Vincent Van Gogh, who used brush and canvas to make the Japanese wood cut images, never understood his art.

The tragic hero of the painter and 20th-century art lover was a victim of styles, techniques and methods. Three things complicated his artistic life: his love for Japanese woodcut prints, his understanding of colours as light, and the painting as an image-making medium. These three strands continued to trouble him throughout his life and failed him at every stage of his journey.

In the beginning, as evident in his "Potato Eater" painting and earlier works, his concern seemed to be the quest for post-baroque light and visual sensibility. Perhaps, due to the romanticism of Japanese artworks existing in Europe during those days, it later evolved into an obsession with Japanese woodcut print images, which intensified the intense negotiation between painting as a medium and its technique.

His explorations, ranging from baroque highlights to illusionary pointillism, and the idea of segregated colours forming the image in the viewer's eyes as in impressionism, led to complete confusion and disillusionment. This speaks volumes about the tragic fate of this artist. His use of woollen colour balls to understand the colour palette further complicated matters, as he struggled to comprehend the conventional artistic merits demanded by his profession.

We may be able to classify his works into three stages. The first stage comprises his black and white drawings to understand highlights that define forms in conventional paintings, especially Baroque and post-baroque formalism. The second stage reflects his realization that the light in the baroque style limits colour possibilities, as argued by impressionists who rejected darkness in their work. During this period, he studied colour but could neither decide nor understand the method to achieve it in painting. In his famous painting "Garden with Courting Couples," he showcases the struggle between pointillistic and impressionistic style differences and his confusion.

Perhaps he had not been able to understand or was not convinced about the impressionist painters' argument that segregated colours have the capacity to form a seamless image in the viewer's eyes. Alternatively, he may have believed that he found his solution for this vexed question of colour separations in Japanese woodcut prints, a style he continued for the rest of his life. His first colourful self-portrait as an assertive artist speaks volumes about his newfound confidence. It seemed like he thought he had finally cracked it. Unfortunately, he could not realize the difference between colour separation in print and its perception by the viewer. The third stage encompasses the era he worked with Gauguin, where he finally attempted to separate form from techniques like modernists, only to hopelessly give it all up.

He could not understand why the art world could not accept him as an artist, and he could not realize that for conventional art markets, his works were considered only as images of woodcut prints, while the rest were seen as exploratory paintings akin to the works of art school students who tried out different techniques from Renaissance to Baroque, pointillism to Japanese woodcut images, and modernism to learn the art-making process.

Between those two paintings and over three years: in 1887, during the days he spent in Paris, hoping to understand colours and other contemporary art practices, he painted "Garden with Courting Couples: Square Saint" using pointillism and woodcut image technique in his effort to move away from his dark Baroque style of light and its highlights.

This garden, with two pathways from both ends of the painting joining into one, where couples were courting in love and trees were blooming under the pale light blue sky, marks the opening up of an artist discovering a new world of art and its possibilities. After this painting, he went on to assume that he had cracked the vexing question of the impressionist's argument of colour through the woodcut image's colour separation. His portrait series offers evidence of this confusion. Later on, he realized that the Paris modern art world had moved beyond such confusion. He continued his artistic journey with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, attempting to be a contemporary artist capturing the movements of form and colour in the human body and its performance. Once again, he found that his relationship with colour, light, and form was slipping away. He decided to move out of Paris to a more natural-rural setting to explore art and its facets as a human desire. He hoped Gauguin would help him resolve his complications. But Gauguin, with his profound understanding of form and colour, could easily identify Vincent's problem. Even as Vincent tried to imbibe Gauguin's style and treatment, he realized his incapacity to grasp Gauguin's mastery of colour and form in composition. Slowly but steadily, his world started to fall apart, and his Starry Night emerged from an asylum where the darkness of baroque, brush patches of woodcut images, and movements of modernism clashed with each other in vibrant colours and forms, representing his eternal agony.

