Extracts from a Diary

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...

I had planned to write on another topic, but a recent experience proved far more compelling. Personal Context Yesterday, the wife, her parents, and I had gone for a musical theatrical play – Humare Ram ft Ashutosh Rana and Rahull Bhuchar ( link to BookMyShow listing of it; may expire in future). The wife and I had booked the tickets mostly hoping that the parents would enjoy it. And, generally expecting a great performance from Ashutosh Rana, who was playing Ravan. Myths, Biases, and a Misunderstood Ram Few disclaimers are in order – I’ve been an agnostic + atheist since mid-teens and between Mahabharat and Ramayan, I’ve always been a bigger admirer of Mahabharat. And so it goes between Shri Krishna and Shri Ram. I have not read the reputed translations of these epics but mostly relying on pop-culture and TV adaptations, I’ve found the Ramayan’s narrative fairly straight-forward as against the layered narrative of Mahabharat. The use of grey characters with different (and changing) m...

Unpacking the Hidden Signals, Status Games, and Feedback Loops Driving Human Behaviour Opening Illustrations: Four Scenes of Signalling in Action Scene 1: It’s about 11pm, and you’re walking down a dark street in an area with high crime rate. There’s a shabbily dressed drunk guy walking towards you. You can make out that they’re drunk, from the stagger in their steps. You switch over to the other side. The guy might be perfectly harmless but why take the risk, you think. Scene 2: You’re going for your school or college reunion after 25 odd years. You want the batchmates to see a certain side of you that the ‘school-you’ didn’t have. What dresses to wear, accessories to add, topics to bring up, that will best help highlight that. How do you showcase being a successful businessperson? Will they identify your Patek Philippe watch, or would you have to drop hints to its price? Will that be too obvious and be seen as lacking class? Or should you go for being more subtle? What if subtlety fa...

Between 2023 and 2024, the wife was studying in London for her second Masters’ and I was fortunate to make a few trips to London (and a few surrounding areas) through that period. The first time that I landed in London, at the Heathrow airport, I was very pleasantly surprised by some of the choices they had made. While there are many many great things to write about London – it is a legit great ‘international’ city with so many different nationalities and cultures (and their respective food/restaurants!), high density of public parks, high pedestrian friendliness, very well-connected public transport system, wonderfully informative (and so many!) museums, active theatre scene, the weekend/seasonal markets that come up etc. – I intend on only covering one (or related two!) tiny sliver(s) in this post. There may be some follow-ups – I don’t know. But, before that, some general housekeeping. Each of these points I mentioned above – they can be a separate post on its own merit. Also, yes –...

Roger Ebert, the great movie critic, often had a grouse with many movies relying on a particular kind of trope. The criticism: the plot kept going because the characters act like idiots or fail to say basic things to each other. (‘Idiot Plot’, explained here .) Think of movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham where half the drama can be skipped if the characters just said what they wanted. Robert Trivers has this fascinating book (called Folly of Fools ) about the evolutionary reasons why we lie – to ourselves and to others. Lying to others gives us some benefits – more food because we claim to be starving, more rest because we claim to be sick, or more sex because we claim certain things that make us more attractive to the other person. We lie to ourselves because it makes it easier to lie to others, if we genuinely believe in the lie ourselves. Hence self-deception. Self-deception can be organisation-wide too and, at times, to disastrous effects. That’s also how ‘conv...

In the past, on these pages , I've written about my love for the South African cricket team. There have been so many heartbreaks, what-ifs, if-onlys, near misses, and so close but yet so far.  Let's just look at the past 12-18 months as a build-up to this moment. The South African board has been facing some financial difficulties for a fair period now. They attempted to raise funds by starting a domestic T20 league and after a few unsuccessful attempts, they finally launched in Feb '23. Following that, they had the second season in Feb '24. What that also meant was that all the marquee players were playing in the domestic T20 league and of the 14 players they sent to New Zealand, seven were making their Test debuts ( Cricinfo link  for article). They lost that series 2-0. June '24 was the T20 World Cup final between India and South Africa ( match scorecard ). Having played well through the tournament, South Africa were now in a solid position, 16 overs into their ru...

– Or the manifesto of rational & selfish motivations for cooperation from lessons in nature, game theory, and businesses One of the best-selling car salesmen in the US was asked about his secret to success. His response: “I am not asking myself how I can sell them a car this time; I ask instead: how can I be sure they will come to me for their next car?" And so, he’d even actively down-sell some features to his customers: “you don’t need the ceramic brake discs on that McLaren if you’re going to be riding in the city”, “the leather seats wouldn’t be ideal for the temperature of this city”, and so on. He’d actively gain the customer’s trust and would be the default person to go to for subsequent transactions. He’d not be the highest-selling guy for the first 3 years, but in the long run, he was the top salesman. (Rory Sutherland narrating it here ) The One-Shot Mindset Contrast that with the scams being run at touristy places – selling a low-qu...