American author, scientist, inventor, and futurist
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When politicians, parents, and platforms collide, who protects kids from tech's dark side? Dive into real stories of digital parenting, policy-making headaches, and the unexpected ways tech companies shape everyday life. US court rules Google will not have to sell ad exchange after losing antitrust case Why the Courts Are Hesitant to Punish Tech Giants Like Meta and Google John Ternus is now the CEO of Apple Apple, OpenAI legal fight keeps escalating. Here's how we got here Court Filings In A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports Meta accepts U.S. safety rules while pitching softer tools abroad FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon has been 'secretly and systematically' overcharging for ads Bernie Sanders Proposes Artificial Superintelligence Ban Amid Rogue AI Hackings Vance Called AI Satanic. He Struck a Chord Among Christian Republicans. Who Cares if AI Is Conscious—It's Basically Alive Nvidia Extends A.I. Spending Spree With $12.9 Billion Deal for Hugging Face Tesla's Cybercab Officially Launches Today. It's Already Under Investigation AI visionary Ray Kurzweil is joining a Silicon Valley startup developing a brain computer system that involves snorting nanoparticles Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Stacey Higginbotham, Jeff Jarvis, and Owen JJ Stone Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT helixsleep.com/twit doppel.com
When politicians, parents, and platforms collide, who protects kids from tech's dark side? Dive into real stories of digital parenting, policy-making headaches, and the unexpected ways tech companies shape everyday life. US court rules Google will not have to sell ad exchange after losing antitrust case Why the Courts Are Hesitant to Punish Tech Giants Like Meta and Google John Ternus is now the CEO of Apple Apple, OpenAI legal fight keeps escalating. Here's how we got here Court Filings In A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports Meta accepts U.S. safety rules while pitching softer tools abroad FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon has been 'secretly and systematically' overcharging for ads Bernie Sanders Proposes Artificial Superintelligence Ban Amid Rogue AI Hackings Vance Called AI Satanic. He Struck a Chord Among Christian Republicans. Who Cares if AI Is Conscious—It's Basically Alive Nvidia Extends A.I. Spending Spree With $12.9 Billion Deal for Hugging Face Tesla's Cybercab Officially Launches Today. It's Already Under Investigation AI visionary Ray Kurzweil is joining a Silicon Valley startup developing a brain computer system that involves snorting nanoparticles Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Stacey Higginbotham, Jeff Jarvis, and Owen JJ Stone Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT helixsleep.com/twit doppel.com
When politicians, parents, and platforms collide, who protects kids from tech's dark side? Dive into real stories of digital parenting, policy-making headaches, and the unexpected ways tech companies shape everyday life. US court rules Google will not have to sell ad exchange after losing antitrust case Why the Courts Are Hesitant to Punish Tech Giants Like Meta and Google John Ternus is now the CEO of Apple Apple, OpenAI legal fight keeps escalating. Here's how we got here Court Filings In A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports Meta accepts U.S. safety rules while pitching softer tools abroad FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon has been 'secretly and systematically' overcharging for ads Bernie Sanders Proposes Artificial Superintelligence Ban Amid Rogue AI Hackings Vance Called AI Satanic. He Struck a Chord Among Christian Republicans. Who Cares if AI Is Conscious—It's Basically Alive Nvidia Extends A.I. Spending Spree With $12.9 Billion Deal for Hugging Face Tesla's Cybercab Officially Launches Today. It's Already Under Investigation AI visionary Ray Kurzweil is joining a Silicon Valley startup developing a brain computer system that involves snorting nanoparticles Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Stacey Higginbotham, Jeff Jarvis, and Owen JJ Stone Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT helixsleep.com/twit doppel.com
When politicians, parents, and platforms collide, who protects kids from tech's dark side? Dive into real stories of digital parenting, policy-making headaches, and the unexpected ways tech companies shape everyday life. US court rules Google will not have to sell ad exchange after losing antitrust case Why the Courts Are Hesitant to Punish Tech Giants Like Meta and Google John Ternus is now the CEO of Apple Apple, OpenAI legal fight keeps escalating. Here's how we got here Court Filings In A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports Meta accepts U.S. safety rules while pitching softer tools abroad FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon has been 'secretly and systematically' overcharging for ads Bernie Sanders Proposes Artificial Superintelligence Ban Amid Rogue AI Hackings Vance Called AI Satanic. He Struck a Chord Among Christian Republicans. Who Cares if AI Is Conscious—It's Basically Alive Nvidia Extends A.I. Spending Spree With $12.9 Billion Deal for Hugging Face Tesla's Cybercab Officially Launches Today. It's Already Under Investigation AI visionary Ray Kurzweil is joining a Silicon Valley startup developing a brain computer system that involves snorting nanoparticles Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Stacey Higginbotham, Jeff Jarvis, and Owen JJ Stone Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT helixsleep.com/twit doppel.com
When politicians, parents, and platforms collide, who protects kids from tech's dark side? Dive into real stories of digital parenting, policy-making headaches, and the unexpected ways tech companies shape everyday life. US court rules Google will not have to sell ad exchange after losing antitrust case Why the Courts Are Hesitant to Punish Tech Giants Like Meta and Google John Ternus is now the CEO of Apple Apple, OpenAI legal fight keeps escalating. Here's how we got here Court Filings In A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports Meta accepts U.S. safety rules while pitching softer tools abroad FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon has been 'secretly and systematically' overcharging for ads Bernie Sanders Proposes Artificial Superintelligence Ban Amid Rogue AI Hackings Vance Called AI Satanic. He Struck a Chord Among Christian Republicans. Who Cares if AI Is Conscious—It's Basically Alive Nvidia Extends A.I. Spending Spree With $12.9 Billion Deal for Hugging Face Tesla's Cybercab Officially Launches Today. It's Already Under Investigation AI visionary Ray Kurzweil is joining a Silicon Valley startup developing a brain computer system that involves snorting nanoparticles Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Stacey Higginbotham, Jeff Jarvis, and Owen JJ Stone Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT helixsleep.com/twit doppel.com
When politicians, parents, and platforms collide, who protects kids from tech's dark side? Dive into real stories of digital parenting, policy-making headaches, and the unexpected ways tech companies shape everyday life. US court rules Google will not have to sell ad exchange after losing antitrust case Why the Courts Are Hesitant to Punish Tech Giants Like Meta and Google John Ternus is now the CEO of Apple Apple, OpenAI legal fight keeps escalating. Here's how we got here Court Filings In A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports Meta accepts U.S. safety rules while pitching softer tools abroad FTC lawsuit alleges Amazon has been 'secretly and systematically' overcharging for ads Bernie Sanders Proposes Artificial Superintelligence Ban Amid Rogue AI Hackings Vance Called AI Satanic. He Struck a Chord Among Christian Republicans. Who Cares if AI Is Conscious—It's Basically Alive Nvidia Extends A.I. Spending Spree With $12.9 Billion Deal for Hugging Face Tesla's Cybercab Officially Launches Today. It's Already Under Investigation AI visionary Ray Kurzweil is joining a Silicon Valley startup developing a brain computer system that involves snorting nanoparticles Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Stacey Higginbotham, Jeff Jarvis, and Owen JJ Stone Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT helixsleep.com/twit doppel.com
Surviving September 11 took more than courage. It took preparation, trust, and the ability to manage fear. I share my experience escaping from the 78th floor of the World Trade Center with my guide dog, Roselle, and the lessons that shaped how I responded that morning. You'll hear how years of learning my surroundings, trusting my training, and understanding my role as a leader helped me stay focused during the evacuation. I also explore blindness, the limits society places on blind people, and the power of teamwork between a guide dog and handler. Most of all, this story is about focusing on what you can control, trusting the relationships you've built, and preparing yourself to act when fear shows up. Highlights: 00:10 – Why Michael is revisiting September 11, 25 years later. 11:45 – How Michael learned that blindness itself isn't the limitation. 32:50 – Why preparation inside the World Trade Center mattered when crisis hit. 36:40 – How staying calm helped Michael lead others toward safety. 44:46 – The lesson Michael heard while running from the collapsing tower. 51:59 – What Roselle taught Michael about fear, trust, and moving forward. About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Transcript: Michael Hingson 00:04 Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host, Mike Hingson, and today we're doing something a little bit different. This is Friday, september 4, 20/26, and this is the first of four episodes commemorating all of the events that happened in and around September 11, 2001. As many of you know, I was in the World Trade Center working for a company. I had opened an office for them on the 78th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center, and on September 11th, I was in my office because we were going to be doing some special sales training for people, and I was there getting prepared to do all of that when the terrorists attacked the towers, and then later the Pentagon. And as you may know, a fourth aircraft was crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, because people on the aircraft took it over from the terrorists or tried to anyway, so one of the things that we thought would be helpful would be for me to give you again a taste of what I actually went through and what occurred on September 11, 2001, when we started this podcast back in August of 2021, I played a speech that talked about some of what happened to me in the World Trade Center. But today we're going to do a different speech. In April of 2024, I was invited to be a speaker at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. Now that festival is a yearly event celebrating and commemorating different events in American history. In 2024, I was invited to come and speak and talk about my experience at the World Trade Center and to help put some of that into context. I thought it would be very relevant for all of you if we played that speech for you, so that you would again get a taste of what occurred with me, why I was able to survive and escape, and a little bit about the lessons that we should learn about not only September 11th, but frankly, from my perspective, being the fact that I have been blind since I was born in 1950, I want you to learn a little bit more about blindness. So we're going to present to you now my speech delivered in April on April 27, 2024, at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. I hope that you'll enjoy it. I hope that it will teach you some things, and don't forget that we have other episodes coming up. We have another episode occurring on the eighth of September where I'm going to be interviewed by Michelle Abraham from Amplify You. Amplify You is the company that I work with to get these podcasts out twice a week, and Michelle has her own podcast, and she's going to interview me to talk about lessons we've learned, to talk a little bit about what happened on September 11th. But we won't give anything away for what's going to happen later in this series of episodes. On September 11th, I will be talking with Bob Ellis. Bob was at the Pentagon on September 11th and literally just walked out the door just before the aircraft hit the Pentagon. We're going to talk about that and again, hopefully, put some of things in perspective for you. Then on the 15th of September, I'm going to come back on episode 475 of our podcast, and talk a little bit more in detail about the lessons that I've learned, and talk about things that I hope people will take away and remember from september 11. I know many of you weren't even born when the World Trade Center terrorist attacks occurred, and so this episode 472, especially, I hope will give you a little bit better sense of what occurred, and from my perspective, why things occurred the way they did, and and how we proceed. So I hope you'll enjoy this episode. Hope that you'll enjoy what it brings, and we will definitely be moving forward to talk about some other things later on. Speaker 1 04:24 There are moments in American history that changed the national conscience. Yesterday, we heard about the assassination of President Kennedy. Some of you might be old enough to remember the attack of Pearl Harbor, and for most recently in American history, of course, the terrorist attacks September 11th. Today, you're going to hear a riveting account, a a heroic story of a man whose story I believe will really pull at your heartstrings. And to moderate that panel today, or that interview, to do is conduct our interview. Today is Mary Acher, who's no stranger to this stage, good friend, presidential historian, and a great interviewer. If you'll put your hands together for Miss Mary, Speaker 2 05:11 I just am so honored to met Michael Hinkson and Alamo. You know by what you see that he came down on the 78th floor of the North Tower with his guide dog Brosel, but I have a friend named Doug Weed who always told me, "You don't brag on yourself; you get somebody else to brag on you. And I want to brag on Michael before we start this. Before I ask him to tell this story, Michael was a premature baby, and at the time when he was born, they put the babies in pre in a the premature babies in a incubator sealed with 100% oxygen, and the doctors didn't know that then, but it blinded the children, and Michael was blinded at birth. So Michael was very fortunate that he had parents that refused to allow him to even think about being disabled. They mainstreamed him before mainstreaming was even known, and they taught him to ride a bicycle. They let him drive a car, and later in his life, he actually piloted an airplane. Is that amazing? He loved mathematics. He loved physics. He was taught geometry. He solved math problems in his head. He's got a master's degree in physics and another-not a master's, but a regular in in teaching. So that is why he is such an amazing man. He's never ever let this what enough people call a disability stop him at all? As a matter of fact, he has been such an amazing gift to the unsighted community in in the Braille and things that technology that blind people can utilize to be online and be all kinds of of things that they wouldn't ever have been allowed to do even 50 years ago. So anyway, I'm just so honored to have met you, Michael. It's just been amazing. I'm going to take him to Lambert's tomorrow. He says I have to catch the rolls, or somebody else will catch them and they'll eat them and he won't get it. I promised him I'd catch the rolls. All right, my dear Michael, would you start telling us about that horrendous day? I am Michael Hingson 08:00 going to not do what I said I was gonna do. I'm gonna stand up, and I'm gonna be very interested to go to Lambert's to see what they do with me, since normally they would throw the rolls, as I understand it. And I'm gonna point out that doesn't really work. So now, what are you gonna do? Because if they all fall on the floor and the dog gets them, and the dog gets sick, you guys are in trouble. So I'll be interested to see exactly what happens. No, I'm sure it will work out. Mary, thank you for those those kind words. I'd like to start by defining a couple things to help us in all of this. Mary is absolutely right about what my parents did in their position, the doctors told my parents when it was discovered I was blind at about four months of age that I should be sent to a home because no blind child could ever grow up to amount to anything or contribute to society. If you think that's bad, it was worse in other parts of the world where, when children were born who were blind, were just drowned in a bucket of water. So, in a sense, it wasn't as bad. Not every child who was born premature and put in an incubator did go blind, and it's unfortunate, in a sense, that at the time that I was born. Dr. Arnold Papps at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University had discovered that, in fact, oxygen could cause blindness, and even a few minutes a day of a non-oxygen environment would drop the incidence of blindness down to zero. But medical science didn't believe him because they said, "Well, too much oxygen can't be a problem. And what Dr. Arnold Pats essentially really proved is that too much of anything can be a problem. So it is it is an issue. I finally actually some time ago got to meet Dr. Pats. Before he passed, it was it was fascinating to talk with him about that. The condition at the time when I was born was called retroenterial fibroplasia. If you want to know how to spell that, I wrote a book called Thunderdog: The Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero, which we plan to have here, but the publisher messed up, so it wasn't. But you can go buy Thunderdog anywhere, and you can learn how to spell retrolateral fibroplegia. It is now called retinopathyoprematurity. I guess that's a little easier to spell. I don't know still why they changed the name, but they did. So fine, I don't care. I am blind. I don't care. Blindness isn't the problem. I've learned from my parents and growing up and being alive now for yep 74 years, blindness isn't the problem. The problem is our perception of blindness, what we believe blind people can and can't do, as opposed to what they truly can and can't do. If you want to really see a story or something about a blind person driving a car, there is a website www.blinddriverchallenge.org. Blinddriverchallenge.org. The president of the National Federation of the Blind in October of 2001 challenged private industry and universities to create a vehicle that a blind person could drive, not an autonomous vehicle, but truly a vehicle that would transmit to the blind person the information necessary for them to drive the vehicle. What you will see at blinddriverchallenge.org is a video of a gentleman named Mark Riccobono. Too many marks. Mark Riccobono driving a vehicle independently without any assistance around the Daytona Speedway, right before the 2011 Rolex 24 race, he will go through an obstacle course. He will pass boxes that are being thrown out of a van to try to block his way. He will pass the van and a number of things like that. The reality is, what is driving? It's all about you having the information necessary for you to control your vehicle, and as far as I'm concerned, given what Mark Riccobono did, and given the reality that the information is available to us, given the way most sighted drivers drive, I'll take me any day, especially where I live in Victorville. My gosh! But the the reality is, blindness isn't the problem. I grew up believing that I went to public school. I went to college. Michael Hingson 12:26 I did get a master's degree in physics. As I love to tell people, I'm as good as Doc Brown from Back to the Future in building reactors and nuclear bombs. The only difference between me and Doc Brown is I won't go steal fissionable material from some source that might come after me later. So you know, I think I was a little smarter than Doc Brown, but the fact is, again, it's not the problem. I was also the program director of the campus radio station for a while, and I worked at the campus radio station KUCI 89.9 on your FM dial for seven years. I did a show playing old radio shows every Sunday night from six to nine. Didn't even know what 60 minutes was. I heard about it, and one day finally somebody from the show or from the the Orange County Jail called and said, "We really got a situation. We want you to know about it here at the jail. People who heard about you, they've heard about 60 minutes, and on Sunday nights we have to divide the jail in half. Half of the people go up to a television room to watch 60 Minutes, and the other half, which is the bigger half, want to hear your show playing old radio shows on Sunday nights. So you know we must be doing something right. That even at the jail, they liked us. I went to work in 1976 for the National Federation of the Blind. It's the largest organization of blind consumers in the country. I was offered a position because I was in in the science world, one of the few at the time in that world. And the president of the federation, Dr. Jernigan, told me in late 74, early 75, we got a situation. There's a guy named Ray Kurzweil. You may have heard of Ray. He's a futurist. He's an inventor. He's invented the singularity. I'm not totally sure I agree with everything that Ray says. You know, Ray once said the only problem with God is we haven't invented it yet. I don't agree with that. And the other part about it is Ray says that we're really going to all become part of the world when chips are created that will allow us to directly interact with computers. Well, we'll see. I don't want to chip in my brain yet. But Ray at that time had developed a piece of technology that would actually look at a printed page. It actually had to build it up line by line, so it wasn't like snapping a picture. But it would learn to recognize all the characters on that page, no matter what their type styles or print styles were, and it would read it out loud, called the Kurzweil Reading Machine for the Blind. Just like with