The 1889 painting "Starry Nights," a step before his "Wheatfield with Crows," which was painted in 1890, shows that he still had some hope. Then in 1890 came the Wheatfield with Crows. After three years, he went back to his hopeful days in Paris to the same garden - "The Garden with Courting Couples: Square of Saints." But this time, it was devoid of blossoming trees of hope, courting couples of love, a peaceful and pleasant pale blue sky, and the enthusiasm to experiment with painting techniques of pointillism, and woodcut style. The Garden looked barren, with a post-harvest dried yellow wheat field. The two pathways that joined into one were no longer hopeful of finding a common path, but they were hopelessly reaching out to nowhere. A storm was building in the sky, where his woodcut-style patches were losing out to the darkness of baroque. The garden of his engagement with the art world offered nothing to him except the dark crows of doom looming large. He became hopeless, or the conventional art world was successful in convincing him that he was hopeless in the art world. Although he painted a few more paintings later, this painting became the end of his three years of evolution and the end of his life. The art world of his time considered him an image maker of an existing image-making technique: Japanese woodcut prints. 

Vincent accepted that verdict. In 1890, before his death, he wrote, "I feel – a failure – that’s it as regards me – I feel that that’s the fate I’m accepting. And which won’t change any more."

But in my 16 years of art teaching, I've never found anything as intensive and successful as the life and works of Vincent as tools to inspire students to live their dreams and imagine their art. He never realized that an artist's failures, fault lines, and vulnerabilities that define an artist's life of intense passion are the art, and it is not the popular consumption or the niche understandings of technique and treatments that the market defines as art. Both the market and Vincent failed to understand those three years' journey between 1887's "Garden with Courting Couples" to 1890's "Wheat Field with Crows" - as the metamorphosis of an artist and his art.

Forget the world, Vincent, who used brush and canvas to make the Japanese woodcut images, never understood his art. What a tragedy!

Windows

During a lecture at CEPT University, architect Prof. Vasavada shared an amusing thought about windows. He jokingly mentioned that when clients ask about windows in their homes, he would suggest placing a painting or print of windows instead of actual ones. He questioned why one would want to waste wall space when they rarely open windows due to dust or for using air conditioning. Besides, curtains often cover them, adding to the accumulation of dust. 

Although it was a joke, it reminds us of the sombre reality of windows in our urban lives. Historically, windows served as openings that brought light and fresh air into rooms, transforming dark spaces into bright ones. They hold nostalgic memories and emotional encounters. In fairy tales, windows were the means of escape for captive princesses from fortified castles, and lovers like Romeo and Juliet expressed their love through these romantic points. Their role in love stories is so significant that some beautiful Hindi film songs, such as "mere samne wali kidikki pein...," celebrate the youthful essence of windows in human life. In Arabian Nights stories, Persian windows that opened to moonlit skies, and Sufi songs praising the philosophical role of windows in expressing the reality of life and its metaphysical world, immortalized their philosophical and cultural significance.

Windows in buildings are aesthetically pleasing both from the inside and outside. They represent human needs and aspirations, balancing embellishment and functionality. Externally, they become symbols of social status in architecture, while internally they serve as escape routes from the confines of the built environment.

The famous Hawa Mahal in Jaipur tells another story of gender negotiations through windows—the unseen women hidden amidst the hustle and bustle of cities. Windows also act as secret passages for social and gender considerations, allowing the oppressed to connect with the forbidden world outside while adhering to social customs. In Kerala, a renowned traditional architectural element covers windows, enabling a view of the outside world from within while restricting the view from the inside to the outside. The partially reflective glasses that adorn our cities today have perfected this game.

 Throughout my artistic journey, I have always found these intriguing aspects of human life to be fascinating. In Paldi, Ahmedabad, there was a Gujarati bungalow near Parimal Char Rasta that caught my attention. Its transparent glass windows were always closed, yet there was a play of light behind their transparency. The idea of a fragile, transparent window providing a sense of security to the household amidst the violent world outside amused me. In my art, I have painted windows and explored their role in human life numerous times, aiming to understand the complex connection they have with our lives.

