Dance of democracy
2024 is going to be crucial for democracy and the future of our planet. And to add to that the rise of fake news, propaganda, and widening bifurcation of political opinions can be a perfect recipe for disaster. The results of some of these elections will have lasting (at least 5 years) effects of on our lives.
Let’s look at what is at stake
US - can the legal system and Republicans stop Trump from running? Republican voters are squarely behind Trump and with the dwindling ratings of Biden, this election can become a nightmare for Democrats real fast. Trump is repeating his America first ( and we don’t give a shit about anyone else) policies and is against supplying military aid to Ukraine thereby stroking fears in the EU of growing Russian aggression and lack of NATO leadership.
Taiwan - China! What’s going to be Taiwanese foreign policy in the wake of China’s aggressions and rumored 2026 invasion plans? That’s the main questions plaguing the Taiwanese elections.
EU election - to see how the EU responds to a slowdown in the economy and the ever-growing refugee crisis. More importantly, can they come together and agree on anything? The world is moving to increasingly protectionist and nationalist policies while the EU is busy reducing its 2% carbon footprint in the world (while China and India are increasing) by strangling its industry with more laws and imposing more duties.
India - Is it going to be Modi with 350 seats or with 400? That’s the only question in India. Indian economy is growing fast, wealth is being generated, a huge section of people are moving from the lower to the middle class and to top it all Modi’s government's pro-Hindu policies have the support of the hindu majority nation. 1.4 Billion people with turnout rates of 70% - that’s almost 1 Billion people will be voting in this election!
Russia - the current election is thought to be highly contested……..ha! got you. There is no democratic election in Russia. Putin is sure to win the election charade in Russia.
North Korea - cut copy-paste and replace Russia with North Korea and Putin with Kim Jong Un.
Hero or villain?
The world was shocked when the high-profile CEO of Open AI Sam Altman was fired on a Google Hangout call (ouch). The startup and VC world quickly went into a frenzy with people shocked at how could this happen. The board released a statement that it was because of ethical misconduct that goes against the non-profit nature of OpenAI. Two days later, employees threatened to resign, Microsoft’s CEO started talking to Sam about a new venture and all speculations started flying. Startups and the VC community hailed Sam as a hero and started to wage a proxy war against the board of OpenAI questioning their credentials, experience, and credibility.
And the gross injustice was corrected when the board resigned and Sam Altman was reinstated as the CEO. And all was well in the Kingdom of VC and Startups.
……..
Until you start thinking about what were these ethical concerns that the board was talking about?
I don’t have a definite answer for these but I’ll leave with you two indicators:
Sam was in talks of raising a new fund and as part of this process, the new investors would be buying employee stock at wooping $86 billion valuation. Making the 700-800 employees handsomely wealthy. And with Sam gone this deal would have fallen apart as well. Nothing against employees selling their stock to investors but this is why most of employees were supporting Sam as they didn’t want to lose on a big payday.
And the one that bugs me - well after the drama was subsidized came a news that was rather ethically concerning
OpenAI quietly removes ban on military use of its AI tools
OpenAI has quietly walked back a ban on the military use of ChatGPT and its other artificial intelligence tools, although its policies still state that users should not “use our service to harm yourself or others,” including to “develop or use weapons.” Up until at least Wednesday, OpenAI’s policies page specified that the company did not allow the usage of its models for “activity that has high risk of physical harm, including: weapons development [and] military and warfare.” The shift comes as OpenAI begins to work with the U.S. Department of Defense on AI tools, including open-source cybersecurity tools, according to a Tuesday interview at the World Economic Forum.
A non-profit AI startup that was started to help the world by developing AI solutions suddenly pivoting to weapons and military uses to chase money, what can possibly go wrong?
That’s all, folks.