Introduction

[00:00:14] Clips: We're living in an extraordinary moment in history. We are at a moment here in 2025 where we have world historic game changing technologies now starting to scale, and the key piece of this is tipping points. And I, what I'm trying to tell you now is we are in the middle of three tipping points that are world historic changes that are happening around us today.

[00:00:42] The times ahead will be radically different from those that we've experienced in our lifetimes, 

[00:00:48] and now you can call it a churn. You can call it a paradigm shift. You can use even stronger words, but I think something very fundamental is shifting in the world order. 

[00:00:57] Where are we today? Well, I, we are certainly at an inflection point, not just around political violence, but there are a host of larger trends that we, you know, have to be concerned about.

[00:01:17] Arjun: Inflection point, that's the word that shifted everything for me. When I finally heard it said out loud, I thought, I. Yes, this is what I've been circling. This is what I've been sensing. A big disclaimer before we go ahead. You would hear a lot of I or me in this introduction episode, not because this is about me, but being honest requires me to begin there.

[00:01:51] 1 Minute summary

[00:01:51] Arjun: If you are in traffic or you may be driving or if you are. A listener who is in a rush, Here's a one minute summary that will tell you everything that we will cover in this episode, and if you care to listen further, we'd be thrilled.

[00:02:08] 2025 has been a year of shocks, wars, tariff, new regimes, climate extremes, rents that are outpacing paychecks.

[00:02:21] Even the price of milk is telling us something is broken. These are not random headlines. These are not borrowed conclusions. There are signals which may tell us that we may be at an inflection point.

[00:02:35] AI generally is spoken as a one swath of technology, but largely splits into two. The small AI helps in quiet automation.

[00:02:45] While the big AI is still continuing to make grand promises and there lies a bubble, which isn't just a bubble that is likely to burst, but maybe it is a cracked mirror, and it is revealing and exposing who we are as people and reflecting our fragility and trust in technology.

[00:03:10] In the creative space, music shows the same cracks as artists are now paying more to exist.

[00:03:20] There are new streaming rules that cut them out, and the bots are flooding the system. The celebrity culture that we are generally used to feels unstable too. Tomorrow's celebrities may be ordinary people living closer to nature.

[00:03:36] We cannot control where these changes are leading us, but we can describe it.  And in doing so, we respond more responsibly through the pursuit of sentences, and it is the sentences that anchor us, bring us closer to each other.

[00:03:53]  so, 

[00:03:54] We are starting a new series at the Innocence Theory Podcast.

[00:03:57] We look at five areas. the creative space, the design space, technology, sustainability, and correlate with the world events that are happening. And this is the start. And we request and encourage you to respond to these conversations by reacting, by sharing, writing to us. If you resonate with what we have to say, we hope that some of these conversations will help us find the sentences, the sentences that can help us keep calm, be compassionate, and be competent to the changes that are facing us.

[00:04:42] You are listening to the Innocence Theory podcast. This is the inflection point series. Let us begin.

“Its not personal, its business”

[00:04:59] Arjun: I believe a large part of life is in the pursuit of sentences. Sentences that can help us emote, that can help us express. Sentences that move us or settle us. 

[00:05:13] some of the simplest sentences can heal us. I forgive you. I love. In the end, we are all seeking sentences, like these sentences that can either settle us or move us, that can help us emo and that gives us belonging.

[00:05:32] Now, here's a small story. After moving to the US, I had this moment with my landlord.

[00:05:40] I'd stayed in the same apartment for nine months, paid rent on time, took care of the place like it was my own. Fix small things without complaints. Somewhere in my mind I thought, this will all account for something. Maybe buy me some goodwill when I needed it. But in one afternoon, the landlord came in unannounced and said, Hey, we are, you may have to move out.

[00:06:08] If you want to extend your lease, you'll have to find three other people to pay more rent. And, uh, you just have three days to decide. Uh, I don't, I didn't know what to do. I kind of argued, explained it, but the answer came back pretty calm. It was very cold to hear, honestly. The landlord said, it's not personal, it's just business.

