Podcasts about Abstraction

As you grow as an engineer, something counterintuitive happens: the systems you build get simpler, not more complex. In this episode, I explore why senior engineers tend to collapse abstractions, accept certain risks, and reduce the surface area they're responsible for — and what drives that shift underneath the surface. Understanding the reasons behind the trend is what lets you get there on purpose instead of waiting a decade to arrive there accidentally. Early in your career, output goes up fast. You're building more than ever, especially with AI in the mix, and a lot of what you build carries real complexity. But watch engineers who have been doing this a long time and you'll notice the opposite of what you'd expect: as their craft improves, their code, their architectures, and their systems get simpler. In today's episode, I dig into why that happens — and why chasing simplicity directly is less useful than understanding the underlying forces that produce it. Simplicity Isn't the Goal — It's the Byproduct: Trying to "make things simpler" as a directive doesn't get you very far. If you can understand the core reasons complexity tends to fall as engineers mature, you can aim at those reasons instead and arrive at simplicity organically. Why Simpler Code Pays Off: Simpler things are easier to understand, which means junior engineers can pick up your code, and future-you can return to a project you've long since left and still make sense of it. Adapting a simple thing is almost always easier than adapting a complex one. The Pain of the Refactor Teaches You: A big part of this shift is scar tissue. Once you've lived through a massive refactor of a complex system, you start making different trade-offs — not from theory, but because you don't want to do that again. Collapsing Vertical Abstractions: One of the most common refactors senior engineers reach for is collapsing long chains of abstraction that only ever get used in one place. It's abstraction without reuse, and it forces you to re-load enormous context just to make a small change. Refining Your Risk Tolerance: Early on, we hedge against every possible risk. Later, we learn some risks are acceptable. Hedging is insurance, and sometimes it's very expensive insurance — paid in velocity, in onboarding difficulty, and in only being able to hire people who can hold all that complexity in their heads. Knowing When to Break Best Practices: Maybe the best practice says abstract this. But if it isn't that hard to understand, and you can get most of the benefit through better naming or tighter scoping, the "correct" move might be the wrong one. The Library Trap (In Both Directions): Seniors often take a trip through "let's not use external packages, we don't know what's in them" — and end up maintaining a shadow version of the thing they avoided. The more experienced call is often to accept the trade-off, adopt the well-documented dependency, and shrink what you are responsible for. Reducing Surface Area Creates Focus: The through-line in all of these trade-offs is a shrinking surface area. Fewer things to maintain means more focus, and more focus means the things you are responsible for get done very well. It's an open question whether those behaviors follow seniority or cause it. Drive to the Fundamentals: Think about a machine built from a ramp, a screw, a rubber band, and a motor. A more senior craftsperson recognizes the problem is fundamentally about conservation of energy, and reconfigures it down to two parts instead of eight. Slightly less efficient, maybe — but far less to teach, maintain, and break. Episode Homework: Ask yourself: what am I responsible for right now that I could simplify? Where can I get away from the tactics and the surface-level stuff, get down to the core of the thing, and focus on doing that core really well?

durée : 00:42:38 - Les émissions culturelles de France Culture - par : Aliette Hovine - Au musée Soulages de Rodez, l'exposition « Reprendre la mélodie » fait résonner les oeuvres du photographe japonais avec celles du peintre français. Abstraction, antériorité du noir, cosmologie : Hiroshi Sugimoto nous invite à contempler un horizon qui est peut-être aussi celui des premiers hommes. - équipe : Françoise Le Floch, Anne-Toscane Viudes, Théa Corler, Alice Puydebois, Louan Chailleux - invités : Maud Marron-Wojewodzki Conservatrice du musée Soulages à Rodez, Céline Flécheux Professeure, historienne de l'art et philosophe de formation. Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France

I gave a lecture about "Blending the Elements of Experiential Design" on Saturday, June 6, 2026 at Seattle XR in Seattle, Washington. (PDF of Slides]. At the end, I run through some examples of the types of interdisciplinary fusion that I see within the context of immersive storytelling and immersive art. This lecture also digs into the process-relational philosophical foundations, as well as how I'm gaining additional inspiration from Empedocles, Aristotle, and the Classical Quadrivium (Four Arts) of Math, Music, Geometry, and Astronomy. For my 30+ hours of coverage of Venice Immersive, then I apply this archetypal framework to help describe the context, quality, character, and story of each of these projects. You can see an overview of how I've been using this framework in this PDF on "Venice Immersive 2025 Archetypal Categorizations" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01M5NcOYzx0 One of goals of this talk was to further define the archetypal nature of the elements, and how I'm conceiving of them as a possibility space of design tradeoffs (C.S. Peirce's "Firstness"), but also as the concrete decisions that an experiential designer makes ("Secondness"), and then finally how these decisions are experienced more from a phenomenological experience as the audience as we feel, sense, act, and make sense of these experiences, and what they might mean ("Thirdness"). I do not actually dive into Peirce's concepts of Firstness, Secondness, or Thirdness in this specific talk, but I wanted to elaborate on these concepts in this write-up as these have been crucial concepts to help translate the overall abstract Firstness quality of my talk, and ground it into the Secondness of something that is a bit more practical and pragmatic. For Peirce, his semiology is grounded into a triune theory of actualization that goes from a non-Boolean possibility space as Firstness, and then grounds into a Boolean actualization of secondness, and then an interpretant mediates from the concreteness of the Secondness object back to the Firstness of the fundamental archetypal qualities or meaning. I find speculative philosopher James Bradley's summary of the Peirce's triune semiology to be the most easy to digest in his essay titled, "Beyond Hermeneutics: Peirce's Semiology as a Trinitarian Metaphysics of Communication." I can also recommend this article on "Peirce's Theory of Signs" from the The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for a comprehensive recap, and there's also this excellent YouTube series primer by Philosign's Markus Raninen titled The Basics of Semiotics. But here's Bradley's description of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness, which I find myself coming back to again and again. "Within the fundamental speculative triunity of activity, difference and order, or firstness, secondness and thirdness, semiology is an analysis of order or thirdness… Thirdness is analyzed as idea or sign, as the exchange of information between individual entities, and as interpretation; in other words, thirdness is itself a threefold of sign, object and interpretant. Here, sign occupies the position of firstness because it is the potentiality for interpretation; object occupies that of secondness because it is determinate; and the interpretant occupies that of thirdness because the interpretant has the sign-interpreting or sign-ordering role, and so has the status of a third. [24] Thus for Peirce semiology is the analysis of the triune relation of sign, object and interpretant." It's still a bit obtuse, and one way that I like to think about it is through the experience of communication. You have a possibility space of meaning you want to convey (Firstness of the sign/potential), then you choose specific words that convey that meaning (Secondness of the object), then someone listens to those words and phrases, and then connects those words back to a meaning space (Thirdness of the interpretant mediating between the two). For Peirce, each of the Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness can also refer to themselves, like you can have a Firstness of Thirdness or Secondness of Firstness. It gets a little bit confusing, but I found the following graphic from Collected Essays in Speculative Philosophy (2021) by James Bradley and edited by Sean McGrath to be very useful. Within the context of immersive storytelling, then it's a semiotic process of communication of meaning where you're able to use all sorts of affordances from game design, literature, social dynamics and relations, music, film, lighting, architecture, dance, theme park design, sensory design, and embodiment. My Elemental Theory of Presence attempts to simplify this into the following: Fire Element of Active Presence: Interactivity, Agency, Game Design Air Element of Mental & Social Presence: Meaning, Semiotics, Language, Possibility, Form, Relationality Water Element of Emotional Presence: Experiential Processes, Story, Film, Music, Cycles, Time Earth Element of Environmental & Embodied Presence: Sensory, Immersive, Worldbuilding, Space I elaborate on the various philosophical frameworks that I'm leaning up within this talk that I gave on June 6, 2026, but since then I've been diving more into Peirce and his Triune Metaphysics and Semiology of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness, which has been a helpful framework as I've been applying the elements to my Venice Immersive Coverage and categorizing the elemental center of gravity for each of the nearly 40 projects that I covered. Again see this framework in this PDF on "Venice Immersive 2025 Archetypal Categorizations" to see how I have been thinking about each of these projects. I used this approach in the introductions for each of my podcast episodes from Venice (see the links down below). Firstness of Fire: Creativity, Novelty, Intention, Purpose, Goals, & Aristotle's Final Cause Secondness of Fire: Interactivity & Core Gameplay Loops Thirdness of Fire: Agency & Will For Active Presence Examples of Fire: Game Design, Locomotion Options: No Movement, Automatic movement, Teleportation, or free roaming. The LIVENESS of the Live, To what degree does the experience encourage the expression of will and agency? And to what degree does that alter how the narrative unfolds (narrative agency vs participatory interactive moments that customize and flavor the experience)? Adventure, Exploration, Creativity, Novelty, Freedom, Will, and Collective Action. System Dynamics, & iterative feedback loops Firstness of Air: Peirce's "Sign," Intended Meaning, Pattern & Form, Archetypal Possibility Spaces, Relationality, & Aristotle's Formal Cause Secondness of Air: Peirce's "Object" Within A Triadic Semiotic Process (i.e. a specific action, word, harmonic, or action that points to a larger meaning.) Thirdness of Air: Peirce's "Interpretant," Sensemaking Thoughts, Expectations, & Social Dynamics For Mental & Social Presence Examples of Air: Literature, Language, Semiotics, Communication, Symbols, Abstractions. Single Player vs Multi-Player, Suspension of Disbelief and Plausibility, Social Dynamics, Anticipation of the Future, Possibility Spaces, Types of Choices. Realms of Speculative Imagination, How is meaning communicated? Dialogue amongst characters, voice-over narration, environmental storytelling, non-verbal associative dream logic. Mental friction from puzzles. Rules & Mechanics. Use of certain types of AI and Conversational Interfaces with Virtual Beings Firstness of Water: Time, Cycles, Harmonics, Value, & Aristotle's "Material Cause" (in Whitehead's event ontology, then base reality is processes, relationships, and possibilities of value & not Substance) Secondness of Water: Experiential Processes That Provide Contrasts Thirdness of Water: Feelings for Emotional Presence Examples of Water: Cinematic Film Tradition, Music, Harmonics, Rhythm, Pacing, Editing, Contrasts, Emotion, Memory, Dreams, Images, Soul, Psyche, Symbols, Lighting, Mood, Collective Unconscious Firstness of Earth: Space, World, Context, & Aristotle's Efficient Cause Secondness of Earth: Environment & Worldbuilding With Situated Perspectives in that Context Thirdness of Earth: Sensory Perception & Sense of Place for Embodied & Environmental Presence Examples of Earth: Worldbuilding of a spatial context & culture. Architecture, Theater, Theme Park Design, Dance, Are you a ghost or an embodied character? Sensory Experience: Touch/Haptics, Hearing/Spatial Sound, Smells, Vision. Relation of Immersive Tech to Environment as either VR, MR, or AR. Virtual CGI vs Cinematic 180/360 Video, Again, check out this PDF on "Venice Immersive 2025 Archetypal Categorizations" to see how I've ranked nearly 40 projects from Venice Immersive 2025 on the relative elemental center of gravity. Some projects feel more like a cinematic immersive film, which would be a bit more biased towards the Water Element. Some projects are more focused on the experience of a world that was build, and more focused on the Earth Element. Some projects are asking you to Read a book together with other people, which is more focused on the Air Element. And then other more game-like experiences are focused on using interactions as their primary mode of engagement, and so they're more focused on the fire element. There are 64 total combinations of the elements in terms of the first, second, third, or four centers of gravity, and you can see the comprehensive visualization here: Technically, all four elements are always happening all at once all at the same time. However, in experiential design, then creators can emphasize and blend elements together. So I find that ranking the elements can be helpful in determining an overall center of gravity, and that looking at the first two centers of gravity can achieve a sufficient job of creating some ad hoc, immersive and "elemental genres....

