Today my guest is Samanth Subramanian, who is a journalist and writer and the author of the recent books The Web Beneath the Waves and A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J. B. S. Haldane.

We talked about under water sea cables and choke points in critical global infrastructure, the intersection of technology and geopolitics, large language models, JBS Haldane and the relationship between science and politics, and much more.

Recorded March 25th, 2026.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:02:35) - Vulnerability and Resilience: Grappling with the Fragility of Undersea Connections
(00:03:48) - Underwater Sea Cables
(00:10:48) - How America's Big Tech Companies Dominate Bandwidth
(00:14:37) - Concentration of Infrastructure
(00:20:27) - The 2Africa Cable and Countries Without Leverage
(00:27:17) - Geopolitical Vulnerabilities
(00:34:51) - Indian Resilience
(00:39:27) - Choke Points in the Global AI Economy
(00:44:05) - The Challenges of Decommissioning Nuclear Plants
(00:49:45) - On the Frontiers and Ethics of AI Technology
(00:56:37) - Haldane's Legacy and Science in the Public Square
(01:06:34) - Optimism and Pessimism About the Future of Science
(01:12:59) - Outro

Today my guests are Arvind Subramanian and Devesh Kapur. Arvind is a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. Devesh is the Starr Foundation Professor of South Asian Studies and Director of the Asia Programs at the Johns Hopkins. They are co-authors of the recent book, A Sixth of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey.

We talked about India's redistributive democracy, why Indian states have taken such different development paths, India's socialism and consequent scarcity, manufacturing challenges, and much more.

Recorded February 13th, 2026.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:01:18) - A Sixth of Humanity
(00:06:51) - The Effect of Education on State Development
(00:13:39) - Redistributive Democracy in India
(00:21:54) - One Democracy, Multiple Outcomes at the State Level
(00:36:52) - Tamil Nadu
(00:38:01) - The Collapse of Punjab
(00:42:12) - Shades of Socialism in India
(01:08:00) - Upside-Down State
(01:26:36) - Manufacturing
(01:46:23) - Outro

Today my guest is Dr. V Anantha Nageswaran, who is currently serving as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. He is also the co-author of the books Economics of Derivatives and The Rise of Finance: Causes, Consequences and Cures.

We talked about import substitution and strategic resilience, futures and options market, gross fixed capital formation, crypto markets, India's growth trajectory, and much more.

Recorded March 12th, 2026.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:02:38) - Import Substitution as a Policy
(00:11:19) - Indian States' Spending Problem
(00:18:16) - Capital Formation
(00:25:47) - Increasing Financialization
(00:30:21) - Options and Futures Markets in India
(00:34:15) - Securities Transactions Tax (STT)
(00:40:27) - Curbing Crypto
(00:46:01) - How Should We Approach Policy Regulation?
(00:51:04) - Deregulation
(00:53:41) - Digital Public Infrastructure
(00:56:28) - India's Growth Trajectory