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dailyanarchistposts · 4 months ago

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When Elon Musk took over Twitter and the platform began to tank, the stock value plummeted, and people were leaving in droves, many of us thought he was just an arrogant doofus, a parasitic man-child who became a billionaire by throwing around free money, more recently billions in government subsidies but originally, as a kid, his massive inheritance from South African diamond mines. And he is all those things, but there is also something more going on here.

The Twitter takeover, in fact, possesses an opaque but important similarity with—of all things—the Chinese government’s COVID policy. If we assume that Musk’s many fumbles with one of the world’s largest social media platforms is nothing but a blunder, nothing but stupidity, then we miss out on an illuminating question. Which, it turns out, is the same question we miss when we assume the Chinese government’s zero tolerance COVID policy is a mere example of totalitarian inclinations or a different public health culture (both of which are explanations infused with racist stereotypes).

So what on Earth connects Elon Musk to China’s COVID policy? For one thing, one of Musk’s other companies, Tesla, became the first foreign company to wholly own a car factory in China when they opened an assembly plant in Shanghai in 2019. The Shanghai Gigafactory is one of Tesla’s largest, though it ran into problems when the government temporarily closed it down in 2020, and again in March 2022, to enforce a COVID quarantine. As the threat of new quarantines pops up, Musk might consider sending new investments to countries with weaker regulations like India. Apple, for example, is increasingly relying on India over China for iPhone production, meaning China’s COVID policy is costing them foreign direct investment.

There’s the similarity. A government policy causing a loss in revenue. A new corporate policy causing a plummet in stock value. Are we to judge both of these policies failures, or at the least, ineffective, because they lost money?

And that gets us to our central question: do companies and governments in this capitalist world system exist to make money? Is money, capital accumulation, the fundamental driving force of our world?

If it is, then both the turbulence Elon Musk has caused at Twitter and the stagnation the Chinese government has inflicted on its own economy due to its zero tolerance COVID policies have to be viewed as blunders, as they have unarguably caused a loss of economic value. However, in both cases, we might at least entertain the possibility that such an argument is reductionist if it hides other factors and outcomes that cannot be so easily quantified.

And quantification is an angle we need to explore to be able to answer this question. Even though the vagaries of international finance make it an obscure field, economic loss is easy to measure relative to qualitative forms of evaluation. Did Twitter lose value? Did the growth rate of the Chinese economy contract? Since both of these questions can be reduced to a number and real numbers are arranged along a single dimension, meaning we can always say whether one number is more or less than another number, then yes, Twitter lost value, and yes, the Chinese economy began to grow at a slower rate. So if it’s all about money, both of these policies were mistakes.

Before considering the case closed, should we be thinking about any kinds of qualitative as opposed to quantitative analysis that might illuminate the topic? After all, the knowledge systems of all the dominant institutions of our society are heavily biased in favor of quantitative and objective frameworks of thought; in fact this epistemology is central to the rationalism of the modern state and of capitalism itself, given that they allow for reproducibility and thus industrialism as both an economic and a political or war-making mode, and they allow ethical and spiritual frameworks to be subsumed into the construction of society itself, therefore making them invisible and immune to being questioned. If you want me to explain this idea more, let me know and I’ll devote some time to it in the future, but for now, let’s get back to Twitter.

What did Musk accomplish at Twitter, aside from losing unimaginably vast sums of money and showing the entire world that he’s not as intelligent as he thinks he is? He has taken a huge step to create a more right-wing media environment in what might become the biggest change to the landscape since the emergence of Fox News. True, Twitter’s algorithms always favored the specific content and also the controversy-seeking, baiting tactics of the Right. It is also true that conversation on Twitter was more often than not superficial and demeaning. However, we should not deny that anarchists and other anticapitalists saw Twitter as an important space for organizing and outreach. I had never been on social media my entire life, until finally around the end of 2019, when other anarchists convinced me that it did not make sense for me to spend so much time writing if I was going to avoid the platforms where writing and political analysis were actually being distributed in the current day.

And there are other corners of Twitter where emotional supportiveness, care, and mutual aid are actually the norm, spaces important in many people’s lives for building safety and opportunities for healing and connection, in rejection of the ableist, trans- and homophobic, racist culture that predominates in public space.

So yes, Twitter is a hellsite, but if we so quickly forget about some of the things that brought us there, we risk missing the relevance of this moment. Musk’s takeover of Twitter has enabled a fierce campaign of censorship against anarchist and other anticapitalist accounts, frequently executed by Musk himself, to such an extent that we should seriously consider that this was one of his primary motivations, more than making money. We already know that restoring Trump’s account was a motivator for him.

Meanwhile, the centrist media has given massive coverage to the Right’s “free speech” anti-censorship alibi. They continue to portray Musk as an anti-censorship figure, restoring far-Right accounts that had been banned, and they refuse to mention the accounts that Musk has been banning.

What about the Chinese government’s zero-tolerance COVID policy? Obviously, shutting everything down in a neighborhood, a city, or an entire region as soon as a rise in COVID cases is detected is going to be disruptive to the economy, as when when authorities closed down Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory and so many other thousands of factories. For a while now, Chinese planners and economists internationally have figures detailing how the zero-tolerance and other regulatory policies are slowing the economy and causing unemployment to skyrocket.

It’s important to mention that GDP growth is not just a metric imposed by Western observers. The Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping has made GDP growth targets a central part of their ruling strategy and their conceptualization of development. And yet, midway through the year, when it became clear they would not even meet their already reduced target of 5.5% growth, they chose to prioritize their restrictive no COVID policies.

Most countries in the world chose to allow a massive number of deaths in exchange for better economic growth. In the US, that’s over 1 million deaths, a figure we don’t see the media mention very often. However, the Chinese government cannot accurately be accused of humanitarianism, given that their solutions have included locking workers into their factories. In fact, their zero-tolerance COVID policy bears a striking similarity to Mao’s Four Pests Campaign, which sought to drive animals like flies and sparrows to extinction as a part of the government’s ambitious agricultural program. The purpose is less to save lives and more to eliminate external, natural forces capable of disrupting a rational, quantitative planning process.

A couple notes here, for accuracy. Mao is frequently lambasted for trying to eliminate sparrows, and the disastrous ecological consequences that policy had. At the same time (late ‘50s) and for significantly longer, the US government was trying to exterminate the wolves. Also, Western hacks and mainstream media frequently refer to socialist states as “planned economies” and NATO states as “free market economies.” Though there are significant differences in the strategies of state intervention in the economy, these labels are bogus since all modern states exist on the same continuum. The US government, from the beginning but even more so since FDR, engages in substantive economic planning, deciding which sectors will get the most capital, deciding interest rates, setting targets for inflation; and the Chinese government allows and encourages a massive private sector that is more responsive to market forces.

The reason all states engage in planning, and a more accurate framework for understanding the nature of that planning, is social control.

What is social control? The Marxist I like the most told me it is a fetishistic, meaningless category. Actually, it’s a necessary concept for explaining some glaring holes in Marxism itself and in any framework that sees capital accumulation as the be-all and end-all for understanding our society.

Musk’s actions make sense, even though they lost him $9 billion dollars, because like any capitalist he is worried about fundamental questions of social control that allow him to be a capitalist in the first place. The Chinese government’s actions make sense because developing techniques that allow a state to neutralize and surpass epidemics would greatly increase that state’s planning powers, and even if they fail they are testing and amplifying their arsenal of social control techniques, and social control is the fundamental concern of any state and thus the fundamental concern of capitalism, being an economic system entirely dependent on state power.

In this context it is worth noting that the Chinese government decided to relax their COVID policy not in early July, when they were forced to choose that policy over their economic growth targets, but at the end of November, when mass protests bordering on insurrection against the policy broke out. The policy got in the way of economic accumulation: they stuck to it. The policy got in the way of social control: they abandoned it.

Academically trained Marxists are going to be biased in favor of a quantitative analysis, like seeing capital accumulation as the fundamental force in our society, for the same reasons that all our dominant institutions are biased in favor of quantitative analysis. A qualitative analysis is not reproducible, and the modern state needs access to reproducible sciences.

This seems like a contradiction to claim that the state is fundamentally motivated by a qualitative science, like social control, and yet constantly in need of a quantitative science like capital accumulation. In fact, this contradiction traces a tense balance, a relation, that has come to shape the entire planet in these last centuries. The fundamental truth of the State is social control, an existential war waged by centralized power against all life. And the most effective motor the State has ever developed to fuel its war is not a winning religion, it’s not a more streamlined process for the transfer of power, it’s economic accumulation. Before capitalism, states were exponentially weaker, frequently overthrown by the societies they tried to dominate, even when state and society shared the hierarchical culture produced by patriarchy and organized religion.

