The bad jokes have started. The first press release arrived last week with a headline that used words like “crowing” and “strutting” and phrases like “feather in our cap”.
Yes, right after we’ve just said goodbye to the new year, it’s time to greet the Fire Rooster as he comes flying in on January 28, the first day of Chinese New Year, and there’s no mistaking the feathered creature. He’s popping up everywhere across Asia where the Lunar New Year is celebrated.
Chickens coming home to roost at Gardens By The Bay, Singapore
There are many who say there couldn’t be a more appropriate animal symbol for the year. After all on January 20, someone who does resemble and have all the characteristics of a cockerel will take office in a country he’s determined to make great again.
“Is this a sign, you think,” my friend asked me, “or a coincidence?”
This is the time of year when Chinese folks are on the lookout for signs – signs that may fortell what fortunes await them, be it in professional or personal life. The more committed ones consult geomancers who can advise you on what colours or stones you need to wear to “balance” out the negative elements or if you need to change the direction of your desk in your office or your bed at home.
The Rooster in all his finery in Chinatown
Most of us go online for astrological guidance these days. It’s amazing how many fortune-telling sites that are that tell you what kind of year to expect according to the animal sign that you are.
“Have you seen the fortune for the snake?” a friend asked me last night over dinner. “It’s really bad.”
He’s running a startup that’s just 18 months old and so he’s doubly vigilant over his fortune. Many are calling this the year when a lot of startups are going to crash and be roasted if they don’t get eaten up first.
“Don’t worry, the fire rooster is going to be chicken sxxx for everyone including pigs,” said a porcine friend.
“I feel better already,” said the snake to the pig, as he got stuck into his chili crabs.
I found myself wondering if geomancers and fortune-tellers could be replaced by AI. This is after all the hot topic of 2017 – what jobs will be made obsolete by AI, the technology of which is developing by leaps and bounds?
Even a lawyer I went to consult about a copyright matter spent 20 minutes sharing his concern that his profession would be replaced by AI one day. “Any job that relies on information gathering and interpretation can be done by robotics eventually,” he said, “doctors included.”
What jobs will survive, I asked him since he’s clearly spent time thinking about the subject, time which I hope he’s not billing me for. “Chefs, writers, musicians, any job that requires a human spark and passion – machines can’t replace that.”
He’s got young kids and so he’s thinking about “persuading” them to get into the arts – design, for example – and psychology. “We’re always going to need thinkers.”
Imagine, a lawyer dad wanting his kids to get into the arts when in the past, doctors, lawyers and bankers were the go-to professions for parents. How things have changed.
He also spent 20 minutes telling me about an eventual doomsday scenario which would be brought about by the rise of machines, AI and data. I don’t know what is it about me but I do tend to attract tangential conversations.
The traditional “lo hei” dish gets the rooster treatment.
I found myself wondering if friends could also be replaced by AI. A friend tells me there’s an Alexa-like device in Japan that you can personalise and give a name to, and really he or she becomes your house buddy. You tell it when you’re coming home, what you want for dinner and I guess you could also share secrets with it if you want.
Anyway, back to chicken talk, as I was walking out of the lawyer’s office which is situated in a shopping mall, I came across its Chinese New Year feature area, with giant signs proclaiming the fortunes of the 12 animal signs in the Chinese zodiac.
It says that for me, this year will be fraught with obstacles, preserving my wealth will take extra effort (there goes my plan to buy the Japanese virtual friend) and my love life will be hit-and-miss – a bit like AI and fortune-telling, I guess.
Anyway, whatever your animal sign, may the force of the Fire Rooster be with you.
