The Decode Diary

We met on Tinder not for hookups or “benefits” but after getting to know her, listening to her breakup story gave me a sense of heartache. I sat down with Jennefer who opened up her past relationship where her boyfriend cheated on her. I think most people listening to this may or may not have experienced this and I would never hope for such an encounter for anyone, but there are values in it where...

Towards the end of the conversation, I can tell Jared is an optimistic man considering most of the topics we discussed were indicating to an extent that human wouldn't be able to survive far into the next century. He suggested replacement questions and statements, one of which I like a lot - Ideas and cultures are probably symbiotes instead of parasites. I raised the question of whether ideas and...

From the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah, he described the long process of human evolution where we used to hunt in groups. Then, we slowly turned to agriculture because of the ease of storage of wheat. Agriculture means we start working for our own food and care less about the herd. I think our current point in time is a point where we are vastly segregated by invisible w...

I've always wondered how things change over time. Like the stock market, the world economy, global political leadership or even my own behavior, I think of them in a line graph. There are many indicators and legends that we can give to make the graph a richer one, but the conversation with Jared was fascinatingly catered for me when we talked about morality and how it has changed over the enti...

I needed to look up the terms “evolution” and “objectivity in moral norms” when I learnt that this was the degree Jared underwent in the U.S. and I knew nothing about them. It turns out I had done a little bit of reading on these topics and you must believe me when I say I had a ton of fun just thinking about all these questions. None of us had the answers though. The fun part was challenging our...

When I told Ganesha the property an agent was selling me, he helped me analyze it and gave his opinions on whether this was a good property. It wasn't about making a decision that day, but more on learning the process to analyze and determine if a property is worth what it was advertised. In this snippet, Ganesha shared with me his thought process and I think I could do an entire episode sifting t...

When it comes to renting out your units, I think the lesson here is that we have to strike a balance between profit and marketing. Sure we can save a ton by not renovating but if it does not provide enough comfort for tenants, that is bad marketing over the long term and eventually it will hurt profitability really bad. My take on this one is to invest in renovation such that it turns out to be id...

I think when many young adults who have just graduated and started working get the touch of money that they earn, they spend it easily and quickly. More so when it comes to cars and "symbolic" items that can tell they are rich and they have "made it". It can include cars, watches or even expensive trips. For me, it is the long term future that I'm always thinking about. The money that I invest in...

I’m delighted to have Ganesha on the show again and of course we are going to talk about property investment and the renting landscape in Malaysia. It feels like we are hitting a new episode on this topic every month or so, and believe me I think we are headed in that direction. If you haven’t listened to the first part, I’m pretty sure you will have a lot more questions after listening to it. I b...

I first felt ironic when people who say they care but do not put in as much emotions. I used to think that way. Until Aaryan told me otherwise. It turns out, that people who care do not need to show their emotions, we can tell simply by their behavior and actions. Either way, I think it needs to be able to convey that message to those around you because without which, relationships tend to be brok...

When one moves abroad, there is a whole new set of skills waiting to be discovered and adopted. Aaryan was already familiar with this since he was already trying to gain acceptance from his family by becoming a calmer and more composed person. However, moving to Malaysia meant a different approach to being accepted because he needed friends. Adapting once again, his new way of coping may be someth...

I guess every middle child has this thing with their parents where they think they are not appreciated enough and they try to do whatever it takes to be accepted. In this snippet, Aaryan showed me how this was the case for him for many years until he realized one day that the treatment wasn't any different and he then seeks his own acceptance instead. From being a short-tempered child, he turn...

Meeting Aaryan because of a serendipitous encounter at one university alumni event, he came off as a confident kid who seemed on the outside to know what he was doing. He was the emcee at the event and speaking to him on stage was like speaking to the head of the student council. Indeed, but not quite, he is the Vice President of the student council!  Interestingly, in this conversation, I found o...

I think the government plays a huge role in the policing of cryptocurrencies. Or not. Either way, the role is there to take. And what happens if governments roll out their very own Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)? Darren warns that it may be harmful to users like us, but is there a bigger danger lurking? Darren shares with me what he thinks the role of governments is in the world of crypto...

It is funny to me how Bitcoin specifically is tied to our traditional currencies. Because it is not used in our daily transactions, its value needs to be converted to some form of currency that we use every day. This means it still relies, in a way, on the fluctuations of the traditional currencies. Maybe I got it all wrong. In this episode, Darren shares with me how it is true to an extent and it...

According to Darren, even though Bitcoin, together with other cryptocurrencies, is highly volatile due to its nature, plus its pegging to the traditional currencies, this essentially is the biggest upside of cryptocurrencies. Having said that, I always wonder if Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are subject to the same level of volatility as our traditional currencies. It could very well be the s...

All this while knowing Darren, it’s always about investment and cryptocurrencies that our conversations surround. No doubt it is an enticing form of investment, given the huge bull run Bitcoin has had in 2024 and I probably have missed the bandwagon. Fortunately, knowing Darren means I get to talk to him and learn how best to invest in cryptocurrencies. But first, I need to know what the talk is a...

Of everything we have discussed, I cannot skip this question. For a man like Dr. Khan who has his own opinion after talking to students for years, he must have his own idea of how the education system should look like tomorrow. In this snippet, he shares with me the way he would change it in general. Students, however, may not agree. Listen to the full conversation here: https://open.spotify.com/e...

I'm pretty sure we've all done that as students - complaining about the lecturers' teaching method because we are not achieving great results. Sure, we have all the rights to do that. But in this snippet, what I hope to be clear is the explanation that Dr. Khan shares with me here. Some may agree, some may not, that there is a distribution curve for the quality of students in a classro...

In this snippet, Dr. Khan shares with me how he disagrees with people who say his quality of teaching has degraded due to the sheer number of research papers he publishes in a year. In his own words, doing research work is harder nowadays than what students think and to keep up is the only way for a lecturer to fulfill their duties. I sometimes wonder whether we are putting too much pressure and e...

Speaking to a lecturer on issues which you wouldn’t have discussed back in the university days would surely be eye-opening, and this is what this episode has been to me. The number of realizations that go through my mind when speaking with Dr. Khan made me start to wonder whether the discrepancy between the expectations of a lecturer and those of students could one day be eradicated entirely. This...

If you missed the previous snippet, Nava essentially won the Shell Eco Marathon by cleverly interpreting the constraints set by the organizers. What astonished me was the sheer ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking displayed here, something that many engineers, myself included, might not have achieved in the same manner. I hope this snippet serves as inspiration for engineers everywhere, not to re...

One of the most underrated skills an engineer can have is the ability to understand engineering requirements. While it may seem simple on paper, in practice, each requirement is often intertwined with a list of others, which can lead to complications. Consequently, some companies have dedicated roles for engineers to manage these requirements. Nava acquired this skillset at RoboCon, and I believe...

I've always believed that exceptional skills in a particular area are often the result of one's upbringing and childhood experiences. This was evident with Nava; his passion for robots made it clear that his journey into engineering was sparked by genuine enthusiasm. In this snippet, I seek to uncover the origins of his fascination with robots that gradually shaped him into the engineer he is now....

I didn't know a lot about Nava when I first met him, though he was called by everyone else a Product Architect at our company. The title sounds fancy and the way we create products are almost identical, but he gets the cooler products to play with. Now I know why. In this episode, I sat down with Nava, a product engineer, a title I would give him because of the knowledge he has about a certain...