On Second Thought with Komal Mirani

Komal Mirani

“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.” Everywhere you look, fragments of the future are already visible—not just in AI that generates and robots that operate, but in the ways we learn, build, express, and connect. In classrooms reshaped by screens. In architecture that adapts to climate. In culture that’s remixed in real time. In tools designed to make the world more accessible, more human. These shifts aren’t universal yet, but they’re out there. And if we pay attention to the edges, we can start to understand what’s coming next. I’m Komal Mirani, and that’s what On Second Thought is about—your window into the ideas and innovations reshaping our world. Through conversations with the people imagining, building, and questioning what’s next, this podcast makes the future feel a little more tangible; something you can understand, participate in, and help shape.

  1. 6d ago

    Akanksha Deo Sharma on Designing Beyond the Algorithm

    In this episode of On Second Thought, we're joined by Akanksha Deo Sharma, an Indian industrial designer, textile innovator and visual artist, and the first Indian designer to join Swedish furniture giant IKEA. With a practice rooted in Indian textile history, traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design, Akanksha brings a unique perspective to how we create objects, spaces and experiences that become part of our everyday lives. We explore what it means to develop a distinct creative point of view in an increasingly algorithm-driven world, how culture and craft inform contemporary design, and why good design is as much about understanding people as it is about creating beautiful objects. Here's what we cover: Finding your way into design: Akanksha's early influences, her journey from India to IKEA, and the experiences that have shaped her creative practice and philosophy.Developing taste and creative intuition: Where inspiration comes from, how we develop our own visual language, and the role of curiosity, experimentation and personal references in building a distinct point of view.The art of Democratic Design: Unpacking IKEA's design philosophy and how affordability, functionality, quality, sustainability and form come together to create products for the many.Designing for everyday life: How IKEA identifies everyday challenges at home and translates them into meaningful solutions, and what makes an object useful, beautiful and emotionally relevant.What makes good design timeless: Why certain objects remain relevant across generations, how designers balance trends with longevity, and what it means to create products that outlive changing tastes.Culture, craft and Indian design: How India's textile traditions, craftsmanship and cultural nuances influence Akanksha's work, and what the global design industry can learn from Indian approaches to making.Designing beyond the algorithm: The relationship between originality, inspiration and technology, how algorithms influence contemporary taste, and what it takes to develop a creative perspective that feels genuinely your own.AI and the future of creativity: How emerging technologies are changing the creative process, what happens to craftsmanship and materiality in an increasingly digital world, and which human skills might become more valuable.What's happening in design right now: The designers, studios and cultural movements pushing the field forward, emerging ideas worth paying attention to, and what feels overdone.IKEA IKONIC and making space for what you love: Exploring IKEA's celebration of creativity and self-expression, and how our homes can better reflect the people we are and the things we care about.Curiosity beyond work: Akanksha's current obsessions, creative interests, personal rituals and the ideas she's excited to explore next.At its heart, this is a conversation about how we design for people, preserve cultural intelligence, and hold on to creative individuality in a world increasingly shaped by technology. Learn more about Akanksha and her work: InstagramLinkedInIKEA Museum: Akanksha Deo

    Akanksha Deo Sharma on Designing Beyond the Algorithm

  2. Oct 1

    Siddhi Ashar on Collective Intelligence for an Uncertain World

    Very excited to announce the next guest on On Second Thought: Siddhi Ashar. Siddhi Ashar is the Programme Co-Lead for RiskSense at Dark Matter Labs. Her practice sits at the intersection of participatory foresight, systems change and civic governance. Over the last five years, she has designed multi-stakeholder collaborations, wargames, futures labs and scenario processes across food systems, climate adaptation, women’s leadership and civil society, working with governments, philanthropies, businesses and grassroots organisations across South Asia, Europe and the US. In this conversation, we get into: What futures practice actually looks like, beyond prediction and trend forecastingWhy imagination can be a tool for systems changeHow power, ownership and governance shape the futures we are able to imagineWhat food systems can teach us about resilience, climate and collective agencyHow games, wargames and immersive scenarios help people navigate uncertainty and competing interestsWhat it means to build anticipatory capacity before crises occurRiskSense and the idea of citizens as a source of risk intelligenceHow everyday, local knowledge can become part of civic infrastructureWhy collective intelligence may be less about finding the right answer and more about our ability to sense, deliberate and act togetherWhat Siddhi has learned from working across cities, climate systems, philanthropy and communities about building resilience from the ground upA conversation about imagination, participation, power and building collective intelligence for an uncertain world. More from Siddhi’s work: RiskSense: https://risk.darkmatterlabs.org/ Mumbai Risk Clinic: https://risk.darkmatterlabs.org/mumbai-risk-clinic Berlin Heat Risk Clinic: https://risk.darkmatterlabs.org/berlin-heat-risk-clinic Changing Currents: https://www.forumforthefuture.org/blog/changing-currents-exploring-energy-system-transformation-through-immersive-futures

