Reposted by Guru MadhavanFinancial Times @financialtimes.com · 18/09/2026The merits of friction-maxxing ft.trib.al/Ha7cx9Nft.trib.alThe merits of friction-maxxingPushing against the move to seamless online efficiency can make us happier and safer 1147
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/08/2026#engineering #evolution #medicine #health #biology #nature @randynesse.bsky.social 020
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/08/2026🦾YOUR BODY IS NOT A MACHINE My latest for the @financialtimes.com is about letting go of machine metaphors in health and medicine. Taking living things apart has given us immense knowledge. But because such reductionism has worked so well, we can easily miss its limits. www.ft.com/content/360e...ft.comYour body is not a machineMechanical metaphors are useful, but such reductionism is no guide to life 110
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 29/06/2026🖼️ The Fighting Temeraire, Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838. The National Gallery, London; Elizabeth Traynor 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 29/06/2026What keeps a nation free? My latest for @spectrum.ieee.org, feat. JMW Turner: declaring freedom is only the beginning. Engineering it requires the courage to innovate and the discipline to maintain what we build. 👉🏼 spectrum.ieee.org/us-engineere... 131
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 26/05/2026📋The 19th-century guide to running an effective meeting. “Robert’s Rules of Order” turns 150 this year. In the @financialtimes.com, I wrote about what that history says about AI systems now marketed as consensus brokers. #engineering #meetings ➡️ www.ft.com/content/a01d... 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 25/05/2026🕵️"Social engineering" got tainted by association with authoritarian regimes and scammers. So we buried it—and the practice carried on under friendlier names. In @spectrum.ieee.org I argue why reclaiming the term matters. We can't contest what we can't see—and name ▶️ spectrum.ieee.org/social-engin... 000
Reposted by Guru MadhavanIEEE Spectrum @spectrum.ieee.org · 04/05/2026Francis Bacon believed that science, or understanding the world, and creation, or engineering design, were intimately connected. His strong friendships with engineers helped him to imagine a future where science and engineering worked hand in hand. spectrum.ieee.org/francis-baco... 032
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 20/04/2026Francis Bacon died stuffing a chicken with snow, killed by his own experiment--400 years ago this month. ❄️ His scientific method? Inspired by engineers. My latest for @spectrum.ieee.org spectrum.ieee.org/francis-baco... #engineering #science #history #philosophyspectrum.ieee.orgHow Engineers Kick-Started the Scientific MethodFrancis Bacon was inspired by the inventors of his day 020
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/03/2026"In engineering, you are peer-reviewed by reality." 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 26/03/2026My new @financialtimes.com piece on the engineer who scheduled the apocalypse for his own birthday—and what it reveals about the strange psychology of doomsday deadlines, and why they differ from the ones that actually govern our lives. www.ft.com/content/3256... #engineering #systemsthinking 000
Reposted by Guru MadhavanLucas Laursen @lucaslaursen.bsky.social · 11/03/2026Do inventive engineers need to be lone geniuses or orchestra conductors? Guru Madhavan reflects on Robert Goddard and what Madhavan calls "The Alpha Trap" in this piece for @spectrum.ieee.org: spectrum.ieee.org/robert-godda...spectrum.ieee.orgRobert Goddard's Leadership: From Innovation to IsolationGoddard's rocket defied gravity, but his self-reliance trapped him. How can visionaries transition from lone genius to team leaders? 011
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 11/03/2026🚀 My latest in @spectrum.ieee.org on Robert Goddard: from innovation to isolation, and how leaders can escape the ALPHA TRAP—when the stubbornness that helps a pioneer survive skepticism begins to hinder collaboration as the work grows. #engineering #leadership spectrum.ieee.org/robert-godda...spectrum.ieee.orgRobert Goddard's Leadership: From Innovation to IsolationGoddard's rocket defied gravity, but his self-reliance trapped him. How can visionaries transition from lone genius to team leaders? 010
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 09/03/2026🔧 Engineers see friction as a design feature, not a flaw. A shock absorber adds weight and complexity—yet without it, the suspension shakes itself apart. Not all resistance is waste, some of it protects systems from their own speed. #engineering 000
Reposted by Guru MadhavanRyan McGranaghan @aerosciengineer.bsky.social · 04/03/2026(1/3) Guru Madhavan ( @bioengineergm.bsky.social ) reverences the world and all that is in it. Guru is an engineer, but his conception of engineering is more vast than we typically assign to the role. 211
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 22/02/2026📘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗫 reinvigorates the legacy of an engineer who transformed our access to the skies, the stars, and the sea. Preorder: wwnorton.com/books/978132... And thank you, as always. 🙏🏼 #engineering #innovation #creativity #society #aviation #engineersweek #eweek2026wwnorton.comThe Blue BoxThe story of Ed Link—the unsung engineer who opened the skies for aspiring pilots—and an ode to the art of ingenuity. <br /> <br /> “A wonderful and energizing book. . . . It is a... 010
