Erratum: In all likelihood, the coinage "nothing buttery" (though not technical) should be attributed to Peter Medawar. Ryle’s says elsewhere that “we must avoid what Peter Medawar has called the ‘nothing-buttery’ on the one side and what Descartes, if he’d been sensible, would have called ‘as-wellism’ on the other.”. Source: Modern British Philosophy, 2d ed., Oxford 1986 (1st ed. 1971), pp. 144, by Bryan Magee

Do you respect the bones of your forefathers? Are your hands free? Were the hunter gatherers happier? Are nomads now likely to be criminals? Are you a willful nomad? Why don’t we live on trees anymore? How did ‘I-ness’ emerge? What is ‘I’? Is our thinking capacity more unconstrained than our bodily capacities? Does the Mind have an upper hand over the Body? Is the Self always embodied? Or, can there be a Self without an ‘I’ or a body? Are biology and culture mutually dependent on each other? Did wealth accumulation come only with settled ‘storage’ economy? & with it rigid hierarchies, newer diseases/food, spatial organization, property, & norms? Is only the present real? Is Self endlessly layered? Can there be a core Self? Do freedom and constraint go hand in hand? Have you experienced absolute freedom? Is being mobile fundamental to being human? Are you free to travel anywhere (but only in a manner that is permissible)? Will cultural selection over-determine evolution going forward? Might we become racially uniform in the future? Would that also imply uniformity in identity/thinking/action? &, what would happen to people who no one wants? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from literary studies (Dr. Avishek Ray, NIT Silchar, Silchar), philosophy (Dr. Manidipa Sen, JNU, New Delhi) & paleoanthropology (Dr. Subhash Walimbe, ex-Deccan College, Pune). Listen in...

#TLWW (The Leashes We Wear) --- SynTalk

Are your attachments secure? Are you disabled? Have you ever lost your mind? Is there a link between Being, becoming, experience, & location? Are all spaces places? Could one be at ‘home’, & yet ‘out of place’? Does your place give you too much identity? Must actors be models? Is your help a part of your family? Are you able to put yourself in another’s shoes? How do actors / writers / psychotherapists do this? Are you comfortable as yourself in an artificial situation – i.e., can you play yourself? Is lived experience the only vantage point? Are experiences ever pre-discursive? Is there an intactness within you? How do constructivists think of psychopaths? How can an actor prepare to play a dictator? Can entire societies get authoritarian? Have you experienced evil parts of yourself? Is a person on a mechanized wheelchair (necessarily) looking for empathy? Could migrant domestic workers seek privacy in public spaces? Why might imagining another on our own terms be dangerous? Does cattle grid also keep certain humans out? &, might the conception of the human itself (from only able-bodied, & in-reason) change in the future? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from psychology (Prof. Rachana Johri, ex-Ambedkar University, New Delhi), film-making (Prof. Mazhar Kamran, IIT Bombay, Bombay), & disability studies (Dr. Bindhulakshmi Pattadath, TISS, Mumbai). Listen in...

#TOOPP (The Out Of Place People) --- SynTalk

Does randomness lie in the eye of the beholder? ‘What’ is music? Why is ordering often a consequence of scaling? Is there such a thing as non-repetitive music? Do there need to be ‘types’ for there to be repetitions? Are there patterns out there independent of us? What would a Kantian say? Are fundamental algorithms at the heart of Nature? Does this conflict with fundamental laws of physics? Why can’t finite state machines count? Are Turing machines able to recognize repetitions? How? Why isn’t any combination of notes a raga? Why is ‘Sa’ the fixed point in Hindustani classical music? Can the link between moods and musical keys / notes / ragas be understood via the pigeonhole principle? Is there a deep link between repetition and consonance (or dissonance)? Do we tend to classify things that are not ‘not different’? Is the ability to have knowledge of similarity a distinct faculty? How are multiple renditions ‘in’ a raga same yet different? Can repetitions help charge our musical consciousness? Do ever-fresh accents make repetitions rhythms? Is there asymmetric dependence of error on truth? &, do hallucinations ‘repeat’ Reality? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from theoretical computer science (Dr. Arkadev Chattopadhyay, TIFR, Mumbai), music studies/history (Prof. Partho Datta, JNU, New Delhi), & philosophy (Prof. Anand Vaidya, San José State University, San José). Listen in...

