Hey People, without emotional intelligence, we might become rootless trees
We need to invest more in emotional intelligence than artificial intelligence to lead healthier and prosperous lives.
A few days ago, I attended a school lecture on Artificial Intelligence. The speaker talked about the great things of AI, Machine Learning and other big sounding words but nothing about emotional intelligence.
Aren’t we dazzled by AI?
No doubt, I was impressed by the speaker and her knowledge about technology, AI and Machine Learning. In the coming years, according to her, intelligent machines will take over nearly 50% of our jobs.
Look at America, she said, people are riding in driverless cars. This high-end technology will hit us soon, she continued, so it is better to embrace it NOW.
The audience consisted of parents of 13-14-year-olds. The school thought it was time parents knew about all the wonderful things that were happening in the world. The speaker was also very clear that our kids need to learn artificial intelligence immediately.
‘If we delay teaching this subject to our children, they might become strait-jacketed in the future. Five years from now, they won’t be able to understand and innovate in this marvelous technology. If we want our kids to be creative in the future, we need to teach them AI right now. ‘
The speaker marveled at the creativity of our kids.
‘Look how quickly do they solve technical problems. You and I may not be able to launch a game on our mobile device, but our kids can do that in minutes, ‘ she explained.
I like many others shook my head vigorously. The speaker was making sense to me. Artificial intelligence was the need of the hour, I concurred with the rest.
Emotional Intelligence- the missing link
Later, as the week progressed, I rewound the entire presentation in my head. The presentation was flawless, and all of us living in the big cities needed AI. Without this technology, our future is doomed, I was thoroughly convinced by the speaker.
Then it all dawned upon me last Sunday.
‘AREN’T WE MISSING OUT ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?’ I thought to myself.
Aren’t we neglecting our human relations and personal interactions?
Most of the time, we as well as our kids are busy over our phones and tablets. Our heads are bent forward 45 degrees all the time as we watch silly videos and exchange messages with people whom we have hardly met.
A society of machines
Our world has contracted into a mobile device teeming with apps. We identify our friends, brothers, and relatives with 10-digit numbers. Text and WhatsApp messages have replaced the gold old conversations.
We now no longer give a phone call to our childhood buddies or ex-colleagues. Do we have photo albums that contain their photos? No.
Now it is Facebook and Twitter that remind us of our beautiful moments. Want to relive them? Just click the ‘Send’ button and you have done your duty.
In the good old days, it was fun inviting people to our weddings, and birthdays. It was such an elaborate exercise!
Personal delivery of wedding invitation cards was followed by a couple of phone calls. I still remember the makings of the ‘list’. Wasn’t that an elaborate yet and enjoyable exercise?
Every death of a friend, relative, mausa, mausee, mama, dada, etc. was an intense experience. The feeling of loss was deep.
We didn’t know what ‘RIP’ was. Neither did we know anything about ‘Emotional Intelligence’.
Direct, personal and loving- that’s emotional intelligence
That was the world we grew up in.
Direct, personal, and loving.
Today, our relations are mechanical and transactional. We call up others only when it is absolutely necessary. Unless we gain from that conversation, we never call up our people. Otherwise, WhatsApp hai na!
Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, some really smart people were watching this change in human nature.
They quickly realized that there was a deep-seated need for effortless personal communication. And that is how Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Tinder were born.
Meanwhile, some really smart sociologists and psychologists coined a new term- Emotional Intelligence and the world caught it as if it were manna from heaven.
But isn’t EQ an immensely valuable commodity these days?
Emotional intelligence or EQ is the capability to like people and understand their perspectives. It is the ability to carry people along.
Without EQ, there can’t be AI or any other tech
All technologies are developed and invented when men and women work together. Teams are made when its members genuinely like each other.
New ideas are conceived, tested and later developed when people speak with each other. Even Artificial Technology.
You simply can’t keep on looking at the phone or your laptop and suddenly discover something new. You need to talk to strangers, know what they are doing and identify solutions.
I read somewhere that Jeff Bezos spends a significant amount of time with his family. For him, technology is an enabler and not the final goal. Perhaps Bezos knows that technology is meant to solve problems FOR HUMANS.
Just yesterday, one of the most loved Indian politicians passed away. Sheila Dixit was the only politico who became a chief minister for 3 consecutive terms.
Did she embrace technology like most of us? Did Sheila ji have a Facebook or a Twitter account? Or even a Gmail account?
No! I was astonished when she told Mayank Austen Soofi that she never ever had an email account!
And that never stopped her from reaching out to the millions of her voters! That’s some emotional intelligence, isn’t it?
I don’t think our political and business leaders are extremely dependent upon technology. The Modis and Trumps know that the Twitters of the world amplify their messages but at the same time, these leaders connect with their people personally.
It is time, we came down from the high horse of technology. Let’s start valuing relationships once again.
We and our kids need to rediscover our past world. Artificial intelligence can wait but today we need more of emotional intelligence. Unless we know how to manage our bosses, kids, spouses, parents, colleagues, neighbors, etc, we aren’t going anywhere.