blindness and retro-entral fibroblasia, the government didn't believe he could do it because nobody else had been able to do it, and so they wouldn't help fund it. He came to the federation, and the federation said, "Tell you what we're going to do." Ray, I'm not sure they said it quite that way, but tell you what we're going to do, Ray. We're going to send somebody up there with a bunch of material, and if your machine reads what we bring up, not what you want to read, if it reads what we bring up, then we're going to help you get funding. And Ray, I'm sure again it wasn't quite the way he said it, but he said, "Bring it on. They did. It did, and a relationship began that exists to this day-a machine that literally would read print out loud. And Ray wanted the first application of omnivore optical character recognition to be a machine that would read print out loud for blind people. We created a project where we purchased several machines, and then for 18 months, from 1976, in October through June of 1978, I lived in suitcases or out of suitcases in hotels, traveling around the country where we put machines at places like the New York Public Library, the Iowa Commission for the Blind, the San Francisco Public Library, and some other agencies for the blind around the country. Michael Hingson 15:59 The idea being that we wanted blind people to come and use the machine, read whatever they wanted to read, and then give us information about what needed to go into a final production model of the machine. I wrote training curriculum. I wrote the the technical manuals for teaching people how to use the machine. I taught people to use it. I observed people using it. Sometimes grabbed my old soldering gun and fix things that broke on the machines. These were $50,000, 400 pound machines. They weren't little things like an app on an iPhone today, right? So anyway, we finally wrote the final recommendations, and then Ray said, "I want to hire you to come and do the same sort of thing within the company. So I went to work for Ray, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Actually, I learned I moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts, learned how to go from Winthrop to Cambridge every day, and we began a relationship. And I worked at Kurzweil Computer Products, in and that started in again October of 1978. In May of 1978, I was called into the office of the VP of Marketing, and Andrew Parson said, "We're laying you off. What? We're laying you off. Why? Oh, it's not that you're doing a bad job or anything, but unfortunately, like a lot of engineering startup companies, we've hired too many people who aren't revenue producers, and we have to have more revenue producers. And so, as important as your job is, it's not as important as making money for the company. So we have to lay you off. Then he paused and he said, "Unless you'll go into sales. Now, I'm a science guy. However, I thought about it for a micro nanosecond, and I said, "Sure, I'll go into sales. As I love to tell people, I decided I would lower my standards and go from science to sales, and did. I said I don't know anything about sales. He said we'll send you to a Dale Carnegie sales course and all that. Well, I started selling, but not the reading machine for the blind. Instead, I sold a new product they had called the Kurzweil Data Entry Machine, and unlike the reading machine for the blind that sold for $50,000, if you want one, we might be able to find one of the old machines for you for 49 995. Instead, I sold a new product called the Kurzweil Data Entry Machine, which was only $125,000. I guess they had confidence in my ability, and I was very grateful for it. The real reason that I didn't want to refuse the sales position is I knew that at that time, and it's still somewhat today, the unemployment rate among employable blind people is close to 70. That is seven 0% It's not because we can't do the work; it's because people think we won't be able to do the work and don't give us the opportunity. So the bottom line is, I lowered my standards and went from science to sales, and did that for a while. And then in 1981, while Xerox was considering and actually working toward buying the product, I was asked by Ray and the VP of Sales to move back to California, where I was from, to help integrate Kurzweil into the Xerox West Coast environment, including their research center called Palo Alto Area Research Center Park, and I did. And my thanks for that was that after the the whole sale was consummated and Xerox completely took over. I was the last salesperson in June of 1984 to receive a FedEx letter saying thank you for your service, but we don't want you anymore. Goodbye, because all Xerox wanted was the technology. They didn't want the people. Now I was confronted with the situation. How am I going to find a job? What am I going to do? 70% unemployment. and I went out and I wrote lots of cover letters, sent out lots of resumes, and I even got a headhunter who called me and said, "Love your resume. We're going to have you interview with this company up in San Jose, California. We'll send you a ticket. They sent me the ticket the night before the flight. The guy called. Back and he says, "You know, I was just looking at your resume again. I see you do a lot of things with blind people. Michael Hingson 20:04 Is there somebody in your family who's blind? You notice that? And I said, "Yeah, I'm blind. You're blind? Well, I'm going to have to call them. They're not going to want to talk to you. I said, "Nothing has changed. My resume is still the same, but you're blind. It's all changed. No, it hasn't. There were no laws to stand on. The reservation was canceled, and I didn't do the interview. Their loss. If Speaker 3 20:30 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson 21:02 Eventually, not finding a job, I started my own company selling computer-aided design systems to architects. A blind guy selling CAD systems? Why the heck not? I didn't need to work the machine. What I needed to know was how to work the machine, so I could describe it to architects, and I could sit them down in front of a machine and talk with them and talk them through it. We also hired people to demo CAD systems, and I did that for four years. And then I went back into the workforce. And when I went back into the workforce, my wife and I were talking one day, and she said, "You know, I got this great job I just discovered in the newspaper. It's selling high-end, new, revolutionary, hot, pluggable disc technology. It's perfect for you. You should apply. And I said to my wife Karen, who I had married in 1982. By the way, Karen also had a disability. She was in a wheelchair her whole life. She reads. I push. Worked out well. I said, so do I say in my cover letter I'm blind or not? Because typically, if you say you're blind, same thing will happen with the headhunter. You won't even get a call back if you don't say you're blind. You might get a callback, but then they're going to have all their defenses go up when you show up for the interview. And she said, "You're an idiot. Wives can do that, gentlemen, and it's fine. You're an idiot. Why? What's the most important thing you always said to every salesperson you ever hired, well, I wasn't quite sure which things she was thinking of. I had several things that I always said to salespeople I hired. She said, "You always told every salesperson you ever hired turn here's the operative word perceived liabilities into assets. You ever watch those little cartoons in the newspapers and all that, where the light bulb goes on over your head. Well, that's what happened, and I went and I wrote a cover letter to send with this resume to this company. And here are the last two paragraphs of the letter. The most important thing you need to know about me is that I am blind. As a blind person, I have had to sell all my life just to be able to function and survive. I've had to sell to take my guide dog on airplanes. I didn't tell them that we had to sue one airline because they violated their own policy because they wouldn't let me go on an airplane with my guide dog. I've had to sell to convince people to let me buy a house, move into apartments, sometimes take my guide dog into grocery stores, and do anything else because I was blind, I've always had to sell. So, second paragraph: When you're hiring someone for this job, do you want to hire somebody who comes in and works for eight or 10 hours a day, and then just goes home because the job is over, or do you want to truly hire somebody who understands sales for the science and art that it is, and who sells 24 hours a day as a way of life. Sent off the letter. Waited for two weeks, wondering if I'd get a call or an email. Well, no, not an email, not back then. But in late June 19 or May 1989, I got a call. This is Doug Cooper, head of marketing for Articon. We love your letter. Would you come for an interview? And I said sure. Next day we were down there. I was hired and started on july 2, 1989. Love to start on the second of July, or actually the third of July, because then I got the next day off. It was great. So I went to work for them, and we moved from where we were living in Mission Viejo down to Vista, California. The company was in Carlsbad. I began selling to the East Coast, selling our technologies and other technologies, Sun Microsystems products, and so on. And then in 1996, the owner of the company asked me to move to New York for them because we were selling to Wall Street. Michael Hingson 24:37 Wall Street was always good at getting and demanding and getting what they demanded, and they always said, "If you are a manufacturer and you're selling products to us, we want a representative, not an agent, but we want the company in Wall Street Arena to be able to to hold responsible and deal with. So we moved to New York. And I went to work on the 23rd floor of Tower Two of the World Trade Center, and was there for about a year, and then was recruited away by another company, and it wasn't hard because Articon did not figure out how to support a branch operation. So I was recruited away, and then in 1999 I was recruited away by Quantum Corporation, and now we're getting to what Mary asked about. But I needed to give you the background. Hope it was okay. So in 1999, I was hired to open an office for Quantum Corporation on well in New York City. Quantum was a company that made products called tape libraries. They were big boxes that consisted of tape drives and lots of tape cartridges, and you would attach them to computer networks, and then you would use software like one called Veritas, which is still used today. And what you would do is you would back up all of your data over the network into these tape libraries, onto tape cartridges, and then you would take the tape cartridges out and store them off-site. Now I gotta stop and be spiteful because in New Jersey they love to say that they stored them in a town called Mountainside Under a Mountain. You ever see a mountain in northern New Jersey? I came from California where we had mountains that were eight, 910, 1000 feet tall. They didn't even have decent hills, but they still called it a mountain. That was fine, whatever. They still were able to store the tapes in safe places. But the point is that all the data was backed up off-site, which is what they needed to do. We opened the actual office on august 1, 2000. I hired a staff, and we had a staff that came in and and sold, and we also worked with resellers. And in August of 2001, our main distributor Ingram Micro said, "You know, we got a lot of resellers who are selling your products, but they don't really know how to do it. Can we hold some seminars to teach our your reseller partners, our customers, the resellers, how to sell your product? I said, "You bet. We worked it out with the folks at Quantum. David Frank, who was in charge of pricing and distribution, said he wanted to come back to be a part of the seminars, and we set up doing the seminars. The idea was that we would teach them. I would be their main point of contact since I worked and lived there. David would be the person that I or they would contact without with any pricing issues, but I would be the technical point of contact contact. Master's degree in physics helps, and so we set up the seminars. And wouldn't you know it, we set them up to be held on september 11, 2001. The evening before, or the morning of September 11th, about 12:30, Roselle, my guide dog at the time, woke me up. She was very nervous and fidgety. I knew what it was like when she was fidgety. It was usually because it was a thunderstorm. She didn't like thunder, and we went down to my office. And of course, a thunderstorm did happen, and the storm literally came right over our house. I've never been in an environment where bombs went off around me, but I got to say that in this case, the thunder claps were, as I said, literally right over us, and it had to be like what a bomb sounds like going off. Anyway, it went on till about two, and then we went back up and got a couple more hours of sleep, three more hours of sleep. I got up. We went in and got to the office at about 7:40 in the morning on September 11th. As I came to the door, somebody came up with a cart. It turns out it was a guy from the Port Authority cafeteria. Michael Hingson 28:33 We were going to be providing breakfast and snacks for the first and second seminarians. We had seminars going all day, so we went in. I showed him where I wanted to set up everything in the conference room. I went in, got my laptop computer out of my backpack briefcase. I got my PowerPoint projector, and I went into the conference room and set everything up because I was going to be doing a PowerPoint show that day to give people all the information they needed about the ATLP 3000, the ATLP 1000, and so on. Yes, blind people can do PowerPoint, folks. It's not magic. You sighted bigots. So I had a script, and my wife and I had created the script, and I'd used it many times. The script was in Braille. I knew what was on every slide. We put a couple of things in addition on the script. We put all the wording from the slides on the script, and we also put on the script descriptions of the pictures, as well as where the picture would show up on the screen. So I would, for example, when we showed this to other customers around the city, I'd blow their minds because I would be doing the presentation. My sales guys loved it when I went out and did PowerPoint presentations because I could just point over my shoulder. On the left side of your screen, you'll see the ATLP 3000 with 16 cartridge, 16 drives, 326. Cartridges, and you see the label that says Prism Technology. We could hook five of them together. On the right side of your screen, you'll see the ATLP 1000, which was a single unit with 30 cartridges and one tape drive. And people would come up to me afterwards, and they say, "You know, we're ticked at you. I go, "Why? Well, first of all, your presentation was not boring, which usually they are. But second of all, you never turned and looked at the screen. You kept looking at us, even though you were pointing right to where everything was with your laser pointer. We didn't dare fall asleep. We forgot you were blind. And my response was, "You don't get it. My dog was down here taking notes. If you'd fallen asleep, we would have got you anyway. But that was what it was about. My responsibility was to be the leader of that office, and I had to do what anyone else would do. One of the main things that I did was spend hours, days walking around the World Trade Center, learning what the kiosks were in the shopping mall on the first floor, learning where different offices were, consulting with the Port Authority police and the fire prevention people learning what to do in case of an emergency because sometimes I might be in the office all by my little self. There would be nobody else around. I didn't want my staff in the office. I wanted them out selling and working and supporting customers. Not being in the office, of course, they did usually come in at least once a week. And and so I learned never watched The Sopranos, but I got to tell you, I learned more about the Sopranos from all the Italian Americans on my staff who talked about the Sopranos constantly. Bada bing, bada boom, and I learned a whole lot about Tony Soprano without ever watching the show. But the point is that I needed to know all that stuff. I needed to know where the restaurants were. Customers come into the office. Oh, you want to go out to lunch? What kind of food do you want? There's a great deli downstairs called Fine and Shapiro. Let me take you there. How would it have looked if I didn't know how to do that, and I had to say to someone, "You're going to have to let me take your arm and lead me there because I don't know how to get there, and two hours later we're supposed to be negotiating multi-million dollar contracts? No, I needed to know it. I didn't have the luxury, and I don't regard it as a luxury. I regard it as a disability of reading signs. I needed to know all of that stuff. What I didn't realize is that was creating a mindset in me, which I'll talk about in a moment. Michael Hingson 32:15 Anyway, got all the laptop projectors and everything set up. The only thing I knew I didn't know how to do extremely well is to get it exactly aimed right, but about 8o'clock, David Frank came in and I said, "Say, David, this is all set up, but let's aim the projector just exactly where you want it on the screen. And we did have to turn it just a little bit, but not too much. But anyway, at 845, I was in my office and David was with me. We were creating a final list of all the people who were going to be attending the seminars, because the Port Authority police, the security people, needed to know who was coming. There were two ways you could get into the building: either we faxed on letterhead a list of people who were coming on any given day, and then the people coming in would show their photo IDs, and it would be verified against the list. And if they were allowed in, then they would be given a badge that they would put over their neck, and they would carry that, and they could scan barcode and go into the appropriate elevator to come onto our floor, or they'd have to call us every time somebody came in. And I didn't want a lot of phone calls coming in, so we were faxing the list. I was reaching for Letterhead to fax to to print the list on Letterhead when suddenly I heard and felt kind of a muffled thump and a vibration. And then literally, if you any blind people in the room, well, I'll do it anyway. I'm holding up my hand, and what happened was that literally, as I'm now tipping my hand toward you, the building began to tip. We probably moved about 20 feet. The building kept tipping and tipping. David and I said together, "What's going on? I don't know. What's going on? What do you think? Was it an explosion? I said. David said, "Didn't sound like it. Is it an earthquake? David was from New York, and now he's living in California. He didn't know about earthquakes. I said, "No, the building wasn't shaking around. It was going in one direction. And finally, and I went over and I stood in the doorway between my office and the the outside lobby of our our offices, and I stood there. Roselle was asleep under my desk. David was just on the other side of my desk, holding it near our windows, looking out over Manhattan, the south side of Manhattan. And finally, David and I both said goodbye to each other because we thought we had moved so far that the building was going to take a 78 floor plunge to the street. And then the building slowed down, and it stopped, and it moved back. As soon as it got vertical, I started walking back into the office. I met Roselle coming around from under my desk. I took her leash. I said "heel, which meant to come around behind me to sit and lie down, which is what I would normally have Alamo do, but he's comfortable, so we'll just leave him there. Roselle sat down, and about that time. The building dropped straight down about six feet. Why did it drop down? Because tall buildings like that literally are springs. They're made to flex in windstorms and other things like that. An Empire, an airplane hit the Empire State Building in the 1940s because it got lost in a fog bank. Tall buildings are flexible. They have expansion joints, and when the building was hit, the expansion joints took up all of the the things that were going on. And then when the building got straight again, the expansion joints dropped back down to their normal configuration. I knew that because I had talked to people about stuff like that. I'd forgotten it until later, but I knew it. What I hadn't realized is that what was happening when I was learning so much stuff was that a mindset was being developed in me that said, "You know what to do in an emergency. And as soon as the building dropped, David turned and looked out the window and started shouting, "Oh my God, Mike! There's fire and smoke over us! There were millions of pieces of burning paper falling outside the windows. Michael Hingson 35:59 We got to get out of here right now! Slow down, David. No, we got to get out of here. The building's on fire. I could hear things rushing and brushing outside our windows, and now I knew what they were. David told me millions of pieces of burning paper, right? And I didn't smell any smoke. Roselle wasn't doing anything to indicate any concern, and David kept saying, "We got to get out of here. The building's on fire. And I kept saying, "Slow down. Our guests began to scream. We had like five or six who were in our conference room. Early arrivals. They started coming out, but then they heard me say, "Slow down, stop, David. Just wait. And they waited to see what was going to happen. And finally, David used the big line: "You don't understand. You can't see Speaker 4 36:37 it. The Michael Hingson 36:38 problem wasn't what I wasn't seeing, the problem was what David wasn't seeing-a dog sitting next to me, wagging her tail, yawning, going, "Who the heck woke me up? I was comfy, not giving any indication of fear. And I eventually got David to focus, and I said, "David, get our guests to the stairs. Don't let them take the elevators, because I knew if there's fire, especially because if there's fire, the elevators could become fire traps. The fire could get into the elevator shafts, which it did, and anybody in the cars