    Siddhi Ashar on Collective Intelligence for an Uncertain World

  3. Sep 2

    Rhydhi Gupta on AI, Online Safety and Making Policy More Participatory

    Rhydhi Gupta is a lawyer, Senior Analyst of Public Policy at The Quantum Hub, where she works across its technology portfolio, and the creator of Sansad Games, an experiment in making public policy more accessible through play. In this episode of On Second Thought, I sit down with Rhydhi to understand how public policy shapes our relationship with technology, often in ways we don’t even realise. It determines what platforms can and cannot do, how our data is treated, what protections we have when we are harmed online and, increasingly, how we respond to a world where AI can generate and manipulate content at unprecedented scale. We get into India’s evolving internet safety landscape and the new questions AI introduces around privacy, identity and consent. What does consent mean when someone can recreate your face, voice or likeness without you knowing? Who is responsible for protecting people online? And how do we create rules for technologies that are evolving faster than our understanding of them? Rhydhi shares the thinking behind the likeness-detection tool she is building and why she believes people should have the ability to know where and how their identity is being used online. We also talk about why conversations around emerging technology need to include different generations and lived experiences, rather than remaining confined to technologists and policymakers. A large part of our conversation is also about making policy itself more accessible. Rhydhi explains why policymaking can feel impenetrable to the very people it affects, what it would take to make it more participatory, and why public imagination matters when we are deciding what technology should and shouldn’t become. We also get into Rhydhi’s own journey as a non-technical builder and the story behind Sansad Games, her experiment in turning Parliament and public policy into something people can understand through play. We talk about games as a tool for participation, and what happens when we bring more imagination, experimentation and creativity into institutions that have traditionally felt difficult to enter. And, as always, we get into the person behind the work: what has shaped Rhydhi’s worldview, what energises her and what keeps her curious. This is a conversation about AI, internet safety, public imagination and ultimately, how we can have a greater say in shaping the systems that increasingly shape us.

    Rhydhi Gupta on AI, Online Safety and Making Policy More Participatory

  4. Jun 4

    Mahesh Lambe On Planetary Intelligence and Building the Internet of AI Agents | Chief Scientist, Project Nanda

    In this episode, we explore collective intelligence, personal agents, and the Internet of AI Agents with Mahesh Lambe, one of the minds behind Project Nanda. For the last two decades, the internet connected information. What if the next phase connects intelligence itself? We discuss why coordination may be one of the defining challenges of the coming decade, the infrastructure required to enable intelligent agents to collaborate, and why AI may ultimately become an invisible layer woven into everyday life. Some key points covered: • Why collective intelligence matters more than individual intelligence • Personal agents and the rise of AI-native interfaces • The Internet of AI Agents and the Agentic Web • Decentralization, trust, identity, and discovery • Solving the coordination problem at scale • Why AI may become an invisible infrastructure layer • Kumbhdoot and using AI to coordinate the world's largest gathering • What the next internet could look like when intelligence is networked • The future of human-AI collaboration and collective problem-solving If you've been curious about where AI is headed beyond chatbots and productivity tools, this episode offers a glimpse into a future where intelligence becomes networked, collaborative, and woven into the fabric of everyday life. About Mahesh Lambe Mahesh Lambe is a technologist, researcher, and systems thinker working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, distributed systems, and digital public infrastructure. His work focuses on how intelligent systems coordinate, collaborate, and create value at planetary scale. About Project Nanda Project Nanda is an open, community-driven initiative exploring the foundations of an Internet of AI Agents. Inspired by the protocols that enabled the modern web, it seeks to build the trust, identity, discovery, and coordination layers required for intelligent agents to interact safely and effectively across organizations, geographies, and ecosystems. Its long-term vision is to enable collective intelligence at scale through open, decentralized infrastructure.

    Mahesh Lambe On Planetary Intelligence and Building the Internet of AI Agents | Chief Scientist, Project Nanda

  5. Apr 22

    Pratyush Pillai On Irrationality, Nuance, and Behavioural Design | TinkerLabs

    We like to believe we’re rational. That we think, then act. But most of the time, behaviour is shaped elsewhere by habit, perception, context, and a special kind of chaos. In this episode, I’m in conversation with Pratyush Pillai, Head of Behavioural Design at TinkerLabs. We explore what it really means to design for people as they are not as we assume them to be. From irrational decisions to the gap between knowing and doing, this is a deep dive into how behaviour actually works in the real world. Along the way, we cover his personal journey into behavioural design, the thinking behind TinkerLabs and what makes the practice unique, how innovation often comes from the most unexpected places, and the nuances of behaviour in the Indian context from stereotypes to social cues. There are second thoughts, contradictions, and a lot to take away on the other side of this one. Tune in!

