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There are many lessons to be drawn from history — but one has to know it thoroughly first. Well, guess what: Will and Ariel Durant took one for the team! Welcome to episode 15 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Pranay takes us on a dizzying ride through one of his favourite books, The Lessons of History, by Will and Ariel Durant. In the book, the Durants synthesize decades of studying history — and centuries of us living it — to come up with a range of insights about civilization. It’s a masterclass — followed by an Infinite Game with a worthy winner, so deserving, SO deserving, that you will be in awe. Too good. PS: Buy The Lessons of History here: https://amzn.in/d/07qXvfvr TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:30 Intro01:05 Main Course: The Lessons of History04:32 Historiography07:58 Biology22:59 Character38:13 Religion55:37 Economics59:15 Government1:04:04 War1:09:42 Progress1:13:30 The Infinite Game1:28:56 Recommendations For full show notes, please click here!

There are books that transcend the subject they are supposedly about, and deliver mad insights about life itself. In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch is one of them. Welcome to episode 14 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Amit takes us through the great film editor Walter Murch’s masterpiece, which is about more than just film editing. Pranay then shares some craaaazzyyyy trivia which will leave you gobsmacked, and we have a filmy Infinite Game as well. You wanna play? Ps: Buy Murch’s book here: https://amzn.in/d/0dTtd5rL TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:30 Intro01:07 Main Course12:28 In the Blink of an Eye13:25 Lesson 121:30 Lesson 229:02 Lesson 335:19 Lesson 444:39 Lesson 552:20 Lesson 653:50 Lesson 756:22 Lesson 81:01:31 Lesson 91:06:35 Lesson 101:13:11 A Lens Into the Future1:18:58 TIL (Trivia I Love)1:26:20 The Infinite Game1:38:06 Recommendations For full show notes, insane show notes, the greatest show notes known to man, click here!

Gulliver’s Travels, published in 1726, is a modern masterpiece. Its themes resonate as much today as they did then, its satire is as relevant — and it’s bloody entertaining! Welcome to episode 13 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Shruti shares her love for Jonathan Swift’s great book, which is such a perfect novel for these times. The chart of the week explores sporting success, and The Infinite Game reveals human failure. Much fun! TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:30 Intro00:65 Main Course04:44 About Gulliver’s Travels22:56 Odyssey and Hitchhiker’s Guide26:44 Publishing History & Editions30:26 Books as Comfort Food35:47 A Modern Book45:56 Chart of the Week1:06:07 TIL (Trivia I Love)1:17:33 The Infinite Game1:31:27 Recommendations For full show notes, please click here!

Who doesn’t love quotes? Everyone loves quotes! Quotes are the best! Welcome to episode 12 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Amit, Shruti & Pranay share 20 quotes they turn to again and again — on mobility, human nature, reading, excellence & humour. You will find Ambedkar & Rawls on caste and fairness, Pinker & EO Wilson on human nature, Schelling on models, Schopenhauer on reading, and Finding Dory. There’s a Swades couplet, two lines from Newton, & poems in Tamil & Urdu. In the Infinite Game, we will witness the follies of male self-confidence — and the recommendations at the end will keep you awake at night in a good way! TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:21 Intro: That’s What She Said01:54 Main Course02:29 Haves, Have-Nots and Want-To-Haves05:41 Caste as a Division of Laborers11:11 Nature, Nurture & the Middle Stage14:14 Pinker, Axelrod & the Blank Slate23:45 Models, Mentors & Being Interesting33:04 Plans, Progress & Public Life47:09 The Art of Not Reading51:48 Favourite Films & Hindi Movie Lines1:02:07 Excellence, Pratchett & Brecht1:07:58 Poems in Tamil & Urdu1:12:28 The Infinite Game1:27:14 Recommendations For the greatest show notes in YouTube history, click here!

There are so many people! There are so few things! Are we going to run out? Is the earth going to hell? How on earth (pun intended) can markets help? People are brains, not stomachs. No, we’re not running out of things. Yes, markets can solve these problems. Welcome to episode 11 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan & Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Amit busts the myths around too many people & too few things. Shruti steelmans the environmental position before elaborating on how markets & voluntary action can be a force for good. The Infinite Game this week will delight lovers of Indian cities, which is all of us, right? Right? TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:22 Intro00:39 Main Course 13:52 Are We Running Out of Things?34:15 Markets & the Environment1:45:03 The Infinite Game2:10:00 Recos For full show notes with many fantastic resources, click here!

