Why AI will save Myanmar

Welcome back, dear readers! 🐵It’s been some time.

Today, Monkey King wants to share something that Monkey King has been thinking deeply about. Remember, these are just Monkey King's thoughts, so you MUST always think for yourself and do your research (DYOR) 🔍to determine if this knowledge benefits you. Now, let our story begin! 📔

"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men"- Plato.

For the longest time, I have always steered myself away from public affairs as the thought of playing in the area where the most eloquent(bullsh*ter) wins, not the most intelligent, has always made me sick. But as a person born and raised in Myanmar, I owe this to my beloved country, which has unparalleled value and potential locked away for many reasons.

Myanmar (Burma), once a progressive nation where even the wealthiest families around Asia sent their kids to attend the finest education only Burmese universities hosted. Myanmar was the leading player filled with prosperity and potential. It was once dubbed the "Rice Bowl of Asia" due to its significant agricultural output and was the world's largest rice exporter, producing 75% of its teak. Myanmar was(is) also rich in natural resources. Above all, geographically, Myanmar's location between India and China made it a crucial point of regional interaction and trade. Historically, powerful Burmese kingdoms such as the Bagan, Konbaung, and Taungoo Dynasties had significant regional influence.

Blessed with rich history, abundant resources, perfect geography, and a peaceful religion, the future was destined to be great: what could go wrong.

The Fall

The descent of Myanmar, a nation with such a rich history and potential, is a complex tale. I don't think I am knowledgeable enough to explain how sh*t went wrong, so I think it would be better if you watched this documentary. TLDR: a handful of individuals, blinded by greed and short-term thinking, made a series of stupid, detrimental decisions started the negative flywheel towards the bottom.

Myanmar, which had the potential to surpass even the likes of Singapore or Thailand in terms of influence and prosperity, was defeated by our own division. An aged old tale that is the same in every fall. What a shame.

But the funny thing is that even I didn't know how far we were behind until I had the chance to travel to multiple countries. It's like our society, was trapped in a time warp. The cultural and education system kept us in this 1950s thought bubble while the rest accelerated.

I thought to myself, even though we had this internet (this precious tool) since its beginning, we didn't know what it was and how to utilize it properly. It felt like the intellectual internet boom slipped past the Burmese generations. Was it by cultural design, an algorithm design, or just a coincidence? I still don’t know. But it certainly opened my eyes and made me start questioning.

Now, this beautiful country faces another existential crisis, one if unsolved, can put Myanmar as one of those countries that only comes up in history books and never make it to the future.

Brain Drain

"Immanentize the eschaton"

Myanmar is currently suffering from mass migration of talents due to a lack of opportunities resulting in a loss of capable talents and thus loss of innovation, which in turn causes the country to struggle even more, leading to further talent drain. It's a negative loop that potentially can kill a nation. A nation that is Myanmar.

With the current state of poverty and unemployment, the possible scenario will be there be some “saviors” that come to aid to help Myanmar with “economic relief” and “technology innovation” topped with a sprinkle of CCTVs.

Will these saviors unleash heaven or hell, that’s a bet I wish not to take.

Oracle

Even though I stated everything above, my (optimist glass ball) tells me Myanmar will be alright. In fact, it tells me that Myanmar will have its own version of renaissance.

How?

Here’s how. While I only stated the things Myanmar did wrong to get to this state, I haven't yet touched upon its most valuable asset: its untapped talent pool. Let me explain.

This revelation came to me during a recent project I am currently working on. I hired a few developers and designers from Myanmar, not expecting much, given their lack of formal training and credentials. To my surprise, only after working with them for a couple of months, I realized I had stuck a goldmine. These individuals performed tasks incredibly efficiently, outputting the highest-quality works as per the Silicon Valley engineers and Hollywood talents. It's like having the premium version of Fiverr or Upwork, with higher quality and lower pay - (a contractor's dream come true).

Then everything clicked in my head. Of cuz! Their insatiable hunger compensated for their lack of formal education to learn and succeed. With the vast resources available on the internet, they had self-trained to a level of expertise that was truly commendable. I realized this goldmine of talent ( resilient, determined, driven individuals who embody the makings of successful founders ) is soon to be discovered.

The current state of Myanmar is similar to a troubled prodigy who can either overcome his issues and unlock his immense potential or continue down a destructive path.

The Rise

For the solution of what should Myanmar do, of cuz there are classic answers you can get when you ask chatgpt but here’s Monkey King's personal answer -

We must adopt and adapt AI as fast as possible to turbocharge our education and innovations, thus accelerating our economic development and allowing us to catch up to other countries with 100x speed.

