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Business Standard

Best of BS Opinion: How the calm today may be masking deeper risks

You know that moment when your car hums along just fine, but one weird little light on the dashboard keeps flickering? That quiet, pulsing reminder that even though everything feels normal, something might still be off under the hood? That's how the world also feels right now, technologies are advancing, markets are steadying, systems are stabilising, but those little blinking lights? They're everywhere. Let's dive in. Take the bond market. Nir Kaissar walks us through a reality-check: people are panicking over interest rates, but zoom out and the current 4.5 per cent on 10-year Treasuries is historically normal. The bigger issue? We're just not used to it anymore after years of easy money. The machine is working but fiscal red flags like $5 trillion in potential deficits or unsustainable tax cuts are blinking. Ignore them, and we might end up stalling on the highway. Meanwhile, Mihir S Sharma cautions that with artificial intelligence, the system isn't just running, it's accelerating like a Tesla in Ludicrous Mode. But no one agrees on where it's heading. Some say AI will democratise creativity and generate jobs. Others predict mass layoffs and existential threats. Will it empower developing countries or further divide them from AI-rich superpowers? The engine is sleek, but no one can read the road signs ahead. And for Pakistan, Shekhar Gupta points out a particularly worrisome light on the regional dashboard: Field Marshal Munir. A military chief with unprecedented power, a hollowed-out civilian government, and a jailed popular rival (Imran Khan) — this isn't a hybrid regime anymore, it's a duckbilled platypus of power. Past performance, as they say in mutual fund ads, is no guarantee of future returns. But in Pakistan, past power-hungry generals have ended up disgraced, exiled, or dead. Munir, however, seems poised to act while he still can. India, beware: the system next door may look stable, but it's humming toward a potentially explosive 12 months. Then there's Devangshu Datta, who shows how GPS and drones, marvels of civilian tech, are now shaping military arsenals. From V-1 flying bombs to AI-guided kamikaze drones, our tools for convenience are doubling as tools for conflict. Precision strikes and geolocation warfare are here, whether we're ready or not. The system works brilliantly, for both Swiggy and the battlefield. Even climate scientists are leaning into geoengineering, as Kumar Abishek writes. Solar Radiation Modification might temporarily cool the Earth by bouncing sunlight back into space. It's technically feasible, increasingly funded, and yet deeply risky. The cooling may come with unintended consequences and no global playbook to manage them. The science is on, but the ethics light is blinking furiously.