Capitalism, which requires the enclosure of the commons and the alienation of all life, cannot exist without the planning and war-making powers of the State. And once capitalism emerged, created in a continuum by the Italian city-states, the Castillian-Aragonese state, and finally in its modern form by the Dutch state, it bestowed the states that adopted it with such power that henceforth it became the duty of every government on the planet to embrace capitalism, lest they be overwhelmed by those that already had. This sheds light on one of the reasons that colonialism spread in such a rapid wave, especially where there were already states that could be instrumentalized in the conquered territories. And it helps explain why socialism, by not rejecting the state, was fully absorbed by capitalism in the early 20th century, and why all Marxist-inspired states are fully capitalist, fully colonial, and every bit as imperialist as their geopolitical circumstances allow them to be.

Capital accumulation is a necessary motor for the state; it is also a favored metric for a quantitative science of power. Given that accumulation is a result of oppressive, exploitative processes and it cannot happen without the domination of society and nature, high rates of accumulation are generally a good indicator that state power is firmly ensconced, that the State is winning its war against life. Still, the fundamental question is that of social control. Many capitalists, as specialists, will lose sight of this as they become obsessed with their numbers game, but in the end it’s just a game, a highly useful game, and when push comes to shove, questions of social war will always be more important for the institutions of power. The trick for them is to make sure that seeking capital accumulation and seeking social control always go hand in hand, rather than entering into contradiction.

As for anticapitalist movements, we lose sight of the social war at our own risk. The reasons for this are multiple. Marxism’s predictive power regarding the development of the revolution is nil, displaying a profound lack of understanding of what revolution actually means. Attempts to combine materialist with geopolitical analysis, as with Giovanni Arrighi’s development of world systems theory (on the whole an illuminating theoretical framework) also demonstrate their inaccuracy and disconnection from living history wherever they focus too heavily on quantitative questions of capital accumulation, a weakness explored in Alex Gorrion’s “Anarchy in World Systems.” These are not just obscure questions relating to debates from past centuries, given how academic, materialist-oriented journals and discussion groups continue to falsify the history of revolutionary struggle as we live it, claiming, for example, that the major uprisings of the past two decades have occurred as a result of the crisis of accumulation, when in fact the uprisings preceded the manifestation of that crisis and have occurred in countries experiencing polar opposite moments in the kinds of crises capitalism constantly produces.

(I shouldn’t have to provide this rebuttal, but alas, experience tells me I do: it is intellectually dishonest and a waste of everyone’s time to start off by claiming that rebellion is “produced” by a specific quantitative crisis in accumulation, to then be shown that in fact rebellions are occurring in completely different economic circumstances—the crises associated with growth, the crises associated with recession, the crises associated with inflation—and then to double back around and claim that one’s original argument was that crisis produces rebellion. Given that capitalism is a constant string of crises, this is a meaningless statement with nothing predictive or scientific about it, and it sets up the dishonest strawman that non-materialists believe that rebellions come out of thin air, in no way a response to their surroundings.)

Time and again, the first sign of crisis that materialists notice is the rebellion itself, meaning they are rarely on the front lines. Those who are more present tend to be those who decide to fight back even if objective conditions are supposedly unfavorable.

For our survival, we need to understand the ways the State is designing a constant war against us, and always has been, and always will be. For our liberation, we need to understand unquantifiable life, abundance without capital, and we need to develop an intelligence for a kind of struggle that also subverts the logic of warfare. A collective sight that can perceive the battlefield but destroy the opposing army by moving sideways, by burrowing, by climbing into the trees, by turning the battlefield back into a field, a forest, a community.

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overwatchloresnstuff · 2 months ago

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SYMMETRA lore

Satya Vaswani grew up in an extremely poor area of Hyderabad, India. Despite living in the infamous City of Pearls, in a city renowned for artistic expression and gemstones, Satya’s village was in a bad way. Starvation was rife, the water was murky, and the village was overcrowded. Satya danced to lower her anxiety, and visited temples for meals, peace, and beauty. They were the only refuge from the ugliness of everyday village life, as Hyderabadi temples are marvels of artistic work, painted in a thousand colors with large domes and statues raised to the sky.

After the Omnic Crisis, a singular corporation decided to take advantage. India, being densely populated and with millions displaced due to the crisis, was utterly overwhelmed by the scope of humanitarian work needed to put the country back together. Vishkar extended a hand. The corporation founded a new city, Utopaea, using their proprietary hard-light technology. Vishkar’s Architechs promised order. They promised peace, and full bellies with clean water in a beautiful city made of light…and all they asked for was simple obedience.

Vishkar was known for combing records, plucking children from their families. After all, once a revolutionary company considered a child gifted, there was massive pressure on the family to let the child become an Architech. It was a path out of poverty, and a child could have their stars changed with a simple sweep of Vishkar’s hand.

So it was for Satya. She was identified as being capable of becoming an Architech, by Vishkar’s inscrutable and very secretive standards. Her parents, reassured that Satya would want for nothing, were proud to hand their daughter over to the corporation.

There was one single caveat.

Satya could never return home.

She was owned by Vishkar now, and Vishkar would be all that she breathed. To become an Architech, one had to sleep, eat, work, and embody the corporation. As was traditional for Architechs, one of her arms was removed and she was given a company-provided prosthetic that could aid her in creating hard light. Lonely, isolated, and unable to even step foot in the temples she once loved, Satya buried herself in her studies. She entered the Architech Academy in Utopaea, and was assigned a live-in roommate by the name of Niran Pruksamanee. Satya found his relaxed, privileged demeanor irritating. She preferred strict schedules, clean living spaces, and for her roommates to rise and sleep on strict timelines. The other two roommates they were assigned were happy to fall into line. Niran bucked all those trends, but despite their differences Satya found herself fond of the charming Thai gentleman she lived with. The two became inseparable.

Niran, however, had a secret. He managed to create biolight, a living extension of the Vishkar hard-light. Biolight could heal, could grow just like the plants he loved…but he wouldn’t see it turned over to Vishkar. Ignoring Satya’s advice, he fled the Academy and left her alone once again. Having no friends, Satya let her studies consume her.

Satya quickly ascended to the top of her class, and was particularly gifted with bending hard light to her will. Unlike the other students, who approached their work with physics, geometry, and mathematics, Satya found a way to weave the light with the dances of her native Hyderabadi dances.

Satya caught Vishkar’s eye once again. She was taken from the Architech Academy after her graduation, and informed that she would be no mere Architech. She would be an agent of the company, sent on clandestine missions to enforce Vishkar’s will. She was given the codename Symmetra, and finally given access to Vishkar’s dark secrets. Unfortunately, having grown up with the company line, Symmetra could only see the good Vishkar was doing. Order and obedience had become her watchwords, and she willingly gave herself to the company to do their bidding once more.

Her first mission was in Rio de Janeiro, where the company was eyeing a contract to rebuild favelas in the wake of the Crisis. Symmetra was proud to further the mission; after all, how could people stand such disgusting conditions? No. Order would be established, people would be clean and well-mannered, and she would open that path. She argued with Rio’s mayor on behalf of Vishkar, and stormed out of the strained talks when the mayor showed reticence to give their favelas over to Vishkar.

Symmetra was wholly unprepared for how angry the residents of Rio would be, and stepped into the street in the midst of a riot. The tensions between Vishkar and Rio had boiled over with the help of Lucio, a local DJ and celebrity, and the favela was plunged into a full on revolution. Frightened by the sounds, smells and chaos, Symmetra lost her way. She found a young girl named Rosa, who guided her to safety, and from that day on she vowed that Vishkar would transform the favelas into a safe place for all of Rio’s residences.

Sanjay Korpal, Vishkar’s representative in Rio, was satisfied that Symmetra was so willing to…convince Rio’s mayor that the rebuild was necessary. He sent her to infiltrate their competition. After all, with no competing bids, the mayor would be forced to accept Vishkar’s hand. All they needed was a little blackmail.

Symmetra broke in, and after rifling through the Calado corporations files, found nothing. The company was running cleanly. Calado’s guards discovered her, and Symmetra was able to throw up shields to protect herself from the resulting gunfire. She rigged non-lethal traps to give herself enough time to escape, and report back to Sanjay. When Sanjay asked why she hadn’t just killed them, Symmetra responded that she only used lethal force if absolutely necessary. Killing and brutality were a waste of life.

Symmetra then broke the news to Sanjay; they had nothing on Calado, and would likely lose the contract. Vishkar’s response was simple, and immediate: so be it.

