Bloglet series #2 - the one where I dream of plastic

Why do all voice assistants have female voices?

I was setting up a new Google Home device when it struck me that it's very sexist to have women voicing over the Siris, Alexas, and Google Homes of the world (with the former two even getting female names). Quick googling shows that many have analyzed this problematic issue (one example article here). Research says customers prefer female voices for chores. Well just because there is latent sexism everywhere shouldn't mean companies just pander to it. And meanwhile IBM Watson apparently got a male voice because 'he' will answer technical queries where listeners prefer male voices that convey 'competence'. Grrr

When will phone makers go back to prioritizing function over form?

I have written about glass phone backs and other dumb decisions before. Today my ire is towards Face ID and it's peers. I recently got the Google Pixel 4. Great device but the Face ID (with Radar / laser dot technology and what not) is still not as reliable as a good old fingerprint scanner. Same issue with iPhones. And it's even worse with in-screen fingerprints that Samsungs and others have moved to. A fingerprint recess is always there where you expect it to be, so you quickly build muscle memory and it's near 100% reliable. Tech and ergonomics that were perfected in, what, 2014? But here we are in 2019, still having to do 'lean-over' and 'lay-down' tests to check whose Face ID is less shittier (here). 

I dream of plastic

A few months back I had this day dream where I imagined a world where scientists somehow never invented plastic (at least the polythene kind). Can you imagine how our world would have been? No single use carry bags clogging up sewers, showing up in choked whales' bellies, creating the great Pacific garbage patch, sending microplastics everywhere into the air and oceans. And what would giant plastic-reliant industries have looked like? Fresh food would have maybe gotten packed in leaf wraps or food grade paper / foil? The disposable cutlery industry wouldn't have existed. Maybe we would have a lot more scullery space and staff in fast food restaurants. Amazon and UPS would have relied on cardboard and paper protectors instead of blithely tossing in bubble wrap all over packages. I keep going back to that fantasy and building on it. Perhaps the scientists did invent polythene but it was a super toxic substance. Maybe it was so expensive to make that it never reached mass production. Maybe the environmental ills were co-discovered and acknowledged so that the cost of landfilling / recycling polythene was baked into the cost of production (who am I kidding with this last one). Anyway, I am thinking there is a full book idea in there. After all, I thoroughly enjoyed 'The World Without Us', a non-fiction book about what would happen to the natural and built environment if humans suddenly disappeared. Go 'environment fantasy' as a genre!!

Bloglet series 1 - the one about animal rights, books, and groceries

My previous model was that full length ideas would come here, and quick thoughts would go to Twitter (@rukeshr), but Twitter has now just become my medium to complain to companies when I get a bad experience. Plus the idea fragmentation isn't nice. So let me try posting quick thoughts here from now on. Will call them bloglets. Yes I know, super imaginative. Somewhere someone must be turning in their graves.

Thought 1: Did you know, 70 billion animals now exist as objects for human consumption, including 60 percent of all mammals on Earth. We find it easy to throw stones at people who lived in the 1700s, saying how could they have permitted slavery. We are no less guilty with what we do with factory farming of animals in this age. The conditions are HORRIBLE, and the numbers are STAGGERING (see 70 billion data point above). Racist, sexist...these are bad terms now. Speciesist needs to get there into the zeitgeist as well (discriminating on the basis of species, by allowing only humans to have rights). This is why I am turning vegetarian again, hoping to go vegan. Will be slightly flexible, but not a lot (e.g. if I am super confident that something is free range, then I might have it)

Thought 2: Human beings are the only animals capable of dramatically changing their software (believe I caught this idea from 'Sapiens'?). Your ideas, thoughts, beliefs...everything is upgradable. And reading books is the most efficient way to upgrade your mental software. Felt the full force of this when I recently read this mind altering book 'Being mortal' by Atul Gawande. Most great books do that. Haven't had that type of experience with TV / movies (even documentaries) / podcasts. And only rarely do interpersonal debates drive that type of software upgrade

Thought 3: For carrying groceries, use backpacks instead of purpose built reusable bags. Apparently reusable bags are making the problem worse (read here). My personal experience was that those totes / bags were darn inconvenient. Very little carrying capacity, poor ergonomics, and easy to forget. After some trial and error I landed on using my trusted backpack for groceries. Never played tennis to the extent I thought I would when I bought the backpack, but now it's super helpful. Carries twice or thrice what a tote would, is not a net new manufacture since I am reusing what I already had, and is easy to sling over my shoulders so I can do multiple chores while still having carrying capacity for groceries in the end. Can this become mainstream please?

 

Banking and the poor

Maybe the formal banking sector is not the best solution for the underprivileged after all.  Rather blasphemous thought given my background, but earlier this week I came across this article about mis-selling in India. And then today I was asking the doorman in my building about his experiences using a credit card, and turns out he doesn't even have a bank account, forget a credit card. He apparently once went to a Wells Fargo branch and they said minimum balance $1500 else you get a monthly service fee, so he (smartly) bailed. I thought I would be a good Samaritan and searched for a credit union in the neighborhood to help him get an account, but turns out the credit unions in the area have hidden fees as well! This from non profit institutions! Fees are $2 per month if you dont use your debit card, plus another $6 per month if you don't set up a bill pay (who ever sets up a bill pay). And by the way the account is labeled 'free checking' but these charges were deep in the fine print.

Having worked in a large bank, I realize that brick and mortar banks will never find it sustainable to support low balance accounts. The fixed costs of operating branches plus the weighty legacy tech overhead costs all come in the way. Not that those costly branches are particularly helpful for the underprivileged. The branches are not psychologically approachable, and the staff are often less friendly to poor / financially illiterate customers (the branch reviews for my local credit union were horrible - languid tellers not caring for customers patiently waiting in lengthy lines).

Yes you may say digital is the way to go, but digital only works for 'poor but tech savvy' people. Can you imagine how tough it is for someone to operate a complex financial product* entirely digitally if they don't know the difference between a browser and an app? Add on the reality that these customers usually have a cheap under-powered phone powered by a bargain basement phone-plan that takes several seconds to load a page.

Yes eventually customers will becomes more tech savvy, and at the same time more digital-native financial products will be launched (with presumably user-friendly fee structures and no hidden gotchas, which can be trusted by those with low financial literacy). But in the meantime, I can't think of good solutions for the intersection group of underprivileged + non-tech-savvy than to keep their cash in their pillow.

*Are there in reality any 'easy' financial products? No I am not being facetious. Most of us just got super familiar with consumer banking products over time, but things like deposit accounts or credit cards or loans are not simple or intuitive fundamentally. The poor probably feel inside a branch what you or I might feel sitting in a car repair center (the banker/mechanic will come in presently, explain gravely what is wrong and what it will cost, you will nod sagely and keep wondering whether it's all accurate or you are being scammed)