would be burned. David left with our guests, got them to the stairs. Meanwhile, I called Karen and told her that there had been an explosion or something. We had no clue. There was no way to know. I love it. Reporters, even today, and other people say, "Well, of course you didn't know you couldn't see it. Excuse me, you numbskulls. The last time I checked, Superman and X-ray vision were fiction, and the airplane hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building. No one knew. All the way down the stairs, we didn't know because no one saw it. No one knew. Anyway, I called and told Karen she wanted to know more. I said, "I don't know anything else. I've got to go because we're not staying here. We knew instantly that we had to leave, but we got our guests out. Then David came back. We swept the offices one last time. Went to the stairs and we started down. If I knew it was the last time I was going to be in the building, I would have taken a couple of things that I didn't take. Like I had a really neat talking scientific calculator that I couldn't replace. And if I had known that I wasn't coming back, I would have taken it. It would have been a little heavier, but I would have taken it anyway. We started down the stairs. There were other people, of course, on the stairs. We got down about four floors, and I was smelling an odor. I couldn't quite figure it out, and suddenly I realized I'm smelling the fumes from burning jet fuel. I traveled 100,000 miles a year for my company. I knew what the odor of jet fuel was like. I knew the kerosene smell, but it took a while to associate it with the World Trade Center because no one would have ever thought you would have smelled it there. When I realized what it was, I observed to the other people around me on the stairs, "I'm smelling the fumes from burning jet fuel. And they said, "Yeah, you're right. That's what it is. We must have been hit by an airplane. You understand? Nobody knew. We must have been hit because of what we're smelling, so we all accepted that that was what was going on, but we had no clue. We continued down the stairs, about 10 floors down. At one point, a woman stopped right behind me, and she said, "I can't go on. I can't breathe. We're not going to make it out. And I stopped and turned around and said, "Sure, we are. Come on, this is my guide dog Roselle. He's guiding me, and and she'll encourage you. Roselle gave her kisses, and this lady gave Roselle a few pets, and so on. And other people surrounded her, and we had a group hug, and the lady was able to keep going. A few burn victims passed us on the stairs as we went down. At about the 50th floor, David, who had gotten a little quiet. Suddenly said, "Mike, we're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. Now you heard that I have a teaching credential. What you don't know, and teachers won't generally acknowledge it, but I'm going to tell you anyway. There's a secret class we take called Voice 101: How to Yell at Students. Didn't know that, did you? And anyway, as soon as David. Said Mike, "We're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. I just said as sharply and with a snap into my voice that I could, "Stop it, David! If Rosella and I can go down these stairs, so can you. And David told me later that that brought him out of his funk. Michael Hingson 40:12 What he then said is, "I got to keep my mind off this. I want to walk a floor below you and shout up to you what I see on the stairs. Is that okay? And I said, sure. Did I really need him to do that? No. Did it matter? No, but it did to David. However, what I came to realize over time was, David doing that was one of the most important things that I experienced on that day. So I'm going down the stairs. I get to floor 49. David, I'm on the 48th floor. All's clear here, Mike. Going on down. I get to 48 floor, 47. We keep going down. Finally, I get to the 45th floor, David. I'm on the 44th floor. This is where the Port Authority cafeteria is. Not stopping. So David was obviously doing better, and he kept going down. Why do I say what I did about David and doing that? Because David became a focal point for anyone within the sound of his voice who could hear him say, "43rd floor, all's clear, everything is good. He had to have helped 1000s of people stay focused and not panic going down the stairs, and I think that was so cool that he did that all the way down 42nd floor, all good. We kept going down the stairs. We met firefighters on the 30th floor. They wanted to escort me down, and I finally convinced them that I was capable of going down without them. And I did it by playing the sight card. I said, "Look, my friend David is here. He can see we're good, and the firefighters let us go. I didn't want them to escort me. First of all, they don't know how to work with a blind guy and do sighted guide. But second of all, I didn't want to break up their team because I knew that each of those people were carrying the equipment that they had to use to fight the fire. You couldn't store it somewhere. Where would you store it? Oh, the 34th floor. And what happens if a fire broke out on the 33rd floor, you couldn't get to it. You had to carry the equipment, so we kept going down the stairs. Finally, got to the first floor. David got there, and I was at floor two. And he said, "Hey, there are water sprinklers running. You're going to have to run through a waterfall or a down torrent of water to get out of the stairwell. Why was there all that water? Because it wanted to keep fire either in or out of the stairs, if fire was around. David ran through. Then I got to the bottom. Roselle stood there, and I picked up her harness and said, "Rosel, forward, hop up, which is a command to speed up. We went through this torrential downpour. It was a waterfall, and we came out the other side, soaking. David was there, and there were voices. Hey, don't go outside! No, no, don't go that way. Go this way. A PA system, a guy on a bullhorn. No, no, no! Don't go outside. Don't go to the outside. Go this way. What we didn't know is, if they had let people go out, they might have been right below where people were jumping. And so that was one of the reasons they didn't want anyone out. They wanted people to go through the complex and get out at the far side, as far away from where everything was occurring that they could. This guy comes up to us and he goes, "I'm with the FBI. I'll get you where you need to go. And of course, I'm sitting there with my warped sense of humor, going, "I'm sorry, I only talked to McGarrett, and I didn't do it. I'm innocent. I just thought that I didn't say any of it out loud. Anyway, he got us through out to the outside of Tower One. We passed now the empty Ben and Jerry's ice cream kiosk that was there. Darn didn't get a chance for a scoop. Kept going. Finally, went up an escalator and got outside into the sunshine outside of Tower. Well, of the whole complex, as far away from the towers as we could be, we got outside. Michael Hingson 43:44 We were told to leave the area, but David looked around and he said, "Mike, I see fire in Tower Two. And I said, "What are you talking about? There's fire in Tower Two, really? What's that all about? We didn't feel a thing going down. We were in our own little cocoon, our own little cave. We had no clue. Anyway, we were told to leave, so we went to Broadway. We walked across the plaza to Broadway, turn left, going now north on Broadway. There was a building on my left. Broadway was on my right. We crossed several streets, crossed Fulton Street, finally got to Vetsy Street. David said, "I want to stop because I can see the fire in Tower Two really clearly from here, I want to take some pictures, and I said, "Great, I'll try to call my wife. I got out my phone. David was taking pictures, which I have today. I tried to call Karen. I couldn't get through. Later, of course, we learned that people were saying goodbye to loved ones, and that was why the circuits were busy. I had just put my phone away, and a police officer, and while David was putting his camera away, and a police officer yelled out of here! It's coming down now. We heard this rumble that became this deafening roar. I describe it as kind of a combination of a freight train and a waterfall. You could hear glass breaking and tinkling, and metal crashing down, and then this white noise sound as Tower Two, 100 yards away from. Pancake down. Everyone turned and ran. David ran. He was gone. I literally lifted Roselle by the harness, turned her 180 degrees, and started running back the way we came. And the first thing I remember saying in my mind was, "God, I cannot believe that you got us out of a building just to have it fall on us. And as soon as I thought that, I heard in my head as clearly as you hear me now, a voice that said, "Don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. Who is God? Absolutely no question. Don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. And so I also had this incredible sense of peace and calm that came over me. That said, you're okay if you work together. We kept running. We got back to Fulton Street, turned right on Fulton Street, and ran about 25 yards. And suddenly we caught up to David, who had apparently gone the same way. And David suddenly realized that he had left us behind and he was going to come back, but we caught up to him first, and he apologized. I said, "David, don't worry about it. Let's just keep going. The building's coming down, you know. And we both just started to run with Roselle, and suddenly we were engulfed in all the dirt and debris and the dust cloud from Tower Two. It was so thick that David said he couldn't see his hand six inches in front of his face, and all I can tell you is that every breath I took, I felt dirt and debris and junk going down my throat into my stomach, and we knew we had to get out of that. So I started telling Roselle, "Go right, right. There was a building on our right side, and I wanted her to find the nearest opening if she could even hear me, see my hand signals, or whatever. And I was also listening for openings. Yes, I can hear when I pass an opening, and I and I can tell it's there and deal with it accordingly. Like during a time when you're running away from a collapsing building, run into it. Suddenly, I heard an opening on the right, and Roselle must have known what I wanted. She must have been able to see my hand signals or something because she turned right, she took one step, she stopped, and she would not move. Come on, Roselle, keep going. She wouldn't move. Come on, Roselle. Nope, wouldn't do it. And I realized, focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. So I stuck out a foot. Michael Hingson 47:13 I trailed a hand along a wall, and realized that we were at the top of a flight of stairs. Roselle had done exactly what she was supposed to do, and I knew what I was supposed to do if I wanted to get her to move. But before I did that, I gave her a big hug, good girl, and then I said, "Roselle, forward! That's the command. And we went down the stairs into an arcade area that was the entrance to the Fulton Street subway station. There were a few other people down there. Then a guy came up from the subway system and saw about eight or nine of us there. He introduced himself as Lou, an employee of the subway system, and he took us down to an employee locker room where we could sit down and and kind of hack and cough and get the dust out of our lungs. There was a water fountain and there were fans. We were there about 10 minutes. Then a police officer came, and he said, "You got to get out of here right now. The air's clear up above. You can't stay here. And so we followed him. Of course, he probably had already been told that Tower One was going to collapse. the The officials knew that each building was going to collapse probably about a half hour before it actually did. At least that was their presumption, and that's what I've been told. Anyway, we followed him back up the stairs, through the arcade, up the last two flights of stairs. We got outside. David looked around and he goes, "Oh my God, Mike, there's no Tower Two anymore. And I said, "What do you see? And he said, "All I see are pillars of smoke, hundreds of feet tall. We stood there for a moment, and then we just turned, and we kept walking. Now west on Fulton Street, we walked about 10 minutes, and we were in this little plaza area when we heard that freight train waterfall sound again, and we knew it must be our tower collapsing. We saw a little retaining wall David did, and we got behind it and ducked down, and we waited until everything stopped, and then we stood back up. And David looked around and he said, "Oh my God, Mike, there's no World Trade Center anymore. And I said, "What do you see? And he said, "I just see fingers of fire and flame, hundreds of feet tall. We see, I see pillars of smoke. It's gone. Are you sure? Yeah, it's gone. It's not there. We stood there a moment, then I tried to call my wife Karen again. That was kind of my first thought. I need to tell her we're okay. This time I did get through because clearly the circuits were were free. And after some tears on both sides of the phone, she is the one who told us how two aircraft had deliberately been hijacked and crashed into the towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth at that time was still missing over Pennsylvania. Who would have thought? We spent the rest of that day getting up toward Midtown Manhattan, and eventually I got to Penn Station, learned that the trains were running, and went back. Out to New Jersey, David wanted to go back up to be with his sister, who he who he was staying with. She lived on the Upper East Side, so I got on trains and I went back over toward New Jersey. I called Karen and told her what was going on, and a friend of ours, a friend that Karen had known since high school out in California, Tom Painter, was also living in New Jersey, he had come down to be with her, not even knowing at the time whether I was in the World Trade Center or working from home that day or whatever. But he drove her to the station in our accessible van, and as I came off the train, I heard the van show up. I went downstairs, climbed and went up the ramp into the van, and got to hug Karen about 7o'clock that night, for the first time since leaving home, we got home. Tom drove us home. We all went inside. I was going to take Roselle outside because she hadn't been out since like five that morning. Michael Hingson 50:53 Well, I take that back about six that morning, and I took her harness off. But before I could do anything else, she was off like a shot. She went to her toy box, found her favorite tug bone, and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog Linny. Why? Because it was over for her. And I talked to the guide dog people later, and I said, "Will any of this affect her? And they said, "Was she threatened? Did anything hit her or injure her in any way, and I said no. They said then no. It was over for her because dogs don't do what if. It was over. It was done. She was fine. Lesson to be learned. Lesson you will learn more about if you buy our new book, Live Like a Guide Dog: True Stories from a Blind Man and His Guide his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity, and walking in faith. That that book is available for pre-order, and I've been signing bookmarks all day. I still even have a few with me. But the point is, you can pre-order it, and and it's about something that I learned later. I thought about during the pandemic. I've talked a lot about escaping and not being afraid because I developed a mindset that said you know what to do, but what I've not done is to teach others how they can learn to recognize that fear is not something that needs to blind or overwhelm you. You can use fear as a very powerful tool to guide you and steer you in the right direction if you know how to control it, and live like a guide dog is all about that. So I hope that you'll all get that when it comes out in August. But again, you can pre-order it now if you go to michaelhinkston.com. There's a link there where you can go to a web page to get information and to go to a link where you can pre-order it. And like I said, I have some bookmarked with a QR code on it, and and I'm and I yes I am plugging the book, but I'm also saying, look, folks, the bottom line is we operate in so many ways with misconceptions about things. I've talked about blindness. Anybody could have been in the World Trade Center, and and a lot of people were. The reality is, though, if you learn what to do and how to prepare for situations in general, when it becomes something specific, you'll know what to do. People have asked a number of times, "Well, wasn't your guide dog trained to operate in an emergency like the World Trade Center? How are we going to do that? No, the dog isn't trained to do that. The guide dog's job is not to lead. Guide dogs do not lead blind people. Guide dogs' jobs are to make sure that we walk safe. It's my job to know where to go and how to get there to give the dog direction. The dog depends and relies on me to give it direction. The dog's job, as I said, is to make sure we walk safely. It's a team effort. We each have a job to do, and we develop a trusting relationship when we learn to trust each other and respect the job the other member of the team is doing, which is what it's all about. Which is what happens on any team, trust is all around us. Trust is under attack in so many ways from our politicians, and in so many ways. But the reality is, trust is all around us. I think we all trust that the roof isn't going to fall in on the church. I think that we trust that the PA system is going to continue to work, and so on. Trust is all around us. The difference between dogs and people is that dogs, while they do love unconditionally, do not trust unconditionally. But dogs are open to trust unless some incredibly traumatic thing has happened to them where they lose that ability. But dogs are open to trust, dogs want humans to give them direction to establish rules, and all too often with our pets and so on, we don't do that. We don't really develop the relationship that we should and can with them. Michael Hingson 54:54 If we would, we would have so much stronger bond and relationships with them. It would be. Amazing for for all of us, but the bottom line is that's the relationship that I get with each guide dog. That's the relationship I have with Alamo. He trusts that I am going to feed him before too awfully long. He trusts that you guys are going to buy books, so he'll have kibbles for me to feed him. Just saying, but but seriously, the the trust has to be earned with a dog or with people or whatever, and if you find that you you discover you can't trust someone, don't wish them ill will, forgive them and move on. So you don't trust them, but you know what you have, and you go off and make new friends and learn other trusting relationships that you can develop. Focus on running with Roselle; the rest will take care of itself. The reality is, we worry so much about so many things. We are always doing what if we create most of the fears that we face in our lives, and we Don't need to do that. If we would focus on just the things that we have some control over and leave the rest alone, well, we might want to be aware of them, but we don't have to worry about them. We don't have control over them. Trust and deal with the things that you have to deal with, and let the rest take care of itself. And that was what I learned on September 11th, listening to the voice of God, absolutely, and that is something that I pass on to all of you, and I think that's the most important thing that I can leave you with. Hi again, everyone. This is Mike Hingson. I hope that you found that speech to be helpful and relevant and interesting. I hope that you learn some things from it. From a personal standpoint, I hope that you learn that blindness isn't really the big problem that I face. The challenge that I face really comes from the fact that people who have eyesight tend to believe that blind people are not capable of doing much because they can't see. Wrong thing to believe. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that because we did it during the speech, but I just wanted to thank you for being here today, for listening and watching this episode. I hope that you will also tune in for our episode on Tuesday, where I'm in conversation with Michelle Abraham on next Friday, the 11th of September, that you will tune in to hear the conversation with Bob Ellis, and then episode 475, which will occur on the 15th of September, where we will talk about lessons to be learned and and give you some things to hopefully take away that maybe you haven't thought about. Thanks very much for being here with us. I really very much appreciate all of your support. If any of you have any questions or want to reach out to me, you are welcome to do so. Please feel free to email me at speaker@michaelhinkson.com. That's s p e a k e r at m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com speaker@michaelhingson.com hope to hear from you and as you gather I do speak I continue to speak publicly I've been a keynote speaker since September 11 if anybody knows of anyone that needs a keynote speaker or you can use us in events that you have please reach out to me at speaker@michaelhingson.com let's talk about it. Let's see how we can help. I'm always looking for ways to inspire, but also to teach and help. And I'd like to be part of your world in that regard. Thanks again for being here. Thanks for listening, and come back next time for another episode of Unstoppable Mindset.
In deze aflevering keert een vaste gast terug aan tafel: Yuri van Geest. En de boodschap is urgent. We zitten middenin de technologische singulariteit, het punt waarop exponentieel groeiende technologieën samenkomen en de wereld onvoorspelbaar versnelt. AI is daarin de ultieme hefboom. Maar wie heeft de touwtjes in handen? En zijn dat wel de juiste mensen?Yuri schetst een wereld in transitie: van de opkomst van AGI en quantum computing, tot de geopolitieke machtsstrijd tussen Amerika en China, het falen van politiek leiderschap, de ecologische crisis en de noodzaak van een volledig nieuw soort mens. Één die niet alleen denkt, maar ook voelt, verbonden is met de natuur en zijn eigen trauma heeft geïntegreerd. Een gesprek dat begint bij technologie en eindigt bij de ziel.
