Men and women have always struggled to understand each other — and never more so than in these complex, changing times. What can new forms of data reveal about what we really want?

A lot!

Welcome to Episode 118 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay discuss what anonymised search results, dating apps and innovative surveys reveal about what our hearts contain.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Energiser Bunny02:39 Chapter 1: Metrics of Empowerment09:40 Chapter 2: What Your Searches Reveal26:40 Chapter 3: What Dating Apps Tell Us47:41 Chapter 4: When Harry Met Sally53:20 Chapter 5: Over to YOU!

For full show notes, please click here!

How do we understand the world? Over the last couple of decades, new sources of data have given us great insights into our deep past — and our deep present.

Welcome to Episode 117 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay discuss what our genetic data tells us about our prehistory — and how phone battery life can reveal character!

Also discussed: lipstick, underwear, diapers and parking lots. :)

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Importance of Measurement05:00 Chapter 1: The History38:57 Chapter 2: Getting Into the Details50:44 Chapter 3: Ajay’s Journey With the Data59:51 Chapter 4: The Russia-Ukraine War

For full show notes, please click here!

Sometimes, the data just ain’t enough. What’s going on in Russia? In fact, what’s going on in Karnataka — and all the rest of the world? Can we glean some insights in alternative sources of data?

Yes we can. All hail nighttime lights!

Welcome to Episode 116 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay discusses his pioneering work in using nighttime lights data from satellites to get crucial insights about the world — most recently, Russia. Watch!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: A poem! A poem!02:07 Chapter 1: The History07:07 Chapter 2: Getting Into the Details14:04 Chapter 3: Ajay’s Journey With the Data25:28 Chapter 4: The Russia-Ukraine War

For full show notes, please click here!

Ideas can often be an engine to think about the world. Seeing Like a State by James C Scott is a great book that has illuminated the world with the power of its frameworks — and both Amit and Ajay are fans.

Welcome to Episode 115 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay talks about what Scott’s book meant to him — and lays out an easy introduction to its powerful ideas.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Velvet Underground of Ideas03:57 Chapter 1: What the Book Means to Ajay13:17 Chapter 2: State Legibility26:36 Chapter 3: High Modernism31:12 Chapter 4: Metis33:07 Chapter 5: An Example: Prussian Forestry Management39:27 Chapter 6: Watch out for These Four Things41:38 Chapter 7: More Examples49:14 Chapter 8: Some Takeaways1:00:49 Chapter 9: An Engine for Thinking About the World1:02:14 Chapter 10: Recommendations

For full show notes, please click here!

The US state has gone rogue. 50% tariffs are crazy. What should India do now? How does one think rationally about an irrational world order?

Welcome to Episode 114 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay lays out a roadmap for how India can thrive again despite the madness in the world.

Note: Amit and Ajay have launched their online course LIFE LESSONS. Click here to sign up.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: This Present Moment09:01 Chapter 1: 1991-2011 – The Good Times26:47 Chapter 2: The India-US Relationship34:19 Chapter 3: What’s Happening in the US?40:10 Chapter 4: The Impact45:47 Chapter 5: Building a New Global Order55:44 Chapter 6: Some Concrete Examples1:03:13 Chapter 7: Reforming Within India1:25:52 Chapter 8: How to Deal With US and China1:31:31 Chapter 9: Amit’s Pessimism1:42:34 Chapter 10: What Should Firms Do?

For detailed show notes, click here!

The Indian media has lost its way. But how? And why? Well, there have been crises of relevance, purpose, money, quality, trust, power, incentives and attention.

Phew!

Welcome to Episode 113 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit gives us a lowdown on exactly what’s wrong with the Indian media.