The building she had infiltrated exploded in a fiery hail, killing everyone inside and pouring down flames and broken concrete onto the favela below. The same favela that Vishkar was supposed to be renovating. Symmetra stared in shock at the display of cruelty, and leapt in to help. Her photonic barrier carved a path through the flames, and amidst the screaming of those caught by the destruction she found a trapped child. Symmetra used her hard light to pull the child free, and recognized Rosa, the same child who had guided her out of the riot. Rosa’s face had been burned beyond repair, disfiguring her for life.

Months later, Vishkar had indeed begun rebuilding Rio’s city center, damaged by the fire. As Symmetra and Sanjay looked over the brand new buildings, nestled amid the favelas, she questioned whether Vishkar had destroyed the Calado building and killed so many. Sanjay simply responded that it was the price of regrowth.

Doubt, quiet, persistent, began to grow in Symmetra’s mind. She tried to quiet it. Vishkar was surely making a better world. She had seen the proof of it…hadn’t she..?

Nevertheless, she moved on to her next mission. Burying herself in work had worked before, why not now? Sanjay and herself were sent to help a village in Roshani, called Suravasa, damaged by a recent earthquake. Vishkar’s PR representative Chandra assured them that if Vishkar didn’t start helping the village soon, they could kiss their development rights in the area goodbye. Sanjay told Symmetra to volunteer in the village. After all, she had come from humble means. Surely she could relate to these people. Symmetra was told to give the villagers anything they wanted; it would be a scant cost compared to losing development rights.

Looking over the hologram of the damaged village, Symmetra spotted something familiar. She asked Chandra what it was, and he identified the statue as that of Aurora, the first omnic to achieve sentience and the one responsible for the Awakening. The villagers would want more than hush money, Symmetra reasoned, and Sanjay tasked her with finding out what it was.

Symmetra arrived in Suravasa to open hostility. The local Governor, Ranesh Grewal, told Symmetra they wanted nothing to do with Vishkar’s evil. Architechs were not welcome. The gathering crowd of hostile villagers seemed to back him up, and Symmetra remembered the favela riots. She requested to visit a local temple, hoping to buy herself time. Hostile, the crowd seemed like they would deny her request.

Instead, a single omnic stepped forward. Zenyatta, a pilgrim to the temple, reminded them that the temples were open to all. He led Symmetra inside, and invited her to walk with him. The help Vishkar was offering would mean nothing if it came from poisoned fingers, he reminded her. She was welcome to stay, if she did him the courtesy of taking time to understand the people and the religion here. Symmetra responded that she was no pilgrim, she was an Architech here to solve a problem.

What was a pilgrim, Zenyatta responded, if not someone who journeyed to a holy place?

Taken aback by Zenyatta’s response, Symmetra reasoned that if Zenyatta’s philosophy had calmed the crowd, perhaps his way would work better than Vishkar flinging money at the villagers. She needed more information. So, she decided to keep an open mind. She walked with Zen, and he told her of Mondatta and the Shambali monks. He led her into the main temple chamber, where the shambles of Aurora’s statue stood.

Aurora had sacrificed everything to give the gift of life, true intelligence and meaning, to omnics. Omnics had awakened, as though from a dream, from their lives chained to servitude. Aurora had given them the knowledge of good and evil, the power to make their own decisions, and become true persons as precious as any human. Symmetra finally understood why the villagers had been so saddened by its damage, and was moved by Aurora’s story. Vishkar could fix it! It was only stone, she told Zen. She could build them a new temple, a new statue, anything they wanted!

Zenyatta responded that help could come in many forms. The history of the stones around them meant so much more than any new building. The statue of Aurora had been created by hands that loved her. No hard light substitute could mean as much…ever.

Symmetra had a lot to think about, and Zenyatta invited her to stay with him. He gave her a robe, and a meal. At first, Symmetra refused the offer. Vishkar paid for her meals, and she was no pilgrim! However…the colors were quite pretty. She relented, and for the first time in many years, she wore clothing not from Vishkar’s prim offices.

The next morning, she met with Zen again. She wanted to help, and what was she to do if not use Vishkar’s technology?!

Zenyatta responded by giving her a broom, and showing her where the villagers were cleaning the temple by hand. They were so ineffective! They moved stones by hand, swept with simple brooms. Yet, Symmetra found herself enjoying the work. Organizing, cleaning, sweating as humans had done for thousands of years. As they finished the work for the day, Zenyatta handed her a gift.

The monks here didn’t meditate, but rather used distinctive orbs to ponder. Orbs of Perception focused an omnic’s powers, and while rather useless to humans, were used for understanding. They could not make them hover like an omnic could, but they could feel. They could ponder. They could focus themselves around a single object and find peace. In this way, her mind could calm itself, and she could find the solution to what the villagers truly needed. This time, Satya didn’t protest. She meditated, and cradled the orb.

Over the next few days, Satya settled into life at the temple. She rose with them, ate with them, worked with them, and centered herself on the Orb of Perception. She went into the village with Zenyatta to serve food to the hungry, and while the villagers were still hostile to her, Zenyatta stood beside her. Grudgingly, the villagers began to accept Satya. She certainly wasn’t acting like a soulless Vishkar Architech.

Satya spent her evenings with Zen. They talked about her childhood, growing up within Vishkar, and the faith she had abandoned when Vishkar had taken her. Zen introduced her to the concept of Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese concept centering around focusing on the earthly impermanence of things. Appreciate all that is imperfect, for in imperfection is beauty. Scars tell stories of love and loss, missing eyes and limbs tell of resilience. Imperfection is what makes life worth living. Some might have seen the removal of her arm as imperfection…and yet it was beautiful.

On the next evening, Zen introduced her to Kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer to make unique and beautiful pieces. Even though a bowl is shattered, it is that shattering that makes it beautiful.

Satya realized what she had to do.

Over the next few days, Satya reassembled the statue of Aurora. Instead of merely piecing it back together, she glued the pieces with hard light. The veins of Aurora’s shattering glowed with light, yellow, imperfect but beautiful in its imperfection. Satya presented the statue to the village not in her corporate attire, but in the robe Zenyatta had gifted her.

Governor Grewal, who had been so hostile to her, was in shock. The villagers were moved, and Zenyatta gifted Satya with the robe she wore and incense…she was always welcome at the temple. Sanjay was impressed with her work, but wondered why she had chosen yellow instead of the corporation’s signature blue. While blue was a beautiful color, Symmetra told him, she had chosen yellow for warmth. Love was warmth, and she had made this with love. She wanted others to feel it when they looked at the statue.

Symmetra told Sanjay that Vishkar could do more, and be more, if they acted more like this. Vishkar needed love, and empathy, and to find beauty in imperfections rather than demanding everything be brought to their rigorous standards. Sanjay admitted, grudgingly, that she was probably right.

Symmetra continues to maintain a relationship with Zenyatta to this day, and Zenyatta views her, affectionately, as one of his students.

Symmetra still seems to tow the company line with Vishkar. Her interactions with Ana, Ashe and others reflect that she will still parrot Vishkar’s tagline of improving an imperfect world. However, her interaction with Hanzo hints that she may be seeking a way out. She asks why he left his organization, and he replied that he hated the man they made him. When Symmetra asks how he knew he did the right thing, Hanzo says he didn’t. She also asks Sombra about Vishkar’s dealings with LumeriCo…but when Sombra jokes about her escaping her cage, Symmetra shuts down the conversation.

Symmetra despises chaos. She shows disgust in her interactions with Junkrat and Junker Queen, and remarks how shocked she is Torbjorn’s inventions actually function. Likewise, she shows admiration for snowflakes with Mei. Symmetra has close friendships with Niran, who teases her about his chaotic Academy habits, and Zenyatta, who encourages her growth.

Symmetra is a person still discovering herself. She was severed from her family, and largely from her culture, by a predatory corporation. While Vishkar has made her into a successful scientist and expanded her education beyond her wildest dreams…they also robbed her of much of her humanity. She is clawing it back through her friendships with Zenyatta and Lifeweaver, and slowly growing into a person separate from the corporate drone Vishkar wants her to be.

Symmetra is a soul aching for empathy and beauty, in a world where so much of it has been sanitized in the name of efficiency. She is a reminder to us all that imperfections aren’t to be eliminated…and technical advances may come at the cost of the artist if we are not careful.

(Taken from facebook group "Deadlock gang: women of Overwatch from a member there)

#ow2 #overwatch 2 #overwatch #symmetra #lore #main #satya #lifeveawer #satya vaswani #overwatch fanart

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vro0m · 1 year ago

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vro0m’s rewatch - 168/332

2016 Australian GP

Alright. After these few months of hiatus on my side it is time to get back to our project and watch the 2016 season. As always, let’s set some context before we start.

