I recently celebrated my 40th birthday. With age, we become wiser because we have witnessed more ups and downs. It’s the scars we carry that make us more cautious. All these things are told by authors and philosophers.
What has changed for me is nothing. I am still the same, running around and breathing. I feel more competitive than before, and above all, my willingness to go all in has increased. In the end, what can go wrong? In short, nothing. I am competing with myself.
Our life is in our thoughts. Our thoughts are governed by people around us, what we see, and what we read. I am lucky to have reached here now to have my thoughts governed by me.
Many have written their 40 learnings in reaching 40. I have nothing to share. I am still young and as Bryan Adams says: 18 till I die.
I heard about the singularity while reading The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology byRay Kurzweil, whom I consider an absolute futurist.
Also, being a Star Trek fan, seeing androids in motion was a delight. As we are entering the new era of technological advancement in AI, the amalgamation of information and technology is leading to a new frontier. Many new frontiers are coming together, and innovation is going into a new paradigm.
The singularity is the hypothetical tipping point where AI and technology grow beyond human control or comprehension, potentially reshaping civilisation or even humanity itself.
It has a dual impact, as many are predicting in job losses and economic distress. Some others are predicting the rich getting richer. One thing is sure, that many jobs will be rewritten and many new jobs will emerge.
Another benefit I am witnessing is the sharing of tribal knowledge guarded by a few with the world.
I remember getting addicted to the Star Trek Original Series, thanks to AB. The series makes more sense now. Gene Roddenberry, the writer, was a visionary.
Space: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
The show begins with the punchline. It makes you think and believe in the unbelievable. The result is before us.
We are progressing in the Artificial Intelligence era. We are witnessing more advancements and many new frontiers emerging, and many boring businesses are being automated. We can either be on the side of adopting the technology, progressing, or getting ready to be redundant.
📊 Star Trek Gadgets → Real-World Inventions (Roddenberry Era: TOS + TNG)
Star Trek Gadget
Description in Trek
Real-World Inspiration/Outcome
Date/Period
Communicator
Handheld device for voice comms
Motorola Flip Phone (StarTAC), then Smartphones
1996 onward
Tricorder
Portable sensor for scanning environment, health, science
Portable Ultrasound, IR Thermometers, Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE
2000s–2010s
Universal Translator
Instantly translates alien languages
Google Translate, Skype Translator, AI-powered real-time translation
2010s onward
Transporter
Teleports matter across distances
Quantum Teleportation (info transfer, not people yet)
1997 onward
Phasers
Directed energy weapon (stun → kill settings)
Laser weapons, directed-energy systems (military)
2000s–Present
Hypospray
Needle-free medical injector
Jet injector systems, modern needle-free vaccine tech
2010s–2020s
Sickbay Biobeds & Sensors
Beds that auto-diagnose patients
MRI, CT scans, hospital bedside monitoring
1980s onward
Starship Computer (Voice AI)
Conversational ship computer with memory + logic
Siri, Alexa, ChatGPT, Voice-driven AI systems
2010s onward
Warp Drive
Faster-than-light travel via space-time bending
Alcubierre Warp Drive theory (NASA research)
1994 onward
Holodeck (TNG)
Immersive simulation environment
Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality, Immersive training sims
2010s onward
Replicator (TNG)
Materializes food/objects from energy
3D Printing (early steps toward Trek-like fabrication)
2000s onward
PADD (Personal Access Display Device) (TNG)
Tablet-like control device
iPad/tablets, touchscreen interfaces
2010 onward
Data (Soong-type Android)(TNG)
Humanoid android officer exploring humanity
AI + Robotics (Boston Dynamics, AI assistants, humanoid robots)
2000s–Present
Via ChatGPT
⚡ You can see how Roddenberry’s “gadgets” spanned decades of influence — from 1960s Star Trek inspiring flip phones → to 1980s TNG predicting tablets, VR, replicators, and humanoid AI.
