Imagine, a World Full of Computer Scientists!

To fire up K's passion for learning, learning for the sheer joy of it instead of learning to earn, learning for the thrill of knowing something about the world he didn’t know before, something about himself, we plan on taking unsuspecting K, the hero of our comic ebook, on an adventure.



An adventure that will give him an inkling of the world Before Google and prepare him for a world Beyond Google. Before Google, when gaining knowledge was difficult and grit, perseverance and lot of intrinsic motivation was needed just to know; the Google era when knowledge is available on tap and what is important is an ability to connect the dots; and, Beyond Google – realising the timeless wisdom of passion with compassion, equanimity, harmony, well-being and joy.



We didn't realise that our B.G. - 'Before and Beyond Google' thinking would prove so prescient.



In a recent column, Tom Friedman interviews Laszlo Bock, who is in-charge of global hiring at Google, to get Bock's advice for job-seekers anywhere, not just at Google. Among a lot of good advice Bock makes a statement that we find disconcerting. He says, "…I told that student they are much better off being a B student in computer science than an A+ student in English because it signals a rigor in your thinking and a more challenging course load."



If the vision Google has with its Glass is 'a world full of computer scientists' then we sure want to prepare K for a different future!

Help us create an enthralling learning adventure for K, which we hope will inspire many others his age. Some images from the storyboard are pasted below (final version will be more polished and in colour).



Pre-order the comic ebook for just £2 ($3.5, INR 200) or select from other options of supporting our initiative. Visit our crowd-funding page on IndieGogo -  

http://bit.ly/Rclzh9

Don't delay, Act now! Also tell your friends and colleagues.

Comic eBook on Self-Directed Learning

आत्म-निर्देशित अनौपचारिक शिक्षा पर एक रोमांचक चित्रकथा

When you yearn to learn - learn for the sheer joy of learning - chances are you’ll survive the coming age and its challenges better. Not just survive, but thrive and prosper - ride it. And not just thrive, but find that elusive equilibrium within yourself.

Our objective of creating a comic ebook on self-directed, inspired learning is to help young learners understand the value of yearning to learn. In the comic ebook our 15 year old hero dives deep into understanding the dynamics of learning and learns the dispositions he needs to cultivate.

To enhance the social impact, we are producing the comic ebook in English and in Hindi initially and if funds permit then in other languages too. Watch a short video introduction of the comic ebook in English and in Hindi below.

You can pre-order the comic ebook, in English or in Hindi, for just £2 (US $3.5 or INR 200). Or you can opt for higher value perks like get your name acknowledged in the comic ebook or even appear in one of the scenes!

Want to do good? You can sponsor 3 hard copies for the library of a school for the underprivileged. We will get the comic printed and couriered to the school with a covering note acknowledging your support.

There are other perks to choose from - fun stuff and social good. Visit the project page on IndieGogo, the crowd funding website, and show your support: http://bit.ly/Rclzh9

Support our Crowd-funded Comic eBook on Self-Directed Learning Skills

If you, like us, are concerned about how children are learning (or not learning) these days, consider joining us in creating a 'Comic eBook on Self-Directed Learning Skills' that will provide information and guidance to young adults on how they can become better learners. They will also find reading our comic ebook on their iPod, smart-phone or tablet pretty cool!

In the comic ebook, K, our 15 year old hero dives deep into understanding the dynamics of learning. He learns about the works of psychologists and neuroscientists and figures out the dispositions he needs to cultivate to become an inspired learner who yearns to learn and can make the most of the abundant learning resources available today at a click of a button.

The comic ebook will be created in English and in Hindi and will be very moderately priced so that it is within the reach of many.

We have launched a campaign to fund the comic ebook on the crowd funding website, Indiegogo. For as little as £2 you can support our project. Please click on the link below.

Please also consider sharing this message. We want to attract a crowd!

Endgame of Education?

Fellow travellers on the Jubilee line in London may recall an ad campaign for a university last year. The ad read, “Think Different, Think Employability, Think xxx University”.

The ad set me thinking.