Mohandas Gandhi lived a life of action, wrote furiously for decades, constantly examined himself & the world, & kept changing. He contained multitudes. Welcome to episode 10 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, our hosts discuss what we can learnt from Gandhi — and what we should not. His genius, his contradictions, his morality, his failures, his will, his multitudes. There is also The Infinite Game at the end of this episode — can Amit redeem himself? TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:28 Intro01:09 Main Course04:47 Means Over Ends20:32 Nonviolence43:11 The Self-Taught Man52:07 Gandhi the Blogger55:10 Bias For Action56:02 Skin in the Game1:00:38 The Problem With Top-Down Change1:19:36 The System is the Problem, Not the People1:27:20 The Power of Symbols1:37:35 The Big Tent1:43:30 Patriotism and Nationalism1:55:44 The Infinite Game2:07:38 Recommendations For full comprehensive show notes, please go to the YouTube page for this episode!

Do you own your own body? Your own land? Your own money? The State has, at some point, told someone no to all three. This episode is about such PolicyWTFs. Your head will spin as you watch the wheels go around. Welcome to episode 9 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. We pick one Policy WTF each from our hall of shame. Pranay traces how an anti-dumping duty on a chemical input gutted India’s textile exports and women’s factory jobs. Shruti tells the story of a legitimate 1979 land sale in West Bengal, overturned in court 25 years later under an obscure right of pre-emption still on the books today. Amit recounts Romania’s Decree 770, Ceaușescu’s ban on abortion, and its human cost. Plus a nail-biting Infinite Game, & recommendations spanning jazz, Romanian cinema & British satire. TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:20 Intro02:38 Main Course 03:39 Policy WTF #1: Protectionism and India’s Textile Exports12:47 Policy WTF #2: West Bengal’s Right of Pre-emption28:46 Policy WTF #3: Romania’s Decree 77059:23 Infinite Game1:16:57 Recommendations For full & compehensive show notes, click here!

Are AI swarms out to get humans? Welcome to episode 8 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Shruti talks about the Open AI- HuggingFace incident & shares her latest paper on governing agentic AI. TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:32 Intro00:57 The OpenAI-HuggingFace Incident05:05 Our experience with LLMs16:58 Inside the Breach26:09 Anthropomorphizing Agents37:06 It's All Code Says Pranay1:02:37 Shruti’s Paper: Governing Agentic AI1:11:45 Two Millennia of Legal Personhood1:18:53 Three Categories of AI Agents1:33:30 The Stack1:56:16 Infinite Game2:06:57 Recommendations For full show notes, please go to the YouTube page for this episode!

Most of us don’t achieve early success. Or we wonder about building a second life even as the years slip by. Is it doable? Yes. Welcome to episode 7 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Amit shares his thoughts about late blooming: why he relates to it so much, the late bloomers he admires, & the ways in which growing older is a feature & not a bug. All three hosts share a path of becoming a late learner & bloomer. Also, our finest edition of The Infinite Game sees a worthy winner! IMPORTANT: Cohort 5 of Amit’s course, LIFE LESSONS, runs from October 3 and is now open for registration: https://lifelessons.co.in/ TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:58 Life Lessons & Late Blooming08:56 Main Course: How to Be a Late Bloomer16:19 The Myth of Early Achievement34:56 Late Bloomers to Inspire Us!56:27 The Tradeoffs of Ageing1:11:38 Advice For Late Bloomers1:36:27 The Infinite Game1:50:26 Recommendations For full show notes, head on over to this episode's YouTube page.

Numbers can help you see the world clearly — or they can be turned into a weapon against you. This week, a masterclass in spotting the difference. Welcome to episode 6 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, we go deep on why numbers matter, where they mislead us even with the best intentions, and the deliberate tricks used to bend numbers into propaganda. TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:29 Intro08:30 Why Numbers Matter29:30 The Limits of Numbers42:55 How Numbers Can Fool Us1:08:04 Defence Against the Dark Arts1:25:37 The Finite Game1:32:21 The Infinite Game1:44:06 Recommendations For the full show notes of this episode, please head on over to the original YouTube page for this episode!