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 22/02/2026🧠 The confinement in his blue box gave trainees the consciousness of the many angles from which a problem can be approached. "If you are going to build these things," Link said, "you have to have the integrity to test them yourself." 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 22/02/2026🎨 Ed Link crossed domains unhindered by specialty credentials, like a cubist ushering art into its modern era, speaking less in words and more with his eloquence in engineering — from the Apollo missions to deep-sea submersibles. 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 22/02/2026🔵 The Wright Brothers made airplanes a cultural symbol, but Ed Link presented a principled protocol whose prime purpose was preparation. 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 22/02/2026✈️ A century ago, when aviation was still defined by accidents, Ed Link used piano parts to build a flight trainer. Dubbed the "blue box," its real breakthrough was not the device but the idea: flight training is as valuable as flight itself. 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 22/02/2026📦 THINKING INSIDE THE BOX. 📖 This #EngineersWeek, I'm pleased to announce 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗫: 𝗘𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗡 𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 ( @wwnorton.com, April 26, 2026), drawn from "Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World." 100
Reposted by Guru MadhavanPNAS Nexus @pnasnexus.org · 02/02/2026In a Perspective, three engineers propose an expansive mode of engineering practice that seeks to reduce conflict. According to the authors, peace engineering requires competence, capability, and character. In PNAS Nexus: ow.ly/41L550Y7Fk1 012
Reposted by Guru MadhavanFT Edit @ftedit.ft.com · 05/02/2026If friction teaches us how to feel the world, what might we be losing by smoothing it all out? Read the full story on #FTEdit 👉 The beauty of friction ft.trib.al/zzfAu7i Then tell us where you stand in today's #FTEdit poll 🗳️ ft.trib.al/S8QnoII 252
Reposted by Guru MadhavanFinancial Times @financialtimes.com · 05/02/2026 The beauty of friction ft.trib.al/Z3XZ4fe | opinionft.trib.alThe beauty of frictionWe are conditioned to treat resistance as a defect, but suppressing it comes with its own risks 0102
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 05/02/2026💡Good #engineering removes friction that impedes and conserves friction that informs. We often miss that nuance. But suppressing friction comes with its own risks; we lose the feedback that taught us how to feel the world. 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 05/02/2026⚙️ THE BEAUTY OF FRICTION 📰 In my latest for the @financialtimes.com, I explore why GLP-1 and GPT should force us to ask: which kinds of frictions deserve to stay? 🔗Read here (ft.com/content/f9d6...) or 👇🏼 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 28/12/2025Pleased to draw insights from Albrecht Dürer on how measurement must support human judgment, never supplant it. 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 27/12/2025Do numbers still mean what they’re supposed to measure? And what did Dürer understand about measurement 500 years ago that feels very relevant today? 🖼️ Selected woodcuts and prints by Dürer, all public domain, via the Art Institute of Chicago, The Met, and the British Museum. 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 27/12/2025✈️ Frequent-flyer “miles” don’t measure miles anymore. We still call them that anyway. It’s a telling inconsistency that hints at a larger issue. 🗞️ In my @financialtimes.com (@ftweekend.com) piece, starring Albrecht Dürer, I explore a few things. 🔗 Read here (ft.com/content/5e98...) or⬇️ 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 02/12/2025The @raeng.org.uk honors the people who advance our profession, and it also honors the equations that have shaped the world. Along one of its walls, these equations show how we make sense of nature and improve life with precision and purpose. Take a moment to look them up. #engineering 010
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/11/2025Stoppard and Wilson's conversation is about how both scales are real, & both deserve attention. Ext Interview: davidsloanwilson.world/online-conte... "Unto Others" by Sober & Wilson: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067... "Multilevel Cultural Evolution" by Wilson et al: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...davidsloanwilson.worldThe Playwright and the Scientist: A Conversation Between Tom Stoppard and David Sloan Wilson – David Sloan Wilson Online Archive 020
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/11/2025This tension shows up in engineering too. Some focus on the user's immediate experience. Others think about the whole system. Good #engineering needs both perspectives, or you build something that feels right but doesn't work, or works but feels wrong. 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/11/2025Wilson examined altruism through actions and patterns that enable groups to endure. Stoppard held a more intimate, immediate view: while science may explain instinctive helping in bees or brainworms, it hasn't accounted for the consciously motivated kind unique to humans. 110