As drought conditions worsen across England, MPs demand urgent government action to safeguard water supplies for food production. South Norfolk MP Ben Goldsborough says farmers need more flexible abstraction licences, simpler rules for building reservoirs and adequate support. We examine Defra’s new £1.5m Farmer Welfare Grant and ask whether improving personal resilience can help farmers navigate increasingly volatile weather, markets and government policy. Meanwhile, grain marketing consultant Richard Whitlock warns growers to carry out due diligence when selling grain as profitability among merchants comes under pressure. And we celebrate 150 volumes of the Aberdeen Angus Herd Book – and ask how genetics and data could shape the breed’s next 150 years. Guests * Ben Goldsborough – Labour MP for South Norfolk* Samantha “Sammy” Seaman – farm leadership, mindset and resilience coach* Richard Whitlock – grain marketing consultant* Robert Gilchrist – chief executive, Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society Chapters 00:55 – Farmers demand their fair share of water01:25 – Ben Goldsborough: “Drier than Jerusalem”02:28 – Abstraction licences and regulation03:16 – Food security versus data centres03:48 – What farmers can do05:35 – Is Defra listening?08:17 – What help do drought-hit farms need?10:57 – A climate “doom loop”?14:37 – Bayer Autumn Drilling Update16:55 – £1.5m Farmer Welfare Grant17:20 – Samantha Seaman on handling pressure20:01 – Building resilient farm businesses23:25 – Can farmers bounce back?26:31 – Bluetongue situation worsens30:57 – Sustainable Farming Incentive update32:27 – Harvest quality surprises34:47 – Be careful who buys your grain36:47 – Checking your grain buyer38:30 – Commodity markets41:27 – Aberdeen Angus at 15042:29 – Why Aberdeen Angus endures43:17 – Genetics, DNA and lower emissions49:30 – Closing remarks Useful links - Rural Payments Agency extreme weather guidance- Defra Farmer Welfare Grant- Samantha Seaman Coaching- Richard Whitlock – grain merchant analysis- Bayer Crop Science weed management- Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society This episode of the Farmers Weekly Podcast is co-hosted by Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom. Edited and produced by Johann Tasker. To get in touch with the Farmers Weekly Podcast: - Contact or follow Johann: linkedin.com/in/johanntasker/ Contact or follow Louise: linkedin.com/in/louise-impey-95470b20b/ Contact or follow Hugh: linkedin.com/in/hugh-broom-9b11906a/ For Farmers Weekly, visit fwi.co.uk or follow linkedin.com/company/farmers-weekly To contact, sponsor or advertise on the Farmers Weekly Podcast, email podcast@fwi.co.uk. In the UK, you can also text the word FARM followed by your message to 88 44 0. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I sit down once again with Francis Weller to explore the cultural collapse we are living through and what it means to navigate "the long dark". We delve into how modern individualism and market-driven growth strip us of primary soul satisfactions, leaving us increasingly abstracted from nature, community, and our own inner lives. Francis shares profound insights on reframing grief, defeat, and vulnerability, offering a path to move beyond chronic self-obsession and return to true reciprocity with the living world.SHOW HIGHLIGHTS00:00:00 - 11 Years of ManTalks and Welcoming Back Francis Weller00:01:02 - Cultural Collapse and Navigating "The Long Dark"00:05:07 - Living Culture vs. Disparate Society00:08:00 - Individualism, Capitalism, and Primary Satisfactions00:15:04 - The Illusion of Constant Growth and Systemic Deficit00:17:56 - Artificial Intelligence and the Abstraction of Human Life00:26:28 - Original Instructions: Reciprocity with the Living World00:32:00 - "Wetiko" and the Psychological Toll of Disconnection00:36:08 - Understanding Soul as Depth, Vulnerability, and Terrain00:44:00 - Moving Beyond the Hero Myth to Embrace Defeat00:50:43 - Transforming Shame: From Contempt to Compassion00:59:39 - Re-encountering Otherness and Reclaiming Wild Soul Life01:02:40 - Closing Thoughts and Where to Find Francis Weller***Tired of feeling like you're never enough? Build your self-worth with help from this free guide: https://training.mantalks.com/self-worthPick up my book, Men's Work: A Practical Guide To Face Your Darkness, End Self-Sabotage, And Find Freedom: https://mantalks.com/mens-work-book/Heard about attachment but don't know where to start? Try the FREE Ultimate Guide To AttachmentCheck out some other free resources: How To Quit Porn | Anger Meditation | How To Lead In Your RelationshipBuild brotherhood with a powerful group of like-minded men from around the world. Check out The Alliance. Enjoy the podcast? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Podchaser. It helps us get into the ears of new listeners, expand the ManTalks Community, and help others find the tools and training they're looking for. And don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | SpotifyFor more, visit us at ManTalks.com | Facebook | Instagram

This post officially kicks off my Venice Immersive 2025 coverage, see links to all 38 episodes and 30+ hours of interviews down below. We're starting off with the interview that I did with Doug Liman (co-founder of 30 Ninjas), Julina Tatlock (co-founder of 30 Ninjas), & Jed Weintrob (co-founder of 30 Ninjas), & Max Spear (Product Lead of Android XR at Google) about Asteroid on Saturday, August 30, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy. Here is the story synopsis for Asteroid: "Asteroid is an immersive film and interactive story extension made for the launch of Google's new Android XR platform. The 180° immersive short film is a high-stakes action thriller about a group of strangers who take an old Russian Soyuz rocket to mine a near-earth, treasure laden asteroid for a chance at unimaginable wealth. After the film, the experience continues and the audience enters the world of Asteroid when they receive an SOS from one of the characters, DK Metcalf, who was left for dead. The viewer becomes a player when they are invited to aid in DK's rescue. Through speaking with an AI-generated version of DK — played by the NFL player as himself — the user determines the truth about what happened on the asteroid and sends his exact location to NASA for rescue." Here are the contextual domains that are explored: Long distance travel [9] where someone is left behind (de facto exile) [12], and there is a rescue mission where you as a character [1] help out the protagonist [7] in the second half, but also a lot of mystery [12] to figure out and investigate [9] Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity: 1st Center of Gravity of Emotional Presence: cinematic Virtual Reality thriller that begins as a film and continues as an immersive story game. Combination of live-action 180-video along with CGI-driven animations also in 180-video2nd Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Worldbuilding of sci-fi extraction of asteroid, you embody a character in story in the last part, and you break the fourth wall in the onboarding talking to the actor who plays a character via AI3rd Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: Conversational-driven AI Story Extension - You talk to the actor DK Metcalf at the beginning and with the character at the end. A bit of puzzling together of the myserious aspects of the story4th Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: continues as an immersive story game - Improv convo + slightly nudged and directed exploration Archetypal Themes and Character Explored: Everyone are anti-heroes archetypes - Power and Greed vs Limitations, constraints, boundaries, death. Doug Liman says there aren't many anti-heroes in space movies, Han Solo is an exception. What if all of the characters were Han Solos? What drama would ensue? Artist Statement: "I've always thought of myself as an immersive filmmaker. The goal was to put the audience in the action, not to be sort of passively watching it. Now that the technology has caught up with us, I really can put the audience in the rocket. Asteroid is the story of a ragtag group of astronauts who booked a ride on a used Soyuz spacecraft. An asteroid passes near Earth. It's laden with precious metals and gems. If you can get there, you can become insanely wealthy. It's a modern gold rush." Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1163762576/d0d75004c2?fl=pl&fe=vl You can find links to my 30+ hours of my coverage from Venice Immersive 2025 across 39 episodes. I've categorized the experiences according to these "elemental genres," which is looking at the top two elemental centers of gravity. You can watch this talk on "Blending the Elements on Experiential Design" for more details. #1650: Sneak Peak of Venice Immersive 2025 Selection with Curators Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac #1750: Doug Liman's "Asteroid" Short Immersive Film with Google Gemini Story Extension + Kickoff of Venice Immersive 2025 Coverage #1751: "Ghost Town" Narrative Integration in Puzzle Adventure with Exquisite Worldbuilding #1752: Blending Embodied Game & Narrative Genres with "One True Path, Part 1" #1753: Mixed Reality Town-Building and Sim Game "Wall Town Wonders" #1754: Screen Life Thriller "LILI" about Surveillance Fuses Game Design, Film, and MacBeth Adaptation #1755: Hand-Tracked Sign Language as Story Beat Triggers in "Eddie and I" #1756: Exploring Narrative Potential of Generative AI in "8pm and the Cat" #1757: Embody a Geranium in Immersive Comedy about Boredom in "The Great Escape" #1758: Reckoning with Mental Health Taboos in Japan with "If You See a Cat" Immersive Animation #1759: Mother-Daughter Team Explore Personal Challenges with Depression and Anxiety in "Mirage" Immersive Animation #1760: Immersive Fairy Tale about Automation with "The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody" #1761: Unpacking the Immersive Orchestral Mix of "1968" with Massimiliano Borghesi #1762: Fusing Experimental Immersive Animation with Cutting-Edge Orchestral Spatial Audio Mix in "1968" #1763: Blending Theater and 360 Video in "Re-Launching-Luigi-Broglio" #1764: Mixing Hand-Drawn Animation with 360 Video in "The Time Before" #1765: Immersive Action Thriller "Mulan 2125" Pushes the Edge of Graphical Fidelity #1766: Formula 1 LBE Experience "Black Cats & Chequered Flags" is an Immersive Biopic of Alberto Anscari #1767: Immersive Journey through Special Effects Pioneer Carlo Rambaldi's Paintings in "Alien Perspective" #1768: Symbolic Journey through Lithuania's Artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis' Paintings in "Creation of the World" #1769: Mixed Reality Musical on Avatars and Identity in "First Virtual Suit" #1770: Eastern Philosophy-Inspired Fusion of Theater and XR with "Mnemosyne" #1771: Environmental Storytelling in "The Great Orator" VR Diorama with Generative AI Experiments #1772: Climate Change Spatial Montage "Out of Nowhere" Aspires to Move Towards Rewilding Prevention #1773: "Collective Body" Assigns Elemental Avatars Based Upon Archetypal Dance Movements #1774: Combining Live Dance and Music in Immersive LBE Performance "L'ombre (The Shadow)" #1775: The Continuous Spatial One-Shot of Backlight's "La Magie Opera" LBE #1776: The Spatial Grammar Innovations of Dialectical Contrasts and Abstraction within "The Big Cube" #1777: Active Imagination, Associative Dream Logic, & Embodied Interactions in "Sense of Nowhere" #1778: Collaborative Social Game and Story of "Happy Shadow" #1779: "Heartbeat" Immersive, 1-on-1 Biometric Synchronization and Involuntary Collective Agency #1780: Recap of VRChat Worlds Gallery at Venice Immersive 2025 with Mike Salmon #1781: Winner of Venice Immersive 2025 "The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up" Innovates on Gaussian Splats & Spatial Storytelling #1782: "A Long Goodbye" Wins 3rd Place Prize at Venice Immersive with Emotionally-Moving Story on Dementia and Spatial Grammar Innovations #1783: "Less Than 5gr of Saffron" Wins 2nd Place Prize at Venice Immersive with Spatial Poem Quill Animation #1784: The Incredible Spatial Transitions of "Dark Rooms" with Radical Consent Innovations #1785: The Landmark Achievements of "Blur" in Fusing Theater, Montage, Mixed Reality, and LBE VR #1786: Collective Reading Experience of "Constantinopoliad" Provokes Discussion on Defining "Immersive" #1787: Blending the Elements of Experiential Design & Process-Relational Foundations of the Elements This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