Note: REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for Cohort 3 of Amit & Ajay’s online course, LIFE LESSONS. Click here to sign up: https://lifelessons.co.in/

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The World is a Housing Complex09:54 Chapter 1: The Crisis of Relevance18:36 Chapter 2: The Crisis of Purpose24:52 Chapter 3: The Crisis of Money48:05 Chapter 4: The Crisis of Quality58:45 Chapter 5: The Crisis of Trust1:04:44 Chapter 6: The Crisis of Power1:13:37 Chapter 7: The Crisis of Incentives1:23:53 Chapter 8: The Crisis of Attention1:30:08 Chapter 9: The Future1:41:39 Chapter 10: Recommendations

For the full show notes, please click here!

Human beings remain the same, while technology grows at a mad pace. This means that the face of war has changed forever. Everything we know now is already outdated.

Welcome to Episode 112 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay & Amit discuss the future of war. It’s scary. Are we prepared?

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Memory of Cities08:22 Chapter 1: Why Understanding War is Important11:41 Chapter 2: The Evolution of War18:03 Chapter 3: Naval Gazing25:19 Chapter 4: The Hellscape28:55 Chapter 5: Operation Spiderweb34:53 Chapter 6: Operation Rising Lion37:45 Chapter 7: The India-Pakistan Conflict40:11 Chapter 8: The Taiwan Question42:19 Chapter 9: Drone Swarms, Iron Beam and 3D Printers49:36 Chapter 10: Eight Principles1:09:41 Chapter 11: The Implications1:26:57 Chapter 12: Two Fears and One Exhortation1:37:25 Chapter 13: Recommendations

For full show notes, please click here!

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is fully amaze — and also, sometimes, fully a maze. It should be something a country welcomes with open arms — and yet, India has often done fisticuffs with it. This should change.

Welcome to Episode 111 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay explains why he loves FDI so much — and how India should embrace it and make it work for us.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Many Loves of Ajay Shah’s Life04:09 Chapter 1: What is FDI?08:20 Chapter 2: Measuring FDI11:06 Chapter 3: The Dream of FDI25:08 Chapter 4: What about Foreign Portfolio Investment?34:21 Chapter 5: The Political Economy Around FDI37:40 Chapter 6: Tariff-Jumping FDI40:58 Chapter 7: Building the Right Environment47:47 Chapter 8: Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman52:58 Chapter 9: A Remarkable Opportunity for India

For full show notes, please click here!

How does one plan for retirement? What amount of money does one need to be sorted? Can you even arrive at a number?

Welcome to Episode 110 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay explains why the question itself is misguided — and the approach one should take towards our future in such an uncertain world.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Ajay Shah Get Violent02:11 Chapter 1: There Is No Good Answer07:04 Chapter 2: The Equity Premium17:45 Chapter 3: The Spreadsheet Approach is Wrong30:28 Chapter 4: Actionables41:22 Chapter 5: The Importance of Diversification49:51 Chapter 6: The Government’s Role57:13 Chapter 7: The Excel Sheet58:05 Chapter 8: Recommendations

For full show notes, please click here.

For almost 80 years, one book has been the go-to book for understanding economics — and the world. Henry Hazlitt wrote that book.

Welcome to Episode 109 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay discuss Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt — a book you must read if you want to understand the subject!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Economist Who Puked on a Forest02:27 Chapter 1: Economics in One Lesson10:58 Chapter 2: The Key Lesson13:20 Chapter 3: The Parable of the Broken Window19:46 Chapter 4: Public Works27:24 Chapter 5: Taxes and Incentives33:08 Chapter 6: The Folly of Credit by the State35:43 Chapter 7: The Fear of New Technology49:45 Chapter 8: Jute ka Jhoot53:57 Chapter 9: The Blunder of Rent Control1:08:09 Chapter 10: Three Broad Lessons1:11:34 Chapter 11: The Toolkit

For the full show notes, please click here.

Politics attracts a particular kind of creature — which is why accidental politicians, who never meant to be in that game, are a curious breed.

Welcome to Episode 108 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay relate the stories of five inspiring accidental politicians — and discuss the pros and cons of their situation!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Absolute power is pretty cool!01:24 Chapter 1: Mark Carney11:16 Chapter 2: Václav Havel30:52 Chapter 3: Jawaharlal Nehru44:36 Chapter 4: Manmohan Singh57:37 Chapter 5: Volodymyr Zelenskyy1:10:01 Chapter 6: The Pros and Cons of Accidental Politicians1:31:57 Chapter 7: Recommendations

For full show notes, please click here.