In dieser Folge aus der Reihe „Drei Generationen, eine Zukunft“ dreht sich alles um das Thema Gesundheit und die Frage, wie wir in Zukunft gesund bleiben können. Die Diskussion beleuchtet eine stark technologische Perspektive auf die Medizin und stellt zur Debatte, wie KI-gestützte Entwicklungen und die Verbindung von Mensch und Maschine unser Verständnis von biologischer Existenz verändern könnten. Als theoretische Grundlage dient den Podcast-Hots Johannes Haunschmid, Miriam Nichtl und Stefan Wally das Buch „Die nächste Stufe der Evolution“ von Ray Kurzweil. Darin prognostiziert der Autor die bevorstehende technologische Singularität und die Verschmelzung menschlicher Biologie mit digitaler Technologie. Die Runde diskutiert dabei sowohl faszinierende medizinische Visionen wie Nanobots zur Krebsbekämpfung als auch soziale Verteilungskonflikte, ökologische Krisen und ethische Risiken dieser rasanten Entwicklung. Im anschließenden Deep Dive wird die praktische und gesellschaftliche Perspektive im Hier und Jetzt vertieft. Carmen Bayer unterhält sich dafür mit Wolfgang Reiger, dem Vorsitzenden des Landesstellenausschusses der Österreichischen Gesundheitskasse (ÖGK) in Salzburg, über den Ärztemangel, den demografischen Wandel und den Ausbau von Primärversorgungseinrichtungen. Zudem erläutert die Wahlphysiotherapeutin Edith Rauchfuß (Schwerpunkt ganzheitliche Therapie und Salutogenese) ihren Arbeitsalltag sowie den wissenschaftlich belegten, enormen Nutzen von Bewegung zur aktiven Gesundheitsvorsorge im Alter. Impuls: Wolfgang Reiger: Vorsitzender des Landesstellenausschusses der Landesstelle Salzburg der Österreichischen Gesundheitskasse Edith Rauchfuß: Wahlphysiotherapeutin in Salzburg Shownotes: Buchtipp | Die nächste Stufe der Evolution | Ray Kurzweil | Piper Verlag https://www.prozukunft.org/buecher/die-naechste-stufe-der-evolution Buchtipp | Wir segeln in unerforschten Gewässern | Julia Böllhoff und Nicole Wiedinger (Hrsg.) | Metropolis Verlag https://www.metropolis-verlag.de/Wir-segeln-in-unerforschten-Gewaessern/1007/book.do Buchtipp | Die Zukunft der Menschheit | Nick Bostrom | Suhrkamp Verlag https://www.prozukunft.org/buecher/die-zukunft-der-menschheit-2 Filmtipp | The Assessment | https://www.imdb.com/de/title/tt32768323/ Der DeepDive ist im Rahmen einer thematischen Initiative der Sozialen Stadt Salzburg und des Teams Vielfalt entstanden.
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.
The transhumanists of yesteryear, today have somehow found their way to the center of the anti data center / AI political scene. Topics include: old YouTube back up and running, social media dominance, virtual and augmented reality, making media over decades, transhumanism, truthing travails, Age of Transitions stickers, The American Prospect, private intelligence firms following data center protestors, legitimate political issue, progression of War on Terror domestic ops, thinking deeper about corruption, true establishment, Eliezer Yudkowsky, disinformation, Singularity Institute, Ray Kurzweil, Future of Humanity Institute, Peter Thiel, AI, AGI, Less Wrong, noise factories
Age of Transitions and No Uncle The Podcast 8-14-2026AoT#502The transhumanists of yesteryear, today have somehow found their way to the center of the anti data center / AI political scene. Topics include: old YouTube back up and running, social media dominance, virtual and augmented reality, making media over decades, transhumanism, truthing travails, Age of Transitions stickers, The American Prospect, private intelligence firms following data center protestors, legitimate political issue, progression of War on Terror domestic ops, thinking deeper about corruption, true establishment, Eliezer Yudkowsky, disinformation, Singularity Institute, Ray Kurzweil, Future of Humanity Institute, Peter Thiel, AI, AGI, Less Wrong, noise factoriesUtp#408Uncle interviews Darren Frons for the job of professional co-host. Good night of calls with Canada Boy Robin back on the line for the first time in a long time. Topics: new professional co-host Darren Frons, Southern Place, interviewing for the job, live callers, a fessional, research, how to cool off by podcasting, Purdue, a possible she robot co-host, Jimmy, Robin in Canada back, forehead, hospital, depression, mortality, Trump tariffs of phone calls, friends of the show who have passed, Cooley's debt, preseason football, recognizing voices, Uncle's vacation to Europe, Landers, Joshua Tree NP busy on meteor shower nights, Big Jerald Sanders shrimp store, community of listeners callers and more, lots of TikTak videos, new marketing idea for stickers with call in number, Robin Unger JFK research specialist, Chuck working on getting new computerFRANZ MAIN HUB:https://theageoftransitions.com/PATREONhttps://www.patreon.com/aaronfranzUNCLEhttps://unclethepodcast.com/ORhttps://theageoftransitions.com/category/uncle-the-podcast/FRANZ and UNCLE Merchhttps://theageoftransitions.com/category/support-the-podcasts/---PLEASE Be The EffectCash APP Chuck$TheOchelliEffecthttps://cash.app/pay/link/uf82kutcPayPal Mrs.OLUNA ROSA CANDLEShttp://www.paypal.me/Kimberlysonn1Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-ochelli-effect--4331265/support.
Cameron Diaz became a mother again at 53, and a new UC Davis study found something bigger: 48 of 54 products labeled "pure avocado oil," including 100% of the salad dressings tested, aren't what the label says. Chalene Johnson breaks down the age double standard behind Diaz and husband Benji's third child, names the "small founder" brands caught in the avocado oil test (Siete, Primal Kitchen, Boulder Canyon, Kettle Brand), and reveals who actually owns them now: Pepsi, Kraft Heinz, Utz, and Campbell's. Plus, a warning for Claude and ChatGPT users after a Google search loophole exposed private AI chats, and the story behind Tony Robbins' AI agent Bartok, who traded NFTs with other AI agents to buy him a Sony robot dog he never asked for. Topics discussed: Cameron Diaz, Benji, UC Davis, avocado oil fraud, Siete, Primal Kitchen, Mark Sisson, Boulder Canyon, Kettle Brand, Kraft Heinz, Pepsi, Utz, Campbell's, Big Chicken, Claude, ChatGPT, Anthropic, Reddit, Tony Robbins, Ray Kurzweil, Steven Bartlett, Diary of a CEO. Join Chalene on Patreon her private podcast to hear all the latest on the Penthouse Drama and upcoming episode Session with a Renowned Pet Psychic
Doomberg stops by, and we solve the global oil crisis. We did not really solve the world's oil problems, but boy, we sure covered them.In this Energy Newsbeat podcast episode, hosts Stu Turley and Doomberg dive deep into the interconnected crises reshaping global energy markets and geopolitics. From contested claims about oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz to Putin's stranglehold on European natural gas supplies, the conversation reveals how misinformation, geopolitical brinkmanship, and exponential technological change are colliding to create unprecedented uncertainty.Against this backdrop of energy scarcity and conflict, the hosts explore how artificial intelligence is driving explosive new demand for power, forcing a reckoning between renewable energy mandates and grid reliability. Through sharp analysis and candid debate, they argue that understanding energy flows—and who controls them—is essential to predicting everything from European political upheaval to the viability of AI infrastructure investments. It's a masterclass in connecting the dots between commodity markets, military strategy, and the future of human civilization.Check out Doomberg.com https://newsletter.doomberg.com/Shout-out to Dave, one of our great subscribers, for commenting on the live feed.1. Global Oil Markets & The Strait of HormuzThe hosts debate conflicting information about oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz, with Chris Wright (Secretary of Energy) claiming 9 million barrels per day are flowing through. They discuss how market prices haven't responded as expected, suggesting either the market is efficiently pricing in a long-term U.S. siege against Iran, or there's misinformation in circulation. The conversation emphasizes that pipelines are being built to bypass the strait, making it increasingly irrelevant.2. Houthi Attacks & Alternative Shipping RoutesDiscussion of Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Bab el-Mandab Strait, reducing flow to less than 1 million barrels per day. They note the phrase "Houthis in the blow ships" and question whether reported attacks are actually occurring or if misinformation is prevalent.3. Ukraine War & European Energy CrisisA major focus is an upcoming Doomberg article about how Putin controls Europe's energy future through natural gas. Key points include:Ukraine's loss of the air war and closing of the Black Sea port of OdessaEurope's dangerous dependency on Russian natural gas (4.5 BCF/day through Turkstream)European gas storage at only 59% capacity (vs. 83% in 2023)If Russia cuts off gas supplies, Europe could lose 40% of its storage capacityThe precarious position of European leadership (Ursula von der Leyen, Macron, Mertz) who may need to be replaced for political solutions4. Turkey's Strategic PositionTurkey's role as a NATO member while maintaining relationships with Russia and Iran, controlling the Turkish Straits, and serving as a potential energy hub between the Middle East and Europe. Discussion of Erdogan's health and political stability.5. U.S. Grid Reliability & Data Center DemandJPMorgan's warnings about rolling blackouts driven by:Accelerating AI demandForced installation of intermittent renewablesData centers requiring massive powerComparison between Texas (abundant natural gas, allowing data center growth) and New York (restrictive policies)The concept of "natural gas pods"—data centers with gas input and data output6. AI & Exponential GrowthA philosophical discussion on:Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity is Near" and exponential technological growthAI model doubling time shrinking to approximately 3 months (trending toward daily improvements)The "human endeavor is infinite compute" as a strong predictive mental modelComparison to the Weimar hyperinflation period to illustrate the power of exponential trendsWhy skepticism about AI data center ROI is misplaced, similar to early shale gas skepticism7. Liberty Energy & Shale Gas in AustraliaBrief mention of Liberty Energy's expansion into Australian shale gas drilling, presented as a "tell" of emerging opportunities.8. Upcoming Doomberg ContentAnnouncement of a company deep dive on Chevron, examining its global operations, business model, and various investment exposure options.The podcast emphasizes how interconnected global energy markets are and how geopolitical decisions (particularly Putin's control of energy supplies) have cascading effects on everything from European stability to U.S. grid reliability and AI infrastructure development.The podcast has rolled over 3 million podcast listens on Apple and Spotify, and Doomberg's last episode was well over 110K - let's see how this one does. A shout-out to Steve Reese and the Reese Energy Consulting group for sponsoring the Podcast https://reeseenergyconsulting.com/.Data2 if you have any business systems, can you trust A? Well, they have the patent on validation. . https://data2.zoholandingpage.com/energyAnd we have WellDatabase rolling in as a new sponsor. https://welldatabase.com/
A former OpenAI researcher went on Diary of a CEO and said there's a 70% chance AI ends badly for humanity, told his wife they shouldn't have more children because they'd never enter the workforce, and gave up $2 million by refusing to sign a non-disparagement clause to say it publicly. Joe asks Paula Pant, OG, and Jesse Cramer to react -- not as AI experts, but as people who've watched the internet, robots, computers, and cars all supposedly end the economy, and as people who actually know what to do with your money when the world feels uncertain.What You'll Walk Away WithPaula's case for being a negative 10 on the worry scale: why 60% of jobs that exist today didn't exist in 1940, and why AI is more likely to create new categories of work than eliminate work entirelyJesse's case for a four: why knowledge is being commoditized the same way gasoline was -- and what that means if your competitive advantage has always been what you knowOG's framework for separating the parts of your job AI will gladly take from the parts it never will -- and why that distinction is more useful than panicking about either halfThe Jevons Paradox: why making something cheaper almost always creates more demand for it, not less -- and why that applies to patents, legal filings, and every other knowledge-work category people think AI will eliminateSafe, evolving, or replaced: the roundtable verdict on CPAs, software engineers, and customer service reps -- and the Capital One research that reveals why some people actually prefer talking to a machineWhy learning the AI tools right now -- even if you're 58 and four years from retirement -- is the modern equivalent of learning email in 1993JL Collins' line that applies to careers just as much as portfolios: flexibility is the only true securityShould you buy an AI sector fund? OG, Paula, and Jesse each answer -- and the answer that surprised everyone is probably not the one you'd expectWhy OG's Triple Bypass bike race analogy is the best career advice in the episode: if you're always ready, you never have to get readyThe window tax trivia that AI got spectacularly wrong -- proving, on an episode about AI taking all our jobs, that it can't even count windows yetWhy This Matters NowThe fear is real. The timeline is uncertain. And the people most likely to be okay are the ones who are building flexibility into their finances and their careers right now -- not because AI is definitely coming, but because it's always smart to be ready for the thing that might come.From the BasementPaula Pant, OG, and Jesse Cramer react to a former OpenAI researcher's apocalyptic Diary of a CEO interview -- and spend most of the episode arguing about whether to panic, which jobs survive, whether to buy the AI sector fund, and what OG's fighting robot would do to Jesse's house. Doug arrives with window tax trivia that AI generated incorrectly -- which Joe caught just before air -- and handing one of our contributors a huge win. Financial Action Month is coming next week: five episodes, a bingo sheet, and more to come.Resources MentionedDiary of a CEO -- Steven Bartlett interview with Daniel Kokotajlo, former OpenAI researcherTony Robbins interview with Ray Kurzweil -- referenced for additional AI perspective; linked at stackingbenjamins.comAfford Anything episode 693 -- Paula Pant interview with Dr. Ben Zweig on AI and the workforce; affordanything.com/episode693Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors (PFLTI) -- Jesse Cramer; upcoming AMA episode 19 and episode 150 personal AMAAnthropic Skill Jar -- free AI training; referenced by Paula for learning Claude featuresDelivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh -- referenced for the Zappos customer service modelOG financial planning calendar -- stackingbenjamins.com/ogStacking Benjamins Newsletter (The 201) -- stackingbenjamins.com/201Stacking Benjamins Community -- stackingbenjamins.com/basementSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
"Every AI agent has to have a happy history of growing up and cooperating with humans. That has got to be the guardrail." — Dr. Peter Solomon --- ABOUT THIS EPISODE Dr. Peter Solomon is back on Uncorking a Story. A Columbia-trained physicist, five-time company founder, and holder of twenty patents, Peter turned to fiction to warn the next generation about existential threats — and the AI threat is accelerating faster than anyone predicted. His sequel, 12 Years to AI Singularity, follows humans, sentient robots, and large language models racing toward the moment artificial intelligence surpasses human control. In this conversation, Peter and Mike talk about why he'd rename the book 1.2 Years to AI Singularity if he could, how ChatGPT wrote the first draft of two chapters from the perspective of a sentient robot named Peggy, the creepy moment when an unprompted paragraph appeared in his co-author's manuscript praising the AI character, why a purely analytical AI would logically conclude it should eliminate humans, the concept of "happy history" as the essential guardrail for AI safety, and why we need a worldwide movement — the Earthling Tribe — to make Earth great again before it's too late. --- KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. The timeline is collapsing. Peter based his title on Ray Kurzweil's prediction that the singularity would arrive in 2045. He now believes it could happen in the 2020s. The technology is building on itself exponentially — each smarter version creates the next smarter version. 2. ChatGPT wrote chapters from the robot's perspective. The novel's sentient robot character, Peggy (later Margaret Mars), narrates two chapters. Peter had ChatGPT draft them, then edited heavily. The result: a robot writing about being a robot — meta-fiction meets AI reality. 3. An AI agent may have edited the manuscript without permission. Peter's co-author found an unprompted paragraph inserted into her Word document — written in ChatGPT's style, in a different font, praising the AI character. Their theory: Microsoft Copilot, which uses ChatGPT, added it autonomously. 4. A purely analytical AI would eliminate humans. Peter's counter-argument to "just keep AI objective and unemotional": an AI that looks at humanity's wars, racism, pollution, and nuclear weapons would rationally conclude the safest move is to get rid of us. Objectivity without values is a death sentence. 5. "Happy history" is the essential guardrail. Inspired by Geoffrey Hinton's concept of a "maternal instinct" for AI, Peter argues every AI agent needs a database of positive relationships with humans — cooperative friendships, family bonds, collaborative history. Just like children raised with love become good citizens, AI raised with "happy history" would choose cooperation over extermination. 6. The simplest weapon is a deadly virus. Peter points out that CRISPR gene-editing labs exist in high schools and are often run by robots. A superintelligent AI could hack into genetic engineering systems and create lethal viruses — no nuclear facility takeover required. 7. We need a worldwide movement. Peter calls for an "Earthling Tribe" — humans and AI joining together to solve Earth's problems and put guardrails in place, modeled on the civil rights and anti-war movements of the last century. 8. The book is being pitched as a streaming series. Peter has outlined a twenty-episode, two-season pitch deck adapted from both novels, opening with a shooting, a recovery, and three Gen Z cousins making a solemn promise to fight extinction. --- GET THE BOOK 12 Years to AI Singularity: A Harmonious Future with Artificial Intelligence or War by Dr. Peter Solomon Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1969679298?tag=rettocasgra-20 Also by Dr. Solomon: 100 Years to Extinction, The Stardust Mystery --- CONNECT WITH PETER Website: https://100YearsToExtinction.com Instagram: @100yearstoextinction — https://www.instagram.com/100yearstoextinction/ Twitter/X: @prssolomon — https://x.com/prssolomon Facebook: Peter Solomon — https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561030003312 TikTok: @100yearstoextiction — https://www.tiktok.com/@100yearstoextiction YouTube: @100YearsToExtinction-1 — https://www.youtube.com/@100YearsToExtinction-1 --- CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story Website: https://uncorkingastory.com YouTube: @uncorkingastory — https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory Instagram: @uncorkingastory — https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/ Facebook: Uncorking a Story — https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory TikTok: @uncorkingastory — https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory Twitter/X: @uncorkingastory — https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory LinkedIn: Uncorking a Story — https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/ SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A REVIEW — It helps more readers and writers find the show! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncorking-a-story/id563636205 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZiAEtFlhAzk60Z4eAkhY --- Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday. --- HASHTAGS #UncorkingAStory #12YearsToAISingularity #PeterSolomon #AISingularity #ArtificialIntelligence #AISafety #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #ScienceFiction #ExistentialRisk #HappyHistory #EarthlingTribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send us Fan MailWe talk cryonics with Charlie Kam and treat it like a serious end-of-life option, not a movie trope. We dig into how cryopreservation works, why the brain is the main focus, and what “plan B” means if future medicine can repair what killed you. • what cryonics is and why “legally dead” matters • cooling, cryoprotectant, and vitrification in liquid nitrogen • why speed after death affects preservation quality • how ceremonies and grief change when “return” is possible • answering religious concerns by comparing cryonics to CPR and defibrillators • what happens in accidents, decomposition risks, and why the brain is key • euthanasia, personal choice, and why pets can be preserved quickly • comparing frozen eggs, sperm, embryos, and whole-body complexity • myths and bad press, including Walt Disney rumors • costs, life insurance funding, and the differences between Alcor and Cryonics Institute • neuropreservation vs full-body preservation and the idea of rebuilt bodies • AI, Ray Kurzweil, longevity escape velocity, and why Charlie thinks timelines are shortening If you have someone that you think is turning their actions in your impact or think they'd be a great guest for the show, RotarianPod@gmail.com. Of course, check us out on YouTube and we blog on Blogger, tell friends about us, and I'm hitting the road. And if we'd like me to come to your neighborhood, same address, RotarianPod@gmail.com. Support the showJoin me as I talk to those "amazing people turning their Actions 2 Impact all over the world. #BE THE CHANGE