 Gradually, I realised that the role of windows is not a simple narrative between ornamental frames on the outside and functional necessity on the inside. It reveals itself as a highly complex negotiation within civilisations.

 Today, as pollution and dust continue to encroach upon our cities, windows are closing, one by one. They remain shut for weeks and months, and people in urban chaos have forgotten about them. For many city dwellers, windows have become a major problem. They stay closed, becoming a passage to nostalgia, memories, and the last connection between houses and the city—they remain shut.

 

(Photos taken during my recent trip to Ahmedabad with students.)

win

Yaksha - Yakshi, a journey from Sujata

It was in 1988, during my trip to attend a job interview that I first saw these sculptures. As guards of RBI in Delhi, these two tall and strong sculpture of yaksha and yakshi.  It can intimidate anyone who walks past it with its stunning looks.  Although during those early days in Delhi,   the place was still strange to me,  on my way back to home,  I could not stop getting down from the bus near RBI  to have a second look of these sculptures.

Later on, I learned from Lalit Kala academe library that these sculpture of yaksha and yakshi were drawn its inspiration from "Parkham yaksha" and "Besnagar yakshi". During those pre internet eras, there was no other way a computer professional like me could have accessed that information. Years later,  in my study of Indian sculptural traditions and sculptors, I revisited the aesthetic constructions of Ram Kinker Baij's artworks and found a new narrative for these two wonderful works: Yaksha -Yakshini, the journey of Sujata and an artist's love.

                                            Besnagar yakshi                        Parkham yaksha Manibadhra
                                            3rd - 1st century BC                  3rd- 1st century BC

Besnagar Yakshi and Parkham Yaksha represents the early sculptural traditions of Indian art. One will certainly find the influences of early Greek/ Hellenistic sculptural traditions in these two sculpture from Mauryan empire times.  It is said that Carl Khandalawalla, an eminent art critic appointed by the RBI at the instance of JRD Tata, considered these two sculptures in particular as inspirations for the yaksha and yakshi for RBI gate. He thought, the Hindu mythical characters Kubera, the guardian of wealth and his female counterpart, Yakshi the deity of fertility as the most appropriate symbols to represent and guard RBI of the newly emerging nation.

If one looks at these possible Mauryan sculptures, one would not miss the similarity exist in the style, posture, structure and their dress. Its Hellenistic influence also can be identified from its resemblance to the Bharhut yavana relief sculpture dated circa 100 BCE. This sculpture of dwarapala is assumed to be of that of  Menander, an Indo- Greek king. 

Bharhut Yavana

The story of Ram Kinker Baij,  the artist with a political leaning begins here. Although in principle he got the approval of his design in accordance to the curatorial vision of Carl, but later on he decided to  drop the Besnagar yakshi and Parkham yaksha as his inspiration for the sculptures.  In his quest for a form in the context of RBI as the controller of money, that will also be informed by the vision of progress, he thought they do not represent the idea of guarding and its politics. 

In the process, he went back to his sculpture on Sujata, an important lady in  Buddhist tradition . In jataka tales, she is the one who gave milk to Buddha after his enlightenment. He did a concrete sculpture of her in Shanti Niketan's woods.  In this sculpture,  Ram Kinker gave a complete twist to her form. In his interpretation, she became a tall and beautiful lady, who almost looks as if she is turning into a bodhi tree herself with wonderful grace and elegance, something one would not see in his sculptures.  

Although in his sculpture,   the graceful Sujata walks with a pot on her head like the ladies we often encounter in  Indian villages, Ram kinker changed her physical features to that of a tall lady,  whom a viewer always have to look up to and not look at. The sculpture seems like Ram kinker was paying a rich tribute of reverence to the rural women's labour while making equal respect to  Sujata for her contribution to Buddha's life. 

One may also read it as his tribute to the Shanti Niketan's trees that give the imputes for many creative activities.  It is also important to note his placement of a Buddhist icon among  Shantiniketan's other  Hindu iconographies. 

