Intellectual

Is Colin McKenzie for real? What cannot be faked? Are fakes lies? Can copies be more valuable than the original? What is the test of something being original? Is originality a fact? Is it culturally determined? What are the ethics and aesthetics of fakes? How and at what point do we know when an experience is not real? What about reality that cannot be experienced? Is seeing believing, or is believing seeing? Is ‘seeing’ always ‘seeing-as’? Why do some of us prefer artificial flowers over fresh flowers? Does the idea of the original always imply its opposite? What kind of objects can (cannot) have copies (originals)? Can there be fake words? Or chairs? Is the copy of a copy the copy of the same original? Can there be a fake documentary film? Are there false images for astronomers? How does science ‘handle’ reality? What are the (dis)similarities between archaeology, astronomy and film-making? Is most of reality constructed, and do we really know what reality is? Does reality always depend on the technology available? Do we ‘need’ reality? Can we live (largely) with hyperreal simulacra, & will reality be dispensed with in the long run? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from philosophy (Prof. Sharad Deshpande, ex-University of Pune, Pune), film-making (Nilita Vachani, Tisch School of the Arts (NYU), New York), & astronomy & archaeology (Prof. Mayank Vahia, TIFR, Mumbai). Listen in....

#TROTO (The Reality Of The Original) --- SynTalk

Do kids understand adults? Does foetus feel pain and pleasure? What does the world look like from the crib? Is the new born infant alert, aware & awake, & not confused? What are kids pre-wired for, & is pre-wiring largely genetic? Do we learn fear? Do new-borns get bored? How do children learn, and (what) do they need to be taught? How is grammar learnt? When do kids start becoming autonomous? Have you experienced the Terrible Twos? When does a child stop being a child? Is the concept of late childhood a product of modernity? Must adolescence be a ‘productive’ period? Do children have rights? What exactly is childhood ‘innocence’, & must childhood be valourized? Can some kids be unusually cruel? Is parenthood naturally anxiety inducing? Might the absence of disclosure of love for the child be a problem? What might indiscriminate ‘limit setting’ by parents lead to? Is it hard, however, to always be a calm carefree parent? How different and similar are kids from each other, & is it alright to compare them? What is the long term future of childhood? Should kids be free? Would the basis of innateness be established in the long term? Would such a world be dystopian? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from psychology (Prof. Malavika Kapur, NIAS, Bangalore), sociology (Dr. Shilpa Phadke, TISS, Mumbai), & developmental paediatrics (Dr. Koyeli Sengupta, Ummeed, Mumbai). Listen in…


#TTAGU (The Things About Growing Up) --- 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

Can suicide bombers be farmed? Who is a terrorist? How are terrorists recruited, trained and incentivized? Do terrorists run out of weapons? What role does leadership play in the success of terrorist groups? What happens when a terrorist group is decapitated? Is it possible to dabble in terrorism? Is a terrorist attack always a mixture of violence and theatre, and always a part of a communication strategy? How are terrorist groups organised? Can terrorist groups maintain armies, and military like organization structure? Is (perceived) grievance a necessary condition for terrorism? Is a failed State and chaos always an opportunity for terrorists? Is warlordism usually the first stage in state formation? Is the State usually complicit in allowing a terrorist group to form? Is war politics by other means? Is terrorism often a result of the orthodoxy asserting itself against a reformation(?)? Are terrorist groups willing to engage in dialogues or surrender when they are in ascendancy? Is the use of force always counterproductive? Can there be just terrorism? Is terrorism inevitable? Will terrorism end as an ideological option in the future? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from political science (Prof. Dipak Gupta, San Diego State University, San Diego), & terrorism studies (Dr. Ajai Sahni, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi). Listen in....

#THOT (The How Of Terror) --- SynTalk

Do you have others working for you? Is the need to work a curse? Or, is work life? Does work establish the relationship between the ‘body’ and nature, economy & society? Do we realize and socialize ourselves via work? Are work and leisure complementary (but only when work is socially configured)? What is leisure for the self employed? How & why is much of production ancillarized? Why are most jobs made idiot-proof? Is a life with only short-term flexible jobs meaningless? Can we, then, have an automatic society (where there is no need to work)? Was the labour in the 19th century more specialized than now? Also, is labour today recruited in a manner very different from (say) in the 19th century? Is much of work always defined by the demands of (mutable) capital? However, is capital neutral to how work is organized? What impact does this then have on personhood and morality? Should survival be contingent on the ability to work? Why is there a collapse globally of the working class? What is the future of jobs, and does this depend on the interrelationship between society and economy? How might (the non-economic) social labour be configured? &, might society be conceptualized as a factory? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from critical theory (Prof. Ranabir Samaddar, Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata), & social anthropology (Prof. A. R. Vasavi, ex-NIAS, Bangalore). Listen in....

#TNTW (The Need To Work) --- SynTalk

Are you using a QWERTY keyboard? Why do all clocks go clockwise? Can some systems get locked into sub-optimal states? Why are some processes path dependent and some not? Does the number of variables or the ‘direction’ of change matter? Can future be memory-less, & depend only on the present and not on the past? Can one ‘ensure’ that systems escape unstable equilibria? What role do initial conditions and noise play in arriving at one of multiple possible equilibria? When do systems have unique point convergence or an invariant probability distribution curve? Given enough time, do all systems visit all possible states; why or why not? ‘Why’ does time influence outcomes? Are large complex systems invariably irreversible? How do single/multiple agent/objective systems differ from each other? When does learning take place? Do biological evolutionary 'equations' have identifiable optimization function(s) and/or equilibria? Can complex systems be directed to specific (or one of a few) end states? Is persistent socioeconomic inequality also a state of equilibrium, & why might (not) affirmative action work in this context? Is stable equilibrium ‘better’ equilibrium? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from game theory & mathematics (Prof. Vivek S. Borkar, IIT Bombay, Mumbai), and statistical mechanics & soft matter physics (Prof. Srikanth Sastry, JNCASR, Bangalore). Listen in....

#TPDP (The Path Dependent Paths) --- SynTalk

f(q) = Is soil a definitive sign of life? (#TCAFG)

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