Podcasts about first principles

The United States federal government currently has an aggressive agenda, and it has now added to its portfolio… training workers in technology, energy, and defense. Several universities are creating the materials, and the government is organizing the national training program known as the Foundry School. Is this the retraining and investment in work-and-business dynamism we have been waiting for, or is it another government overreach where inexperienced bureaucrats are way out of their lane, feeling good about saying the right things? A balanced and nuanced discussion in today's Capital Record. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

RVs are homes that go 60 miles an hour. That changes everything about what goes inside them.Chris sits down with Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede, a company combining recycling and manufacturing in an unexpected way - turning recycled plastic into structural building materials. Supersede started with boats, where wood has an obvious problem - boats get wet!From there, the company moved into RVs, where the materials face constant movement and thermal cycling, on a production line that can build an entire RV in a couple of hours.Sean also explains the thinking behind Supersede's manufacturing model, including why he'd rather build 10 smaller plants than one big one.In this episode, find out:How running production lines in mirrored pairs cuts the distance operators walk across the floorWhy an RV, built to go 60 miles an hour, is a harder test for a material than a house that never movesHow Supersede built its own ERP with zero software developers, piecing it together through Slack, Jira, and GitHub insteadHow a pre-sold capacity threshold - already dropping fast - decides when Supersede builds its next plantHow embedding machine vision and LiDAR on the line replaces a QA machine that would otherwise cost far moreWhy Sean thinks manufacturers who didn't start using AI a year ago are already a decade behindEnjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It's feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going!Tweetable Quotes:"If you hadn't gotten on the AI bus 12 months ago, you're a decade behind." - Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede“A big contributor to those inefficiencies is, frankly, just legacy that gets embedded.” - Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede“In manufacturing, things can move slow, and we just have the unique benefit of making sure that we're investing effectively, but very efficiently.” - Sean Petterson, CEO of SupersedeLinks & mentions:Supersede is a manufacturing company turning recycled plastic into structural building materials, starting with its Marine Board product for the marine and RV industries.Harmoni is a factory orchestration platform that connects what's happening on your shop floor with the systems you already use, from your machines and operators to your ERP, giving your team one real-time view of production.PTC's Industrial Newsletter - a quick hit of clarity on how design, manufacturing, and service data can work together for manufacturing leaders looking to modernize.Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

We must always begin with first principles in any debate. In this episode, Gary teaches students how to think about their own assumptions and foundations and why they believe what they claim to believe. Facts are important, but worldview precedes facts and interprets the facts.

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with Ryan Marsh of thestack.io to explore what it really takes to build production AI systems. They discuss how production AI has evolved from simple prompt-to-API demos into complex systems requiring evaluation suites, human-in-the-loop feedback mechanisms, and sophisticated approaches to handling context and data retrieval. The conversation covers the challenges of domain mapping, the fundamental difficulty of translating messy human business processes into structured systems, and the role of ontologies in AI development. Ryan and Stewart also examine the limitations of LLMs, the debate between specialization versus generalization in AI models, consciousness and cognition in system design, and the regulatory landscape facing AI companies. They touch on infrastructure constraints, the democratization of AI through open source models, and whether we'll eventually hit a ceiling where human intelligence can no longer distinguish between increasingly capable AI models. Key Insights1. Production AI systems today fundamentally differ from demos through their reliance on comprehensive evaluation suites that function like unit tests to measure and maintain quality, though they cannot be as deterministic. The key distinction is that production systems require clearly defined metrics for what good looks like, along with feedback mechanisms that allow the system to evolve over time. Without this foundational understanding of success metrics and continuous improvement processes, a system is not truly production-ready regardless of how many users it serves.2. The fundamental challenge in building production AI systems is not the technology itself but rather mapping business domains into structured formats that models can work with effectively. This problem of translating messy, subjective human processes and language into precise specifications has plagued software engineering for decades. Different people within organizations use the same words to mean completely different things, and humans naturally operate with assumed context and imprecision that must be explicitly defined for AI systems to function reliably.3. Large language models excel at generalization but struggle with specialization, which creates friction in production environments where specific outputs or styles are required. While they can code in any programming language, getting them to write code exactly the way a particular engineer wants remains extremely difficult. This explains why professional documentation and specialized coding tasks often require extensive prompting and fighting with the models, as they naturally gravitate toward their trained patterns rather than highly specific user preferences.4. Modern production AI systems primarily solve classification problems wrapped in natural language interfaces rather than requiring true open-ended cognition. The models work best when they can leverage reasoning over provided information to make verifiable decisions, but they still lack common sense despite their vast knowledge. Success comes from teaching models everything about your specific domain and what good and bad outcomes look like, rather than relying solely on their general intelligence.5. Context retrieval in production AI systems is fundamentally a data storage, search, and retrieval problem that has been solved many different ways throughout computing history. The appropriate solution depends entirely on the type of data being accessed, whether through vector databases, graph databases, relational databases, or even simple text search. The harnesses and frameworks for orchestrating AI agents have matured significantly, making the real challenge the quality and structure of the data being fed to these systems.6. Human-in-the-loop feedback mechanisms are essential for production AI because models will inevitably encounter situations they have not been trained to handle. When confidence is low or novel scenarios appear, systems should flag these for human review rather than proceeding blindly. The feedback provided during these interventions must be captured and scored so it can be incorporated into the permanent behavior of the system, creating a continuous improvement cycle similar to how model vendors perform reinforcement learning on their base models.7. The rush to regulation in the AI industry is driven primarily by the fact that these companies are currently completely exposed to existing consumer protection and liability laws with no legal precedents to protect them. If AI agents cause harm, companies could be sued into oblivion under current law. By establishing compliance frameworks through regulation, these companies can create carve-outs and exemptions that limit their liability when they follow prescribed rules, similar to how heavily regulated industries like airlines and banking have become nearly impossible to enter due to compliance requirements. Timestamps00:00 Welcome and introduction to Ryan Marsh discussing production AI systems and what companies need to understand about building them at scale05:00 The cognitive load challenge of working with invariants and probabilistic systems, discussing how LLMs function like PhD students without common sense10:00 Building eval suites to measure AI performance, handling the long tail of edge cases in complex contracts using human-in-the-loop feedback systems15:00 Context as a data retrieval problem and the fundamental challenge of mapping business domains when humans struggle with imprecision and ambiguous language20:00 How different departments use the same words with different meanings and why LLMs generalize well but don't specialize effectively for specific coding styles25:00 The ontology debate and intractable problem of mapping subjective human systems to rigid structured formats with diminishing returns on perfect mapping30:00 Why humans struggle distinguishing what is from what ought to be and the challenge of creating SOPs when companies lack updated documentation35:00 The liability exposure AI companies face and why they're begging for regulation to protect themselves from existing consumer protection laws40:00 Open source knowledge transfer between Chinese and American labs, chips and power as the real constraint not algorithms for frontier models45:00 Reaching intelligence ceiling where specialists can't distinguish state-of-art models and fundamental physical laws limiting LLM scaling through layered optimization strategies LinksWebsiteX

Dr. Martin Gibala is a Professor of Kinesiology at McMaster University and one of the world's leading researchers on high-intensity interval training.Can short bursts of hard cardio outperform hours of Zone 2 for the average person? Exercise physiologist Dr. Martin Gibala explains how HIIT can improve VO2 max and metabolic flexibility, why elite athletes' 80/20 split may not fit a time-strapped schedule, and how to judge vigorous effort without chasing a perfect heart-rate zone.Expect to learn how to scale HIIT for beginners, what RPE and the talk test reveal about vigorous effort, when short sprints differ from VO2 max intervals, why elite athletes' 80/20 approach may not fit your schedule, how Zone 2 definitions can mislead, and what metabolic flexibility and mitochondrial capacity really mean—and much more.Connect with Martin:Website: martingibala.comX: @gibalamBook: The One-Minute Workout (Avery, 2017; with Christopher Shulgan)Podcast: Exercise ScienceEpisodes you'll enjoy next:#402 — VO2 Max, Zone 2 Training & the Psychology of Human Performance — Ben Skutnik: Dr. Ben Skutnik cuts through Zone 2 hype and discusses VO2 max and aerobic-training evidence.#387 — Nathan T. Jenkins on Metabolic Flexibility, Aerobic Base, and First Principles: a look at aerobic development, energy systems, and repeated high-intensity performance.Episode Timestamps:2:25 Can beginners benefit from HIIT?4:20 Interval training basics and scaling effort7:13 Defining vigorous effort with RPE, heart rate, and the talk test11:32 Designing HIIT workouts around time and preference13:48 VO2 max intervals versus shorter sprints16:39 Moderate versus vigorous exercise: guidelines and time efficiency18:36 Is Zone 2 and the 80/20 rule right for everyone?22:50 Why Zone 2 definitions and wearables cause confusion29:12 Do you need an aerobic base before starting intervals?33:00 Why elite athlete training is not a blueprint for everyone35:22 What low-intensity volume may do for endurance athletes38:46 Double-threshold sessions, training stress, and recovery41:17 Carbohydrate intake and gut training in endurance sports44:31 Emerging recovery strategies and exogenous ketones49:12 Lactate supplementation: promise versus current evidence51:19 Fat max, metabolic flexibility, and mitochondrial capacity55:31 Exercise Science podcast and evidence over hype Get the Daily Fitness Insider newsletter (free): https://www.miketnelson.com/newsletter

We are living in a period when the greatest political opportunity I have ever seen for either party is being squandered. For the Democrats, it is understandable. For the Republicans, it is unforgivable. In today's Capital Record, David looks at this current moment, where true conservatives have a chance to present an actual contrast – a choice – to the left-wing socialist nonsense of our day. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this inspiring episode of the Authority On Demand Podcast (formerly Authors On Mission Podcast), host Danielle Hutchinson sits down with Zack Tomlin, author of Craft, the Expedition of Business, to explore why generic business advice often fails—and how leaders can build intentional strategies rooted in their own first principles.