I interviewed Menghui Huang about The Big Cube on Monday, September 1, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy. Here is the story synopsis for The Big Cube: "A world is made of cubes. The creatures there always follow instructions and push cubes numbly. Yet, when one of them chooses not to follow the instructions, after discovering another path, something unexpected happens." Here are the contextual domains that are explored: Tensions between the Sense of Self [1] in the context of the Other [7], and specifically the Cultural pressures to conform [11] with the desire to express personal creativity [5]. Takes inspiration from the repetitions of straight lines and rectanges of Chinese Architecture [4], and then creates more of an organic and flowing perspective as shown by a professional artist [5H in the context of 10]. A lot of dialectical oppositions contextually and thematically. Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity: 1st Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: Abstracting shapes to build the world. The Big Cube is an artistic VR experience that explores the abstraction of reality through minimal forms and immersive space. -- The use of abstract shapes to communicate a lot. No words used at all, and so the contrasts between the embodied and spatial metaphors as used in a highly symbolic dream logic to tell this story. It has to be pieced together a bit, but the contrasts between controlled structure and unconstrained freedom and chaos come through loud and clear. "That's the true beauty of abstraction, it leaves space for everyone"2nd Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Animated immersive film, and a paradigmatic example of pur spatial storytelling analagous to visual storytelling, but using the modulation of spatial architecture rather than the justaposition of 2D images in film. There was no script to follow, but mainly evolved out of the iterative and juxtapositions of spatial forms relative to each other3rd Center of Gravity of Water Element / Emotional Presence: Very much driven by the music to amplify the thematic contrasts from constriction to expansion, and serves the timekeeper of the piece giving it an overall rhythm and pacing.4th Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: No narrative agency or any embodied Interactions Archetypal Themes and Character Explored: The tension between Order / Structure / Control and Chaos / Unboundedness / Freedom. Definitely inspired by the collective pressures to conform within China versus the creative freedom and expression that comes from travelling to other cultures to find an authentic artistic voice. This is a very dialectical piece that is a case study in spatial contrasts to communicate oppositions within contextual domains, themes, and expressions of archetypal character. Artist Statement: "Simple, yet powerful. Abstracting shapes to build the world. The Big Cube is an artistic VR experience that explores the abstraction of reality through minimal forms and immersive space. Anchored in the idea that simplicity can carry profound meaning, the project reduces the complexity of the world into fundamental shapes. These visual elements, stripped of detail yet rich in implication, invite viewers into a contemplative space. Through virtual reality, the experience deepens, allowing for a layered reflection that extends beyond the visual. The project encourages audiences to feel and interpret the experience in their own way." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdVmImU9G3A This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

I interviewed Sister Sylvester about Constantinopoliad on Friday, September 12, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy. Here is the story synopsis for Constantinopoliad: "Constantinopoliad is a collective reading and audio work. A response to the archive of the poet Constantine Cavafy, the story is inspired by the blank and torn-out pages in Constantinopoliad, an Epic, the journal the teenage Cavafy began when he and his family fled Alexandria; by lost and missing queer archives through time; and by the ghosts, both erotic and historical, that visit the older Cavafy in his poems." Here are the contextual domains that are explored: The exploration of identity [1] as a person has moved from his home [4], and into a distant land [9] with some feelingsof being exiled [12], but also the implication of homosexuality [5] within the context of having to remain hidden or taboo [12]. It's dipping into the vast archive [9] of Cavafy's expressions of identity [1] and poetry and art [5], and recontextualizing as these universal experiences that are still very much relevant today [9]. Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity: 1st Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: collaboratively reading together - narrative distillation of an archive. You listening to the audio narration, but you have to negotiate how to co-read this "book" object together. The form of this "book" also deviates from normal book where it is part pop-up book, but also a flat stage to be explored with the other person. This externalized book becomes a bit of an abstracted theatrical stage for the story as it unfolds, but there are also more explicitly architectural elements to this "book" object as well. The piece also creates an implicit invitation to connect and talk with your audience partner afterwards about the piece2nd Center of Gravity of Water Element / Emotional Presence: AMAZING MUSIC + time-based narration + lighting. There's some amazing synchrony between the music, the timing of the reading, as well as the lighting. It really gives a strong sense of time. The reading of the story almost feels like a narrative podcast of sorts, but is mostly a matter of convenience of recording of the live performance so that it could be toured at immersive festivals without the burden of paying for all of the performers and musicians.3rd Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Book like object as an architectural artifact, and has a whole spatial journey. The installation also had tables with lighting effects, but also there were projctions that were happening within the space as well. Most of the focus of spatial experience happens within the context of the architectural nature of the "book" object, but the other theatrical elements of the environment definitely help to cultivate an overall mood.4th Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: Explore the story through various interactions. There's no narrative agency per se, although one could deviate from directly reading along with the text. There's an implicit contract to stay on course with your actions since you're negotiating the experience with another person. Archetypal Themes and Character Explored: Exploration of the "lost and missing queer archives through time; and by the ghosts, both erotic and historical, that visit the older Cavafy in his poems" Artist Statement: "My favorite response to this work was an audience member who described it as 'making love to a stranger through a book'. The work invites audiences into a sensual and concrete encounter with Cavafy's life and poems: fingers making contact with history; illumination revealing images from between the pages; sounds conjuring the ghosts of 19th century Alexandrian cabarets. With words by sister sylvester, score by Nadah El Shazly, and illustrations by Efrîn Özyetis, Constantinopoliad is a multi-sensory encounter with the past, and with forgotten stories that can haunt us into new imaginings for the present." You can see the projects I covered at Venice Immersive 2025 categorized in this image: Below, you will find links to my 30+ hours of my coverage from Venice Immersive 2025 across 39 episodes. I've categorized the experiences according to these "elemental genres," which is looking at the top two elemental centers of gravity. You can listen to this episode or watch the video version of "The Blending the Elements on Experiential Design" YouTube on for more details. #1650: Sneak Peak of Venice Immersive 2025 Selection with Curators Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac #1750: Doug Liman's "Asteroid" Short Immersive Film with Google Gemini Story Extension + Kickoff of Venice Immersive 2025 Coverage #1751: "Ghost Town" Narrative Integration in Puzzle Adventure with Exquisite Worldbuilding #1752: Blending Embodied Game & Narrative Genres with "One True Path, Part 1" #1753: Mixed Reality Town-Building and Sim Game "Wall Town Wonders" #1754: Screen Life Thriller "LILI" about Surveillance Fuses Game Design, Film, and MacBeth Adaptation #1755: Hand-Tracked Sign Language as Story Beat Triggers in "Eddie and I" #1756: Exploring Narrative Potential of Generative AI in "8pm and the Cat" #1757: Embody a Geranium in Immersive Comedy about Boredom in "The Great Escape" #1758: Reckoning with Mental Health Taboos in Japan with "If You See a Cat" Immersive Animation #1759: Mother-Daughter Team Explore Personal Challenges with Depression and Anxiety in "Mirage" Immersive Animation #1760: Immersive Fairy Tale about Automation with "The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody" #1761: Unpacking the Immersive Orchestral Mix of "1968" with Massimiliano Borghesi #1762: Fusing Experimental Immersive Animation with Cutting-Edge Orchestral Spatial Audio Mix in "1968" #1763: Blending Theater and 360 Video in "Re-Launching-Luigi-Broglio" #1764: Mixing Hand-Drawn Animation with 360 Video in "The Time Before" #1765: Immersive Action Thriller "Mulan 2125" Pushes the Edge of Graphical Fidelity #1766: Formula 1 LBE Experience "Black Cats & Chequered Flags" is an Immersive Biopic of Alberto Anscari #1767: Immersive Journey through Special Effects Pioneer Carlo Rambaldi's Paintings in "Alien Perspective" #1768: Symbolic Journey through Lithuania's Artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis' Paintings in "Creation of the World" #1769: Mixed Reality Musical on Avatars and Identity in "First Virtual Suit" #1770: Eastern Philosophy-Inspired Fusion of Theater and XR with "Mnemosyne" #1771: Environmental Storytelling in "The Great Orator" VR Diorama with Generative AI Experiments #1772: Climate Change Spatial Montage "Out of Nowhere" Aspires to Move Towards Rewilding Prevention #1773: "Collective Body" Assigns Elemental Avatars Based Upon Archetypal Dance Movements #1774: Combining Live Dance and Music in Immersive LBE Performance "L'ombre (The Shadow)" #1775: The Continuous Spatial One-Shot of Backlight's "La Magie Opera" LBE #1776: The Spatial Grammar Innovations of Dialectical Contrasts and Abstraction within "The Big Cube" #1777: Active Imagination, Associative Dream Logic, & Embodied Interactions in "Sense of Nowhere" #1778: Collaborative Social Game and Story of "Happy Shadow" #1779: "Heartbeat" Immersive, 1-on-1 Biometric Synchronization and Involuntary Collective Agency #1780: Recap of VRChat Worlds Gallery at Venice Immersive 2025 with Mike Salmon #1781: Winner of Venice Immersive 2025 "The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up" Innovates on Gaussian Splats & Spatial Storytelling #1782: "A Long Goodbye" Wins 3rd Place Prize at Venice Immersive with Emotionally-Moving Story on Dementia and Spatial Grammar Innovations #1783: "Less Than 5gr of Saffron" Wins 2nd Place Prize at Venice Immersive with Spatial Poem Quill Animation #1784: The Incredible Spatial Transitions of "Dark Rooms" with Radical Consent Innovations #1785: The Landmark Achievements of "Blur" in Fusing Theater, Montage, Mixed Reality, and LBE VR #1786: Collective Reading Experience of "Constantinopoliad" Provokes Discussion on Defining "Immersive" #1787: Blending the Elements of Experiential Design & Process-Relational Foundations of the Elements This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

