2026 1

Speaking unprepared

I deliver about 3-5 talks a month and usually prepare for them. Thanks to AI (but even otherwise), I have a steady stream of new content. So, I just to assemble the story. For example, in my TEDx Whitefield talk “Prisoners of Birth”, I shared the impact of name, gender, lineage, place, and time of birth. I didn’t execute any new analysis. I just cherry-picked disparate analyses into a theme. (Took me three days to plan, though.) ...

2024 1

Exploring Creativity with SORA: My Animation Journey

I got access to SORA today. My first attempts was typical. An animated cartoon featuring Calvin, a young boy with spiky hair, standing in a playful boxing stance with oversized boxing gloves. He looks determined as he says ‘Bring it on!’ in a speech bubble. Facing him is Hobbes, a tall and slightly bemused tiger, also in a mock boxing pose with a gentle smile, as if humoring Calvin. The scene is set in Calvin’s backyard, typical of a Calvin and Hobbes comic, with a simple and uncluttered backdrop. ...

2007 1

Wisdom and Intelligence

Paul Graham pens another brilliant essay on Is it worth being wise? It’s mostly about the difference between being wise (right most of the time) versus being smart (being right where few others are). If you’re picking between options, being wise is useful. There is a best option, and you’ll pick it most of the time. If you’re doing something creative, there’s no finite set of options. Then it’s worth being smart. Increasingly, tasks are asking for more creativity, so it may be better to be smart.

2006 3

TEDTalk by Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk on education is brilliant and funny. Some quotes that struck me: If you think of it, children starting school this year will be retiring in 2065. Nobody has a clue, despite all the expertise that has been on parade the last four days, what the world will look like in five years’ time. And yet we’re meant to be educating them for it. So the unpredictability, I think, is extraordinary. ...

The myth of prodigy

The myth of prodigy. Precociousness as a child is no indicator of future success.

How to do what you love

Excellent article by Paul Graham on How to do what you love. [the] new definition of work [is] to make some original contribution to the world, and in the process not to starve. I think the best test is to try to do things that would make your friends say wow. If you admire two kinds of work equally, but one is more prestigious, you should probably choose the other. Your opinions about what’s admirable are always going to be slightly influenced by prestige, so if the two seem equal to you, you probably have more genuine admiration for the less prestigious one. ...

2005 1

10 steps for boosting your creativity

10 steps for boosting your creativity If you’re stuck for an idea, open a dictionary, randomly select a word and then try to formulate ideas incorporating this word. You’d be surprised how well this works. The concept is based on a simple but little known truth: freedom inhibits creativity. There are nothing like restrictions to get you thinking.

2003 1

Copyrights are not helping creativity

The Economist on how copyrights aren’t really helping creativity, which is what they were intended to do in the first place. via andersja

2002 1

Mind mapping

I learnt mind mapping. Ref: 1 2