“It's an LLM, a loop, and enough tokens.”—Nicolay Gerold, Amp CodeSo why does a coding agent forget your instructions, keep reading tiny pieces of a file, or struggle with an edit another model handles easily?Nicolay Gerold (Amp) joins Hugo to take that loop apart and explain the harness around it: the software that executes tools, manages context, and lets you steer the agent's work. Nico builds this machinery for Amp, a coding agent that works across software projects.“Every component in a harness is basically an assumption the model can't do it on its own. This expires over time.”— Nicolay GeroldAmp's experimental plan mode addressed models that were too eager to edit. Once they could reliably follow an instruction to plan without editing, the team removed the separate mode. Nico describes a similar change with file reading: stronger models could search, filter, and read files through Bash, reducing the need for a dedicated read tool.That gives builders two questions to ask when a model improves: which workarounds can you remove, and what more can you ask it to do? Nico describes pushing stronger models to delegate work and challenge what their sub-agents return. Better judgment makes that delegation more useful, while making some older controls unnecessary.We start with a small agent in Go, then explore Pi, an extensible coding agent, and the decisions behind longer-running work. Building your own makes failures easier to investigate: you can see which instructions survive a summary and whether the agent can inspect the logs and tests it needs. Nico also recommends experimenting with cheaper models, whose mistakes can expose knowledge you've left in your head instead of giving to the agent. That understanding stays useful even if you ultimately use someone else's harness.You can also find the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with Neil Bortolus, founder of Esteem Biomechanics and Stewart's personal trainer for the past year and a half, to explore the intersection of functional movement, human biology, and emerging technology. Their conversation ranges from the principles of biomechanics and the evolutionary blueprint of human movement—standing, walking, running, and throwing—to the dangers of modern movement practices that prioritize aesthetics over function, the role of fascia and connective tissue in chronic pain, and why most gym exercises fail to respect our biological needs. They tackle bigger questions about where technology is taking us, from AI and LLMs replacing human cognitive work to transhumanism and whether we're headed toward a cyberpunk dystopia or a solarpunk regenerative future, all while emphasizing the importance of first principles thinking, the need for humans to remain in the loop, and creating environments that promote biological and mental regeneration rather than degeneration. Visit Neil's website atesteembiomechanics.comTimestamps00:00 Stewart introduces Neil Bortolus, founder of Esteem Biomechanics and his trainer for a year and a half, discussing their interesting conversations about movement and health05:00 Discussion shifts to negative and positive pressure in the body, how athletes naturally create proper core tension, and the differences between training high-performance athletes versus clients with cerebral palsy or stroke recovery10:00 Stewart shares his journey through yoga and discovering modern postural yoga's surprising origins in late 1800s British calisthenics mixed with Indian anticolonial movements, questioning why modern movement practices are fundamentally flawed15:00 Neil explains functional patterns' first principles approach, emphasizing standing walking running and throwing as evolutionary movement patterns that should guide all exercise design20:00 Conversation explores Brian Johnson's technology-focused longevity experiments versus optimizing natural biological function, questioning whether peak biology or technology interventions lead to better health outcomes25:00 Neil describes environmental factors like Southern California and Hawaii providing optimal conditions for human health through fresh food, sunlight, and natural grounding environments year-round30:00 Discussion of solarpunk versus cyberpunk futures, examining how technology could either support biological health or create dependency, with Stewart sharing his Invisalign experience as cautionary tale35:00 Neil and Stewart analyze education systems, influencer marketing, and Jacques Ellul's concept of technique autonomously taking over human goals and replacing both muscle and mental labor40:00 Neil questions Stewart's first principles for approaching technology, leading to discussion about using AI to accomplish tasks faster while maintaining human oversight and decision-making authority45:00 Stewart explains the black box problem with LLMs and neural networks, admitting he's built applications he can't fully understand, questioning whether understanding mechanisms matters if outputs work50:00 Debate about benevolent AI governance using El Salvador's transformation as analogy, questioning whether society should surrender control to AI systems for farming or other critical infrastructure55:00 Final discussion on determinism versus free will, alignment problems in AI development, and Neil's concept of regenerative versus degenerative environments for optimal human biological and mental healthKey Insights1. Movement training must be adapted to individual needs and capabilities rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach. Neil explains that working with clients ranging from those with cerebral palsy and stroke recovery to high-performance athletes requires fundamentally different techniques. While stroke and cerebral palsy clients experience every improvement as monumental, such as being able to walk a mile, elite athletes already possess optimal biomechanics and need only tiny refinements. The challenge lies in keeping athletes motivated through detailed adjustments while helping severely impaired clients build basic functions from the ground up.2. Modern fitness and yoga practices are built on flawed first principles that prioritize aesthetics over functional movement. The conversation reveals how modern postural yoga was actually invented in the late 1800s through a combination of British calisthenics and Indian anticolonial movements, not ancient wisdom as commonly believed. Similarly, conventional gym exercises and bodybuilding focus on how bodies look rather than how they function evolutionarily. The key insight from Functional Patterns methodology is that if a technique cannot help someone who is broken, it should not be applied to someone who is healthy. This principle exposes how much of modern fitness is based on working with people who are already genetically gifted rather than developing universally applicable methods.3. Human movement should be designed around four fundamental patterns that reflect our evolutionary blueprint: standing, walking, running, and throwing. These movements represent the biomechanical demands that shaped human evolution and remain essential for optimal health. Hunter-gatherer tribes that still exist today demonstrate this principle, as their members typically exhibit athletic builds, low body fat, minimal injury rates, and few mental health disorders despite having no access to modern gyms. The critical insight is that 80 percent of human movement occurs horizontally through space rather than vertically, yet most conventional exercises focus on vertical force vectors like squatting and deadlifting, which do not align with how humans actually move in nature.4. Technology should be used to optimize our environment for biological health rather than replace biological function entirely. The discussion contrasts two approaches to human enhancement: using technology to create better living conditions versus using it to bypass the need for healthy habits. Examples include using renewable energy to reduce electromagnetic frequency exposure, ensuring clean water access, and designing indoor lighting that mimics natural sunlight patterns. The key is maintaining environments that support regenerative rather than degenerative processes. This regenerative approach considers whether food, exercise, and environmental factors promote cellular regeneration and joint health, rather than simply preventing obvious harm.5. The rapidly changing technological environment is outpacing human biological adaptation in unprecedented ways. While human populations historically had thousands of years to develop epigenetic adaptations to their environments, such as Icelandic peoples developing larger bodies for heat retention or Sub-Saharan Africans developing efficient heat expulsion, modern society changes too quickly for such adaptation. The past two hundred years have seen dramatic shifts, and the pace is accelerating rather than slowing. Most dramatically, the media environment is changing fastest of all, particularly with AI development creating a cognitive flywheel where staying current requires constant attention to collective knowledge networks like Twitter and Reddit, leaving those outside these loops increasingly disconnected from technological reality.6. AI and large language models represent both opportunity and risk depending on whether humans maintain agency in their use. The conversation distinguishes between using AI as a tool to accomplish tasks more efficiently while keeping humans in control versus allowing AI to make decisions autonomously. The example given involves using AI to complete projects that previously required hiring people, eliminating interpersonal problems while still maintaining human oversight and learning. However, there is concern that many people are beginning to ask AI how to make every decision, effectively abdicating their agency. The critical variable in any AI interaction is actually the human prompter and their instructions, yet this is often overlooked by AI developers who believe in determinism and lack of free will.7. Modern society operates within a deterministic framework where free will is exercised primarily in choosing which constrained environment to inhabit. Using the example of an accountant earning two hundred thousand dollars annually with a four hundred thousand dollar mortgage and three children in private school, Neil illustrates how most daily decisions are predetermined by earlier choices about environment and commitments. True free will exists at major life forks, such as choosing a career path or living situation, but day to day existence operates within deterministic constraints created by those choices. This insight applies to both human development and AI alignment, suggesting that the solution is not giving AI ultimate freedom but rather constraining its environment so that available options consistently benefit humanity, similar to how Functional Patterns constrains exercise choices to only those respecting biological blueprints.

Du führst ein Team, das an vielen Themen gleichzeitig arbeitet.Jedes einzelne davon ist sinnvoll, gut begründet und irgendwie wichtig.Trotzdem hast du das Gefühl, dass ihr weit unter euren Möglichkeiten bleibt.Das liegt fast nie an den Menschen, sondern daran, worauf ihre Aufmerksamkeit verteilt ist.Warum Fokus die Ergebnisse nicht linear, sondern exponentiell verändert und was das für dich als Führungskraft bedeutet – darüber spreche ich in dieser Folge.Show Notes:>> Der Club für Ingenieure: skool.com/mentorwerk>> No Zero Days – Buch für Ingenieure: nozerodays.de/buch>> Mentornotes Newsletter: mentorwerk.de/newsletter>> Tim Schmaddebeck bei YouTube: youtube.com/@schmaddebeck>> Tim Schmaddebeck bei LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timschmaddebeck>> Tims Buchempfehlungen: mentorwerk.de/buecherStichworte zur Folge:Strategische Führung, Führungsprinzipien, Führung lernen, Führungskraft werden, Unternehmensstrategie, Strategie entwickeln, Prioritäten setzen, Fokus, Fokus als Führungskraft, Single-Focus Company, Rule of One, First Principles, unternehmerisch denken, Unternehmer im Unternehmen, Geschäftsführung, Management, Organisationsentwicklung, Mitarbeiterführung, Teamführung, Team Performance, Produktivität im Unternehmen, Ressourcen einsetzen, Entscheidungen treffen, Komplexität reduzieren, Wachstumsstrategie, operative Exzellenz, Ingenieur Karriere, technische Führungskraft, vom Ingenieur zur Führungskraft, Podcast für Ingenieure

