Author: akshay
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Privacy is not the Goal
In and around free software circles there are several activists who fight tooth and nail for privacy. They frequently take extreme measures to protect their privacy, like avoiding all kinds of conveniences, and sticking to workflows and tools that majority of people do not use. I am quite uncomfortable with such “privacy-maximization” movements. There are…
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21st Century Humans Are Incredibly Easy to Fool
The 18th century chess machine called The Mechanical Turk fooled humans for almost 84 years. It was a human secretly sitting inside the machine who was playing chess — no machine, no artificial intelligence. If something like that came up today, would we find out the secret sooner? Absolutely not. At any moment in time…
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A Bigger Microscope Won’t Solve The Problem
In the article titled Johann Gregor Mendel: the victory of statistics over human imagination, the authors argue that big data analysis using machine learning, deep learning, et al can identify patterns that human beings can’t and hence these become “an important tool for developing more effective therapeutic strategies for complex diseases”. Let us examine whether…
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Creepy ‘Savarna Liberals’ as Portrayed in Sinners (2025)
Spoiler alert: This is an interpretation of the 2025 movie Sinners which includes descriptions that reveal the plot of the movie. So, if you still haven’t watched the movie, you come back and read this later. This movie gets described as “musical horror” by many Western reviewers. While it certainly is a musical treat, the…
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Caste-Capitalism Nexus – An Overview
In this post, I’ll describe how caste and capitalism exist as closely related structures that reinforce each other in modern India. I begin by defining caste and capitalism. Then I describe how caste forms the bedrock for capitalism in India. And finally I talk about ways that capitalism reinforces caste, completing the loop that forms…
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‘Democracy’ is a Useless Word
Democracy is a word that’s vague and has multiple meanings. It is often used as an excuse for not doing anything. The use of the word should raise suspicion about the intentions of the speaker. Most people when explaining democracy start with an even worse definition of the word: “government of the people, by the…
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All the world’s a stage
I have this weird issue. I tend to be non-conformist. I notice the performance of societal roles. I am more painfully conscious when I have to perform societal roles myself. The first time it became a real problem was when I started practicing medicine. You just can’t be yourself in the consultation room. Doctors have…
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Nirbhau Nirvair Niramaya
Ajay (AN) introduced to me the above words at Kozhikode during the mid-annual mfc meet last year. It means without fear, without hate, with love. The last one was added to the Sikh saying by AN themself. When I met AN at the meet, I was brimming with negative energy (likely hatred) at the institutions…
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‘The Good Place’ is Good
Swathi and I started watching ‘The Good Place’ after we finished watching ‘A Man on the Inside’ (thanks to Pooja’s recommendation in the South Central podcast) and craving for more Ted Danson. There are 4 seasons and we finished it within a month! It was a whirlwind ride on philosophy. Although not as exciting as…
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Who’s the Default Cook in your Home?
There’s plenty written by women about how unfair division of household chores is the classic symptom of patriarchy. They’ve written about how it is not just about cooking, but also about the mental burden of thinking about the house — about grocery shopping, about making a list for grocery shopping, about keeping a mental checklist…