Main Obstacles

• Political Instability (the elephant in the room)

• cronies and elites

• Lack of True Education

  The most validated core conclusion of social science across many decades and thousands of studies is that human intelligence improves a broad range of life outcomes. Smarter people have better outcomes in almost every domain of activity: academic achievement, job performance, occupational status, income, creativity, physical health, longevity, learning new skills, managing complex tasks, leadership, entrepreneurial success, conflict resolution, reading comprehension, financial decision making, understanding others' perspectives, creative arts, parenting outcomes, and life satisfaction. Further, human intelligence is the lever that we have used for millennia to create the world we live in today: science, technology, math, physics, chemistry, medicine, energy, construction, transportation, communication, art, music, culture, philosophy, ethics, and morality. Without the application of intelligence in all these domains, we would all still be living in mud huts, scratching out a meager existence of subsistence farming. Instead, we have used our intelligence to raise our standard of living on the order of 10,000 over the last 4,000 years. - Marc Andreessen

TLDR: A society with lots of smart people tends to be better. And look, I'm not saying Burmese people are dumb. That would contradict my earlier point, but the point here is that having a good brain doesn't necessarily mean intelligence.

There is no difference between a dumb guy and an uneducated person.

And Myanmar's problem is exactly just that: because of the education system we have set up, kids forget the subjects they "learn" after they finish the exam, and in the end, they become one thin line away from being uneducated (they didn't learn anything )

True intelligence comes from true education ( understanding of knowledge and capability of applying it) And Myanmar exactly lacks that.

With grading systems that reward kids for how much they can memorize, not how much they understand, it is no wonder that the system doesn't work for everyone. Many talented kids learn in their own unique ways and might not be great at memorizing things. Because of this, they often don't get high grades, even if they really understand the subject. This mismatch with the grading system can make them feel down and think they're not smart, especially when parents judge them based on these grades.

(Example: I always struggled with English exams as a kid. I couldn't get better than a 'C' on my essays, even though I understood the language. It made me think I was bad at English. Who's writing now!)🐵😎 Well, there are always two sides to the story, of course, good handwriting and proper grammar matter but my point is that in order to grow the next generation of leaders, experts, and innovators, we need a more holistic education system that works for everybody. Another aged old problem of why private schools were/are more sought after than government-funded public ones.

• Lack of innovation culture

  Culture is truly everything. I truly believe that having a great culture can solve all of the obstacles stated above. Well, of course, it depends on how you define “great” because different people have different standards and thus form different cultures that aim to accomplish different things. Regardless of how divided the American people might be right now, I truly believe that one of the main, if not the main reason for the success of America on the global world stage is because of its culture. Specifically the American innovation culture, a culture that allows you to try things, that doesn’t shame you for being different, that gives you encouraging words despite the “dumb” things you are doing, and lastly that gives a person a shot(a chance) no matter what their background is.

  The Land of Opportunities

  Even though Myanmar has a vibrant culture that stems directly from peaceful Buddhist traditions, but exactly because of that, Myanmar’s culture has this one weakness, one that is practically unable to accept new ideas or new ways of doing. In our culture, being too different from the norm is frowned upon and trying new ideas that might fail is seen negatively. You see, while Buddhism preaches open-mindedness, somewhere along the way we forgot to keep an open mind.

  But It's kinda funny how Myanmar culture will instantly adapt once they see every other people using something new, but will ridicule that exact same thing before it becomes popular. Well I guess this closed-mindedness can be found in many similar countries too.

  Great innovations don't necessarily start as great ideas.

  Just look at YouTube - it started as a dating site! Can you imagine trying to start YouTube in Myanmar? It would have never seen the light of day.

  It is important to practice mindfulness which includes open-mindedness, and I think that's what Myanmar’s culture has forgotten.

  We let our assumptions about what's "proper" blind us to possibilities. If Myanmar is to reach its potential, we must recapture the openness and curiosity that led to our greatest achievements historically. We cannot let judgments about "right ways" of doing things hold us back. The path forward requires embracing the wisdom of "beginner's mind" - being willing to learn, experiment and see things anew. This is the only way we can build an innovative society.

The Renaissance

The journey ahead will not be easy, many obstacles we will need to overcome and many prerequitesties we will need to complete but we will be there ~ We shall be there.

True freedom requires breaking mental shackles before physical ones.

So Why AI will save Myanmar?

Here’s why. True knowledge and education is needed to break the mental shackles and ai will exactly help with that.

AI is the perfect catalyst for a country like Myanmar - poor country, kids that couldn’t afford okay education, driven talents lacking the necessary information to start- truly a match made in heaven.

With knowledge comes power.

Information is the sword that slays ignorance and break shackles. And AI brings information in abundance - free, accessible, limitless. Facts, data, answers to any question. AI is the master key that unlocks every doors barring the path ahead.

Education 

• With the current state of LLMs, even without perfect vision and voice yet, What do u think will happen when you start giving these LLMs to the kids in Myanmar.

