustainable energy, his unwavering commitment inspires those around him.
• Learning Environment: Musk encourages learning and growth. He surrounds himself with brilliant minds and expects them to think ten times more audaciously than he does. His teams thrive in an intellectually stimulating environment.
• Listening to Team Members: Despite his visionary status, Musk values input from his team. He listens to ideas, encourages collaboration, and allows others to have a say in decisions. This openness fosters a sense of ownership and commitment among employees.
• Constant urge to reduce costs : Unlike public funded govt projects, private projects are always short of funds and activities should be focused on reducing costs and at the same time ensuring safety of operations and the people

Personally Elon is very daring and does not fear the repercusions of his decisions. In summary, Elon Musk’s leadership style combines genius, audacity, and a relentless pursuit of improvement. His impact on the present day world is too big to escape attention by world leaders across continents.

His huge appetitie to take risks, technology and business risks, even risking all his assets and business repute, if that is to bring human development, he is ever willing to do it.

His great desire to ensure environmental sustainability through the Electric car TESLA and to ensure humans colonise the space, by setting up the first human colony in Mars in ten years during his life time )he is 52 years now) are all very laudable.

The world that has thrived on technological growth and development since the start of the Industrial revolution from the 1700s with IR 1,2,3 and now on the brink of IR 4.0, is watching with baited breath, what is going to happen next. With Elon, nothing can be predicted.

George

My experiences with ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity AI

 I have been seriously using ChatGPT ver 4, Gemini (earlier Bard) from Google for the past eight to ten months and and Perplexity from Arvind Srinivas of IIT Chennai for more than 2 months.

Each AI app is getting better and better day by day. As an academic professional who needs to refer and gther information on a daily, if not hourly basis, the three apps have been very useful. 

ChatGPT is getting more and more richer while Gemini is giving useful output, no doubt. Perplexity has been giving surprises since its start with its short, focused answers to most of the questions I ask.

As a smart individual, I am making use of the best from all the three AI apps in my class teachng and presentations, even in preparing the quizzes, which I am giving one for each session. I know it is very tiring , the beauty is when we prepare with the quiz inmind, our teaching becomes more intense and focused. 

Over all AI from all the big players ahs been benegiting me very much both in my professional and personal life. Asking details about low back ache, modes of treatment, medical procedures has been helping sort personal health issues.

This is an example how AI can be used for both professional and personal use by us.

George

Diffusion of Innovations Theory

Technology Adoption Curve is self explanatory ..

The diffusion of innovations theory (EM Rogers 1962) describes the pattern and speed at which new ideas, practices, or products spread through a population. The main players in the theory are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.

The five stages of the diffusion of innovation theory.

Rogers' five stages (steps): awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption are integral to this theory. Thistheory helps us to understand how innovations spread through the society.