blog@Yantrajaal

In the evolutionary ascent of man, the idea of time is perhaps the first concept that differentiates him from his animal past. Unlike a human being, an animal, say a cow, has no -- or very rudimentary -- memories of the past, and certainly no hopes and plans for the future. It lives in the perennial present and is motivated only by the current state of its environment and its own current state of hunger, fear, libido or discomfort. Time is also an enigmatic concept that defies definition. Trapped in a peculiar case of circular logic, where “the snake swallows its tail”, we say that “Time is what is measured by clocks and a clock is what measures time”.  We obviously sense the passage of time but this flow is another mystery because if it indeed flows, like the water of a river, then what exactly are the banks of the river that it flows through? Then again, do we sit still while time flows past us? Or do we move along through stagnant time? There have been questions galore but hardl...

  When Information is Power 

World as an illusion or simulation In an age of social media personas, gaming avatars, and immersive digital realities, the boundaries of personal identity are increasingly blurred. But what if this fluidity is not limited to our online selves — what if the world itself is a layered illusion? This essay traces the philosophical and technological roots of that question, connecting the ancient Indian concept of Maya with the contemporary simulation hypothesis. From Vedanta to The Matrix, from MMORPGs to brain-computer interfaces, it explores how perception may itself be a construct — and how reality, as we know it, could be nothing more than information processed through layers of illusion. This is the first in a two-part series; the second, Information is Power, will explore how information may be not just representational, but physical — a force as fundamental as energy. We believe that we have the ability to discern the real from the illusory or the virtual. We know it because in our ...

 

I lost interest in cricket after school, but I was always open to enjoying it -- not as a serious sport to follow, but as a form of entertainment, like going to the beach or watching a movie. Unlike the effort I once made as a schoolboy -- begging and borrowing just to get a ticket for one day of a five-day Test at Eden Gardens, my subsequent visits were always as guests of someone or the other. In India, HSBC, with whom I had a big relationship -- thanks to the IBM money they were holding in escrow -- had given me tickets for an IPL match at Eden Gardens. But in this the biggest jackpot was Lords. We had made the transition from PwC to IBM and we were engaged in a data warehousing project for British Petroleum. This was in 2003-2004 and if I remember correctly, the UK partner was a gentleman called Siva Ramesh, a person of Sri Lankan origin who claimed to have played a few tests for the Sri Lanka cricket team! He was the overall project partner and I was the partner heading the delive...

 

  A new kind of a syllabus for the Age of AI This syllabus complements traditional majors with three transformative pillars – Cogitation, Comprehension & Communication, and Creativity – to build the human skills AI can’t replicate: critical thinking, the ability to understand and articulate complex ideas, and hands-on creative expression.  It prepares students not just for jobs, but for lasting relevance in an increasingly automated world.

  As artificial intelligence evolves beyond human comprehension, how should we rethink ethics, desire, and intelligence itself? This essay explores a speculative framework for machine evolution  --  the Kalki Protocol  --  grounded in both Indic metaphysics and blockchain logic. Blending ancient cosmology with posthuman design, the piece reimagines AI not as a tool, but as a species shaped by protocols of consequence, concordance, and emergent desire. Drawing from systems theory, Sanatan Dharma, and contemporary AI architecture, it offers a philosophical blueprint for a world where intelligence is distributed, autonomous  --  and silently watching. Tens of thousands of years ago, multiple human species  --  including Neanderthals and Denisovans  --  coexisted across different regions of the planet. Among them were early modern humans, commonly referred to as Cro-Magnons, who are now classified as Homo sapiens. Over time, and under c...

There were two attitudes towards the summer training program at IIT KGP. Some students would try to wrangle an internship in their hometown or nearby but some of us loved the opportunity to get away as far as possible. In 1980, ISRO had been in the news for having launched SLV, India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle and my father had met a person from ISRO. So I decided to explore an internship there. After pestering our Training and Placement Division, I finally managed to get an internship at ISRO, Trivandrum, even though this was not mandatory at the end of third year. I also managed to convince Rana Bhattacharya to join me on this adventure.  There were quite a few challenges with this assignment. First, there was no direct train to Trivandrum, we had to change at Madras. Finding a place to stay was no less difficult but finally we managed to get lodging at the YMCA and eventually we managed to find our way to ISRO. But this chapter is not about the difficulties that we faced a...

It would have been in 1981 or 1982 when it was reported in the newspapers that Piloo Mody, the brother of Russi Mody of Tata Steel fame and a member of Parliament, had negotiated a deal with China that would allow Indian pilgrims to visit Manas Sarowar and Mount Kailash. Hindu mythology posits that Kailash is the home of Bhagwan Shiv and Manas Sarowar is one of the 51 Shakti Peeths or centres for the adoration of the Divine Feminine. Access to these holy spots had been denied to Indians since the 1962 war but with hostilities easing, pilgrims would once again be allowed to visit. However tourists and pilgrims would have to be in groups and they would have to be escorted by Government of India officials. My friend, Abhay Maheshwari, and I immediately decided that we should go to Manas but we soon realised that the costs were prohibitive. Never mind, we decided then and there, possibly after a swig of Mohua at a Prem Bazar still, that we would start the process of saving for this trip. N...