Poverty, psychology and pseudoscience
From the abstract of 'Why Do People Stay Poor? Evidence on Poverty Traps from Rural Bangladesh', November 24, 2020: There are two broad views as to why people stay poor. One emphasizes differ…
astrology
6 posts
"Enough science."
Edit, 6.04 pm, December 15, 2020: A reader pointed out to me that The Guardian may in fact have been joking, and it has been known to be flippant on occasion. If this is really the case, I pronounce m…
Trouble at the doorstep
When an alumnus of the IISc wanted to organise an astrology workshop at the institute's premises in 2017, students and various members of its teaching faculty rose in protest and wrote to the dire…
Friends no more
Growing up, watching Friends was a source of much amusement and happiness. Now, as a grownup, I can't watch a single episode without deeply resenting how the show caricatures all science as avoida…
That astrology workshop at the IISc
Couple caveats: 1. I wrote this post on the night of October 28, before the workshop was cancelled on the morning of October 29. I haven't bothered to change the tense because issuing this cavea…
If Rajinikanth regrets some of the roles he played, and other questions
In most of Tamil cinema, "men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at."…