The new science of Behavioural Genetics — Did you happen to catch the 2018 movie Three Identical Strangers? In it, identical triplets are separated at birth and adopted by three different families. Reunited at age 19 they are found to each smoke the same brand of cigarettes, drive sports convertibles, and prefer to date older women. …

On 29th June 2021 the Pew Research Foundation published the results of their survey on Religion in India. For people like me who for years have been referencing their data on religious attitudes across the world, a comprehensive survey for India was long awaited. The study took Pew Research almost…

This post is republished from a 2019 LinkedIn article In Part 1 we explored themes related to the onset of an AI singularity and some of the arbitrary and irrational ways in which we tend to think about AI. In Part 2 we will try to understand human intelligence better…

This post is republished from a 2019 LinkedIn article Until recently the word “singularity” didn’t mean much to regular folks. To science geeks it is what colloquially goes by the term Black Hole — an area of spacetime where the known Laws of Physics break down. But, during the past…

Evolutionary origins of proto-religion — This post is the unedited transcript of a speech delivered at Renai Essense 2020, a freethought seminar organized by Bangalore Essense. Presentation slides are included. I’ll start by defining some of the terms that we will be using which may not be part of our everyday vocabulary. While we are…

The evolution of language and culture — Growing up in India during the ’80s and ’90s one could not have escaped the message of Unity in Diversity. The official national integration song Mile Sur Mera Tumhaara would be played daily on Doordarshan, India’s state-run National TV channel. …

This may not be the answer you were looking for — In Douglas Adams’ iconic comedy sci-fi The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a supercomputer called Deep Thought takes 7.5 million years to calculate The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. The answer is 42. The story is of course a parody of what seems to…

One day in 1995 I woke up to find that Ganesha was drinking milk. There was a viral rumour going around Delhi that idols of Ganesha were drinking milk offered in teaspoons by devotees. Soon the miracle was being observed all over India and long queues had formed outside every…

The fallacy behind Ancient Science claims — Tropical climates characterized by high heat and high humidity are more conducive to the growth of microbial life, including dangerous pathogens. People living in such climates need an extra boost of bacteria-inhibiting agents to stay healthy. This is where spices come in. …