Badri Sunderarajan

Badri lives on a farm in rural Tamilnadu, India. He prefers low tech to high, but still programs when he's not writing letters. Reading is his default state of being (often with a cat on his back).

Octopus Dreams

Unless they tell us, how can we know what someone else feels—or if they feel anything at all?

Purely out of Language

Purely out of Language

Language can influence the way you think. But do robots think?

In the Style Of

In the Style Of

AI is copying the work of artists. But when the artists run out, who will it copy from?

Amusing the Patient

Amusing the Patient

Rewilding could restore ecosystems to their natural state—but is there such a thing as "natural"?

Developing Story

Developing Story

On the Origin of Stories by means of Cultural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Tales in the Struggle for Retelling.

Reverse Engineering

Reverse Engineering

We combine ingredients to get the final product. Now, food scientists are doing it backwards.

Browser Wars

Or, why government offices have multiple ancient computers, each running a different version of Internet Explorer.

Ocean Genes

We’ve been living on land for thousands of years, but we never completely left the ocean.

Forever Young

From Greek mythology to Turritopsis jellyfish: an investigation into immortality.

The Last Sorcerer

The Last Sorcerer

Newton was an alchemist. Mary Poppins may have been a witch. What are scientists today?

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music

How can water make such musical sounds? And, how does anything make sound at all?

Born from Rock

Ordovician life, the importance of dirt, and tips for being a lazy gardener

Square Mountains

Square Mountains

From backyards to backstreets, evolution marches on.

Endangered Elements

Endangered Elements

The world, and your phone, is dependent on chemicals. What happens when they run out?

Machine Training

Artificial Intelligence

Machine Training

Are AI trained with computers and data? Yes — but first, you need a human.

Operational Definition

Operational Definition

How to measure the immeasurable — and why it can sometimes go wrong.

How To Train Your Keyboard

How To Train Your Keyboard

How your next word is predicted — and how you can make it more accurate.

The Nature of the Profile

Do users have a ‘body’ that exists independently from the online profile?

Two Years of Snipette

An update from the Snipette editors.

Some Changes at Snipette

Change is afoot, and we wanted to let you all know.

Anticlockwise

Why does the Earth spin one way and not the other? There’s a logical reason.

The Emperor’s Calendar

The Emperor’s Calendar

In Japan, an year is more than just a number. But is this culturally rich system still relevant today?

Nudging for Neltiliztli

Nudging for Neltiliztli

The hidden details that influence your decisions — and the Aztec way to deal with them.

Click to Pay

Privacy, Patreon, and paywalled Papers: the ethics of payments on the World Wide Web.