Team changes :

Surprisingly we are back to 11 teams? Ohhhh Haas is joining the competition! Tbh I didn’t even notice they weren’t there until now lol.

RBR and Toro Rosso stopped working with Renault (remember the drama at the beginning of the 2015 season? no surprise there) but they actually… are still… using Renault engines? except they’re called TAG heuer? Very confused. Anyway Toro Rosso is back on a Ferrari engine so that’s also weird.

Renault is however back as a team as they purchased Lotus

Marussia is now called Manor Racing and are now using Mercedes PUs

Driver changes :

So Haas is joining with Grosjean and Gutierrez. In 2015 Grosjean was with Lotus and Gutierrez was a reserve driver.

Renault hired Joylon Palmer as a new F1 driver and originally he was supposed to race alongside Maldonado who had a contract with Lotus. But in the end, his sponsors were “unable to fulfil their contractual obligations to the team” and he was replaced by Magnussen who had a contract with McLaren in 2015, as a reserve driver I believe.

Marussia/Manor also changed their line-up and started with two rookies which is a bold move : Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto (literally never heard his name).

There was also mid-season stuff but we’ll talk about it as it happens.

So all in all here’s how we’re starting the season :

Ferrari : Seb + Raikkonen

Force India : Perez + Hulkenberrg

Haas : Grosjean + Gutierrez

McLaren : Alonso + Jenson

Mercedes : Nico + Lewis

Manor : Haryanto + Wehrlein

RedBull : Ricciardo + Kvyat

Renault : Magnussen + Palmer

Sauber : Ericsson + Nasr

Toro Rosso : Verstappen + Sainz

Williams : Massa + Valtteri

Calendar changes :

We are in for no less than 21 races this time. Watching these seasons is obviously gonna get longer and longer, I hope you are patient.

The European GP is back on the calendar but is now happening in Baku rather than Valencia.

The German GP is back on the calendar.

The order is also changed with the Russian GP happening earlier in the year and the Malaysian GP happening later in the year which feels weird but makes sense.

Rule changes :

From Monaco onward the drivers are allowed to change helmet designs for one weekend per season

Some ridiculous change was implemented to artificially make the car louder because idiotic fans at the time criticised the new engines for not being noisy enough apparently

The teams now have more tokens to develop the PUs

The pre-season tests were reduced from 3 to 2

New “ultrasoft” tyres for street circuits, and Pirelli is now bringing 3 different dry tyres instead of 2 : the third one (the softest available for the weekend) is only given to the teams reaching Q3 and then the drivers have to choose what 10 tyre sets they want for the race and have to use 2 different compounds during the race

The stewards have more power to enforce track limits

Any driver that causes an aborted start has to start from the pit lane

The gearbox penalties are now applied in the order in which they were given

The VSC is now also used during FPs

The drivers are now able to use DRS as soon as the VSC period is ended rather than having to wait 2 laps for it to be activated again

The quali format was revised just 2 weeks before the season began! However the new format was abandoned just 2 GP in because it was heavily criticised. I don’t exactly know what it was, we will learn about it as we go.

The stewards have more power to monitor radio comms in an attempt to end coded messages and driver coaching. There was apparently a controversy about it during the season though and it was later relaxed a bit but we will also see that as we go.

The superlicence was also made more difficult to apply for because of the controversial way Max got his at 16 after only 1 F3 season.

And that’s it for preseason context. Let’s get started!

Oh funny! I can see Lewis doing that thing that surprised everyone in the 2023 Canadian GP in the skysports opening, you know, the head shaking?

They are taking the 2016 class photo. And already they are saying that the new quali format was scrapped after one race. The team principals were unanimous about it. But it still needs to be voted by the commission. Renault still thinks they can tweak it to make it work. Hill says the first session was the most interesting when it should be the other way around. Lewis is on pole though ! Hill says it immediately puts to rest any rumour, like he was spreading, that Nico might have the upper hand after the end of the last season. Let's see exactly what this new format was about with the quali report.

So after 7 minutes in Q1 the slowest driver was eliminated. Nico went wide, but after 7 minutes Wehrlein was the one at the bottom. Then Kvyat was also sent away. People are shaking their heads in the garages. Q2. Magnussen was the next one out, followed by Jenson, and Alonso. Apparently there was a lot of time with no cars on track. Q3, Seb got provisional pole but Lewis did better. We hear a radio message saying "we are not planning to go out" with 4 minutes to go. Zero cars on track. The drivers are walking around in the pit lane. Nobody is happy with this. It makes no sense.

Then we hear all the TPs saying it's shit. Then Lewis, with a gorgeous pair of clear glasses, says "Let's find out what the fans want. Has anyone asked?"

In the end, the starting grid goes Lewis, Nico, Seb, Raikkonen, Max, Massa, Sainz, Ricciardo, Perez, Hulkenberg.

Horner says himself the TPs are a "pretty dysfunctional group" but for once they were unanimous about it. They decided to go back to what it was the previous years. He says the problem is not the quali format. But Ted wonders if they know what it is the fans want, which is closer racing. Horner, in a rare good moment, says the issue is each team is trying to protect their own competitiveness when they need to look at the bigger picture. And so he thinks it should be taken out of the teams' hands and someone else should be deciding. But basically, as Hill explains, what he's rooting for is Bernie making the decisions, and Bernie is his friend. So. Yeah.

Hill says Nico has been defensive in his interviews. (But I'm wary of his opinions because he's an idiot.) And AGAIN they mention Lewis spending maybe too much time on catwalks or red carpets but AGAIN they admit he proved them wrong already this weekend. Istg. Like I said the other day about the 2023 season they've been saying this for decades and they just keep going even though he's shown them otherwise time and time again.

Lewis says getting pole was incredible and thanks the crowd. He says he hopes the race will be more exciting for them than it was yesterday. Johnny asks if he's worried about any car behind him but he says he's only looking forward.

There's a segment about Mercedes' filming day.

Johnny is there. He finds Lewis. "There he is! Having fun?" he asks. There's a pause. "Does it look like it?" Lewis says with a smile. It's not his favourite time of the year I think. Johnny asks him what it is he needs to drive a car fast. "I'm surprised you're asking me that question," he says. He then answers he thinks it's because he's willing to go further than most.

The filming is happening in the W07, so the 2016 car. "It's dancing about all the time," Lewis says from the cockpit. "It's just like targeting, like with a gun." I have zero idea what that means. When he's asked if he's happy to be in the car, he says it's amazing.

As we see Lewis and Nico side by side in the background talking with someone during the car reveal, Simon says things seem pretty relaxed here. Mercedes again seems competitive although the question of how Ferrari will fare against them remains.

Lewis was asked if anything less than winning a WDC would be a failure to him now. He says it's not all about winning although naturally that's their goal. "It's about the journey as well." We see him chatting, smiling, with Nico.

"How much do you enjoy the psychological games with your teammate and how much is mischief?" Simon asked Nico during their shared interview. "Physically harder and harder," Nico says. Lewis agrees. "We're getting older," Nico continues. "Crazy, yeah," Lewis adds. "I've seen some grey hairs on you. So yeah, you know how it is." Nico smiles wide, Toto is standing between them. "You're only 6 months behind me, man." Nico and Toto are still smiling while Lewis is deadpan. They want it to be fun and relaxed but that's not really how it feels. Back to the part of the interview where Lewis is alone. Simon asks if he enjoys bickering with someone he's known and raced against for so long. Lewis reiterates that ever since he was young he's honestly never tried to play any games. He's dead serious throughout these snippets btw. Not smiling. Not warm. Not friendly. Dead serious. Again with the "do your talking on the track" from Anthony. He says of course they have to do these interviews and things are being taken literally and twisted. He says there are pictures of him smiling in press conferences while Nico is thinking about something and has a straight face (they illustrate it with a moment from the 2015 US GP press conf) "and they say there's something going on, you know… [...] People like 'oh this is mind games'."

Meanwhile Nico is smiling and teasing. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses he says, and of course he knows Lewis very well now. But, he adds, the most important thing is for him to get the job done and perform at his best.

Lewis on his side says he has mount everest to climb this year. People are gonna be pulling to make him slip and get ahead. He says he'll have to work harder than he's ever worked in his life to stay ahead because every year they get stronger. He talks about these "youngins" coming while he's getting older.

Now he cracks a smile while we cut to a serious Nico. Lewis has beaten him in the past few years so, he admits, the odds are in his favour. "And it's gonna be tough to beat him, he's done better, you know, recently." But that's the kind of challenge he loves. They're already asking Lewis if the championship is his, they haven't even started racing yet. Lewis shuts it down. "The championship is never yours until you've actually got it and taken it home."