For today's episode, Edward Dodson discusses what he sees as the systemic problems facing the American economy and society. He proposes unique solutions that require thinking and action, which to this point have escaped not only most elected officials but also economists and other social thinkers.Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Dodson held numerous management and analyst positions within the Housing & Community Development group, helping revitalize neighborhoods and local communities. This gives him an interesting perspective on land use and reform, and how it can reduce inequality. He also has extensive experience as a history lecturer at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute and the Learning is For Everyone program at Burlington County College. Edward has written many papers on history and the political economy and is the author of a three-volume book series titled The Discovery of First Principles.To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hgsss.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with Daniel Segundo to discuss why today's social networks have evolved into entertainment networks and how Daniel is building Bien, a social app focused on depth over breadth. Daniel shares his journey from trading commodities to creating a platform designed to keep users genuinely connected to their inner circle, inspired by insights gained while meditating in caves in India. The conversation covers everything from the problems with the "like button" and algorithmic feeds to Daniel's contrarian approach of removing public-facing engagement metrics and using voice notes as the primary interaction method. They also explore the challenges of building consumer social products, the impact of AI on development, and Daniel's philosophy drawn from Eastern mysticism and his study of Ramana Maharshi. To learn more about Bien, visit bien.social or follow Daniel on Twitter at @DanielPSegundo.Timestamps00:00 Daniel introduces Bien as a real social network, contrasting entertainment networks disguised as social platforms05:00 Building with AI tools allowed bootstrapping the app before hiring a five-person team for professional development10:00 Social networks evolved into entertainment networks optimized for engagement and advertising rather than genuine connection15:00 The advertising model incentivizes dopamine delivery and algorithmic content over posts from actual friends20:00 Removing the like button and public comments forces deeper interaction through private voice notes instead25:00 Social graphs become stale over time because unfriending feels awkward, so people curate for weakest relationships30:00 Matrix and Nostr protocols enable interoperable messaging, suggesting a Cambrian explosion of new social apps35:00 Depth matters more than metrics—success means users actually feel closer to their inner circle40:00 Voice notes combined with photo sharing mimics natural storytelling behavior when friends gather in person45:00 Meditation in Ramana Maharshi's caves in India inspired reflections on silence, self-inquiry, and building products mindfullyKey Insights1. Daniel Segundo was inspired to create Bien after recognizing that existing social networks excel at breadth but fail at depth of connections. While meditating in caves in South India, he went through his phone contacts and realized only about 5 percent of his 1,700 contacts were people he actually wanted to stay close to, with the remaining 95 percent being noise. He saw that tools like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp have solved the problem of maintaining surface-level relationships across broad networks of people, but there was no good tool for maintaining deep connections with your inner circle beyond basic messaging apps like iMessage or WhatsApp, which still suffer from having too many contacts with access.2. The fundamental problem with current social networks is that they have become entertainment networks rather than true social networks, driven by the advertising business model. Instagram only shows content from your actual friends about 7 percent of the time, with the rest being algorithmically suggested content designed to maximize engagement and ad revenue. The like button, while useful for maintaining broad social graphs and understanding your status in larger groups, reduces complex human relationships to superficial interactions. This creates what Segundo calls a circus-like experience where you are constantly bombarded with entertaining content rather than meaningful updates from people you care about, and the advertising model incentivizes this transformation because the product is ultimately about delivering dopamine to keep people scrolling.3. Bien removes traditional social media features like public likes and comments, replacing them with private voice note responses capped at 60 seconds. The theory is that hearing three voice notes from close friends provides more genuine connection than receiving 300 likes on a post. This design choice stems from recognizing that while the like button serves a useful function for breadth-first social networks where people want quick validation from large peer groups, it is completely inadequate for depth-first relationships. By forcing more intimate and effortful interaction through voice, Bien attempts to upgrade the quality of connection rather than the quantity, building off existing habits like sending voice notes to close friends rather than trying to create entirely new behaviors.4. The traditional follower-following model creates stale social graphs because people are uncomfortable unfriending or unfollowing others as relationships naturally evolve over time. Instead of this model, Bien uses a system where each user maintains a private list of people they want to stay close to, and if two people have each other on their lists, they see each other's content. This eliminates the social awkwardness of unfriending someone while allowing social graphs to naturally evolve. The current model forces people to curate their sharing based on the weakest relationship in their network because they do not want to offend distant connections or go through the work of managing close friends lists, which results in less authentic sharing overall.5. Segundo is building Bien on a paid subscription model rather than an advertising model to align incentives directly with users. He believes no one can build a compelling social network on the advertising model anymore because it creates conflicting incentives where the company must serve both advertisers and users, ultimately degrading the product into what he calls slop. The straightforward deal with customers is that if the product cannot provide value equivalent to the price of a cup of coffee per month through premium features, then there is no justification for the business to exist. This allows Bien to focus solely on whether users feel closer to their inner circle after using the product rather than optimizing for maximum scrolling time.6. Segundo bootstrapped the initial development of Bien using AI coding tools like Replit before hiring a team of five people to develop it professionally. He notes that with current AI tooling, if you can think clearly and understand the problems you are trying to solve, you can build solutions much more cheaply than even five or ten years ago. He eventually hired a designer and iOS and web developers to do things properly with a do it right or do not do it at all mindset. The app is currently iOS-only, built in Swift for a premium experience, with plans to potentially build a React Native version for Android if there are stronger signs of product market fit.7. Segundo's background in trading commodities and futures, along with his deep interest in Eastern philosophy and self-inquiry practices, significantly influences his approach to building Bien. He spent time studying Ramana Maharshi and practicing meditation in caves at Tiruvannamalai in South India, which he says has a profound impact not just on spiritual practice but on thinking about product development and participating in markets. His experience with a major trading drawdown in 2025 after running up a small account 25 times led him to this period of reflection that ultimately resulted in the conception of Bien, demonstrating how his various interests in trading, philosophy, and technology intersect in his approach to building a depth-first social network.

Our latest Member Spotlight podcast features Alex Fine, Founder and CEO of Fun (fun.xyz), the payments company building the deposit and withdrawal rails behind platforms such as Polymarket, Aave, and Lighter. Fun moves more than $18 billion annually for users in over 100 countries, following a recent $72 million Series A led by Multicoin Capital and SignalFire.In conversation with 3i Members Co-Founder and Chairman Mark Gerson, Alex traces his path from a Bay Area kid who idolized startup founders the way other kids idolized rappers or sports stars to building the infrastructure that quietly moves billions on-chain. He entered Stanford already planning to drop out and now focuses on solving one of crypto's biggest challenges: making blockchain payments reliable at scale.In this episode, Alex shares:The investor playbook: how first-principles thinking shapes his approach to building a business and his conversations with investorsThe $100,000 black hole: how a $400,000 transfer lost $100,000 in conversion and why solving that problem is at the core of what Fun doesWhy "good enough" isn't: why "move fast and break things" is the one startup mantra Fun can't afford to followWhere blockchain growth is heading: why 98% of Fun's business is already outside the U.S. and why Alex sees trillions moving on-chain00:00 Welcome and introduction01:27 The first company, built in middle school03:22 Stanford, and deciding to leave04:23 Who should go to college now06:27 The problem: money sent into a black hole07:14 Why value moves from databases to blockchains09:01 What databases cannot do11:37 A $400,000 transfer that arrived as $300,00014:09 Mistake-proof rails, and why the biggest orders get the worst price15:50 Why Fun stays invisible to the consumer16:35 Why early startups have no moat19:55 Talent density21:13 Perfectionism, six nines, and Henry Ford24:10 Rejecting work-life balance25:29 The top priority: pull-based fiat rails26:42 When the world hears about Fun27:55 Ten years out29:39 Reflecting on 3i

The Industry Relations Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Rob and Greg are joined by Michael Wurzer, President and CEO of FBS, for a live continuation of the IDX/data-distribution debate that started at the Columbus Realtors event and continued in a series of dueling LinkedIn posts. Rob argues the MLS should get out of data distribution and marketing entirely; Wurzer defends a reformed, usage-based IDX system; Greg plays referee. The conversation ranges from first-principles arguments about what the MLS is actually for, to pricing and licensing models, to whether a national MLS is closer than anyone thinks. Key Takeaways Wurzer proposes keeping IDX but shifting to volume/usage-based licensing instead of blowing up the current system Rob argues the MLS's only legitimate first-principle purpose is brokerage cooperation, not data distribution or marketing Wurzer: licenses should follow use — display rights are separable from participation rights Rob compares reforming IDX incrementally to "improving slavery" rather than abolishing it — Greg pushes back hard Wurzer references Craig Cheatham's writing on shifting licensing focus to how data is used, not who's using it Discussion of whether non-broker companies (House Canary, Zillow, OpenAI) should get separate syndication licenses distinct from broker/participant data licenses Rob argues MLS "creates no data" — all data originates from brokers and agents (the "ultimate UGC") Wurzer counters that aggregation itself has independent value, distinct from the underlying listings Debate over whether a national MLS is realistic — Rob claims only ~25 MLSs are needed to reach 85% listing share Both agree clear cooperation as a nationwide mandate was likely a policy mistake Wurzer references Daniel Jones (Hive) as working on a formal "MLS constitution" concept   Links Riposte with Rob   Connect with Rob and Greg Rob's Website  Greg's Website    Watch us on YouTube   Our Sponsors: Cotality  Notorious VIP The Giant Steps Job Board    Production and Editing Services by Sunbound Studios

We're back with a familiar voice on the podcast: John Fontenot returns to continue our *First Principles for PMs in the Age of AI* series, this time focused on Vision and Strategy. In a conversation that blends product thinking, personal reflection, and a healthy dose of AI skepticism, John helps us explore what it really means for PMs to define where they're going, and how to get there.John defines vision as the desired end state or future outcome, and strategy as the path, phases, and tradeoffs required to reach it. With examples ranging from long-term business goals to the realities of regulated industries, he explains why product managers still need to lead on vision and strategy even when leadership doesn't provide a clear direction, and why AI can support this work, but not fully own it.Join Matt and Moshe as they explore with John:What vision and strategy actually mean in product management, and why they're easy to confuse  - How to connect a big vision to practical milestones, obstacles, and key results  Why AI can help with analysis and brainstorming, but can't replace human creativity, empathy, or rule-breaking thinking  - The limits of AI in regulated spaces like finance and healthcare, where context and compliance matter  Why PMs often have to create strategy when the organization doesn't hand it to them  - How to use AI as a thinking partner without outsourcing your strategic judgment  The balance between staying anchored in the long-term vision and adjusting to the realities of the market, user needs, and constraints  John's perspective on where product teams should be careful not to let AI flatten nuance or over-automate strategy  And much moreWant to connect with John?LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnrfontenot/  You can also connect with us and find more episodes:Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcastMatt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenproduct/  Moshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovskyNote: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Stephanie Slade joins the Law & Liberty Podcast to discuss her new book, Fusionism.

Stephanie Slade joins the Law & Liberty Podcast to discuss her new book, Fusionism.

AI hallucinations get all the attention. But hallucinations are relatively easy to catch because the output is obviously wrong. The failure mode that should worry data scientists more is when the agent uses facts that are true to draw conclusions that are false, producing outputs that look perfectly fine. This is known as silent correctness.In this Value Boost episode, Jia Huang joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to explore why silent correctness is the most dangerous failure mode in agentic AI systems and what data scientists can do to catch it before it causes serious harm.You'll discover:Why silent correctness is harder to catch than a hallucination [04:17]Why sampling and auditing are non-negotiable in agentic systems [07:09]Four techniques data scientists can use to catch silent failures [09:28]The one safeguard every agentic AI system should have [11:10]Guest BioJia Huang is a lead research engineer at A*STAR, Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and is the author of multiple books on AI engineering and agent design, including Designing AI Agents and RAG from First Principles. His work focuses on turning agentic AI from impressive demos into reliable, auditable, and value-producing engineering systems.LinksConnect with Jia on LinkedInFollow Jia on SubstackAgent Design Pattern Society (ADPS) websiteJia's AI agent design position paperConnect with Genevieve on LinkedInBe among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Andy Constan is back on First Principles to explain why record stock prices, rising long-term Treasury yields and sticky inflation can all coexist, and why the next major market risk may come from the financing behind the AI CapEx boom rather than the eventual return on that investment. We discuss Kevin Warsh and Fed balance sheet policy, Treasury issuance and the quarterly refunding announcement, corporate bond and equity supply, Nvidia's $500 billion financing structure, and Andy's "not enough pie" framework for comparing AI earnings expectations with GDP and productivity growth.Follow First Principles on Spotify⁠⁠Follow First Principles of Apple PodcastsTopics coveredWhy rising long-term interest rates can be consistent with strong economic growth and record stock pricesWhy Andy does not see higher government interest costs creating an imminent U.S. debt crisisThe "script to kill inflation" and why reducing the wealth effect may require lower stock, bond and asset pricesHow the Fed, Treasury and other policymakers have suppressed long-term interest rates and risk premiumsWhy Kevin Warsh's comments about the Fed balance sheet and letting the bond market "do the work" could signal a policy shiftHow Treasury bill issuance, coupon issuance and the quarterly refunding announcement can affect stocks, bonds and financial conditionsWhy the AI CapEx boom is shifting from cash flow funding toward massive corporate debt and equity issuanceAndy's "hamburger thesis" and why the ability to finance AI infrastructure may matter before anyone knows the ultimate AI ROIWhy capital markets can suddenly close after issuance booms and what that could mean for the AI investment cycleHow Nvidia's $500 billion financing structure expands the pool of capital available to data center projectsThe "not enough pie" problem: why projected corporate earnings may require extraordinary GDP growth, productivity gains or a larger corporate share of the economyWhat Andy watches in new stock and bond deals for signs that investors are becoming unwilling to absorb more supplyTimestamps00:00:08 Why stocks, long-term yields and inflation can all rise together00:07:18 The "script to kill inflation" and why short-term rates may not be enough00:12:48 How policymakers have suppressed long-term interest rates00:16:53 The Warsh "drumbeat" and a possible shift in Fed balance sheet policy00:21:56 Why markets may be underestimating Warsh's willingness to fight inflation00:26:27 Treasury bills versus coupons and the limits of current financing policy00:31:33 The "hamburger thesis" behind the massive AI CapEx funding shift00:38:41 Why AI financing may matter more than AI ROI in the short run00:42:55 Breaking down Nvidia's $500 billion data center financing structure00:47:51 The "not enough pie" problem for AI earnings and economic growth00:52:03 Demographics, productivity and the limits on future GDP growth00:56:14 What issuance prices reveal about capital market stressLearn more about the Excess Returns podcast network:https://excessreturns.coNo information discussed in this podcast should be construed as investment advice. Securities discussed may be held by the hosts and guests, their firms or their clients.

