The Fog Screens

Philip Kotler, is considered to be the most widely respected Demigod in the world of Marketing. There cannot be marketing studies in MBA without his reference. One of his famous quote (which I feel is so apt) is as follows

"Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. It is the art of creating genuine customer value."

Now, why a person like me who has opinions from the lens of a practicing engineer and a scientific thought from the word go, be it, education, life, people, superstitions, movies, entertainment, small-talk and whatever, will think of writing on Marketing today? Well, what I see around is everything is now more of a marketing with the tool of over-hyping it. You cannot read a news without advertisements that cover 70% of the bunch, be it on paper or online. You cannot commute to your work without the brainwash of apartments that you can (at least according to the billboard) buy along with finance available. You cannot listen to music without advertisements. You cannot read a book without the promotion of it on the bookstore as best seller. You cannot let your kid go to school without school promoting their rank holders and over achievers. You cannot learn an art without its presence at reality show and hence we see hobbies such as stamp collection or coin collection getting cornered at large and origami or dance or music classes taking front seat as child's mental development or holistic education requirement. You cannot learn to cook unless you have seen a popular recipe (I have heard about K-Food deluging in Indian diaspora; K-Korean). You cannot pursue a professional course unless it was marketed well to you. You cannot travel anywhere as per season by your own knowledge unless it was thronged by many people and the club membership being spammed in your inbox. Anything you do including sleeping, sleeping in a certain way, needs marketing. Whether you need it or not, you are made to realize that you need it. I agree marketing is about creating market for your product or service, but is it also about making us feel that we need it though we may not actually do?

One can see AI being hyped on every aspect with specific goal in mind, you need AI and it will solve all the problems (for sales mongers and business owners) but with a collateral damage (for people and not for the business owners or sales mongers) there will be job losses. Media is the most cardinal tool for this hype with even well-read and experienced professionals, talking about it or interviewing the who's who of this industry. Ultimately, it is marketing AI products or companies. I wonder why the fear is used as tool to promote their products and services instead of soft yonder of benefits of the tools or products. Reason? Negativity sells faster and imprints effectively than positivity when it comes to accelerating your sale. Does it subscribe to Kotler's aforementioned proposition? No! In fact, it does the exact opposite of it to increase valuation, investor trust and establishment of new ecosystem. 

There is a specific term for this I have coined (based on already created terms in the world, hence not invented by me) and that is fog screen and not smoke screen. Why not smoke screen? Because there is no smoke without the fire and here there is indeed no fire. It is just condensation of something that is cold and evaporating due to small heat. AI based marketing is definitely a fog screen because I have been a victim of similar type of fog screen in the 90s. The IT revolution. Yes the revolution did happen but what was sold to us back then and gullible people like me bought it out and what happened later is not the same. It was told that you cannot survive without computers but today, after 2 decades, though computers are omnipresent I see many who still have inhibitions in using it, including many CTOs, have sailed through it without doing the so called computer course/degree in the 90s. Many are in fact, leading the tech team without knowing anything about technology or its implementation. Today after two decades of IT industry in India, technocrats are called "tech workers". The 90s kids are now senior managers and the most insecure in job due to high input cost, AI threat and global gloom of recession. Many in today's times without the knowledge of software and hardware or network tech have done much better than the IT professionals. Many actually look down upon these "tech workers", frown at them and make faces; the worst experience is of the tech support in physical form. Though IT is the backbone of all aspects in life today, it was not sold that way and it is definitely not considered so but just a tool. Many of the IT Professionals got their arm twisted for the work being done. The fog screen gave promises and for many it was fulfilled but for whom? It was for those who left this nation in the 90s, early 2000s. For the ones who stayed back, it helped a lot too but now it is not the same. So what was claimed, prophesied, predicted and all the clairvoyance was something else. What happened in reality was not so close to it.

Then there came the second promise. Biotech! It was just after the Dot-com bubble burst. It was the new fog screen. While I am unable to discover the video or link where big-wigs said it so, but one can look around and gauge that there are so many Biotech Colleges in the early 2000s to satisfy this need. I am surprised, Indian Govt subscribed to this blindly. In the first 10 years, Biotech absorbed the best mind and produced lots of Masters and PhDs. Less than 1% got jobs in Industries which is still a nascent world and many have switched careers to Sales, HR, Marketing and else. Biosciences by nature is not a 9-to-5 job market but little was realized then. As usual many gullible souls bought it and did not call the bluff. It is not that 1% were the cream but the industry was neither ready then nor it is made today. It cannot be converted into factory or bank like ecosystem where there will be many Masters or PhDs required for end results. Today, Biotech is taken by those who are very well to-do and can pursue further studies abroad and possibly make the transition to research (dry/wet lab). Many even then might not have patience to see the results because of research based nature of the subject. The fog screen was sold for sure.

What escaped the fog mania, was a technology super magic wand called REST API or loosely called as just API even by the non-techies. Its pre-cursor, Web Service did not come out of the closet to the world but we the "tech workers" were learning it, using it and implementing it for many many aspects such as document viewing online, communicating with applications written in different programming languages and application for podcasts (new tool in the world in the early 2000s). REST API based on the same foundation of Web Services brought in a new era of interoperability. It transformed itself into a usage wherein you can just exchange data than calling each other codes as it was in Web Services offering. It is this tech tool today we are using it for doing Gpay or UPI. It is because of this technology that we are using Mobile Phone Apps, OTT Platforms, having everything on Cloud, doing e-KYC, doing Net Banking, scanning QR Codes for everyday transactions and people doing business out of just buying and selling APIs, playing games on mobile such as PUBG, using cryptocurrency/blockchain, above all, the AI vein for ChatGPT or alike. 

API is all pervasive. Did anyone make noise about it in even within tech-circles? A big NO. Quietly it slipped into our hands and we used it, repurposed it over and over again. RBI's NPCI today is the largest creator of right usage of this technology to the fact that, even America is smirking with delight for an alternative to Credit Card or Cash. It has become the bedrock of demonetization and an efficient spaceship for catapulting a nation (or maybe many nations) into digital currency. Your mobile phone is your digital wallet. Was there a noise? Was there a fog screen? A big NO. No one ever thought about what Roy Fielding's PhD thesis will germinate into, including himself. Apps would not have existed if there was no REST API. 

I rest my case. No fog, then there will be the real aspect ruling the root to fruit. If fog, you can expect the fizzling out sooner or later. What will happen with AI? It will coexist, do not worry once the fog is settled down. Until then, keep a watch on the next fog screen.