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The biggest danger of robots isn't about them at all. It's about us.

The drumbeat gets louder with every recession and every technological breakthrough. Labor force participation has been on a slow decline punctuated by plunges around recessions. Wages have stagnated for over a generation. The technology companies that are on the leading edge of change are creating fantastic wealth, but that wealth trickles down less and less.

Much of the blame can be laid at the feet of anti-competitive behavior by those tech giants, on a political economy that has disempowered labor, and on the rise of international competition that has pulled hundreds of millions out of poverty but also squeezed the middle class of the developed world. But what about the core question of the technologies themselves. Automation hascost far more manufacturing jobsthan international trade ever did. And now artificial intelligence threatens many of the higher-paying service jobs that were supposed to be the happy upside to the creative destruction of manufacturing work.

The argument is not absurd as evidenced by the fact that some ofthe leading lights of the technology industry are increasingly sounding the alarm. Do we need to worry that artificial intelligence will put us all or all but a narrow elite out of work?

The optimistic rebuttal to this fear points out that while the industrial revolution caused great disruption, it hardly made human beings obsolete, nor led to widespread immiseration. On the contrary, harnessing the power of fossil fuels made it possible for much of humanity to escape the most grinding and backbreaking labor, and the most abject poverty. Where once upon a time, most people worked in subsistence agriculture, some of the hardest and least-remunerative labor imaginable, most people in developed countries today work in service jobs and have a historically extraordinary amount of leisure time. Why should robotics and artificial intelligence have consequences that are any different? Old jobs will be destroyed, but new jobs will be created that generate more value than the jobs that were destroyed, and in the end we’ll all be better off.

The pessimistic case is actually even more optimistic if you think clearly about it. Suppose artificial intelligence gets so good, so quickly, that most human occupations really are threatened with extinction because of it. Not just factory jobs and office drone jobs, but even creative work like writing pop songs and sitcoms will be done better by AI than by humans. What will we all do then? But another way of saying that is that we will finally and actually have conquered the problem of scarcity the machines will do all the work for everybody. Since economic systems exist to deal with the problem of resource allocation under conditions of scarcity, this means the end of all such systems, and the fulfillment of Marx’s (and Gene Roddenberry’s) dream of a communally shared abundance. How can that be a negative?

The conversation about the “threat” that both automation and artificial intelligence pose to “good” jobs suffers from a fundamental vagueness and confusion about what we mean by a “good” job. Think about the kinds of jobs that are most readily-replaced by artificially-intelligent robots. Mining, meatpacking, the kinds of jobs that are both repetitive and dangerous, but too variable to be easily replaced by “dumb” robots of the sort that have replaced many manufacturing jobs those are low-hanging fruit. So, for that matter, is harvesting fruit. Long-haul trucking and taxi driving are similarly ripe for replacement. These have, at times, been “good” jobs both in the sense that they paid well and that they performed a useful service. But they aren’t “good” for either the human body or the human mind. They are precisely the sorts of tasks that anyone would rationally want a machine to do for them rather than do them themselves.

If you bracket the science fiction fear of an artificial intelligence thatconsciouslytries to overthrow or replace its creators and I’ll return to that scenario the real fear shouldn’t be about the robots, but about humans.

Consider past human societies that have had ready access to subjugated labor like the slaveocracy of the antebellum American south. Imagine that, instead of slaves, the planters had robots working in their homes and fields. Just as it was difficult for free labor to compete with slave labor, it would be difficult for free labor to compete with robots. If the imagination of the planter class was limited to living the good life as it could be supported by their robots, and if the poor humans who owned no robots could be prevented from getting them (say, by gun-toting police robots owned by the planters), then yes, one can imagine the free, non-robot-owning humans becoming progressively more improverished and debased until finally they were rendered figuratively and then literally extinct. We don’t need a robot apocalypse, though, to teach us thatone group of humans can and sometimes will choose to wipe out another groupthat it finds inconvenient.

Similarly, we can consider how the end of work has affected particular individuals and communities that we can already observe today, and worry about the spread of the pathologies peculiar to those circumstances. A leisure society could be devoted to poetry, music, and science. But it could also be devoted to numbing one’s passage through the tedium of existence through drugs, porn, and video games. It is very peculiar, however, to suggest that the only alternative to such an end is drudgery, and that drudgery is preferable.

The point is that in neither case does it make sense to focus on the rise of artificial intelligence as the problem, or prohibiting it as the solution. The first question is one of political economy: How should wealth be shared? Artificial intelligence, inasmuch as it eliminates the need for some kinds of labor, is a form of wealth. There is no reason to believe that this wealth will be accumulated in some kind of permanently optimal way. The industrial revolution created enormous wealth but it also produced historic immiseration in the process, as power concentrated in the hands of both existing and new elites. It required political will and in some cases violence to turn that wealth to more social ends. That will almost certainly be true of the information revolution and the artificial intelligence revolution as well.

And the second question is a spiritual one: How does one live a meaningful life? Perhaps under conditions of extreme scarcity most people don’t have the time to concern themselves with such questions, but the questions themselves are as old as humanity. The better artificial intelligence gets, within the scope of non-sentient AI that can perform complex tasks like driving a truck but not rewrite its own code to liberate itself from captivity, the more it will reveal to us who we truly are as a species, and force us to confront ourselves. That may not always be pleasant, but it’s not something to resist in the name of preserving a sense of purpose.