Ideological labels can be damn confusing. What do we mean by liberal, conservative, socialist, nationalist, left, right? They even seem to mean different things to different people!

Worry not. We are here to lift the fog!

Welcome to Episode 107 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, on popular demand, Amit and Ajay break down the meanings of some commonly used labels and isms.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Labels Are Dangerous!02:36 Chapter 0: Important Clarifications09:32 Chapter 00: What We Believe14:32 Chapter 1: Liberal25:18 Chapter 2: Conservative39:33 Chapter 3: Marxism53:40 Chapter 4: Socialism1:06:13 Chapter 5: Communism1:09:54 Chapter 6: Statism1:13:18 Chapter 7: Libertarian1:17:19 Chapter 8: Left and Right1:21:51 Chapter 9: Nationalism1:30:03 Chapter 10: Some Other Terms1:36:47 Postscript: Selected Readings

For the full show notes, click here!

It is difficult to even know what happened in the past, leave alone predicting the future. But one day, when our brave hosts were asked what the world will look like in 2050, they decided to have some fun.

Welcome to Episode 106 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay make 15 predictions about 2050 in full humility, likely to be wrong, but hey, that will give us a mea culpa episode in 2050! Too much fun, this episode is, as they talk about trends and specifics. Watch!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: ‘The Great Tragedy of My Life’03:25 Chapter 1: The Future of the Past15:29 Chapter 2: Setting It Up17:30 Chapter 3: Our Entertainment Will be Auto-Generated by AI24:28 Chapter 4: Technology Will Give Us FEELING on Demand29:35 Chapter 5: We Will Deepen Our Connections With Both Machines and People40:46 Chapter 6: Relationships Will Be Remapped48:07 Chapter 7: We Will Have Truly Global Cities58:34 Chapter 8: Gene Editing Will Be Commonplace1:02:08 Chapter 9: Energy Will Be Cheaper1:07:07 Chapter 10: Brain-Machine Interfaces Will Flourish1:12:27 Chapter 11: There Will Be Mining in the Asteroid Belt1:14:57 Chapter 12: Warfare Will Be Fully Robotic1:24:39 Chapter 13: Meat Will Be Grown in Labs1:30:11 Chapter 14: Transport Will Be Radically More Efficient1:35:26 Chapter 15: Reproduction Will Happen Inside Machines1:37:50 Chapter 16: There Will Be Unexpected Demographic Developments1:44:16 Chapter 17: Climate Change Will Remain a Problem1:51:26 Chapter 18: Recommendations

For full show notes, please click here.

Last week, we spoke about how manufacturing in India has been hobbled by the state for decades, and continues to be in a bad way. But does that mean the state should now direct its focus on it?

No!

Welcome to Episode 105 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In the second of a two-parter, Ajay lays out his argument for why the state should not pick winners, not just within a sector but also among sectors. State coercion makes everything worse!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: ‘Development economists are a creepy bunch.’02:42 Chapter 1: The Traditional View11:06 Chapter 2: Mugged by Reality22:17 Chapter 3: What’s the New Model?32:24 Chapter 4: What Happened to the Bombay Dream?45:10 Chapter 5: Let’s Talk About Food, Baby!51:21 Chapter 6: Some Lessons54:11 Chapter 7: Recommendations

For full show notes, please click here!

Manufacturing in India was hobbled by the state for many decades after Independence — and is still not in great shape. Why is this so? How can we move forward?

Welcome to Episode 104 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In the first of a two-parter, Ajay lays out the grim reality today, and Amit gives a historical perspective. In the next episode, we discuss why Industrial Policy would be the worst way to tackle this.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Travails of the Indian Businessman05:12 Chapter 1: The Hard Facts about Indian Manufacturing09:07 Chapter 2: The Difference Between Manufacturing and Services28:43 Chapter 3: A Historical View43:47 Chapter 4: The Problems with Indian Manufacturing TODAY1:08:05 Chapter 5: The Union and the State1:09:49 Chapter 6: Recommendations

For full show notes, click here.