This episode is sponsored by Notion. Learn more about Notion's Developer Platform today at https://notion.com/mlstWhy can deep networks discover abstractions that shallow models miss? Statistical physicist Matthieu Wyart joins Tim Scarfe to argue that the answer lies in the hidden hierarchy of data. Language and images are built from parts within parts; depth lets a network recover those coarse-grained variables and escape the curse of dimensionality.The conversation moves from jamming transitions and rough loss surfaces to Chomsky, context-free grammars and machine creativity. Wyart explains why next-token prediction can still recover compositional structure, where current systems fall short of genuine scientific invention, and why predicting latent representations rather than raw tokens could make learning far more sample-efficient.They also examine diffusion models, neural scaling laws and the limits of physics-inspired theory. The final question is on a personal note: if mistakes are the price of leaving the beaten path, how much scientific risk is worth taking?---TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Can machines learn abstractions from data?00:02:00 Notion agentic workspace00:02:49 From statistical physics to machine learning00:06:40 What physics can explain about learning00:16:37 From Carnot to Chomsky bulldozer00:21:21 How deep networks recover hidden hierarchies00:32:43 Where machine creativity still falls short00:40:48 How deep nets escape the curse of dimensionality00:52:19 Why predict latents instead of tokens01:02:49 The sample-efficiency case for latent prediction01:08:31 Diffusion, scaling laws and text entropy01:16:40 The scientists we learn from and the mistakes we make---REFERENCES:person:[00:00:43] Noam Chomskyhttps://linguistics.mit.edu/user/chomsky/tool:[00:02:08] Notion Developer Platformhttps://www.notion.com/en-gb/blog/introducing-developer-platformpaper:[00:04:43] Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree searchhttps://www.nature.com/articles/nature16961[00:05:52] Reconciling modern machine-learning practice and the bias-variance trade-offhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1812.11118[00:25:54] How Deep Neural Networks Learn Compositional Data: The Random Hierarchy Modelhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2307.02129[00:42:12] Efficient Estimation of Word Representations in Vector Spacehttps://arxiv.org/abs/1301.3781[00:52:46] Self-Supervised Learning from Images with a Joint-Embedding Predictive Architecturehttps://arxiv.org/abs/2301.08243[00:52:54] Learn from your own latents and not from tokens: A sample-complexity theoryhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27734[01:08:31] A Phase Transition in Diffusion Models Reveals the Hierarchical Nature of Datahttps://arxiv.org/abs/2402.16991[01:11:39] Scaling Laws for Neural Language Modelshttps://arxiv.org/abs/2001.08361[01:12:17] Deriving Neural Scaling Laws from the statistics of natural languagehttps://arxiv.org/abs/2602.07488[01:13:34] Prediction and Entropy of Printed Englishhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6773263---LINKS:Download PDF transcript: https://app.rescript.info/share/f7644cdaa86c5cc1e41e484e290f2bd4

“Analogica Entis, Abstraction via Seperatio, and the Subject Matter of Metaphysics,” by Dr. Steven Long (Ave Maria University). Presented at Thomas Aquinas College's 2026 Thomistic Summer Conference.

The whole of Wales and half of England are now officially in drought. For farmers the impacts are huge. There are concerns about a shortage of feed for livestock and cereal yields are down. The Environment Agency in England says it will step up controls on how much water can be taken from rivers and groundwater. The National Farmers Union has called for a more modern abstraction system, saying we're still using regulations which are 50 years old. The environmental charity River Action says too many businesses are taking water from rivers, and the government should review the abstraction licence system. It says that trillions of litres of water are being taken from rivers, lakes and aquifers every year.There's been a rise in cases of bluetongue this summer. The disease is spread by midges and can have a devastating impact on cattle and sheep. We hear from a farmer who lost a third of his calves due to the virus, and a scientist who says the hot weather is accelerating the spread.All week BBC local radio stations in England have been focusing on agriculture, as part of this year's Farmwatch reporters have looked at food inflation and what rising costs mean for producers. We also hear from an inspiring young farmer in Cornwall, who has got his own dairy herd - comprising one Jersey cow.Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney

This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club.http://gotopia.tech/bookclubCheck out more here:https://gotopia.tech/episodes/449Simon Brown - Author & Creator of "The C4 Model"Susanne Kaiser - Independent Tech Consultant & Author of "Architecture for Flow"RESOURCESSimonhttps://simonbrown.jehttps://bsky.app/profile/simonbrown.jehttps://twitter.com/simonbrownhttps://linkedin.com/in/simonbrownjerseyhttps://c4model.comSusannehttps://bsky.app/profile/suksr.bsky.socialhttps://mastodon.social/@suksrhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/susannekaiser1https://susannekaiser.netLinkshttps://structurizr.comDESCRIPTIONSimon Brown explains that the C4 Model started not as a grand design theory, but as a practical answer to an embarrassing problem: running a workshop on architecture diagramming, he realized he couldn't understand any of the diagrams being produced. The model formalized his own consulting practice of hierarchical handover documentation — context diagram at the top, containers below, components and code at the bottom — giving it a name and making it teachable. His core advice is to start with just the top two levels: context and container diagrams. These change infrequently, are quick to draw, and deliver immediate value. Levels three and four — components and code — are included for completeness but age rapidly with every commit, and in most cases aren't worth the maintenance overhead.Two especially practical insights emerge from the conversation. First, how to handle microservices: if your team owns all the services inside a system boundary, each service is a collection of C4 containers; if you depend on another team's service that you can't see inside, model it as an opaque software system. This maps naturally to how domain boundaries and team ownership actually work in practice. Second, the surprisingly important distinction between modeling and diagramming: C4's real value is the shared vocabulary — systems, containers, components, code — not the visual notation itself. Teams using entirely different tooling can communicate clearly because they've agreed on what the words mean. Simon is firm that there will be no C4 v2; the model is intentionally lightweight, and adding more would risk turning it into the next UML — comprehensive, heavy, and largely abandoned.RECOMMENDED BOOKSSimon Brown • The C4 Model • https://amzn.to/4xB9V33Susanne Kaiser • Adaptive Systems With Domain-Driven Design, Wardley Mapping & Team Topologies • https://amzn.to/3XTmNCcNick Rozanski &, Eóin Woods • Software Systems Architecture • https://amzn.to/4cOLtTvvan Kelle, Verschatse &Baas-Schwegler • Collaborative Software Design • https://amzn.to/4iv0N8IBlueskyInstagramLinkedInFacebookCHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUSJoin this channel to get early access to videos & other perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/joinLooking for a unique learning experience?Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket: gotopia.techSUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL - new videos posted daily!

Philosopher Stefan Molyneux explains why we fear guilt and shame in this listener questions episode by showing how failed relationships usually come from self-deception where physical attraction blinds people to bad character. He advocates getting honest about red flags and choosing partners based on long-term parenting potential instead of short-term desire.GET FREEDOMAIN MERCH! https://shop.freedomain.com/SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! https://x.com/StefanMolyneuxFollow me on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@freedomain1GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK!https://peacefulparenting.com/Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free!Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows!You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!See you soon!https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/FREEDOMAIN2026

Over the past 55 plus years, John Gilbert Luebtow has become one of the most respected names in contemporary glass sculpture. Inspired by Friedrich Froebel, the inventor of kindergarten, the artist developed innovative technical processes in glass-making, introducing and incorporating gesture and expressive qualities into impeccably finished sculptural components. A student of Harvey Littleton, Mark Peiser and others, Luebtow explored blown, cast, and fused glass, as well as other techniques. Lois Lambert Gallery, Santa Monica, California, presented Retrospective – From 1972 to 2023, a recent exhibition of work by 82-year-old Luebtow. Lambert wrote: "Luebtow has been creating art for over 55 years, specializing in kiln formed glass, and has become one of the most important names in contemporary glass sculpture. He is most known for his innovation in the technical processes of working with glass, developing his own methods and even building his own tools for creating large-scale glass sculptures and installations up to 25 feet tall. At the heart of Luebtow's artistic philosophy is a curiosity about the processes of creation and a commitment to forging something entirely new. Luebtow's work integrates glass with architecture, becoming equal parts artistic expression and engineering endeavors. Despite his skilled background in drawing, painting, and ceramics, Luebtow ultimately has chosen glass as his primary medium, as 'no other material deals with light, line, movement, change, intensity…all things visual…as glass does, while also paralleling life, having an inner and outer self, and an internal and external presence or being.'  Inspiration for Luebtow's work can be found in everything that is experienced in life, pairing beauty along with the reality of life's struggles. 'The events of our times, then and now, affect everything we do and are allowed to do. We are what we have experienced and what we remember.' Luebtow's sculptures, though not limited to, can be categorized by two different themes: political/social commentary and the abstraction of beauty. Many of Luebtow's sculptures use images of the American flag to reflect on and process political and social happenings. Other works utilize linear and geometric forms with added surface embellishment, to create technically perfect investigations of beauty and abstraction." Exploring rhythm and movement of line in sculptural form, Luebtow developed his Linear Form Series of cast and slumped glass sculpture. Working on a large scale required engineering skills to design and build kilns as large as 14' long x 10' wide x 4' tall to produce the elements for large scale architectural installations. Working with float glass, Luebtow left his mark on architectural spaces in and around Los Angeles, where his studio is located, and the country. His art required the design and building of equipment and development of processes that were almost as much art as the art itself. Projects such as Invenire, Ventus Vitae, and Sapere Aude were groundbreaking aesthetic and technical highlights of his career as a sculptor. Luebtow, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, holds a BA from California Lutheran College, and two distinct MFAs from UCLA (one in ceramics and one in glass). Since 1966, Luebtow has exhibited in over 175 exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad, including exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Tacoma Art Museum, WA; Zimmer Museum, CA; Corning Museum, NY; Carnegie Museum, PA; Oakland Museum of Art, CA; Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA; Louisville Art Museum, KY; Manhattan Beach Art Museum, CA; and Orange County Museum of Art, CA. His work has been commissioned by major public and private corporations including Hewlett-Packard (HP), ARCO (Atlantic Richfield), American Airlines, NESTLÉ (Carnation), and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. Over 160 articles have been published about Luebtow's work. Wrote Shana Nys Dambrot for Patricia Correa Gallery: "John Luebtow has consistently addressed a quadrum of fundamental sculptural issues throughout his career: line, form, space, and light. These are broad considerations, to be sure; to a certain extent, they are inherent to all visual art media. What is significant in Luebtow's fidelity to this set of issues is not only his tenacity in the unraveling of their mysterious laws, but also the extraordinarily wide range of approaches he has drawn to them. The mystery he pursues is the technical spiritual identity of his medium. He searches within the sovereign form of his subjects for the abstract evidence of the energetic rhythm of movement."  For a full review of his career, Luebtow has written and published Glass, A Life Time of Creating,available now.  