Bob Evans speaks with Chad Wahlquist, an Architect at Palantir, about what is driving the company's extraordinary growth and, more importantly, what customers are getting from its technology. Wahlquist argues that Palantir's momentum comes from helping enterprises solve difficult operational problems rather than simply deploying AI or chasing model benchmarks. Their conversation explores AI sovereignty, business outcomes, Palantir's Ontology, LLM complexity, customer operating leverage, and the importance of retaining control over enterprise decision-making. Outcomes Over AI Hype   The Big Themes: Outcomes Drive Palantir's Growth: Wahlquist connects Palantir's growth to the tangible returns customers see after adopting its technology. Rather than treating AI as a standalone investment or another piece of enterprise software, customers increasingly expand their Palantir relationships because successful initial projects create opportunities for broader deployment. He points to strong net dollar retention as evidence that existing customers are spending more after experiencing ROI. The underlying philosophy is straightforward: when an investment generates meaningful business value, executives are willing to repeat and expand it. Production LLMs Create New Problems: Getting an LLM working is only the beginning. Wahlquist discusses the stochastic and probabilistic nature of models, changing provider guardrails, security requirements, model deprecations, and unpredictable behavior across edge cases. Technically switching from one model to another might appear simple, but ensuring that a replacement works reliably across production workflows is significantly harder. This creates a fundamental enterprise question: how do businesses build durable operations on technology whose behavior and availability can change? Protect the Enterprise Decision Loop: One of the conversation's most important ideas is that a business can be understood as a collection of decisions. Companies continually observe data, apply logic, take actions, measure outcomes, and adjust future decisions. Wahlquist calls that feedback loop a source of business “alpha” — the proprietary knowledge that helps one organization outperform another. As AI agents become participants in enterprise decision-making, ownership of that loop becomes increasingly important. Companies should understand who controls the data, logic, actions, outcomes, and learning generated through those processes. The Big Quote: “LLMs don't just magically fix everything. They also create new problems that you have to go solve.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In this episode of Alter Everything, our host, Joshua Burkhow, sits down with Jordan Morrow, SVP of Data and AI Transformation at AgileOne and the “Godfather of Data Literacy”, to explore what it really takes to thrive in the age of AI.They discuss why curiosity, critical thinking, and confidence matter more than mastering the latest tools, how leaders can build cultures that encourage learning and experimentation, and why successful AI adoption starts with investing in people before technology.Start your 30 day free trial of Alteryx desktop or the Analytics cloud platform at https://www.alteryx.com/AlterEverythingSubscribe to the Alter Everything podcast on your favorite podcast app:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alter-everything/id1356137854Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/17KLxb23QlvgcbvLiaPck1?si=FWmOQEITRFCQ42smFjOpfAStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/alteryx/alter-everythingEpisode Chapters0:00 AI and the Human2:00 Jordan Morrow's Data Literacy Journey5:35 First Principles and AI Fundamentals13:37 The Confidence and Skills Gap15:00 Focus, Anxiety, and Being Human18:48 AI, Work, and Leadership25:01 Curiosity as AI Literacy26:44 Psychological Safety and AI Culture29:33 Mental Workouts and Human Creativity33:27 Lightning Round: Skills, Confidence, and Critical Thinking37:45 Everyone Has a Seat at the Table38:39 Final Takeaway

We're continuing our new series on "First Principles for PMs in the Age of AI" with a conversation about two things AI can support, but not replace: human judgment and empathy. In this episode, Rebecca Douglas joins Matt and Moshe to unpack why these skills matter even more as product teams lean harder on AI tools.With 14+ years in product and a career that started in customer service and client relationships, Rebecca brings a grounded view of what product managers actually do when the stakes are real: prioritize tradeoffs, interpret messy context, build trust with stakeholders, and make decisions that AI can help inform but not own. Together, they explore where AI saves time, where it creates new risks, and why PMs still need to slow down, validate, and think deeply before shipping.Join Matt and Moshe as they explore with Rebecca:What human judgment really means in product work, and why it matters most in prioritization, tradeoffs, and strategic decisions   What empathy looks like in practice for PMs, especially when serving both users and non-users like legal, operations, and compliance teamsWhy AI can help with synthesis, documentation, and repetitive work, but still needs human oversight and validationHow regulated environments raise the bar for judgment, trust, and accuracyThe risk of “empathy debt” when teams move too fast with AI and skip genuine user understandingHow Rebecca uses AI in her own work to save time on research, competitive intelligence, and requirements, while keeping decision-making humanWhy product managers shouldn't let AI become the answer to every problem just because it's availableHow to balance AI fluency with restraint, especially when accuracy thresholds matterWhy Rebecca's poll choice of Human judgment and Empathy resonated so strongly with product leaders  And much more!Want to connect with Rebecca?LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccardouglasWorkforce Intelligence Labs: https://www.workintellabs.com/  You can also connect with us and find more episodes:Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcastMatt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenproductMoshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovskyNote: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way.Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The shift to agentic AI doesn't make data science skills obsolete. But it does require data scientists to rewire how they think about familiar concepts, such as uncertainty, model evaluation and accountability, in their work.In this episode, Jia Huang joins Dr Genevieve Hayes to explore what that rewiring actually looks like, and why data scientists are better placed than almost any other profession to make it.You'll discover:Why data scientists are better prepared for the agentic AI era than they might think [03:00]How the data scientist's role is shifting from analyst to system designer [06:37]The three types of uncertainty in agentic AI systems [11:58]Why context engineering is the new feature engineering [23:19]Guest BioJia Huang is a lead research engineer at A*STAR, Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and is the author of multiple books on AI engineering and agent design, including Designing AI Agents and RAG from First Principles. His work focuses on turning agentic AI from impressive demos into reliable, auditable, and value-producing engineering systems. LinksConnect with Jia on LinkedInFollow Jia on SubstackAgent Design Pattern Society (ADPS) websiteJia's AI agent design position paperConnect with Genevieve on LinkedInBe among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Where Part 1 followed the companies, Part 2 is about the person behind them. Picking up from Mukesh Bansal's move from one venture to the next, this half gets into how he finds talent ("work with them for six months"), the mental models he runs his life by, and the beliefs underneath them. He explains why rationally no one should start a company, how he processes every rejection as "no means not now", why he writes three books by simply showing up to a blank page, and how he separated the longevity basics he trusts from the biohacking he no longer does. It ends close to home: loyalty as loyalty to a mission, what he wants for his two children, why parents' expectations matter less than they did, and a life he rates an 8 out of 10.Chapters0:00  Where we left off1:46  Finding talent: "work with them for six months"3:23  The one open-ended question he asks5:57  Winning vs looking good8:00  The compounding argument, revisited9:40  Learning vs winning: drawing the 2x211:17  Three books, and the annual look-back16:18  Making time to think in a full life18:45  What a chief of staff is actually for21:27  "No means not now" and other mental models25:57  How he writes a book28:30  How health became a throughline31:24  From ecosystem to the longevity basics34:29  Why strength training matters after 5038:08  Why he runs SparX, and the deep-tech turn44:05  Loyalty to a mission, and the number two50:35  The Apple teaching model52:52  Three adjectives, and being "scary" to juniors55:30  His kids' worldview57:54  Do parents' expectations still matter?1:00:12  Weekends, food, and reading now1:02:17  Rating his life an 8Quotes[8:44] "I don't know if this rocket thing will work. But if it works, it'll take at least ten years… they said, we are willing to work on it for the rest of our lives."[21:56] "I call this no means not now. That's how I process all the nos in my life."[24:59] "Zomato was started in 2007. They did not pivot into food delivery till 2017."[26:05] "Just show up and stare at a blank page for an hour. Sooner or later you'll start writing."[61:43] "I feel very privileged and very fortunate. So many lucky breaks have worked out for me."Frameworks & mental modelsNo means not now: process every rejection as timing, not a verdict; it protects the ego and the relationship.Long-term patient, short-term aggressive / product is marketing: charge hard daily, give the ten-year game room, and let a product people love do the selling.Horizontal compounding: compound entrepreneurial skill across ventures, not tenure in one sector.Loyalty to a mission: the durable teams are bound to an unfinished job, not to a person; build a number two and give people room.The longevity basics beat biohacking: sleep, eat less, move, strength-train after 50, tend emotional health; the exotic stuff is largely unproven.Credits & sharingThis episode was produced by Rohin Dharmakumar and mixed and mastered by Rajiv CN.Write to us at fp@the-ken.com with your feedback, suggestions, and guests you would want to see on First Principles.If you enjoyed this episode, please help us spread the word by sharing and gifting it to your friends and family.

