Heaven and Hell - A Zen Parable

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A tough, brawny samurai once approached a Zen master who was deep in meditation. Impatient and discourteous, the samurai demanded in his husky voice so accustomed to forceful yelling, “Tell me the nature of heaven and hell.”

The Zen master opened his eyes, looked the samurai in the face, and replied with a certain scorn, “Why should I answer to a shabby, disgusting, despondent slob like you? A worm like you—do you think I should tell you anything? I can’t stand you. Get out of my sight. I have no time for silly questions.”

The samurai could not bear these insults. Consumed by rage, he drew his sword and raised it to sever the master’s head at once.

Looking straight into the samurai’s eyes, the Zen master tenderly declared, “That’s hell.”

The samurai froze. He immediately understood that anger had him in its grip. His mind had just created his own hell—one filled with resentment, hatred, self-defense, and fury. He realized that he was so deep in his torment that he was ready to kill somebody.

The samurai’s eyes filled with tears. Setting his sword aside, he put his palms together and obsequiously bowed in gratitude for this insight.

The Zen master gently acknowledged with a delicate smile, “And that’s heaven.”

From the book: "Don't believe everything you think" by Joseph Nyugen

Tags: Buddhism,Book Summary,

The Factory of Development That Produces Poverty : Bihar’s 20-Year Paradox

See All Political News

Hello, I’m Ravish Kumar.
In Bihar, a factory of “development” is running — but this one produces poverty. It manufactures not prosperity, but laborers ready to migrate. The factory of Bihar’s growth doesn’t create owners; it creates workers for others’ industries.

According to the Bihar government’s own data, over 4 million acres of land lie barren and unused — land that could have been used for industries. This number comes from the state’s Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department and only accounts for cultivable land, not private or inhabited plots. Nothing prevents a government from repurposing such land for industrial use. So, when Home Minister Amit Shah says Bihar lacks land for large industries, is that a fact — or a convenient excuse?

Twenty years is a long time. After two decades, if all a state can show are roads and bridges, something fundamental has gone wrong. Roads alone don’t build futures. They are meant to lead to industries, to jobs — not just out of Bihar.

The Land Is There, But the Will Is Missing

The Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) lists 922 acres of land immediately available for industrial use as of May 2025. The state cabinet recently approved the acquisition of 2,600 acres more for new industrial areas, with 1,300 acres earmarked for the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor. The Infrastructure Development Authority (IDA) has its own land bank too.

So the question isn’t “Where is the land?”
It’s “Why isn’t it being used for Bihar’s people?”

Two of the most powerful and experienced political figures in India — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — have ruled for decades between them. Yet neither has a convincing answer: Why hasn’t Bihar seen industrial growth? Why do its youth still migrate for jobs?

If development meant only law and order and roads, Bihar should have prospered by now. But even after 20 years of both, it remains among India’s poorest states. Perhaps Bihar has not just been left behind — it has been kept poor.

Budget of Excuses

According to the Bihar Industries Association, the state’s industry budget is only 0.62% of its total expenditure. Less than 1%. How can you build factories with such intent? How can a government that refuses to invest even 1% in industry claim there’s “no land”?

Tejashwi Yadav puts it sharply:

“They build factories in Gujarat, but want victories in Bihar.”

Prashant Kishor adds:

“A bullet train for Gujarat, not even a general bogie for Bihar.”

These aren’t mere political jibes — they cut into the very heart of Bihar’s economic injustice.

Two Decades of Power, One State Left Behind

Since 2001, Gujarat has had continuous BJP rule. Narendra Modi served as Chief Minister till 2014. After him, the party changed chief ministers thrice, yet the governance model remained intact. In Bihar, the BJP has also been in or around power for nearly as long — yet the contrast is glaring.

Why has Gujarat been turned into a “model state” while Bihar remains an exporter of cheap labor?

Amit Shah has been the Minister of Cooperation for four years now — a ministry deeply connected with sugar mills and agriculture. Yet, Bihar’s sugar mills remain shut, despite promises made by both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. In contrast, the opposition claims to have revived at least one mill in Seemanchal.

Even Bihar’s agriculture, once its strength, hasn’t escaped decline. The state’s farmers remain poor despite fertile soil and abundant water — because there’s been no meaningful reform.

Infrastructure Without Industry

Look at the figures:
Between 2005 and 2025, Bihar built over 11,500 km of new roads and thousands of bridges. The state boasts of massive investment — ₹4 lakh crore in roads and bridges, ₹1 lakh crore in rail projects, and several thousand crores in airports.