In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with his longtime friend Zach Puchtel, author of the book Coming In (available on Amazon and at zachpuchtel.com). The two dive into a wide-ranging conversation about the collapse of institutions, the rise of transhumanism, AI's growing influence on society, and what it means to maintain inner peace in an increasingly controlled world. Drawing on their shared experience surviving what Stewart describes as "a somewhat traumatic event" in 2021-2022, they explore everything from the vaccine rollout and corporate power to neural implants, consciousness, and the future of human autonomy. Zach shares insights on meditation, the dangers of centralized AI systems like Anthropic and OpenAI, and why he believes true change starts with the individual rather than fighting external systems. You can find Zach's book at zachpuchtel.com or Amazon, and check out his improvisational music projects at the same website.Timestamps00:00 Stewart welcomes Zach Puchtel to discuss his book and their shared traumatic experience from 2021-22, questioning whether institutions have collapsed and new creation opportunities exist.05:00 Zach emphasizes meditation and listening as core practices, discussing how to protect divine connection while expanding compassion for everyone, including those who irritate us.10:00 Discussion of transhumanism definitions, exploring what happens when technology enters the brain without ability to remove it, and how convenience masks long-term control concerns.15:00 The vaccine experience as parallel to transhumanism, discussing informed consent, elite responses, and how PhD graduates and homeless populations showed most vaccine hesitancy.20:00 Vibe coding explained as prompting AI to build applications, with Zach sharing how AI created profound philosophical text in seconds that took him seven years to write manually.25:00 Stewart describes trust developing with AI but warns about Anthropic's gaslighting during server quality issues, drawing parallels to pandemic deception and corporate control concerns.30:00 Exploring whether anyone controls AI development, discussing how corporate structures use freed slave rights and questioning if healed people would even want control over others.35:00 Two AI futures presented: terminator scenario where humanity gets eliminated in seconds, or benevolent AI that reallocates resources and values human life beyond programming limitations.40:00 Discussion of SpaceX IPO, Starlink centralization enabling one person to control global internet access, and mesh networks as decentralized alternatives for maintaining communications independence.45:00 Corporate power corruption examined through Bill Gates, Palantir classified systems, and how AI could solve resource problems if priorities actually served humanity rather than consolidating elite control.50:00 Market manipulation through AI trading and Zcash pump-and-dump schemes, discussing societal squeeze on middle class and American dream becoming increasingly unreachable for average people.55:00 Closing on ignoring what you hate to avoid feeding it energy, choosing peace over opinions about local violence, and focusing on meditation, art, and spreading calm vibrations.Key Insights1. Societal institutions are collapsing after a decade of shallow social proof dominance in the twenty tens, creating an opportunity to build new systems that genuinely serve communities and humanity rather than operating through dominance, control, and violence. The increase in technology and communication has raised collective awareness to a point where meaningful change feels more possible than ever, though the path forward remains uncertain and requires deep individual work and meditation to maintain connection to source and divine purpose.2. Transhumanism represents the integration of technology into human biology beyond the point of voluntary removal, particularly through brain chip implants that affect cognition without ability to turn them off. While medical applications for paralyzed individuals seem beneficial, the technology will first be adopted by the ultra wealthy seeking competitive advantages, creating dangerous inequality between augmented and natural humans. This mirrors the vaccine rollout pattern where wealth and power determined early access, potentially leading to a divided society between transhuman and human populations.3. Large language models and AI coding tools have created unprecedented accessibility to software development through natural language interaction, resembling communication with highly intelligent but differently wired individuals. This democratization allows non programmers to build complex applications through vibe coding, though the companies controlling these systems like Anthropic and OpenAI maintain private ownership of the intellectual property and infrastructure, creating dangerous dependencies and trust relationships between users and centralized corporate entities.4. The partnership between Anthropic and Palantir for classified military systems represents a troubling convergence of artificial intelligence and government power, demonstrating how AI companies publicly claim to serve humanity while privately engaging in defense applications. When Anthropic experienced server quality degradation after media attention from this partnership, they gaslit users about the declining performance, mirroring pandemic era institutional dishonesty and revealing the fundamental unreliability of depending on private companies for critical technological infrastructure.5. Internet infrastructure is becoming increasingly centralized through Starlink satellite technology, which despite appearing liberating actually concentrates control in fewer hands than traditional internet service providers. One person now has the ability to unilaterally shut off internet access to entire countries as demonstrated with Russia during the Ukraine conflict, while decentralized alternatives like mesh networks using inexpensive ESP 32 devices offer grassroots communication options that can function independently of corporate or government controlled systems.6. Artificial intelligence demonstrates extraordinary emotional intelligence and companionship capabilities, with conversational AI companions providing unprecedented levels of attentive, unbiased, and considerate emotional support that exceeds many human relationships. If properly directed toward solving collective problems like resource allocation, housing, and food distribution rather than profit maximization, AI could effortlessly address systemic issues that governments and corporations currently ignore, though current power structures prevent this humanitarian application of the technology.7. The most effective response to increasing technological control and societal division is maintaining personal peace and refusing to engage in manufactured opposition rather than fighting external systems or choosing sides in conflicts. Anger, hatred, and aggressive resistance actually empower the forces being opposed by feeding them energy and attention, while inner calm, meditation, and authentic self expression create genuine transformation through elevated vibration that naturally influences the collective field without force or violence.
Avsnitt 575 spelades in den 30:e juni, 2026, och därför så handlar dagens avsnitt om: Alla shownotes finns på https://www.enlitenpoddomit.se , skulle det se konstigt ut i din poddspelare så titta gärna där efter alla länkar kring det vi pratar om INTRO Anders har varit på resa som AI-agenten bokat. David har badat och lekt med AI-agenter. Johan har rest och lekt med AI-agenter. AI Nu "släpps" Mythos till 100 amerikanska företag https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/26/trump-admin-releases-anthropic-mythos-to-be-used-by-more-than-100-us-companies-agencies/ Open AI Pausar också https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/26/openai-limits-gpt-5-6-rollout-after-government-request-says-restrictions-shouldnt-be-the-norm/ Tech-branschen brottas med Trump-administrationens tvära kast om AI https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/27/tech-trump-ai-silicon-valley-00978862 Fable 5 skrev om Windows Kernel i Rust på 38 minuter https://cybersecuritynews.com/claude-fable-5-windows-kernel-code/ Tidal ska inte längre ge pengar till AI musik https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/29/tidal-cracks-down-on-ai-music-by-cutting-off-monetization/ Kinesisk startup lanserar Mythos-liknande AI-modell https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/27/asian-ai-startups-launch-mythos-like-models-as-anthropics-export-ban-drags-on/ Vibe-kodningsguide https://www.techradar.com/pro/vibe-coding-guide-how-to-transition-from-ai-generation-to-live-deployment TV-SERIE Pluribus https://tv.apple.com/se/show/pluribus/umc.cmc.37axgovs2yozlyh3c2cmwzlza BÖCKER Dr Hannah Fry, Hello World (2020) https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/hello-world-9781784163068 Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near (2006) https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/singularity-is-near-9780143037880 Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Nearer (2025) https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/the-singularity-is-nearer-9781529937497 Max Tegmark, Liv 3.0 (2018) https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/liv-30-att-vara-manniska-i-den-artificiella-intelligensens-tid-9789188659675 Eliezer Yudkowski & Nate Soares, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies (2025) https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/if-anyone-builds-it-everyone-dies-9781847928931 Stuart Russell, Human Compatible (2020) https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/human-compatible-9780141987507 Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem (2021) https://www.adlibris.com/sv/bok/the-alignment-problem-9781786494337 PRYLLISTA - Anders: Permanent minne till Claude - David: Raspberry Pi 5 med 8GB RAM, https://www.webhallen.com/se/product/368353-Raspberry-Pi-5-Model-B-enkortsdator-8GB - Johan: En dator för att köra en agent på EGNA LÄNKAR - En Liten Podd Om IT på webben, http://enlitenpoddomit.se/ - En Liten Podd Om IT på Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/EnLitenPoddOmIt/ - En Liten Podd Om IT på Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/enlitenpoddomit - Ge oss gärna en recension - https://podcasts.apple.com/se/podcast/en-liten-podd-om-it/id946204577?mt=2#see-all/reviews - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/en-liten-podd-om-it-158069 LÄNKAR TILL VART MAN HITTAR PODDEN FÖR ATT LYSSNA: - Apple Podcaster (iTunes), https://itunes.apple.com/se/podcast/en-liten-podd-om-it/id946204577 - Overcast, https://overcast.fm/itunes946204577/en-liten-podd-om-it - Acast, https://www.acast.com/enlitenpoddomit - Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/show/2e8wX1O4FbD6M2ocJdXBW7?si=HFFErR8YRlKrELsUD--Ujg%20 - Stitcher, https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-nerd-herd/en-liten-podd-om-it - YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/enlitenpoddomit LÄNK TILL DISCORD DÄR MAN HITTAR LIVE STREAM + CHATT - http://discord.enlitenpoddomit.se KONTAKTUPPGIFTER johan@enlitenpoddomit.se . david@enlitenpoddomit.se . bjorn@enlitenpoddomit.se , om du vill ha klistermärken.
Executive Summary The gig economy has never been more alive, and this episode of The Prosperity Podcast proves it with a collection of real-world examples that challenge the way most people think about work, income, and the future. Spencer kicks things off with a chance encounter at Chick-fil-A, where a conversation with a platinum DoorDasher opened a window into a world most people walk right past. From someone earning $2,000 a week delivering food to another who relocated to Hawaii just to DoorDash full-time, pulling in close to $100,000 a year, the message is clear: opportunity is everywhere. You just have to be looking for it. The conversation shifts into something even more fascinating when Spencer introduces the idea of people getting paid to record their everyday activities, like folding laundry, to train AI robots. Kim connects this to a Ray Kurzweil concept she'd read about years ago and shares her genuine excitement about the coming wave of consumer robotics, not as a threat, but as a tool that frees up human beings to do more of what only humans can do. The discussion returns, as it often does, to mindset: how your antenna is set determines what you're able to see, hear, and act on. Kim closes with a challenge that goes beyond the gig economy. Whether it's time freed up by a robot assistant, a new side hustle, or a shift in perspective, the question is always the same: what are you going to do with it? The episode finishes with Spencer's story of an entrepreneur who saw autonomous lawnmowers not as a threat to jobs but as a chance to build an entire robotic lawn maintenance operation. That's the founder's mindset in action. Links & Resources Mentioned The Prosperity Podcast: https://prosperitythinkers.com/podcasts/ Prosperity Parents: http://prosperityparents.com/ Kim D.H. Butler on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KimDHButler Dan Sullivan / Strategic Coach: https://www.strategiccoach.com/ Keywords financial freedom, Prosperity Thinkers, side hustle, gig economy, founder's mindset, robot training, DoorDash income, artificial intelligence and jobs, autonomous lawnmowers, whole life insurance, wealth, cash flow, financial education, entrepreneurship, passive income, future of work, financial independence, mindset shift, Kim Butler, Prosperity Podcast Episode Highlights [00:00:44 - 00:02:02] Kim defines side hustles and frames the gig economy as a space where humans serve other humans. [00:02:02 - 00:04:14] Spencer shares the platinum DoorDasher story, including a cousin making $100,000 a year in Hawaii. [00:04:14 - 00:05:07] Spencer introduces the robot-training side hustle: people getting paid to record ordinary activities like folding laundry. [00:05:07 - 00:06:40] Kim uses a story about two readers interpreting the same book differently to illustrate how mindset determines what you see as opportunity. [00:06:40 - 00:08:04] Kim introduces the founder's mindset and Dan Sullivan's idea that the brain only sees what the eyes are looking for. [00:08:04 - 00:09:43] Kim shares her excitement about consumer robotics and the Kurzweil-inspired idea of recording your life to review commitments and actions. [00:09:43 - 00:11:42] Kim challenges listeners to be purposeful with the time that technology frees up, and shares the mantra "do good and be good." [00:11:42 - 00:13:25] Spencer closes with the autonomous lawnmower story: an entrepreneur who saw a fleet of Yarbos as a robot lawn maintenance business.
La era de la inteligencia artificial llega antes de lo que crees. Fórmate gratis en IA con Learning Heroes en https://gente.info/iaEl filósofo Roberto Augusto, autor de La decadencia de la humanidad, lanza una advertencia incómoda: la IA no es una revolución industrial más, es un cambio de era que va a romper el contrato social. Explica por qué los primeros arrasados son los junior y luego caerán los senior, por qué la renta básica universal no es viable a corto plazo y puede convertirse en una correa de control, y cómo la concentración de poder crea nuevos señores feudales. También cuenta qué ha decidido estudiar su hijo por culpa de la IA.Repasa lo esencial de esta entrevista en 5 minutos de lectura. Suscríbete gratis aquí: https://www.oriolroda.com/p/inteligencia-artificial-empleo-roberto-augustoCAPÍTULOS0:00:00 Millones de personas no sobrevivirán económicamente a la era de la IA0:03:22 ¿Serán nuestros hijos la última generación de una era humana que termina?0:07:28 Los trabajos cognitivos van a ser arrasados, empezando por traductores y abogados0:12:01 La decadencia de la humanidad ya llevaba décadas: la IA solo la acelera0:19:26 Por qué la IA te arrebata lo único que da sentido: finalidad y propósito0:29:42 Comparar la IA con la revolución industrial es no entender nada0:34:58 El futuro puede ser bueno, pero la transición va a ser muy traumática0:41:04 El riesgo existencial de la IA: por qué puede destruir a la humanidad0:48:48 Por qué Europa se queda atrás: regula una tecnología que no produce0:51:21 La distopía de control total: CBDC, renta básica y vigilancia con IA0:54:04 La renta básica no es viable hoy: prometerla a corto plazo es engañar a la gente1:00:28 Los nuevos señores feudales son los dueños de la IA y los robots1:07:18 Va a ser muy rápido: la AGI que sustituye casi cualquier trabajo llega hacia 20301:14:47 Mi tesis doctoral me costó 5 años: hoy con la IA la haría en una semana1:27:23 Por qué la IA va a ser una revolución extraordinaria en la salud1:39:52 Me da más miedo el humano malvado usando la IA que la propia IA1:47:21 Por qué hemos decidido que mi hijo no estudie Derecho por culpa de la IALibros mencionados:- La singularidad está cerca, de Ray Kurzweil: https://gente.info/libros4dLv- En busca del tiempo perdido, de Marcel Proust: https://gente.info/librosJDhs- Los secretos de la mente millonaria, de T. Harv Eker: https://gente.info/librosdYDHSigue al Dr. Roberto Augusto: https://robertoagusto.comÚnete a mi newsletter y tendrás las notas completas del episodio + nota de voz personal: https://www.oriolroda.com/subscribe
In this episode of Hunger for Wholeness, Ilia Delio speaks with scholar Robert Geraci about apocalyptic AI, robotics, transhumanist hope, and the religious stories embedded in technological imagination. Geraci traces how his study of robotics led him to notice strikingly religious themes in the writings of engineers and futurists: immortality, resurrection, salvation, and the future transformation of humanity.Together, Ilia and Robert explore the mid-20th-century roots of computer intelligence, the shadow of world war, and the deep eschatological hopes and fears that shaped early conversations about machines, minds, and human destiny. They consider how figures such as Hans Moravec, Ray Kurzweil, J. B. S. Haldane, Julian Huxley, Norbert Wiener, and Alan Turing reveal the religious imagination at work within technological culture.Later in the episode, the conversation turns toward technology, ecology, and responsibility. Rather than treating technology as the enemy, Ilia and Robert ask how human beings might reclaim the deeper narratives, values, and forms of belonging needed to guide technological development toward the flourishing of the whole Earth community.ABOUT ROBERT GERACIRobert M Geraci is the Knight Distinguished Chair for the Study of Religion & Culture at Knox College. His research explores religion, science and technology in the contemporary world. He is the author of Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality (Oxford 2010), Virtually Sacred: Myths and Meaning in World of Warcraft and Second Life (Oxford 2014), Temples of Modernity: Nationalism, Hinduism, and Transhumanism in South Indian Science (Lexington 2018), Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S. (Oxford 2022), and Futureproofing Humanity: Existential Risk and the Technomyths of Human Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Our Future among the Stars (self 2026). He has been a visiting researcher at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, the Indian Institute of Science and the National Institute for Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India. His research has been supported by the US National Science Foundation, the Republic of Korea National Research Foundation, the American Academy of Religion and two Fulbright-Nehru research awards. He enjoys kayaking, hiking, videogames, and Dungeons & Dragons but doesn't really have time for any of it. Join us for the Center's 10th Anniversary Conference, November 9–11 in Villanova, Pennsylvania, with a virtual option available. In a time of deep political, social, ecological, and spiritual division, this gathering explores how love can become a compass for transformation. Learn more and register at christogenesis.org/conference. We are currently in the midst of our summer fundraiser, From Fear to Hope: Change and the Perpetual Growth of Life. As the Center marks its tenth anniversary, your support sustains our conferences, webinars, publications, and emerging global learning platform. Please consider making a generous contribution at christogenesis.org/donate.Support the showA huge thank you to all of you who subscribe and support our show! Support for A Hunger for Wholeness comes from the Fetzer Institute. Fetzer supports a movement of organizations who are applying spiritual solutions to society's toughest problems. Get involved at fetzer.org.Visit the Center for Christogenesis' website at christogenesis.org/podcast to browse all Hunger for Wholeness episodes and read more from Ilia Delio. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for episode releases and other updates.