Swami Vedarupananda gave this spiritual talk in the Santa Barbara temple on August 16, 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than 30 years ago, Gödel Prize Winner Noam Nisan helped develop a proof technique that he never expected anyone to use in the real world.  At the center of that breakthrough was the sum-check protocol — an elegant technique that emerged from Noam Nisan's early work on interactive proofs. At the time, even Nisan assumed ideas like these were far too theoretical to become practical technology. Today, sum-check sits at the heart of some of the fastest modern SNARKs, proof systems that are increasingly important to blockchains and verifiable computation.  In this episode of First Principles, a16z crypto Head of Research Tim Roughgarden and research partner Justin Thaler sit down with Noam Nisan to trace the unlikely journey from theory to infrastructure. They explore how interaction and randomness changed the very definition of a mathematical proof; the deceptively simple “two into one” insight behind sum-check; the rapid sequence of discoveries that culminated in IP = PSPACE; and why Justin believes sum-check may be close to the optimal tool for building practical SNARKs.  But Nisan's career also tells a broader story about how research responds to technological change. When the web arrived in the 1990s, he deliberately left a field in which he was already a leading researcher to understand a new problem: How do you get independent actors on the internet to cooperate when they have different incentives? That question helped give rise to algorithmic game theory — and, decades later, brought Nisan back to questions around blockchain fees, token economics, and protocol design.  Highlights  0:00 — Intro 1:28 — Noam Nisan and the origins of verifiable computation 2:58 — Why Noam Nisan left complexity theory 7:52 — POPcorn, distributed computing, and early blockchain-like ideas 11:10 — The birth of algorithmic game theory 16:14 — Justin Thaler discovers the sum-check protocol 25:05 — From arithmetization to LFKN 27:06 — The story behind IP = PSPACE 30:40 — Why sum-check matters for modern SNARKs 31:15 — What is a SNARK? 38:52 — The key idea behind sum-check: turning two into one 44:03 — When SNARKs went from theory to practice 46:03 — Why blockchains were the breakthrough use case 50:36 — Noam Nisan's move into blockchain economics 56:15 — EIP-1559, transaction fees, and efficient blockspace 1:02:07 — From theoretical computer science to real-world systems 1:08:49 — Boiling down the sum-check protocol: Two become one 1:10:58 — Is the sum-check protocol optimal?  About First Principles  First Principles is a series from a16z crypto exploring the foundational ideas behind modern computing, cryptography, and blockchains through conversations with the researchers who developed them — and the people extending those ideas today. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For today's episode, Edward Dodson examines the evolution in King's thinking on how to address the issue of extreme poverty and the major ideas and events that influenced his life and work.Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Dodson held numerous management and analyst positions within the Housing & Community Development group, helping revitalize neighborhoods and local communities. This gives him an interesting perspective on land use and reform, and how it can reduce inequality. He also has extensive experience as a history lecturer at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute and the Learning is For Everyone program at Burlington County College. Edward has written many papers on history and the political economy and is the author of a three-volume book series titled The Discovery of First Principles.To check out more of our content, including our research and policy tools, visit our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hgsss.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Host Darius Mirshahzadeh sits down with philosopher, author, and cultural thinker Dr. Marc Gafni for a wide-ranging conversation that is equal parts philosophical deep-dive and urgent call to action. Dr. Gafni, whose work spans Oxford-trained philosophy, mystical traditions, evolutionary theory, and cutting-edge science, makes the case that humanity is at a critical inflection point, facing what he calls the "metacrisis": a convergence of existential threats that cannot be solved by fixing infrastructure or social structures alone. The only real solution, he argues, is changing the story of value from which we generate reality itself. Drawing on his landmark book “First Principles and First Values,” Dr. Gafni unpacks why value is not a human invention but a fundamental property of the cosmos, and why reclaiming that understanding is the most important rebellion of our time. In this episode, Darius and Dr. Marc will discuss: (00:00) Introduction to Dr. Marc Gafni (12:14) Exploring First Values and Their Importance (23:57) The Role of Ego in Human Experience (47:58) Vision for a Humane Future (01:02:04) Closing Thoughts and Call to Action Dr. Marc Gafni is a visionary philosopher, social activist, and author whose work explores consciousness, human development, and evolutionary thought. He is the creator of influential frameworks such as Unique Self theory, the Five Selves, and CosmoErotic Humanism, and the author of more than 25 books, including the award-winning Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment. His recent work includes Whole Mate, Evolution of Love from Quarks to Culture, and the First Principles and First Values series, co-authored under the pseudonym David J. Temple with Zak Stein and Ken Wilber, advancing a new philosophy for addressing the global meta-crisis and the future of humanity. Connect with Dr. Marc Global community: www.whowemustbecome.com    Download Chapter 1-5 of First Principles & First Values: https://worldphilosophyandreligion.org/free-download-chapter-1-5-of-first-principles-and-first-values  First Principles and First Values (book): https://www.amazon.com/First-Principles-Values-Propositions-CosmoErotic/dp/B0DZP633BB  Connect with Darius: Website: https://therealdarius.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imthedarius/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thegreatnessmachine  Book: The Core Value Equation https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708 Write a review for The Greatness Machine using this link: https://ratethispodcast.com/spreadinggreatness. 

Mukesh Bansal has founded and left more companies than most people build in a lifetime, and in Part 1 he explains why. He founded Myntra and sold it to Flipkart; he co-founded Cult.fit and turned fitness into a category; and today he runs the AI company Nurix and the Meraki Labs studio. Asked what he is now, he says "a learner", and admits he gets bored the moment a company starts working. Part 1 traces the thesis and the companies: how he allocates his weeks, why he thinks the AI era rewards the hands-on operator over the people-manager, what Nurix and Fermi are, why Myntra's move into fashion was an "adjustment" not a pivot, and the small-town Haridwar upbringing and library habit that set him off. This is Part 1 of 2; Part 2 turns to the person, the mental models, and how he thinks about health, family and success.Chapters0:00  Welcome and who Mukesh Bansal is3:15  How First Principles is already connected to him4:21  "Do you see yourself as an operator, a founder, an investor?"5:27  Zero-to-one, and where learning stops9:11  Allocating time across companies10:34  Why an hour of his time isn't what it was12:59  The three kinds of professionals in the AI age14:52  His stack: Claude, Warp, agents overnight17:58  Founder mode, reversed by AI20:19  No more waiting for a tech co-founder23:02  How big Nurix is; and what Fermi is25:38  The Socratic tutor that won't answer27:18  Back to Myntra: the fashion category today31:30  Koyu, Lyskraft and the CRED hypothesis33:41  Why a venture studio, one company a year38:18  Rejecting the compounding path42:57  The near-death at Myntra, and raising with a short runway45:03  Haridwar, BHEL, and the books that lit the fire48:15  Pivots as chess "adjustments"50:48  Conviction vs discovery: betting the megatrend53:08  The Bay Area years and the return to IndiaQuotes[4:33] "I see myself as a learner… doing one company over a period of time, I get bored."[7:08] "Crisis always comes wrapped with a massive gift, if you are only willing to unpeel the onion."[17:12] "I'm making an even stronger point. If you're only a people manager, watch out."[18:58] "For the first time you can hire something equivalent to human cognition for cents an hour."[48:50] "I use the word adjustment rather than pivot. You come to work every day, you're playing chess."Frameworks & mental modelsLearner over operator: hand off once a company stops teaching you.Crisis and momentum: cut the bad, double down on the good.The three professionals in the AI age: the hands-on veteran is the one AI turns into a superpower.Adjustment, not pivot: the best move on the board each day; a true "wipe the slate" is just a new company.Bet the megatrend, stay loose on the path.Credits & sharingThis episode was produced by Rohin Dharmakumar and mixed and mastered by Rajiv CN.Write to us at fp@the-ken.com with your feedback, suggestions, and guests you would want to see on First Principles.If you enjoyed this episode, please help us spread the word by sharing and gifting it to your friends and family.

How can you prove that something is true without revealing why it is true?  That question gave rise to zero-knowledge proofs, one of the most important breakthroughs in modern cryptography. What began as an attempt to solve a seemingly playful problem — playing poker securely over the telephone — ultimately changed how computer scientists think about proofs, privacy, and verification. In this episode of First Principles, Turing Award–winning cryptographer Shafi Goldwasser joins a16z crypto Head of Research Tim Roughgarden and Research Partner Justin Thaler to tell the origin story of zero-knowledge proofs and interactive proof systems.  Goldwasser recounts how she, Silvio Micali, and Charles Rackoff developed a new kind of proof involving interaction, randomness, and a small probability of error. Their work introduced the idea that a prover could convince a verifier that a statement is true while revealing no additional information. The conversation follows those ideas through some of theoretical computer science's deepest results, including interactive proofs, IP = PSPACE, probabilistically checkable proofs, the sum-check protocol, and SNARKs.  These concepts now power blockchain rollups, privacy-preserving applications, and systems for verifying computation without repeating all the work. They also explore why breakthrough ideas are often initially rejected, how toy problems can lead to foundational theories, why abstraction and narrative matter in scientific research, and whether AI systems should be required to prove their answers.  Highlights  0:00 — Intro  3:36 — How mental poker inspired zero-knowledge proofs: Proving that something is true without revealing the underlying information  6:30 — The simulation paradigm and the meaning of “zero knowledge”  8:33 — Why the original paper was repeatedly rejected  10:33 — How interactive proofs became more powerful than conventional proofs  13:36 — The road to modern SNARKs  19:02 — Why the sum-check protocol is so useful for verifiable computation  25:31 — Why many so-called “zk proofs” are not actually zero knowledge  34:06 — Why toy examples, playfulness, and narratives can produce deep theory  37:23 — The role of rigor and computational assumptions in cryptography  42:44 — Applying zero-knowledge proofs to law, evidence, and secret software  45:23 — Training AI systems to provide proofs alongside their answers  54:27 — Why genuinely new ideas are often difficult for experts to recognize  About First Principles  First Principles is a special limited series from a16z crypto about the scientific roots of modern computing — especially blockchains — told through rare conversations with the pioneers who helped shape the foundational ideas behind distributed systems, consensus protocols, economics, mechanism design, cryptography, zero knowledge, and more.  People often tell the story of the Bitcoin whitepaper as if it appeared out of nowhere. But the ideas behind Bitcoin — and blockchains more broadly — come from decades of computer science, economics, mathematics, and cryptography. First Principles is a guide to that lineage, as told by the people who helped build it.  Links  Shafi Goldwasser  MIT CSAIL: http://people.csail.mit.edu/shafi/  Simons Institute: https://simons.berkeley.edu/people/shafi-goldwasser  Tim Roughgarden a16z crypto: https://a16zcrypto.com/team/tim-roughgarden/  Website: https://timroughgarden.org/ "X: https://x.com/Tim_Roughgarden  Justin Thaler  a16z crypto: https://a16zcrypto.com/team/justin-thaler/  Website: https://people.cs.georgetown.edu/jthaler/  X: https://x.com/SuccinctJT  a16z crypto Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto  Website: https://a16zcrypto.com/  X: https://twitter.com/a16zcrypto  Newsletter: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're kicking off a new series with a very timely question: what does product management look like in the age of AI? In this first episode, Matt and Moshe set the stage for *First Principles and Beyond for Product Managers in the Age of AI*, exploring how PM work is changing, what should stay human, and where AI can genuinely help. The conversation ranges from Matt's work implementing software for government agencies to Moshe's hands-on experiments with AI coding tools like Cursor, Kirk, and Claude Code. Along the way, they dig into the tension between speed and judgment, debate what “product sense” really means, and start shaping the core theme of the series: identifying the first principles of product management before layering AI on top. Join Matt and Moshe as they explore: - How product management is evolving as AI becomes part of the workflow - Why human-centered value delivery still matters, even when tools can generate work faster - What “product sense” means in practice, and whether it can be defined as a set of first principles   - Experiments with AI coding tools, local development, and the possibilities of building faster with more leverage - The idea of using AI to augment product work without removing human judgment from the loop - Bring it to the audience by polling where PMs should remain involved, and where AI can take more of the load - And much more! Want to share your thoughts on the series or follow along?-  - Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/pr... - Matt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ma... - Moshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mik... Note: Any views mentioned in the podcast are the sole views of our hosts and guests, and do not represent the products mentioned in any way. Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Will Harvey got into real estate the way a lot of people do. He dropped out of college after a double hip surgery ended football, landed on a mortgage desk in 2015, and figured out fast how leverage worked. He bought his first house on a $30,000 salary with his dad as a co-signer, rented out two of the three bedrooms, and house hacked a deal before he knew the word for it.Then came the part nobody puts in the brochure. Three rentals in an expensive market, no money left, and the discovery that owning property is not passive. As Will puts it, the only genuinely passive position in real estate is limited partner, and you pay for it by giving up control.So he kept moving. He left a high-paying W2 to flip houses, rolled the flip profits into syndications, took bonus depreciation against the gains, did a couple of deals as a GP. And somewhere in there he figured out what actually excites him is the finance side of the table, not the operating side.That led to a friends-and-family fund in 2023, an accidental first hard money loan, and eventually a dedicated 506(c) fund built on a specific idea: that hard money underwriting is due for a rebuild from first principles.Will walks through the seven risks he underwrites against, why he thinks most lenders collect the wrong paperwork while skipping the single most predictive input available, and how he uses AI to compress an underwriting file from hours to about ten minutes without giving up the verification step.He also talks about the $70,000 he lost on a deal he already knew he should not have taken, what he looks for in an investor conversation before he will accept a wire, and why the boring end of real estate is the point rather than the compromise.What you will learnWhy Will chose debt over equity, and what that decision has to do with temperament rather than returnsThe first-principles exercise he ran on lending, and the seven risks it producedWhich document lenders over-collect, and which input they skip entirelyHow AI actually sits in his underwriting stack, and where he still verifies by handWhat he screens for in a first conversation with a prospective investorWhy he charges points and has no prepayment penaltyConnect with Will HarveyWebsite: harvey-capital.comEmail: will@harvey-capital.comLinkedIn: search Will Harvey, Harvey CapitalThis week's bookTitan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron ChernowWill also mentioned The Book of Elon, a compilation of Elon Musk's own thinking pulled from interviews. He reads both the same way: printed out, at night, when his mind has slowed down enough to actually absorb it.Chapters00:00 Cold open: the first call with a borrower00:35 Welcome01:40 Who Will Harvey is and what Harvey Capital does02:27 Dropping out, double hip surgery, and the mortgage desk03:43 House hacking the first deal before he knew the term04:44 Nothing about owning rentals is passive05:29 Leaving a high-paid W2 to flip houses06:31 The realization: he is not an operator, he is a finance guy06:58 The 2023 friends-and-family fund07:50 The accidental first hard money loan08:06 Graduating from a 506(b) to a 506(c)10:02 Why debt instead of equity13:13 How he protects capital13:32 Applying SpaceX first principles to lending15:53 The seven risks he underwrites against16:25 Over-documenting what does not matter17:00 The borrower's story as the real underwriting input18:49 A word from Elevista Connect19:52 Screening investors on temperament, not just accreditation20:04 Why the one-year term filters people out21:00 Boring is the whole point23:20 Where the borrowers actually come from23:30 Google ads, and turning them off24:15 The REIA coin flip28:39 How Will uses AI to run the business28:44 Claude Code on the terminal30:40 Recording borrower calls as a data point31:52 Compressing hours of underwriting into ten minutes32:36 Incumbent lenders move like turtles33:01 Why flippers actually buy speed35:09 No prepayment penalties, and the reason why36:23 Lightning round36:52 What drives him37:50 The best advice he ever got38:25 Buffett: price and value are two different things39:40 The decision he would take back40:44 Losing $70,000 on a deal outside the buy box41:32 The return on brain damage41:52 What is on his nightstand41:58 Titan, and The Book of Elon43:33 Ed's NotebookLM workflow for books he never gets to45:55 How Will defines success46:12 Outcomes are a distraction, focus on the process47:50 You only get 18 summers48:56 How to reach Will49:03 harvey-capital.comThis has been the Real Estate Underground. Don't forget to subscribe, it helps us grow.Elevista - Speed as a Service™Elevista Connect is the first AI-powered lead conversion system built for real estate investors.

