Notes by Akshat Jiwan Sharma

 25 Jul 2025 It was a pleasure to attend the Mercom Renewable energy summit last week. It was a great opportunity for me to learn from the leaders in the RE space about their plans to help meet decarbonisation goals & push the manufacturing sector to use RE. While I was optimistic about the growth of the industry & shared the general enthusiasm about the policies and the favorable env created for RE I felt that there was scope for the industry to do much better than it currently has. For RE to take over it would imp. to build systems that can generate and store energy at a far greater efficiency than what the current tech offers. Wind energy ,hydropower require massive engineering investment in addition to reliance on powerful magnets. But even in magnet manufacturing things are rapidly changing. Iron nitrogen systems could pave the way for sustainable and powerful magnets that can easily challenge the dominance of rare earths. However, the challenge remains to scale these ...

  Happy to have participated in the space policy conference, 2025 held in New Delhi. The discussion revolved around spectrum allocation and the use of satellites in meeting the communication needs of tomorrow. The view among the speakers was pragmatic emphasising that while satellite communication will play an important part in the future of networking the role of terrestrial telecommunication will not be diminished especially as new advancements in fiber optics are happening rapidly. I concurred. While wireless communication remains the most important application of space technology I wondered if there is more to it? Can space policy look beyond weather,defense & telecommunication? Not too long ago NASA was doing just that. There was a period of rapid development in materials science ,cryogenics & electronics that influenced industries beyond the space sector. That era was characterised by industrial cross collaboration. New composites were developed ,new synthesis techniq...

ABSTRACT This paper challenges the prevailing philosophical view that “nothing” cannot exist and is merely a logical or linguistic placeholder. It argues that such denial is internally inconsistent. If logic is valid for establishing the existence and properties of 'something' and 'nothing' is defined as its logical negation, then 'nothing' must be granted equal standing within that logical system. Denying the reality of 'nothing' while using it as a necessary concept undermines the coherence of the very logic used to define 'something' Moreover, the claim that thinking about 'nothing' transforms it into 'something' confuses conceptual representation with instantiation. Thinking about nothing does not bestow attributes on it.   'Nothing' is not a thing with properties, but a logically and metaphysically distinct state,a condition devoid of attributes that must exist in order for 'something' to be intelligible. This...

  ABSTRACT The observed dominance of matter over antimatter in the universe remains one of the most profound open questions in cosmology. Traditional explanations such as baryogenesis and leptogenesis invoke new physics beyond the Standard Model, relying on CP violation and out-of-equilibrium conditions, but often treat entropy as a passive constraint. In this work, we propose a novel mechanism in which entropic and statistical constraints during the reheating phase of the early universe actively drive the emergence of a matter–antimatter asymmetry. As the universe approaches thermal equilibrium and maximal entropy, the production and annihilation dynamics of particles become biased by constraints imposed due to entropy after the reheating phase of inflation. This scenario operates entirely within the bounds of established thermodynamics and quantum field theory, requiring no new physics. Our approach offers a fresh perspective on the origin of the cosmic matter–antimatter asymmetr...

 4 July 2025 It was an honor to participate in the India Hotels and Homestay summit and interact with innovators redefining the concept of luxury. Hotels and homestays play a big role in the development of the tourism industry by giving travellers more options to stay in their favorite destination. It is absolutely critical to develop more holiday properties to expand the industry into new locations and boost the overall tourism output. While the outlook was generally positive a couple of concerns around differentiation and competition were shared by both hoteliers and homeowners. Rise of OTA platforms have diminished direct sales for the properties forcing them to compete with each other on price. And not every property can be in the prime location. This has presented a tough challenge for investors who understand the importance of building more properties across locations but unsure about returns. Homestays face their own set of challenges. They lack the workforce and brand power...

My thoughts on a stimulating discussion of YouTube on whether there is a real external world out there or is it something we can never know?  https://youtu.be/HOEFxD5mSLc?si=eXouSVBnMukch4hh SUMMARY Main Question: Is there a real external world, or is reality dependent on consciousness  Mr. Deepak Chopra's View: -Observer-independent reality is unprovable Consciousness is required for any perception of reality. -Reality is a "species-specific qualia gestalt"—our experience shaped by our biology and consciousness. -Therefore, what we consider "real" is subjective and constructed by our minds. -I Am the Universe.  COUNTERARGUMENTS TO CHOPRA’S VIEW  1. Consciousness is not required for all physical processes:    - Non-conscious objects (e.g., stones, water) undergo changes (like evaporation or movement) regardless of being perceived.    - The sun affects unconscious things—proof that it exists independently of conscious observation. 2. Consciousness ...

Because change happens. No beginning and no end imply timelessness. In this view the universe always existed. Timelessness would imply no evolution.  Many philosophical ideas have this concept of timelessness. Ancient Eleatic philosophers, Parmenides and Zeno were famously supporting this view that there is no change. Change is an illusion.  Heraclitus, a pre-Socratic philosopher took the opp view that world is driven by constant change and famously said that you can't step into the same river twice.  Their views had strong influence on Socrates,Plato and Aristotle who tried to reconcile change and permanency. For example Socrates conceptualised a world of senses and a world of forms In eastern philosophy as well there are similar thoughts in which reality is said to be permanent and unchanging and the world which is changing is said to be an illusion. It is real but not the ultimate reality.  This view strongly contradicts with what we observe. The universe is const...