But who are these projects really for?
If industries never came, who uses these roads?

Infrastructure without industry is a mirage — it creates hope, not jobs. It feeds the cement and steel contractors, not the laborers who migrate from Gaya and Darbhanga to Surat and Delhi.

The Corruption Within

Bihar’s development model has also been hollowed out by corruption. Even as engineers are caught with ₹100 crore in their homes, no real accountability follows. Ministers under investigation are shielded. The chief minister speaks of ethics, but Bihar has come to recognize this as political theatre, not moral leadership.

The 2025 Industrial Package: A Giveaway, Not a Reform

Just before the elections, Nitish Kumar announced the Industrial Investment Promotion Package 2025, promising to give free land to Fortune 500 companies and half-priced land to others.

Think about it:
Amazon, Apple, and Walmart — companies whose turnovers are bigger than Bihar’s entire budget — are being offered free land. What kind of industrial policy gives away scarce public land to global giants, while poor families remain landless?

Why not free land for the poor?
Why not for the young entrepreneurs of Bihar?

The Contradiction of Land

Amit Shah says there’s no land for industries. Yet, Congress alleges that 1,050 acres in Bhagalpur — with 10 lakh fruit trees — were handed to Adani Power at ₹1 per year for 33 years. Farmers protesting the deal were reportedly confined to their homes during the Prime Minister’s visit. So, does land scarcity exist only for some?

The Suitcase Economy

Bihar today lives in a suitcase.
Every Chhath Puja, the entire nation witnesses this — trains and buses overflowing with migrants returning home. Families that left for work in Surat, Noida, or Mumbai, just to return once a year — this is the real face of “Bihar’s development.”

The dignity of Bihar’s workers has been eroded not outside the state — but within it.
A society that normalizes exodus cannot call itself developed.

The Politics of Managed Expectations

When politicians say there is “no land,” what they mean is — there is no will. Bihar has water, fertile land, and intelligent, hardworking people. But it lacks political intent. The goal seems to be managing expectations, not changing realities.

If roads could be built, why not colleges?
If bridges could be made, why not factories?

Even as Bihar’s students top competitive exams nationwide, their home state offers them neither education nor employment. Praise of Bihar’s “intelligence and hard work” rings hollow when it comes from the same leaders who failed to nurture it.

The Unasked Question

If Gujarat can be the “model,” why not Bihar?
If the same party, the same leadership, and the same ideology rule both states — what went wrong in Bihar?

The answer may lie in intent.
Bihar’s story is not of incapacity — it’s of deliberate neglect. The state has been made a supplier of cheap, disciplined labor for India’s industries. Its poverty has become its export.

Conclusion: Beyond Roads and Bridges

Bihar doesn’t need more speeches about its intelligence or its potential. It needs factories, not flyovers; jobs, not just promises. Twenty years of roads and rhetoric cannot hide the truth anymore.

As Amit Shah praises Bihar’s intellect and industry, the real Bihar packs its bags once again — not for a factory job in Patna, but for a construction site in Gujarat.

That’s the story of “development” in Bihar —
A development that builds everything except the future of its people.

— Ravish Kumar

What “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” Teaches Us About Setting Goals

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In the book Don’t Believe Everything You Think, the author invites us to step back from our compulsive thinking patterns and explore what it really means to live consciously. The central idea is simple but profound — you don’t need to stop thinking, but you also don’t need to believe every thought that crosses your mind. Instead, through mindfulness, you can learn to observe your thoughts as they come and go, without letting them define you or dictate your actions.

So how does this idea connect with the goals we set in life?

The Two Origins of Goals

When you start to look closely, you’ll realize that not all goals are created equal. Some arise from lack, and others from abundance.

• Desperation Goals: These are born from a sense of insufficiency — the feeling that something is missing in your life. They often come from overthinking or a deep-seated belief that you need something external to feel whole. These goals might sound like: “I need to make more money,” “I need a better job,” “I need to be in a relationship.”
  Such goals can indeed motivate you and help you achieve practical milestones, but they rarely bring lasting fulfillment. They’re not the end; they’re merely the means to an end.

