Devika Raina

Aspiring pantomath, check out - ‘Dabbling with Devika’ and ‘3 Min club’ on YouTube

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

Major cheat code for life: Always assume things will work out, then do the work to make it true. It’s a mindset of active optimism. Earned faith. It creates a quiet confidence that allows you to tolerate the uncertainty of life better than anything else.

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

The future belongs not to those who generate the most content, but to those who can separate insight from imitation.

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

Everyone’s automating the pitch.

Nobody’s automating the pause before you answer.

that’s still the job.

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

‘just 5 more minutes’ and suddenly it’s an hour later.

[sunil ratan @sunil_ratan]

What do you think..

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

@AbijitG @airindia They made a spelling mistake while booking my infant’s ticket too. The last letter just couldn’t be entered in the portal.

[Andrej Karpathy @karpathy]

Agency > Intelligence

I had this intuitively wrong for decades, I think due to a pervasive cultural veneration of intelligence, various entertainment/media, obsession with IQ etc. Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce. Are you hiring for agency? Are we educating for agency? Are you acting as if you had 10X agency?

Grok explanation is ~close:

“Agency, as a personality trait, refers to an individual's capacity to take initiative, make decisions, and exert control over their actions and environment. It’s about being proactive rather than reactive—someone with high agency doesn’t just let life happen to them; they shape it. Think of it as a blend of self-efficacy, determination, and a sense of ownership over one’s path.

People with strong agency tend to set goals and pursue them with confidence, even in the face of obstacles. They’re the type to say, “I’ll figure it out,” and then actually do it. On the flip side, someone low in agency might feel more like a passenger in their own life, waiting for external forces—like luck, other people, or circumstances—to dictate what happens next.

It’s not quite the same as assertiveness or ambition, though it can overlap. Agency is quieter, more internal—it’s the belief that you *can* act, paired with the will to follow through. Psychologists often tie it to concepts like locus of control: high-agency folks lean toward an internal locus, feeling they steer their fate, while low-agency folks might lean external, seeing life as something that happens *to* them.”

[Y Combinator @ycombinator]

Andrej Karpathy's (@karpathy) keynote yesterday at AI Startup School in San Francisco.

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

Amazing song

[Ed Sheeran HQ @edsheeran]

Sapphire is OUT NOW 🩷💎 Make sure you check out the Official Music video https://t.co/JnZ21UzZfh

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

Wow wow wow!!!

https://t.co/5tLYaJt4ZA

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

Do you remember when you joined X? I do! #MyXAnniversary

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

The luxury of ignorance is real.
It’s not about lacking intelligence—
It’s about having the privilege to not need to know.

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

👏👏👏 https://t.co/30ULihyL9H

This is awesome !

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

https://t.co/tY9i0giUHu

Ratan Tata - Celebrating the legend

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

https://t.co/KtRKUcLag3

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

https://t.co/kGf8N1Ledu

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

https://t.co/cLhopiStXh

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

https://t.co/FgPPOBUOxH

[Devika Raina @devika_raina]

https://t.co/VHdm5RRBOB

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

If you want to understand Asian geopolitics today, this is an absolute must-watch.

This is George Yeo, who was a Singaporean cabinet minister during 21 years, including Minister for Foreign Affairs during 7 years. In my humble opinion, very few people out there have such a subtle understanding of geopolitics in Asia as he does.

Here's a quick summary of what he says:

The US has little knowledge of China
He says that "the US political system is decentralized and because of the need to win votes, it goes through emotional phases and is entering such a phase now where China is demonized out of mass emotion. There's some manipulation behind the scenes, but it's not based on knowledge."

To him, the US "don't understand the nature of China", the fact that China "is constantly building walls around itself because it is happy in its own homogeneity". He says it is wrong for the US to believe that "China wants to displace them as the top dog in the world" and "trying to contain China, even pull it down" as a result. Not only is this a wrong understanding of China's objectives but the US "may exhaust itself in the process and I don't think it will succeed". He says that with its tariffs and sanctions the US risks making the same mistake as China's Qing dynasty and "become very weak".

He believes the primacy of the US dollar will break, and that US actions are "bringing forward that day"
He says that "the key event will be when the primacy of the US dollar breaks. We all know it's going to break sometime or other because it's abnormal. If it is 30 years from now, well, let's drink and be merry. But if it's five years, well, we've got to calculate, right? Do we know when the cookie will crumble? We don't know. But the way the US is moving is bringing forward that day."

It's "bringing forward that day" because "they try to control countries by sanctions" and as a result more and more countries put counter-measures in place, putting themselves out of the grasp of the US.

China is not in trouble and "overcapacity" is "information warfare"
He says "there's information warfare against China" and that he "doesn't think" China is in trouble. "Look at the factories, look at the EVs, look at how terrified the Europeans are, accusing China of having overcapacity. I mean, how can you blame China for overcapacity when you have, when you're taking liberties with yourself, having long summers and working short hours and you say no, no, no, no, no, you are working too hard! There are consequences. If families take liberties with their children, with themselves, there's consequences."

He believes that Asian societies' "wholesomeness" is an advantage versus the West
"Look at Asia, look at China, look at Southeast Asia, look at India. There are people who are hardworking, who are obsessed over their children, who want to have of them a higher education, in order that the kids will have a better education, better health, a better life. [...] They'll do well and we're lucky to be in the part of the world where strange values have not taken over societies. [...] Why is America such a big market for drugs today? And I was watching the Eurovision contest... [...] Parts of it, almost satanic. But it's now part of the fashion in most of Europe. What is happening?

PM Lee talked about how we should keep all these woke things away from us as much as possible. I fully agree with him. Keep our societies wholesome. Keep our families intact. I mean, AI is very important, but AI cannot answer moral questions for us. In the end, it is every individual, every child who must make the choice. Be immersed in technology. Make use of it. But have our own sense of what it means to be a human being. So if we use that as a template to judge human society, I say we are very lucky to be in a part of the world where society is by and large wholesome and will do well."

It's critical for ASEAN to stick together and not be balkanized, which is what the US is trying to do with the Philippines
"If we [ASEAN] don't stick together, we'll be balkanized and instead of becoming neighbours, become clients of big powers. Instead of using them, they make use of us. There's always a threat.

Look at the Philippines now. The Philippines have legitimate disputes with China. Both sides have their cases. The Americans see an opportunity there. And jump in, and bring in the Japanese. And now Philippine politics is caught up in this [...]

[China and the Philippines] had an agreement, a gentleman's agreement with Duterte, which Marcos has repudiated. So OK, so they must find a new way to equilibrium. And make use of the Americans and not be made use of by the Americans. But it's very difficult when you try to make use of a big power, you end up being made use of by them."

Most countries in ASEAN do not want China to be an enemy
For instance he says "Vietnam has made a very important decision to go with China": "it was not well reported, but Vietnam has agreed that Hanoi will be linked to Kunming and Nanning by high-speed rail. This is big because each connection is tens of billions of dollars. And will change the topological configuration of logistics and supply chain and human movement for decades to come."

Same with Indonesia, noting that "Prabowo's first visit [was] to China" and that when he met Xi Jinping "it was Xiao Di talking to Da Ge. A little brother talking to big brother. But when we went to Japan, then it's brother talking to brother."

He adds: "Look at the other countries, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei. No one wants China to be an enemy. And the Americans don't understand this, yet. That because China is getting bigger and bigger for us, all of us want the Americans to be in the room. But if the Americans say no, you have to choose between China and us, then they say no, we can't. How can we choose? I mean, China is where our bread is buttered, you know."