This week we begin a ten week course on abstraction. Please follow along, there will be prizes at the end. We also talk about the International Art Museum of America getting voted best museum in SF. Shocking.The music in this episode is by spacemothHelen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea (large image)Best of the Bay AreaSad FranciscoEpisode 18 - The Treasure Room (about the IAMA)Helen Frankenthaler, A Brief Biography Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inga Dalrymple is a visual artist whose practice explores painting and drawing as a dialogue between material, gesture and perception. Working between abstraction and observation, she is interested in how paint can hold traces of movement, memory and experience.Inspired by nature and the feelings it can evoke, Inga works through processes of layering, erasing and reworking. These actions become a record of time and thought, revealing decisions and changes made during the making of a work.Gesture sits at the centre of her practice. For Inga, each mark carries memory, emotion and a sense of place, while also acting as a way of thinking through painting. Forms appear and disappear, allowing the surface to guide the work as it develops.In this episode of Art Wank, Inga talks about painting as a process of thinking, the role of gesture and memory, and how abstraction can give form to experiences that are difficult to define.Inga is represented by Otomys. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carson Gross, computer science professor at Montana State and creator of htmx, joins the show to cut through the noise around AI and programming. He explains why the jump from high-level languages to LLMs is fundamentally different from past transitions, why junior developers who skip writing code risk being at the mercy of a stochastic system, and why systems architecture and managing code complexity are the skills that will matter most. A grounded, rational take on the future of software development jobs. Resources Yes,and...: https://htmx.org/essays/yes-and/ We want to hear from you! How did you find us? Did you see us on Twitter? In a newsletter? Or maybe we were recommended by a friend? Fill out our listener survey! https://t.co/oKVAEXipxu Let us know by sending an email to our producer, Elizabeth, at elizabeth.becz@logrocket.com, or tweet at us at PodRocketPod. Check out our newsletter! https://blog.logrocket.com/the-replay-newsletter/ Follow us. Get free stickers. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, fill out this form, and we'll send you free PodRocket stickers! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket provides AI-first session replay and analytics that surfaces the UX and technical issues impacting user experiences. Start understanding where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com. Try LogRocket for free today. Chapters 00:00 Introduction — Carson Gross and the "Yes, And…" Blog Post 01:45 Why Carson Felt Compelled to Write About AI and Coding 03:30 The Assembly-to-High-Level Analogy — and Why It Falls Apart 06:00 Juniors Must Write Code to Be Able to Read Code 08:15 The Sorcerer's Apprentice Trap 10:30 Could AI Actually Increase Demand for Programmers? 12:45 Why "SaaS Is Dead" Is Shortsighted 15:00 Systems Architecture as the High-Value Skill Going Forward 17:30 Essential vs Accidental Complexity — The No Silver Bullet Framework 20:00 How LLMs Break the Natural Feedback Loop of Bad Code 23:00 Will AI Change How We Think About Testing? 26:30 Abstraction, Paradigms, and Human-Readable Code 29:00 How Much Has AI Actually Boosted Carson's Own Productivity? 32:00 The Mental Health Cost of the AI Hype Cycle 35:30 Final Thoughts — Give Yourself (and Others) a BreakSpecial Guest: Carson Gross.

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with Larry Swanson, creator of the Knowledge Graph Insights Podcast, for their second conversation together. The two cover a wide range of interconnected topics, starting with a correction Larry makes about the true origin of the term "artificial intelligence," tracing it back to the 1956 Dartmouth Conference and its distinction from Norbert Wiener's cybernetics. From there, the conversation moves through the history and structure of knowledge graphs, ontologies, RDF (Resource Description Framework), and the W3C standards process, touching on concepts like the T-box, A-box, and C-box, as well as the 25th anniversary of the Semantic Web paper. Stewart and Larry also dig into the limitations of large language models — particularly around reasoning, confabulation, and what Larry describes as "cognitive surrender" — and why symbolic AI and knowledge engineering may hold answers that the neural network world hasn't fully embraced. The episode also ventures into consciousness, panpsychism, Michael Pollan's ideas, and Stewart's own hands-on experience vibe coding a personal chatbot to replace functionality he feels he's lost with recent changes to Claude. Larry's podcast can be found at kgi.fm.Timestamps00:00 - Stewart introduces Larry Swanson; Larry corrects the record on AI's origin, distinguishing it from Norbert Wiener's cybernetics at the 1956 Dartmouth conference.05:00 - Larry discusses interviewing semantic web paper coauthors on its 25th anniversary; RDF's hidden ubiquity compared to SIM cards powering everything invisibly.10:00 - Knowledge graphs explained through t-box terms, a-box assertions, and Dave McComb's c-box; IKEA's three-layer knowledge graph as a practical example.15:00 - Stewart connects metadata complexity to AI needs; faceted search explained as c-box attributes driving product filtering experiences.20:00 - RDF 1.2 reification standards discussed; W3C's rigorous recommendation process powering governments and enterprises worldwide through collaborative standards.25:00 - Cyc project examined as influential "successful failure"; Pat Hayes bringing description logic into semantic web; LLMs lacking true reasoning capability.30:00 - Epistemological fault lines between human and computer intelligence; cognitive surrender paper reveals no intelligence threshold protects against AI manipulation.35:00 - Stewart's Claude regression problem drives chatbot vibe coding quest; small language models and domain-specific approaches explored as alternatives.40:00 - Consciousness discussion through Michael Pollan's panpsychism lens; language versus cognition disconnect revealing LLMs as pure token-stitching without genuine thought.45:00 - Context graphs as purpose-built knowledge graphs for AI; Stewart's planning agents versus coding agents architecture and ground truth verification problem.50:00 - Docs-as-code versus code-as-docs paradigm shift; knowledge graphs as universal verifiers against validated facts; RDF 1.2 enabling provenance and degrees of certainty.55:00 - Jessica Talisman's Knowledge Graph Academy recommended for onboarding; kgi.fm podcast shared; knowledge representation community needs better abstraction for wider adoption.Key Insights1. The term "artificial intelligence" was not a marketing gimmick but was coined deliberately at the 1956 Dartmouth Conference to distinguish the work of John McCarthy from Norbert Wiener's cybernetics. The two camps represented genuinely different approaches, and the AI label was a form of intentional intellectual branding rather than empty promotion.2. The semantic web, often called the most successful failure in technology history, has quietly embedded itself everywhere despite never achieving its original vision. Technologies like RDF power metadata standards inside every Adobe product and form the invisible backbone of government systems, enterprise data infrastructure, and cultural heritage organizations worldwide.3. Knowledge graphs are best understood as an ontology combined with all the instances that populate it. The distinction between things and strings, popularized by Google in 2012, captures the core idea that knowledge representation is about concepts as distinct from the labels we give them.4. The t-box, a-box, and c-box framework offers a practical model for understanding knowledge architecture. The t-box holds terminology and concepts, the a-box holds assertions about specific instances, and the c-box manages the attributes, taxonomies, and controlled vocabularies that sit between them and enable things like faceted search.5. Large language models produce fluent, convincing output but lack genuine reasoning, epistemological grounding, or judgment. Research on cognitive surrender shows that even people who understand how LLMs work are still susceptible to being misled by their fluency, meaning intelligence and awareness offer no reliable protection against being deceived.6. The gap between language and cognition matters deeply when evaluating AI. Evidence from people with aphasia shows that thinking can occur without language, which suggests LLMs, being purely language-based systems, are missing a fundamental layer of cognition that cannot be recovered through more tokens or better training.7. Knowledge graphs and RDF-based representation are well suited to the problem of verification and grounding in AI systems. Rather than relying on vectorized embeddings of language, a knowledge graph can store validated, provenance-tracked facts with degrees of certainty, making it a natural foundation for building trustworthy AI applications.

Show Summary:    Mudita Khurana — Tech Lead at Airbnb and the person who always says, “I got this” No Password Required Season 7: Episode 6 - Mudita Khurana   Mudita Khurana is a Tech Lead for Automated Tooling and Vulnerability Management at Airbnb, where she focuses on building modular, scalable security systems in an era of rapidly evolving AI threats. Before Airbnb, she spent nearly a decade in security roles across Accenture, Meta, and PwC, making bold career pivots along the way, including turning down a PwC return offer to join Facebook's product security team. In this episode, Mudita shares her journey from a family of doctors in India to Carnegie Mellon and into the heart of Big Tech security. She discusses what it means to thrive as a non-traditional engineer in a deeply technical field, why she stepped back from management to get closer to the work, and how she thinks about building security tooling that won't be obsolete in three months. Jack Clabby and co-host Kayley Melton, recording live from Tampa B-Sides at the University of South Florida, talk with Mudita about imposter syndrome, AI's curveballs for security teams, leadership without a leadership title, and the importance of community in staying on top of a field that never stops moving. She also reflects on what great mentorship looks like early in a career and why clarity, ownership, and consistency are the leadership qualities she keeps coming back to. In the Lifestyle Polygraph, Mudita firmly plants her flag in the Harry Potter universe as Hermione, explains why Deadpool doesn't qualify as a superhero, debates gym vs. nature as a reset strategy, and reveals her dream remote work base: a high-altitude Buddhist mountain town in the Himalayas.   Follow Mudita on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/muditakhurana/     In this episode: Mudita shares her unconventional path into cybersecurity, highlighting the importance of mentorship and curiosity (0:25 - 1:37) The significance of mentorship, especially Vandana Verma, in her career development (2:26 - 4:00) Transition from management to technical IC roles and why staying close to technical work matters (9:29 - 10:23) The influence of her education at Carnegie Mellon and how it broadened her problem-solving skills (6:23 - 7:41) Navigating imposter syndrome and embracing challenges as growth opportunities (3:26 - 5:29) How AI is changing cybersecurity strategies—building modular, layered systems for agility (15:31 - 16:26) The importance of community, trust, and consensus in cybersecurity decision-making (17:06 - 17:47) Mudita's favorite places for remote work and balancing planning with spontaneity in travel (23:01 - 24:13) Her personal approach to wellness, exercise, and resets during busy days (21:32 - 22:36) Her unique perspective on superhero characters, favorite places, and cultural roots (18:54 - 19:36, 25:19 - 26:21) Timestamp Highlights: (00:25) Mudita's 10-year journey into cybersecurity starting from India (02:26) Mentorship's critical role in her growth and her admiration for Vandana Verma (09:29) Transition from management back to technical roles and why staying close to the work matters (15:31) How AI fosters layered, modular security systems for faster adaptation (17:06) The importance of community and trusted information sources in security (21:32) Reset routines—gym versus nature hikes—and staying grounded during busy days (25:19) Leh, Ladakh: Mudita's ideal remote work location nestled in Himalayan beauty Resources & Links: Vandana Verma - Influential mentor in cybersecurity ThreatLocker - Supporter of this podcast Cyber Florida – The Mother Ship

Jetzt bei Kraken anmelden und 30 EUR Bonus erhalten: https://bit.ly/kraken-bonus Themen & Timestamps:00:00 Venice AI und NEAR im direkten Vergleich00:42 Chain Abstraction und einfache Web3-Nutzung02:02 Near Intents: Ergebnisse statt Transaktionen03:00 Universal Accounts und flexible Zahlungen05:07 Venice vs. NEAR: Kategorien und Token-Logik07:58 Bewertung, Allzeithoch und Investmentpotenzial09:06 Umsatz, Nutzer und Tokenomics

Jetzt bei Kraken anmelden und 30 EUR Bonus erhalten: https://bit.ly/kraken-bonusNEAR Protocol ist mehr als ein KI Token: die Infrastruktur für KI-Agenten. Ich erkläre, wie NEAR AI Cloud private LLMs ermöglicht (ähnlich wie Venice, aber über Hardware-Enklaven), wie Chain Abstraction & Intents funktionieren, und was die Grayscale/Bitwise-ETF-Anträge bedeuten. Themen & Timestamps:00:00 KI-Token 2026 und NEAR Protocol00:39 NEAR als Infrastruktur für KI02:02 Wie NEAR Protocol entstanden ist03:00 Kursentwicklung und Marktpotenzial04:07 NEAR im Vergleich zu Ethereum06:01 Confidential Computing und private Prompts08:57 Nightshade Sharding und Skalierung