On the grid, Brundle asks Niki if his boys are allowed to fight even if it means they end up in the boonies. Niki says they are not allowed to end up "anywhere", they can fight each other (I think? I don't understand what he's saying very well) but they have to watch Sebastian and their tyres. Brundle says they are now allowed to talk about strategy over the radio. Niki basically says they already fucked up with the quali change so it's good they quickly went back on their decision about that. Brundle asks if he's concerned about the Ferraris. "You never know." The tyres are new, it's hot, it's an open race.

It's time for the first race of the season.

Formation lap. They changed the starting procedure from two clutches to one clutch. I have no idea what it means but it might be relevant to some botched start so let's mention it.

And while they're lining up on the grid once again one RedBull is stopped right in the middle of it. It's Kyvat. He's stranded behind the safety car. What now? Yep. The lights are flashing on and off. It's a second formation lap. The marshals run to Kvyat. He's confused about the procedure. He's out of the car running around in the garage, unsure what he's supposed to do.

Here we go.

They are racing!

OH MY GOD. SEB IMMEDIATELY GETS HIMSELF BETWEEN THE TWO MERCS! AND HE TAKES THE LEAD WHILE RAIKKONEN FINDS HIMSELF IN P2 IN THE FIRST CORNER! Ohhhhh the Ferraris are HERE. Let's go! Lewis has fallen down though. It's Nico in P3. Lewis is battling a Williams. Unbelievable! As Brundle notes though, the problem is probably mostly due to the start procedure change. The mercs struggled to get away. Magnussen has a puncture. And that's lap one. The order now goes Seb, Raikkonen, Nico, Max, Massa, Lewis, Sainz, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo and Alonso.

Gutierrez, P20, reports problems with his engine. Lewis is just half a second away from Massa now but Sainz is also less than a second behind him. Lewis attacks! And he overtakes Massa from the outside! And we get the start replay. Seb's start was really outstanding and then Lewis got caught between Nico and the side of the track (not by Nico's fault, just racing) and that's how he fell further back. Nico is closing on Raikkonen now. Meanwhile Lewis is half a second away from Max. He takes a look but the straight isn't long enough to attack yet. 0.3. But he's stuck behind him! The tyres are graining.

It's lap 10. Ricciardo overtakes Massa right in front of the grandstands, the crowd is loving it. Lewis : "I can't get past the guy". Nico is also still behind Raikkonen. Lewis is told on the radio to extend this stint. Some pitting in the midfield. Valtteri overtakes Palmer for P11. And Nico pits! Ricciardo and Alonso are also in the pits. Nico is out in front of Hulkenberg. And Lewis is heard on the radio saying there must be another strategy as he can't stay stuck behind Max and Bono says, again, they're trying to go longer. But now if he pits, or if Max pits, they'd end up behind Hulkenberg. Seb pits from the lead. He's out in front of Nico but it's so close and Nico attacks! Seb defends! Damn that's RACING. Raikkonen is asking to be boxed. Max has pitted. He overtakes Valtteri for P9. Nico sets the fastest lap. Verstappen overtakes Jenson for P8. And Seb is catching Lewis now. And he overtakes him for P2. Now what. They went long and they are a full pit stop down on them. Nico is getting close as well. They are on different strategies but Lewis is making no move to let him go, of course. Eventually he pits. Raikkonen is also there. Raikkonen gets the supersoft so you wonder why they made him go longer. Lewis, on the other hand, gets the medium as we expected. He's gonna hope to get to the end. He's out in front of Massa in P– oh it's a crash! Gutierrez is in the gravel. OH GOD THERE'S A CAR UPSIDE DOWN?! It's Alonso! He's out. But he's not okay. He's limping and then he folds over himself with his hands on his knees, as Gutierrez exits his car. Gutierrez jogs to him as Alonso starts to walk again. They shake hands. The marshals check on him as he leaves the gravel. Oh my god. The car is. I don't know how to describe that. Shredded. You wouldn't be able to tell it was a car if it wasn't for the wheels sticking out at weird angles. Seriously. I think it's missing the front part? Unbelievable. How did Alonso walk away from that? Loads of debris on track as well, of course the safety car has been deployed. Several cars pit, expectedly. Here's the replay of the crash. Holy shit. I don't even know how to paint that picture. Alonso is coming up behind Gutierrez. He decided to switch sides. His front right catches on Gutierrez rear left. The axle immediately breaks which sends him violently into the barriers while Gutierrez gets a rear puncture that sends him spinning. All the other wheels of Alonso's car break in the crash. The car is sent sliding into the gravel trap. The sudden deceleration sends the car spinning upon it's axis. Full barrel roll and a half in the air above the gravel trap. It lands kind of halfway upside down on the rear part of the cockpit (thankfully not the front part, I mean he'd have. Lost his head. Possibly.) It bounces back up and finds itself almost upright and then I can't see anymore because there's so much debris, gravel, dust and smoke in the way. The race is redflagged.

So it's lap 19. Seb is in the lead, followed by Nico, Raikkonen, Daniel, Verstappen, Sainz, Lewis, Massa, Grosjean and Hulkenberg for the top 10. It's terrible for Merc's strategy : they kept Lewis out for nothing. He pitted, found himself down the field, and now everybody can change tyres and it will have been for nothing. We won't know how that strategy would have played out. We see Alonso walking back past his wreck of a car. He's taken the helmet off and is giving thumbs up to the crowd that applauds him. It's unbelievable that he's okay. Really. Lewis is out of the car. Walking away with his helmet on. We hear Gutierrez confirm on radio he is okay and immediately asking "is he okay?" The wreck is on the crane now and the only wheels left are folded and dangling beneath it, and the left side pod is entirely missing. Vaporised upon impact.

They change Lewis' front wing. Now Lewis is on the pit wall talking with his engineers. We have a restart time. They're getting ready to go again.

The accident prompts talk of the halo. Crofty wonders if it would have trapped Alonso in the car. It would have saved his head if he'd landed on the front part of his car rather than the rear, man. Brundle says when he crashed he found himself in a similar position as Alonso and it would have been an issue especially if the car had been on fire.

Lewis is still on mediums. So they intend to go on with this strategy. Nico has been put on the mediums. The Ferraris are on supersofts… They will have to stop again. Mmh. Interesting.

And they go again, under safety car for a lap. Seb backs them up. Here we go. Verstappen overtakes Ricciardo. Seb is already getting away, 1.3 ahead after 1 lap. Raikkonen is in the pits?! On the radio we hear him say he broke something. Oh yeah, it's smoking. As soon as he slows down it catches on fire. It's over for him. Lewis is closing on Sainz. But he's 10 seconds behind Nico. He needs to get moving. At the front, Seb is trying to get a gap big enough to pit. Ericsson gets a drive through because his team was working on his car too late after the restart signal.

It's lap 30. Seb is 3.1 seconds in the lead. Nico, Daniel, Verstappen, Sainz, Lewis still P6, Massa, Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Valtteri for the top 10. Jenson pits. Crofty notes he's the first one of supersofts to do so. Lewis is wheel to wheel with Sainz but he’s on the outside and can't overtake him still. Sainz says he needs to stop. He pits. He goes again. He's out in P12. People are switching to the medium as the track temperature goes down. Ted says Nico is winning this race. Verstappen pits as well, but nobody was ready and it's a loooong one. He's down in P12. Crofty thinks he might have made the call himself. Anyway Lewis up in P4. Max : "How many times do I have to say I’ve got problems with my tyres? I wanted to pit first." Apparently he'd been asking for a tyre change for a while and possibly he just went for it as they wouldn't pit him? Ballsy. Ferrari need to pit Seb. Because the Mercs don't necessarily need to stop again. And Nico is only 1.1 behind Seb. And here we go, he pits. It's the softs and ohhh they struggle to put them on! That's bad for Seb! 5.6 stop! He's out ahead of Massa in P4. It means he's chasing Lewis now. Sainz and Verstappen are basically on Palmer trying to overtake for P9. "Can I try to get past?" Max asks. "Yes," is the answer. Ohhh my god I would be so stressed if I was them because now they're chasing each other and it's very close. In a very amused voice, Crofty notes we've already heard Max's colourful language this race and he expects more over the radio now. "Let me try because this takes too long," he says. "Let's do it," the engineer answers. But Sainz isn't told to move aside. Meanwhile Lewis is gaining over Ricciardo.

