Humour

Rice and shine

T A Balasubramanian writes about Einstein 3.0—the futuristic, digital, fuzzy logic rice cooker

“You know, guys, traditional logic systems assume that things are either in one category or another. Yet in everyday life, we know this is often not precisely so. People are not just short or tall, they can be fairly short or fairly tall. Besides, we differ in our opinions of what height actually corresponds to tall, anyway,” says Mai Grain, CEO of Brainy Offerings Research Enterprise, otherwise known as BORE.

Arranged before him are the ‘guys’—Brando Bhatt, Chief Marketing Manager, who is making doodles on a letter pad, and Sellina Reddy, Regional Sales Manager, who is engrossed in a text message on her cell phone.

“For example, Sellina, the ingredients of a cake are not just not mixed or unmixed, they can be moderately well mixed.”

“Oh, is that right, Boss?” says Sellina, reluctantly switching off her mobile. “I never observed a cake that closely.”

“But soon you will. And yes, Brando, did you know that there is a way of taking our commonsense knowledge that most things are a matter of degree into account when a computer is automatically making a decision?”

“Sure, sure,” says Bhatt, snapping his head up and smiling.

“Ah, now that we have everybody here paying undivided attention, let me continue to today’s topic. What we are about to introduce to the world soon is a simple, precise, and smart device. One in which an on-board micro-computer ensures flawless results at the push of a button.”

“What are we talking about?” says Sellina, looking blank.

“You may not be a glamour-seeking, hi-tech, program-passionate Generation X tweeter, but you still might find yourself looking at our super-smart rice cooker when you go out shopping.”

“Rice cooker?” say two voices in unison.

“Yes. The one-and-only Einstein 3.0. It is not the average boring, everyday, counter-clunking cooker that you see in every home. It is a state-of-the-art appliance that you can program to your heart’s content. A futuristic, digital, ritzy, fuzzy logic rice maker.”

“But wait, Boss. What the heck is fuzzy logic?” says Bhatt, scratching his head.

“I thought logic was all about being clear and precise,” says Sellina. “So when did logic become fuzzy?”

“It all began with a mathematician guy called Lotfi Zadeh in 1965. He created a ‘fuzzy sets’ theory. It has to do with mathematical sets, or groups of items known as elements. In most mathematical sets, an element either belongs to the set or it does not. So, normally, a crow would belong to a set of birds, but a bat would not. In fuzzy logic, however, elements can belong to sets in varying degrees. Since a bat has wings, it might belong to a set of birds—but only to a certain extent.”

“So a bat may be a bit of a bird, but not really so, eh?” says Sellina, smartly.

“What has all that got to do with making plain old rice?” wails Bhatt.

“Did you even follow one word of what I have been saying, Brando? We are talking of a genius here. We took Lotfi’s elements and put his fuzzy logic into a program so they look at the world in a more human way, with degrees of truth. Instead of cold, hard parameters and strict data sets, fuzzy logic assumes a more blurry vision.”

“All right. It’s still fuzzy to me,” says Bhatt, dourly.

“Oh, never mind. All you need to know is that Einstein uses fuzzy logic to cook rice perfectly even if you, being inattentive and careless as ever, were to put in too little water or too much water. The fuzzy logic helps to ensure properly cooked rice because it gives the gadget the ability to make judgment calls similar to those you might make—though typically better than those you would tend to make when hungry, impatient or distracted.”

“So Einstein never botches up the rice?”

“Yes, yes, now you get it. Take an example, when the rice is cooking too fast on a hot day. In a typical scenario, the fuzzy logic algorithm will take the form of an if-then statement such as, ‘If the rice is too hot, and it is continuing to heat up fairly quickly, then the heating element needs to be turned down.’ The trick to these capabilities is Einstein’s ability to react, making precise fluctuations in cooking time and temperature depending on the program selected. These may include different keep-warm and quick-cook cycles for the optimum cooking of rice varieties like plain rice, porridge rice, mixed rice, white rice, sweet rice and brown rice. Some models also offer texture settings, so you can indulge in such refinements as hard or soft and sticky or wet rice. In short, you can ask Einstein to cook rice so impeccably that it will bring tears of gladness to your mother’s—or even your grandmother’s—eyes.”

“That’s a vast improvement,” says Sellina, brightening immediately. “They cry over my cooking every day—but certainly not with gladness.”

“I don’t see what the fuss is all about, Boss,” says Bhatt. “I mean, after all, you get a plate of rice, not a golden egg.”

“Ah, but the point is that it makes perfect rice every time. Traditional rice pressure cookers don’t use brains. Einstein’s fuzzy logic comes built into a PC board that knows when to use full power and it makes an intelligent series of changes to make your rice delicious every time,” says Grain.

“Have you tried it yourself, Boss?” says Sellina.

“Of course! I am not the cook in my home, and my wife never trusts me to make rice. But now, ever since I started cooking with Einstein 3.0, she is convinced that I am not the man she married. I tried explaining to her that our fuzzy logic cooker has wisdom, but she thinks I need to go to a shrink.”