Chapter 5
Training and Upskilling for Content Producers
(Part 1)
“As long as you remain true to yourself and continue training with sincerity, nobody can stop you from achieving excellence.” – Milkha Singh
Chapter 5 : Training and Upskilling for Content Producers
The description by world famous visionary scientist/astronomer Carl Sagan whose spine chilling account of man’s gruesome acts against each other and which has undoubtedly outraged many people worldwide bears testament to the destructive role of the mind. (Carl Sagan, 08.11.94).
Carl Sagan’s View of The Planet – The Pale Blue Dot
Carl Sagan’s damning remarks in his iconic quote reflect many poignant issues: “There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbour life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. (Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space)
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” – (ibid)
The theory of social determinism is epistemic vulnerability. Man alone should carry the can for his own sufferings, unhappiness, woes, and wanton destruction on this planet. It is no external force but his mind that drives him to create mayhem on this only life supporting tiny and fragile planet. This is self-evident with what’s happening in the turbulent world as it was. Referring to the Earth as “The Pale Blue Dot” the famous scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan described it as the only planet, less than the size of a pixel in the cosmological matrix that supports life. His unforgettable narration, which is reproduced verbatim invokes a vividly dreadful picture in readers’ minds with the following harrowing but powerful words still reverberating in the cosmos to which he belonged.
Time has changed in a fast changing world but unfortunately people’s mindset is horribly stagnant as they haven’t been able to break out of a fixed mindset. Sagan’s pathological and graphic depiction of the gruesome reality of what people engage in in this world reflect many themes which demonstrate that man being befuddled and delusional is living aimlessly and meaninglessly. Being blinded by selfishness, hostility, self-conceit, avarice, greed and jealousy people have lost life’s focus nor have an idea of what their goals are or should be.
People’s sojourn in this complex and enigmatic matrix of the time-bound material world have gone in the wrong direction to their own version of freedom to self-destruct with free lifestyle devoid of once imperative morals, values and ethics, and to call themselves what they will, whatever sexual gender that takes their fancy. Their online behaviours are being replicated in their lives in the lawless, reckless and unaccountable agora of the post-truth social media.
Consequently, a significant shift by millions abandoning traditional media in favour of the pervasive and omnipresent social media platform has traumatised hundreds of news organisations. Many individuals have started to rely on these platforms as their main source of news and information, often without critically evaluating the content or being aware of the potential dangers lurking online. In 1996, social media managed to attract more than half of the 8.06 billion people in the world. As of October 2024, the number of 5.22 billion people representing 67.8 percent of the world population currently use social media. Globally, Each spends an average of 2 hours 20 minutes daily on social media. (Ani Petrosyan, Nov 5, 2024)
The Mind Is The Single Biggest Polluter of Itself and The Universe
Being subservient to an ignorant mind is evidently perilous and outrageous according to Tim Allot. From the Cold War era to global warming and pollution, the imprint of pollution unleashed by man from the deep sea to the deep space and the trail of destruction from the length and breadth of this planet are traced to the uncultivated and uncritical mind. There is nothing that has nothing to do with the mind, justifying Socrates’ exhortation for everyone to be the master of his own mind.
The environmental pollution of air, water, noise, soil, radioactive, plastic, visual, light and thermal are direct consequences of mental pollution. Mental pollution is sourced to the digital public sphere attributable to the convergence of telecommunication networks, mobile networks, technological, technical, industrial, big data and media platforms. Consequently, the confluence of scrutinised and opinionated discourses of over 6 billion adult ideologues have a serious impact on our psychology, thinking, mind and how we live and interact in our environment.
Thousands of satellites and spacecraft rocketed up in space have created space pollution on a large scale. A series of spacecraft for civil, military, environmental monitoring, broadcasting, mobile communications and commercial purposes have outlived their usefulness. The disused satellites are creating a huge amount of floating debris, posing a threat to working satellites. Currently, approximately 2,000 active satellites are orbiting Earth. However, space is also cluttered with around 3,000 defunct satellites. In addition, an estimated 34,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters, along with millions of smaller fragments, pose a significant risk of collision and potential damage to operational spacecraft. There are 8,261 satellites orbiting the Earth as on January 2022, out of which only 4,852 satellites are active (UNOOSA)
The invention of the atomic bombs, AK47 gave humanity the ability to destroy on an unprecedented scale, and the narratives illustrate how scientific hubris can lead to the end of the world.
Human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels are responsible for the rapid change in the Earth’s climate, creating a crisis for the planet. Even though many countries have started to address the carbon emissions problems, global warming continues to create environmental chaos and more frequent natural disasters and the extinction of species. Youngsters, in particular, are more concerned and are calling for immediate action to be able to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
The world’s population has tripled between 1950 and 2022, leading to a rise in resource needs and consumption. An increase in human population, resource exploitation, and environmental stress has been correlated by Thomas Robert Malthus’ classic “Essay on the Principle of Population theory (1976-1834) which has rekindled contemporary debates on food crisis worldwide. In foregrounding its significance in today’s rising gap between rampant population and its impact on the dwindling of limited natural resources. It reminds us to take action to resolve this dilemma by focussing on the need to critically evaluate the application of innovative food technology in boosting agriculture in a world also threatened by climate change and global warming. This imbalance has demonstrated that population growth is more powerful than the earth’s potency to satisfy human needs.
According to research the rate of the use of resources is higher than the planetary endowments in order to support human’s ecological footprint. The incessant resource consumption exploitation has created pollution, which is the leading environmental cause of disease and death. It is argued that despite achieving a 100 per cent clean energy system it cannot ward off ecological consequences of unsustainable activities.
The advent of the transformative media sphere, redefined by the integration of technology, telecommunications, various media channels, content, devices and platforms, has increased the number of ways to access and disseminate information. This digital convergence has introduced a multitude of channels including broadcast, broadband, new media, mobile networks, and Internet-based platforms. As a result, people across the globe are now constantly inundated with overwhelming streams of data, news, information, and discussions, accessible 24/7 but cannot understand or explore it due to time pressure and mental limitations. (Einar Hålien, (2014) Journalism needs a reinvention.’ )