Year: 2020
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The Art of Setting Up Success
What makes a great surgeon? Do they have long fingers? Or steady hands? Or the heart of a lion? I think it is the preparation they do right before they make the incision. In VMH, I would be assisting various surgeons, especially Dr MR Seetharam in orthopedic surgeries. MRS is very methodical in preparation for…
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Science is Broken Because Scientists Can’t Think Rationally
Scihub is being sued in Indian courts by the journal industry. There are some people worried about it. But it is funny how our knowledge system works. Take this tweet for example: Scientific publishing sure is rigged & broken. But hoping that the very bandicoots that are getting fat from the status quo will take…
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What to Do with Privilege?
I have had the privilege to think and write about privilege often. I have written about how privilege affects Indian software industry’s ability to innovate. I have written about why the privileged should think about how they’re part of the problem. I have looked at my privileges visible to me. I also felt guilty/responsbile and…
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Lumbar Puncture and HIV
Lumbar puncture is a fascinating procedure. It is cheap, it can be done in relatively remote places, and it can be learnt easily given access to enough people who need it. LP has an incredible role in the management of many complications related to HIV. I’ve heard stories about how there used to be 5…
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Annihilation of Caste
Jat-Pat Todak Mandal probably wanted to be the #DalitLivesMatter of their time. That’s how they invited Ambedkar to their annual conference in 1936 to deliver a speech. Organization of conferences in that time and today have at least one thing in common – communication gaps. JPTM wanted Ambedkar to talk about abolition of caste. Like…
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How Can I Be Useful For You?
I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I haven’t still figured out how to execute this. But here’s the idea. I’m very privileged, purely by the accident of birth. There are millions of people less privileged than me in many ways. I think the right use of my privileges would be to help…
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Why Wikipedia Is Evil
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of many things about Wikipedia. I have a small number of edits on Wikipedia too. But, I think democratizing knowledge creation is more important than Wikipedia. And that’s why the title. I have written with examples about how Wikipedia’s claims about it being “the sum of all human…
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Liberty vs Morality
Liberty and morality can be seen as counter-balancing forces. Liberty applies to individuals. Morality is a social construct. Liberty is about what one can do. Morality is about what one cannot do. Liberty assumes each human is a rational being and respects them for that. Morality is enforced on humans by authority based on arbitrary…
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Public Lives of Doctors?
Social media has made our private life public. Facebook, Instagram, even WhatsApp (through stories) thrive on users generating engaging content. Often this content is snaps from daily life. A picture is worth a thousand words, yet can be generated in a second. Image centered social media platforms rely on this to keep themselves going. What…
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The Connection Between Curiosity and Knowledge
Last week, 7½ years after Aaron Swartz death, I was thinking about what made Aaron smart. There is this quote: “Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. What people call intelligence just boils down to curiosity.” Curiosity. It keeps popping up here and there. I was read Anand Philip‘s blog today. The “about” page is…