unLecture x Gully Labs Bangalore

We're revisiting one of psychology's most famous experiments, questioning who gets to belong in a democracy, finding out why good intentions can make terrible policies, meeting the robots that could one day assist astronauts, and spending an evening with poetry, power, and pleasure. Basically, a little psychology, a little politics, a little science, and a lot of things to think about long after you leave. 31st October: The Stanford Prison Experiment: Who Gave You That Power? Ganga M Nair The experiment lasted six days. The legend got a life sentence. We all know the story of ordinary people given power and what supposedly happened next. But what does the experiment actually tell us about human behaviour? And how does power show up in our group chats, relationships, family lunches, and Monday meetings? Through behavioural psychology, neuroscience, and a few experiments on ourselves, we'll unpack the power dynamics hiding in plain sight. 1st November: SIR and the Crisis of Documentary Citizenship Adil Hossain What does it mean to belong to a country, and who gets to decide? Looking at the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls through the lens of documentary citizenship, political anthropologist Adil Hossain examines how documents, identity, religion, and ideas of belonging shape who gets recognised as a citizen — and who risks being excluded. 14th November: The Counter-Intuitive Economist: Stories About Why Good Intentions Make Bad Policy Anupam Manur Is a cotton tote really better for the planet than a plastic bag? Are higher prices during a disaster always a bad thing? And why do attempts to cut out middlemen so often fail? Professor Anupam Manur takes us through the economic ideas hiding behind everyday assumptions, using stories that challenge what we think we know. No equations, no jargon, just a few surprises about how the world works. 22nd November: VLA Rovers: From Assistive Household Companions to Mars Exploration Pradipta Bose What if a robot could understand what you say, see the world around it, and figure out what to do next? From assistive technologies that translate eye movements into actions to intelligent rovers designed for the challenges of space, Prof. Pradipta Bose explores how vision-language-action models are changing the way humans and robots work together — on Earth and potentially on Mars. 28th November: Zulmaton ke Daur Mein: An Evening of Poetry, Power, and Pleasure Neha Mishra What is the point of poetry in a world that often seems determined to do without it? From Plato's attempts to banish poetry from his Republic to contemporary attempts to regulate art and literature, this session explores why poetry continues to matter. Through a selection of poems, we'll think about emotion, pleasure, politics, and how reading might help us find our way through the overwhelming despair of our times. Five sessions, five different rabbit holes, and hopefully a whole lot of new questions. Bangalore, come curious. Leave with something to think about.