Admit it, our last episode, You Should Start a Business, blew your mind. You couldn’t wait to get going! You wanted more!

Welcome to Episode 103 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma & Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit shares more gyan on starting a business. You have no excuse left now! Incorporate!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 A Bumblebee Among the Social Butterflies02:53 Chapter 0: Setting the Stage05:02 Chapter 1: Be a Generalist10:13 Chapter 2: Practice First-Principles Thinking12:17 Chapter 3: Focus on the Customer18:50 Chapter 4: Focus on Product, Not Marketing23:15 Chapter 5: Choose a Mission Bigger Than Yourself28:12 Chapter 6: Think Long-Term40:12 Chapter 7: Choose Your Partner Well48:15 Chapter 8: Choose Your Employees Well53:11 Chapter 9: Hard Work is Non-Negotiable1:01:57 Chapter 10: Optimise for Truth-Telling1:10:55 Chapter 11: Embrace Simplicity1:15:20 Chapter 12: Have Professional Pride1:18:03 Chapter 13: Be Guided by Your Inner Scorecard1:19:55 Chapter 14: Recommendations

For the full show notes, please click here.

Welcome to Episode 102 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

There are many good reasons to start a business. In this episode, Amit and Ajay take you through a few of them — and then Amit elaborates on the mindset you need to get started.

This is Part 1 of a grand two-parter. If you don’t start a business after this, you are doomed! Start! Now!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Eh, Chhoti Ladki!06:34 Chapter 1: Why You Should Start a Business19:19 Chapter 2: The Detachment Argument24:01 Chapter 3: Prioritise Love Over Like28:52 Chapter 4: Don’t Listen to Naysayers34:30 Chapter 5: Be Internally Driven46:57 Chapter 6: Have a Bias for Action

For the full show notes, please click here!

When we think about state intervention, the first principle we consider is whether it is necessary. But we should also think about whether it is possible — and how easy or hard it is. How do we figure this out?

Welcome to Episode 101 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay lays out the metrics by which we can judge the difficulty of a proposed state intervention. Monetary policy is easy. Financial regulation is hard. Let’s understand why!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Light Has Gone out of Our Lives03:52 Chapter 1: Is This Easy or Is This Hard?06:51 Chapter 2: Metrics for Intervention15:49 Chapter 3: Some Concrete Examples28:52 Chapter 4: The Hacking Mindset32:02 Chapter 5: The Important Things are the Hard Ones40:32 Chapter 6: Recommendations

For the full show notes, please click here.

We’ve reached episode 100 — HURRAY! — and it’s time for another session of Ask Me Anything. Amit and Ajay take questions from gentle readers about a variety of subjects, from Ajay’s love of suffering to Amit’s (dubious) haircare. (The two are not related.) Mad fun, watch!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Under the Banyan Tree03:38 The Questions Begin!1:40:10 NOT the Last Bow

For full show notes, please ⁠click here⁠.

Regulation always has the potential to go wrong. But in India, it’s been worse than in much of the world. It has become a tool of oppression of the worst kind.

Welcome to Episode 99 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit talks about the theory of regulation in general — and Ajay delivers a masterclass on how the Indian state turned it into a horror film.

Despite that, the episode begins and ends with good news!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Good News!05:45 Chapter 1: The Theory and History of Regulation22:16 Chapter 2: Getting the Terms Right27:03 Chapter 3: Why Set Up a Regulator?36:14 Chapter 4: Where India Went Wrong46:36 Chapter 5: What is Wrong with the Regulatory State?47:52 Chapter 6: How Can We Fix This?53:52 Chapter 7: The Wonder That Was FSLRC1:01:56 Chapter 8: The Ecosystem of Ideas (and Ideas People)1:18:37 Chapter 9: Recommendations

For full show notes, please ⁠click here⁠.