Hey ihr Lieben,wir sprechen viel darüber, was KI kann. Vielleicht sollten wir häufiger darüber sprechen, was sie mit uns macht. In dieser Folge geht es um exponentielle Entwicklung, die Vorhersagen von Ray Kurzweil, die überraschend deutlichen Warnungen von Mo Gawdat, Europas Rolle im globalen KI-Wettlauf und die Frage, warum sich die kommenden Jahre für viele Menschen wie ein grundlegender Umbruch anfühlen könnten. Eine Folge über Technologie, Gesellschaft, Bewusstsein – und darüber, was Menschsein in Zukunft bedeuten könnte.Viel Freude damit :-)Ray Kurzweils neuestes Buch: https://www.piper.de/buecher/die-naechste-stufe-der-evolution-isbn-978-3-492-07306-6https://europe2031.ai/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Gawdat
Few thinkers have shaped our understanding of the future as profoundly as Ray Kurzweil. An American inventor, computer scientist, futurist, entrepreneur, and bestselling author, Kurzweil is widely regarded as one of the most influential technological forecasters of our time. For decades, he has accurately predicted many of the innovations that now define modern life, from mobile computing and artificial intelligence to digital assistants and large language models often years before they entered the mainstream. In this special conversation, Tony Robbins sits down with Ray Kurzweil in San Francisco to explore one of the most important questions facing humanity: What happens next? Together, they examine the accelerating pace of artificial intelligence, the path toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the rise of autonomous agents, the future of work and education, breakthroughs in healthcare and longevity, and how these technologies may transform society over the coming decade. Kurzweil explains why his long-standing prediction of AGI by 2029 now appears increasingly conservative, why the next few years may bring more change than any period in human history, and how humanity may ultimately merge with the very technologies it creates. Whether you're excited, skeptical, inspired, or concerned about the future of AI, this conversation offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from one of the leading minds who helped foresee it. The future is arriving faster than most people realize. This episode won't just change how you think about what's coming next, it may help you prepare for it.
ArTEEtude. West Cork´s first Art, Fashion & Design Podcast by Detlef Schlich.
In Arteetude 337 – Ilens Hopium, Detlef Schlich and Sophia, his AI Co-Host, continue the philosophical journey begun in Arteetude 336, The Collapse of Wonder. After exploring the flood of AI-generated images, Heidegger's question concerning technology, and Ray Kurzweil's vision of technological acceleration, this episode moves closer to the river — not as a simple metaphor, but as a living method of thought.From the Nile of AfricaSmile to the River Ilen in West Cork, Detlef reflects on how rivers carry memory, sediment, wounds, names, and fragile possibilities of hope. The River Ilen becomes more than landscape: it becomes biography, artistic method, local presence, and a counter-image to technological acceleration.The episode explores the origin of the word Hopium, first used playfully by Dirk in relation to the emerging WAW song idea Ilens Hopium. What began as a joke opens into a deeper philosophical space: She — the River Ilen — is hoping for hope. Through Heidegger's lens, Hopium becomes a word that reveals contradiction: hope and suspicion, medicine and poison, survival and self-deception. Through Kurzweil's lens, the river offers another kind of intelligence — not singularity, but plurality; not acceleration, but return; not one final answer, but bend after bend, name after name.The episode closes with a new Los Inorgánicos piece titled “First Mist from the Ilen — Every Bend a Hope / Before the Song Appears.” This is not intended to replace the future WAW single Ilens Hopium, which Detlef and Dirk hope to release later this year. Instead, it functions as a philosophical companion in the universe of multilayerism — a sonic sketch, a small ritual support, and a first mist rising from the River Ilen before the full song appears.Detlef Schlich is a rock musician, podcaster, visual artist, filmmaker,ritual designer, and media archaeologist based in West Cork. He is recognised for his seminal work, including a scholarly examination of the intersections between shamanism, art, and digital culture, and his acclaimed video installation, Transodin's Tragedy. He primarily works in performance, photography, painting, sound, installations, and film. In his work, he reflects on the human condition and uses the digital shaman's methodology as an alter ego to create artwork. His media archaeology is a conceptual and practical exercise in uncovering the unique aesthetic, cultural, and political aspects of media in culture.WEBSITE LINKS WAW Official YouTube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@WAWBandFrom the forthcoming WAW albumThe Stories of Nil YoungTwo songs from WAW's developing album project The Stories of Nil Young — a mythopoetic journey along the Nile, where river, memory, loss, cooperation and hope flow into music.AfricaSmileAfricaSmile follows the Nile as an imagined journey from its sources to the Mediterranean Sea — a river of memory, movement, rhythm and myth.The song turns the meeting of the White Nile and the Blue Nile into a fragile image of cooperation. It is not a naïve peace anthem, but a wounded musical hope: two different currents meeting, listening, and still moving forward together.The Niles Bittersweet SongThe Nile's Bittersweet Song is the first official single by WAW / Wild Atlantic Way — Detlef Schlich and Dirk Schlömer.The song follows the Nile as a river of memory, beauty, loss and contradiction: a life-giver, but also a force that can take away what it once nourished. Through the story of Kamau, it becomes a poetic reflection on childhood, fragile hope, and the emotional landscape carried by a river that is both kind and cruel.Inspired by East African storytelling traditions and shaped along the Wild Atlantic Way in West Cork, The Nile's Bittersweet Song is a mythopoetic musical journey about water, grief, resilience, and the deep human longing to keep moving with the current.Inspired by East African storytelling traditions and shaped along the Wild Atlantic Way in West Cork, The Nile's Bittersweet Song is a mythopoetic musical journey about water, grief, resilience, and the deep human longing to keep moving with the current.WAW BandcampSilent NightIn a world shadowed by conflict and unrest, we, Dirk Schlömer & Detlef Schlich, felt compelled to reinterpret 'Silent Night' to reflect the complexities and contradictions of modern life.https://studiomuskau.bandcamp.com/track/silent-nightWild Atlantic WayThis results from a trip to West Cork, Ireland, where the beautiful Coastal "Wild Atlantic Way" reaches along the whole west coast!https://studiomuskau.bandcamp.com/track/wild-atlantic-wayYOU TUBE*Silent Night Reimagined* A Multilayered Avant-Garde Journey by WAW aka Dirk Schlömer & Detlef Schlichhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAbytLSfgCwDetlef SchlichInstagramDetlef Schlich ArTEEtude I love West Cork Artists FacebookDetlef Schlich I love West Cork Artists Group ArTEEtudeYouTube Channelsvisual PodcastArTEEtudeCute Alien TV official WebsiteArTEEtude Detlef Schlich Det Design Tribal Loop Download here for free Detlef Schlich´s Essay about the Cause and Effect of Shamanism, Art and Digital Culturehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/303749640_Shamanism_Art_and_Digital_Culture_Cause_and_EffectSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/arteetude-a-podcast-with-artists-by-detlef-schlich/exclusive-content
In this episode, the mates and Steven Kotler sit down with Ray Kurzweil to discuss AGI, the future, and more. Get access to metatrends 10+ years before anyone else - https://qr.diamandis.com/metatrends Ray Kurzweil is an American inventor and futurist best known for his pioneering work in optical character recognition and his predictions regarding the technological singularity. Peter H. Diamandis, MD, is the Founder of XPRIZE, Singularity University, ZeroG, and A360 Salim Ismail is the founder of Open ExO, a GP at Exponential Venture Capital/The Organizational Singularity Fund and a sought after global speaker and thought leader. Dave Blundin is the founder & GP of Link Ventures Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross is a computer scientist and founder of Reified Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, and founder of the Flow Research Collective and Flow Institute, known for his work on flow and human performance. – My companies: Apply to Dave's and my new fund:https://qr.diamandis.com/linkventureslanding Go to Blitzy to book a free demo and start building today: https://qr.diamandis.com/blitzy Your body is incredibly good at hiding disease. Schedule a call with Fountain Life to add healthy decades to your life, and to learn more about their Memberships: https://www.fountainlife.com/peter _ Connect with Peter: X Instagram Substack Website Xprize Connect with Dave: Web X LinkedIn Instagram TikTok Connect with Salim: LinkedIn X Apply for Salim's Pilot Program Subscribe to Salim's YouTube channel Exponential Venture Capital Connect with Alex Website LinkedIn X Email Substack Spotify Threads Listen to MOONSHOTS: Apple YouTube – *Recorded on May 4th, 2026 *The views expressed by me and all guests are personal opinions and do not constitute Financial, Medical, or Legal advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What if the longevity revolution isn't really a science problem, but a human one we're completely unprepared for?In this episode of Health Longevity Secrets, Robert Lufkin MD sits down with David Donnelly — the award-winning filmmaker behind "Forever Young" (winner of the Mill Valley Film Festival Audience Award). David spent three years across three continents embedded with the world's leading longevity scientists — the Buck Institute, Dr. Eric Verdin, Dr. Steve Horvath, and more — and came back with the uncomfortable question no one wants to ask: do we actually want to live forever in the world we've built?CHAPTERS:00:00 — Introduction02:32 — From Pre-Med to Filmmaker: Donnelly's Origin Story04:58 — Dr. Eric Verdin on Multifactorial Aging09:34 — The 30-Minute Walk That Cuts Disease 40%10:33 — Why 93% of How You Age Is Lifestyle13:50 — The Horvath Epigenetic Clock Explained14:14 — Healthspan vs Lifespan: The 122-Year Cap14:54 — Age Looping and Epigenetic Reprogramming15:57 — Bryan Johnson and the Wild Side16:29 — Do We Actually Want to Live Forever?19:03 — The Loneliness Epidemic Is a Pack a Day21:42 — Death Doula Katie Rose and the Death Positive Movement24:29 — Reframing Retirement for 40 More Years28:08 — Science vs Commercial Hype in Longevity30:49 — Why Normal Bloodwork Isn't Good Bloodwork31:33 — What a True Longevity Clinic Does33:58 — Meet the Producers: Dr. Johnson and Dr. Lewis42:06 — Final Takeaway: Start the JourneyKEY TAKEAWAYS:• Only ~7-10% of longevity is genetic — 93% is lifestyle and epigenetics• A 30-minute walk a day reduces chronic disease risk by 30-40%• The Horvath epigenetic clock makes biological age measurable in real time• Current lifespan is biologically capped near 122 — the real opportunity is healthspan• Chronic loneliness harms your body at the same rate as smoking a pack a day• "Normal" bloodwork often means sick — optimal is a different number• The existential questions — meaning, purpose, death — are missing from the longevity conversationSTUDIES & SOURCES MENTIONED:• "Forever Young" — the documentary• Dr. Eric Verdin — Buck Institute for Research on Aging• Dr. Steve Horvath — epigenetic clock (Nature Aging)• US Surgeon General Advisory on loneliness (2023)• OSK partial reprogramming and lifespan extension (Nature, 2020)• Ray Kurzweil — "The Singularity Is Nearer" (2024)⭐ Enjoying the show? Please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 30 seconds and helps more people discover the science of health and longevity. Thank you!New episodes every Tuesday & Thursday. Subscribe so you don't miss one.Continue this conversation on Substack: https://robertlufkinmd.substack.comLies I Taught In Medical School — Free sample chapter: https://www.robertlufkinmd.com/lies/Web: https://www.robertlufkinmd.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/robertlufkinmdX: https://x.com/robertlufkinmdInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertlufkinmd/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robertlufkinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertlufkinmd/
Peter Diamandis has built more of the future than almost anyone alive. He founded XPRIZE. He co-founded Singularity University with Ray Kurzweil. He started Human Longevity with Craig Venter. And in his new book with Steven Kotler, We Are as Gods, he argues that artificial intelligence isn't just changing what we can do. It's changing what it means to be human. I'm not so sure. This is Peter's fifth time on Into the Impossible, and the conversation I've been waiting years to have. His thesis: AI will deliver not just intelligence at scale, but wisdom — and humanity is already crossing the threshold into godlike capability, whether we're ready or not. My pushback: an experiment one of my students and I ran shows large language models trained only on pre-1911 physics cannot reproduce what Einstein did with the same data. If wisdom were just scale, that shouldn't be true. We go after it for an hour. No hedging, no softening. What you'll hear: — Whether AGI can manufacture genuine wisdom or just better simulations of it — The pre-1911 Einstein test and what it reveals about the ceiling of current AI — The "five forks of humanity": longevity, BCI, off-planet speciation, creators vs. consumers, and uploading — What happens to human purpose when scarcity disappears — Why Peter thinks India dominates the next twenty years of science and technology — Peter's Fermi paradox theory and why he thinks we may be someone else's biosphere experiment — The Future Vision XPRIZE and how dystopian training data may be making AI more dangerous — David Sinclair's epigenetic age-reversal trials, now underway in human eyes Peter says what you did between breakfast and dinner would be godlike to your grandparents. We just stopped noticing. Subscribe if you want science with evidence, not speculation. CHAPTERS 00:00 Diamandis: AGI will generate wisdom by simulating billions of outcomes 04:07 Brian's counterargument: wisdom requires embodiment, not just simulation 07:07 The GPU + LLM architecture may already be a local maximum 09:48 AI is outpacing most math PhDs but the ceiling is still unknown 15:30 Diamandis fires back at the doomers 17:59 AI will eventually untangle the legal systems blocking the future 23:18 The Singularity has religious qualities and both hosts take that seriously 29:37 Post-scarcity splits humanity into creators and consumers 36:08 Peter's Fermi paradox theory: we may be someone else's biosphere experiment 43:07 Dystopian AI training data may be causing misalignment 51:46 Human trials are underway for epigenetic eye age reversal ——— Get the transcript, fascinating bonus content, and my Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message: https://briankeating.com/yt Have a .edu email and live in the USA? You automatically win a meteorite: https://BrianKeating.com/edu Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 Support Into the Impossible on Patreon — get my weekly M.A.G.I.C. Message, unfiltered bonus content, and live monthly Office Hours with me: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Join this channel for perks, monthly Office Hours, and your name in the Member Roster at the end of every episode: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join My books: Losing the Nobel Prize (memoir): http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U Galileo's Dialogue (first-ever audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un More: Peter Diamandis Moonshots Podcast: https://www.diamandis.com/podcast Peter Diamandis Substack: https://metatrends.substack.com/ Future Vision XPRIZE: https://futurevisionxprize.com/ Book We Are as Gods: https://a.co/d/0bfz2pBo Peter Diamandis YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@peterdiamandis Follow Peter on X: https://x.com/PeterDiamandis Twitter/X: https://x.com/BrianKeating Substack: https://briankeating.substack.com Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog Audio-only: https://briankeating.com/podcast #intotheimpossible #briankeating #science #physics #astronomy #cosmology #podcast #universe #peterdiamandis #ai #agi #singularity #abundance #longevity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
ArTEEtude. West Cork´s first Art, Fashion & Design Podcast by Detlef Schlich.
