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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline DECEMBER 06, 2024 | The Indian Eye 16

GCCI Co-hosts Talk on Technology and

Future in New York City

OUR BUREAU
New York, NY
OPIO Chamber of Com-
merce and Industry (GCCI)
Gco-hosted a talk by UK based
Prof. Prabhu Guptara, Executive
Chairman, Salt Desert Media, UK
and a former advisor to UBS. The
talk was hosted by UBS at its head-
quarters in New York City early
this month. Prof. Guptara spoke on
“Technology and the Future: What
are the implications, risks and oppor-
tunities.” The talk covered effect of
disruptive technologies on our society
such as Artificial Intelligence, Inter-
net of Things, Robotics, and Quan-
tum Computing.
Prof. Guptara is a public intel- GOPIO and UBS officials after the talk by Prof. Prabhu Guptara
lectual, and business advisor, focus-
ing on the future of technology. For-
ty years ago, he learnt to program on litical and economic arrangements to
mainframe computers. For 15 years, enable us to transition peacefully to
he advised the Board of UBS, the such unimaginable prosperity?
world’s leading wealth manager, and But, looking more mundanely at
organized UBS Think Tanks: pio- the problems facing our global real-
neering Internet Banking, offshor- ity, could we not say that these are:
ing, and other initiatives. He was a Debt out of control; Unsustainable
visiting professor at Wharton, Uni- and still rising pay differentials and
versity of Fribourg, INSEAD, etc. wealth inequality; Financial econo-
The program started with a wel- my vs. real economy; Unaccountable
come by UBS Senior Vice President corporations; Looming care crisis;
Ranjeet Guptara. GOPIO Chairman Family breakdown; Generational in-
Dr. Thomas Abraham spoke about equality and Managing the environ-
Global Organization of People of In- mental crisis.
dian Origin (GOPIO) and the GCCI Prof. Guptara then raised anoth-
and how GCCI will provide a net- er question, “Can Quantum technol-
working platform for small and me- ogy help us with such real issues?”
dium businesses from the Diaspora The fact is that no technology is
and further connect them to Indian Prof. Prabhu Guptara speaking at the event “neutral” – all technologies are both
businesses. GOPIO‘s Global Ambas- good *and* evil; technology is essen-
sador Prakash Shah and representa- Prof. Guptara then raised a just 5 years, quantum capability has tially a multiplier – of good as well as
tives from Connecticut, Manhattan question, “What are the lessons from arguably grown theoretically by 347.8 of evil.
and New Jersey chapters were also that for our own time?” orders of magnitude – and certainly So, can any kind of technology
present. Pointing out that the Protestant in reality by something like 100 times save us? NO, because humans have
Having surveyed the history of Reformation was key to understand- already. Applied just to manufactur- always used, and will always (if pos-
technology from ancient times, Prof. ing the rise of modern technologies, ing, the result is possibly prosperity sible) use tech in evil ways; but also
Guptara asked why the knowledge he surveyed their contributions to at such a huge scale that material YES, to the degree that tech is used
behind those technologies disap- modern life. As a result of which, things lose value entirely (value is a in good ways. In that case, can indi-
peared so completely, suggesting a huge part of the world now has a function of demand vs supply, and viduals (or individual companies) de-
that these technologies were for the lifestyle that would have been the if demand e.g. for food and clothes termine whether technology is used
benefit of the elite, at the cost of the envy of even emperors from the grows at say 5% a year in spite of a for good or ill? YES, at their own
majority of the population; and the past. There have been many enabling foreseeably collapsing world popu- level; but NO at larger levels – e.g.,
elite regarded knowledge as power, technologies in the recent past, but lation, but availability of food and the economy as a whole. And, in that
and therefore guarded it jealously, all those put together don’t match clothes is more or less infinite, then case, at the level of the whole econ-
which meant that only a very few the impact that quantum computing the conclusion for the price of food omy, what are the things that deter-
people had to die, from natural or is already having - and it will have and clothes is obvious). To take just mine whether good uses of technol-
human causes, for any technological an even faster and hugely greater that consequence seriously, what ogy are encouraged - and evil uses of
secret to be lost. impact in the immediate future. In changes are needed in social and po- technology are discouraged?

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