• Inspiration Goals: These arise from a sense of abundance — when you already feel whole, grateful, and alive. They’re not driven by lack but by a natural desire to create, share, and express something meaningful. These goals might sound like: “I want to teach what I’ve learned,” “I want to build something that helps others,” “I want to express my creativity.”
  These are the goals that represent the end in themselves. You pursue them not to fill a void, but to express who you already are.

Why It’s Not About “Good” or “Bad” Goals

It’s tempting to label one type of goal as good and the other as bad, but that’s not the point. The value of a goal depends entirely on the person experiencing it.

Money, for example, is not inherently bad. We all need it to live and thrive in society. But when the pursuit of money becomes the sole purpose, when it’s driven by insecurity or comparison, it begins to drain rather than enrich life. There’s a limit to how much money you truly need — beyond that, the rest becomes redundant.

The real question isn’t whether a goal is good or bad — it’s whether it’s coming from fear or from freedom.

The Reflection Question

If this idea feels abstract or confusing, here’s a simple reflection that might bring clarity:

If I had infinite money, had already traveled the world, felt no fear, and received no recognition for what I do — what would I still want to do or create?

This question strips away the noise. It helps you identify the goals that aren’t driven by insecurity or external validation. The answers that remain are often your truest, most inspired desires — the ones that come from abundance, not lack.

Closing Thought

“Don’t Believe Everything You Think” isn’t just about quieting the mind; it’s about rediscovering the clarity that naturally arises when the noise fades. When you stop chasing goals born from desperation, you make space for goals born from inspiration — goals that reflect not what you lack, but what you love.

And perhaps, that’s the most fulfilling way to live — not by thinking your way to success, but by feeling your way to purpose.

Tags: Book Summary,Motivation,

Reel vs Rozgaar: The Illusion of Digital Employment in Bihar

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By Ravish Kumar

A strange debate has taken root in Bihar. A debate between reel and rozgaar — between short-form video entertainment and real employment.
Rahul Gandhi calls reels an addiction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls them a source of employment.

At a recent rally in Bihar, the Prime Minister proudly claimed that his government made data cheaper, and as a result, Bihar’s youth are earning through reels.
It was meant to sound like a story of digital empowerment. In truth, it revealed the tragic distance between politics and the real lives of Bihar’s young generation.

---

The Cost of a Dream Called “Reel Economy”

If reel-making were truly a viable employment model, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — who has ruled the state for nearly two decades — wouldn’t be distributing unemployment allowances and election-time stipends to women.
He’d be giving ₹10,000 to every youth to start making reels — because, as the Prime Minister suggests, Bihar’s youth can now “earn from creativity” thanks to cheap data.

But ask the young creators themselves, and a very different story emerges.

They tell you: one reel takes 5–6 hours to make, often shot under the sun or in the rain, edited painstakingly on a phone they bought on loan.
Their content gets views, but not revenue. Ad deals are rare, local sponsors pay ₹1000–₹2000, and platforms like Instagram don’t pay creators at all.
For most, “reel-making” is not an income — it’s an expensive hobby sustained by hope.

One student from Samastipur shared how he borrowed ₹32,000 from his mother to buy a phone, promising to pay it back from his “reel income.” Months later, he’s still in debt.

---

Cheap Data or Costly Distraction?

The Prime Minister claims data is cheaper than tea.
But the reality on the ground contradicts that. Over the past year, data rates have risen by 20–25%. Entry-level recharge plans have been scrapped by major telecoms.
Airtel’s ₹249 plan is now ₹299, and Jio’s basic 1GB-per-day plan doesn’t exist anymore.
When young creators say uploading a single video consumes 500–600MB, you realize that this “cheap data” narrative is detached from the ground truth.

It’s one thing to have mobile phones in every home. It’s another to have genuine digital empowerment.
Only around 43% of Bihar’s population has internet access, far below Kerala’s 70%.
Barely 1% of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and extremely backward-class households own a laptop or computer.

So even if data were free, how would Bihar’s youth turn it into employment when the basic digital infrastructure is missing?

---

The Barren Landscape of Real Jobs

Aditya Anand, a young professional from Munger, wrote a viral post on LinkedIn about this illusion of opportunity.
He called Bihar the perfect example of how India is squandering its demographic dividend.

In his words:

“Half the youth here are preparing for government jobs that never come. The other half are scrolling American apps on Chinese phones, cursing both countries while trapped in their systems.”

His observation captures the paradox: a state overflowing with youth energy, yet starved of opportunities.
Gyms are full, coaching centres are crowded, and reels are endless — but factories, startups, and meaningful jobs remain missing.