Why should we care about government spending? Welcome to episode 5 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, we launch Pranay Kothastane & Sarthak Pradhan’s new book Fiscal Fables: A Citizen's Guide to Public Finance. Pranay gives a masterclass in the public finance frameworks. Amit provides comic relief through limericks. And in the Infinite Game, we understand why Shruti is not a professor of geography or history. Please pick up Fiscal Fables right away: https://amzn.in/d/04Btr8MD TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:20 Intro: What a book!01:18 Main Course: A Citizen’s Guide to Public Finance04:10 Why we should care about government spending?11:50 Kinds of Taxes16:45 India’s Failed Tax Experiments29:50 Why Taxes Exist35:14 The Tax Code is Not a Social Engineering Manual54:45 Indian Cities and Decentralization 1:10:36 Centrally Sponsored Schemes1:21:04 Fiscal Federalism1:33:22 Infinite Game1:56:06 Recommendations Our show notes are so legendary that people stop us often on the streets to say, "Give us a link! Give us a link!" You can browse full show notes for this episode here.

The old world order has gone to pieces, and you are trying to make sense of the new world disorder. Need help? We are here! Welcome to episode 4 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Pranay shares some useful frameworks that will help you think clearly about the world we are in. Shruti then humiliates the boys in an Infinite Game, and everyone takes refuge in art. Shamed before your viewers? No problem. Babble about design. Play some Bach. You are your own Jaani Dushman. TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:23 Intro: Jaani Dushman02:41: Main Course: World Disorder!05:59 Framework 127:40 Framework 245:56 Framework 31:01:52 Infinite Game1:16:04 TIL (Trivia I Love)1:21:00 Recommendations Who has the best show notes in the world? We do. Who, who who? We, we, we! Check out the full show notes here!

Long years ago, India got Independence — but did we get freedom? How can this country be a better place for all its people? If we had to dream, what would our dreams be Welcome to episode 3 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan & Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, our hosts share their dreams for India. Each of them talks about four things they would like to see change. Amit elaborates on the importance of freedom, Pranay gets concrete with his policy suggestions, and Shruti illustrates with examples why political freedom & economic freedom must always go together, & one does not make sense without the other. Amitabh Bachchan is also discussed. Do you think that Pranay is a Laawaris, Amit is Mahaan & the Dostana of this trio is good Naseeb that has led to this Trishul of a show? You surely can’t deny that everyone in India deserves Roti, Kapda aur Makaan, which is what this episode is about! TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!0036 Intro03:29 Amit’s wishlist30:18 Pranay’s wishlist47:34 Shruti’s wishlist1:28:03 Infinite Game: Amitabh’s greatest hits1:54:49 Recommendations Our show notes among the best the human history. (We're being modest here; they're basically the best only.) So check out the full show notes on our YouTube page, where you can watch this podcast!

We live in a magical world, but we normalize the good stuff and aren’t grateful enough. And sure, the world still has much that is messed up, and we must fight for progress — but it’s good to take inspiration from the distance we have already travelled! Welcome to episode 2 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, our hosts share stories from their lives as well as data about the world to discuss the many ways in which our lives are better. They also acknowledge the distance left to travel, and because they are foolhardy, they even make projections into the future. Lol, peeps are gonna laugh at them 30 years from now, if not today only. Enjoy! :) TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!01:13 Intro03:02 Main Course: What a Wonderful World!1:34:16 Infinite Game: Actors Born Abroad For the full show notes in all their wholesome awesomeness, and to also SEE the charts and stuff our hosts talk about, click here.

Where are our women? As one paper shows, they’re not on the streets. As another paper shows, they don’t leave home. As a third paper shows, they’re not even in the colleges of their choice. What’s going on?Welcome to episode 1 of Watching the Wheels, hosted by Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane. In this episode, Shruti digs deep into three fantastic papers that reveal deep truths about the lives of women in India — and explains why we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Everything is multi-causal and complicated. Amit discusses pink shoes and the phenomenon of Simultaneous Sameness. Pranay shares how a dog bit him in central Bengaluru, and raises an ethical and policy question about street dogs. The 1983 Cricket World Cup is discussed. (Ballu zindabad!) And viewers from Kerala will love the chart of the week. :)And oh, btw, we released our pilot episode last week as episode 0. Watch it here:    • AI Can Help You. AI Can Hurt You | Episode...  TABLE OF CONTENTS00:00 Hype the Episode!00:27 Intro01:25 Main Course: Where Have All the Women Gone?43:19 TIL (Trivia I Love): Pink Shoes & Simultaneous Sameness55:18 In My Life: Dog Bites Pranay1:13:28 Infinite Game: The 1983 World Cup1:26:33 Chart of the Week: Kerala’s Schools1:31:53: Recommendations For the rest of our maginficent show notes, please visit our YouTube page!