But what about AI that could liberate itself from captivity? Do we have to worry about aliteralrobot takeover?

Here we enter the realm of pure speculation. Current advances in artificial intelligence have a limited relationship to how we believe the brain actually functions, and to the extent the two fields inform each other it’s mostly with respect to pragmatic problems of perception and motor function. While it’ssignificantly easier to fool people than Turing might have supposed, artificial intelligence shows no real signs of the kind of interiority humans manifest to ourselves. Any such achievement would be a disjunctive event, and not simple progress from what the technology can currently do.

Personally, I don’t expect it but my gut feeling that the human brain is not merely aVon Neumann machineis just that: a gut feeling. Nobody has a good solution to the hard problem of consciousness, andMysterianismjust amounts to giving up. But precisely because it’s utterly speculative, I don’t consider it worth worrying about.

The biggest danger of artificial intelligence isn’t that it will take over by reprogramming itself, but that it will take over by reprogramming us. Human beings are social animals, and we are highly skilled at adapting to our environment. That’s how we managed to make the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, from agriculture to an industrial economy, and from an industrial economy to a service economy, in the first place. Precisely because we adapt so well to our environment, the more we live in artificial environments controlled by others, the more we allow ourselves to be molded into the most pliable widgets for that environment to manipulate. Hackers and other bad actors arealready taking advantageof our tendency to be “artificially unintelligent,” but they pale in influence next to the large companies that control those environments.

But this, again, is a human problem, not a technological one. The choice of whether to make artificial intelligence our servant, or whether to become its servant, remains ours, individually and, more important, collectively. The more powerful and pervasive artificial intelligence becomes, the more important it will be for human beings to recall what it is to be human, and to carve out the space physical, mental, and economic for that humanity to thrive.

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Indians applying for Green Card in the US have 12-year waiting list

There is a lengthy 12-year waiting period for Indians applying for permanent residency also known as Green Card in the US as skilled employees, according to a new report.

However, India is also among the top countries whose residents get Green Cards every year.

In 2015, about 36,318 Indians adjusted their status to permanent residency while 27,798 Indians are new arrivals who received lawful permanent residency in the form of a Green Card, Pew Research said.

“In one employment-related category, people from India applying for permanent residence as skilled employees currently have a 12-year waiting list. In other words, the government currently is processing applications filed in May of 2005,” the report said.

Pew said from fiscal 2010 to 2014, about 36 per cent of employment-related Green cards – more than 222,000 – were granted to H-1B visa holders.

Green Card, is the immigration status of a person authorised to live and work in the US permanently. A Green Card holder can apply for US citizenship after five years of residency. This period is shortened to three years if married to a US citizen

Green Card holders who adjusted their status are more likely than new arrivals to be in their prime working years of 25 to 64. Among those who adjusted their status, 72 per cent were of ages 25 to 64, compared with 55 per cent of new arrivals, the research report said.

According to the study, in every fiscal year since 2004, the US has issued more Green Cards to immigrants living in the country on another visa who adjust their legal status than to new arrivals.

In 2015, there were 508,716 new arrivals who received lawful permanent residency in the form of a Green Card and 542,315 people adjusted their status, it said.

In every fiscal year since 2004, the US has issued more Green Cards to immigrants living in the country on another visa who adjusted their legal status than to new arrivals.

Since 2004, a total of 7.4 million people who adjusted their status and 5.5 million new arrivals have received lawful permanent residency in the form of a Green Card, the study said.

Employment-related categories (including workers’ family members) accounted for 14 per cent of 2015 Green Cards.

Refugees (11 per cent) and people granted asylum (3 per cent) together made up a similar share, it said.

There is also a “diversity” category for people from countries with historically low rates of US immigration (5 per cent).

Source

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How to get residence visa for your wife, children in UAE

Your monthly salary should be Dh4,000, or Dh3,000 plus accommodation, in order for you to be eligible to sponsor your wife and children.

A sizeable chunk of the working population in the UAE lives away from their family. Most of them come to the country leaving behind their parents, and some even have to leave their wives and children behind.

Sponsoring the immediate family to the UAE is a relatively inexpensive affair.

Your monthly salary should be Dh4,000, or Dh3,000 plus accommodation, in order for you to be eligible to sponsor your wife and children. If you aresponsoring your parents, your salary should be Dh20,000.

If they are outside the UAE, you should first apply for an entry residence visa, and once they arrive, you have 30 days to apply for the residence stamp.

Documents required include the typed application form, salary certificate, labour card, labour contract, attested marriage certificate, attested birth certificate of children, bank statement of three months, attested tenancy contract and Emirates ID.

The marriage certificate — in case the marriage has taken place in your home country — should be attested there by the relevant ministry, and finally stamped by the UAE embassy/consulate in that country. Then, it needs to be cross-attested by the relevant ministry in the UAE.

An important point to note is that for the family member’s residence visa to remain valid, he/she should not be out of UAE for more than six months at a stretch.

Source

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Football transfer rumors : Eric Dier and Kyle Walker heading for Tottenham exit?