---

Politics of Distraction

From pakora employment in 2019 to reel employment in 2025, the slogans have changed but the reality hasn’t.
What remains constant is the government’s attempt to rename or reframe unemployment as entrepreneurship.

The Prime Minister says “reel-making is work.” But he doesn’t say which colleges, universities, or industries his government has strengthened to create real jobs.
He doesn’t explain why Patna University, established in 1917, still awaits central university status — a promise dismissed on stage eight years ago.

When asked about factories, BJP leaders say there’s no land in Bihar.
Yet, the same state provides lakhs of migrants who build cities in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Delhi.
The land is apparently too scarce for factories, but not for election rallies.

---

The Global Lens: Reels as Addiction

Rahul Gandhi called reels a “nasha” — an addiction.
And he’s not wrong. Globally, research is piling up on the psychological impact of social media reels: reduced attention span, rising anxiety, depression, and addiction among children and young adults.
In the U.S., parents have even sued Facebook and Instagram, blaming them for mental health issues in their children.

Yet, India’s Prime Minister celebrates the same platforms as vehicles of employment.
No country that takes youth mental health seriously would glorify an addictive technology as a source of national productivity.

---

The Digital Illusion of Employment

It’s important to understand that content creation is indeed an economy — but not one built by the Indian government.
It exists because of global platforms like YouTube, Google, Meta, and X.
Governments have, in fact, made this space more fragile through restrictive IT rules.

The 2021 amendments to India’s IT Act allow bureaucrats to order the removal of online content without transparent justification.
Platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have challenged this in court.
This means even the little economic opportunity that YouTube creators or independent journalists found online exists under constant threat of censorship.

So, when the Prime Minister takes credit for “creating” a reel economy, it’s misleading — both economically and politically.

---

Bihar’s Young, Stuck Between Hope and Deprivation

Bihar is India’s youngest state — about 10% of India’s youth live there.
Yet, its unemployment rate remains among the highest.
For 20 years, one chief minister and one alliance have ruled, claiming “double engine” governance.
But what has that engine built?

Education remains in ruins.
Industries are absent.
And instead of modern universities or IT hubs, the youth are offered cheap data and motivational speeches about reels.

In a state where 98% of households lack computers, what sense does it make to talk about digital entrepreneurship?

---

The Real Question

The real question is not whether making reels is good or bad.
It’s whether the government can get away with calling it employment in a state that desperately needs factories, universities, and functioning institutions.

If reels are truly the future of jobs, perhaps our leaders should also quit politics and start making them.
They might discover, as Bihar’s youth already have, that likes don’t pay bills.

---

Conclusion: Between Red Light and Blue Light

Bihar’s nights glow with the blue light of mobile screens — not the lamps of study or the sparks of industry.
The young scroll endlessly, not out of joy, but out of boredom and helplessness.
Every reel is a cry of creativity trapped inside a system that refuses to open its doors.

The tragedy is not that Bihar’s youth are making reels.
The tragedy is that the country’s leaders now call it employment.

Tags: Ravish Kumar,Indian Politics,Hindi,Video,

Bihar, Jobs, and the AI Mirage: A Missing Debate in a Changing World

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Why is the debate around jobs in Bihar so shallow, so disconnected from what’s happening in the rest of the world?
Across the globe, conversations about employment revolve around artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and the future of work. But in Bihar, the discussion remains trapped in slogans, promises, and political arithmetic — a world away from reality.

Walk through the coaching centers of Patna. You’ll see thousands of students spilling out of narrow lanes, their faces filled with anxiety and hope. These are some of the most hardworking youth in India, preparing day and night for government jobs. Yet, the system seems designed to fail most of them.

How can a state with such intellectual energy and ambition still be debating jobs in the 20th-century sense — when the rest of the world is debating the disappearance of jobs altogether?

---

The Global Conversation: AI, Robots, and the Future of Work

In America, The New York Times recently reported that Amazon may replace 500,000 workers with robots. The debate there isn’t about migrants taking jobs — it’s about billionaires replacing humans with machines.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has laid off thousands due to AI-driven restructuring. Target, one of the biggest U.S. retail chains, is cutting 1,800 jobs.

These developments have triggered fierce debate in the West:

• Should companies pay a “robot tax”?

• Who will buy goods if humans lose purchasing power?

• How do we retrain workers for the AI era?

