Albert Einstein was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century whose conceptual discoveries in the form of theory of special and general relativity redefined the conventional world-view of reality. The discovery of relativity by Einstein which rightfully served as a massive conceptual breakthrough in the field of physics, also served as an ideological breakthrough in the philosophy of knowledge that truly exemplified the ever-existent limitations of current know

Cryptocurrency is considered by a vast group of people to be a very important technological breakthrough similar to the internet and is a topic of great interest to study about deeply. I came across an amazing book called ‘Bubble or Revolution’ authored by three young tech enthusiasts, which provides a really simplified explanation of the underlying mechanics of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is built on the back of a relatively nascent technology called blockchain and was in

A very interesting psychological theory I came across is the peak-end rule which plays a very important role in human decision-making. I initially came across this theory while reading Yuval Harari’s ‘Homo Deus’ which is a potential account of how the future might look like where robust data-driven decision-making powered by computer algorithms will supersede human-driven decision-making. He cites the research done by famous psychologist Daniel Kahneman on the psychology of h

The human mind is a fascinating and mysterious element of human existence. A very interesting analysis of human mind is done by Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman in his book ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’. He classifies the thought processes of the human mind into two systems : System 1 (i.e. ‘the fast system’) and System 2 (i.e. ‘the slow system’). System 2 is more or less synonymous with the conscious mind and is responsible for conscious thought processes that re

A very powerful idea I came across was that of antifragility - a term coined by trader/philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his popular book ‘Antifragile’. Fragile systems break when exposed to stressors, robust systems remain intact when exposed to stressors but antifragile systems become stronger on exposure to stressors. The core thesis of the book is that complex systems require periodic exposure to mild negative shocks to enable necessary positive development over the lo

The world around us is a collection of extremely complex systems with elements that interact and impact one another in extremely convoluted ways. Humans across centuries have tried to make sense of these complexities and identify potential causal links among various elements giving rise to various disciplines of sciences and a multitude of theories to explain various natural phenomenon. These theories have unquestionably helped us organize valuable information and engineer vi

Algorithm are the fundamental building blocks of computers and sophisticated technology in general as we see today. Algorithms are basically a set of steps that help in accomplishing a desired output. It could be as simple as a set of instructions needed for making coffee or as complex as supercomputers which are a mesh of many complicated algorithms. Algorithms require a set of input data and objective functions that do certain computations on the input data to give certain

After reading the works of historian Yuval Noah Harari, a concept that utterly fascinated me was the scope of realities. Realities can be dichotomized into objective and imagined. Objective realities are constructed within our minds by external information perceived by our senses to produce the same external reality that we all operate in. Objective realities are constructed based on objective information flow entering our sense organs which is a universal mechanism hence the

The Scientific Revolution was a pivotal aspect of human history. Over the past 500 years humans have witnessed exponential progress in the field of science and technology (from steam engines and electricity to computers and artificial intelligence). If we were to ponder over what was actually the most important discovery in the Scientific Revolution, we would most likely start thinking of different technologies and inventions. But the answer surprisingly is something very dif

Evolutionary neurobiology is a very interesting area to study and helps understand the fundamental nature of of human behavior. Businesses regularly exploit this knowledge to their benefit by captivating consumers (via techniques like neuromarketing) into a voluntary enslavement towards their products or services. Building a foundational understanding of how this is possible is very useful. I came across a book called ‘Future of The Mind’ authored by theoretical physicist Mic

People are always drawn to stories as it has the ability to form a strong emotional connection with the mind. Tony Fadell (creator of iPhone and iPod) in his book ‘Build’, stresses on the importance of a product to have an underlying story that explains why it needs to exist and how it solves the pain points of consumers. A good product story according to him has three elements : it appeals to people’s emotional and rational sides, it takes complicated concepts and makes them

The sunk cost effect is a well-known business term which is usually cited while explaining cases of businesses that dug their own grave as a result of an inability to quickly pivot away from a poor strategic path undertaken due to an endowment effect tied to the costs that have been incurred within that path. Pivoting away shuts the door for good to realize any business value from an investment that has already been made in a particular strategic direction. Hence, the decisio

Artificial intelligence is a profound technology which is expected to trigger a disruptive transformation in how the world operates similar to what the internet did almost three decades ago. I came across an amazing book called ‘AI 2041’ authored by Kai-Fu-Lee, ex-Head of Google China, which gives a good insight into the different subfields of AI and an estimation of how an AI-centric future would look like.The key proposition of AI is its ability to accurately predict an out

Mobility can be categorized as a very fundamental human need and can be arguably placed right below physiological needs in terms of the hierarchy of human needs. Mobility in its current stage (ICE vehicles) is predominantly dependent on unsustainable energy sources which is very problematic. Fortunately, there has been an upward trend in electric vehicle adoption driven by both businesses and government intervention. Electric mobility however in its current stage cannot be in

I came across a very insightful chapter in Tony Fadell’s (Creator of iPod and iPhone, Founder of Nest Labs) book ‘Build' which is titled ‘Making the Intangible Tangible’. He states when you’re building a new product, the actual tangible product itself is only one tiny part of a vast intangible and overlooked user journey that starts long before a customer ever gets their hands on the product. Your product is not only the product itself but rather the absolute end-to-end user

I came across a very insightful book called ‘Mindset’ authored by Stanford psychology professor Dr. Carol Dweck which shares an extremely powerful viewpoint on mindsets. She illustrates 2 types of mindsets typically possessed by people and the drastic contrast in how they view the world and operate in it. On one end there is the fixed mindset and on the opposite end there is the growth mindset. Fixed mindset individuals are driven by ego and heavily concerned about maintainin

Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs is one of my favorite reads which details out a very poetic life story of a rebel who unapologetically challenged the status quo and undertook unprecedented steps that help drive the success of Apple. One of the three guiding principles that Mike Markkula (first investor in Apple) shared with Steve Jobs was ‘impute’. He told him to place a strong emphasis on presenting something really well. Contrary to popular wisdom to not judge a b

I came across a very interesting concept from Simon Sinek’s book ‘Start with Why’. It revolves around something called the golden circle which consists of 3 concentric circles. The innermost circle depicts ‘why’, the mid-circle depicts ‘how’ and the outer circle depicts ‘what’. He basically states that a consumer really buys the ‘why’ of the company rather than the ‘what’. The ‘why’ of a company represents what the company stands for and why it exists in the first place. Miss

A concept I have come across repeatedly when it comes to building superior consumer products is the power of simplicity - from the Google search page to Apple products like iMac and iPhone. When it comes to consumer products, it is very tempting to build something which can provide maximum amount of functionality in one go. While this might seem like a preference that a rational person would opt for, the human mind inherently prefers end-to-end simplicity i.e. from simple phy

The subconscious element of the human mind has deeply fascinated me largely due to its mysterious nature and power to have a disproportionately high impact on our lives if understood well. I came across a research article online that delves into the intricacies of the subconscious mind and I have outlined some points that I found very interesting: control: conscious brain controls 5% of our functioning whereas subconscious brain controls the remaining 95% autopilot: responsib