The Importance of Reading and History

The world is changing fast. Technology can be used to empower us -- and also to hack our brains & our lives. What laws do we need to protect our freedoms? Rahul Matthan joins Amit Varma in episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his work on privacy -- and on a new, subtle approach towards data governance. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)   Also check out: 1. Rahul Matthan on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Trilegal, Substack and his own website. 2. Privacy 3.0: Unlocking Our Data-Driven Future -- Rahul Matthan. 3. The Third Way: India’s Revolutionary Approach to Data Governance -- Rahul Matthan. 4. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Sudhir Sarnobat Works to Understand the World -- Episode 350 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Roam Research. 7. Zettelkasten on Wikipedia. 8. Tana, Obsidian and Notion. 9. Getting Things Done -- David Allen. 10. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 11. Hallelujah (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Leonard Cohen. 12. Hallelujah (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Jeff Buckley. 13. The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah" -- Alan Light. 14. Hallelujah on Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell. 15. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life -- Anne Lamott. 16. The New Basement Tapes. (Also Wikipedia.) 17. Kansas City -- Marcus Mumford. 18. The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial -- Venkatesh Rao. 19. Vitalik Buterin Fights the Dragon-Tyrant — Episode 342 of The Seen and the Unseen. 20. Paul Graham on Twitter and his own website. (His essays are extraordinary.) 21. Ribbonfarm by Venkatesh Rao. 22. The Network State --  Balaji Srinivasan. 23. Marc Andreessen on Twitter. 24. The Techno-Optimist Manifesto -- Marc Andreessen. 25. Siddhartha Mukherjee and Carlo Rovelli on Amazon. 26. For the Lord (Spotify) (YouTube) -- Rahul Matthan. 27. Predicting the Future -- Rahul Matthan (on Asimov's concept of Psychohistory etc). 28. Gurwinder Bhogal Examines Human Nature — Episode 331 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Looking-Glass Self. 30. Panopticon. 31. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture -- Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. A Scientist in the Kitchen — Episode 204 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok). 33. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Krish Ashok and Naren Shenoy). 34. Nothing is Indian! Everything is Indian! — Episode 12 of Everything is Everything. 35. The Right to Privacy -- Samuel D Warren and Louis D Brandeis. 36. John Locke on Britannica, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Wikipedia and Econlib. 37. Build for Tomorrow -- Jason Feifer. 38. Ex Machina -- Alex Garland. 39. Arrival -- Denis Villeneuve. 40. The Great Manure Crisis of 1894 -- Rahul Matthan. 41. Climate Change and Our Power Sector — Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 42. The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect -- Judea Pearl. 43. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma on Alpha Zero. 44. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast, produced by Amit Varma. 45. Human and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare -- Episode 4 of Brave New World (w Eric Topol). 46. The Colonial Constitution -- Arghya Sengupta. 47. Beyond Consent: A New Paradigm for Data Protection -- Rahul Matthan. 48. The Puttaswamy case. 49. Judicial Reforms in India -- Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alok Prasanna Kumar.) 50. Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility among India’s Professional Elite --  Swethaa S Ballakrishnen. 51. Magic Fruit: A Poetic Trip -- Vaishnav Vyas. 52. Hermanos Gutiérrez and Arc De Soleil on Spotify. 53. The Travelling Salesman Problem. 54. The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet -- Jeff Kosseff. 55. Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace -- Lawrence Lessig. 56. Financial Inclusion and Digital Transformation in India -- Suyash Rai. 57. No Time for False Modesty -- Rahul Matthan. 58. In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 59. Once Upon a Prime -- Sarah Hart. 60. The Greatest Invention -- Silvia Ferrara. 61. Surveillance State -- Josh Chin and Liza Lin. 62. Surveillance Valley -- Yasha Levine. 63. Sex Robots and Vegan Meat -- Jenny Kleeman. 64. How to Take Smart Notes -- Sönke Ahrens. 65. The Creative Act -- Rick Rubin. 66. How to Write One Song -- Jeff Tweedy. 67. Adrian Tchaikovsky and NK Jemisin on Amazon. 68. Snarky Puppy. on Spotify and YouTube. 69. Empire Central -- Snarky Puppy. 70. Polyphia on Spotify and YouTube. 71. The Lazarus Project on Jio Cinema. This episode is sponsored by the Pune Public Policy Festival 2024, which takes place on January 19 & 20, 2024. The theme this year is Trade-offs! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Protocol’ by Simahina.