I sat down with Eric Jorgensen, CEO of Scribe Media and author of The Book of Elon. Here are 3 things that stuck with me: What you think is your best is a fraction of what you're capable of. Elon isn't just working harder, he's cut through the noise to focus on what matters. First principles thinking breaks you free from conventional limits. Stop reasoning by analogy, asking what everyone else does. Start asking what's actually possible. The gap between those two questions is where innovation lives. Your uniqueness is your advantage. The world rewards people who are singular, -- Eric Jorgenson is the CEO of Scribe Media. He published two books with Scribe prior to becoming CEO. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant has sold over 1,000,000 copies, been translated into 30+ languages, and seen over 4,000,000 digital copies given away for free. He runs an early stage technology investment firm called Rolling Fun, and was previously in Growth & Product roles at Zaarly. Watch our previous interview Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big! Connect with Eric Jorgensen: Eric Jorgensen Books: https://www.ejorgenson.com/books-1  Website: https://scribemedia.com  X: https://twitter.com/scribemediaco  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scribe-media  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scribemediaco  Facebook: https://facebook.com/scribemediaco  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCen_O0dVTbVAK-XF9IjPitQ      *E - explicit language may be used in this podcast.

After more than 15 years of building and leading businesses, Eli David Rokah, CEO of StartupBlink, shares the timeless principles he wishes he had known from day one. A practical guide for founders and entrepreneurs at any stage.

1 · SummaryPart 2 of 2. Part 1 laid out the bet: a fund built only for Indian consumer brands, back when the idea sounded absurd, and the anti-power-law machine Kanwal Singh built to make it work. This half is the person. The near-decade at Hindustan Lever that gave him his love of consumer, the Intel years, and the Paper Boat conviction that taught him to back the founder over the idea. Then the man himself: parents who came to India as refugees from Pakistan, a father who kept collecting degrees while feeding the family, the coach he started seeing in his sixties and what separates coaching from therapy, and how he reads a founder by meeting their family. He turned down twice the money he could have raised. He rates his life a 10.2 · Chapters0:00 Part 2 intro 1:22 The Hindustan Lever decade that started it all 2:25 Intel Inside, and bringing the inside out 4:22 The Paper Boat conviction: backing the founder 6:38 What he adds as Fireside's "CEO," and value of good 17:53 Capping the fund: turning down 2x the money 20:24 Hiring: read the person, meet the family 27:01 Refugees, and a father who never stopped studying 30:39 Three words, and a 100%-locked calendar 33:30 Motivating through the down days 34:51 The coach, and coaching vs therapy 43:40 How he learns, and consumer vs tech founders 51:27 Rating his life a 10, and success redefined 52:47 Cotswolds, golf, and the empty nest refilled3 · Pull-quotes[17:56] "I could have raised 2x of this. Genuinely, we could have raised 2x of this."[23:55] "You cannot build to sell. You build for sustenance, you build for good."[27:04] "Both my parents were refugees from Pakistan."[51:34] "A 10." (asked how happy he is with his life)4 · Frameworks & mental modelsFounder assessment through the family: read a founder by their story and support system, often over a meal with their spouse, on the belief that no one survives a decade-long build without one.Build for sustenance, not to sell: the best businesses are bought, not sold; you build for the long run and treat a sale as a business decision along the way.Value of good ("do good to do well"): founder first, planet first, one Fireside, with goodness as the foundation of doing well.Coaching vs therapy: therapy addresses a medical issue; coaching is vulnerability and honesty in a business context, and only works once you have the self-awareness to accept there's a problem.This episode was produced by Rohin Dharmakumar and mixed and mastered by Rajiv CN.Write to us at fp@the-ken.com with your feedback, suggestions, and guests you would want to see on First Principles.If you enjoyed this episode, please help us spread the word by sharing and gifting it to your friends and family.

I don't operate from assumptions or emotions. I question my own beliefs, compare them to first principles, and accept when I'm wrong, even if it's uncomfortable. Thinking this way requires effort, independent thought, and the willingness to let go of long held conclusions. That's how I stop following what I've always believed and start building from what's actually true. Show Notes: [05:38]#1 People default to social proof. [10:48]#2 Questioning assumptions creates discomfort.  [15:14]#3 Shortcut thinking replaces deep analysis. [17:22] Recap Next Steps: --- Execution is not a talent.   It is a standard. If your results don't match your ability, something in your approach is out of alignment. Most people do not have a motivation problem.   They have a consistency problem. Power Presence is the system for operating with greater discipline, clarity, structure, and execution under pressure. Learn more: → http://www.PowerPresenceProtocol.com  Know what to do but not always doing it?  Measure your execution at → http://RateMyExecution.com. Get Dre's free Daily Game email at http://WorkOnMyGame.com. Every day you'll receive one practical lesson on leadership, mindset, discipline, and execution to help you perform at a higher level. No fluff. Just game

