Sidharth Raja

How computers perceive sound

Sun, 14 May 2023 00:00:00 -0700

We take technology for granted. That’s not wrong, but it fascinates me to no end that the technology we take for granted today was once heralded the pinnacle of human ingenuity. Electricity. The printing press. The motor car. The airplane. The internet. The mobile phone. No magic is spared the wrath of human boredom.

After a recent rabbit hole dive into human sound perception, I wondered how people reacted when the sound recording + playback was first invented.

How we perceive sound

Fri, 05 May 2023 00:00:00 -0700

Lately, I’ve been facinated with how we as humans, receive and perceive sound. I soon found myself in a rabbit hole of 10th grade physics and biology.

Understanding sound

The journey of sound starts with a vibration.

When you clap your hands, or snap your fingers - the impact causes a vibration. The air molecules around receive this vibration and then start vibrating themselves. Sound is this vibration travelling through air. The particles don’t travel themselves, but the wave travels through space.

Back to School

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0800

When I told people my intentions to go to grad school, the reactions fell firmly in 2 camps - “Don’t wait too long, you won’t want to do it when you’re older” or “Why do you want to do this now, it’s pretty pointless at this stage of your career”.

In a sense, it was true. The degree itself wouldn’t be “that much” of a value add. I’ve been fortunate to work at really cool places (Uber, Google) where I’ve never felt that the lack of a graduate degree is an impedance on my growth as an engineer.

Remix Everything

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0800

Are DJs musicians?

In my opinion, undoubtedly yes.

While they aren’t creating the raw sound, they are putting it together and layering it in innovative ways. Their creative input lies at a higher level of abstraction than people who have to create the raw sound (singers, instrumentalists). Their performative showmanship lies in sensing the energy of the crowd and guiding it through highs and lows.

We are about to witness “the great dj-fication” - a world where anything and everything is remixable. A world where the cost of creating building blocks for literally anything is going to go tend to zero. What’s going to change when this happens? Who will thrive in this world?

How Asia Works - Book Review and Thoughts

Sun, 14 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0800

“How Asia Works” was an interesting read because it gave me a new perspective on state controls in nurturing a developing economy. Joe Studwell’s central thesis is that governments in developing countries must follow a set pattern to speed up progress : agriculture (with land reforms) → manufacturing (with export discipline) → financial policy (with incentives for technological progress and long term gains).

My main point of contention is with the specific role of manufacturing in this setup. Studwell claims that even today, a developing country must go through the rigors of scaling their manufacturing employment through a 1-2 process:

What I learned at the Inclusive STEM hackathon @ IIIT-B

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 00:00:00 -0800

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in a different kind of hackathon. What made this one different? This one was specifically geared towards the inclusion of visually challenged people in STEM fields. So a fundamental premise for this effort was that each team would be composed of ~2 visually impaired individuals, ~2 industry professionals and a student from IIIT-Bangalore.

It was an incredible experience. For the first time in my life, I saw screen readers being used as a tool, not simply as a novelty. Tools like JAWS/NVDA on laptops, and VoiceOver/Talkback on mobile are indispensible.

Graduating

Wed, 31 May 2017 00:00:00 -0700

4 years ago, I walked into the DTU campus for the very first time. Yesterday, I submitted my CS Major Project - a final step* towards graduating.

Over these last few years, I’ve had the privilege of meeting some incredibly talented people, who’ve broadened my perspective and helped me mature as a person. Looking back, I’ve put together some core values over this period that I try to keep close to heart:-