Going through Ruskin Bond’s short stories takes me back to childhood. Even though I was born in a plain, but after school, Delhi became home. The frequent trips to the hills from the ISBT bus stand. It seems every other house on the hill had a unique story. Or it was a favorite time for the oldies, those when we had no mobile phones or internet.
The bone-chilling winters, bus breakdowns, and overcrowded routes. The trip had it all. The hardship of living in the hills is different from us out here in the plain. The unavailability of basic amenities, followed by healthcare. Even with all the limitations, people out there celebrate and live merrily.
Yesterday I got to know about the place with a cloud burst. All over social media and news channels, it was there. It was so unknown for people who were stuck there, losing their lives and property.
If we look objectively, life seems to be some kind of test. There is one or the other surprise hidden in every aspect of it during our existence. It is not something one can overcome. We can only celebrate and lead our lives.
The definition of happiness, the power of money, or freedom are all manifestations of our mind. The sooner we realise this, humility will shower upon us.
Our journey of life defines how many years we lived and what we contributed back to humanity. The fickle mind exists to create maya and confuse us. It is upon us to understand what our calling is. The test is never-ending.
We are living in an automated world. Our emotions are like air, impossible to catch. Our moments are slaves to the digital sphere. The connections are mostly plastic and hollow.
The rat race of proving something or someone has superseded the act of becoming human. We appear too busy to live with essence. We are running invincibly, with no end in sight. Nothing is enough anymore.
The more I move away from the metro, the more I see life. I see people connecting for real. The togetherness, the jostle, and the joy of festivities are still intact.
As humans, how did we end up becoming so ignorant? How did we forget the virtue of connection beyond materialistic desires or pleasures? Is it because we are no longer God-fearing? Or is it because consumerism has rewritten all the rules and definitions for us?
I feel we often get too sucked into the idea of waiting for the universe to do things for us. But after crossing 30 years of existence, I’ve realized that I am responsible for my life. In short, how I want to live it and who I want to work with—it’s all in my control.
My friends laugh when I say that building my startup over the years has shaped me as a person. It has made me more fearless and willing to take risks—something our Indian upbringing never really taught us.
I see people around me constantly cribbing and complaining about everything. I used to be one of them. But life is too short. We have to own it. We have to create our own universe. Success and failure depend entirely on our hard work and commitment.
We are lazy; we take shortcuts. We want to accomplish things for their own sake. Every effort is being made to get things done.
The act of building something unique, the act of being the best, the curiosity — we have nothing left with us. We have become act-less, living in self-serve mode.
The advancement in technology was meant to make things easier, not to make us mindless and aspirationless.
The last 4 weeks have been supercrazy for me. It feels like I’m back in my college days, hacking around, setting up Linux machines, and playing with various distros.
The only thing that has changed now is the emergence of LLM and the mainstream adoption of AI. As a founder of a startup, one of my key responsibilities is to look many quarters beyond others in the team, apart from closing sales and keeping current customers happy.
The possibility with LLM and automation tools I am seeing is enormous. If Microsoft is making mass layoffs or Salesforce is letting AI build products, there is some truth in it.
My team is surprised and annoyed with this, but for me, it’s seizing the opportunity in the urgency. I can’t run alone; I have a team to run with. I see the next 6 months as urgency and adaptability-driven development at my firm. We are going to automate many workflows and possibly make many manual processes redundant.
It’s not going to be easy, but I don’t want to fall prey to the innovator’s dilemma. Steve Blank recently posted a post mentioning about bullock cart and the Ford analogy, a good read : Blind to Disruption – The CEOs Who Missed the Future
One of the virtues that has brought me this far in my personal and professional life is faith. I have met many people and connected with a few. Some of them were the reason I have come this far in life — it was about having faith that their guidance would do good.
I have also had my share of experiences where many took me for granted. In the end, it became a lifelong lesson. What I am realizing now is that the faith factor has eroded.
We want to get rich quickly and gain countless followers on social media without having faith in ourselves and our actions. We are more protective and anxious about what the outcome will be, even before moving forward.