Decoded Podcast

Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar

Decoded is an award-winning podcast by Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar exploring technology, economics, artificial intelligence, the startup space, finance, and philosophy. Recognized by Spotify Wrapped for Creators with the 2025 Marathon Show, Instant Hit Show, and Most Shared Show distinctions, Decoded brings together influential voices shaping the future. Each episode features founders, researchers, investors, policymakers, and industry leaders discussing global markets, emerging technologies, economic trends, and the ideas defining our world through thoughtful, engaging conversations.

Episodes

  1. 5d ago

    Sundar Sarukkai and Akshat Bhaskar on Philosophy for Children, Technology, and What It Means to Be Human

    In this episode of Decoded, Akshat Bhaskar sits down with Professor Sundar Sarukkai, philosopher and author of Homo Philosophicus, Philosophy for Children, and The Cracked Mirror, who studied physics at St. Joseph’s College Bangalore and IIT Madras before completing a Ph.D. in particle physics at Purdue University. Sundar explains why his move from physics to philosophy was never a change of discipline. It was the same curiosity about how humans think and produce knowledge, pursued with different tools. He tells us about the barefoot philosophers project, which brings philosophy to children in rural India in Kannada and Tamil, including a Tamil Nadu classroom where a student compared atoms to God, and a classmate answered with a local possession ritual. We then get into technology. Sundar argues that AI and personalized digital media push hyper-individualism, wear down what Ambedkar called fraternity, and are built around control, speed, and efficiency because of who designed them. We also talk about why lived experience belongs in social theory, how traditions like the Bhakti movement and protest songs carried philosophy into everyday life, and why paying attention to language is one of the most practical ways to reduce misunderstanding. The conversation moves from particle physics labs at Purdue to village schools in Tamil Nadu, and ends on what he sees as the defining challenge of the next two decades: keeping human sociality intact. Thank you to Deepanshu, Agrima, Anubhav, Aly Muhhamad and Aarav for their help with research, outreach, and questions for this episode, and Nischay for help with Audio Production. clarity before consensus.

  2. Sep 29

    Cary Krosinsky on Whether the Financial System Can Fix Itself | Decoded x HERizon

    This is part two of our Decoded x HERizon event: a conversation and live student Q&A with Professor Cary Krosinsky, hosted by Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar. Cary teaches at Yale, Brown, and NYU Stern, co-founded the Carbon Tracker Initiative, and has written eight books on sustainable finance. He opens with his framework of the seven tribes of sustainable finance to tackle the core question of the conversation: can the financial system actually correct itself. He argues that moral divestment has largely failed while strategies pairing real returns with real impact have worked, and points to asset owners like the New York State Common Retirement Fund and Temasek as models for how billions actually get moved. The conversation ranges from rethinking GDP to account for human and environmental costs, to why western cooperation with China on climate is unavoidable, to India's own distinct path forward. He and Amaira also dig into the energy footprint of AI and what it might take to offset the jobs it displaces. He closes with his five levers of change, corporations, investment, innovation, policy, and people, and practical career advice for students headed into climate, tech, and finance. Recorded live in partnership with HERizon. Part one, our associate team's session on ESG and decarbonisation, is up as a separate episode.

  3. Sep 29

    Decoded x HERizon: Sustainable Finance, ESG & Decarbonisation

    This episode opens our Decoded x HERizon event, recorded live with our associate team teaching before we sat down with Cary Krosinsky. Vidyanshi breaks down ESG as a risk-assessment lens rather than a strategy, using Apple as a case study and digging into why ratings from agencies like MSCI and Sustainalytics rarely agree. She also covers the late 2025 backlash against sustainable funds and the rise of green hushing, where companies keep doing climate work while dropping the ESG language around it. Aly Muhammad Dadwani follows with a look at global climate finance. Roughly two trillion dollars flowed into clean energy last year, almost double oil, gas, and coal combined, driven mainly by falling costs rather than policy. He also gets into the regulatory retreat happening on both sides of the Atlantic, from American banks walking away from climate pledges to the EU exempting most companies from detailed reporting. Akshara closes it out with decarbonisation in practice, electrification, the shift to solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear, and why financial capital ultimately decides which technologies scale. She ties it back to Cary Krosinsky's book Transition Momentum, setting up the conversation in part two. Recorded live at our event in partnership with HERizon.

