Summaries by Saumitra Bhaduri

AI poses a significant risk not to employment, but to independent human judgment and the “wisdom of crowds.” Examples like Ford's automation failures illustrate that wisdom cannot be automated. AI threatens genuine collective intelligence by correlating judgments and reducing diverse viewpoints as people rely on similar machine-generated answers. This creates an “illusion of wisdom,” crowding out individual reasoning. The author critically warns against automating wisdom, emphasizing that true expertise remains vital to discern flawed information and preserve humanity's capacity for independent thought.

India's economic growth has paradoxically led to a shrinking middle class and extreme wealth concentration. The middle 30-70% of earners have lost substantial income and wealth shares since 1989. This "jobless growth," driven by capital-intensive sectors and a services-led economy, creates few stable middle-income opportunities. Inadequate education and public policies that neglect this segment intensify the problem, leaving them squeezed by limited income growth and escalating costs. This trend jeopardizes India's growth model, which relies on middle-class consumption, ultimately undermining sustainable economic progress.