Before you chase me with your oil lamps, paraffin lighters, and acid from your backup batteries, hear me out. VIJEV here being a bit more serious for this piece.

South Africa is a relatively young democracy having to create its own path and way while it was already on the back foot long before we had our general election. The ANC is known for their struggle in changing our landscape from the old to the new but the leaders that once were are long gone and the ones that are still alive are indeed ageing faster than your prized Gorgonzola. Their style of thinking and application no longer applies. Compounding this they are resting on their laurels of fighting for freedom and thus have the permission to do whatever they like. They can do no wrong. They simply do not understand their place anymore. They don't even acknowledge it.

If you believe South Africa is leaderless then you need to be that leader. You need to be the person that is missing in this world.

That being said, trying to fix or increase our electricity isn’t the issue. Otherwise, it would have been fixed years ago. There’s a bigger issue at play.

The best analogy is of a drowning child. You can do all you want… try to feed the child, educate, and care for it but as long as it’s still drowning, it’s a lost cause. It’s even worse when the child doesn’t even know it’s drowning. There’s simply no awareness.

So we need to put aside our incessant need to fix what is already broken from a legacy era that was created for the few and do something that is much more profound…

ACCEPTANCE.

This means to first acknowledge that the child is indeed drowning - pull the child out of the water and THEN we can decide how to rehabilitate, grow and nurture.

What does this mean in the real world? It means to accept our shadows of the past as part of who we are, forgive and make peace with the past. It’s our own shadows as well that we need to accept. The versions of us that are still living in the past as a form of survival. If all we do is survive, we will never be able to thrive.

There’s no peace if we cannot heal first. Right now South Africa is circling in trauma and blame, depending on your background/age/political leanings:

* It’s apartheid’s fault or colonialism or more recently Jan van Riebeeck [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_van_Riebeeck] because he arrived on the shores of South Africa in 1652 causing all the damage we have today and are waiting for the beneficiaries of the descendants to give it all up to others so people can move on. OR

* It’s the new government / ANC / African’s fault because they are corrupt and don’t care about governance nor the competence to do anything properly, i.e. “mismanagement of funds” as we often see in the news. They are completely to blame for the decade-long loadshedding South Africa is now experiencing.

No one is taking responsibility for it now. In order to get past all of this, we need to accept where we are in life, history, and our circumstances. Everyone is now just a victim.

I don’t know which one is worse… The ones that leave the country and complain to others or the ones that are still living in South Africa complaining and unable to get out.

Why would you want it to fail? What are you trying to prove? That you’re right? That everything is going to capitulate? South Africa has been deemed a failed state since the 1990s. If you believe in failure, then it will become true. What you say will become true.

We have been trying to fix an old system that was designed to be exclusive and cannot be changed, at least not fast and cost-effectively, to be inclusive for all South Africans. We have been holding on for so long. This is a legacy system that was built by the old regime that no longer cares about the future and welfare of South Africans. They have mostly left and worst of all, very o

S2 Ep3 - South Africa Doesn't Need More Electricity.

This is VIJEV and let’s talk about storytelling. I’ve been learning how to use AI for storytelling, including trying out ChatGPT and even Notion AI to assist with creative writing. I’ve created a story with my own plot, characters and twists. I then asked AI to help rewrite some of the sentences to be more coherent and of course with better grammar. I then took the story and fed it with ChatGPT again to create a narrative that had a bit more sarcastic humour to suit the style of a noir detective story set in a sci-fi world. Imagine that I baked the cake and the AI helped with the icing. Here it begins.

Synthetic Murder

It was a dark and stormy night. Yours truly, Detective Vaj Appan, playing gumshoe in the city that never sleeps, because really, who could sleep with all these factories running? The city is Amartek, 2049 AD. A Tuesday, 6pm. At least the nightlife was consistent, if you're into the whole burnt oil from the East and charred masala from the West kind of vibe. And let me tell you, folks, this metaphor for my life couldn't have been more original. My duality: half-man, half-cybernetic, all-confusion.

Now gather 'round, kiddos, because I'm going to share the thrilling tale of that one fateful call that changed my life forever. I mean, really, how could it not? It was the warehouse factory, where they discovered a human supervisor, deader than disco, murdered by an automaton. Unthinkable! It was like one of those cheesy B-movies that nobody watches.

But here's the kicker: with a gaggle of detectives available in the area, who do they assign the case to? Yours truly, Detective Vaj "I-Swear-I-Know-What-I'm-Doing" Appan. Because this was one of those sensitive cases, and they needed someone who could straddle both worlds. So who better than the guy who has electronic spare parts to make me whole?

