Episodes

  • A Message for All Times

    A Message for All Times
    Dec 29 2025
    Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation). Four weeks ago, I shared an excerpt titled – ‘Making Accurate Predictions and Uncertainty’ from the blog-post titled ‘Can We Make More Accurate Predictions in Economics?’ by Ayubkhon Azamov writer, translator and educator with a background in economics.In this episode we drew attention to the point that our true strength lies not in flawlessly guessing tomorrow, but in building systems capable of withstanding whatever tomorrow brings. And getting to the truth of what lies ahead is approached neither with blind faith nor with total skepticism, but with a reasonable balance. Now, SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) to the ones paying heed, is where we try to draw your attention to things that matter and the importance of your attention, because, ‘Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to’. Attention: is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices. And that is our endavour. As we come to a close of another calendar year, I would like to share some excerpts from a message that I came across by Dr. Robert Svoboda. Dr. Svoboda is the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India. During and after his formal Ayurvedic training he was tutored in Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and other forms of classical Indian lore by his mentor, the Aghori Vimalananda. He is the author of over a dozen books and has served as Adjunct Faculty at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, NM, and at Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA. You can find out more about his work at www.drsvoboda.com and follow him on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. A Message for All times To remain awake without becoming overwhelmed, engaged without becoming entangled, serious without becoming grim. To keep our feet on the ground while the ground itself feels less stable. To remember that attention is a finite resource, and where we place it shapes not only how we see the world, but who we become inside it. Change that comes as a series of low-grade disruptions rather than a clear crisis can cause the nervous system to oscillate between two unhealthy responses. Disengage: Scroll past, numb out, pretend its background noise. Over-engage: Doomscroll, obsess, try to control it all. Both paths lead to burnout, neither brings true balance. Strange times test us both by what they demand we endure and how well we are able to maintain our balance within our endurance. The middle path is not passive. It is disciplined. It asks us to choose when to look, how to look, and how long to look. It asks us to stay present without being consumed, informed without being inflamed. Namaste, Wishing you A Happy New Year!
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    6 mins
  • Making Accurate Predictions and Uncertainty

    Making Accurate Predictions and Uncertainty
    Nov 30 2025
    Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation). Last week, I shared an excerpt titled – ‘Conversations and Community’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen, a distinguished university professor in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships. In this episode we drew attention to the fact that in conversation we form the interpersonal ties that bind individuals together in personal relationships; in public discourse, we form similar ties on a large scale, binding individuals into a community. Community norms and pressure exercise a restraint on the expression of hostility and destruction. Now, SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) to the ones paying heed, is where we try to draw your attention to things that matter and the importance of your attention, because, ‘Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to’. Attention: is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices. And that is our endavour. This week I bring to your attention an excerpt titled – ‘Making Accurate Predictions and Uncertainty’ from a blog-post titled ‘Can We Make More Accurate Predictions in Economics?’ Ayubkhon Azamov writer, translator and educator with a background in economics. In this post he points out that if we accept uncertainty as part of the game and combine forecasting with adaptability, critical thinking, and stress testing, then forecasting ceases to be about fortune-telling and instead becomes a tool for preparing for an uncertain future, with all its surprises. Making Accurate Predictions and Uncertainty From the first farmers who watched the skies for rain to modern analysts armed with complex macro models, humanity has always sought to glimpse the future. Yet, history has shown that even the smartest formulas can’t save us from errors, even though we’d like to think they can. Question the assumptions, look at the ranges, compare the sources, and always have an alternate plan. Then even the most imperfect forecasts will cease to be a source of frustration and will instead become a resource for resilient decision-making: whether in your personal budget, corporate strategy, or public policy. After all, our true strength lies not in flawlessly guessing tomorrow, but in building systems capable of withstanding whatever tomorrow brings. Getting to the truth of what lies ahead is approached neither with blind faith nor with total skepticism, but with a reasonable balance. Excerpt from ‘Can We Make More Accurate Predictions in Economics?’ Ayubkhon Azamov. I am sure that you will enjoy reading this post and find it thought provoking too; to read you can click on the following link: https://humanjourney.us/blog/can-we-make-more-accurate-predictions-in-economics Enjoy reading it with your family, friends and near and dear one’s. Namaste!
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    5 mins
  • Conversations and Community