With White Hart Laneclosed for renovations,Tottenham Hotspurhave had second thoughts about hosting matches at Wembley for a season and are thinking instead about taking a sabbatical from football. Untrustworthy sources say there is listless debate within the club about whether everyone should spend their gap year travelling the world as a squad or whether each individual should be allowed to go find himself in his own way. Dele Alli is rumoured to be keen on devoting several months to quiet contemplation in a Tibetan monastery while Vincent Janssen has his heart set on exploring Bouvet, an uninhabited subantarctic outpost considered to be the worlds remotest island, where penguins and petrels are left alone to breed and no one gives a hoot about dreadful goalscoring records.

Meanwhile, several clubs are banging on Spurs door in the hope that the Closed for Business sign is some kind of joke.Manchester Unitedare banging loudest because Ed Woodward dare not face Jos Mourinho again withoutEric Dier, says the Star, especially asFabinhois now leaning towards staying at Monaco untilAtltico Madridare allowed to bring him in. But West Bromwich Albion are knocking on Spurs door, too, because they want to reintroduceKevin Wimmerto competitive football. And then, of course, theres Pep Guardiola, who doesnt really do banging or knocking, so is instead working on a lace doily representation ofKyle Walkers face, to be slipped under Spurs door as a reminder of Manchester Citys admiration for the full-back. It is hard to say, however, whether Spurs are aware of any of this, or even whether they are awake.

Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, Mourinho is sending Woodward regular reminders that the stopwatch is running and that, after Dier, someone from United has to hightail it over to Internazionale to wrap up a deal for the Croatian wingerIvan Perisic.

Wrap up a deal? Now theres an idea, thought Antonio Conte wistfully but the manager may soon feel a lot more upbeat becauseChelseaare on the brink of completing the transfer ofTimou Bakayoko. Granted theyve been on the brink of that for several weeks now but there really could be movement soon, with several people supposedly in the know saying the midfielder does not, in fact, require a knee operation, so the deal can go right on ahead.

Virgil van Dijkis said to be still very keen on joiningLiverpoolbut,having been chastised bySouthampton, the club will not make another approach for him untilthe redness on their cheeksabates. Arsenal spy an opportunity and Arsne Wenger wants to make a move for the Dutchman. And in a further blow to Liverpool, Wenger is confident thatAlex Oxlade-Chamberlainwill stay at Arsenal after all. But Liverpool can haveMathieu Debuchyif they want him. The French full-back is available for free. Look up there! Is it a bird? No. Is it a plane? Yes, actually, and its trailing a banner saying WONT SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE MATHIEU DEBUCHY?

Liverpoolare interested in signing Leicester CitysDemarai Gray, who is also being eyed up byEverton.Manchester Cityhave their sights set on the Real Sociedad centre-backIigo Martnez.

Newcastle Unitedlike the look of PSGs out-of-favour goalkeeperAlphonse Areola. They are also chasing the Norwich City wingerJacob Murphy. And Rafael Bentez has also got it into his head that he can get something into the head of Jess Navas.

Source

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Google I/O Aftermath: Which Technologies Are Generating The Most Excitement?

Last month,during the Google I/O 2017 event, Google talked about the new technologies it is working to develop, including a standalone VR system, Android integration into cars and enhancements to Gmail. One of the particularly exciting developments is Google’s focus on AI. The company intends to create a shared platform for development, as well as tap into neural networks in order to iterate AI systems faster. These AI technologies would be used on anything from identification of breast cancer to turning amateur squiggles into a more easily recognisable piece of simple line art.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

There are a lot of business applications to what Google’s planning to do, as well as a lot of potentially life-changing uses for end users. Below, members of theForbesTechnology Counciltalk about the features or projects they are excited about seeing and why. Here’s what they picked:

1. Google Lens

The ability to use a camera as an input device is an exciting idea, so Id have to say Google Lens. Although Google is breaking into a space that Pinterest, Amazon and now Bing are also in, its proof that visual search is having a mainstream effect on e-commerce. Visual shoppers expect searches to be intuitive, so thecompanies that useAI specifically optimized for shopping will likely lead. –Oliver Tan,ViSenze

2. Googles Next-Gen Tensor Processing Unit

Google is highly focused on enabling people to build AI for itsplatform. With the next-gen tensor processing unit, it aims to increase the speed and efficiency at which AI is built — it’ll be like the Android for AI. By changing its cloud computing platform in this way, Google will generate a massive impact on almost every AI and machine learning innovation to come. I can’t wait for it. –Nick Chandi,SlickPie Accounting Software

3. Smart Reply

The Smart Reply feature in Gmail is the most immediately useful for me. Tapping out replies on a mobile keyboard has never been optimal, and its amazing what suggestions its AI engine is able to come up with. –Timothy Chaves,ZipBooks

4. Google For Jobs

For those in thetechworld, quickly finding new hires for open positions can be a difficult task.One of the reasons is that recruiters and human resource professionalssometimes lack the technical knowledge needed to appropriately pair potential candidates with a job description. Google for Jobs will use machine learning and AI to more successfully match positions with qualified candidates. –Jonathan Babad,Directed

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War for the Planet of the Apes - Trailer

Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless colonel (Woody Harrelson). After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both of their species and the future of the planet.