[00:06:38] It's not personal, it's just business.

[00:06:43] I kind of played that in my head many times and it hit me in new ways because it meant that all the pleases and thank yous and all the quiet attempts to be a good tenant, none of it really mattered in terms of my need because the moment money was in play.

[00:07:10] some part of humanity was not,

[00:07:13] well. I had choice. I could be angry. I could be frustrated, but then I think it was coming at a place of lack of choice. The more I looked around, the more I realized that this was not just my landlord, and I'm sure all of you relate. It was not just housing. This phrase kept following me from landlords to job rejections and to headlines.

[00:07:44] Now, some of the headlines include Tarone Indian Goods because of geopolitics. With Russia, it's not personal, it's just business. The H one B fees suddenly. Shoots to $100,000 It's not personal, it's just business.

[00:08:07] As a musician, when a streaming platform emails and says that your track does not hit a number and you don't exist, it's not personal, it's just business. When a record label comes and tells me, Hey, we like your music, but you don't have a great social media presence, so we can't sign you up. It's not personal.

[00:08:30] It's just business. When a comedy show gets canceled because of fear of backlash, or fear of something that you would say, it's not personal, it's just business.

[00:08:46] When the conversations around climate change sustainability are being denied and making it feel like the climate change is a hoax, it's not personal, it's just business.

[00:09:01] AI is gonna take many jobs. It's not personal, it's just business.

[00:09:08] And the more I hear it, the more I feel that this is becoming the anthem of our times. But here's the catch,

[00:09:28] A new series - The Inflection Point

[00:09:28] Arjun: before we narrow down where we are heading, let me repaint the picture for all of us. Through independent sources, through news that are flooding our feeds, and through conversations with people that are close to us. One thing is becoming very clear that there is a growing sense of lack of safety. Lack of safety and jobs, lack of safety in food, lack of safety in health, lack of safety in governments, lack of safety across the board.

[00:10:04] Yeah, it sounds scary because it is scary. None of us want to wake up one morning after years of loyalty to our company, only to hear the words. It's not personal, it's just business. Now there are many predictions and predictive models out there about the global order of the world, 

[00:10:26] But before that, let's pause. Let's ask. Simpler, more human questions. Our themes of inquiry will include the creative space, the space around music, technology, design, some of the world events that are happening, sustainability, innovation, and we'll ask where do we stand and where are we headed? We look at it from the lens of ethics and we'll ask.

[00:10:58] Why aren't businesses personal? And what does it mean to be ethical if all businesses are made by people and yet people keep saying it's not personal, it's just business, then are we really doing businesses right or is what is right changing right now in front of us? Why does empathy feel so distant?

[00:11:25] Why is it becoming so costly, so rare? And if it is becoming rare and the world keeps telling us it's just business. then shouldn't empathy itself be the biggest competency we try to learn? Is there any business in being empathetic?

[00:11:44] Why does art and money feel mutually exclusive? Why are creative industries built on business models that are already broken? Why are governments trying to one up each other over games that does not make sense to the common people anymore? And what does this thing about ai, is it really the villain here?

[00:12:08] Is it simply exposing what was already broken, the cracks in our systems? People say that the AI will solve everything it'll take over the world. Maybe the real question is, are we living inside that bubble that, that it reflects more than it saves us? These are the questions we will be wrestling in the upcoming episodes.

[00:12:35] Not with easy answers, but with open conversations. We've got some powerful voices. Fresh perspectives, inspiring people who may challenge us, may comfort us and hopefully give us the way forward.

[00:12:51] We just ask of you to stay with us through this journey. You could write to us, tell us how we are doing, tell us your thoughts, and tell us if what we spoke about resonates with you. Your stories and your reflections will help us shape some of the conversations we are having. We'll read them, we'll respond, and where we can.

[00:13:14] We will feature your voice in future episodes. This is not just a podcast you listen to. This is something we will build together, a way of looking and describing the world as it changes. Stay with us.

[00:13:29] This is the beginning of the inflection point series at the Innocence Theory Podcast. Thank you for joining us.