    Conversations and Community
    Nov 9 2025
    Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation). Last week, I shared an excerpt titled – ‘The Power of Words – Rhetoric and Reality’ from the book titled ‘The Axemaker’s Gift’ – Technology’s capture and control of our minds and Culture by James Burke and Robert Ornstein. In this episode we drew attention to the fact about Rhetoric, the art of presenting an argument so as to convince the listener, this according to Plato could make “small things seem large and large things seem small by some power of language and new things seem old fashioned and vice versa.”. Another aspect that was highlighted in Georgias writing was, when we communicate, we never exchange the thing but only the word for it, which is always other than the thing itself. So, every word introduces falsification of the thing it refers to, and this means that one can never reproduce reality and that any claim to be able to do so is a deception. Now, SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) to the ones paying heed, is where we try to draw your attention to things that matter and the importance of your attention, because, ‘Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to’. Attention: is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices. And that is our endavour. This week I bring to your attention an excerpt titled – ‘Conversations and Community’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen, a distinguished university professor in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships. This book is about a pervasive warlike atmosphere that makes us approach public dialogue, and just about anything we need to accomplish, as if it were a fight. It gives us new ways of resolving our differences and uncovering the honest truth. Conversations and Community In conversation we form the interpersonal ties that bind individuals together in personal relationships; in public discourse, we form similar ties on a large scale, binding individuals into a community. Community norms and pressure exercise a restraint on the expression of hostility and destruction. Many cultures have rituals to channel and contain aggressive impulses. In just this spirit, at a national convention of a political party in 1996 two politicians talked about growing up in small communities where everyone knew who they were. This meant that many people would look out for them, but also that if they did something wrong, it would get back to their parents. If a young person stole something, committed vandalism, or broke a rule or law, it would be reported to his relatives, who would punish him or tell him how his actions were shaming the family. Community is a blend of connections and authority. Excerpt from ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen. I am sure that you will enjoy reading this book and find it thought provoking, to read a brief overview you can click on the following link and subsequently buy your copy too: https://www.deborahtannen.com/the-argument-culture Enjoy reading it with your family, friends and near and dear one’s. Namaste!
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    7 mins
  • The Power of Words – Rhetoric and Reality