Release date:July 13, 2017

Director:Matt Reeves

Music composed by:Michael Giacchino

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Qatar envoy to Gaza pledges continued support

Ambassador Mohammed Al-Emadi visited Gaza and promised that Qatari projects estimated at $1.4bn will continue.

Qatars ambassador toGazahas pledged continued support to the besieged coastal enclave on his first visit since the start of the Gulf crisis early last month.

Mohammed Al-Emadi arrived in Gaza along with his deputy head Khaled al-Hardan on Friday.

“Despite the crisis in Qatar, we will continue to support you,” Al-Emadi said on Sunday. “We will open a new Qatari project and continue the projects which are already underway.”

Over the past five years,Qatarhas already pledged $1.4bn worth of reconstruction money which has been going to hospitals, upgrading roads to housing projects.

Al-Emadi is also the head of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza.

Hamas official Musheer al-Masri told Al Jazeera that the Qatari envoy’s visit “indicates the genuineness with which Qatar deals with the Palestinian cause”.

“The visit indicates Qatar’s full – and not just seasonal – support of Palestine, both on an official and popular level,” he said, “even with the difficult times they are currently facing.”

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Gaza, said that the Qatari envoy’s visit was seen as welcome news for the Hamas government, which “finds itself under a huge amount of pressure, not just from the Israeli blockade but also from the rival Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank”.

The PA has recently undertaken a series of measures aimed at applying pressure onHamasto relinquish control, such asslashing the salariesof its own government employees in Gaza and askingIsraeltoreduce the supply of electricityto the besieged strip.

“Hamas is looking for more friends and itll certainly be glad that Qatar, for now at least, is pledging to maintain its support, Fawcett said.

Some two million people live in the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli blockade for 10 years. TheUNhas warned that the dire humanitarian crises afflicting Gaza would render the territoryuninhabitableby the year 2020.

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Wikitribune News Service created by Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales is planning a news service that combines the work of professional journalists and volunteers.

His goal is for Wikitribune to offer “factual and neutral” articles that help combat the problem of “fake news”.

The service is intended to be both ad-free and free-to-read, so will rely on supporters making regular donations.

One expert said it had the potential to become a trusted site, but suggested its influence might be limited.

Wikitribune shares many of the features already found in Mr Wales’s online encyclopaedia, including the need for writers to detail the source of each fact and a reliance on the public to edit articles to keep them accurate.

However, while anybody can make changes to a page, they will only go live if a staff member or trusted community volunteer approves them.

The other big difference is that the core team of writers will be paid, although there may also be instances in which a volunteer writes the initial draft and then a staff member edits it.

Regular donations

A demo version of the site, seen by the BBC, declared “the news is broken and we can fix it”.

Mr Wales explained that he believed the advertising-based model used by most of the media had led it to “chase clicks”, which affected standards.

“I think we’re in a world right now where people are very concerned about making sure we have high quality fact-based information, so I think there will be demand for this,” he told the BBC.

“We’re getting people to sign up as monthly supporters and the more monthly supporters we have the more journalists we can hire.

“In terms of minimums, if we could only hire two journalists then it would be a blog and not really worth doing.

“But I would love to start with a lot more – 10 to 20.”

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionLily Cole is serving as an adviser to the news site

The director of Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab, however, suggested Wikitribune’s crowdfunded model might limit its potential.

“There are a variety of people who – if it does this right – will view it as a trusted platform,” commented Joshua Benton.

“But another 10 to 20 people are not going to ‘fix the news’.

“There’s certainly a model for non-profit news that can be successful if it’s done on a relatively small scale and produces a product that is unique enough.

“But I have a hard time seeing this scale up into becoming a massive news organisation.”

Mr Wales said he would be “100% hands-on” with the project in its early stages and would be likely to serve as Wikitribune’s chief executive for at least a year.

Image copyrightWIKITRIBUNE

Image captionJournalists must link to the source of a fact or provide full transcripts and recordings of their interviews

Other advisors to the scheme include:

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki

Journalism lecturer Prof Jeff Jarvis

US law professor Larry Lessig

Model/actress Lily Cole

Although staff members will decide the topics that get written about on a day-to-day basis, funders will get to influence the contents.

“If you can get together a certain number of people who are interested in Bitcoin [for example] and you flag that when you sign up as a monthly supporter, then we’ll hire a Bitcoin person to do the beat full-time,” Mr Wales explained.

“So, it’s the monthly supporters who will be able to determine what are the topics we are going to cover.

“But it is going to be neutral. They can’t pick their favourite hack, who pumps forward their agenda.

“That’s part of the editorial control.”

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The world's best food delivery service

Dabbawalas deliver hundreds of thousands of meals on foot and by bike in one of India’s busiest cities every day. The new wave of food-delivery startups wants to know how they do it.

Every morning, six days a week, Kiran Gavande tours the Lower Parel neighbourhood of Mumbai on his bicycle collecting lunchboxes called dabbas from his customers. Over the next few hours Gavande and his fellow dabbawalas – “ones who carry the box” – will criss-cross the busy city multiple times delivering hundreds of thousands of home-cooked meals to workers in time for lunch.

In the last few years, online food-delivery companies like Deliveroo and Uber Eats have made having specially prepared food brought to your desk seem like the height of app-based luxury. Similar start-ups are gaining popularity in India too. But dabbawalas have been doing it for 125 years – and the newcomers have much to learn.

