Obedience Is Overrated

Do older people always give good advice? Sometimes they do. But young people also need to think for themselves. When Sam Altman told a hall full of IIT students that “listening to old people is the biggest mistake young people make,” many students clapped. He was mostly talking about career advice. And he had a…

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Bots In Store For Us? 

AI to do most white-collar jobs soon? Improbable. But, say, it does. Then even the rich won’t be so rich  A 7,000-word blog post by a tiny New York-based financial research firm spooked US investors on Monday. Titled ‘The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis’, it paints a scenario in which AI agents have gutted white-collar jobs….

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Bots In Store For Us? 

AI to do most white-collar jobs soon? Improbable. But, say, it does. Then even the rich won’t be rich  A small financial research company in New York wrote a very long blog post that scared many investors in the US. The post was called “The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis.” It imagined a future where AI…

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Available: ova the counter

An egg-supply hub hatches an inhuman scam Maharashtra’s Thane-Badlapur belt bred militant trade unionism in the 1970s. That ghost was laid, and replaced by laying hens. Badlapur’s eggs became a brand. Now it’s been branded with shame – for incubating human eggs. Last week, cops reportedly arrested four hen-honchos of this ‘operation’. Apparently, at least…

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Why engineering universities must safeguard their science core

Expansion and the hidden risk Technological universities across India are expanding at unprecedented speed. New programmes in artificial intelligence, semiconductor technologies, clean-energy systems, robotics, biomedical devices and advanced manufacturing are being launched with urgency. Industry partnerships are deepening. Start-up ecosystems are growing. Applied research and commercialisation are celebrated as markers of relevance. This momentum reflects…

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India’s EV problem isn’t policy. It’s plumbing.

There is a particular kind of optimism that feels productive but isn’t. It announces targets, celebrates milestones, and mistakes momentum for progress. India’s electric vehicle story, at least so far, has been a little too comfortable with that kind of optimism. AI image A report released this week by the Institute for Energy Economics and…

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Namesake and fellow traveller

What are the odds of meeting someone who shares your exact name, is an engineer like you, lives in the same gated community in Bangalore, hails from Patna, is an active biker, and—just to complete the cosmic joke—both fathers were electrical engineers who also worked in the same organisation, with the same surnames and the…

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A cup of coffee

Strolling down a busy food street, I caught sight of a dimly-lit café. The incense smoke drifted across the tables like fairies sprinkling soothing dust—my fascination pushed me towards its glass door. I stepped in, oblivious that a cup of coffee would not only fill my stomach but also satiate my soul too!  A young…

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