India’s own IT giants — the pride of a generation — are now announcing large-scale layoffs as AI automates coding, testing, and support roles. Yet in Bihar, none of this seems to matter. There’s barely a whisper of discussion about AI’s impact on jobs, skills, or policy.

---

The Local Reality: Empty Promises, Delayed Dreams

While the world debates the loss of jobs, Bihar’s leaders are promising to create millions.
Home Minister Amit Shah says Bihar will become an AI hub in the next ten years. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar promises one crore (10 million) jobs in five years.

But what kind of jobs?
At what salaries?
And where will the money come from?

Even Amazon cannot create a million jobs in today’s world — but Bihar’s leaders say they can. For two decades, Nitish Kumar has ruled a state that remains among India’s poorest. Despite “double-engine” governments in Delhi and Patna, Bihar leads in neither manufacturing, IT, nor services.

Political stability has delivered political survival — not prosperity.

---

The Fantasy of Tech Parks and IT Hubs

Look at the much-celebrated Software Technology Parks in Darbhanga and Bhagalpur.
The announcements came in 2015. The foundation stones were laid years later. In Bhagalpur, the park took nine years to complete; in Darbhanga, ten.

Now that they’re finally inaugurated, what next?
Are these centers equipped for AI, data science, or robotics? Or are they simply government buildings with outdated infrastructure and no industry linkage?

If such parks were truly transforming Bihar, engineers across the state would be the first to speak up. Instead, silence reigns — replaced by caste politics and hollow declarations.

---

Numbers That Don’t Add Up

Nitish Kumar’s claim of giving jobs to 10 lakh (1 million) people rings hollow when you look at Bihar’s own Economic Survey.
In 2024, all government recruitment bodies combined — BPSC, BTSC, BPSSC, and CSBC — gave just over 2 lakh jobs. Even in the best recruitment year, that’s a fraction of what’s promised.

Bihar has around 2.9 crore families.
If every family were to get one government job, even at an average salary of ₹70,000 per month, the cost would be ₹29 lakh crore a year — while Bihar’s total budget is just ₹3.17 lakh crore.

The math simply doesn’t work.
But slogans do.

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Cash Transfers Instead of Creation

Ahead of elections, Bihar’s government distributed nearly ₹19,000 crore directly into people’s accounts — about one-third of the state’s annual revenue.
Twenty-five lakh women received ₹10,000 each in a single day.

Does this create jobs? No.
It only buys time — and votes.

Maharashtra’s similar Ladki Bahin Yojana was exposed for paying 26 lakh ineligible people. Bihar seems to be repeating the same story: short-term appeasement instead of structural reform.

---

When Engineers Stay Silent

Thousands of engineers from Bihar work in Bengaluru, Delhi, London, and New York. They are building AI systems, managing IT infrastructure, and designing the algorithms shaping the future.

But where are their voices in Bihar’s debate on jobs?
Why aren’t they speaking up about how AI is transforming their industries — and what that means for their home state?

If the educated remain silent, caste and populism will continue to define Bihar’s economic narrative.

---

The Coming Storm

AI is no longer a distant threat.
According to NITI Aayog’s 2024 report, 20 lakh IT jobs in India may disappear soon — though 40 lakh new ones could emerge in AI and automation-related fields. The question is: who will be ready for them?

Most of Bihar’s youth are still preparing for clerical or low-level government jobs that may not even exist in a decade.

The global economy is shifting, but Bihar’s education and political systems are stuck in time.

---

Beyond Rhetoric: What Bihar Needs

If Bihar truly wants to prepare for the AI era, it must:

1. Invest in skills, not slogans — AI literacy, data science, and vocational training.

2. Build partnerships with tech companies, not just tech parks.

3. Encourage local innovation — startups, agricultural AI, and small manufacturing automation.

4. Empower universities to run industry-linked programs.

5. Focus on transparency and execution, not just inauguration ceremonies.

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Conclusion: The Missing Theme

This election in Bihar feels like an election without a theme.
Caste loyalties are being rearranged; old promises are being repackaged. But no one is asking the essential question: what kind of work will exist in the future, and who will have access to it?

When the world is discussing the ethics of AI and the economics of automation, Bihar is still debating who will get a government job.

That is the tragedy — and the warning.

If Bihar continues to debate the past while the world builds the future, the gap will only grow wider.

Namaskar,
I’m Ravish Kumar.