  4. Sep 11

    Prof. Sandeep Juneja: IIT, Stanford, COVID Modeling, and AI in Math

    In this episode of Decoded, Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar sit down with Professor Sandeep Juneja, Professor of Computer Science at Ashoka University and Director of the Safexpress Centre for Data, Learning and Decision Sciences, previously Senior Professor and Dean at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. Sandeep walks us through his journey from a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering at IIT Delhi to a Ph.D. in Operations Research at Stanford, and how that early grounding in applied probability shaped a career spent modeling uncertainty across finance, epidemiology, and climate. We go deep on his time at TIFR Mumbai during COVID, when his epidemiological models were used to track and predict the spread of the virus through one of the world's most densely populated cities. The conversation then turns to the present: what the recent wave of AI progress actually changes, where the hype outruns the substance, and the specific case of AI being used to attack the Navier-Stokes equations, one of the longest-standing unsolved problems in mathematics. A conversation that moves from IIT lecture halls to Stanford seminar rooms to the streets of Mumbai during a pandemic, and lands on the open question of what AI can and cannot yet do. Thank you to Anubhav Bhattacharjee, Vidyanshi Mittal, Akshara Durugkar, Soujanya Banik, and Mohammad Arif Abdullah for their help with research, outreach, and questions for this episode. clarity before consensus.

  5. Sep 1

    The Mathematics of Everything: M. Ram Murty on Numbers, Mind, and Meaning

    In this episode of Decoded, Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar sit down with Professor M. Ram Murty, holder of the Queen's Research Chair in Mathematics at Queen's University and one of the most respected names in number theory. Ram Murty walks us through a career spent studying the distribution of prime numbers, the deep and unexplained connection between mathematics and physical reality, and why he believes numbers might be the closest thing we have to a universal language. He talks about growing up on Star Trek, the lecture at MIT that pulled him toward philosophy, and why he still sets aside three hours a day just to think. We also get into artificial intelligence. Ram Murty has used it to help disprove conjectures, but he is direct about its limits and concerned about what constant digital distraction is doing to how students learn. The conversation moves between primes and the Gita, MIT lecture halls and Vedanta, without ever losing the thread. clarity before consensus.

  6. 06/10/2025

    From Wall Street to Startups: The Journey of Shiv Mohan Dutt

    In this special episode of Decoded, Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar explores the startup space with the incredibly accomplished Shiv Mohan Dutt : Princeton Math '11, Wall Street veteran, serial tech entrepreneur, and former Head Boy of Vasant Valley School (2007). They dive deep into Shiv's journey from the trading floors of Goldman Sachs to launching startups across the U.S. and India. From burning out in finance to building platforms like MeaVana and Yap Media, Shiv shares the real highs and lows of entrepreneurship. The conversation explores his journey from studying at Princeton and working on Wall Street to leaving high finance in pursuit of building something more meaningful. It dives into the realities of launching a startup, including the challenges that founders rarely talk about, and examines how the technology landscape is evolving across India and the West. The discussion also covers practical investing advice for Gen Z, a bold prediction for the future, and reflections on career, money, and making thoughtful life decisions. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to leave a high-paying job to chase a dream, or just want a no-BS view into India’s booming tech world, this episode is for you.

  7. 02/26/2025

    Global Strategies & Financial Frontiers with Soumitra Mookherjee

    In this episode of Decoded, Amaira Akbar and Akshat Bhaskar explore international marketing, financial planning, and global trade with Soumitra Mookherjee (Cambridge, UCL, and Professor @ ISBF), an industry veteran with deep expertise in strategy and economics. We discuss pivotal moments where marketing strategies had to be restructured due to cultural and regulatory challenges, the balance between global brand consistency and local adaptation, and the role of digital platforms in reshaping traditional marketing. On the financial front, we dive into critical investment decisions, market forecasting, and ESG integration, uncovering how mutual funds, sector analysis, and debt evaluations influence financial strategies. We also tackle export-import complexities, the impact of free trade agreements, and how AI and blockchain are transforming global trade efficiency. Through personal reflections, Soumitra shares insights into career-defining decisions, global economic trends, and lessons learned from decades in business. Join us for a conversation packed with real-world experiences, strategic insights, and financial wisdom, offering valuable takeaways for professionals navigating international markets.

  • 7 Episodes

About

Decoded is an award-winning podcast by Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar exploring technology, economics, artificial intelligence, the startup space, finance, and philosophy. Recognized by Spotify Wrapped for Creators with the 2025 Marathon Show, Instant Hit Show, and Most Shared Show distinctions, Decoded brings together influential voices shaping the future. Each episode features founders, researchers, investors, policymakers, and industry leaders discussing global markets, emerging technologies, economic trends, and the ideas defining our world through thoughtful, engaging conversations.

Information

  • Creator
    Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    7
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Akshat Bhaskar and Amaira Akbar
  • Show Website
    Decoded Podcast