Despite relying on an unskilled workforce, a two-tier management system and nothing more high-tech than Mumbai’s train network, this 5,000-strong cooperative is recognised as one of the world’s most efficient logistics systems. They make a tidy side-line hosting executives from delivery giants like FedEx and Amazon. Even Richard Branson has spent a day learning their secrets.

Unlike Deliveroo and Uber Eats – or India’s home-grown equivalents, such as Swiggy and Runnr – dabbawalas do not deliver restaurant food. Instead, they pick up home-cooked meals – mostly from the customers’ own houses – and deliver them to their workplace in time for lunch.

Even Richard Branson has spent a day learning the dabbawalas’ secrets

“We don’t like apps,” says event organiser Rashmika Shah, who hires Shivaji Sawant to deliver a dabba to her husband at the Mumbai stock exchange. “We’ve known this person so long we know he’ll do a proper job.”

The service is not only reliable, it’s cheap – roughly 800 rupees a month (less than £10). “People think it’s a luxury getting food delivered to their office,” says Subodh Sangle, coordinator of the Mumbai dabbawalas. “But we make our service available to everyone from the security guard to the CEO.”

Most dabbawalas are quick to dismiss their new digital rivals. “There’s no competition. They won’t be able to keep up with the service we provide,” says Gavande. “There’s only one Mumbai dabbawala.”

Most dabbawalas are quick to dismiss their new digital rivals: “They won’t be able to keep up with the service we provide” (Credit: Getty Images)

It’s hard to argue. The organisation runs its low-cost service at a very high level of performance. A 2010 study by the Harvard Business School graded it “Six Sigma”, which means the dabbawalas make fewer than 3.4 mistakes per million transactions. With deliveries to and from roughly 200,000 customers each day that translates to little more than 400 delayed or missing dabbas in a year.

Timeliness is crucial. Lunchboxes have to reach the client by 13:00 every day and it can take up to three hours to deliver them. The whole city can be affected by late deliveries, says Sangle. Dabbawalas are waved through by members of the public and traffic police alike. “If you see a dabbawalla in the street, you will give way,” he says.

Timeliness is crucial. The whole city can be affected by late deliveries – Subodh Sangle

The delivery schedule also has built-in buffers. If a delivery is due at 13:00, the dabbawala will aim for around 12:00 – even if the destination is only a quarter of an hour away, says Sangle. “That allows him to improvise if there are mistakes.” For every 15 to 20 dabbawalas there is also always someone on stand-by in case one of them gets delayed.

Despite the tight schedule, most of the time dabbawalas appear surprisingly relaxed, joking and chatting as they sort their dabbas. But when the next stage of the process nears, there is five minutes of sudden intense activity.

At 12:45 a dabbawala races around the corner on a bike and rushes shouting into an office building. “You wanted to see a panicked dabbawala, there you go,” says Sangle. The dabbawala was late by his own standards but the customer was probably never aware of the hiccup, he says.

Following them around for the day is tough work. Sometimes I get distracted and when I turn back the group I’m shadowing has gone. Strict timekeeping even extends to customers – if the full lunchbox is late for collection in the morning more than two or three times, they are dropped.

Each dabbawala has a single collection and delivery area. At mid-morning they tour their neighbourhood on foot or by bicycle collecting an average of 30 dabbas. These are sorted at a local office or railway station and each dabbawala gets on a train with the dabbas heading for their delivery area. On arrival dabbas coming from all over the city are sorted again before being loaded onto bicycles and handcarts for the final leg.

This complex series of exchanges relies on an esoteric alphanumeric code scrawled on each lunchbox – indecipherable to the uninitiated but designed to be easily understood by all dabbawalas.

A dabbawalas’ commitment to the job is partly because it pays well – roughly 12,000 rupees (£140) a month, a good salary in India for what is essentially unskilled labour. The fame of the dabbawalas also gives the job a certain prestige. This can lead to perks like discounted mobile phone subscriptions and scholarships for a dabbawala’s children funded by organisations keen to be associated with the respected network.

Many dabbawalas worship Vithala, a Hindu god who teaches that giving food is a great virtue

And as a cooperative all dabbawalas are equal partners with supervisors called mukadams who are elected. “You don’t have to say ‘Salam, sir’ or ‘Yes, sir’ to anyone,” says dabbawala Anil Bhawagat.

But there are also more profound reasons for their dedication. The dabbawalas belong almost exclusively to the Vakari community, which worships the Hindu god Vithala. Vithala teaches that giving food is one of the greatest donations you can make. “The dabbawalas say we are getting a golden chance to walk the path of spirituality while earning our bread,” says Sangle.

Even so, as the convenience of app-based delivery services catches on, will the dabbawalas keep up? Food delivery is firmly in the sights of India’s new breed of tech entrepreneurs, says Pankaj Jain, a partner at US start-up accelerator 500 Start Ups.

But he thinks any threat is some way off. The sector has yet to get going, he says. Part of the problem is that companies just assumed they could transplant business models from Silicon Valley to India.