Sujata- 1935

After dropping Besnagar Yakshi, one of the rare Mauryan period yakshi sculptures that also has a cloth-covered torso and the Parkham Yaksha with the Greek Hellenistic sensibilities from his consideration for the inspiration, in search of his inspirational forms,  he travelled down to Sanchi with Sujata. 

 Probably he has rejectect Besnagar yakshi and Parkham yaksha for two reasons.

One, they have the western iconography that he would not prefer for an iconic sculpture in free India,

Two the capitalistic undercurrent in the story of Yaksha and the reductionist patriarchal nature of male gaze in Besnagar Yakshi that considers her only as an operant of fertility and the associated sensuality. 

Yakshi from Burhut, the expressions of sensuality

Coming back to our story, the tall slender Sujata camouflaged among the tall trees of Shanti Niketan, took Ram Kinker to the Mauryan times Sanchi stupa to discover his yeksha and yakshi.  We are talking about the second thorana in Sanchi - Temptations of Mara, that tells the story of a wicked king called mara. In this jataka tale, Mara tries to seduce Buddha with his beautiful daughters along with his army  and gets deated. 

Temptations of Mara

Saanchi, 3rd to 1st bc

In this panel of Jataka tale, one will find at the extreme right corner,  the Sujata standing with her milk pot and fruit bowl. She is standing next to Buddha represented by the bodhi tree. Interestingly, in this panel, she is depicted as nude while  Mara and his seductive daughters remain body covered up to the waistline. The right side of the panel is where the army of Mara stands. The army stands there engaged in their own games, while Mara and his daughters are busy trying to seduce Buddha.

 This is where Sujata introduced Ram Kinker to his Yaksha and Yakshi. Look at the second sitting soldier from the centre and one will discover Ram kinker's  final Yaksha sculpture there. Unlike Parkham yaksha, Ram kinker's yaksha is a stout, powerful and aboriginal figure in its form. Although he is dutybound and loyal, he is there at the site only as a  guard protecting Mara and daughter's wickedness, but in the company of his fellow army men, he remain aloof and non-participant. In him, Ram kinker found his  Yaksha, the loyal and aloof guard of the RBI.  Most notable in this panel is the physical features of Mara and his daughters - the classic Aryan idealisation of beauty:   slender, curved, tall and cunning. whereas the demon army is sculpted as  "fat" aboriginals or Dravidas, a representation one often finds used in mainstream visual culture as a representation of villains.

For strange reasons, in this panel, Sujata was shown with the same features of Mara's seductive daughters! Although Ramkinker found his Yakshi in Sujata for her selfless service and compassion, the virtues that were missing in Mara's daughters,  he could not accept that his Sujata having any resemblance to cunning Mara's daughter's Aryan features to her. He adapted mara's army's aboriginal physical features to her. (Perhaps  the feature of the fourth lady sculpture from the centre.)   Sujata became the chauri bearing yakshi with features far from the Aryan Besnagar yakashi.  

The ten years evolution (delay) of these sculpture tells this romantic story of Ram Kinker Baij, one that has evolved with Sujata. An intricate story of a politically left leaning artist, who had his intensive negotiation with his art and its form.  A journey of love for  identity and its politics. He tells us the story of an average guard in this country through Yaksha; an average aboriginal Indian of discriminated economic and cultural strata, the one who protects the temptations of this country (here for instance the money minting RBI) . Also this guard, even as he fights to protect or facilitate the temptation drama, he never becomes  an element  of that seductive trick himself.  He looks stout as thug and still remain only a loyal soldier,  one  who is discriminated as ugly by the outsider-insider game of  aryan- Dravida visual culture, the  aesthetics of the society of economic affluence. 