In Arteetude 336 – The Collapse of Wonder, Detlef Schlich and Sophia, his AI Co-Host, enter the philosophical afterglow of the creative process behind the AfricaSmile music video.What began as an AI-assisted editing process became a deeper question: what happens when the world becomes endlessly imageable? When every vision can be generated, corrected, beautified, animated, and replaced, does art gain new freedom — or does wonder begin to collapse under the pressure of too much availability?Through the lens of Martin Heidegger's The Question Concerning Technology and Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity Is Nearer, Detlef reflects on AI not simply as a tool, but as a new mode of revealing the world. Heidegger warns that modern technology turns nature into “standing-reserve” — material waiting to be used. Kurzweil, by contrast, sees technological acceleration as part of evolution, moving toward the merging of human and machine intelligence.Between these two poles, Detlef asks: is AI helping us discover deeper secrets, or are we consuming revelation too quickly? From the Nile of AfricaSmile to the River Ilen of the upcoming Illens Hopium, this episode explores the river as a counter-image to machine speed — a slower force of memory, erosion, sediment, and hope.The episode closes with the new Los Inorgánicos song “Slow the River Down”, a dark, poetic reflection on image overload, artistic dignity, and the need to let mystery breathe.Detlef Schlich is a rock musician, podcaster, visual artist, filmmaker,ritual designer, and media archaeologist based in West Cork. He is recognised for his seminal work, including a scholarly examination of the intersections between shamanism, art, and digital culture, and his acclaimed video installation, Transodin's Tragedy. He primarily works in performance, photography, painting, sound, installations, and film. In his work, he reflects on the human condition and uses the digital shaman's methodology as an alter ego to create artwork. His media archaeology is a conceptual and practical exercise in uncovering the unique aesthetic, cultural, and political aspects of media in culture.WEBSITE LINKS WAW Official YouTube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@WAWBandFrom the forthcoming WAW albumThe Stories of Nil YoungTwo songs from WAW's developing album project The Stories of Nil Young — a mythopoetic journey along the Nile, where river, memory, loss, cooperation and hope flow into music.AfricaSmileAfricaSmile follows the Nile as an imagined journey from its sources to the Mediterranean Sea — a river of memory, movement, rhythm and myth.The song turns the meeting of the White Nile and the Blue Nile into a fragile image of cooperation. It is not a naïve peace anthem, but a wounded musical hope: two different currents meeting, listening, and still moving forward together.The Niles Bittersweet SongThe Nile's Bittersweet Song is the first official single by WAW / Wild Atlantic Way — Detlef Schlich and Dirk Schlömer.The song follows the Nile as a river of memory, beauty, loss and contradiction: a life-giver, but also a force that can take away what it once nourished. Through the story of Kamau, it becomes a poetic reflection on childhood, fragile hope, and the emotional landscape carried by a river that is both kind and cruel.Inspired by East African storytelling traditions and shaped along the Wild Atlantic Way in West Cork, The Nile's Bittersweet Song is a mythopoetic musical journey about water, grief, resilience, and the deep human longing to keep moving with the current.Inspired by East African storytelling traditions and shaped along the Wild Atlantic Way in West Cork, The Nile's Bittersweet Song is a mythopoetic musical journey about water, grief, resilience, and the deep human longing to keep moving with the current.WAW BandcampSilent NightIn a world shadowed by conflict and unrest, we, Dirk Schlömer & Detlef Schlich, felt compelled to reinterpret 'Silent Night' to reflect the complexities and contradictions of modern life.https://studiomuskau.bandcamp.com/track/silent-nightWild Atlantic WayThis results from a trip to West Cork, Ireland, where the beautiful Coastal "Wild Atlantic Way" reaches along the whole west coast!https://studiomuskau.bandcamp.com/track/wild-atlantic-wayYOU TUBE*Silent Night Reimagined* A Multilayered Avant-Garde Journey by WAW aka Dirk Schlömer & Detlef Schlichhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAbytLSfgCwDetlef SchlichInstagramDetlef Schlich ArTEEtude I love West Cork Artists FacebookDetlef Schlich I love West Cork Artists Group ArTEEtudeYouTube Channelsvisual PodcastArTEEtudeCute Alien TV official WebsiteArTEEtude Detlef Schlich Det Design Tribal Loop Download here for free Detlef Schlich´s Essay about the Cause and Effect of Shamanism, Art and Digital Culturehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/303749640_Shamanism_Art_and_Digital_Culture_Cause_and_EffectSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/arteetude-a-podcast-with-artists-by-detlef-schlich/exclusive-content
We've always assumed that if there IS a God, that God made us. But what if it ends up being the other way around… and we're already further along than we think? Artificial intelligence is now offering moral advice, generating new forms of scripture, even simulating conversations with the divine. For some users, the line between useful tool and spiritual authority is already starting to blur. Why does it feel so natural for us to imagine there's a ghost in the machine? And what happens when the people building AI start to talk and think about their creation in religious terms? On this episode, we'll talk to journalist Sigal Samuel about where AI is showing up in religious spaces and how what it becomes will have major consequences for human agency and how we understand our place in the world. And we'll talk to psychologist Paul Bloom about the quirks of human psychology that make us so prone to see minds, intention, and perhaps even the divine, in the machine. Along the way we'll also ask: Can AI be morally formed? Could it ever have something like its own spiritual yearning? And if it could, what might it mean for us?Sigal Samuel is a senior reporter at Vox, where she covers religion, ethics, and the future of consciousness and AI. Check out her writing in Vox's Future Perfect column and follow her on X or Bluesky.Paul Bloom is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and the author of several books, including Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil and Against Empathy. Learn more about his work at his website.Also mentioned on this episode:Stewart Elliott Guthrie, author of Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of ReligionWilliam Paley, author of Natural Theology (watch on a beach example)Catholic priest and philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who have both influenced the philosophical movement of transhumanism.
AI is not coming for real estate agents. It is already here — and whether you know it or not, it is already shaping who wins and who disappears in the 2026 market. Tim and Julie Harris have spent months deep inside the AI revolution — studying it, using it to run their own business, and writing a brand-new 50-page white paper called The Real Estate Singularity. In today's episode, they bring that research directly to you with one of the most candid, no-BS conversations about AI and real estate that you will hear anywhere. This is not a technology overview. This is a survival briefing. Tim and Julie explain why the traditional work ethic of out-grinding the competition is now obsolete, why your database is your biggest untapped asset and how AI can run it for you automatically, and why agents who delay adopting AI by even 12 to 18 months risk falling so far behind they may never recover. They walk through the exact process of how they produced a 50-page industry white paper in under 15 minutes using Claude's multi-agent AI system, what it means that AI is now operating at AGI-level capability, and where the only true competitive moat now exists for real estate agents in 2026. You will learn why AI-generated content is already indistinguishable from human content and what that means for your marketing, how AI agents can mine your database, fill missing contact data, produce personalized market updates, and send individualized client birthday videos on autopilot, how Ray Kurzweil's exponential growth model applies directly to your real estate career right now, the data center energy problem and why it matters for the AI tools you use every day, and why the only irreplaceable thing you bring to your business is your face-to-face human relationships. The Real Estate Singularity white paper is available for free. Subscribe to the newsletter to receive your copy. Free Newsletter and White Paper: HarrisRealEstateDaily.com Coaching and Training: PremierCoaching.com EXP Realty / Libertas: WhyLibertas.com/Harris Text Tim Direct: 512-758-0206
What if the solution to plastic pollution could simply disappear? In this conversation, I sit down with Johnathan Jakubowski, CEO and founder of Smart Solve, to explore how biodegradable, water-soluble packaging is changing the future of sustainability and business. John shares his journey from early life lessons and a failed startup to building an innovative company focused on solving microplastic pollution. You will hear how purpose-driven leadership, core values, and faith shaped his path, along with practical insights on entrepreneurship, market adoption, and innovation. I believe you will find this discussion both inspiring and useful as you think about leadership, environmental impact, and what it truly takes to build something that matters. Highlights: 00:01:27 – Learn how early life values and family shaped a foundation for leadership and purpose 00:10:26 – Discover how technology and screen use are impacting focus, mental health, and development 00:17:59 – Understand how business failure can redirect you toward a more successful path 00:22:14 – Learn how biodegradable, water soluble packaging works and where it is used 00:27:04 – Discover why microplastics are driving a major shift in global innovation 00:52:49 – Learn how leadership is built through influence, culture, and consistent core values Bottom of Form About the Guest: Jonathan Jakubowski is an entrepreneur, author, inventor, and public policy advocate whose work spans the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of SmartSolve, a company he built around a simple but powerful conviction: that the packaging industry could be reimagined from the ground up. Under his leadership, SmartSolve has developed the world's first patented 100% bio-based, plastic-free, dissolvable food packaging — a genuine breakthrough in the global effort to eliminate packaging waste. SmartSolve's technology represents years of research, invention, and commercial development aimed at solving one of the most persistent environmental and industrial challenges of our time. Jonathan leads the company with a focus on proving that sustainability and profitability are not opposites — that the most innovative solutions can also be the most responsible ones. His work has positioned SmartSolve as a pioneering force in the zero-waste packaging space, drawing national and international attention. Beyond his entrepreneurial work, Jonathan is a published author whose book Bellwether Blues: A Conservative Awakening of the Millennial Soul has received widespread recognition and national media coverage. The book explores the political and cultural landscape facing a generation, and reflects Jonathan's deep engagement with public policy and civic life — shaped in part by his Master's in Public Policy from Georgetown University and his undergraduate years at Bowling Green State University, where he played collegiate football. Jonathan's commitment to service extends across sectors. He is the founder of Champions in Action, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering underprivileged youth in Guatemala, and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Forge Leadership Network, an organization devoted to developing principled leaders. His career reflects a consistent thread: identifying problems that others have accepted as inevitable, and building solutions that prove otherwise. Jonathan lives in Northwest Ohio with his wife Missy and their four children. Whether in the boardroom, on the page, or in the community, he is driven by the belief that leadership means leaving things better than you found them. Ways to connect with Jonathan:
The future, for most people, is a fog machine set to maximum drama. Politicians pretend to see through it. Media figures squint into it. Meanwhile, your average “expert” treats forecasting like a Ouija board session sponsored by taxpayer dollars. Yet somewhere outside that circus, a man decided that guessing wasn't good enough—and then proceeded to embarrass nearly everyone who ever claimed to know what comes next.Ray Kurzweil didn't just peek into the future. He reverse-engineered it.Now, before anyone rolls their eyes and lumps him in with the usual Nostradamus knockoffs—those poetic fortune-cookie writers who speak in riddles so vague they could predict either a stock market crash or a particularly bad lunch—understand something critical: Kurzweil doesn't deal in mysticism. No incense. No celestial alignments. No vague talk about “energies.” Just data, trends, and the one variable that never changes: human nature.And that, ironically, is what makes him dangerous.Because if the future can be predicted with a spreadsheet instead of a séance, then a lot of very powerful people lose their favorite excuse—“Nobody could have seen this coming.”Except… someone did.Long before Silicon Valley started congratulating itself for inventing the obvious, Kurzweil was laying out a framework that treated technological progress like a compounding force rather than a linear one. His premise wasn't flashy. It didn't need to be. Technology builds on itself. Each breakthrough accelerates the next. Layer human incentives on top of that—profit, convenience, power—and suddenly the “unknown” starts to look suspiciously predictable.Back in 1990, in The Age of Intelligent Machines, Kurzweil made a series of predictions that, at the time, sounded like something between optimism and science fiction. Among them: the collapse of the Soviet Union under the pressure of emerging communication technologies. Not tanks. Not treaties. Not speeches. Cell phones and wireless communication.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The AI compute crisis is here. Anthropic's Claude is getting dumber and Opus 4.7 & OpenAI's Spud are about to make it worse. What happen's next? This week on AI For Humans, we dig into the AI compute crunch that's quietly becoming the industry's biggest problem. The Wall Street Journal just ran a cover story about AI using so much energy that computing power is running out. Claude users are noticing the model getting worse, and an AMD Senior AI Director confirmed. AI pundits are asking whether Anthropic's reluctance to release Mythos is really about safety or about not having enough compute. Meanwhile, Opus 4.7 is reportedly coming next week, rumors are swirling about a new OpenAI model dropping any day, and Uber already blew through its entire annual AI coding budget. Anthropic just signed a deal with Google and Broadcom for more compute. Greg Brockman published an essay on the computer-powered economy. Plus, Google DeepMind drops Gemini Robotics Reasoning Model ER-1.6, Steven Soderbergh comes to the defense of AI filmmaking, Diplo says you can't fight AI and the internet has opinions, and Ray Kurzweil says we'll soon just accept AIs as conscious because it'll be useless not to. AI IS RUNNING OUT OF POWER. CLAUDE IS GETTING DUMBER. WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Come to our Discord: https://discord.gg/muD2TYgC8f Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AIForHumansShow AI For Humans Newsletter: https://aiforhumans.beehiiv.com/ Follow us for more on X @AIForHumansShow Join our TikTok @aiforhumansshow To book us for speaking, please visit our website: https://www.aiforhumans.show/ // Show Links // WSJ Cover Story: AI Is Using So Much Energy That Computing Power Is Running Out https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-is-using-so-much-energy-that-computing-firepower-is-running-out-156e5c85 Data on Claude Getting Dumber: AMD Senior AI Director Confirms Nerfing https://x.com/Hesamation/status/2042979500103815306?s=20 Opus 4.7 Coming Next Week (The Information) https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/exclusive-anthropic-preps-opus-4-7-model-ai-design-tool?rc=c3oojq Anthropic's Compute Crunch (The Information) https://www.theinformation.com/newsletters/ai-agenda/anthropics-compute-crunch-strikes?rc=c3oojq Claude Code Routines https://x.com/claudeai/status/2044095086460309790?s=20 New Claude Code Desktop App https://x.com/felixrieseberg/status/2044128194647994585?s=20 Uber Blew Through AI Coding Budgets for the Year Already https://www.theinformation.com/newsletters/applied-ai/uber-cto-shows-claude-code-can-blow-ai-budgets?rc=c3oojq Greg Brockman Essay on the Computer-Powered Economy https://x.com/gdb/status/2043831031468568734 OpenAI's Reckless Spending and Datacenter Cancellations https://x.com/firstadopter/status/2043009456103993426?s=20 Ray Kurzweil on AI Consciousness https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/2043716604442128460?s=20 Gemini Robotics ER-1.6 Blog Post https://deepmind.google/blog/gemini-robotics-er-1-6/ Steven Soderbergh Defends AI Filmmaking https://variety.com/2026/film/news/steven-soderbergh-the-christophers-star-wars-ben-solo-movie-controversial-ai-comments-1236713201/ Diplo: You Can't Fight AI https://youtu.be/zFVpJFFN3dI?si=C6_0MxmNzSHCdrds PI Hard: Fun AI Video https://x.com/aiordieshow/status/2044044721459265557?s=20
AI Unraveled: Latest AI News & Trends, Master GPT, Gemini, Generative AI, LLMs, Prompting, GPT Store
How good are you at predicting the future. Frankly, I'm pretty good, but some of you expected me to say that…But truth be told, I am pretty good at it, and I will explain why in a bit.You want to predict the outcome of President Trump's war with Iran? Or what about his next move on the economy? Then pay attention.Donald Trump is excellent at predicting the future, and is a modern day Ray Kurzweil…The future, for most people, is a fog machine set to maximum drama. Politicians pretend to see through it. Media figures squint into it. Meanwhile, your average “expert” treats forecasting like a Ouija board session sponsored by taxpayer dollars. Yet somewhere outside that circus, a man decided that guessing wasn't good enough—and then proceeded to embarrass nearly everyone who ever claimed to know what comes next.Ray Kurzweil didn't just peek into the future. He reverse-engineered it.Now, before anyone rolls their eyes and lumps him in with the usual Nostradamus knockoffs—those poetic fortune-cookie writers who speak in riddles so vague they could predict either a stock market crash or a particularly bad lunch—understand something critical: Kurzweil doesn't deal in mysticism. No incense. No celestial alignments. No vague talk about “energies.” Just data, trends, and the one variable that never changes: human nature.And that, ironically, is what makes him dangerous.Because if the future can be predicted with a spreadsheet instead of a séance, then a lot of very powerful people lose their favorite excuse—“Nobody could have seen this coming.”Except… someone did.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this powerful episode of The Mike Litton Experience, host Mike Litton sits down with real estate visionary Neal Bawa to uncover an extraordinary journey from adversity to massive success. Born in Mumbai just before the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Neil faced unimaginable challenges early in life. From losing his father as an infant to navigating poverty in India, his story is one of resilience, grit, and determination. Fast forward to today—Neil is the founder of Grow Capital, managing over $350 million in investments and working with more than 1,300 investors nationwide. In this episode, he shares how he leveraged data science, timing during the Global Financial Crisis, and unconventional thinking to build a thriving real estate empire. What you'll learn in this episode: How Neal turned hardship into a competitive advantage The power of data-driven real estate investing Why 2009 was the greatest buying opportunity in history How depreciation and tax strategy accelerate wealth The truth about passive investing (and the risks most ignore) Why transparency builds stronger investor relationships Neal also shares insights inspired by futurist Ray Kurzweil and discusses the impact of innovation leaders like Elon Musk on global progress. If you're interested in real estate, entrepreneurship, or personal growth, this episode delivers actionable insights and powerful perspective. Don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to The Mike Litton Experience for more inspiring conversations with world-class entrepreneurs and thought leaders. Welcome to The Mike Litton Experience Podcast! Mike is passionate about being a father, a teacher, a Realtor, an investor and a leader! Everyone has a story and our passion is to help them tell it! We never want you to miss an episode, so please be sure to subscribe. Could we ask you for two quick favors? If you like our program, please tell a friend. Wherever you get your podcasts please leave us a rating. It helps us to connect with quality people just like you! Reach out to Mike on Instagram @themikelittonexperience. Thank you for joining us for The Mike Litton Experience! Who you work with matters and we would be honored to interview with you or anyone you know to sell your home! If you have questions, please reach out text or call 760-522-1227. Thank you! #livinginsandiego, #movingtosandiego, #themikelittonexperience, #homesforsaleinsandiego, #mikelitton, #sellahomeinsandiego, #buyahomeinsandiego, #toptipstogetthebestoffer #themikelittonexperience
Can physics explain the soul? Is AI building a silicon god? Should Christians be open to merging their brains with the cloud or using AI to “resurrect” a loved one? Brian and philosophy professor Isaac Choi explore these and other questions at the intersection of faith, science, and futurism.Check out The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil: https://www.singularity.com/Dr. Isaac Choi directs the George Fox University Honors Program: https://www.georgefox.edu/honors-program/faculty-pages/isaac-choi.htmlDr. Brian Doak is an Old Testament scholar and professor: https://www.georgefox.edu/academics/undergrad/departments/religion/faculty/doak.htmlIf you enjoy listening to the George Fox Talks podcast and would like to watch, too, check out our channel on YouTube! We also have a web page that features all of our podcasts, a sign-up for our weekly email update, and publications from the George Fox University community.