Lap 40. Nico is 9 seconds ahead of Daniel, himself just 1.2 ahead of Lewis. Then come Seb, 8 seconds down, Massa, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Valtteri, Palmer, and it's the two Toro Rossos still fighting each other. Verstappen : "Come on we have to do something." Sainz is told to push. "I am pushing. Don't tell me to push." He's told otherwise they will swap next lap. Oh and Ericsson is really slow on track now, as we cut to images of Alonso, all smiles, walking around the paddock. Max attacks, Sainz locks up. The positions don't change. Sainz is actively defending against Max. Franz Tost shakes his head as he watches on. And now, Lewis has DRS over Daniel. Let's go. 0.4. 0.2. And it's done. 10 seconds to catch Nico. And Sainz FINALLY overtakes Palmer. Verstappen tries to follow and he's wheel to wheel with him down the straight. He just about makes it. Daniel pits from P3, out in P5. Verstappen chases Sainz. Ricciardo overtakes Massa for P4. Lewis is not closing on Nico… Verstappen : "Always when I’m in front I’m pulling away, now you don’t let me pass, it’s a fucking joke, really."

Lap 50. Lewis is still 10 seconds off Nico, Seb 3.7 off him. Then Daniel, Massa, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Valtteri, Sainz, and Verstappen. But suddenly, less than a lap later, Lewis is 8.2 away and Seb 2.8 behind him. Perez is told his brake wear is critical and he won't be able to make it to the end if he keeps it up. And Lewis makes a mistake, he outbrakes himself, and Seb is right behind him. 0.6. 0.5. Phew. Oh. Verstappen spun. Ohhh they made contact. Yeah well. Not surprised. Sainz locked up and Max hit him. Back to the front. Seb is half a second behind still. 3 laps to go. OH AND SEB LOCKED UP AND GOES DEEP! He went on the grass and that ends the chase. Lewis is 5 seconds away now. He apologises over radio.

And it's the end of the race!

Nico, Lewis, Seb.

Lewis and Nico briefly hug as they get out of their cars. Ohhh. Seb goes to Lewis as he dries his hair. He talks to him. Then Lewis takes a step away with a big grin as Seb throws his cap at him. Cheeky.

They walk away talking, while Nico is left behind.

They talk on the way to the podium. Seb elbows him.

Nico for some reason hugs Mark Webber who's doing the podium interviews. Lewis dumps champagne on him as he talks to the crowd.

And Seb dumps his on Mark.

Lewis says the team has done a great job but it was tricky out there. He loves that they had to come back from "far behind". Glad that no one was injured in the crash as well. He says it's impossible to follow around here. But a great result for the team. Seb asks Webber if he wants more champagne. Webber says he gets drunk really fast these days and Seb says "I know, I know you do, and then you start singing summer '69, remember?" Nico and Lewis are talking during his interview.

Niki says they wanted competition but that's too much competition! But he's happy with the result. He doesn't know what would have happened without the red flag, if it was in their favour or not. He refuses to speculate. He thinks the bad start was indeed due to the new procedure.

Also noteworthy : Haas managed to score points in their first ever race.

Oh okay so they've already decided to introduce the halo in 2017 so that's why they're talking about it so much (no they didn't? i don't know why i wrote that? was it supposed to be the case and in the end they didn't or did i get that wrong?) The ex-drivers seem to mostly think it's a bad idea but Jenson says it's a good thing.

Alonso is not blaming anyone for the crash and he's just happy to be here.

Lewis is happy with his damage limitation. He doesn't think the issue at the start was due to the procedure but possibly wheelspin. He says the start itself wasn't "shocking, wasn't the worst" but then he got pushed off by Nico into turn 1 and then he lost ground and he's grateful he was able to recover. The journalist says Mercedes did an awful lot of work on the medium tyres over the winter and did that win them the race? He nods.

He says the hard thing is to know how long and how hard you can lean on your tyres. He says when he had 20 laps left he thought he wouldn't make it because they started sliding but they kept going. Then he locked up at some point and Sebastian was "on his tail" and after that it was so slippery. He tells about it all with the most childlike smile and enjoyment.

He says the team did a great job with the strategy. He says they did expect Ferrari to be close, but he says Nico doesn't seem to think he had trouble following them so it'll be interesting. He interrupts himself. "You know once Sebastian was behind me," his eyes crinkle, "I was excited because I was having a race with Sebastian you know but unfortunately this track doesn't allow you to have serious battles”.

Nico says he had a good start but Seb had a flying start. He also says he never looked behind him, didn't know someone was there, didn't feel contact with Lewis and apologises for anything he might have been a part of there.

They also talk about the fight between Max and Sainz and finally the journalists are a bit critical in that they say it shows that Max is young because he lost his head a bit and if he'd been cooler he might have gotten further.

Absolutely losing it at Ted mentioning Iñaki Rueda seen holding his head on the pit wall after the race realising he'd fucked up their strategy.

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2016 #2016 australian gp

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lloydlawcollege · 6 months ago

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An Overview of Contract Law, India

Explore the fundamentals of Contract Law as defined by the Indian Contract Act, 1872. This blog offers a comprehensive overview of the Act, detailing its key provisions and principles that govern legal agreements in India. Learn about the essentials of forming, enforcing, and interpreting contracts, including essential elements like offer, acceptance, consideration, and legality. Whether you're a student, professional, or someone interested in legal frameworks, this guide will help you understand how contracts are managed and regulated in India.

#Contract Law #Contract Act #Legal Contracts #Legal Agreements #Breach of Contract #Law Education

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caspi2305 · 2 days ago

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Is Blockchain the Answer to BookMyShow's Woes?

As matters are investigated and discussed, the company is considering the cancellation of tickets that are being sold under the table. But can blockchain be the answer in the long run?

On September 22, the platform announced the sale of Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres' 2025 India leg priced between INR 3,500 and INR 35,000. Over 1.3 crore fans vied for a limited 1.5 lakh tickets to attend one of the three Mumbai shows due in January 2025. Fans complained of long waiting lists, site crashes and alleged foul play since resellers began selling tickets before they were released on the official site.

"I have just been crying. All those people hoarding the tickets just to resell them for more money. Bhagwan maaf nahi karega (crying emojis)," one angry fan wrote,

As matters are investigated and discussed, the company is considering canceling tickets that are being sold under the table.

According to the World Economic Forum, the live events industry annually suffers a loss of over USD one billion due to ticket fraud. Allied Market Research notes that the global music event market size is estimated to touch USD 481.4 billion by 2031 from USD 255.6 billion in 2019.

Coldplay is just the beginning, not the end. Lists of upcoming concerts/performances/festivals in India include those of Dua Lipa, Diljit Dosanjh, Bryan Adams, Alan Walker, and Cigarettes After Sex.

Previously, fans complained having a similair reselling experience when buying tickets for Dosanjh's upcoming concerts on Zomato Live. So, the question arises, can anything be done to prevent another episode of ticket scalping? Blockchain, combined with NFTs and user Verified Identity, could be the key to eliminating the risks of counterfeiting and fraud in the entertainment industry. According to Saurabh Gupta, co-founder and CEO, VeriSmart AI, blockchain can help "create a decentralised, tamper-proof ledger where each ticket appears as unique and verifiable digital assets."

"Fans can purchase tickets with confidence, knowing that they are authentic and traceable back to the original sale," shares Rahul Maradiya, co-founder and global CEO, CIFDAQ.

With the capping of bulk black ticketing or hoarding of tickets, platforms could still allow ticket resale or ownership transfer. This could be done by updating the verified identity credentials linked to the tickets directly on the same platform. "Through smart contracts, event organizers can enforce resale limits, capping ticket prices to prevent scalping," shares Edul Patel, CEO, Mudrex. According to AWS, blockchain and its complementary technologies could enable access to events at a lower and more transparent cost by optimizing the resale process, promoting collaborative competition among sellers, and providing a more holistic experience for the consumer. Blockchain adoption has seen a smoother and fairer process in several events. For Patel, using a 'blockchain-based ticketing system is not a new concept.' But is the technology capable enough to handle the scale? "Multiple events of different scales and sizes like UEFA Euro 2020, India VS Pakistan T20 World Cup and many more events such as music festivals, tournaments and others that have used blockchain technology for ticketing," shares Patel.

Furthermore, Layer 2 solutions, Decentralized Applications (dApps), Load Balancing Techniques, and Dynamic Scalability can help cope with high transaction volumes.