#TRIC (The Repetitions In Compositions) --- SynTalk

‘How’ are you hearing what you are hearing? Is hearing decoding? Do you already know what’s next? Would it have helped to have an accompanying video? Do we ’need’ to be able to differentiate at the level of sound to be able to ascribe different meanings? Why do a few hear Yanni, & a few Laurel? Do frogs need to see each other when croaking? When does the ear begin to form? Is the ear also a vestibular organ? Are you aware of the coordinated movement of your articulators? Are these articulators highly inefficient? Is there a link between hearing and higher cognitive functions? Is there a critical period for articulation? Did Neanderthals have vocalization? Are speech production and perception multi-sensory? Do gestures accompanying speech indicate that they may have been all integrated in the past? Did we get eyes before ears? How do sound vibrations become electrical signals? Have you experienced auditory hallucinations? Is the process of hearing confirmatory? Is silent reading (almost like) speaking ? Do we know how we think in language? Do several animals catch musical beats? Could the deaf hear in the future? How do dolphins hear? &, would we communicate via telepathy in the future? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from phonetics & linguistics (Prof. Indranil Dutta, Jadavpur University, Kolkata), & developmental biology (Dr. Raj Ladher, NCBS, Bangalore). Listen in...

#TAOTA (The Audition Of The Audible) --- SynTalk

Do you have the courage of a Spartan? Are we all partly anarchists? What are we truly? What do we value? Are Reason and Nature entangled? Is there a hierarchy of beings above/below human beings? What do Gods have that humans don’t have? Does Nature offer us moral guidance? How do plants imitate Gods? How much does human nature vary with (say) geography, culture, language, & time? Are we more (or, less?) diverse at birth? Do you want to transcend your body? Is matter evil? Does social evolution change (the psychological) human nature? Does one need to have a theory of human nature to think about political forms? What is it to be a flourishing human? Do literature and art have the function of ‘making’ human? Do stories around the world share something? Why do classics endure? Do each one of us need to realize our human-ness? Where does this normativity come from? Does (only) force keep us together? Is the construct of human nature both useful and dangerous? Are (most) determinisms dangerous? &, will any new kind of world in the future (off a new structure) have a new kind of human nature? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from German language & literature (Dr. Milind Brahme, IIT Madras, Chennai), philosophy (Dr. Aditi Chaturvedi, Azim Premji University, Bangalore), & political studies (Prof. Chandran Kukathas, Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore). Listen in...

#TEHN (The Eternal Human Nature) --- SynTalk

Are you a master of your emotions? How do banks learn to loan better? Is king less queen = boy less girl in the word2vec world? Does your ‘body’ sometimes feel inferior even when you do not think so? Do humans learn only cognitively? How do you learn to have self respect? Are models a result of learning? What can be learnt by trial and error? Can mere prompts sometimes be enough to learn vast new things? Are there unthought knowns? Can you have the thought of going to dinner without thinking in a language? What is the nature of internal representations in between the multiple layers of neural networks? Do we acquire languages sub-consciously? How does one account for integrated multilingualism? How do you speak with your Gods? Is grammar social? Did sociality (& then spoken language, & then writing systems) evolve (or exapt) from tool making? What is hunger for LLMs if it has never itself gone hungry? Why does the familiar feel safer? Can machines learn behaviorally (without modeling/cerebration)? Why do couples sometimes fight over the same issues after several years? What are your default neural pathways? &, what can AI do in the future? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from psychotherapy (Aruna Gopakumar, Navgati, Bangalore), computer science (Dr. Shivaram Kalyanakrishnan, IIT Bombay, Mumbai), & linguistics (Prof. Pramod Pandey, Deccan College, Pune). Listen in...

#TLAN (The Learnable And Not) --- SynTalk

Is pencil complex? Is computationally hard complex? Is ‘i’ a weird number? Why wasn’t Hamilton able to multiply triples? Are we just a bunch of neurons and connections? Is our ability to think (& do mathematics) an emergent phenomenon? Is mathematical thinking core to understanding the world? Is complexity always a subjective feature? Do opinions spread in complex random graph-like patterns? How is alternating current complex? How do quaternions help with (3D rotations) in computer graphics? Are there (irreducible) prime complex numbers? Can real prime numbers be understood via functions of complex variables? How is the idea of ‘limit’ (& continuity, & differentiability) different on a complex plane? Is something more complex the more you can talk about it? Can there be a general theory for conditions leading to complexity? Are all complex systems many bodied? Will several emergent phenomena & biological systems see invention of a new kind of math to understand them? Will computational models (& ever more complex machines) likely precede such mathematics? &, will more branches of sciences / knowledge keep getting more integrated? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from electrical engineering (Prof. D. Manjunath, IIT Bombay, Mumbai), non-linear science (Prof. Ram Ramaswamy, IIT Delhi, New Delhi), & mathematics (Dr. Kaneenika Sinha, IISER, Pune). Listen in...