Today, on Karl and Crew, we wrapped up our weekly theme, “First Principle.” The author of “Ensnared: Overcoming the Darkness of the New Age and Occult with the Light of God’s Truth,” Jac Marino Chen, shared how Jesus delivered her from abuse, addiction, and the occult, encouraging listeners that no one is beyond the reach of God’s saving grace and transforming power. The President of Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Mark Yarborough, drew from his book The Rekindled Heart to share practical, biblical essentials for reviving a fading faith and living with renewed passion for Christ and His mission. We then turned to our listeners on the phone line and asked, “Did the Lord ever use Moody Radio to allow you to hear exactly what you needed in that moment?” You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:Call Segment [ 07:25 ]Jac Marino Chen [ 26:05 ]Dr. Mark Yarborough [ 39:13 ]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before the internet could become a place to bank or transact, it needed a way for strangers to know who they were talking to, and whether a message could be trusted. Turing Award winners Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman helped invent it. In this episode of First Principles, Rivest tells the story of how they developed RSA, the first practical public-key cryptosystem. Their breakthrough made it possible to encrypt information, verify identities, and authenticate messages across an open network without requiring participants to meet or exchange a secret in advance — laying essential groundwork for the secure internet and, decades later, blockchains. Rivest joins Tim Roughgarden, Head of Research at a16z crypto and Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University, and Dan Boneh — Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, a16z crypto Senior Research Advisor, and the “B” in BLS signatures — for a conversation about the origins and future of modern cryptography. They trace the field from its early days, when most cryptographic research was classified and even the meaning of “security” had not been formally defined, through the publication of the Diffie-Hellman paper and the open problem that ultimately led to RSA. Rivest recounts the night the core idea came together, why the difficulty of factoring made the system plausible, and why no one initially knew whether it would survive sustained attempts to break it. The conversation also explores the other cryptographic primitives that underpin blockchains and the modern internet. Rivest explains why digital signatures interested him even more than encryption, how he designed the MD family of cryptographic hash functions, and why standards such as RSA, DSA, and SHA were shaped as much by politics, patents, and government pressure as by mathematics. Finally, Rivest shares his unusually candid views on quantum computing, post-quantum security, and the deeper theoretical possibility that P could equal NP. Either development could threaten the foundations of modern cryptography — but, as Rivest argues, cryptographers have a responsibility to prepare for even the worst-case scenarios. Highlights 00:00 – Intro: the two problems that could break modern cryptography 01:10 – Why Ron Rivest's work underpins the internet and blockchains 08:10 – Before public-key cryptography, there was no theory of security 11:05 – The open problem that led to RSA 13:55 – The night Ron Rivest discovered the core idea behind RSA 17:55 – Why digital signatures were the real breakthrough 19:14 – The RSA challenge — and a prediction that was off by quadrillions of years 28:33 – How government pressure shaped cryptographic standards 30:36 – Designing the hash functions that made digital signatures practical 33:26 – The Fiat–Shamir transformation, explained 38:04 – Building a cryptography company before the web existed 42:31 – Will quantum computers ever become powerful enough to break RSA? 48:02 – The cryptography securing the internet, elections, and everyday life 50:11 – What surprised Dan: Quantum giveth and quantum taketh away About First Principles First Principles is a special limited series from a16z crypto about the scientific roots of modern computing — especially blockchains — told through rare conversations with the pioneers who helped shape the foundational ideas behind distributed systems, consensus protocols, economics, mechanism design, cryptography, zero knowledge, and more. People often tell the story of the Bitcoin whitepaper as if it appeared out of nowhere. But the ideas behind Bitcoin — and blockchains more broadly — come from decades of computer science, economics, mathematics, and cryptography. First Principles is a guide to that lineage, as told by the people who helped build it. Subscribe to follow along: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjQ9HCQMu_8yIg60YAq67HDdvp7E_T5e8 Hear more from: Ron Rivest: https://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/ Tim Roughgarden: https://twitter.com/Tim_Roughgarden Dan Boneh: https://twitter.com/danboneh Follow a16z crypto: X: https://twitter.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto Substack: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we wrapped up our weekly theme, “First Principle.” The author of “Ensnared: Overcoming the Darkness of the New Age and Occult with the Light of God’s Truth,” Jac Marino Chen, shared how Jesus delivered her from abuse, addiction, and the occult, encouraging listeners that no one is beyond the reach of God’s saving grace and transforming power. The President of Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Mark Yarborough, drew from his book The Rekindled Heart to share practical, biblical essentials for reviving a fading faith and living with renewed passion for Christ and His mission. We then turned to our listeners on the phone line and asked, “Did the Lord ever use Moody Radio to allow you to hear exactly what you needed in that moment?” You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:Call Segment [ 07:25 ]Jac Marino Chen [ 26:05 ]Dr. Mark Yarborough [ 39:13 ]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on Karl and Crew, we continued our theme, “First Principle,” examining why discipleship is broken in America. Dr. Ron Hunter, the CEO of D6 Family Ministry, explained why parents play the primary role in discipleship, sharing practical ways to cultivate lifelong faith through everyday rhythms, meaningful relationships, and age-appropriate guidance. The Executive Director of Moody’s Theological Seminary Center for Compelling Biblical Preaching, Dr. Eric Redmond, explained why discipleship must extend beyond programs and small groups, encouraging believers to invest personally in others and model how faith shapes everyday life. You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:Make It A Metaphor with Jonathan [ 22:09 ]Dr. Ron Hunter [ 27:02 ]Dr. Eric Redmond [ 39:01 ]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on Karl and Crew, we continued our theme, “First Principle,” examining why discipleship is broken in America. Dr. Ron Hunter, the CEO of D6 Family Ministry, explained why parents play the primary role in discipleship, sharing practical ways to cultivate lifelong faith through everyday rhythms, meaningful relationships, and age-appropriate guidance. The Executive Director of Moody’s Theological Seminary Center for Compelling Biblical Preaching, Dr. Eric Redmond, explained why discipleship must extend beyond programs and small groups, encouraging believers to invest personally in others and model how faith shapes everyday life. You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:Make It A Metaphor with Jonathan [ 22:09 ]Dr. Ron Hunter [ 27:02 ]Dr. Eric Redmond [ 39:01 ]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on Karl and Crew, we continued our theme, “First Principle,” where we explored the difference between decision and surrender. Dannah Gresh, author of “And the Bride Wore White,” shared insights on purity culture, emphasizing that true purity is found in Christ and urging the Church to embrace a biblical vision of sexual integrity with both truth and grace. Dr. John Mabus, a professor from Moody Bible Institute highlighted that genuine salvation requires wholehearted surrender to Jesus, focusing on discipleship and a life transformed by Him. We also engaged our listeners, asking, “If the foundation of your salvation was off from the very beginning, how would you know?” You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:Dannah Gresh [ 06:12 ]Call Segment [ 18:45 ]Dr. John Mabus [ 46:36 ]Ally Think It's Funny [ 56:40 ]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on Karl and Crew, we continued our theme, “First Principle,” where we explored the difference between decision and surrender. Dannah Gresh, author of “And the Bride Wore White,” shared insights on purity culture, emphasizing that true purity is found in Christ and urging the Church to embrace a biblical vision of sexual integrity with both truth and grace. Dr. John Mabus, a professor from Moody Bible Institute highlighted that genuine salvation requires wholehearted surrender to Jesus, focusing on discipleship and a life transformed by Him. We also engaged our listeners, asking, “If the foundation of your salvation was off from the very beginning, how would you know?” You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:Dannah Gresh [ 06:12 ]Call Segment [ 18:45 ]Dr. John Mabus [ 46:36 ]Ally Think It's Funny [ 56:40 ]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most enterprises rolling out AI are quietly optimizing for the wrong thing: speed, volume, lines of code shipped. Manu Narayan, CIO of GitLab, argues that efficiency gains alone are about to drive companies straight into a productivity ceiling they can't engineer their way out of. The reason is simple and uncomfortable—a faster version of a pre-AI workflow is still a pre-AI workflow. The real unlock isn't speeding up what you already do; it's rebuilding it from first principles.In this episode of Talking AI, Matt Paige sits down with Manu Narayan, GitLab's first-ever CIO, who owns the company's internal AI strategy, enterprise technology, and data infrastructure—in effect, putting GitLab to work inside GitLab. Manu makes the case for moving beyond incremental AI adoption toward a genuine operating model for enterprise AI.The conversation covers GitLab's hub-and-spoke operating model and its embedded "AI transformation owners," why the team measures adoption against business KPIs instead of token counts, how "human in the loop" is evolving into an orchestration role, and why context and traceability—not raw speed—are the new differentiators in software development.In this episode, you'll hear about:Why efficiency gains alone lead straight into a productivity ceilingThe gap between AI "haves and have-nots" and how to close itGitLab's hub-and-spoke (really hub-spoke-hub) operating modelWhat an "AI transformation owner" does inside each division"Full stack" people: stretching roles end-to-end across a life cycleThe difference between a skill and an agent—and why it mattersBuilding an internal skill library with governance built inWhy token maxing is the wrong scoreboard, and what to measure insteadHow human-in-the-loop shifts to a higher level of abstractionWhat "loops" mean and the move to being a manager of agentsWhy context and traceability beat commoditized speedLocal vs. repo-side development and where guardrails belongHandling shadow AI with a genuine "happy path to production"The first move for a CIO stuck optimizing the old workflowKey Moments00:03:11 — The AI "haves and have-nots" inside every enterprise00:04:30 — The hub-and-spoke operating model and "AI transformation owners"00:07:00 — "Full stack" people: stretching roles across the whole life cycle00:09:06 — Skills vs. agents — human-invoked versus autonomous00:12:00 — The daily to-do skill that briefs Manu every morning00:12:58 — Building an internal skill library with a review-and-promote pipeline00:16:13 — Why GitLab doesn't ascribe to "token maxing"00:18:02 — Measuring adoption by role — beyond lines of code and MRs00:24:30 — Local vs. repo side: where governance and guardrails actually live00:27:39 — How "human in the loop" is evolving as agents outpace review00:30:49 — What "loops" really are, and the manager-of-agents shift00:33:52 — Why context and traceability are the new differentiators00:37:29 — The maintainability fear and the bottleneck that moved to review00:39:55 — SaaSpocalypse, agent sprawl, and the limits of MCP00:42:51 — Shadow AI and the "happy path to production"00:45:29 — The first move Monday morning: executive alignment on scope00:47:33 — Advice to his pre-AI self: stay nimble, it's okay to pivotKey LinksGitLabConnect with Manu on LinkedInMentioned in this episode: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.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we continued our weekly theme, “First Principle,” and explained why religion can't save people. Phil Shappard served over 30 years as National Operations Manager of Moody Radio. He reflected on Moody Radio’s 100-year legacy, sharing stories of the ministry’s humble beginnings, technological innovation, and unwavering commitment to proclaiming the gospel. J. Warner Wallace, an adjunct professor of apologetics at Talbot School of Theology, shared how his experience as a cold-case detective led him to examine the evidence for Christianity, explaining why the historical case for Jesus’ resurrection continues to strengthen believers’ confidence and hope. You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:Music Through the Decades [ 01:18 ]Phil Shappard [ 15:11 ]J. Warner Wallace [ 30:00 ]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, on Karl and Crew, we kicked off our weekly theme, “First Principle,” and posed the thought-provoking question, “Can you go to church for years and not know Christ?” The President and Chief Executive Officer of Transform Iran, Lana Silk, explained why many Iranians see the current conflict differently from how it’s portrayed in the West and shared how believers continue to bring hope amid uncertainty. The lead pastor of City Church, Dean Inserra, unpacked his book “The Unsaved Christian,” explaining the marks of cultural Christianity and encouraging listeners to examine whether their faith rests in Christ alone rather than heritage, morality, or religious tradition. Abdu Murray, the President of Embrace the Truth, shared how his journey from Islam to Christ shaped his understanding of cultural Christianity and encouraged listeners to pursue genuine saving faith over religious tradition. You can hear the highlights of today’s program on the Karl and Crew Showcast. If you're looking to hear a particular segment from the show, look at the following time stamps:Lana Silk [ 13:47 ]Dean Inserra [ 24:32 ]Abdu Murray [ 34:52 ]Donate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1 · SummaryPart 1 of 2. Kanwal Singh is the first venture capitalist to appear on First Principles, and the reason is the bet he made with the fund itself. In 2017, at the peak of the tech boom, he walked away from tech investing to raise a fund only for Indian consumer brands, when almost nobody believed India had a consumer story worth venture capital. His first backers weren't institutions, they were the consumer families who had built India's brands. This half covers the whole bet: what investors actually said when he pitched a consumer-only fund, why he raised in India rather than abroad, the ownership and follow-on design he corrected fund after fund, his claim that most of his companies succeed rather than one outlier, and his working map of India 1, 2 and 3. Part 2 turns to the person behind it.2 · Chapters0:00 Cold open and Part 1 intro 3:27 What Fireside is, and why it exists 10:04 How the fund makes money 11:23 The stats: 9 years, 4 funds, 68 investments 12:50 Raising fund one: consumer families, not global institutions 17:14 Two years as a solo angel 25:51 Ownership by design, and the follow-on model 34:05 What "success" means, and the anti-power-law 36:56 The centre of excellence 45:40 The three breaks from the VC default, and India 1/2/3 53:47 Quick commerce is brand-first 57:54 Brand vs performance: Underneat, Truvi3 · Pull-quotes[0:20] "For a 5x, nobody will call you legendary."[34:24] "We can build successful funds, fund after fund... not necessarily depending on those one or two outliers. Good news is we also have the outliers."[40:26] "The answer lies in the question. It is hard."[54:12] "The power of the brand is truly manifest in quick commerce."4 · Frameworks & mental modelsAnti-power-law investing: a portfolio where most companies clear "capital plus," not one built to live or die on a single outlier.The three breaks from the VC default: consumer over tech, Indian consumer-family LPs over global institutions, one shared-credit team over lone-hero dealmakers.India 1, 2, 3: his working map of where consumption grows, with India 2 needing products designed for it and India 3 reached through doorstep models.Quick commerce is brand-first: scarce shelf space and a buy-not-browse shopper mean only brands with genuine pull survive.This episode was produced by Rohin Dharmakumar and mixed and mastered by Rajiv CN.Write to us at fp@the-ken.com with your feedback, suggestions, and guests you would want to see on First Principles.If you enjoyed this episode, please help us spread the word by sharing and gifting it to your friends and family.