Water is a main topic of conversation amongst farmers at the moment - because it's in short supply. Memories of the wet winter have been dried out by the recent hot weather and those growing crops or indeed relying on grass to feed their animals are all talking about rain which hasn't materialised. Environment Agency figures show that rainfall across England last month was 38% of the long term average. However, some areas got far less. We speak to an expert about what this means for water abstraction and growers who irrigate their crops over the summer using water from rivers or aquifers.Food prices keep rising - industry bodies suggest an increase of 9 or 10% by the end of the year. The cost of energy, diesel, fertiliser and other farming inputs have been on the rise – with more inflation expected to come. All week we've been looking at local food systems. It isn't always easy to connect households on a limited budget with fresh, healthy produce, but a farming family from Staffordshire have made that their mission. They've set up Farm Fresh Revolution, a project which delivers discounted fruit, vegetables and meat to local schools to inspire families to eat more healthily.Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney

My long-awaited full PDF paper is out. “Neither/Nor: a pragmatic philosophy for oscillating between conceptual and experiential knowledge,” co-authored with Isabela Granic, is available here. (PDF)Jonah Wilberg, who writes The Wider Angle here on Substack, interviewed me on the principles of the paper. We recorded in my living room.The core argument: rationality and perception are not two incompatible philosophical positions, but two trainable skills. Then the question shifts from Which is right? to Which one should I choose now?In the podcast, Jonah and I work through what we call “Neither/Nor”: an approach that treats conceptual, abstract reason and embodied, experiential perception not as competing metaphysical positions — neither "rationalism" nor "empiricism" — but as capacities you can deliberately develop and oscillate between.Western philosophy tends to privilege the conceptual. We call this "latent Platonism": the often-unconscious tendency to reify abstractions — to treat “capitalism” or “the self” as objects with real existence rather than as useful but provisional constructs. Other traditions, notably Buddhism, push in the opposite direction, treating direct experience as the more reliable guide and concepts as a distraction. Our argument is that neither is sufficient alone. What matters is the oscillation.Drawing on managing type 1 diabetes, meditation, cooking, sport, CBT versus psychoanalysis, and Kuhn's paradigm shifts applied to personal identity crises, I try to describe when it's most useful to construct a conceptually stable model — and when it's most useful to dissolve one in favour of direct experience or incoming evidence. Neither position is final. The paper also develops related principles around relations and processes over static objects (drawing on Whitehead, Bateson, and complexity science), trial-and-error learning, and what we call conditional historicism over linear causality.00:00 Why This Paper Matters02:25 Two Ways of Knowing05:36 Neither Nor Explained06:13 Diabetes and Attention07:43 Principle One Setup09:24 Latent Platonism Today15:39 Concepts as Skills21:18 Training Experience23:59 Why Not Both And26:24 Meditation and Perception32:14 Jhanas and Suffering34:30 Flourishing in Practice36:25 Everyday Neither Nor Tools37:59 Both And Training Analogy40:42 Oscillation Principle Explained42:22 Paradigm Shifts and Identity46:31 Therapy and Emotional Reconsolidation49:58 Metamodernism and Two Modes55:54 Process Thinking and Whitehead01:06:16 Trial Error and Historicism01:11:07 Order Chaos and Bureaucracy01:15:12 Wrap Up and Where to Find More

Olga Goriunova rejects digital abstractions as mirror images of ourselves and reflects on why we concern ourselves with representations that aren't concerned about us.  Olga and Kimberly discuss how cultural imagination is shaped by technology; digital subjects as unnatural constructs; the distance between individuals and their digital profiles; banal categorization and subjective truth; how statistics and ML changed the concept of the ideal; the limits of digital subjects; extreme individuation and aspiring to become our digital reflections; how current predictions create future realities; why the ideal digital subject isn't concerned with you; and thinking critically about what we desire and why. Olga Goriunova is a cultural theorist working at the intersection of technology, philosophy, and aesthetics. A Professor of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London, Olga is the author of the critically acclaimed book Ideal Subjects: The Abstract People of AI. Additional Resources: Aksioma: Institute for Contemporary Art Book Lecture  Olga Goriunova Academic Profile  A transcript of this episode is here. 

Greg Miller, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Carta Healthcare,  is focused on the multi-billion-dollar problem of manual clinical data abstraction in health systems, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and error-prone. The Carta hybrid intelligence solution combines AI  with human expertise to surface and validate information, delivering dramatic ROI for clients through lower costs and higher data quality. Clinician adoption grows significantly once they have experienced the AI finding information they would have missed, ultimately making them more effective at their jobs. Greg explains, "Health systems in the US, specifically, spend between $10 and $15 billion a year on manually abstracting data. And what are they abstracting data for? "There are lots of different downstream use cases, but the most common reason is to populate clinical registries. And clinical registries are super important because they're used for accreditation of clinical programs. It's for revenue, it's for compliance and regulatory requirements. But the biggest use of registry data is to drive quality and process improvement initiatives." "Unfortunately, today, every hospital has an abstraction function that is highly decentralized, and they have highly skilled labor, mostly nurses, who manually come through the electronic health record and other systems to find nuggets of information to answer questions in some registry system. And so it's very time-consuming, labor-intensive, and, because it involves humans, both expensive and prone to error."  #CartaHealthcare #HealthcareAI #HybridIntelligence #ClinicalAI #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #AIinHealthcare #LifeSciences #HealthData #AIgovernance #ResponsibleAI #ClinicalInnovation #HealthcareLeadership #HealthcareInnovation #ClinicalData #QualityImprovement #PatientSafety #DataAbstraction #HybridIntelligence carta.healthcare Listen to the podcast here

Greg Miller, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Carta Healthcare,  is focused on the multi-billion-dollar problem of manual clinical data abstraction in health systems, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and error-prone. The Carta hybrid intelligence solution combines AI  with human expertise to surface and validate information, delivering dramatic ROI for clients through lower costs and higher data quality. Clinician adoption grows significantly once they have experienced the AI finding information they would have missed, ultimately making them more effective at their jobs. Greg explains, "Health systems in the US, specifically, spend between $10 and $15 billion a year on manually abstracting data. And what are they abstracting data for? "There are lots of different downstream use cases, but the most common reason is to populate clinical registries. And clinical registries are super important because they're used for accreditation of clinical programs. It's for revenue, it's for compliance and regulatory requirements. But the biggest use of registry data is to drive quality and process improvement initiatives." "Unfortunately, today, every hospital has an abstraction function that is highly decentralized, and they have highly skilled labor, mostly nurses, who manually come through the electronic health record and other systems to find nuggets of information to answer questions in some registry system. And so it's very time-consuming, labor-intensive, and, because it involves humans, both expensive and prone to error."  #CartaHealthcare #HealthcareAI #HybridIntelligence #ClinicalAI #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #AIinHealthcare #LifeSciences #HealthData #AIgovernance #ResponsibleAI #ClinicalInnovation #HealthcareLeadership #HealthcareInnovation #ClinicalData #QualityImprovement #PatientSafety #DataAbstraction #HybridIntelligence carta.healthcare Download the transcript here

durée : 00:10:50 - Les Midis de Culture - par : Marie Sorbier - Aujourd'hui reconnue comme une des premières artistes abstraites du monde occidental, Hilma af Klint a enfin droit à sa rétrospective au Grand Palais. - réalisation : Laurence Malonda - invités : Philippe Azoury Journaliste, critique et auteur; Stéphane Corréard Editorialiste au Journal des Arts

You may have heard of Chase Huges. He is a behavioral expert with a large social media footprint. He often makes the case that we live in a world shaped by abstraction. In this teaching, I talk about how this leaves in a state of fracture and alienation where we think more than participate in reality and I think through some steps we can take to rediscover vitality and bliss. If you appreciate my work please consider making a donation to: "paypal.me/newdayglobal". Thank you!

You may have heard of Chase Huges. He is a behavioral expert with a large social media footprint. He often makes the case that we live in a world shaped by abstraction. In this teaching, I talk about how this leaves in a state of fracture and alienation where we think more than participate in reality and I think through some steps we can take to rediscover vitality and bliss. If you appreciate my work please consider making a donation to: "paypal.me/newdayglobal". Thank you!

Artist Donel Williams reflects on his unconventional path into art, from community college photography to his studies at UCLA, where he developed a multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, performance, and installation. Drawing on personal history and mentorship, he describes how early experiences shaped his engagement with labor, material, and image-making. The conversation centers on the expectations placed on Black artists within contemporary art, particularly the pressure toward figuration, and Williams' turn toward abstraction as both a formal and political strategy. Through work informed by redacted government documents and performative gestures that critique authorship and visibility, he examines the tensions between identity, audience legibility, and artistic autonomy.      

Danielle Orchard explores the representation of the female form in a multi-perspectival manner. Her figures resist existing solely as psychological portraits or objects for the gaze, instead they emerge through a complex orchestration of color, line, and space. While the concept of the female nude is deeply ingrained in art history as a muse and has more recently been established as a subject of study, Orchard adds depth by infusing her own experiences, having trained, posed, and even taught in life drawing classes. In this episode, she talks about painter Milton Avery. In The Love of Art podcast, artists are invited to speak about other artists that fascinate them (musicians, writers, filmmakers, actors, designers…) in a very personal way. The Love of Art (L'Amour de l'Art) is a podcast by Perrotin The episode with Danielle Orchard was recorded on March 12, 2026 at Perrotin Paris. Interview conducted by: Vanessa Clairet Stern Production and sound design: Seb Lascoux Language: English Graphic design: Perrotin Music: CDM MusicHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Julie Mehretu is a Macarthur Genius-winning artist, born in Ethiopia and based in New York. Her latest exhibit, 'Our Days, Like a Shadow (a non-abiding hauntology)', features new paintings made in the last few years. The show opens at Marian Goodman Gallery at 385 Broadway on April 14. Mehretu previews the exhibit, and discusses her installation at The Obama Presidential Center, which opens in June. Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

At the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, ‘Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes' surveys more than thirty years of work by one of the most inventive artists working in ceramics today. Butterly is known for small-scale sculptures that are technically daring, expressive, and often witty. At the Schick Art Gallery in Skidmore's art building, ‘Earthbound' brings together work by eleven contemporary ceramic artists. Their work ranges in techniques and aesthetic approaches from figurative to abstract, and from functional to fantastical.And opening Saturday at The Hyde Collection is ‘Toshiko Takaezu: Voices of Abstraction.' Takaezu was known for her ceramic forms and expressive glazes, and the exhibition places her work in dialogue with painters including Sam Gilliam, Adolph Gottlieb, and Lee Krasner.