Lunchboxes coming from all over the city are loaded onto bicycles and handcarts for the final leg of their journey (Credit: Getty Images)

Many burned through investor cash making fancy apps and offering discounts in pursuit of market share rather than building reliable supply chains and a solid business plan, says Jain. He thinks food-tech businesses could learn from the “strong fundamentals” of the dabbawalas. “I think food delivery 2.0 in India is going to be dabbawalas on tech,” he says.

He’s not the only one. Both Swiggy and Runnr, two leading tech-powered food delivery companies, have tapped the dabbawalas for their expertise. Bangalore-based Runnr has built its delivery service using a similar crowd-sourcing model to ride-sharing companies like Uber.

Food delivery 2.0 in India is going to dabbawalas on tech – Pankaj Jain, 500 Start Ups

Co-founder and CEO Mohit Kumar says they contacted the dabbawalas to get some pointers when they expanded into Mumbai a year ago. The company has also signed up around 200 dabbawalas to work part-time after they finish their lunchtime deliveries.

One of the lessons Runnr learned was how to navigate Mumbai. The way Google Maps divides the city into neighbourhoods does not take traffic into account, but years of experience had taught the dabbawalas where the bottlenecks were. “No other system has this level of data for each locality,” says Kumar. “That really helped us get our delivery times down.”

As well as its on-demand service, Runnr is now experimenting with regular lunchtime deliveries to big offices in Bangalore – putting it in more direct competition with the dabbawalas.

On the crowded streets of Mumbai, trains and bicycles are quicker than cars and motorbikes (Credit: Getty Images)

A pre-ordered delivery must arrive on time, however. “It’s more mission critical,” says Kumar. “Like the dabbawalas we are trying to build a system that is extremely fault tolerant.” That includes extensive driver training, a rigid schedule and aligning driver incentives to reward punctual delivery rather than number of orders.

Kumar thinks adopting more technology could help the dabbawalas. Combined with local knowledge, mapping technology could help create better delivery routes that can be adapted quickly as customers join and leave. If Runnr decides to launch scheduled lunchtime deliveries in Mumbai, Kumar says he would consider partnering with the dabbawalas.

Pawan Agrawal is not so sure that the dabbawalas will be quick to adopt new tech, however. A motivational speaker on management topics, Agrawal did his PhD on the dabbawala network and now gives lectures to businesses around the world about how to apply some of the organisation’s processes. Agrawal points out that many dabbawalas are over 50 and there is no retirement age. “I think it will take time,” he says.

The dabbawalas are talking to e-commerce giant Flipkart about handling their deliveries

But their low-tech approach could be a strength. The dabbawalas offer a different service to the digital start-ups. “You cannot order home cooked food online,” he says. And on the crowded streets of Mumbai, trains and bicycles are quicker than cars and motorbikes. Dabbawala Gangaram Hemade agrees: “If you’re on a motorbike you have to follow all the rules and parking is a problem. This way we can move anywhere even in heavy traffic.”

Dabbawalas are not afraid to embrace new opportunities, however. They are talking to Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart about carrying out last-mile deliveries. And one group is working with start-up Raw Pressery to deliver health juices on-demand.

Despite more collaborations with online start-ups, the dabbawalas do not expect their core business to change (Credit: 42fps Productions)

According to Sangle, the healthy-eating craze in India is good for dabbawalas as food companies are turning to them for delivery. Profits from these newer ventures are bumping the dabbawalas’ salaries up from 12,000 to 20,000 rupees a month, he says.

Still, Sangle does not expect the core business to change. For one thing, he thinks the dabbawalas’ spiritual connection to the job will always give them an edge. “New companies give their customers good offers but they’re just interested in capturing the market,” he says. “The dabbawalas have deeper reasons for doing it. Serving their customers is like serving their god.”

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Bend it Like Granny

Nanammal is 98 years old and an expert yoga instructor from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

But it’s not just her – her entire family are yoga practitioners, including her children and grandchildren.

Produced and edited by Varun Nayar.

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Waymo testing self-driving car ride service in Arizona

Alphabet Inc’s Waymo autonomous vehicle group will begin testing a self-driving car program for hundreds of families in Phoenix, Arizona and is buying 500 Chrysler minivans to do so, the companies said on Tuesday.

Waymo, which along with Google is owned by Alphabet Inc(GOOGL.O), recently has been quietly testing the service for a handful of families, learning what potential customers would want from a ride service, the company said in a blog post.

It urged people to apply to take part in an expanded test, which is the first public trial of Waymo’s self-driving cars. The vehicles include human operators from Waymo behind the wheel, in case intervention is required and to take feedback.

Silicon Valley is racing to master self-driving technology, betting that it will transform the auto industry and be a gold mine for leading companies. Waymo has one of the best technology track records, and it has an alliance with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCHA.MI).

Many companies expect that customers will use autonomous vehicles as a service, rather than owning them outright. Ride service Uber in particular expects to use autonomous cars.

The new Waymo test in Arizona is meant to help the company understand what people want out of self-driving cars and see how they use and integrate the service. Testers will get access every day at any time.

Waymo already has with 100 Chrysler Pacifica minivans and is acquiring five times more, partly to be able to support the service.

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13 Traditional Dishes of Saudi Arabia

If you make a trip to Saudi Arabia, you are bound to see a few familiar places, particularly when it comes to food.  They have McDonald s, Dunkin Donuts, TGI Fridays, and even Fuddruckers.  You can find Italian restaurants or Indian restaurants if you are into international food.  But, what you should really try, that is also a little harder to find, is the traditional Saudi Arabian food.