  Imagine you had a Harvard level teacher growing up, one that is free and assessable 24/7 for you at all times,one that answers your question patiently and perfectly how much ever it might sound stupid, one that has the immense knowledge base of the world and its history, one that is always eager to make you better and teach you back these knowledge in whichever way or whichever pace that bests for you. How great learning things would have been. And how much faster would you have took to become a better YOU.

Innovation

I believe the real renaissance will take form as innovations across Myanmar. The kids will be nourish with AI while the youth will be enhanced.

Here's a framework for how these innovations can happen:

Thanks to modern tools like open source AI models, cloud computing, coding assistants, and upcoming AI auto agents, 2-3 person startups will wield the power of entire companies.

A single artist/marketer can now have a whole studio of AI designers, editors, and copywriters ready to bring their visions to life. ( 10x marketing + 10x design )

A solo developer can now build like a whole engineering team is backing him up. Coding sidekicks, expert AI advisors, infinite cloud resources. (10x developer)

Thus, a solo or two person startup can basically perform and execute the same level tasks as a full fledged company as there will be a council/board of expert LLMs and ai agents ready to advise and help with anything.

The best part is, since Myanmar is 50 years behind, what would normally take 50 years to catch up on can now happen in 5 years.

A small group of innovators can study the playbooks of other economies and apply them here with 10x speed and efficiency. Being able to start building and launch immediately now allows them to test and fail quickly,ensuring a tight feedback loop which is key for startups.

These innovators will crack open every industry, even ones controlled by crony spider webs. Because the innovators have lived the real problems, which the incumbents are oblivious to up in their office towers.

Energy, agriculture, education, transportation - you name it. Myanmar’s driven and hungry(literally) innovators will make it happen. The reality is mainly because they know they got nothing more to lose and will need to succeed no matter what.

Innovation example

Let’s take health care for an example. With the way multimodal AI is advancing, soon there will be medical advisor apps that are like having a personal nurse in your pocket.

Just snap some pictures of your symptoms, and the nurse AI will accurately review them. With the lastest up-to-date medical knowledge, it'll provide a diagnosis tailored to your medical history and allergies. And it'll explain what you need to do next in simple terms you can understand and will be available 24/7 for you suiting your medical needs guiding you to become better step by step.

Imagine how many lives would this save in rural places of myanmar where there’s no existence of reliable doctor or just good general knowledge.

The same will happen in every industry. Agriculture,construction, healthcare will be the first and the rest will all follow. Because of the confidence and rate of speed it’s developing, it will even further develop more than other countries by playing/incorporating with tools such as 3D printing, advanced IOT and nuclear fusion. How? Because

Necessity is the mother of invention.

In order for the prophecy to form, there will be many things to be met.

Starting with improved education for the kids, massive tech/ML training programs, and gathering Myanmar local talents to form an innovative community and lastly building an open source burmese language LLM.

All of which will be extremely hard but also extremely rewarding.

Concern

AI is a master key and a master key can also open some very dangerous doors as well. I do worry about the centralized control of data since AI systems tend to be top to bottom approach. I do also worry that if the AI teaching the next generation might contains biases.

I also worry about implementing AI irresponsibly which will worsen the wealth inequality and displace many jobs. But this one I do not worry that much as the Lump of Labor fallacy applies - new technology has always created more opportunities even as it destroys old ones. With proper social safeguards and job retraining programs, I believe the benefits will outweighs more.

A cog within the system

As I've outlined, Myanmar faces numerous challenges, from poor education to lack of innovation and many more etc. All of which will be extremely hard but I do not doubt that we will prevail.

I, Monkey king is also working hands-on for this.

Right now, I'm cold-starting the innovation flywheel among Myanmar's local talented youth by self-funding and hosting free networking events, workshops, and startup programs in the heart of Yangon. These activities will help seed an entrepreneurial culture and mindset from the ground up.

I'm also building a blockchain-based platform that unites talents and provide the infrastructure thirdworld founders need. Think of it like a marketplace that transparently connects investors and inventors, a decentralized infrastructure for the innovation team, with tools for finding teammates, getting funded securely with automated smart contracts.

This will be a long and harsh journey, but I'm committed to help propel Myanmar's AI-powered renaissance responsibly. By directly attacking our innovation problems, I hope to set this positive cycle in motion.

Progress is happening, but there's a long way to go. If you share this vision for empowering Myanmar's future, I welcome you to be apart of the change.

Ways you can be apart of the change:

• Spornsoring or Investing in our development efforts

• Volunteering your time and expertise at our events

• Spreading the word to talented youth who could get involved

• And lastly, continue innovating

The best way to predict the future is to create it - Abramham Lincoln

If you'd like to learn more, reach us here,

• https://twitter.com/Win22James

• Community Facebook page

Until next time And May everyone be happy