Tags: Hindi,Indian Politics,Video,

A Young Monk and The Empty Boat

All Buddhist Stories

(A Zen Story About How Thinking Is The Cause Of Our Own Suffering)

A long time ago, a young Zen monk was living in a small monastery that was located in a forest which was near a small lake. The monastery was occupied by a few senior monks, while the rest were newcomers and still had much to learn. The monks had many obligations in the monastery, but one of the most important ones was their daily routine where they had to sit down, close their eyes, and meditate in silence for hours at a time.

After each meditation, they had to report their progress to their mentor. A young monk had difficulty staying focused during his meditation practice for a variety of reasons, which made him very mad. After the young monk reported his progress, or rather the lack of it, to his mentor, the elder monk asked the young monk a simple question that contained a hidden lesson: “Do you know what is really making you angry?” The young monk replied, “Well, usually as soon as I close my eyes and begin to meditate, there is someone moving around, and I can’t focus. I get agitated because someone is disturbing me even though they know that I’m meditating. How could they not be more considerate? And then when I close my eyes again and try to focus, a cat or a small animal might brush past and disturb me again. By this point, even when the wind blows and the tree branches make noise, I get angry. If that is not enough, the birds keep on chirping, and I can’t seem to find any peace in this place.”

The elder monk simply pointed out to his pupil, “I see that you become angrier with each interruption you encounter. This is exactly the opposite of what is the point of your task when meditating. You should find a way not to get angry with people, or animals, or any other thing around you that disturbs you during your task." After their consultation, the young monk went out of the monastery and looked around to find a place that would be quieter so that he could meditate peacefully. He found such a place at the shore of the lake that was nearby. He brought his mat, sat down, and started meditating. But soon, a flock of birds splashed down in the lake near where the monk was meditating. Hearing their noise, the monk opened his eyes to see what was going on.

Although the bank of the lake was quieter than the monastery, there were still things that would disturb his peace, and he again got angry. Even though he didn't find the peace he was looking for, he kept returning to the lake. Then one day, the monk saw a boat tied at the end of a small pier. And right then an idea hit him: "Why don't I take the boat, row it down to the middle of the lake and meditate there? In the middle of the lake, there will be nothing to disturb me!" He rowed the boat to the middle of the lake and started meditating.

As he had expected, there was nothing in the middle of the lake to disturb him and he was able to meditate the whole day. At the end of the day, he returned to the monastery. This continued for a couple of days, and the monk was thrilled that he had finally found a place to meditate in peace. He hadn't felt angry and could continue the meditation practice in a calm manner.

On the third day, the monk sat in the boat, rowed up the middle of the lake, and started meditating again. A few minutes later, he heard some splashing of water and felt that the boat was rocking. He started getting upset that even in the middle of the lake, there was someone or something disturbing him.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a boat heading straight towards him. He shouted, "Steer your boat away, or else you will hit my boat." But the other boat kept coming straight at him and was just a few feet away. He yelled again, but nothing changed, and so the incoming boat hit the monk's boat. Now he was furious. He screamed, "Who are you, and why have you hit my boat in the middle of this vast lake?" There was no answer. This made the young monk even angrier.

He stood up to see who was in the other boat and to his surprise, he found that there was no one in the boat.

The boat had probably drifted along in the breeze and had bumped into the monk's boat. The monk found his anger dissipating. It was just an empty boat! There was no one to get angry at!

At that moment he remembered his mentor's question: "Do you know what is really making you angry?" And then he realized: "It's not other people, situations, or circumstances. It's not the empty boat, but my reaction to it that causes my anger. All the people or situations that make me upset and angry are just like the empty boat. They don't have the power to make me angry without my own reaction."

The monk then rowed the boat back to the shore. He returned to the monastery and started meditating along with the other monks. There were still noises and disturbances around, but the monk treated them as the "empty boat" and continued to meditate peacefully. When the elder monk saw the difference, he simply said to the young monk, "I see that you have found what is really making you angry and overcome that."