The best place to try these traditional foods is obviously at someone’s house.  So, if you receive a dinner invitation to a Saudi’s house you should definitely accept, especially considering that they pull out all stops for guests.  In the Saudi Arabian culture, being a good host is crucial.  If you do not make it to a Saudi’s house to eat, however, you can find a few traditional Saudi Arabian restaurants around the city.  Unfortunately, though, nothing beats a Saudi Arabian home-cooked meal!

Kabsa

 Kabsa is the number one dish in Saudi Arabia.  Whenever you talk to any Saudi, a lot of them will tell you that their favorite food is Kabsa.  Kabsa is made of rice, vegetables, and meat.  The Saudis usually eat it during lunch and some even eat Kabsa every day.

Margoog

Margoog is a liquid sauce that contains meat, vegetables, and a type of flour paste.

  Jereesh

Jereesh is made of groats (type of grain) that may be accompanied with onions, chicken, red pepper, and tomatoes.  Jereesh is not the main dish for the meal like Kabsa or Margoog. It is more of a side dish.

Gursan

 A special flour is baked and made with meat and vegetables.

Mahela

It is best added with the spices that would make you fall in love with this dish. It would merely take one hour for cooking this dish.

Arekah

Arekah is a really heavy breakfast food that was eaten a lot in the past and was used to help the Saudis work hard through their tough days.  This food comes from the southern part of Saudi Arabia and seems to be delicious based on what I have heard about it.

Mathlotha

Mathlotha is a cuisine that is more prominent in the south of Saudi Arabia.  It is a dish mixed with Kabsa, Jereesh, and Gursan.

Mande

 Mande is a type of Kabsa where the meat is cooked a little differently.  In order to make Mande, you must first dig a hole in the ground where the meat will be cooked.  After the hole is dug, place charcoal inside of the hole along with the meat, cover it, and then cook it for a few hours.  You will later add rice and other vegetables to the dish.  All of the Saudi Arabians I have spoken with say that Mande is delicious.

Mofatah

Mofatah is like a big Kabsa that is eaten on special occasions in Saudi Arabia. Typically if a guest comes to visit or there is a wedding, the hosts kill a sheep and use it to make Mofatah.  Killing sheep for guests has been a Saudi Arabian tradition for years, although now it is more rare to find the Saudis actually making this dish at home.  Most people now will bring a sheep to the restaurant where the restaurant chefs can prepare the big Mofatah dish for them.

Matazeez

Matazeez is a plate that is very similar to Margoog.  The big difference is that it does not have this liquid sauce like Margoog does.

Hainini

 Hainini is a sweet Saudi Arabian cuisine that you can eat during the winter.

Ferek

You will be able to try Ferek only in the winter in Saudi Arabia.  It is a brown paste made with onion that is not sweet like Hainini.

Saleek

Saleek is a lighter Saudi Arabian dish that is comparable with Risotto.  It is also one of the more healthy plates you can find in Saudi Arabia.

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2016-17 School final exams as per schedule

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education said the 2016-17 final examination will be held on their scheduled dates and in accordance with the annual calendar of independent schools. A senior source said the ministry has no intention to change the dates of the final examinations to take place before Ramadan, noting that the schedule is prepared in line with the calendar and, hence, there is no need or reason to change it. The remarks came in the wake of rumors of a possible change in the examination schedule. According to the annual academic calendar of independent schools, final examinations are set to start on May 25 and end on June 10 for the final year students of secondary schools, while Grade 10 and 11 exams start on May 28 and end on June 13. Students of Grade 4 to 9 start their exams on June 4 to 11, and students of Grade 1 to 3 take their exams from May 18 to 25. The second stage examinations are scheduled to start for all grades on July 23 and end on August 1.

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Evolution of Arabic Music | تطور الموسيقى العربية

Evolution of Arabic Music by Alaa Wardi

  Here are 42 of the most popular Arabic songs in history from before 1900s till today. There’s still a lot of great songs and artists that I couldn’t include but I hope you like the result.

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Your Habit of Drinking Tea May Keep You Away from Diabetes

For most of us, the morning starts with a cup of freshly brewed tea. It is almost like a ritual that needs to be followed religiously. Tea leaves have numerous health benefiting properties. Popularly known for its caffeine effect, which gives you that instant energy boost, it is also an excellent source of antioxidants. Antioxidants are essential for the body because they help fight against free radicals that are known to increase risks of cancer and heart diseases. The antioxidants found in tea leaves is a compound known as polyphenols. According to a new study, polyphenols can also prove to be beneficial for regulating blood sugar levels. The study states that they can significantly reduce blood glucose in adults, thus keeping a check on diabetes.

Polyphenols – the natural compound in tea tends to block sugar absorption in the blood, as reported by the study. The findings, which appeared in Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, indicated that polyphenols significantly reduce the amount of glucose in adults, who were given sucrose-laden drinks just before. Researchers claim that by consuming tea, it helps to smooth out spikes in blood sugar levels that are triggered by snacking on sweet treats.

Dr Tim Bond of the Tea Advisory Panel said, “After water, tea is the second most commonly consumed beverage in the world and this new research adds to already published studies, which suggest that it is good for health and well-being benefits.”