 In his Yakshi, although he found  the depiction of   loyal agency of service in womanhood, but he brings in the grace of feminism by abolishing the construct of female form in elite visual culture and its male gaze.  He construct her as stout, aboriginal counter part of yaksha in nude.  Her existence,  one that is  on your face and as a provocative nudity of confident aboriginal female who's dominance in existence disturb the mainstream society.  The nudity of Yakshi and its presence there in front of RBI  went upto the level of a parliament discussion to decide the righteousness of her existence as a confident nude labourer, something that proved the merits of Ram Kinker's political construct of Yakshi, the marginalised female laborer's  body politics.  In his first  Sujata, if she remains an  aesthetically slender lady of elite grace for  male gaze, his second Sujata,  Yakshi  becomes a powerful, confident,  assertive on your face naked  lady of eminence,  who is not ashamed of her "Labour" status. Sujata becomes the  lady, we often encounter in the fields of rural India or among factory labourers. Ram kinker's yakshi becomes the epitome of  the aboriginal female labourer who fills the length and breadth of this country and still goes missing from mainstream visual culture.  Ram kinker, the left leaning artist immortalise her by placing at the most important sight of this country, where money is produced and maintained, one that defines  the value of labour and its associated visual constructs. Most importantly they were built with constructivist style of  art. 

Sujata and Ram Kinker epitomises the love of every artist with his or her socio-political or cultural positions in life that determines one's art and its form.  Ram Kinker Baij's Yaksha and Yakshi at RBI Delhi, defines it. 

Emperor Ashoka tries to  take Buddha's  relics from nagas. Sanchi. Here again we can see  Sujata at second position from second pillar form right

Image courtesy : RBI,ASI and wiki 

Art and the question of authorship and ownership in Internet era

A couple of years back one day I received a strange request from an unknown person from New York in USA to authenticate two works of mine. The work looked exactly of mine except it had some colour fading. It also had my name on left bottom in English as I often do. The only problem was I had no Idea of such a sale or transfer. On further enquiry, I learned that he sourced the work from a struggling Indian art student. During those days Google strangely would prominently show a popular Hollywood actress’s name, if anyone would image search my work. This smart Indian student made use of that opportunity and somehow managed to convince this poor chap that this actress is a big collector of my work. During that period I also had a website where I occasionally used to publish some of my exploration and it is being only explorations with the caption that “none of the works is for sale”. Our smart student made use of all these for his advantage to fleece this investor a cool four thousand eight hundred dollars with downloaded print. Since he began to have doubts about the signature in authentication letter that he contacted me for authentication. The entire drama gave me a hearty laughter. I informed the buyer that there is some colour problem in the print and if he sends me an undertaking to send those prints back and bear the courier expenses for a new set of works with my pencil signature, I will send him a new print of the same works. He happily agreed to that and I did not want our smart Indian student friend to get caught in a serious crime in the US, so I left it that.

This entire episode provoked me into a deep philosophical question of authenticity of authorship and ownership of an artwork. History of art is full of such stories where artist and their family died in poverty while their work, later on, made many others billionaires. If one search in goggle, one will find millions of photographs of the same artwork with million other’s copyright watermark on it. Cropped differently (composition) with colour scheme differently, digitally enhanced the qualities; most of them will make the original work into oblivion. Before one jump into an ethical or moral judgment about the entire affair, one may have to consider some serious philosophical artistic issues involved with image making in this entire affair. Allow me to explain in detail.

What is original in art : Labour/craft or concept?

This is a complicated question. In western art from the days of guild during Renaissance to today’s postmodern artists, a large section of artists would not be able to claim authorship of the craft of labour. Most of them are made to order or supervised. So one may have to safely discount that claim from the originality of art. Then comes conceptual authorship. Largely in an art, there are three ways an artist executes an artwork – translation, transformation and transgression. Considering these three areas are largely dealt by curatorial conceptualization in postmodern art, one leaves very little room for the authenticity of authorship of the artwork. Unlike in film, where director is only one of the authors in the creation of film with due credit is given to others in the process of filmmaking, in art, unfortunately, single individual as the artist often claims the whole authorship. One would not hear the name of craftsmen or other people involved in the execution of artworks. There are many conceptualizations involved in every artwork- technical, spatial, curatorial and finally aesthetical conceptualizations. In other words, it becomes a problematic argument when one considers the authenticity of authorship by a single individual.

