We were walking along today, my friends and I, towards lunch and were affected by the Chinese lunar seven- month ritual burning. The burning were in public spaces not within containers and the ashes spewed throughout the streets, causing pollution, irritating my airways [very sensitive to dust particles].
This religious ritual is confined to those who believe in burning ‘money’, ‘gifts’ etc to the deceased. It is an act of respect for the departed but at the expense of the living. Respect for the living takes 2nd place…so many of us with allergies, asthma, and other irritations have to put up with such non-environmental friendly practice.
Then we were thinking perhaps an electronic version of the ‘burning money and gifts’ to the departed might be a good alternative. But will people accepted that?
Similarly, the other event that does not seem likely to be digitised is political election voting. We just had an election for Singapore’s 7th President. There was a recount because of the small margin of difference. If it was electronic, the count and recount would have been a breeze. I guess there are good reasons to stick with the pen and paper approach.
So, there are some things that will not go digital though it is possible because human beings do not want to…
We are still in control :)
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