Part 2 of 2. In Part 1 we walked the road from 2011 — three companies, an investor ultimatum, and the capital it took to build. Part 2 is the mind. Saahil Goel starts with what, given hindsight, he'd do differently, then the first principles he runs Shiprocket on (distribution beats product), the two or three metrics he genuinely obsesses over, his bet on applied AI, why he believes you can't actually manage people, who does and doesn't survive at the company, the guitar he still plays, his dog, and the question Rohin closes every episode with, which Saahil answers with a single number.Chapters1:02  With hindsight, what he'd do differently2:10  “A paisa of every transaction in India”5:23  First principles: distribution beats product11:32  The metrics he obsesses over17:22  Betting on applied AI29:33  “You can't manage people”31:45  Who doesn't survive at Shiprocket42:05  The guitar, Pink Floyd, and Bruno the CHO58:28  The book he forgets — and how he reflects1:00:50  Rating his life an 8This episode was produced by Rohin Dharmakumar and mixed and mastered by Rajiv CN.Write to us at fp@the-ken.com with your feedback, suggestions, and guests you would want to see on First Principles.If you enjoyed this episode, please help us spread the word by sharing and gifting it to your friends and family.

Adam took the family on his parents' annual vacation this week, and Grandpa rented four jet skis. With a house full of kids, four turned out to be exactly the right number. Adam threw Luke off the back four times, which he's counting as a win. But the real event was the card game. If you've never played spoons with the Minihan family, know this going in: it ends in blood. Sheetrock has been broken. Tables have taken damage. Adam came home with a scratch, a bruise, and a loss he's still sore about. His sister Kaylin was his rival, so he spent the whole game yanking the spoons to the far end of the table just to make her fly for one. Then Grandpa broke out the karaoke machine after the kids went down, and Adam lassoed Lady Haylee into a duet of "Jackson." Every man should have a go-to karaoke song ready for when the moment finds him. Adam jokes, God help him, is "My Heart Will Go On."Dave, by his own admission, has no fun stories. He spent the weekend working himself to the bone, finished cutting his wheat, and pulled a good harvest. Adam brought up while his family was away, something got into the coop. A fox or a coyote, most likely, because a raccoon doesn't kill a dozen birds. They lost the four new chicks and the brooding hens. Chicken math giveth, and this week it took away.The pour is 1792 Full Proof, a single-barrel store pick from Broken Arrow Wine and Spirits, a Catholic-owned shop. It's barrel strength and it drinks hot. Jim, keeper of the yummy scale, gave it a 5.99 out of 6, then shrugged and told the guys to be indifferent to it. Which, as it happens, is the whole show.Because tonight the topic is holy indifference, and Adam frames it first through ordering your day. Reading Sertillanges' The Intellectual Life, he lands on a hard truth: you are not at the mercy of your mood, and the man who waits until he feels like it never starts. Order gets carried out precisely when you don't feel like it, because the hierarchy of what matters doesn't shift with how you feel. Decide what a good day looks like before the day begins. Get your three to five things done no matter what the highs and lows throw at you. Kill the second alarm. Don't become a slave to the pillow. Small time used faithfully beats big time used erratically. And guard your silence, because a scattered mind can't go deep, and the first place you feel the noise is in adoration.Then the turn. Holy indifference isn't apathy. It's the opposite. It's a hyper-preference, wanting the will of God so completely that you stop caring whether He sends riches or poverty, health or sickness, a long life or a short one. St. Ignatius calls it indifference to all created things. St. Francis de Sales sharpens it: the resigned man accepts God's will but still quietly prefers his own, while the indifferent man has let go of the preference itself. Wax in the hand. Clay in the potter's grip. Dave brings it home with the night a car stopped short in front of him and he thought, what if I'd just died? His first panic was, who takes care of my family? And the answer he heard was, do you think you're the one who takes care of them? Have they not always been Mine first? Protect, provide, establish, and then hold it all loosely. You can't abandon yourself to a God you don't trust, so build the faith that lets you trust Him. Raise your glass.TOPICS COVEREDAdam's family vacation and Grandpa renting four jet skis for a house full of kidsThe Minihan family spoons tournament that draws blood and breaks sheetrock, with Adam's sister Kaylin as his rivalWhy every man needs a go-to karaoke song, and Adam roping Lady Haylee into a "Jackson" duetDave working himself to the bone all weekend with no story to show for itDave finishing the wheat harvest and losing a dozen chickens to a predator while the family was away"Chicken math," and why your flock is a moving number and never a static oneBourbon of the week: 1792 Full Proof, a single-barrel store pick from Broken Arrow Wine and SpiritsJim's yummy scale verdict: a 5.99 out of 6, delivered with a shrugOrdering your day so you're not at the mercy of your moods, from Sertillanges' The Intellectual LifeDeciding what a good day looks like before the day even beginsKevin O'Leary, Steve Jobs, and getting your three to five things done regardless of the highs and lowsGuarding your focus: the Brick, one alarm, no snooze, and refusing to be a slave to the pillowWhy small time used faithfully beats big time used erraticallyWhy living well for your family is harder than dying for itRecollection over noise, guarding silence, and why you feel a scattered mind first in adorationCatholic freedom as the ability to choose the good, not the license to do whatever you wantHoly indifference as a hyper-preference for God's will, not apathySt. Ignatius on indifference to health or sickness, riches or poverty, honor or dishonorSt. Francis de Sales on the difference between resignation and indifference, and the image of wax in the handThe daily offering, and Adam's "Lord, take it all from me" prayer in adorationThe detachment exercise: if a tornado took your house, would you still trust Him?Dave's near-death moment and the words he heard: do you think you're the one who takes care of your family?"Hold on loosely, but don't let go," and why you can't abandon yourself to a God you don't trustREFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEBooks & Writings:The Intellectual Life by A.G. Sertillanges, O.P. (Adam's favorite; "every man should read it")Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales (resignation vs. indifference; the wax in the hand)The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (indifference to all created things)Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (Adam's take: a brilliant visionary who led a sad life)Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Maria Faustina (free on the Amen app)True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort (free on the Amen app)Saints & Church Fathers:St. Ignatius of Loyola (holy indifference; the First Principle and Foundation)St. Francis de Sales (resignation vs. indifference)St. Thérèse of Lisieux (the "little way," faithful small time)St. Maria Faustina and St. Louis de Montfort (the two books that changed Adam's life)People:Adam Minihan (host; founder of M6 Marketing; writes The Grounded Builder on Substack)Dave Niles (host; Lady Pamela and the kids)Jim Spencer (in studio; keeper of the yummy scale)Kevin O'Leary, "Mr. Wonderful," and Steve Jobs (the time-management and focus thread)Karl Graham (friend of the show; the log-every-30-minutes habit)Musical cameos: 38 Special ("Hold On Loosely"), Johnny Cash and June Carter ("Jackson"), Celine Dion ("My Heart Will Go On"), Lionel Richie ("Easy")Programs & Institutions:The Brick (the focus device that blocks distracting apps)Broken Arrow Wine and Spirits (Catholic-owned; the 1792 Full Proof store pick)M6 Marketing (Adam's company)SPONSOR BLOCKSponsor: The Amen app (from the Augustine Institute)The Amen app is the free Catholic prayer app the guys use to prep the family for Sunday, listening to the Sunday Gospel on the way to Holy Mass. Since 2021 it's had over 950,000 downloads, and the guys want to push it past a million. No paywall, no subscription trap, no upfront cost. It even has Divine Mercy in My Soul and True Devotion to Mary on it, free. Download the Amen app right now.Sponsor: Select International Tours: selectinternationaltours.comWhen Adam and Dave decided to lead their first pilgrimage, one name kept coming up: Select International Tours. Having used them, the guys can vouch for it. They're the best. Wherever in the world you want to go, Select has a tour ready. Whether you want to lead a pilgrimage or attend one, head to selectinternationaltours.com and see everything they offer. You won't regret it.

Adam S., has been walking in the sunlight of the Spirit since his Aquarian sobriety date of January 26, 2018, living in permanent abstinence from all mind-altering substances, one day at a time. Recovery is Adam's path of awakening, rooted in the Twelve Steps, the Big Book, a Higher Power of his own understanding, and the daily choice to align with truth instead of illusion, love instead of fear. As a grateful double winner in AA and Al-Anon, he has learned that emotional sobriety is the next frontier, and every day is Day One in the work of freedom from emotional inebriation, allowing his spirit to lead where his ego once did. Adam believes that we're here to remember who we really are through honesty, humility, service, and conscious contact with the Divine, carrying the message through the way we live more than the words we speak. As the Big Book reminds us, “We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.”Reco12 is an open-to-all addictions and afflictions organization, dedicated to exploring the common threads of the differing manifestations of alcoholism; sharing tools, and offering hope from those walking a similar path. So whether your “thing” is alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, food, … whatever… you are home here.  We gather from diverse backgrounds, faiths, and locations to learn from and support one another. Our speakers come from various fellowships and experiences, demonstrating the universal principles of recovery.  Reco12 is not allied or affiliated with any specific 12 Step fellowship. Donations:Support Reco12's 12th Step Mission! Help provide powerful audio resources for addicts and their loved ones. Your contributions cover Zoom, podcasts, web hosting, and admin costs.  Those costs are a little over $1000 per year.Monthly Donations: Reco12 SupportOne-Time Donations: PayPal | Venmo: @Reco-Twelve | Patreon | WISEYour support, whether financially or word-of-mouth, makes a difference—thank you!Information on Noodle It Out with Nikki M Big Book Roundtable Informational Seeking and educating on how to donate to Reco12.Support the showPrivate Facebook GroupInstagram PageBecome a Reco12 Spearhead (Monthly Supporter)PatreonPayPalVenmo: @Reco-TwelveYouTube ChannelReco12 WebsiteEmail:  reco12pod@gmail.com to join WhatsApp GroupReco12 Shares PodcastReco12 Shares Record a Share LinkReco12 Noodle It Out with Nikki M PodcastReco12 Big Book Roundtable Podcast