Author: D. Samarender Reddy

Philosopher & Poet. Holds degrees in Medicine (MBBS) and Economics (MA, The Johns Hopkins University). Certified programmer. An avid reader. Worked in various capacities as a medical writer, copywriter, copyeditor, software programmer, newspaper columnist, and content writer. Amazon Author Page - https://www.amazon.in/stores/D.-Samarender-Reddy/author/B0CB7PMW36

“Hell is Other People”. No, “To Hell with Other People”


Sartre’s “Hell is other people” reveals how the Other’s gaze traps our freedom. My retort, “To hell with other people,” rejects that entrapment, asserting an inner autonomy beyond judgment. Where Sartre diagnoses entanglement, I offer release — an existential Advaita that dissolves dependence on others’ definitions of self.

Testing AI


In a recent exchange with a friend, we debated whether AI’s poetic output can ever rival human expression. My friend challenged me to test it by letting an AI complete the last lines of my poem The Many Guises. The results surprised us both—not because AI mirrored my inner voice, but because it offered fresh closures that were just as valid, though from a more universal lens. This raises the question: is poetry about authentic self-expression, or is it about opening to perspectives beyond the self? Perhaps we are all but flux, wearing many guises.

Dharma


“All Dharma is mere imagination because where there is only the One, where can there be any scope for Dharma. Make the slightest difference between yourself and God, then the head of Dharma rears up.”

This is not a rejection of Dharma, but a reminder of its contingency. Dharma operates within duality: seeker and sought, self and God. For the aspirant, Dharma purifies; for the realized, Dharma dissolves. Aphorisms are easy to misread—yet they point to the timeless truth of Advaita: where nonduality shines, categories collapse, leaving only the One without a second.

Hard Problem of Matter & Hard Problem of Consciousness


The “hard problem of matter” asks: what is matter in itself, beyond equations and interactions? Physics describes how particles and fields behave, but not their intrinsic nature. Similarly, the “hard problem of consciousness” asks: why does brain activity produce subjective experience? Both expose a gap between scientific description and lived reality. Across traditions—Vedanta, Buddhism, Western panpsychism, Daoism, and modern physics—the puzzle is the same: are matter and mind two distinct substances, or two faces of the same reality? Exploring these perspectives reveals how ancient wisdom and modern science converge on this profound mystery of existence.