#TTTC (The Transformations To Complex) --- SynTalk

Who does the kidnapping and raping? Are you a parasite? Is your politics in the service of capital? Do the lumpen form one group/class, or is it a general disposition? Are the punk ‘anti-social’ disruptors? Was Namdeo Dhasal punk? Was Kabir? Why write obscene poetry? How (& by whom) are the boundaries policed? What leads to the various underground anti-aesthetic movements (such as punk music, & anti-poetry) across cultures? How was Sex Pistols born? Does the notion of (unemployed, & all other) waste come only with modernity and capitalism? Is the oppositional market for shit, trash, & filth, then, created by a certain death drive in us? Can suffering be enjoyed? Where do you seek solidarity? Did late industrialization lead to fascism in Europe? How do political and aesthetic imaginations influence each other? Do the poor need aesthetic tools to agitate? What happens when industries rust? Are we now passing through a phase of barbarism? Is culture necessarily a good thing? Are you (truly) interested in abolishing inequality? Can the proletariat be precariat proletariat? &, are the lumpen forces (the ‘surplus population’) now here to stay forever? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from literary studies (Dr. Nandini Chandra, University of Hawai’i, Honolulu), music production (Kunal Dole, Punk On Toast, Mumbai), & political science/poetry (Prof. Ashwani Kumar, TISS, Mumbai). Listen in...

#TPHAL (The Punk Hooligan And Lumpen) --- SynTalk

What happened in the 6th century BCE? Can a non-human (robot? dog?) have a soul? Does God’s time move from the past to the future? Is the present, in a sense, always avant-garde? How are bureaucratic orders made to perpetuate in time? How does a common person today understand the yugas? Who has the ‘need’ to think about the future? How are different time periods squeezed into a single register in art? Why do we invoke ramrajya? Do ideal types constrain how far (& ‘how’) one can think of the future? What did women joining the Buddhist sanghas (not) cause? Could science fiction become a historical artefact? Is a ‘genius’ science fiction writer akin to a ‘genius’ scientist? Is religion all about survival? Are religion, art and politics interwoven in the pharaoh? Are the pyramids, megaliths, Stonehenge, & the Chinese burial pits for the immediate afterlife of the dead or the future of those later alive? Are genealogies often invented? Is there a part of us that ‘needs’ to believe? Do we wish that the future were pre-ordained? Do we inhabit multiple temporalities? &, when is the messiah coming (back)? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from art history (Dr. Shailka Mishra, Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art, Hyderabad), theology (Prof. Ori Z. Soltes, Georgetown University, Washington DC), & ancient history (Dr. Meera Visvanathan, Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida). Listen in...

#TSOFF (The Susurrus Of Former Futures) --- SynTalk

How ‘deep’ would a 1,000 years be? Is all space place? How do use, identity, value, law, power, or (‘imaginative’) memory hold them together? Do we live in layers? Are all human beings historical? Are all places relational? How do ‘material’ cultures of the past enable excavation sites to be dated? Where do ghosts and Gods live? Do all humans think of a place the same way? Can power structures lead to discursive spaces becoming material ‘reality’? What is the wilderness for you? Do you follow official maps? Do you know the seating configuration of the people you are hearing just now? What was below the Mosque? Is land a fictitious commodity? Is it possible to have an affective relationship with a property without having a legal claim? When is a place abandoned? How does a community disintegrate? Could long standing customary rights co-exist with legal rights? Is Law fiction? Are most relational boundaries always in a state of flux? Do leopards also want to take it easy? & How will we interpret our linkages and places in the future – would all space be propertied, financialized & commodified? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using ideas from anthropology & film-making (Prof. Ashish Avikunthak, The University of Rhode Island, Kingston), human ecology (Prof. Asmita Kabra, Ambedkar University, New Delhi), & history (Prof. Anindita Mukhopadhyay, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad). Listen in...

#TPOP (The Production Of Places) --- SynTalk

f(q) = How old are passports? (#TFON)

SynTalk is a freewheeling interdisciplinary talk show with a philosophical approach to understanding the world from a long term perspective.

#TLWW (The Leashes We Wear) --- SynTalk

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