    The Power of Words – Rhetoric and Reality
    Nov 2 2025
    Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation). Last week, I shared an excerpt titled – ‘The Power of Words – Do We Use Language or Is Language Using Us’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen. In this episode we drew attention to the fact that when we think we are using language, language is simultaneously using us and it invisibly molds our way of thinking. Now, SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) to the ones paying heed, is where we try to draw your attention to things that matter and the importance of your attention, because, ‘Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to’. Attention: is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices. And that is our endavour. This week I bring to your attention an excerpt titled – ‘The Power of Words – Rhetoric and Reality’ from the book titled ‘The Axemaker’s Gift’ – Technology’s capture and control of our minds and Culture by James Burke and Robert Ornstein. This book is about the people who gave us the world in exchange for our minds. The gifts we accepted from them gave us the power to change the way we lived, but doing so also changed the way we thought. It is a stunning account of how scientific thinking and technology have gained control over the way we perceive and value the world. The Power of Words – Rhetoric and Reality Georgias of Leontini, was born shortly before 480 B.C.E. in Leontini, in what is now Sicily. Georgias placed into the Greek theatre of ideas some of the fundamental issues in philosophy, with which we still grapple today. His subject matter has an unusually modern ring. One of the Sophists special skills was rhetoric, the art of presenting an argument so as to convince the listener. Georgias invented a lecturing style that involved conducting his lectures in the form of a debate. He would take first one side, then the other, and then give a supporting speech for either side, emphasizing the arbitrary, cut-and-combine nature of language. Plato complained that Georgias’ speeches could make “small things seem large and large things seem small by some power of language and new things seem old fashioned and vice versa.” But this emphasis that Georgias and the other Sophists placed on rhetoric was not just related to swaying political opinion. It came from a realization that the relationship between speech and “truth” is far from simple. Speech is not just a matter of presenting the facts, since considerable reorganization of the “facts” is involved in the way they are selected and sequenced. It was this difference between rhetoric and reality that lead Plato to contrast rhetoric with philosophy and to condemn it. Georgias held that when we communicate, we never exchange the thing but only the word for it, which is always other than the thing itself. So, every word introduces falsification of the thing it refers to, and this means that one can never reproduce reality and that any claim to be able to do so is a deception. But since this is exactly what all words claim, then all words are deceptions. If this is so, then the person who communicates best deceives most. While in the modern world this thought has a faintly political ring to it, the ancient Greeks lived in days before television. Excerpt from ‘The Axemaker’s Gift’ by James Burke and Robert Ornstein I am sure that you will enjoy reading this book; you can buy your copy from the following link: https://humanjourney.us/development/the-axemakers-gift-james-burke-robert-ornstein Enjoy reading it with your family, friends and near and dear one’s. Namaste!
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    7 mins
  • The Power of Words – Do We Use Language or Is Language Using Us

    The Power of Words – Do We Use Language or Is Language Using Us
    Oct 25 2025
    Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation). Last week, I shared an excerpt titled – ‘Do Arguments Resolve Anything’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen. In this episode we drew attention to the fact that when you’re having an argument with someone, you’re usually not trying to understand what the other person is saying, or what their experience leads them to say it. Now, SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) to the ones paying heed, is where we try to draw your attention to things that matter and the importance of your attention, because, ‘Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to’. Attention: is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices. And that is our endavour. This week I bring to your attention an excerpt titled – ‘The Power of Words – Do We Use Language or Is Language Using Us’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen, a distinguished university professor in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships. This book is about a pervasive warlike atmosphere that makes us approach public dialogue, and just about anything we need to accomplish, as if it were a fight. It gives us new ways of resolving our differences and uncovering the honest truth. The Power of Words – Do We Use Language or Is Language Using Us When we think we are using language, language is using us. As linguist Dwight Bolinger put it (employing a military metaphor), language is like a loaded gun: It can be fired intentionally, but it can wound or kill just as surely when fired accidentally. The terms in which we talk about something shapes the way we think about it and even what we see. The power of words to shape perception has been proven by researchers in controlled experiments. Psychologists Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer, for example, found that the terms in which people are asked to recall something affect what they recall. The researchers showed subjects a film of two cars colliding, then asked how fast the cars were going; one week later, they asked whether there had been any broken glass. Some subjects were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they bumped into each other?” Others were asked, “About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” Those who read the question with the verb “smashed” estimated that the cars were going faster. They were also more likely to “remember” having seen broken glass. (There wasn’t any.) This is how language works. It invisibly molds our way of thinking about people, actions, and the world around us. Military metaphors train us to think about-and see everything in terms of fighting, conflict, and war. This perspective then limits our imaginations when we consider what we can do about situations we would like to understand or change. Excerpt from ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen. I am sure that you will enjoy reading this book and find it thought provoking, to read brief overview you can click on the following link and subsequently buy your copy too: https://www.deborahtannen.com/the-argument-culture Enjoy reading it with your family, friends and near and dear one’s. Namaste!
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    6 mins
  • Do Arguments Resolve Anything

