Super Intelligence

Are you angry? Do we have a terrible love of war? Is it possible to think of violence without the teleological means-end schema? Why don’t we have a phenomenology for it? Is it because violence is the ground shared by enemies? Why don’t we manage to look inside ourselves for the source of violence, and often project it on to the Other? Why do even the worst of perpetrators represent themselves as being the victim? Does violence lie at the end of speech? Is today’s victim tomorrow’s offender? Do shame and humiliation turn us towards violence? What then is the agenda of punishment? How can we open up the victim’s silence? How can we access the scene of violence? Is the aggressive drive essential to human survival? Why do the under-trials expect the Judge to at least hear them out? Is hatred a revolutionary sentiment? Does militarism (love for war?) run across modes of production? Is crime (merely) an act by which one runs the ‘risk’ of taking punishment? What is the future of the act of policing? What is the distinction between violence and brutality? If violence becomes increasingly non profitable in the future, might society then need to invent violence for ethical reasons? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions, about the nature of violence, using concepts from criminology & justice (Prof. Vijay Raghavan, TISS, Mumbai), philosophy (Prof. Sanil V., IIT Delhi, New Delhi), and history (Dr. Dilip Simeon, ex-University of Delhi, New Delhi). Listen in....

#TMOV (The Mystery Of Violence) --- SynTalk

Do you know that you are ignorant? How do you understand clouds? What would total knowledge do; could you create the entire universe then? Is the process of acquiring knowledge an iterative tussle with ignorance? Does every new knowledge also produce new ignorance? Are all descriptions answers? How is a discipline made possible? Is it possible to classify ignorance a priori? Is science primarily a representational endeavour? What is painter’s knowledge? How does biology understand nature? How do objects form? How does the connection between theory and the phenomena differ across disciplines? Do all disciplines operate at the level of (formal?) language? What is common between the sciences? And the arts? Is there a unitary underlying method? Can we understand tides as a mystery? Is nature ideal? Can we, in principle, make a zebra from fundamental particles? What is imagination constrained by? How is biology different from physics? Do disciplinary boundaries have more to do with knowledge transfer than knowledge creation? Would 21st century be the century of materials? What would be the legitimacy of the portrait in the 22nd century? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts & experiences from philosophy (Prof. Prajit K. Basu, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad), physics (Prof. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, TIFR, Mumbai), & art (Dr. Gieve Patel, Mumbai). Listen in....

#TAOK (The Appearances Of Knowledge) --- SynTalk

How is an entity able to copy itself? How do the four DNA base (A, T, C, G) molecules function like ‘symbols’ leading to the entire genetic code? Why can’t a neuron be treated as a symbol? Are genetic and linguistic codes analogous to each other, with common notions of letters, words, sentences, grammar, and (even) punctuation marks? Is all DNA ‘useful’? How do proteins derive their meaning (function?), & how are they regulated? Does a sentence derive its value from the non linguistic realm? What is the interplay of syntax and semantics for transmission? Is the genetic language highly similar across different species? Can nearly similar structures have identical functions? Are genes the only mode of storing and transmitting biological information? How is information represented in the brain different? Is it likely that the grammar of language is similar across species? Is language constrained by biology (particularly neural systems)? Why don't all memories get transmitted biologically? Does evolution depend upon replication errors? How are artificial intelligence systems different? Why are we (yet) unable to create an artificial cell in a test tube? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from machine learning & systems biology (Dr. Sumeet Agarwal, IIT Delhi, New Delhi), genetics (Prof. Subhash C. Lakhotia, BHU, Varanasi), & philosophy (Dr. Geeta Ramana, University of Mumbai, Mumbai). Listen in....

Super Intelligence

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