Plongez dans l'histoire des grands personnages et des évènements marquants qui ont façonné notre monde ! Avec enthousiasme et talent, Franck Ferrand vous révèle les coulisses de l'histoire avec un grand H, entre mystères, secrets et épisodes méconnus : un cadeau pour les amoureux du passé, de la préhistoire à l'histoire contemporaine.Hébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Matt Paige interviews Zach Lloyd, former Google principal engineer and now founder/CEO of Warp, about how agentic tools are reshaping software engineering so that productive engineers may write little or no code, especially since model improvements late last year (e.g., Opus 4.6 and Codex 5.3).Lloyd describes today's workflow as planning with local agents, running multiple agents in parallel, and supervising their output because agents still make mistakes, lose context, and require human code review, especially on large codebases like Warp's Rust repo.He predicts a strong shift from laptop-based agents to cloud-orchestrated, auditable, secure company workflows via Warp's Oz, enabling triggers, shared artifacts, and team visibility.They discuss UI trends toward an agent “control plane,” voice prompting, mobile/remote session control, skills as on-demand context, multi-agent coordination challenges, competition dynamics, and broader knowledge-work automation replacing many SaaS tasks.--Key Moments:03:48 Parallel Agent Workflow06:38 Cloud Agents and Oz09:35 Abstraction and Code Review11:03 Future UX Control Planes14:59 Voice and Mobile Control16:24 Competing in Coding Tools21:16 Todo App Demo in Warp23:53 Replacing SaaS With Agents25:06 Agents Over Apps25:47 Context Can Backfire29:02 Skills On Demand31:13 Oz Skills In Action33:39 Cloud Agents Control Plane37:40 Multi Agent Orchestration42:10 Automate The Repetitive44:41 Advice For Skeptical Devs--Key Links:WarpConnect with Zach on LinkedInMentioned in this episode:Free report from HatchWorks AI — State of AI 2026What's real in AI this year, what's hype, and what leaders should prioritize — including production lessons, designing for agents, and governance. https://hatchworks.com/state-of-ai-2026/AI Opportunity FinderFeeling overwhelmed by all the AI noise out there? The AI Opportunity Finder from HatchWorks cuts through the hype and gives you a clear starting point. In less than 5 minutes, you'll get tailored, high-impact AI use cases specific to your business—scored by ROI so you know exactly where to start. Whether you're looking to cut costs, automate tasks, or grow faster, this free tool gives you a personalized roadmap built for action.

Get Matt's favorite AI tools: https://clickhubspot.com/hfnb Episode 101: Are AI social media agents replacing real creators on platforms like Meta? Matt Wolfe (https://x.com/mreflow) and Joe Fier (https://www.youtube.com/@joefier) dive deep into this week's major AI releases and the evolving role of autonomous agents. This episode explores cutting-edge updates from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Canva—including interactive visual explainers and Canva's Magic Layers—and how these tools transform user experience and content creation. The hosts also unpack Meta's acquisition of Maltbook, the viral social media network for AI agents, and discuss the broader implications for creators, businesses, and marketers. Plus, with clips from Sam Altman and Jensen Huang, the conversation turns to the future of intelligence as a commodity, the rise of agent-optimized marketing, and the changing value of intuition versus IQ. Robots, new prompt formulas, and the "deader internet" theory round out this lively, unpredictable episode. Check out The Next Wave YouTube Channel if you want to see Matt and Nathan on screen: https://lnk.to/thenextwavepd — Show Notes: (00:00) AI Tools and Tech Trends (06:39) Obsessed with AI Tools (10:20) Interactive Cone Visualization Comparison (17:16) Key Players and Stakes Overview (22:47) Transistors & Abstraction in Computing (29:17) "Photoshop Layers vs. AI Output (31:33) Customizable Screen Display Options (39:17) AI Usage Metering Explained (44:12) OpenAI's Competitive AI Position (50:54) AI's Role vs Human Intuition (53:37) Intuition Over IQ for Wealth (59:31) AI Bots Go Viral Briefly (01:06:40) Rise of Autonomous Spending Agents (01:08:27) Agent Influence in AI Commerce (01:15:43) Humanoid Robots: Practical or Optimal? (01:20:49) OpenAI's Monetization Strategy Explained (01:24:44) Subscribe for More Fun! — Mentions: Joe Fier: https://www.youtube.com/@joefier Manus: https://manus.im/ Claude: https://claude.ai/ Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/app Cursor: https://cursor.com/ Canva: https://www.canva.com/ Maltbook: https://maltbook.com/ Get the guide to build your own Custom GPT: https://clickhubspot.com/tnw — Check Out Matt's Stuff: • Future Tools - https://futuretools.beehiiv.com/ • Blog - https://www.mattwolfe.com/ • YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@mreflow — Check Out Nathan's Stuff: Newsletter: https://news.lore.com/ Blog - https://lore.com/ The Next Wave is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by Hubspot Media // Production by Darren Clarke // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

Body death causes a lot of fear for most people. It's a subject that's been speculated about since we first sat around campfires together millenia ago. In this episode, Thom gives a comforting explanation of the Vedic worldview on death, including the possibility that heaven is not something postponed until after death, but something that can be lived now, through Cosmic Consciousness.Rather than framing life as a test for some future reward, Thom lays out the Vedic perspective that the real purpose of life is integration, bringing Unbounded awareness into embodied daily living. This is a profound reframing of death, meditation, sleep, and enlightenment itself.Episode Highlights[00:45] - I Guess It's Going to Happen to Me Too[04:25] - Watch Out What You Think About[06:45] - A Much Simpler View[10:21] - Experiences of Unboundedness[14:24] - An Irishman Goes to Heaven[17:52] - On Death and Dying[21:45] - In and Out of Unboundedness[26:52] - Cosmic Consciousness: The New Normal[31:45] - Heaven on Earth[36:15] - Would Cosmos Like Some Toast?[41:01] - Heaven is Body Dependent[43:28] - Q - What is the Sanskrit work for conqueror of sleep?[43:32] - A - Gudakesh[45:08] - Q - Does the night shift ever normalize?[45:12] - A - The Beginning of Abstraction[49:56] - The Dangers of Blackout Sleep[54:23] - Let's Sleep On ItUseful Linksinfo@thomknoles.com  https://thomknoles.com/https://www.instagram.com/thethomknoleshttps://www.facebook.com/thethomknoleshttps://www.youtube.com/c/thomknoleshttps://thomknoles.com/ask-thom-anything/

Carson Gross, computer science professor at Montana State and creator of htmx, joins the show to cut through the noise around AI and programming. He explains why the jump from high-level languages to LLMs is fundamentally different from past transitions, why junior developers who skip writing code risk being at the mercy of a stochastic system, and why systems architecture and managing code complexity are the skills that will matter most. A grounded, rational take on the future of software development jobs. Links Resources Yes,and...: https://htmx.org/essays/yes-and/ We want to hear from you! How did you find us? Did you see us on Twitter? In a newsletter? Or maybe we were recommended by a friend? Fill out our listener survey! https://t.co/oKVAEXipxu Let us know by sending an email to our producer, Elizabeth, at elizabeth.becz@logrocket.com, or tweet at us at PodRocketPod. Check out our newsletter! https://blog.logrocket.com/the-replay-newsletter/ Follow us. Get free stickers. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, fill out this form, and we'll send you free PodRocket stickers! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket provides AI-first session replay and analytics that surfaces the UX and technical issues impacting user experiences. Start understanding where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com. Try LogRocket for free today. Chapters 00:00 Introduction — Carson Gross and the "Yes, And…" Blog Post 01:45 Why Carson Felt Compelled to Write About AI and Coding 03:30 The Assembly-to-High-Level Analogy — and Why It Falls Apart 06:00 Juniors Must Write Code to Be Able to Read Code 08:15 The Sorcerer's Apprentice Trap 10:30 Could AI Actually Increase Demand for Programmers? 12:45 Why "SaaS Is Dead" Is Shortsighted 15:00 Systems Architecture as the High-Value Skill Going Forward 17:30 Essential vs Accidental Complexity — The No Silver Bullet Framework 20:00 How LLMs Break the Natural Feedback Loop of Bad Code 23:00 Will AI Change How We Think About Testing? 26:30 Abstraction, Paradigms, and Human-Readable Code 29:00 How Much Has AI Actually Boosted Carson's Own Productivity? 32:00 The Mental Health Cost of the AI Hype Cycle 35:30 Final Thoughts — Give Yourself (and Others) a BreakSpecial Guest: Carson Gross.

Dystopian urban landscapes shimmer forth from a variety of dead technology formats... just another day at the studio for London UK based photo artist Antony Cairns. We talk punch cards, pixels and digital ink. An inspiring chat with an adventurous, audacious artist.LinksAntony Cairns websiteNice video about Antony by Tate ModernPixelvision 2000 profile

In this episode, part 2 of our latest chat with @Formscapes , we map the emerging landscape of modern aether theory, tracing the structural ideas proposed by researchers who've appeared on DemystifySci. What begins as a survey becomes a deeper look at why so many independent models are quietly aligning around similar mechanical principles. As the conversation unfolds, the old boundaries between fields dissolve, revealing a shared intuition about the medium beneath observable phenomena. Ultimately, the shadows feel less like obscurity and more like the place where a new framework is taking shape.Part 1: https://youtu.be/R8MbZ8DI1ZAPATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysciPARADOX LOST PRE-SALE: https://buy.stripe.com/7sY7sKdoN5d29eUdYddEs0bHOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-hereStreaming:https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-herePARADIGM DRIFThttps://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show00:00 Go! Requirements for an Aether Theory04:11 Aether as Foundational Medium08:12 Structural Ether and Material Complexity13:16 Limits of Mathematical Modeling20:07 Material Principles and Subunit Configuration23:13 Elasticity, Shear, and the Mechanics of Light26:42 Subunit Connectivity and Solid Ether Models32:12 Mass as a Foundational Concept36:00 Relational Physics and Michelson–Morley Reconsidered41:16 Observational vs Controlled Science47:44 Questioning Particle Physics Paradigms50:58 Structural Failures in Stellar Models57:37 Abstraction, Mystery, and Scientific Authority01:11:22 Cosmological Patchwork and Theoretical Contradictions01:19:09 Reclaiming Comprehensibility Through Structural Thinking01:25:07 A Renaissance of Shared Understanding #Aether, #quantumphysics, #Physics, #FoundationalPhysics, #Reality #MechanicalModels #fields , #physicspodcast, #philosophypodcast MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaDSUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rssMAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySciMUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

What happens when a photographer trades the vast clarity of Mediterranean ruins for the darkness of a prehistoric cave? In this episode of See See by Ceci, visionary Italian artist Domingo Milella takes us on a journey that spans forty thousand years and the full depth of the human spirit. Milella first made his name with luminous large-format photographs of ancient landscapes, the coast of Puglia, the ruins of Petra, the pyramids of Egypt, images of extraordinary stillness that invited the viewer to slow down and breathe. Yet beneath the surface of that early success, a quiet crisis was gathering. In the summer of 2014, at the age of thirty-three, his carefully constructed world collapsed. He retreated to a forgotten village on the Ionian Sea, carrying only two things: his large-format camera and a copy of Moby Dick. Both remained untouched, the camera locked in a cupboard, the book unopened on the nightstand. What followed was a passage through despair and into transformation. Through therapy and the slow archaeology of the self, Milella found his way to the prehistoric caves. There, in total darkness, surrounded by ochre symbols and handprints inscribed tens of thousands of years ago, something shifted. The camera obscura he carried into those narrow tunnels became a mirror of the cave itself: both dark chambers in which images are born from minerals, water and light. In this rich and deeply personal conversation, Milella reflects on darkness as a space of safety and revelation rather than fear; on the intimate connection between memory, the body and the imagination; on the silent pressure of the digital age and its relentless flood of images; and on the nameless, collective authorship that links a teenager's graffiti in a city alleyway to a Paleolithic painter working by torchlight four hours from the sun. What emerges is a meditation on time that refuses to move in one direction, where a feverish child navigating the folds of a bedsheet, an artist kneeling with a mammoth-format camera in a narrow tunnel, and an unknown hand pressing ochre against stone forty thousand years ago are all part of the same gesture. This is an episode about caves: geological, photographic and interior. About the courage it takes to descend into one's own depths. And about the treasure that waits there: not answers, but the oldest and most enduring questions of what it means to be human.