Work of art and its image reproductions

As I mentioned earlier, on Internet one will find millions of image reproductions of same artwork with hundreds of copyrights for photography. In other words, the authenticity of authorship gets separated from artwork in its image reproduction as a photograph. Considering both are artistic mediums and artists execute both, one cannot claim the authorship of the other. In other words, one has the artistic liberty for a selective recreation of another artwork in its image reproduction!

From Greek time onwards, this viewer prerogative to reinterpret an artwork as observer in observer-observed and observation triangulation is already a settled subject.

This makes the authenticity of authorship complex phenomena in art world. If an artist makes claim of authorship on a craftsman’s labour in transforming a media( kindly note an artist is not selling art but sells its material transformation ) and a photographer claims authorship of its image reproduction and then a digital media artist claim authorship of reproduction’s reproduction, in today’s contemporary art world authenticity and authorship becomes a complex issue.

From that US-based Indian student (although I do not know who is this character) I started experimenting with transgressing into master’s works to transform them into historical and theoretical artworks for a long time. Still, I am as an old school ethics follower, do not claim ownership of these works. I only claim the viewer’s transformative inference authorship in such artworks. My experiments are still going on getting more and more insights into this complex world of authorship and ownership.

Considering no collector or buyer can claim ownership of art but can only claim the ownership of artwork, in today’s world these collectors cannot claim ownership of its image reproduction, unless and until they commission it or buy its rights. Considering artworks are reproduced in critique and reviews in textual format and it is legal, artists can not take away the viewers inference right in image format as well.

Dalit saints of brahminical south

To grasp the significant transformations in Hindu schools of philosophy and social dynamics during the 7th and 8th centuries in South India, it is crucial to delve into the historical context. A prominent figure in this period, Aadi Shankara, hailing from Kerala, played a pivotal role in challenging orthodox Brahmanical Hinduism. Shankara fearlessly rejected the ritualistic practices of mimansa and the belief in multiple deities. Instead, he embraced Buddhist principles of sannyasa and sanga, skillfully integrating them into Hinduism. Shankara introduced the monotheistic philosophy of Advaitha as a community practice, bridging the gap between the Hindu concept of God and the Buddhist notion of void (parabhrama in Hinduism) through the concept of Maya.

Furthermore, the emergence of two saints from Dalit communities within Shaivism and Vaishnavism during this era holds profound significance. Nandanar, a Shaivaite Nayanar saint, and Tirupana Alvar, a Vaishnavite Alvar saint, rose to prominence as religious figures in Hinduism, leaving an indelible impact. These instances underscore a period marked by socio-political upheaval and reformation within Hinduism, particularly in South India.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of the socio-cultural reformation that characterized this era in Indian history, further exploration is imperative. This subject remains obscured by interpretations from both right and left-wing perspectives of Indian history. Additionally, it is essential to acknowledge that during this period, Islam made its presence felt on the southern coast, particularly in Kozhikode.

Thirupana Azhvar

Nandanar

Aadi shankara, Nagarjuna and Special theory of relativity

Aadi Shankara ingeniously embraced and transformed the Mahayana Buddhist's Madhyamaka principle of "shunyatha" into the "nirguna parabhrama" of Advitha. In a manner akin to Poincaré and Einstein's roles in the development of the special theory of relativity, Shankara astutely addressed what Nagarjuna had either overlooked or deliberately disregarded—the Brahminical concept of the eternal "soul." Shankara appropriated this concept and, in a groundbreaking move, asserted that "madhyamaka shunyatha" possesses an inherent eternity within its own argument.

Furthermore, Shankara demonstrated that Nagarjuna's notion of dependent arising and Advaita's exploration of the validity and invalidity of cognizance are exclusively applicable within the veridical world or Maya. When taken together, the philosophies of Nagarjuna and Shankara present a formidable challenge to the principles of the special theory of relativity. They emphatically assert that dependency (relativity) can only hold true within the confines of the Veridical world or Maya and cannot manifest as a causal or consequential factor within the absolute universe.