Ah, yes, the automatons. Or robots, or AI, or "mechanical overlords," or “job stealers” or whatever the kids are calling them these days. They were our trusty, efficient workers who put us, humans, out of business. No incidents for years, and then suddenly, a bump in the night. I was stumped, flummoxed even. Was it an accidental glitch, or was someone pulling the robotic strings? This city hadn't been shaken like this since Windows 3.1 came out, and that's ancient history, my friends.

So there I was, stepping into the dilapidated warehouse factory like I owned the place. The first thing to assault my senses was the charming aroma of rusted metal and oil, a real olfactory treat. The once silent machines were now whirring so loudly that I could hardly hear myself think. So, with grim determination, I made my way to the late human supervisor's office, the door stubbornly locked from the inside. But never fear, for Detective Vaj "Who-Needs-A-Warrant" Appan used a key, a true testament to my detective prowess.

As I entered, I was struck by the tidiness of the office, a stark contrast to the chaotic factory floor. Everything had its place, except for the corpse sprawled on the floor. That's our dearly departed supervisor, alright. Upon close examination, it was obvious he'd been strangled to death. It all seemed too personal, like a high-stakes game of robotic Twister gone wrong. The automaton's muscular arm was covered in human blood, with clear signs of a struggle. Reliable machines, huh? Colour me unsettled.

Well, well, wasn't this a riveting mystery straight out of a pulp fiction novel? So there I was, knee-deep in this case, sauntering out of that factory with all the ambience of a robotic assembly line, and boy was the city skyline a painter's cliché: orange and red as a digital firestorm. Time to hit up the supervisor's stomping ground – The Binary & Biryani, where your meal came in two modes: hot or not.

As I strutted into the joint, the spice factor sucker-punched my nostrils like a prizefighter, taking me down memory lane where lactose-free yoghurt off

S2 Ep2 - Can you tell good stories with the help of AI? 

It's VIJEV, and April has brought a refreshing coolness to the Southern Hemisphere. What better time to discuss self-reflection? Despite our relentless pursuit to uncover the world's mysteries, we often neglect the most crucial mystery of all – discovering ourselves. This unexplored territory holds the key to our identity.

In this video, I speak to Deepak John [https://www.indigojedi.com/] and Naledi King [https://nalediking.co.za/] about discovering ourselves and using the tools available to understand it, and we go through their methodologies of uncovering problems in our lives. You then find the connection that reveals who you need to be and let go of the idea of what you thought you needed to be.

From birth, we absorb knowledge from our surroundings, and with our instincts, we craft a vision of the life we aspire to live. However, external factors beyond our control sometimes impose an alternative path. War, family, toxic friendships, societal pressures, and work are just a few examples of circumstances that may divert us from our potential.

It's only upon recognizing that we are in "survival mode" rather than "discovery mode", that we can shift our perspective. We have followed the lessons we've been taught, so we must forgive ourselves for not knowing better and for those around us who meant well but didn’t know either. Indeed, it is through adversity and pain that we ultimately awaken to our true selves.

What is the authentic self?

It is an unknown and mysterious part of discovering the self. There is no destination, merely an experience as you unpack the gift in front of you as you await your surprise. The authentic self is your real you. The one that no one else can find, except you. You can only find it when it's forged with your courage and painfully acknowledged and understood.

We need a way to know the where and why. We don’t need “the what” for now.

It’s like being an archaeologist. You dig and reveal the bones underneath. You may not even know what the bones look like. What you know as an authentic person is… the bones are there.

To look is to take a set of actions to understand where you are currently.

Your Awareness - Do you really know where you are? The pain indicates how far you are straying from your true self. This is the analogy of drowning. You may be drowning, and your instinct is to thrash at the water. You can’t understand why it’s not working. The worst of all… you are not **aware** that you are drowning. The best remedy is to follow these 2 areas to uncover your pain and understand why you are drowning.

1.      The world you see, is who you are. If you are loving, you will see loving people. If you are hateful, you will see hate. See what you are really seeing in the world.

2.      Look directly and acknowledge the way you react to your triggers. What makes you angry? Sad. Shame. Frustration. Understand and study it head-on. What makes you anxious about the past or the future all the time? If you are not in the present, you will not be able to solve the problems you really have. Coming to terms with it is the best way to find your present self.

Once you build the basic awareness, you begin to realize that it is only YOU who can fix it. This is where you take responsibility for your life and actions. Then you can start working on the framework to build up your life.