While considering a university degree if you are thinking employability are you really thinking different?

I believe better copy for the ad would have been, “Think Different, Think Value Creation”.

After you have got your university degree you think of a job, self-employment or entrepreneurship and in today’s world all three require the ability to create value.

To thrive in the 21^st century you need to become “Creative Creators” (a term coined by Friedman and Mandelbaum in their book ‘That Used to be Us’) and cultivate the ability to do, what Seth Godin calls, ‘remarkable’ work.

What was even more fascinating to me about the ad was a university implying that the endgame of education is employment, or what we can call ‘Learning to Earn’.

We really need to question this. Why earn, Why earn, Y-earn, till we ‘Yearn to Learn’!

One of the main objectives of a good university should be fostering a yearning to learn, all life long.

Building character, encouraging ethical behaviour, enabling and empowering a person to pursue a life of meaning and purpose - with passion and compassion and encouraging joyous living are the other raison d’etre for education. Or so I believe.

Empathetic Human vs Efficient Machine

My son is going on a school trip to France and since he holds an Indian passport he has to apply for Schengen visa. This morning we went to the company that processes Schengen visa applications.

Although the experience was pleasant enough and fairly efficient it made me wonder how secure are the jobs of the people working in this company? How secure is the future of the company itself?

Work they are doing – inspecting original documents, ticking boxes on a checklist, receiving payment, biometric finger printing… these tasks are easily replaced by an algorithm, specially as scanning and digitizing bank document, birth certificate, passport and even biometric finger printing can easily be done at home and submitted online.

Even more important is to ask if the whole process can be reinvented? Can someone think different and create value in a novel way?

Surprisingly when it comes to tourist visas Turkey has got it right. You can now apply for a visa online and the process takes just a few minutes. I am sure simplifying the visa process will get Turkey more boost in tourism than an expensive tourism ad campaign.

I used today’s visa trip to discuss with my son what sort of skills and competencies will make sure that he is not replaced by an algorithm (he is 12 and he may well have to compete with artificial intelligence instead).

He made an interesting observation. Few weeks back, as part of his school debating team, few students along with their teacher were going to the debating venue after school. All of them didn’t have an Oyster card so they approached the Transport for London official at the station and he allowed them entry. My son pointed out that in the ongoing debate about replacing humans with automated machines at the London tube stations, he prefers interfacing with humans.

I think the key question is whether the human you are interfacing with is empathetic or not. If not, you would prefer the efficiency of a machine. Ask yourself who/what would you prefer dealing with - an angry bank teller or ATM, an un-attentive shopkeeper or a vending machine, a lazy check-in executive or a self check-in machine.

In the world we live in there is a lot of premium on efficiency so chances are algorithm and artificial intelligence will be our preference, unless the human beings we are dealing with are capable of highly empathetic decision making, adding value and when we interface with them it is a pleasant and enjoyable experience.

I hope as he is growing up my son learns the ability to think different and create value, learns empathetic decision-making and collaboration and most important, he becomes a pleasant human being.

21वीं सदी में समृद्धि के लिय क्यों भिन्न जीवन कौशल आवश्यक हैं? Why a different set of life skills is needed to flourish in the 21st century?

Inspired by the trip I made to the Himalayas in December to conduct Timeless Lifeskills workshops in small schools, I have started rerecording the videos I have created earlier on 21st century life skills with narration in Hindi. Here is the second video with Hindi narration. I discuss why a different set of life skills is essential for flourishing in the 21st century. Original videos in English are available on Timeless Lifeskills website - http://timelesslifeskills.co.uk

Timeless Lifeskills video in Hindi

कालातीत जीवन कौशल - Timeless Lifeskills video in Hindi: अhen I was interacting with the teachers in the schools in the Himalayas in Dec while conducting my workshops, I figured that the videos I have created on Timeless Lifeskills are relevant and useful for the teachers but because the videos are in English it becomes difficult for most teachers to understand these videos. Hence I have started rerecording these videos with narration in Hindi. Here is the first video with Hindi narration on 'Timeless Lifeskills - The Second Strand of Education' -