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/11/2025"The Hard Problem" of User and System Tom Stoppard's passing invites reflection on his 2015 exchange with evolutionist David Sloan Wilson. As Stoppard developed his play "The Hard Problem," Wilson's (and Elliott Sober's) work on altruism shaped his thinking. www.theguardian.com/books/2015/m...theguardian.comThe hard problem: Tom Stoppard on the limits of what science can explainCan evolution explain acts of kindness, and morality? We arranged a debate between a sceptical Tom Stoppard and the evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson. Stuart Jeffries acted as referee 121
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 26/11/2025🙏🏼 This Thanksgiving I am grateful to be included in the fellowship of the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering (@raeng.org.uk), and for its strong partnership with the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. Looking forward to the work ahead. #engineering Photos: Rob Lacey. 040
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 05/11/2025Explore the AI-Z of Engineering to discover the amazing breadth of #engineering careers, and find out what is in your future. thisisengineering.org.uk/ai-z-of-engi... #NationalEngineeringDay @raeng.org.uk 011
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 05/11/2025🏗️ Who keeps your world running? Honor them. Begin by seeing them. 🌏 In our pursuit of disruption, we often overlook the foundational care that makes progress possible. My new TEDx talk honors this forgotten courage, vital now more than ever. ▶️Watch + share: lnkd.in/enJxAQEP #engineering #care 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 15/10/2025A thoughtful leadership exchange and common purpose. The @raeng.org.uk, the @qeprize.bsky.social, and the U.S. National Academy of Engineering united in shared commitment to advance #engineering that improves lives, strengthens the profession, and celebrates the excellence that defines it. 020
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 01/10/2025🤖 WHEN AI DIES ⚰️ ✨ In my latest column for the National Academy of Engineering’s Bridge magazine, prompted by the recent events around TikTok, I explore how we’ve built AI into a dazzling yet deficient genius, machines of vast memory but no legacy. 🚨 🔗 Read here: www.nae.edu/340912/Invis... 010
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 24/09/2025🙏🏼 Tremendously honored—and honoured—to be elected to the Royal Academy of Engineering. #RAEngFellows www.nae.edu/340727/Guru-... 020
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/07/2025⚖️ We don’t need another umbrella term. We need sharper language that makes responsibility visible. Technical work has always carried moral weight. Our words should help us name it, reckon with it, and act accordingly, as the ancients knew it. 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/07/2025📊 Teleconferencing tools, streaming platforms, and chip makers all trade under the same “technology” banner despite vastly different models. Convenient shorthand, yes, but it blurs risks and erases intent. What begins as casual speech hardens into billion-dollar policy and trillion-dollar markets. 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 30/07/2025💡TECHNOLOGY. What do we really mean when we use that word? ☢️ In a Financial Times column, I argue “technology” now covers everything from nuclear warheads to noise cancelling headphones, stents to social media, and hair dryers to the Hoover Dam. (💲) www.ft.com/content/a48c... (📄) PDF images 👇 100
Reposted by Guru MadhavanEngineerTeen @engineerteen.org · 01/07/2025We're EngineerTeen, a new program from the National Academy of Engineering and a sibling site to @engineergirlnae.bsky.social which builds on that community to help youth chart their path to become the technical leaders of tomorrow. We're excited to get started! Visit us at engineerteen.org 🙂 032
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 01/07/2025Why engineers are diving into deeper questions, how ingenuity should meet responsibility, what #engineering has taught Roma about life and Baked Alaska, and my own near-misses—how I almost took up mocha and monkhood. 👏🏽 Produced by Saskia Cookson, Jack Howson Peanut & Crumb 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 01/07/2025🌍 Engineering is peer-reviewed by reality. 🎙️In the season finale of the @qeprize.bsky.social "Create the Future" #podcast, my cohost and fellow engineer Roma Agrawal and I roam through all sorts of topics. 🎧 Listen here: shows.acast.com/createthefut...shows.acast.comGuru & Roma reflect | Create the Future 121
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 11/06/2025Together, we’ve mapped how #engineering makes life possible, livable, and meaningful. 👏🏽 Produced by Tess Davidson, Eva Krysiak, Jack Howson, Peanut & Crumb. 👏🏽 Hayaatun Sillem, Jonathan Narbett, Jane Sutton, Dr. Sarah Rhodes, Suzanne Kanca. 🌟🌟Coming soon: Season Finale ! 🌟🌟 000
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 11/06/2025🚀Charlie Bolden and Dava Newman pulled us outward—to space, to possibility, and to purpose (qeprize.org/podcasts/the...). ☕Tonya Kuhl and Jonathan Morris reminded us that coffee is really about connection (qeprize.org/podcasts/the...). 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 11/06/2025🗳️ Charles Phelps and Eswaran Subrahmanian showed how democracy depends on what most voters never see (qeprize.org/podcasts/the...). ♿Ashley Shew and Rory Cooper flipped our assumptions about disability and design (qeprize.org/podcasts/eng...). 100
Guru Madhavan @bioengineergm.bsky.social · 11/06/2025🔥Luke Bisby and Jose Torero unpacked how we’ll face fire, now and ahead (qeprize.org/podcasts/the...). 🚇Pam Elardo and Andy Russell took us underground to meet the overlooked engines of public health (qeprize.org/podcasts/the...). 100