1.      Physical - Do physical things to move your body that gets your blood flowing. Even better, doing something you enjoy that moves your body. For me, it’s strength/weight training. This form of exercise has allowed me to become fitter and physically stronger. A strong body provides the framework for the next important part. Your mind.

2.      Mental / Emotional - These are exercises

Discovering Your Real Self through Awareness and Connection.

Start writing today. Use the button below to create your own Substack and connect your publication with TechComedyLife

This is VIJEV and it’s time for another podcast. It’s our first, fashionably late one for 2023. We talk about the latest development in the world of AI. ChatGPT is all the rage. It has become a window into our souls. It’s the first time we can see a new form of AI, called AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) in action. It’s not just a tool created for specific things, e.g. autonomous cars. It’s intelligence that replicates the general human thoughts and knowledge that can assist us in whatever we need, from helping us with 10 ways to improve our content SEO to the creative realm of music and art. The more AI advances, the more we question its place in our world but more importantly, what becomes of us in an AI-dominated world?

If AI automates art and music, then what is the point of being human? Isn’t there a limit to making AI do everything?

The key to freeing humans from menial, repetitive jobs so that our minds may focus on higher-level, more creative challenges is automation. In light of this, we can go farther ahead and build interplanetary space travel, possibly even teleportation, with the arrival of quantum computing, AI, and human ingenuity working together.

AI will be essential in handling the fundamentals because humans are prone to making mistakes. The work will not generate the expected outcomes if it is repetitious and dull, and it will frequently be incorrect. The structure of our government serves as the best illustration. When money is typically "mismanaged" because it is succumbing to the most flawed and insidious of all human behaviours —greed. It can theoretically be entirely automated with no human intervention, such as in the case of tax collection and budget distribution.

The other effect, of course, is the abuse of AI to automate as much as possible which will completely rip the economic structures we are so used to. The LinkedIn post below clearly shows us what “AI outsourcing” is going to look like. Not since the advent of computing will we see such a monumental shift in the way we work. We are now questioning, what should humans do at all if AI does everything?

Let’s think bigger. Perhaps the idea of human existence should not be to just “do things”. Let work be taken care of and humans can live and experience things. How many great inventions and creations are we missing because there is a genius out there working every single day to make ends meet and having no time to work on anything creative? What if that person had time and invented faster-than-light travel or a cure for cancer?

Our transition will be painful. The way we work will feel like withdrawal symptoms. Therefore we need to prepare for the transition and not just plug AI immediately. AI and automation, in general, are inevitable but we can choose how we transition and get humans out of the work mindset and living in the experience mindset.

Have you transitioned yet?



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techcomedylife.vijev.com [https://techcomedylife.vijev.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

TCL - EP 20 - To err is human. To error is AI.

It’s VIJEV here. In this podcast, I experiment with a mobile podcast style where I “walk and talk” outdoors at the beautiful Golden Harvest Park [https://www.jhbcityparksandzoo.com/services-facilities/parks/find-a-park/golden-harvest-park] with my long-time friend Mongezi Mtati [https://www.mongezimtati.co.za/] who is a content creator himself and also hosts his own amazing podcast called The Lead Creative [https://www.theleadcreative.com/]. I recorded it with the Rode Wireless Go II [https://rode.com/en/microphones/wireless/wirelessgoii] microphones connected to a Zoom recorder. I realized it was picking up a buzzing sound due to a limiter setting on the receiver so do bear with us on that. We live and learn.

This podcast is two-fold. We talk about the amazing experiences one can have on a personal level and utilizing the power of communication to better understand our own reality. There are places everywhere in South Africa that Mongezi tells me with great enthusiasm and sometimes I wonder why we don’t see or share this enough. We are often force-fed negative information and news because the assumption is bad news spreads faster and therefore makes more money for the news provider. Thus, we see a lot of bad news, and hateful content skewing the online algorithms out there that only reinforce our biases. We would be forgiven for thinking that there is only bad news out there. This goes for the news providers as well who also assume that in order to monetize news, bad news needs to be promoted. This is indeed a vicious cycle.

The challenge is thus to improve our worldview and seek out the positive that is often not told in mainstream media. This also applies to our individual realities, where we are ignorant of the echo chamber that simply magnifies the familiar ideas and sentiments we have about the world around us.

It is hard to expand our personal reality because it means confronting our own limitations and admitting the shortfalls that exist within our ideas and views of the world. When it's simpler to point the finger at others, we must also accept responsibility for our role in making life the way we want it.

The realisation is that if we accept that our shared reality shapes our personal reality, it is up to us to be aware of its constraints, seek out new experiences, meet people outside of our comfort zones, and have the courage to follow our instincts when they lead us to believe that something is wrong.