According to industry players, while blockchain may lead to an initial increase in upfront costs for technology, development, and maintenance, it can be offset in the long run. "Over time, the efficiency, transparency, and enhanced fan engagement offered by blockchain can outweigh the initial costs, making it a cost-effective solution for both companies and consumers in the long run, " shares Patel. According to Allied Market Research, the global live events industry market is projected to reach USD 1.2 trillion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 5.9 per cent from 2023 to 2032. "Tickets can be resold safely without scalpers or bots inflating their prices. The technology is scalable enough to handle massive events like the Coldplay concert, ensuring that ticketing is reliable and efficient. Up to millions of tickets would be processed without complications," notes Gupta.

CIFDAQ#BITCOIN#CRYPTOINVESTING#BLOCKCHAIN#WEB3COMMUNITY

www.cifdaq.com

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monukumarefr · 9 days ago

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Legal Assistance for Breach of Contract in India: Protecting Your Business Interests | Legal Remedies for Contract Breach in India | Cross Border Contract Disputes in India

In the fast-moving business world, contracts are the foundation on which trust and dependability between parties stand. However, when one of the parties has failed to keep their promise, a breach of contract could very well give rise to serious financial and operational problems. Companies operating in India need to understand how breach of contract disputes work and how to seek legal remedies at the earliest possible opportunity. The service page discusses various ways through which foreign and domestic companies in India can protect business interests in the event of a breach of contract.

#business protection in legal disputes India #cross-border dispute resolution India #enforcing contracts in India #Indian Contract Act breach remedies #managing contractual violations India #mediation for cross-border contract issues

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casper0510 · 2 days ago

Text

Is Blockchain the Answer to BookMyShow's Woes?

As matters are investigated and discussed, the company is considering the cancellation of tickets that are being sold under the table. But can blockchain be the answer in the long run?

"I have just been crying. All those people hoarding the tickets just to resell them for more money. Bhagwan maaf nahi karega (crying emojis)," one angry fan wrote,

As matters are investigated and discussed, the company is considering canceling tickets that are being sold under the table.

Coldplay is just the beginning, not the end. Lists of upcoming concerts/performances/festivals in India include those of Dua Lipa, Diljit Dosanjh, Bryan Adams, Alan Walker, and Cigarettes After Sex.

"Fans can purchase tickets with confidence, knowing that they are authentic and traceable back to the original sale," shares Rahul Maradiya, co-founder and global CEO, CIFDAQ.

Furthermore, Layer 2 solutions, Decentralized Applications (dApps), Load Balancing Techniques, and Dynamic Scalability can help cope with high transaction volumes.

CIFDAQ#BITCOIN#CRYPTOINVESTING#BLOCKCHAIN#WEB3COMMUNITY

www.cifdaq.com

0 notes

nursingscience · 5 days ago

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𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗔𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔

Medical malpractice remains a topic of significant concern in any healthcare system, and India is no exception. It is generally defined as an act of negligence committed by a healthcare provider, such as a doctor or nurse, who fails to provide the standard of care expected of them. This negligence may entail performing an act that a skilled medical provider would not commit or failing to do something a competent medical provider would have done. The legal framework in India has attempted to address medical malpractice, offering various avenues of recourse for patients while holding medical professionals accountable to an acceptable standard of care.

𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔

Medical malpractice revolves around the critical concept of negligence, which is evaluated based on three fundamental components.

Firstly, there must exist a duty of care owed by the doctor or healthcare provider to the patient, obligating the professional to act in the patient's best interest.

Secondly, the professional must have breached this duty by failing to meet the standard of care prescribed by the law.

Lastly, the breach of duty must have resulted in damage that is both legally recognizable and causally connected to the negligent act. If any of these three elements are absent, there can be no valid cause of action for medical malpractice in a court of law.

Malpractice can range from relatively minor lapses such as failing to raise the rails of a hospital bed to far more serious issues, like performing a complex surgery incorrectly. Additionally, problems can arise concerning informed consent, which requires healthcare providers to fully inform patients about the treatment, risks, and alternatives before proceeding with any medical procedure. In the absence of such informed consent, medical professionals may face legal claims even if no negligence is established during the procedure.

𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗔𝗟 𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔

India offers several legal avenues for patients seeking redress in cases of medical malpractice. These include proceedings before consumer courts, medical councils, civil courts, and, in rare situations, criminal courts. Each of these mechanisms serves distinct purposes, and patients can choose the most appropriate recourse depending on their circumstances and grievances.

1..Medical Councils: Statutory medical councils were created to govern and enforce ethical standards in the medical profession. Patients can file complaints against medical professionals with these councils if they believe ethical violations have occurred. However, the jurisdiction of medical councils is limited to ethical matters, and they lack the authority to grant compensation or impose criminal penalties. The councils may impose disciplinary actions against healthcare providers, such as temporarily or permanently canceling their medical registrations. Yet, the process of filing complaints in medical councils comes with challenges. For instance, hearings are conducted with limited participation from both parties, and the lack of legal representation tilts the preliminary assessment in favor of the medical professional. Furthermore, the councils meet infrequently, leading to delays and inefficiency.

2..Consumer Courts: The Consumer Protection Act of India provides an accessible route for patients to file complaints against medical professionals for negligence. It defines services rendered by medical practitioners, except those offered free of charge or under a contract of personal service, as falling within the scope of "services" under the Act. Patients can file claims in consumer courts under the Act, seeking monetary compensation for malpractice.

The jurisdiction of consumer courts is tiered according to the monetary value of claims: District Consumer Forums handle cases up to ₹20 lakhs, State Commissions deal with cases between ₹20 lakhs and ₹1 crore, and the National Commission takes up claims exceeding ₹1 crore.

Filing complaints in these courts is relatively straightforward, as they require no complicated legal filing procedures, and decisions in consumer courts tend to be faster than in traditional civil or criminal courts. However, these courts are limited to awarding monetary compensation and do not have the jurisdiction to impose any disciplinary or ethical penalties on medical providers.

3..Civil Courts: Patients may also seek redress for malpractice in civil courts by filing tort claims against medical professionals. However, this avenue is considered less practical due to India's overburdened judicial system. Civil cases often drag on for several years, sometimes taking 10 to 15 years to reach a resolution. As such, the long duration and the high litigation costs associated with civil courts deter many patients from pursuing their complaints through this mechanism.

4..Criminal Courts: Criminal negligence cases against healthcare providers are rare in India and require a higher burden of proof compared to civil cases or consumer courts. Medical professionals are typically protected under Indian law, provided they perform their duties in good faith and without gross negligence. Only in exceptional cases where gross negligence is evident—such as intentionally harming a patient—do criminal courts intervene. While this form of legal action can serve as a measure of accountability, it is advised that patients resort to criminal courts only in extraordinary circumstances.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗗𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔

Despite the various mechanisms for patients to seek legal recourse, addressing medical malpractice in India is far from straightforward. One of the primary challenges is the lack of awareness among patients about their rights and available remedies. Many patients are unaware of the mechanisms for lodging complaints and the potential outcomes of legal action.

Additionally, the inefficiency of the redressal systems, particularly medical councils and civil courts, further undermines the ability of patients to seek timely and effective justice.

Another significant issue is the imbalance of power between medical professionals and patients in malpractice proceedings. Patients, who are often laypersons with limited knowledge of medical procedures, must provide evidence of negligence in technical and scientific terms.

This imbalance is especially pronounced in medical council hearings, where legal representatives are prohibited, leaving patients at a disadvantage.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦' 𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗕𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦

To mitigate grievances related to medical malpractice, it is essential for patients in India to be informed about their rights and responsibilities. By understanding the standards of care they can reasonably expect, patients can advocate for themselves more effectively. Healthcare providers, in turn, should uphold the principles of transparency, informed consent, and diligent care to maintain the trust and safety of their patients.ConclusionMedical malpractice is a serious issue in India, and the legal system provides multiple avenues for patients to seek justice.

While consumer courts offer a more accessible route for compensation, medical councils have jurisdiction over ethical violations, and civil and criminal courts handle more severe or complex cases. However, challenges such as inefficiency, lengthy proceedings, and a lack of patient awareness often hinder effective resolution of complaints.

To address these limitations, efforts must be made to raise public awareness, improve judicial efficiency, and foster a culture of accountability in the healthcare system. Only then can a balance between patient rights and medical professionalism be achieved, ensuring ethical and competent medical care for all.

Daly Felicitus - [email protected]

Vol 1, PP6-7, F20E25B - UNBN 422903

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cryptoenthu · 5 days ago

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Is Blockchain the Answer to BookMyShow's Woes?

As matters are investigated and discussed, the company is considering the cancellation of tickets that are being sold under the table. But can blockchain be the answer in the long run?

"I have just been crying. All those people hoarding the tickets just to resell them for more money. Bhagwan maaf nahi karega (crying emojis)," one angry fan wrote.

As matters are investigated and discussed, the company is considering canceling tickets that are being sold under the table.