From the book: "Don't believe everything you think" by Joseph Nguyen

Tags: Book Summary,Buddhism,

Agentic AI by Andrew Ng at DeepLearning.ai

View Course on DeepLearning.ai

Legend:
M: Module
L: Lesson


M1 - Introduction to Agentic Workflows


M1L2 - What is Agentic AI




M1L3 - Degrees of Autonomy




M1L4 - Benefits of Agentic AI




M1L5 - Agentic AI Applications




M1L6 - Task Decomposition - Identifying the steps in a workflow




M1L7 - Evaluating Agentic AI (evals)




M1L8 - Agentic Design Patterns




M1L9 - Quiz




Setup Steps (part of module-1 lab)


M2 - Reflection Design Pattern


M2L1 - Reflection to improve outputs of a task




M2L2 - Why not just direct generation




M2L3 - Chart Generation Workflow




M2L4 - Evaluating the impact of reflection




M2L5 - Using External Feedback




M2L6 - Quiz




Open Module-2 Lab Assignments

M3 - Tool Use


M3L1 - What Are Tools




M3L2 - Creating a Tool




M3L3 - Tool Syntax




M3L4 - Code Execution




M3L5 - MCP




M3L6 - Quiz




Open Module-3 Lab Assignments

M4 - Practical Tips for Building Agentic AI


M4L1 - Evaluations (evals)




M4L2 - Error Analysis and prioritizing next steps




M4L3 - More error analysis examples





M4L4 - Component-level evaluations




M4L5 - How to address problems you identify




M4L6 - Latency, cost optimization




M4L7 - Development process summary




M4L8 - Quiz



Open Module-4 Lab Assignment


M5 - Patterns for Highly Autonomous Agents

M5L1 - Planning Workflows




M5L2 - Creating and executing LLM plans




M5L3 - Planning with code execution




M5L4 - Multi-agentic workflows




M5L5 - Communication patterns for multi-agent systems




M5L6 - Quiz



Open Module-5 Lab Assignments

Tags: Technology,Agentic AI,Artificial Intelligence,

Platform-Based Companies and the Power of Network Growth

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In today’s digital economy, platform-based companies are the new gold mines. Their value doesn’t just come from the technology they build — it comes from the networks of users that form around them.

These companies thrive because as their user base grows, the value of the network multiplies — for both users and the company itself. This dynamic is known as the network effect, and it’s the silent engine behind some of the most successful businesses of our time.

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The Network Effect in Action

Here’s the beauty of network-driven growth: every time a new user joins the platform, the overall value of the network increases.

• For existing users, more users mean more potential interactions, connections, and opportunities.

• For new users, a larger network makes joining the platform more rewarding from day one.

• And for the company, this means exponential growth in engagement — and ultimately, in revenue.

Most platforms monetize these interactions through small transaction fees, advertising, or subscription models. The more activity, the higher the earnings — without necessarily increasing costs at the same rate.

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Classic Examples of Network-Driven Platforms

Consider the digital giants that dominate our lives:

• Apple’s App Store — Every new app attracts more users to the iPhone ecosystem, and every new user attracts more developers to build apps.

• Uber — More riders attract more drivers; more drivers mean faster pickups, which attracts even more riders.

• Facebook and Twitter (X) — The more your friends are there, the more valuable the platform becomes to you.

• Amazon, Alibaba, and eBay — Each new seller makes the marketplace more diverse, and each new buyer increases demand for sellers.

Even Netflix benefits from this principle — as more users stream content, Netflix gathers more data to improve its recommendations, which in turn attracts more users.

These are not just companies; they are self-reinforcing ecosystems.

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The Pareto Principle at Play

This phenomenon aligns perfectly with the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule — the idea that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes.

In the world of platforms, however, the balance is often even more extreme:

• 90/10,

• 95/5,

• or even 99/1 — where 1% of companies dominate nearly all of the market share and profits.

That’s why we see a small group of platform companies — think Google, Apple, Amazon, and Meta — commanding the vast majority of value in their industries.

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Why Monopolies (Sometimes) Make Sense

Interestingly, platform monopolies often benefit users. A single dominant network creates:

• Standardization, making it easier for everyone to connect and transact.

• Reliability, because large networks have resources to maintain quality.

• Depth, since more users mean more opportunities for interaction.

In networks, bigger is genuinely better. The richest experiences, the best data, and the most efficient systems all emerge from large, well-connected user bases.

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Final Thoughts

Platform-based companies have rewritten the rules of business growth. Instead of owning factories or inventory, they own connections — and that’s where the real value lies.

Every new user strengthens the network, and every stronger network attracts new users. It’s a flywheel of growth that spins faster the larger it gets.

In the end, the companies that master this network effect will continue to dominate — because in the platform economy, growth feeds growth, and bigger networks are always better networks.

From the book "The 80/20 Principle" by Richard Koch (Download Book)

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