India, Aug. 22 -- Look at him on the road to Parliament. Twenty-two, hoarse from sloganeering, phone held high, live streaming his defiance to the nation, background music perfectly chosen. The country has decided he is a revolution.

Now look at the same phone an hour later, on the bus home. The astrology app is open, because a job interview is coming and the stars must be consulted. There are three messages from his mother about a girl his parents have shortlisted; he will oblige his mother. There is an EMI reminder for the phone itself, which he bought on credit he does not really have. And there is the spicy reel he is watching to recover from the protest, served to him by a machine that knows him better than he knows himself.

The yo...