Extracts from a Diary

Traditionally, I wasn’t much of a New Year’s resolutions guy. Nor much of a “how has this year been” reflecting-type either. January 1st is an arbitrary date chosen to start a calendar year. One could just as well introspect about the past 365 days or initiate a resolution on, say, 29th Aug, and it shouldn’t make a difference. But, it does. And 31st Dec/1st Jan works great, at least in terms of neatly bookending events occurring in a given year. Last year, inspired by a practice that The Missus has been a regular with, I wrote a letter to my future self. You can write to yourself from here ( https://www.futureme.org/ ). It allows for different durations, or you can choose a custom date, and it’ll come to your inbox at the end of it. Consider. I also had second thoughts and some mild reservations about ‘publicly’ introspecting on the year that was, or the plans/hopes for the year that would be. Mostly because I am still finding my voice and am not sure if it is a good idea to write abou...

Most persuasion fails not for lack of facts but because the starting beliefs are different. As a result, the facts don’t move them as much as we think or hope they would. Persuasion is an important skill across domains. And despite all the changes the rise of AI will lead to, it will remain a vital skill to cultivate. Along with storytelling. Persuasion works across fields — sales, fundraising, motivating a team towards a given objective, or gathering people around a cause. Or posting an article about how Bayesian reasoning is a key reason why we fail at persuasion and talk past each other. Persuasion is not a standalone skill and requires supporting structures. Humour helps. Storytelling helps. The ability to discern facts and a certain level of critical thinking helps. But it’s all towards the same objective: persuading another human (or a set of humans) to adopt a certain view. It should be a simple matter of presenting a certain set of facts. That should be sufficient to persuade t...

Too Long; Didn’t Read (TL;DR): The Air Quality issue hasn’t been solved in Delhi-NCR/North India for decade+. Politicians would care if it were a major electoral issue or a major ‘interest groups’ issue. Residents don’t have enough exit options (alternate cities to move to).  Optimism : More people aware of the fact that there’s a problem. People willing to pay. Money & people => possibility of and motivation for technological, political, or social solution.  Prediction : Delhi will halve its current PM2.5 particulate matter in 8 years. But, it requires for the issue to become a voter priority. Long; Do Read: Introduction For the past few years, starting in mid-October, a few things happen without fail in significant parts of North India (and especially Delhi): Delhi skyline changes to the yellow-orangish tint, often seen in Hollywood/Netflix movies when they are depicting Mexico countless (and much-needed!) think pieces around: cause of the dangerously high AQI (at tim...

The Man Who Saved The World Vasily Arkhipov. That’s a man often credited, without exaggeration, for saving the world. On 27th Oct 1962, at the peak of Cuban Missile Crisis and during the Cold War between US and USSR, the two nations came closest to a nuclear war, and were averted due to the actions of Arkhipov. Vasily Arkhipov was a senior officer in the Soviet nuclear submarines at the time. The year before, in July 1961, while he was onboard a Soviet (nuclear-powered and nuclear-equipped) submarine doing some tests near Greenland, it developed a major radiation leak. The radio communication broke down too, and the crew had to devise a solution at that time on their own. They did. At the cost of major radiation exposure to all 139 crew members, with 22 of them dying within 2 years. There’s definitely a thrilling movie, if not a Chernobyl like series, in there somewhere. On 27th Oct 1962, Arkhipov was in another nuclear submarine (B-59), hidden well below somewhere in the Caribbean. Me...

Examining claimed market failures, government intervention, and the regulatory alternatives that were ignored It’s not often that you get one clean-and-cut story that at the same time showcases: Government’s natural tendency to consolidate more power and reduce citizens’ freedoms, their swift movement in doing so, in a growing industry that has a large number of business-to-consumer users, and the overwhelming discourse, even among the otherwise basic economics educated individuals, is actually cheering them on in this move. But, that’s what happened. The government (of India) recently came out with a bill that effectively banned ‘real money gaming’ (RMG). It banned apps that allowed or facilitated gambling or fantasy leagues, where people bet actual money. It’s a 10 page bill and can be read here ( link ) if one is interested. It passed on Friday, 22nd August 2025 after the President Droupadi Murmu signed on it. In about 4 days from the time it re...

Introduction: How an AC Explains More Than You Think It’s peak summer. The temperature outside is 37°C. You’ve just switched on the AC and set it to cool to 24°C. A sensor detects the external temperature and notes it to be above the target temperature. The controller receives observes this gap and commands the system (in this case the cooling fan) to start the cooling effect. The fan begins cooling, initially with greater intensity due to the high error signal. A sensor constantly checks the room temperature. Gradually, the error signal shrinks, the fan slows, and eventually runs at the speed needed to maintain the target temperature. This post isn’t about how ACs cool a room; it’s about how most complex systems — teams, habits, cravings, cultures, and many other things — behave. We often think the world runs on linear relations and straight causal links. Instead, it runs on loops. This generalised flow: Goal → Sensing → Action → Feedback → Adjustment → Sensing → Repeat governs not j...