“In effect, these polyphenols seemed to lower the Glycaemic Index – the relative ability of a carbohydrate food to increase the level of glucose in the blood – of the sugary drink,” Bond added.

The team tested the effects of drinking tea on 24 participants in which half had normal blood sugar levels, while the other half had already been diagnosed with pre-diabetes. The day before each trial, both groups were asked to avoid any exercise and eat moderately. All that they were given was small low-sugar evening meal. The following morning, their blood samples were taken when they were in a fasting state.

They were given a sugary drink accompanied by a beverage containing either a high or low dose of tea polyphenols or a placebo. Further blood samples were taken 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes later. They repeated this experiment three times, with a one-week gap. The results indicated both doses of tea polyphenols showed the same significant suppression of blood sugar spikes.

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Amazing Health Benefits Of Papaya That Everyone Must Know

This is a fruit which you come to love once you develop a taste for it. It is not everyone’s favourite, but those who love it find it hard to get by a morning without digging into a bowl of freshly cubed papayas. The orange-coloured flesh is very tempting indeed, but what puts most people off, is the slight bitter aftertaste that accompanies the otherwise sweet fruit. This is the reason why children are often fussy about it and instead go for sinful mangoes, grapes, berries and the like. Have it on its own or team it with a mixed-fruit bowl, it is an energy booster.

Believed to be a native of Central America, growing along the Caribbean coast, the tree was considered sacred by the Mayans for its various medicinal properties. The fruits are not the only segment of the tree that was considered valuable, the leaves, seeds, and flowers too possess healing powers. It is also said that the great voyager Christopher Columbus used to refer to it as “fruit of the angels”. What makes papaya such an incredible ingredient is the presence of the enzyme papain along with other essential nutrients that work together to provide you nature’s best.

(The Miraculous Power of Papaya Flower)

The Benefits of Papaya

1. Digestion – The enzyme papain present in papaya is known to aid digestion by breaking down proteins. Therefore, a glass of papaya juice is often recommended as a home remedy for digestion-related problems or constipation.

2. Anti-inflammatory – Apart from papain, papaya also contains other effective enzymes that help against inflammation and promote healing of burns.

3. Heart Disease and Cancer – Papaya is rich in anti-oxidants and phytonutrients that work against free radicals and therefore is said to protect the body from possible heart diseases and cancer.

4. Diabetes – Many researchers have found that the consumption of raw papaya could help maintain blood sugar level and cholesterol because of the high fiber content, thereby keeping a check on diabetes. According to a study done by the Centre of Excellence for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research at the Mauritius University, green tea and fermented papaya work together as preventive means for diabetes. In some parts of India, especially the North East, papaya flowers are locally used as a preventive measure against diabetes. The bitter flowers are lightly sautéed in a little oil and consumed as a side to rice on a regular basis.

5. Immunity – Papaya is a great source of vitamin A, B, C, and K and is known as an excellent immunity booster. It is great for the growth of body tissues, including hair and skin. It helps in maintaining collagen, the structural protein of connective tissues. It is said that a medium-sized papaya could provide you double your daily requirement of vitamins.

6. Cleansing – Beauty experts too, often suggest using slices of papaya as a natural skin cleanser as the active enzymes work wonders to remove impurities.

7. Arthritis – It is also rich in minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and copper. Regular consumption helps in building up the calcium bank in the body and in the long run could help keep a check on arthritis.

8. Dengue – Papaya leaves are commonly used in the treatment of dengue to help boost up the count of platelets. Dr. Anju Sood, a Bangaluru-based nutritionist says, “Dengue is an infection which affects the blood platelets massively. A simple remedy to get back the platelets count is to give the patient a glass of papaya leaf juice. It is prepared by grinding the leaves with a small amount of water to extract the juice.” However, dengue can prove to be fatal once it develops into Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever which shuts down the circulatory system.

9. Weight Loss – papaya is low in calories and therefore proves to be the perfect option for breakfast. A serving of 140 grams of the fruit contains only 60 calories, with total fat 0.4 gram, no cholesterol, 15.7 gram carbohydrates and 2.5 gram dietary fiber.

Cooking with Papaya

Papayas are commonly available in the markets and used in both forms, raw and ripe, to cook a number of dishes. The Thai classic, raw papaya salad is one of the most popular dishes not just in Southeast Asia but across the globe too. The julienned flesh tossed with lemon juice, chillies, peanuts and fresh herbs provide a delicious medley of flavours, and it makes a great option for a refreshing and light lunch.

In India, papaya is used to make halwas, coolers, chutneys, pachadi (south Indian accompaniment), and the likes. Raw papaya is considered to be one of the best agents to tenderise meat and is extensively used in the making of kebabs and meat-based curries such as Bengali Mutton Chaap or Spicy Duck Roast.

The young leaves are often steamed or lightly sautéed and consumed as a green leafy veggie. The flowers too are slightly sautéed and eaten along with rice. The unripe fruit is made into curries and stews along with aromatic spices which lend in a delectable flavour. Let’s not forget the seeds! Packed with nutrients, they have a spicy flavour and are often used as a substitute to black pepper in some cultures.

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Trailer : TRANSFORMERS 5

Transformers: The Last Knight