Future Tense

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Because I'm flying tonight, first to Singapore and then to the Philippines (for the Cebu Literary Festival), I'm writing my weekly column on a Sunday and scheduling it for posting on Thursday. I'm writing in the future tense.

My neighborhood bank in Harlem has just reopened after a thorough renovation. When I told GH, in my Singaporean way, how much quicker the shiny new ATMs are, he reminded me that the machines have replaced human cashiers. Some people have lost their jobs. If the bank was less efficient before, it was because they did not wish to invest in people and open up more counters.

Automation has replaced human beings at a frightening speed and will continue to do so at a dizzying rate. As consumers we have adapted perhaps all too readily to the changes. Even if the machine revolution cannot be stopped, it can be slowed down, so that all of us have time to plan, train, and adjust, to figure out how to maximize the economic benefits and minimize the human cost. Social arrangements, including the distribution of benefits, have to be reconsidered, re-conceptualized, and re-engineered. The politics of change must be fought.

The power of technology to amplify both the best and the worst human instincts is daily brought home to us now. SP Blog has just published an essay by Ranjani Rao on the use of medical advancements in India to predict the sex of the fetus. Although the scientist in her celebrates the ingenious application of real-time polymerase chain reaction, she also dreads its consequences in a country that has traditionally favored males. Easy access to abortion in India does not always work to the favor of women.

Because I will be in the Philippines this weekend, I will be missing both Stonewall 50 in New York and Pink Dot 11 in Singapore. I wish it were not so, since both movements mean a great deal to me. Know that as I'm enjoying my lechon, reputedly best in Cebu, I will be looking to learn more about not only the past, but also the future. Happy Pride!

Jee Leong Koh
June 23, 2019

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