Run it Red 130 is here! As usual, there's a raft of upcoming music in this show, with fresh sounds from Tensal, RMK, Vinicious Honoraria, Anthony Rother, Fabio Monesi, Skudge and many more (including some upcoming Symbolism and Hardgroove action

What if life itself is just a really sophisticated computer program that wrote itself into existence?In this mind-bending talk, *Blaise Agüera y Arcas* takes us on a journey from random noise to the emergence of life, using nothing but simple code and a whole lot of patience. His artificial life experiment, cheekily named "BFF" (the first two letters stand for "Brainf***"), demonstrates something remarkable: when you let random strings of code interact millions of times, complex self-replicating programs spontaneously emerge from pure chaos.*Key Insights from this Talk:**The "Artificial Kidney" Test for Life* — What makes something alive isn't what it's made of, but what it *does*. A rock broken in half gives you two rocks. A kidney broken in half gives you a broken kidney. Function is what separates the living from the non-living.*Von Neumann Called It* — Before we even knew what DNA looked like, mathematician John von Neumann figured out exactly what life needed to copy itself: instructions, a constructor to follow them, and a way to copy those instructions. He basically predicted molecular biology from pure logic.*The Magic Moment* — Watch as Blaise shows the exact instant when his simulation transitions from random noise to organized, self-replicating code. It's a genuine phase transition, like water freezing into ice, except instead of ice, you get *life*.*Evolution Without Mutation* — Here's the twist that challenges everything you learned in biology class: this complexity emerges even when mutation is set to zero. The secret? Symbiogenesis. Things don't just mutate to get better; they *merge*. Two simple replicators that work well together fuse into something more complex.*We're All Made of Viruses* — This isn't just simulation theory. In the real world, the mammalian placenta came from an ancient virus. A gene essential for forming memories? Also a virus. Life has been merging and absorbing other life forms all the way down.The implications are profound: life isn't just computational, it was computational from the very beginning. And intelligence? That's just what happens when these biological computers start modeling each other.Whether you're into artificial life, evolutionary biology, or just want to understand what makes you *you*, this talk will fundamentally change how you think about the boundary between living and non-living matter.---TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Introduction: From Noise to Programs & ALife History00:03:15 Defining Life: Function as the "Spirit"00:05:45 Von Neumann's Insight: Life is Embodied Computation00:09:15 Physics of Computation: Irreversibility & Fallacies00:15:00 The BFF Experiment: Spontaneous Generation of Code00:23:45 The Mystery: Complexity Growth Without Mutation00:27:00 Symbiogenesis: The Engine of Novelty00:33:15 Mathematical Proof: Blocking Symbiosis Stops Life00:40:15 Evolutionary Implications: It's Symbiogenesis All The Way Down00:44:30 Intelligence as Modeling Others00:46:49 Q&A: Levels of Abstraction & Definitions---REFERENCES:Paper:[00:01:16] Open Problems in Artificial Lifehttps://direct.mit.edu/artl/article/6/4/363/2354/Open-Problems-in-Artificial-Life[00:09:30] When does a physical system compute?https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.7979[00:15:00] Computational Lifehttps://arxiv.org/abs/2406.19108[00:27:30] On the Origin of Mitosing Cellshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11541392/[00:42:00] The Major Evolutionary Transitionshttps://www.nature.com/articles/374227a0[00:44:00] The ARC genehttps://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/memory-gene-goes-viralPerson:[00:05:45] Alan Turinghttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing/[00:07:30] John von Neumannhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann[00:11:15] Hector Zenilhttps://hectorzenil.net/[00:12:00] Robert Sapolskyhttps://profiles.stanford.edu/robert-sapolsky---LINKS:RESCRIPT: https://app.rescript.info/public/share/ff7gb6HpezOR3DF-gr9-rCoMFzzEgUjLQK6voV5XVWY

Episode: 2556 Euclid's Elements, David Hilbert, and modern notions of mathematical abstraction.  Today, making a point.

Tim and Juan unpack why Vaibhav Gupta, co-creator of BAML, states that most agentic AI code out there is dumb. It's ugly, fragile, and built by people who've never had to wrestle with probabilistic systems before. But here's the thing: we've seen this movie before. Remember when building websites was painful? Then jQuery showed up... then React... then Tailwind. Abstraction always wins. It just takes time (and about 50 bad frameworks for every good one). The gaming industry also figured out about unreliable systems decades ago. The takeaway is that the real bottleneck isn't abstracting the AI, instead it's abstracting the failure. Oh, and this episode has a live demo (first time we ever do this!). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discover what's possible when all minds are put to use.  What's the difference between object visualizers and visual-spatial thinkers? And how can these two kinds of brains work together? In this episode, Dr. Temple Grandin discusses these and other topics featured in her book Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions.  This episode is part one of our conversation with Dr. Temple Grandin, which was originally released on December 15, 2022.  Dr. Temple Grandin is well known for both her pioneer work as an autism advocate and her lifelong dedication to animal welfare. Through groundbreaking research aimed at understanding her own autistic mind, and by being one of the first adults to publicly disclose that she was autistic, Dr. Grandin propelled the awareness of autism during a time when very little was known of it. She is an incredible source of hope for children with autism, their parents, and anyone with a dream. In this conversation, we discuss: Object visualizers vs visual-spatial thinkers Temple's ability to think in pictures The importance of hands-on learning How to screen for visual thinkers at school The need for skilled workers How complementary thinking styles can work together How to improve the school system and properly educate different kinds of thinkers For more information about Dr. Grandin and her work, please visit:  https://www.templegrandin.com/   https://www.grandin.com/ ----more---- We appreciate your time. If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to support our mission, please take just a few seconds to share it with one person who you think will find value in it too. Follow us on Instagram: @autismpodcast Join our community on Mighty Networks: Global Autism Community Subscribe to our YouTube channel: Global Autism Project We would love to hear your feedback about the show. Please fill out this short survey to let us know your thoughts: Listener Survey  

Listen to a replay of 2025's other 3rd most popular episode (it was a statistical tie)! Bestselling author and literary agent Betsy Lerner spoke with me about being a “late bloomer,” what 35 years in publishing has taught her, and portraying mental illness in her debut novel SHRED SISTERS. Betsy Lerner is the author of the popular advice book to writers, The Forest for the Trees, and the memoirs Food and Loathing and The Bridge Ladies. With Temple Grandin, she is the also co-author of the New York Times bestseller Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns and Abstractions. Her debut novel, Shred Sisters, is described as “... an intimate and bittersweet story exploring the fierce complexities of sisterhood, mental health, loss and love.” The book was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, a New York Times Notable Book of 2024, and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and Best Book of the Year So Far, among many other accolades. Betsy received an MFA from Columbia University in Poetry and was selected as one of PEN's Emerging Writers. She also received the Tony Godwin Publishing Prize for Editors. After working as an editor for 15 years, she became an agent and is currently a partner with Dunow, Carlson and Lerner Literary Agency. [This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to⁠⁠ ⁠ulys.app/writeabook⁠⁠⁠ to download Ulysses, and use the code FILES at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."] [Discover⁠ The Writer Files Extra⁠: Get 'The Writer Files' Podcast Delivered Straight to Your Inbox at⁠ writerfiles.fm⁠] [If you're a fan of The Writer Files, please⁠ click FOLLOW to automatically see new interviews⁠. And drop us a rating or a review wherever you listen] In this file Betsy Lerner and I discussed: Getting kicked out of film school How "No Bad Dogs" inspired her to write The Forest for the Trees about writer personalities Working with punk rock icon Patti Smith The secrets behind her writing process Why she wants to have dinner with filmmaker Greta Gerwig And a lot more! Show Notes: ⁠betsylerner.com⁠ ⁠Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency⁠ ⁠Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner⁠ (Amazon) ⁠The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner⁠ (Amazon) ⁠Betsy Lerner Amazon Author Page⁠ ⁠Kelton Reid on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here we are, the third and final installment on how to be more creative! What a wild and winding journey it's been, hopefully everyone is forever changed. Just a reminder: the essence (aka timbre - a unique quality of a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds) of a shower thought is a rambling (divergent) musing while in the shower - an environment where sound and heat are taking ego (fixedness) offline and allowing you to make more fluid connections. Water is also a fluid, which is a substance that can flow and take the shape of it's container aka your body, your brain - which btw are constantly changing so best to keep a lot of things fluid, moving, lest some solids clog flow. Anywho, I hope you enjoy the neuroscience, the lateral movements, the abstractions, the improv, but most of all… I hope you dance. To the beat of your own drum.  Don't fall in line, or do, it's up to you! Talk again soon, toodles! Edit: I meant to say “IAF does RC circuits, not currents” - I was speaking so fast that I flubbed that. Also, second edit: for an electrical fire, always disconnect the power source first.  Third edit at the end: Delight is surprise + happiness, not happiness + sadness - I was speaking too fast.  For more information on book club, visit my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-book-for-143088045  Resources: This Is What It Sounds Like - Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance - Elise Vernon Pearlstine  Plant Lore and Legend - Ruth Binney The Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan  Most Delicious Poison - Noah Whiteman The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life's Deepest Secrets - Thomas R. Cech The Mind-Gut Connection - Emeran Mayer, MD On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters - Bonnie Tsui The Beauty Molecule - Nicholas Perricone, MD A neurocomputational model of creative processes  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763422001452#bbib49 Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/34623410/Lateral_thinking-libre.pdf?1409804461=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DL_AT_ERAL_T_HINKING.pdf&Expires=1764634187&Signature=gNaugtGh5fV5tq9C76US8IlQFXrqcrkaQ8UfxyvUsb~UM2YhbJJB-9PQOD4gjmHvFVaHfBNuIWsr9a~eVOHZuveFrUdxx-zZJdmh3DDxosekQ2OoHM2trx2ixYlWitsqpWY5CfobdDM0aQVICGCb00--EUfzJJq0-gIrySw388J4EI8MvqHtWJaGEIXWJx7gwpYvhfF3xTJ12GFhUK4pvrmz8qoLYTmLLjs3AwFZ-EWPRRfcCh8M6-eELduwJaTfi05edifhH6duN9qzmVUe7Nc-egIYIxcYWzIbFvwbDqseOpBDa2vD42DEZrU9eL4vW3XiYOobx6RD31QGEEvnpQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA Play It As It Lies | What Does This Mean? https://cattailcrossing.ca/blog/play-it-as-it-lies-what-does-this-mean/  Improv Games for Collaboration https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/improv-games-for-collaboration Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They tried to impeach Trump, imprison him, bankrupt him, and kill him. And they've always failed. Charlie reacts to Trump's latest Houdini-like victory in his New York civil case. Then, he explains why it's so unsurprising that crime has immediately collapsed in D.C. after sending out the Guard. It all goes back to the nature of Trump himself: He is the anti-abstraction president. Plus, Nate Morris discusses his run to topple the McConnell machine in Kentucky and get an immigration moratorium for America.Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.