    Pratyush Pillai On Irrationality, Nuance, and Behavioural Design | TinkerLabs

  6. Mar 5

    Yash Pradhan on Designing Your Own Genre

    Yash Pradhan is a self-taught illustrator and designer whose creative education happened online. A 90s baby shaped by internet culture, he began his career as an accountant before turning his obsession with design into a full-time practice. What started as small experiments shared online became commissioned work for brands like Coach, Real Madrid, Meta, Kingfisher and lots more!. In this conversation, we unpack: what it means to build taste in publichow digital curiosity becomes a competitive edgewhy understanding IP, ownership, and pricing is non-negotiable for creators today genre-buildingnostalgia as aesthetic strategywhy the best work often comes from designing for yourself firstMore than anything, this is a conversation about playing the long game: making the work, owning it, and not taking the process so seriously that you stop enjoying it. Follow Yash below: Website, Instagram

    Yash Pradhan on Designing Your Own Genre

  7. 12/18/2025

    Talented’s PG Aditiya on Where Advertising Still Feels Alive

    PG Aditiya is the Co-Founder and CCO of Talented, one of India’s sharpest and most awarded creative agencies, built on the belief that great work begins with great people. Titles, however, only partly describe his role. His thinking extends well beyond the mechanics of advertising, shaped by a deep reverence for craft, an archival curiosity for its history, and a visible pride in the people behind the work. In this episode of On Second Thought, he reflects on the changing agency model, the thinking behind Talented’s internal handbook, and why talent density - rather than scale has become the organising principle of the company. Drawing on family lore, objects of close affection, and years spent in the business of advertising, he speaks candidly about creative ambition, and how Talented responded to a long-standing need in the market. He also considers the history of advertising and its influence on modern culture, alongside his own journey as a founder. The conversation also covers culture and attention, touching on matcha raves, soft clubbing, and the fragmentation of media and meaning online. Taken together, it is a portrait of a creative leader thinking carefully about what endures and where advertising still feels alive. About Talented: Talented is on a mission to be the greatest creative company in the world. It is an independent creative agency founded in 2022 in Bangalore by Gautam Reghunath and PG Aditiya. The firm has quickly built a reputation for thoughtful, nuanced work for both legacy and modern brands, and has been recognised on the global stage: Talented has won multiple Cannes Lions, including a Silver Lion for its Avani’s Gold campaign for Britannia Marie Gold at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, among other metals for work across media and storytelling.

    Talented’s PG Aditiya on Where Advertising Still Feels Alive

  8. 10/24/2025

    Malini Malik On Curation, Craft, and Taste | Co-Founder, General Items • Founder, Come Away

    What does it mean to live a life guided by curiosity, taste, and intuition? In this episode, I sat down with Malini Malik, co-founder of General Items in Bangalore and founder of Come Away, to explore a life shaped by art, travel, and trust in the process. Growing up as an army kid, Malini’s world was defined by movement: each new place leaving behind textures, colors, and memories that quietly built her aesthetic sensibility. With a background in art history and textile design, she began her career at Chumbak, working at the intersection of design and sourcing before finding her own voice as a curator and cultural entrepreneur. The conversation traces her leap into entrepreneurship with General Items—a design-led store that celebrates the beauty of everyday objects and the emotional resonance of craft. Malini reflects on building something rooted in thoughtfulness and joy, the art of curation, and the confidence that comes from trusting the universe to guide your path. It’s a story about taking the plunge, noticing deeply, and living a life rich in experience and meaning.

    Malini Malik On Curation, Craft, and Taste | Co-Founder, General Items • Founder, Come Away
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About

“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.” Everywhere you look, fragments of the future are already visible—not just in AI that generates and robots that operate, but in the ways we learn, build, express, and connect. In classrooms reshaped by screens. In architecture that adapts to climate. In culture that’s remixed in real time. In tools designed to make the world more accessible, more human. These shifts aren’t universal yet, but they’re out there. And if we pay attention to the edges, we can start to understand what’s coming next. I’m Komal Mirani, and that’s what On Second Thought is about—your window into the ideas and innovations reshaping our world. Through conversations with the people imagining, building, and questioning what’s next, this podcast makes the future feel a little more tangible; something you can understand, participate in, and help shape.

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