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Is it a quantum leap in artificial intelligence or only a big daddy among fun toys?

In this issue

24-03-202340 STORIES

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‘Digital inequalities will power digital colonialism’: Arvind Narayanan

Interview with the AI expert and author.

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Escape from ChatGPT: A cautionary tale

This first person account is the chilling story of the triumph of technology over fragile humanity.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

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Editor’s Note: What should really worry us about AI

Many questions are going to haunt us as technology gets increasingly better at replacing our brain.

Privacy a casualty in race to develop generative AIs

After the flutter created by ChatGPT, many organisations are looking to collect data to train AIs.

Srinivas Kodali

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ChatGPT for dummies: An explainer on what it is all about (and not)

This addresses all the doubts and apprehensions about the newest AI kid on the block.

ChatGPT: Disruption or fantasy?

If the objective is to establish an economy that works for everyone, AI seems to be a very unlikely tool of choice.

Eshwar Sundaresan

Congress plenary calls for a unified opposition to take on BJP-led NDA in 2024

But the party’s diminishing influence in many States raises questions about its ability.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

Uddhav Thackeray: Down but not out

Questions have arisen after the Shiv Sena party name and symbol went to the Eknath Shinde faction.

Climate change makes life a struggle in Bangladesh

Cyclones have irrevocably impacted lives on the country’s south-west coast.

Rafiqul Islam Montu

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Bhutan: Land of the flaming phallus

In Bhutan, all things are considered sentient beings.

Rythu Bandhu: A lifeline scheme for farmers in Telangana

Scheme has provided relief but more needs to be done for tenant farmers and labourers.

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Stony grounds

The novel takes an unflinching look at life with all its deceptions. Therein lies its strength.

Ranjana Sengupta

The Child that Cries: A Tamil story in translation

Translated by Ahana Lakshmi.

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Can the 150-year-old Kolkata tramway keep up with the city’s frantic pace?

Kolkata’s oldest and greenest mode of mass transit might just ramble into the sunset.

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New books on the shelves

Short fiction in translation, poetry from the north-eastern region, memory politics, and much more.

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Non-stop action

A raucous and turbulent crime thriller that dissects the moral decay of the ultra-elite of India of the 2000s.

Why Indian democracy needs more ‘unlettered’ literary figures

Those courageous voices would bring the republic back to the norms envisioned in the Constitution.

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Letters

Readers write in.

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FLQ: The Frontline Quiz

Time to put your thinking cap on.

Sumant Srivathsan

Kochi-Muziris Biennale: A throbbing rigidity

Does India’s first and only arts biennale take itself a little too seriously?

Prathyush Parasuraman

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Classics reclassified

His quirky renditions challenge the conventions of both graphic novels and literary adaptations.

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Adani-Hindenburg saga raises concerns over exposure of LIC, public sector banks

There are dangers in public institutions blindly supporting the rapid growth of corporate groups.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

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Tenant farmers of Telangana still excluded from state-funded schemes

Landless tenants are one of the most vulnerable farmer groups in the State.

Anbu Jothi Ashram case: Villupuram’s chamber of horror

The incident also highlights the apathy of both Central and State government departments concerned.

Ilangovan Rajasekaran

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Progressive Artists’ Group @75: Rebels with a cause

While this set of stormtroopers ushered in modernism, did they leave a lasting impact?

Pico Iyer: ‘Memory is itself a great fiction’

Interview with the noted British-born writer and essayist of Indian descent.

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Science & Technology

Snakes can hear better than we thought

Researchers find that snakes respond to airborne sound and that the reactions depend on the genus.

R. Ramachandran

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Science & Technology

Extent of Antarctic sea ice reached a record low in February

This minimum is the lowest in the 45-year satellite record and has beaten the previous record low.

R. Ramachandran

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Science & Technology

A 650-km thick solid metallic ball forms the earth’s innermost inner core

Until recently, it was thought that there were four layers: crust, mantle, outer core, inner core.

R. Ramachandran

ASI Mysuru works on preserving history from inscriptions in estampages

The agency intends to soon establish a National Museum of Epigraphy in south India.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

Retired jawans continue fight for a fair deal despite OROP implementation

The present agitation is by jawans who find the One Rank One Pension scheme discriminatory.

Ashutosh Sharma

Erdogan jittery after Türkiye earthquake, desperate to salvage political fortunes

Even before the quake, the outcome of elections scheduled for May had been eagerly awaited.

Iftikhar Gilani

Russia-Ukraine war continues without an end with no signs of de-escalation

The West, led by the US, continues to support Ukraine’s belligerent posturing.

Is there more to BJP-AAP animosity in Delhi than meets the eye?

Pundits speculate that the entire exercise is meant to divert attention away from the Congress.

Ashutosh Sharma

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Neiphiu Rio back in Nagaland as NDPP-BJP alliance emerges stronger

High on Rio’s agenda will be the statehood demand in Eastern Nagaland and the stalled peace talks.

Sushanta Talukdar

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Drubbing in Erode East for AIADMK puts EPS and BJP in a spot of bother

The massive defeat in the byelection has thrown a spanner in the BJP’s 2024 Tamil Nadu strategy.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Hung Assembly in Meghalaya leaves Conrad Sangma in pole position to form government

The NPP is ideally placed to return for another term, even as former ally UDP wins 11 seats.

Sushanta Talukdar

BJP returns in Tripura as TIPRA Motha plays spoilsport for Left-Congress combine

The saffron party managed to overcome a strong anti-incumbency sentiment and a new political force.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

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The dark side of cricket

The book gives a multilayered, previously undocumented account of what corruption looks like in India’s favourite sport.

Victoria Gowri appointment as judge a lost opportunity for judicial reforms

Her case exposes the fragility of the Collegium system in general and the so-called consultation process in particular.

Kaleeswaram Raj

Archive

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