Follow your heart, create and share content that celebrates life, and expand your shared reality evermore.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techcomedylife.vijev.com [https://techcomedylife.vijev.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

TCL - EP19 - Understanding our shared reality in content creation.

This is VIJEV.

I spoke with my longtime friend Mina Demian, who, in his 40s, found his calling in the field of coding after experiencing a personal renaissance.

We dig deep and talk about finding your passion or, in Mina's case, rediscovering the profession of coding that he once did when he was much younger. People who code are typically in their 20s and work in startups. Product development is typically linked with recent college grads. Therefore, carrying this out now required a shift in perspective and the courage to follow your heart instead of what society expects of you.

Is this podcast about coding? Well, yes and no. It’s not all binary. We talk about what it means to work at something you enjoy doing well enough to be financially independent, have the resources to live responsibly, and have the support system required to follow your hobbies.

The methods we use matter and do it with pride, in the open, and without condemnation.

Not to mention, laugh along the way through the journey of understanding yourself, no matter how bad those jokes might be, laughing through all the failures you experienced that were valuable lessons in making you the person you needed to be. Life teaches us whether we like it or not and it is our responsibility to learn and change ourselves for the better.

It is our job to be responsible and seek change in our own lives and it’s none of our business to change anyone else.

Mina Demian is a professional coder and a passionate musician. You can find his work here:

The Shibanski:

Website [https://www.shibanski.com]

Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/shibanski_musik/]

Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/artist/7yvHzaToNzEZeJHGlsf5jq]



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techcomedylife.vijev.com [https://techcomedylife.vijev.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

TCL - EP18 - Taking responsibility and coding in your 40s

We are in 2022!

It’s a mixed masala as we discuss what to expect in the year. Well, mixed masala, because I watched Dune, a new movie based on the legendary Sci-Fi author, Frank Herbert, where a society fights over Spice, the universe’s most valuable resource and it’s the only time my mom agreed with any form of Sci-Fi plots.

We rock into the year with a mindset change. A change that adapts our thinking and behaviour to suit good living that nourishes the soul, not just our pockets.

If you have been hiding under a rock, you would know we are entering the new phase of tech buzzwordercution (no this doesn’t exist so don’t Google it) aka., The Metaverse. Techbros love punting buzzwords. It’s how they hype the world and get us to spend more money on concepts. It’s just like fashion. It’s a trend. Trends sell, so we’ve adapted around it. My mind is still on the blockchain but somehow we have more to deal with. Is it a fad or is it something we can be a part of?

And finally, who has watched Squid Game? A phenomenon that has taken the world by storm because it’s the era of Schadenfreude, more specifically - Schadenfreude entertainment. Now we’ve just made it scalable to everyone throughout the world with a click of a button. I can only imagine new forms of sporting experiences that combine Squid Game in the Metaverse. What a world. The possibilities are endless. Welcome to 2022.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techcomedylife.vijev.com [https://techcomedylife.vijev.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

TCL - EP17 - What can we expect in 2022?

It’s been a short while since we witnessed one of the worst cases of protesting and looting in our short democratic history of South Africa that took place in July of 2021. Our problems are only compounding with the gap between the rich and poor widening even more. We have a horrific statistic where our gap, based on the Gini coefficient, is the HIGHEST [https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gini-coefficient-by-country] in the world.

We love to blame in South Africa. It has been nearly 30 years since we held our first democratic elections and all we have done is either blame apartheid or the incompetence of the new government. As a result, there’s no accountability and thus no one feels responsible for fixing the issues because it’s simply someone else’s fault.

We do an honest banter about the current problems and look at ways for all of us to collectively acknowledge that we indeed have a problem, willing to help and rebuild South Africa with accountability. This will require compromise from the have’s to help the have-nots. We need a system that fosters creativity and curiosity at all levels and most of all… Dream without permission or approval. The dreamers (the geeks, the engineers, the scientists, educators, and even the storytellers) are the ones who will put us back on the map. We just need to find them, nurture them, believe in them and the rest will fall into place.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techcomedylife.vijev.com [https://techcomedylife.vijev.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

TCL - Episode 16 - Let's get real about South Africa.

My name is VIJEV and I do a podcast about my geeky brain trying to decipher the real world. I chat with a wide variety of people including my recurring tech enthusiast, Deepu Babu. We discuss our world impacted by technology and delve deep into our thoughts as we uncover influences and inventions that drive our innate human behaviour mixed with our love of retro sci-fi art.

techcomedylife.vijev.com [https://techcomedylife.vijev.com?utm_medium=podcast]

Vije Vijendranath

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