Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – Volume X – May 2022 Edition

Welcome to May 2022 edition of the X^th volume of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

The theme for the X^th volume of our Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs is inspired from the editorial of the January 2022 special Issue of Prabuddha Bharata (The Awakened India) – Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

For our present episode, we take up the article, Digital Gods and Spiritual ®evolution by Swami Jnanishananda.

Here is the excerpt from the article:

AI can enhance our experience of physical world, by –

1. 1. 1. pushing the biological limits to perform the task we are less equipped to handle, making us more effective and valuable in other areas of our lives.
      2. manipulating the minds positively (and even negatively too)
      3. providing the level playing field to the differently-abled and marginalized sections of the society
      4. better connectivity that overcomes physical limitations and reducing the barriers separating humans from each other and the physical universe.
      5. increased access to online (information) resource
      6. with advanced machine learning techniques, recording exponential improvements in the analytical and logical capabilities of AI to educated itself, we should see more aspects of human intelligence brought into scrutinising the human excellence in every field. Wisdom should finally take predominance over intellect.

However, the fundamental question we need to ask is whether AI has any moral obligation towards preserving humanity or not. AI has no moral foundation. It also has potential to manipulate the very goals that society would strive towards. However, in general, danger is not so much from AI or digital world itself than from a person’s natural propensity to look outside of oneself for fulfillment.

Use of intelligence in the term AI fits the dictionary meaning of intelligence – the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills – limits the objective descriptions of what a human being is capable of. However, the definitions set for by the ancient Vedic civilization limits these descriptions to into only a single aspect – intellect (buddhi)- of the intelligence.[1] Thus, Artificial Intellect would be a more accurate term to represent this technology.

If we explore knowledge, we find that lowest instrument of knowledge is instinct. Then comes reasoning. Even reason cannot take us beyond the question beyond our existence and that of universe. Logic becomes, to quote Swami Vivekananda, an ‘argument in circle.’ The instrument that can take us beyond this circle is inspiration. The realm of inspiration, lying beyond the intellect, is the true intelligence.

The body and mind should receive inspiration from the super-conscious realm leading to the goal of self-realization. Therefore, the AI and other digital ‘gods’ should be used to save our two precious resources, time and energy, so as to enable us to race through our journey from reason to inspiration., consciousness to super consciousness…….

We will now turn to our regular section -.

We now watch ASQ TV episode on –

• The Elements and Challenges of a ‘We’ Culture – Luciana Paulise, author of The We Culture (ASQ Quality Press), discusses the CARE model for a culture of excellence and the challenges organizations face when transforming into a ‘We’ culture.

We have taken up one article from Jim L. Smith’s Jim’s Gems:

• Quality Professionals Must Lead – Communicate the economic case for quality – The technical questions in the cases of implementation of newer techniques by quality professionals conceal a deeper problem in their organization. Generally, that problems is that the senior management has a responsibility to question anything and everything that adds activities, time, cost, or transaction to their business. … Quality professionals would do well to lead the discussion by asking these questions first. In other words, the quality professionals need to follow the teachings of Dr. Armand Feigenbaum and Philip B Crosby, who told us that the language of management is quantified in monetary terms and related directly to the needs of the business. More so, in the current business climate….

‘From the Editor’ (of Quality Magazine) – by Darryl Sealand, we have –

• Sixty Years in the Making – Imagining the future, technology, and automation – The stories that stand the test of time afford us a unique opportunity—to match the vision to reality…. Probably the most prolific examples of imaginary technology coming to fruition comes from a cartoon called The Jetsons, which premiered in 1962. Sixty years later, many of the “make-believe,” futuristic items used by this fictional family are a reality…for the most part. The family had a dog treadmill, talking alarm clocks, flat-screen TVs, watches that received phone calls, video chat, drones, robot vacuum cleaners, and digital newspapers. Unheard of in 1962, a reality in 2022…..While we may not have the ability, or the time, to fully predict the future, we can keep abreast of the technology and processes that can help us shape that future.

I look forward to your views / comments / inputs to further enrich the theme of Living a Meaningful Life in a Digital World.

Note: The images or video clips depicted here above are through courtesy of respective websites who have the copyrights for the respective images /videos.

[1] Intelligence and Intellect: What’s The Difference – Shekhar Kapur with Sadhguru

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