Ep. 01Media & Algorithms
Anish Mehta
Founder, Animeta
The Algorithm Decides Who Is Heard
A creator can have a voice and still be invisible to the system that decides who gets heard.
A podcast by Riya Kamat
Shadows
of Progress
Every innovation creates opportunity. Shadows of Progress explores its unintended consequences.
About the show
Shadows of Progress is a conversation series for people who want to understand not only what innovation creates, but also what it quietly reshapes along the way. Through conversations with founders, researchers, investors, policymakers, and industry experts across technology, healthcare, agriculture, entertainment, and business, Riya explores the unintended consequences of progress, the systems that shape society, and the ideas that can build more inclusive futures. New episodes on YouTube and Spotify.
Go deeper
Every conversation, audited.
Each episode is followed by a six-question design audit and an interactive systems map: what is actually being designed, who the design assumes, who it leaves outside the frame, what its metrics reward, and what could be built differently.
8
Design audits
8
Systems maps
6
Questions
Featured conversations
Conversations that look beyond what innovation creates to what it quietly reshapes.
Ep. 02Gender & Agency
Avinash Mudaliar
Co-Founder & CEO, Hindustan Times Labs
Recipes as Currency and Who Can Cash In
Earning an income is one kind of progress. Having a say in what happens to it is another.
Ep. 03Gender & Agency
Farhanna Farid
Singapore's Record-Breaking Powerlifter
Who Is a Gym Designed For?
The barriers to strength training begin long before a woman reaches the weights room.
Ep. 04Media & Algorithms
Vivek Kamath
Co-Founder, Matrix Entertainment
The Screen Got Brighter. The Shadows Got Bigger
As technology changes what gets made, protection still follows the people who already have power.
Ep. 05Agriculture
Deepak Malik
Private Equity Investor, Food & Agriculture
Who Does Agricultural Innovation Actually Feed?
The technology may work. The financing decides which farmers can reach it.
Ep. 06Health & Access
Sam Skemp
Associate Producer, Blue Zones
Designed to Live Longer But Designed for Whom?
Making the healthy choice easier only helps when that choice is within reach.
Ep. 07Work & Education
Uday Pimprikar
Senior Partner, EY India
When India's Corporate Engine Accelerates Who Keeps Up?
Adaptability looks like an individual quality. Its foundations are distributed unevenly.
Ep. 08Media & Algorithms
Gaurav Gandhi
Head of Amazon Prime Video, APAC
Streaming Redesigned Entertainment: Who Wrote the New Rules?
Being in the catalogue is not the same as being seen. Who writes the rules of discovery?
Ep. 09Work & Education
Mrs. Khan
Computer Science & Data Structures Teacher
Building Computer Science Classrooms for Everyone
What changes when a classroom is designed around the possibility of growth?
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Want to be on the show?
Riya welcomes conversations with leaders who are willing to explore not only what they’ve built, but also how it has reshaped people, systems, and society.