Hare and the Tortoise- Improvised and Adapted for the 21st Century
The bet happened before I even got out of my car. The children were at it again. As I locked the car, I heard the kids excitedly rush towards the entrance to the multistoried apartment we were residing in. As I caught up with them, I gathered through my sixth−otherwise known as 'parental'−sense that the bet was who would get to the twelfth floor first.
The details amused me. It was a competition between the girls who would go by the elevator and the solo boy who would scale the stairs.
As we got to the starting point, the entrance of the lift in the basement, across which the stairway began, I knew my son was, perhaps, being a bit overconfident about this one. There was no chance he could beat a bubble traveling vertically upward at a speed of 2m/sec.
Always one siding the underdog, I chose my loyalties immediately. I assured my son that we would win this by a large margin. Of course, my son believed me, as he believes almost anything I say. But I had no idea how we would.
At least when we started.
Then I thought of the fables I had learned growing up−of 'The Hare and the Tortoise'−where the tortoise won at the end. The theme was 'slow and steady wins the race'. But this was a race against technology−armed with back-up power too, in case of power failure.
The girls stepped into the lift and the boys were off. As I bounded over the steps−leaping over three steps at a time−my brain was working furiously in how I could turn the tide.
Over a decade ago, I had consistently beaten my family to the ninth floor, in a similar fashion. But now age was doing its trick on me. And this was the twelfth floor. Who was I kidding!
I had to find a way. In the three seconds I took to climb a floor, I thought of the Industrial Revolution and its socio-economic-cultural impact, the advent and integration of a computer networked world, and now, how AI was ascending the hitherto unimaginable peak of not just processing a single human's intelligence but harnessing the powers of collective intelligence.
Humans have to be the master’s over the machine. I had to win.
As I galloped three floors, I was ahead. But unless I slowed the elevator's progress there was no way we were going to win. I had to do something different in the next two seconds to change the course of outcomes.
And then it struck me.
An evil grin crossed my face. The plan was simple and genius. All I had to do was call for the elevator at every floor causing it to stop for around 10 seconds each time. This would grant my son and me enough time to get to our apartment before the girls.
I dashed for the lift and pressed the call button. JM found renewed energy as I raced ahead and pressed the call button on every floor. In time, we were at least four floors ahead.
At that stage I realized I had to slow down for my son. My energy was quickly depleting too. To win this race, we had to conserve our energy. At our worst moment, we only needed to be two floors ahead of the girls. Unnecessarily pressing forward in haste would be our undoing.
And... I had to continue my ritual of slowing them down on every floor.
By the last two floors, JM and I were slowly walking up. And the girls were at least four floors below us and stopping at every floor.
When the girls got out of the elevator, they were bewildered. JM and I strutted around like peacocks. We had caught our breath and done a few stretches by then. They did not suspect that we intentionally slowed them down.
On hearing how we got there first, the girls were furious on being tricked. I justified by explaining how the race was unequal to begin with.
I also told them that if they had thought through for a few seconds while being stopped on every floor, they could have observed a pattern and realized they were going to lose. I also reminded them that if they had observed it, they could have stepped out at any point and got on the other elevator. But they didn't.
The winner would always be the one who is more innovative. At the end of the day, we must realize that technology, money, and other resources can only get us so far. Innovation is the ingredient that wraps all the other elements to make a winner.
Innovation is something human beings possess innately. It is what makes the species unique. As long as humans are able to continue innovating, we will evolve to better position ourselves in the eco-system.
Technology is not an enemy. It is an ally. The environment is not for our plunder, it is for our use and under our care. The neighboring countries are not a threat, they are fellow-species members who we evolve together with. We exist in this world to facilitate its evolution without fearing the other.
With innovation on our side, we need not fear. It is what propels us forward. As we innovate, we should steward it in a manner that benefits the entire eco-system.
The Hare and the Tortoise taught me that discipline makes us winners. I believe it is amongst the most underappreciated wisdom. A better wisdom, I argue, is that "Discipline and innovation wins the race.”