PCC holds talk session with eminent scholars

DIMAPUR — In commemoration of its golden jubilee, Patkai Christian College (Autonomous) held a talk on diverse topics at Bundrock Chapel on Saturday.

The resource persons were Dolly Kikon, professor of Anthropology and director of Centre for South Asian Studies University of California, Santa Cruz; Sanjay Barbora, associate professor of Sociology at University of California, Santa Cruz; and Hamish D’ Souza, Data Science engineer at PierSight Space.

In the programme, Kikon screened a documentary title “Abundance: Living with a forest,” which produced and directed by her. It showcased the connection between human and forest where all the traditional knowledge of foraging plants and fruits were highlighted.

Referring to UNESCO data, she stated that no language in the northeastern region of India is actually safe and could be categorised as endangered. Stating that there would be huge language loss in the next 50 years, she sought to address the issue with a sense of urgency.

She expressed that loss of forest for indigenous people is also connected to the loss of language.

“So no matter how fluently they speak if one does not care for the rivers and forest, they will lose their language because the names of the birds, the animals, the plants in their indigenous languages will no longer exist,” Kikon cautioned.

She further challenged the students to study and work hard so that they might contribute to the world of their own thinking.

Speaking on “Multiculturalism, values and solidarity: Education and coming-of-age in Northeast India,” Sanjay Barbora mentioned that they live in a multicultural world where most people speak at least three languages, if not more.

He added that their knowledge of different languages would help them navigate the complex corners of the world.

He also mentioned that linguistic and cultural diversity has been under pressure since the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He added that whether temporary or permanent, migration leaves them more prosperous in learning new languages and cultures. He, however, stated the modernist idea that only one language can propel to prosperity would be destructive and damaging.

He was of the opinion that when one does not understand their neighbours’ language, they are prone to make assumptions about them, which could lead to more conflicts.

Hamish D’ Souza, speaking on “AI in action: From canvas to commerce to cosmos,” mentioned about the AI input layer, hidden layer and output layer.

Souza shared about how various Artificial intelligence (AI) that has been developed could be used in various field like the Art, Science, Commerce and Cosmos.

He informed that one of the AI applications called ‘Art Recognition” could detect more than 500 fakes painting in less than 4 years and also disused about the usage of other AI applications like DeepScribe, which help archaeologists translate texts on tablets quickly.

He also shared about ScriptBook which could read scripts and assign more than 400 evaluation parameters to it and also predict how good it would do at the box office in 6 minutes.

He also shared about the Zebra Medical Vision AI1 that could showcase the CT scan reports in details and PierSight Space that help ship detection, illegal fishing, and maritime security.

While mentioning that AI could led to loss of jobs and affect everyone, he stated that one has to adapt to it and used it as a tool for one’s benefit.