    Do Arguments Resolve Anything
    Oct 18 2025
    Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation). Last week, I shared an excerpt titled – ‘Culture of Argument’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen. In this episode we drew attention to the fact as to what argument culture urges us to do and that conflict can’t be avoided but surely can be resolved in constructive ways. Now, SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) to the ones paying heed, is where we try to draw your attention to things that matter and the importance of your attention, because, ‘Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to’. Attention: is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices. And that is our endavour. This week I bring to your attention an excerpt titled – ‘Do Arguments Resolve Anything’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen, a distinguished university professor in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships. This book is about a pervasive warlike atmosphere that makes us approach public dialogue, and just about anything we need to accomplish, as if it were a fight. It gives us new ways of resolving our differences and uncovering the honest truth. Do Arguments Resolve Anything With most arguments, little is resolved, worked out, or achieved when two people get angrier and less rational by the minute. When you’re having an argument with someone, you’re usually not trying to understand what the other person is saying, or what their experience leads them to say it. Instead, you’re readying your response: listening for weaknesses in logic to leap on, points you can distort to make the other person look bad and yourself look good. Excerpt from ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen. I am sure that you will enjoy reading this book thought provoking, to read brief overview you can click on the following link and subsequently buy your copy too: https://www.deborahtannen.com/the-argument-culture Enjoy reading it with your family, friends and near and dear one’s. Namaste!
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    5 mins
  • ALL ABOUT ME Series:“ME AND MY MEMORY; Why we Forget some things and Remember others: by Robert Guarino

    ALL ABOUT ME Series:“ME AND MY MEMORY; Why we Forget some things and Remember others: by Robert Guarino
    Sep 5 2020
    Namaste Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) Sunil Rao here: Today I will talk about one of the ALL ABOUT ME series, published by Hoopoe books a division of The […]
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    Less than 1 minute
  • Culture of Argument

    Culture of Argument
    Oct 12 2025
    Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation). Last week, I shared an excerpt titled – ‘Frame of Mind’ from the book titled ‘Think Again – The Power of Knowing What you don’t know’ by Adam Grant. In this episode we drew attention to the fact that being a scientist is not just a profession. It’s a frame of mind, a mode of thinking that differs from preaching, prosecuting, and politicking and like scientist, business executives while taking some important business decisions take their time so they have the flexibility to change their minds. Now, SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) to the ones paying heed, is where we try to draw your attention to things that matter and the importance of your attention, because, ‘Our life’s experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to’. Attention: is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. Once our attention is drawn to the mechanism of why and what we give attention to, it is as if a veil has been stripped off and we become freer in our action and choices. And that is our endavour. This week I bring to your attention an excerpt titled – ‘Culture of Argument’ from the book titled ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen, a distinguished university professor in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships. This book is about a pervasive warlike atmosphere that makes us approach public dialogue, and just about anything we need to accomplish, as if it were a fight. It gives us new ways of resolving our differences and uncovering the honest truth. Culture of Argument The argument culture urges us to approach the world and the people in it, in an adversarial frame of mind. It rests on the assumption that opposition is the best way to get anything done: The best way to discuss an idea is to set up a debate; the best way to cover news is to find spokespeople who express the most extreme, polarized views and present them as “both sides”; the best way to settle disputes is litigation that pits one party against the other; the best way to begin an essay is to attack someone; and the best way to show you’re really thinking is to criticize. Our public interactions have become more and more like having an argument with a spouse. Conflict can’t be avoided in our public lives any more than we can avoid conflict with people we love. One of the great strengths of our society is that we can express these conflicts openly. But just as spouses have to learn ways of settling their differences without inflicting real damage on each other, so we, as a society, have to find constructive ways of resolving disputes and differences. Public discourse requires making an argument for a point of view, not having an argument as in having a fight. Excerpt from ‘The Argument Culture’ by Deborah Tannen. I am sure that you will enjoy reading this book thought provoking, to read brief overview you can click on the following link and subsequently buy your copy too: https://www.deborahtannen.com/the-argument-culture Enjoy reading it with your family, friends and near and dear one’s. Namaste!
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    5 mins