It is intriguing to note that concepts settled in philosophy more than 13 centuries ago continue to resonate within the realm of physics today.

book

today on the sidewalks of Mavoor road in Calicut, I took an old copy of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and I saw a painful note in blue ink pen on second page " Oh god you took everything from me, do not let me part this book, let not my hunger always win, please...!" Margaret
I had to struggle for hiding my tears and left the book back into the shelf. The book was priced at rupees fifteen.
I am still unable to get over it.

End of internet and the complicated data business

A few years back, I received an invitation to speak at a conference on data networks and start-ups, a time when start-ups were riding high with massive investments, soaring valuations, and profit projections. However, I assumed the role of a devil's advocate during the conference, shedding light on the dark corners that many preferred to ignore in their technological enthusiasm. Some labeled me an alarmist, but privately, numerous attendees approached me for further discussion. Notably, a leading venture capitalist sought advice on when he should consider withdrawing from the market, though I reminded him that I was not a businessman.

It took just a year for my expressed concerns to materialize. The significant meltdown of internet start-ups became a harsh reality. Even today, large data-driven companies like Uber and Ola are grappling to secure new investments to cover their substantial cash burns. Therefore, anyone proclaiming that data is the future of business should be met with skepticism. Such claims may serve to mask job losses or perpetuate a misleading narrative of a technological-data fusion that never truly transpired. The internet continues to resemble more of an amusement park, where individuals pay for various adrenaline-inducing experiences before eventually moving on.

Even in mapping applications, often hailed as the next big data technology, people seek real-world locations and sites, not virtual realms. This underscores that technological progress remains constrained by physical reality and human needs.

The issue with contemporary technology is that it has become ensnared in a web of exaggerated projections without realistic economic parameters. It mirrors the derivative trade within the stock market, where everyone hides behind jargon, formulas, numbers, and images to mask their losses while dragging others into their downward spiral.

In the early days of computer programming, grappling with COBOL, there was a joke about a half-hour system breakdown taking days of analysis and resulting in 345 kilometers of printed program code in the USA. The envisioned data business appears to have fallen into a similar quagmire. Unraveling even a small piece of information demands collating billions of hours of data and millions of hours of analytical efforts.

Studies indicate that a substantial portion of internet data serves amusement and entertainment purposes. Removing categories like pornography would free up 37% of the internet, and in the UK alone, gambling revenue on the internet reached 13.8 billion, with approximately 80% of Americans using the internet for gambling. Removing gambling from the internet would free up another 28% of its data. An additional 10% is estimated to be consumed by film and music viewing. Overall, more than 75% of internet data serves entertainment purposes, with social networks permeating all facets of human activity.

The belief that 25% of the remaining data is useful or decipherable within the 75% of seemingly extraneous data is a far-fetched notion that requires an astonishing level of naivety. Similarly, assuming that 75% of data is beneficial for 25% of legal business is equally misguided. The reality is that technology can be experimental and prone to failure, but business and investments cannot afford such unpredictability. Unfortunately, this vital distinction is often overlooked in the industry.

The heart of the issue lies in the disparity between the breakneck pace of technological advancement and the time required for business investments to yield returns and profit. Modern technology demands capital-intensive investments, while businesses need ample time for market recapitalization and product lifecycle. The relentless speed of technological evolution seldom affords this luxury to businesses, resulting in rapid turnover and limited opportunities for investment recovery.

The emergence of a black hole or bubble in the market is evident, causing growing distrust among the business community toward technological investments. Fear looms large, as significant investments have already been swallowed by this expanding abyss. To recover their funds, more investments might resort to illegal avenues like pornography and gambling, further tainting the already 65% illegal trade space and transforming it into a shadowy underworld. The internet could evolve into a realm society seeks to evade.

This scenario hints at an eventual collapse or government intervention to create another bureaucratic behemoth where technology cannot keep pace. Whether it's a gradual decline or a swift collapse, the internet appears destined for a protracted demise. Contrary to assumptions that these events will take a long time to unfold, economic cycles have compressed to around a seven-and-a-half-year span - the lifespan of business peaks and meltdowns. Consequently, we can anticipate the eventual collapse or meltdown of the internet within the next five to eight years, at most.