Coldplay is just the beginning, not the end. Lists of upcoming concerts/performances/festivals in India include those of Dua Lipa, Diljit Dosanjh, Bryan Adams, Alan Walker, and Cigarettes After Sex.

Previously, fans complained having a similair reselling experience when buying tickets for Dosanjh's upcoming concerts on Zomato Live.

So, the question arises, can anything be done to prevent another episode of ticket scalping? Blockchain, combined with NFTs and user Verified Identity, could be the key to eliminating the risks of counterfeiting and fraud in the entertainment industry. According to Saurabh Gupta, co-founder and CEO, VeriSmart AI, blockchain can help "create a decentralised, tamper-proof ledger where each ticket appears as unique and verifiable digital assets."

"Fans can purchase tickets with confidence, knowing that they are authentic and traceable back to the original sale," shares Rahul Maradiya, co-founder and global CEO, CIFDAQ.

According to AWS, blockchain and its complementary technologies could enable access to events at a lower and more transparent cost by optimizing the resale process, promoting collaborative competition among sellers, and providing a more holistic experience for the consumer.

Blockchain adoption has seen a smoother and fairer process in several events. For Patel, using a 'blockchain-based ticketing system is not a new concept.' But is the technology capable enough to handle the scale? "Multiple events of different scales and sizes like UEFA Euro 2020, India VS Pakistan T20 World Cup and many more events such as music festivals, tournaments and others that have used blockchain technology for ticketing," shares Patel.

Furthermore, Layer 2 solutions, Decentralized Applications (dApps), Load Balancing Techniques, and Dynamic Scalability can help cope with high transaction volumes.

According to Allied Market Research, the global live events industry market is projected to reach USD 1.2 trillion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 5.9 per cent from 2023 to 2032. "Tickets can be resold safely without scalpers or bots inflating their prices. The technology is scalable enough to handle massive events like the Coldplay concert, ensuring that ticketing is reliable and efficient. Up to millions of tickets would be processed without complications," notes Gupta.

www.cifdaq.com #CIFDAQ#BITCOIN#CRYPTOINVESTING

#cifdaq #crypto #blockchain

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cryptokid3 · 6 days ago

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Is Blockchain the Answer to BookMyShow's Woes?

As matters are investigated and discussed, the company is considering the cancellation of tickets that are being sold under the table. But can blockchain be the answer in the long run?

What could've been a rare opportunity to see one of the most popular British boy bands in history has left a sour taste in the Indian market? Buying tickets for INR 2,500, selling for INR 300,000– this money-minting acumen has landed entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow in troubled waters and left thousands of fans dejected and furious.On September 22, the platform announced the sale of Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres' 2025 India leg priced between INR 3,500 and INR 35,000. Over 1.3 crore fans vied for a limited 1.5 lakh tickets to attend one of the three Mumbai shows due in January 2025. Fans complained of long waiting lists, site crashes and alleged foul play since resellers began selling tickets before they were released on the official site. "I have just been crying. All those people hoarding the tickets just to resell them for more money. Bhagwan maaf nahi karega (crying emojis)," one angry fan wrote.

Soumya Bhatt shared on X that one agent claimed to have 300 tickets. Notably, BookMyShow has allowed for four tickets per user for the event. Many fell prey to fraudulent ticket schemes with one report suggesting the reselling ticket being priced at INR 900,000.As matters are investigated and discussed, the company is considering canceling tickets that are being sold under the table.According to the World Economic Forum, the live events industry annually suffers a loss of over USD one billion due to ticket fraud. Allied Market Research notes that the global music event market size is estimated to touch USD 481.4 billion by 2031 from USD 255.6 billion in 2019. Coldplay is just the beginning, not the end. Lists of upcoming concerts/performances/festivals in India include those of Dua Lipa, Diljit Dosanjh, Bryan Adams, Alan Walker, and Cigarettes After Sex. Previously, fans complained having a similair reselling experience when buying tickets for Dosanjh's upcoming concerts on Zomato Live. So, the question arises, can anything be done to prevent another episode of ticket scalping? Blockchain, combined with NFTs and user Verified Identity, could be the key to eliminating the risks of counterfeiting and fraud in the entertainment industry. According to Saurabh Gupta, co-founder and CEO, VeriSmart AI, blockchain can help "create a decentralised, tamper-proof ledger where each ticket appears as unique and verifiable digital assets."

"Fans can purchase tickets with confidence, knowing that they are authentic and traceable back to the original sale," shares Rahul Maradiya, co-founder and global CEO, CIFDAQ.With the capping of bulk black ticketing or hoarding of tickets, platforms could still allow ticket resale or ownership transfer. This could be done by updating the verified identity credentials linked to the tickets directly on the same platform. "Through smart contracts, event organizers can enforce resale limits, capping ticket prices to prevent scalping," shares Edul Patel, CEO, Mudrex. According to AWS, blockchain and its complementary technologies could enable access to events at a lower and more transparent cost by optimizing the resale process, promoting collaborative competition among sellers, and providing a more holistic experience for the consumer. Blockchain adoption has seen a smoother and fairer process in several events. For Patel, using a 'blockchain-based ticketing system is not a new concept.' But is the technology capable enough to handle the scale? "Multiple events of different scales and sizes like UEFA Euro 2020, India VS Pakistan T20 World Cup and many more events such as music festivals, tournaments and others that have used blockchain technology for ticketing," shares Patel.

"Insights from these implementations reveal that blockchain's decentralized nature significantly reduces the risks associated with traditional ticketing systems, where a single point of failure can lead to vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the transparency provided by blockchain allows both organizers and attendees to verify ticket authenticity in real-time, fostering a more secure environment for everyone involved," shares Maradiya. Furthermore, Layer 2 solutions, Decentralized Applications (dApps), Load Balancing Techniques, and Dynamic Scalability can help cope with high transaction volumes.According to industry players, while blockchain may lead to an initial increase in upfront costs for technology, development, and maintenance, it can be offset in the long run. "Over time, the efficiency, transparency, and enhanced fan engagement offered by blockchain can outweigh the initial costs, making it a cost-effective solution for both companies and consumers in the long run, " shares Patel. According to Allied Market Research, the global live events industry market is projected to reach USD 1.2 trillion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 5.9 per cent from 2023 to 2032. "Tickets can be resold safely without scalpers or bots inflating their prices. The technology is scalable enough to handle massive events like the Coldplay concert, ensuring that ticketing is reliable and efficient. Up to millions of tickets would be processed without complications," notes Gupta.

www.cifdaq.com

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hiimanshiiitsolutions · 6 days ago

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Free Job Alert Vacancy in Sivasagar, Assam: Exploring Opportunities for Career Growth

Sivasagar, a picturesque town nestled in the heart of Assam, is not just known for its historical significance and rich culture but is also an emerging hub for employment opportunities. With the growth of various industries and sectors in the region, residents and job seekers have numerous chances to build rewarding careers in Sivasagar. If you're looking for a way to stay updated with job openings in the area, a Free Job Alert Vacancy in Sivasagar, Assam could be your gateway to exciting career prospects.

Why Sivasagar? Sivasagar, located in the eastern part of India, offers a unique blend of natural beauty and industrial development. As Assam’s cultural and historical center, the region has seen a steady growth in various industries like oil and gas, agriculture, education, and public services. Many sectors in Sivasagar are actively recruiting, offering positions that suit a wide range of skill sets.

The increasing government initiatives and infrastructural development have paved the way for new job opportunities. Whether you're a fresher looking to make your mark or an experienced professional exploring career shifts, the job market in Sivasagar has something for everyone.

The Importance of Free Job Alerts A Free Job Alert Vacancy in Sivasagar, Assam, can significantly ease the job search process. The digital era has brought about numerous platforms that send job alerts directly to your email, SMS, or app notifications. These alerts keep you updated with the latest vacancies, ensuring you never miss an opportunity.

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Keep Your Skills Updated: Keep an eye on the skill sets required in the job alerts. If you find that a particular skill is frequently mentioned but you lack it, consider taking online courses to upgrade your expertise.

Conclusion Sivasagar, Assam, has a dynamic and ever-expanding job market. With a Free Job Alert Vacancy in Sivasagar, Assam, you can stay ahead of the curve and apply for jobs that match your career interests and skills. Whether you're aiming for a government job, a role in the private sector, or a remote freelance position, timely updates can help you discover the right opportunities at the right time.

Don't miss out on the chance to build your career in Sivasagar. Leverage free job alerts to find vacancies that align with your professional goals, and take the next step in your career journey today!

#Free Job Alert Vacancy in Sivasagar

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