The Bad Take

In this episode, joined by Rajni Gamage, we discuss the nature of elite politics in Sri Lanka in the context of the current crisis. We explore what scope there is for a new politics of solidarity and social transformation through the people's protests and the shifts in elite politics this would entail.

Rajni is a politics researcher based in Colombo. She holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Queensland. 

On this episode, we're joined by linguist Carmen Aguilera-Carnerero based in Granada, Spain. She was in Sri Lanka for some months last year, studying extreme speech online. She has also studied graffiti and "wall art" in Spanish and other European cities. This is a deep dive into her findings.

Carmen Aguilera-Carnerero is a lecturer at the University of Granada (Spain), a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right and co-editor of the academic journal GRETA.

Her area of study is Linguistics, and she has explored the syntax and sematics interface in her pre-doctoral phase and the Critical Discourse Analysis of Cyberdiscourse in her post doctoral stage (from 2013). Her areas of interest primarily are the articulation of hate speech online (specially in social media) with cyberislamophobia (both in text and image) and online racism in Sri Lanka in focus.

Carmen has also worked in products of subculture and their subversiveness via linguistics and semiotics such as graffiti.

On this episode, we're joined by Sri Lankan astronomer Mahesh Herath who made headlines last year when he discovered not one but two exoplanets - no big deal - in a remote corner of our galaxy. We talked about his rigorous research process and the future of space exploration technologies among other things.

Mahesh Herath is a research scientist attached to the Arthur C Clarke Institute of Modern Technologies (ACCIMT). His discovery of two extra solar planets (exoplanets) orbiting a distant star has put Sri Lanka’s footprint on the map of space research. Mahesh Herath read for his degree in physics at the University of Southampton, UK and then went on to do his master’s in space science at KU Leuven in Belgium. The course of study included spacecraft engineering, space law and statistics.

Mahesh is currently reading for his MPhil in planetary astronomy at the University of Colombo.

Joined by subject expert Nisansa de Silva, we bust some myths about AI and its applications, while exploring the challenges in AI development and the inevitable social, economic and political implications it poses.

Nisansa de Silva is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon. His research interests are in the area of Artificial Intelligence, specifically, in the sub-domains of; Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, and Data mining. Nisansa is currently on study leave from his position of lecturer at the Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa. He is a polymath of sorts and has a wide range of interests including history, philosophy, linguistics, mythology, pop culture and classical music.

We caught up with sports writer Andrew Fidel Fernando for a chat on his first book, the well received travelogue Upon a Sleepless Isle.

Andrew is a prolific sports writer with a penchant for incisive analysis of all things cricket. He is also a historian and travel writer, and his new book Upon A Sleepless Isle has been well received both here and abroad.

This edition of our At the Movies episodes is a somewhat belated discussion on Tarantino's latest outing and legendary filmmaker Martin Scorcese's remarks on the MCU.

---

From Doo Daruwo to Soora Pappa, from Rookantha to Bathiya & Santhush, the 1990s saw an unprecedented boom in popular entertainment in Sri Lanka that defined an entire generation. This is a look back at the glory days.

---

We're back after a bit of a hiatus. So much has happened since you last heard from us. Particularly on the online space. This is a brief look at what's been going down.

---

Show notes for this episode, including links to everything mentioned: https://thebadtake.com/episode13

---

Are we living in a simulation? The idea is not a new one. It's been a sci-fi staple for years. But more and more scientists are taking it seriously. This is an attempt to understand the implications of this question.

---

Given the sheer number of stars in the universe – over 200 billion in our galaxy alone, in a universe of two trillion galaxies – chances are, we are not alone. And yet, we have yet to see a shred of credible evidence for life outside our little cosmic corner, let alone intelligent life. The silence is deafening. Are we really alone?

---

"You're not stuck in traffic. You are traffic." So goes the adage. But is that always true? What explains the bumper to bumper traffic jams we find ourselves in almost every day, slowly driving us all insane? Is there a solution in sight? This is our attempt to answer some of these questions.

---

This week, we're joined by journalist turned author Ajay Kamalakaran based in Mumbai, India. He talks about, among other things, his latest work, a short story collection centred around a remote island in Russia.

Ajay Kamalakaran is a writer and journalist based in Bombay, India. He is currently a columnist for the Malayala Manorama, one of the most widely read publications in India. A veteran on Russian affairs, he was the editor of Sakhalin Times in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk from 2003 to 2007. He has also been a columnist and editor with Russia Beyond The Headlines, an international multimedia publication, based in Moscow.

An unfortunate incident involving a political argument that quickly escalated took Twitter by storm a few days ago. Tempers flared and one of the parties ended up losing their job as a result. Joining us today are Chav and Thimal Gajadeera to discuss the ethical and moral implications of this.