SynTalk

Are younger systems faster? Do elephants mate slowly? Is a plastic ruler always ageing? Is only glass glassy? Why are processes slow or fast, & how do they speed up or slow down? Do all systems have an internal clock? Is water fast because it acts like a large correlated spring? Is there such a thing as fully-dissolved? Are certain social systems stable because they remain ‘useful’? How does fashion change fast? Is slowness a sign of highly connected groups? ‘How’ does inter-caste marriage happen? Is the past more important only for systems that are undergoing change? Do external disruptions lead to a revival in interest in the past? What is the opposite of revolution? What changes predictably – science or technology? How do languages die? Does protein misfolding tell us about its past? Are the biasing forces blind? Is friction a memory function? Is swapping like catalyzing? Is speed synonymous with forgetting? How do the ‘same’ human beings exist in different states? Could an umbrella theory uncover secrets of all slow dynamics? Will we remain addicted to speed? &, what will not change much in the long run? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from physical chemistry (Prof. Biman Bagchi, IISc, Bangalore), literary theory (Prof. Sachin Ketkar, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara), & glass physics (Prof. Jorge Kurchan, École Normale Supérieure (ENS), Paris). Listen in...