The most complex part of human nature is our sexuality. What do we want? What do we lust for? Where did these instincts and feelings arise? WTF even?

Welcome to Episode 126 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit looks at the cutting-edge literature on the What and Why of human sexuality, using insights from evolution — and the revealed preferences of all of us. In other words, this episode is about YOU.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Life Lessons in Goa05:48 Life Lessons Montage06:28 Chapter 1: The What and Why of Human Sexuality14:01 Chapter 2: Why Does This Matter?20:00 Chapter 3: A Few Caveats27:21 Chapter 4: Some Broad Learnings33:13 Chapter 5: One Headline Finding34:43 Chapter 6: Men Prefer Visual Cues46:19 Chapter 7: Women Like Stories52:18 Chapter 8: Psychological Arousal vs Physical Arousal56:50 Chapter 9: Romance is the Porn for Women1:06:22 Chapter 10: Some Interesting Observations

For full show notes, please click here!

Know thyself, goes an Ancient Greek exhortation. And yet, too many of us have little understand of how we are hardwired. To truly know ourselves, we must understand the processes of evolution: natural selection and sexual selection.

Welcome to Episode 125 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay explain why understanding natural selection changed the way they look at the world.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Know Thyself05:13 Chapter 1: Some Starting Points35:07 Chapter 2: The Mechanics of Evolution43:36 Chapter 3: Epigenetics49:49 Chapter 4: Some Examples1:08:19 Chapter 5: Evolutionary Timescales1:14:15 Chapter 6: The Brain is a Part of the Body1:18:09 Chapter 7: Closing Thoughts

For complete show notes, please click here.

Gig work gets a bad rap. Critics claim that workers are exploited, algorithmic bosses are creepy, it’s capitalism gone bad.

But actually, Gig Work = Freedom + Empowerment.

Welcome to Episode 124 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay tackle the arguments against gig work — and lay out the economic, ethical and social reasons for why it is so amazing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Bourbon Company01:19 Chapter 1: Defining Gig Work13:28 Chapter 2: Steelmanning the Anti-Gig-Work Position29:13 Chapter 3: Why Gig Work is Awesome!41:05 Chapter 4: Gig Work in India47:57 Chapter 5: Gig Work is the Urban NREGS

For full show notes, please click here!

There are people who argue that real reforms can only happen in a crisis. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste, they say.

They are wrong.

Welcome to Episode 123 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay explains how crises, most of the time, lead to terrible outcomes. Chaos is a ladder. And to actually do reforms during a crisis, you need not just the circumstance but also a scaffolding of factors in policy and politics and culture that need to be in place already.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: Is a Crisis a Good Thing?01:21 Chapter 1: Steelmanning the Position07:44 Chapter 2: The Prerequisites18:54 Chapter 3: Chaos is a Ladder29:03 Chapter 4: Weak States and Crises35:11 Chapter 5: Progress Comes From Incrementalism40:24 Chapter 6: The Lessons to Learn

The term ‘nationalism’ sounds so benign, almost as if it refers to something that is good for a nation. But it is a deeply toxic concept that tears societies apart.

Welcome to Episode 122 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit argues that nationalism is always bad for the nation, and we should think deeply before we are seduced by its charms.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: One of the biggest questions of our times04:32 Chapter 1: What is Nationalism?16:11 Chapter 2: How Nationalism Spread31:25 Chapter 3: The Good and the Bad of Nationalism46:06 Chapter 4: Nationalism Gone Wrong54:41 Chapter 5: India’s Journey With Nationalism1:07:44 Chapter 6: Tagore on Nationalism1:09:59 Chapter 7: How Nationalism Invades Our Everyday Lives1:22:42 Chapter 8: Closing Thoughts

For full show notes, please click here!

The GST was conceptually superb, utterly necessary — and implemented poorly. There are still so many problems with it that it defeats the purpose. How do we think clearly about its problems? How do we fix it?

Welcome to Episode 121 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay, one of the authors of the original paper of 2004 that proposed a GST in India, talks about what the GST is meant to do, why it fails in its current design and what we can do to make it better.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Edge-of-the-Seat Excitement01:59 Chapter 1: It All Comes Down to Economic Growth09:08 Chapter 2: The Disaster of Cascading Taxes18:59 Chapter 3: How the World Solved This With VAT28:13 Chapter 4: How to Get the VAT Right31:59 Chapter 5: The Indian Journey to a Flawed GST48:23 Chapter 6: The Fix

For full show notes, please click here!

Everyone wants to read more — but how do we do it? As lifelong readers, our hosts get asked this all the time, and decided to do an exhaustive primer with three parts.

1. Why should we read?

2. How do we build a reading habit?

3. How should we actually read a book?

Welcome to Episode 120 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit does his best to answer the three questions above — but please don’t stop watching this show if you do end up reading more!

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Hood and the Hoodie04:01 Chapter 1: Why You Should Read Books33:31 Chapter 2: How to Build a Reading Habit50:03 Chapter 3: How to Read a Book1:06:40 Chapter 4: Closing Thoughts1:20:23 Chapter 5: How Amit Takes Notes on a Book

For full show notes, please click here!

Financial crises are an unavoidable part of modern economies — and all of us have skin in the game. Why do they happen, how do they unfold, what can we do?

Welcome to Episode 119 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay shares his learnings from a lifetime of studying and tackling financial crises — and Amit voices his strong dissent at the end.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00 Packaging00:13 Intro: The Fate of the World is on the Line08:35 Chapter 1: Let’s Start With History36:43 Chapter 2: But Should the State Intervene?50:21 Chapter 3: Types of Financial Crises1:12:50 Chapter 4: Why Crises Happen1:22:26 Chapter 5: What Can We Do?1:32:48 Chapter 6: Tackling the Extreme Positions1:41:19 Chapter 7: Amit Attacks the Conventional View

For the full show notes, please click here!