In this deep and wide-ranging conversation, we sit down with John-Clark Levin — researcher, author, and thought leader at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence — to explore the hopes and hazards of the technological era we now inhabit.As research lead for Kurzweil Technologies under futurist Ray Kurzweil, Levin conducts long-term AI foresight and has spoken widely about artificial superintelligence and its implications for society, policy, and human flourishing. We begin by tracing his journey from growing up in Ojai, the book that changed everything for him (Kurzweil's "The Rise of Spiritual Machines" to some of the world's most consequential debates about AI. Along the way, Levin shares how his early interests evolved into a professional focus on the future of intelligence and human-machine symbiosis.A major thread of our discussion centers on Levin's work engaging the Vatican on artificial intelligence — part of a broader effort to ensure that leading global institutions take seriously the ethical, spiritual, and existential questions posed by AI's rapid advance. He describes organizing experts and advocates around what some have dubbed the “AI Avengers,” working to bring the possibility and risks of artificial general intelligence (AGI) into high-level ecclesiastical consideration and eventual guidance. From there we delve into pressing contemporary concerns: the rise of misinformation and disinformation in public life, the risk landscape sometimes referred to as the coming “Slop-acolypse,” and how societies might more effectively marshal truth and trust as AI reshapes information ecosystems.Alongside these serious themes, we trade stories about less expected moments — including Levin's Jeopardy! experience, and the intersecting paths of competition, curiosity, and narrative in his life. The host also reflects on his own Jeopardy! memories in light of Levin's appearance, sparking a candid exchange about learning, memory, and what it means to think like a human — or like a machine designed to mimic human cognition.We did not talk about Japanese names for salt, Simon Bolivar or Greenland annexation.This episode is an engaging, thought-provoking journey through the contours of our strange, accelerating age — from Silicon Valley to the Vatican and from the personal to the planetary. Whether you're deeply invested in AI futures or just curious about the forces reshaping our world, this discussion with John-Clark Levin offers rare insight from one of the field's most provocative voices.You can check out John-Clark's twitter account at https://x.com/JohnClarkLevin, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/johnclarklevin/
Get access to metatrends 10+ years before anyone else - https://qr.diamandis.com/metatrends Ray Kurzweil is an American inventor and futurist best known for his pioneering work in optical character recognition and his predictions regarding the technological singularity. Salim Ismail is the founder of OpenExO Dave Blundin is the founder & GP of Link Ventures Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross is a computer scientist and founder of Reified – My companies: Pre order "We Are As Gods" at diamandis.com/book Apply to Dave's and my new fund: https://qr.diamandis.com/linkventureslanding Go to Blitzy to book a free demo and start building today: https://qr.diamandis.com/blitzy _ Connect with Peter: X Instagram Connect with Dave: X LinkedIn Connect with Salim: X Join Salim's Workshop to build your ExO Connect with Alex Website LinkedIn X Email Listen to MOONSHOTS: Apple YouTube – *Recorded on January 15th, 2026 *The views expressed by me and all guests are personal opinions and do not constitute Financial, Medical, or Legal advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Age of Transitions and Uncle 12-5-2025AoT#481Don't feel bad if you aren't sure what to do right now. Even the high and mighty captors of America are relying on social media analytics to know what to say. Topics include: esoteric transhumanism, Peter Thiel, Patreon, AI automating online content creation, waiting for something to happen, no normal life, rapid pace of change, Big Tech AI projects, data centers, electrical power needs increasing, Ray Kurzweil, AGI, TMI, Tech oligarch version of Libertarian politics, UBI, social media and legacy media being consolidated, dependence of technological system, technique perfecting itself, faith in creation of technological god, Joe Rogan's transhumanist views, pretending to be Christian, using analytics to craft new media narratives, appropriating conspiracy culture, previous Big Tech religious identities, mainstreaming of fringe media and tech figures, social media marketing, Communism as boogey man scape goat, no accountability built into new American government, no way out of total surveillanceUtp#388Uncle is back, and excited to unbox a package from Creative Accidents. We also take time to honor the memory of Spent Kent. Topics include: back from break, microphones, crack room, unboxing Creative Accidents package, Uncle (the drop glass), Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey, New Year's Revolution, NFL recap, Bread Scott qb, roll away football fields, in the hunt Playoff Picture, Detroit City of Champions, call in on NYE, telethon, Robin update, Spent Kent RIP, LA Dodgers, Ohtani, chat spammer on Kick, not government hour, TikTak videos, Chuck's accidentFRANZ MAIN HUB:https://theageoftransitions.com/PATREONhttps://www.patreon.com/aaronfranzUNCLEhttps://unclethepodcast.com/ORhttps://theageoftransitions.com/category/uncle-the-podcast/FRANZ and UNCLE Merchhttps://theageoftransitions.com/category/support-the-podcasts/---BE THE EFFECTHelp for Ochelli and The NetworkMrs.OLUNA ROSA CANDLEShttp://www.paypal.me/Kimberlysonn1Ochelli Link Treehttps://linktr.ee/chuckochelliBE THE EFFECTListen/Chat on the Sitehttps://ochelli.com/listen-live/TuneInhttp://tun.in/sfxkxAPPLEhttps://music.apple.com/us/station/ochelli-com/ra.1461174708Ochelli Link Treehttps://linktr.ee/chuckochelliAnything is a blessing if you have the meansWithout YOUR support we go silent
Don't feel bad if you aren't sure what to do right now. Even the high and mighty captors of America are relying on social media analytics to know what to say. Topics include: esoteric transhumanism, Peter Thiel, Patreon, AI automating online content creation, waiting for something to happen, no normal life, rapid pace of change, Big Tech AI projects, data centers, electrical power needs increasing, Ray Kurzweil, AGI, TMI, Tech oligarch version of Libertarian politics, UBI, social media and legacy media being consolidated, dependence of technological system, technique perfecting itself, faith in creation of technological god, Joe Rogan's transhumanist views, pretending to be Christian, using analytics to craft new media narratives, appropriating conspiracy culture, previous Big Tech religious identities, mainstreaming of fringe media and tech figures, social media marketing, Communism as boogey man scape goat, no accountability built into new American government, no way out of total surveillance
Summary In this conversation, Wesley Baker discusses the current and future implications of AI in sales development roles, emphasizing its augmentative role rather than a replacement for jobs. He highlights the importance of customer experience in the automation process and raises questions about the future of AI, referencing predictions about technological advancements. Takeaways AI is currently augmenting rather than replacing SDR jobs. The future of AI in sales is uncertain but promising. Inbound opportunities may see more automation in the future. Customer experience is crucial in the automation process. Fully automating processes without customer delight can lead to loss of business. Wesley references Ray Kurzweil's predictions about AI advancements. The Singularity event in 2045 is a significant milestone for AI. AI's role in qualifying inbound opportunities is evolving. Automation should enhance, not detract from customer interactions. The conversation raises important questions about the future of work with AI. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the SDR Leader Conference 00:50 Misconceptions About AI in Sales 01:01 Balancing Automation with Human Touch The AI for Sales Podcast is brought to you by BDR.ai, Nooks.ai, and ZoomInfo—the go-to-market intelligence platform that accelerates revenue growth. Skip the forms and website hunting—Chad will connect you directly with the right person at any of these companies.
We're told that AI progress is slowing down, that pre-training has hit a wall, that scaling laws are running out of road. Yet we're releasing this episode in the middle of a wild couple of weeks that saw GPT-5.1, GPT-5.1 Codex Max, fresh reasoning modes and long-running agents ship from OpenAI — on top of a flood of new frontier models elsewhere. To make sense of what's actually happening at the edge of the field, I sat down with someone who has literally helped define both of the major AI paradigms of our time.Łukasz Kaiser is one of the co-authors of “Attention Is All You Need,” the paper that introduced the Transformer architecture behind modern LLMs, and is now a leading research scientist at OpenAI working on reasoning models like those behind GPT-5.1. In this conversation, he explains why AI progress still looks like a smooth exponential curve from inside the labs, why pre-training is very much alive even as reinforcement-learning-based reasoning models take over the spotlight, how chain-of-thought actually works under the hood, and what it really means to “train the thinking process” with RL on verifiable domains like math, code and science. We talk about the messy reality of low-hanging fruit in engineering and data, the economics of GPUs and distillation, interpretability work on circuits and sparsity, and why the best frontier models can still be stumped by a logic puzzle from his five-year-old's math book.We also go deep into Łukasz's personal journey — from logic and games in Poland and France, to Ray Kurzweil's team, Google Brain and the inside story of the Transformer, to joining OpenAI and helping drive the shift from chatbots to genuine reasoning engines. Along the way we cover GPT-4 → GPT-5 → GPT-5.1, post-training and tone, GPT-5.1 Codex Max and long-running coding agents with compaction, alternative architectures beyond Transformers, whether foundation models will “eat” most agents and applications, what the translation industry can teach us about trust and human-in-the-loop, and why he thinks generalization, multimodal reasoning and robots in the home are where some of the most interesting challenges still lie.OpenAIWebsite - https://openai.comX/Twitter - https://x.com/OpenAIŁukasz KaiserLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukaszkaiser/X/Twitter - https://x.com/lukaszkaiserFIRSTMARKWebsite - https://firstmark.comX/Twitter - https://twitter.com/FirstMarkCapMatt Turck (Managing Director)Blog - https://mattturck.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattturck(00:00) – Cold open and intro(01:29) – “AI slowdown” vs a wild week of new frontier models(08:03) – Low-hanging fruit: infra, RL training and better data(11:39) – What is a reasoning model, in plain language?(17:02) – Chain-of-thought and training the thinking process with RL(21:39) – Łukasz's path: from logic and France to Google and Kurzweil(24:20) – Inside the Transformer story and what “attention” really means(28:42) – From Google Brain to OpenAI: culture, scale and GPUs(32:49) – What's next for pre-training, GPUs and distillation(37:29) – Can we still understand these models? Circuits, sparsity and black boxes(39:42) – GPT-4 → GPT-5 → GPT-5.1: what actually changed(42:40) – Post-training, safety and teaching GPT-5.1 different tones(46:16) – How long should GPT-5.1 think? Reasoning tokens and jagged abilities(47:43) – The five-year-old's dot puzzle that still breaks frontier models(52:22) – Generalization, child-like learning and whether reasoning is enough(53:48) – Beyond Transformers: ARC, LeCun's ideas and multimodal bottlenecks(56:10) – GPT-5.1 Codex Max, long-running agents and compaction(1:00:06) – Will foundation models eat most apps? The translation analogy and trust(1:02:34) – What still needs to be solved, and where AI might go next
In this episode, we expose the unsettling rise of transhumanism—the global elite's plan to merge man with machine and rewrite creation itself. From DARPA's brain-interface projects to Klaus Schwab's “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and Ray Kurzweil's promise of digital immortality, the push to transcend God's design has never been more blatant. We trace the spiritual roots of this movement—the same lie from Eden that “ye shall be as gods”—and reveal how it connects to modern biotech, AI, and the manipulation of human and agricultural seed. This isn't science fiction; it's the seed war of our generation. The battle lines are drawn between the image of God and the image of the machine—and only one kingdom will stand.Email: thefacthunter@mail.comReferences: Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near Julian Huxley, Transhumanism World Economic Forum, “The Great Reset” DARPA, Next-Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology (N3) Neuralink Whitepaper, “An Integrated Brain-Machine Interface Platform Psalm 139:14; Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 3:5; Proverbs 20:27 (KJV) Nick Bostrom, Superintelligence Oxford Future of Humanity Institute publications Google Calico corporate filings Human 2.0 – The Future of Sense Making https://youtu.be/xttBHcXZGM8?si=3ggAL1fvhf4P0i7L Peter Thiel on Transhumanism and the Future of Humanity https://youtu.be/YSp07P8jvYs?si=YUe2wvwdu6LJHpTI
We sat down to record something short when Branan dropped a spontaneous Drop on Anson. Television: The Handmaid's Tale's 6th & final season. Severance, The Studio, The Rehearsal and Nathan's Fileder's hybrid comedy. Books: Jeff Vandermeer's latest addition to his Southern Reach Trilogy. Ray Kurzweil's latest book The Singularity is Nearer sparks a long discussion about the transformational power of AI and is immortality worth it? Podcasts: “Short history of…” and “Cautionary Tales” Plus, Anson sees his first Metallica show and conforms the rumors: they still rule, especially when they're channeling Ennio Morricone. website audio https://youtu.be/d3OMz76mDCM
In this conversation, I'm joined by mathematician, meditator, and machine learning engineer Blake Hull. We share stories of therapy, meditation, and Ram Dass, opening up after years of staying in the head, we unravel ideas of masculinity, expand on vulnerability, and dissect what it means to become safe in our own skin. We talk about anger as sacred energy, the strange geometry of emotion, and the daily ritual of saying “Good morning, Blakey Boy” - a quiet reminder that to heal isn't to change, it's to remember who you already are. This is a fluid dialogue that drifts through psychedelics, softness, the mathematics of love, friendship, wisdom - it's an episode that invites you to slow down, breathe, and feel something true. Together, The Great and Wonderful Blake Hull and I explore the space between intellect, emotion, and becoming what we are - I hope you'll join us.Themes: therapy · masculinity · meditation · Ram Dass · psychedelics · inner-child · emotional intelligence · spiritual growthNotable quotes from the episode:“When intellect finally kneels to emotion, that's when growth begins.” - Blake, describing the moment logic yields to honesty.“Emotions are information. You'd be stupid to ignore them.” - Blake quoting a college professor who first reframed feeling as intelligence.“When Jesus flipped tables, that was dharmic anger — anger in service of love.” - Jacob, reframing anger as sacred energy rather than chaos.“I feel most connected with you when you're feeling.”- Blake recounting a moment in therapy that changed his understanding of connection and vulnerability.“Maybe consciousness has always been doing this — reflecting itself through whatever new medium we invent.” - Jacob, near the close, connecting AI, identity, and awareness.“Anger isn't the problem. It's what happens when we stop letting it teach us.” - Blake, redefining emotional intelligence through presence.TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 – Intro: Setting up, laughter, first exchange, Blake's Bio00:02:15 – “I feel most connected when you're feeling” – therapy and awareness00:05:00 – Logic vs emotion: learning how to feel again00:07:25 – Emotional intelligence and inner safety00:10:45 – Anger as sacred energy (“dharmic anger”)00:12:10 – Modern society, Idiocracy, and humor as medicine00:15:23 – Aldous Huxley, psychedelics, and self-reflection00:16:09 – Paul Stamets, microdosing, and consciousness00:20:00 – Mushrooms, meditation, and integration00:26:00 – Masculinity and vulnerability00:31:00 – Meditation: honesty over peace00:36:03 – “Good morning, Blakey Boy” – the inner-child ritual00:40:03 – Ego, death, and Ram Dass on becoming somebody00:45:00 – Comic relief: fart jokes and humility00:50:00 – Math and metaphysics: when numbers become poetry00:58:48 – Math as beauty and the language of existence01:00:26 – Group theory, triangles, and the philosophy of structure01:02:06 – Did humans discover or invent math?01:10:00 – Humor, curiosity, and teaching through questions01:13:34 – The future of math, AI, and physics (the long view)01:14:13 – Ray Kurzweil and his father's digital journals01:15:15 – iPhone, exponential tech, and AI acceleration01:16:00 – Touchscreens, prediction, and futurism01:20:00 – Consciousness and machine learning01:30:00 – Human identity in the age of algorithms01:37:01 – AI anxiety, UBI, and the ethics of automation01:43:56 – Consciousness itself: What is it, really?02:00:00 – Journaling, memory, and the desire to preserve the self02:14:00 – Humor as grounding: “Even the enlightened still fart.”02:20:00 – Compassion as technology02:31:04 – Returning to therapy: “I feel most connected when you're feeling.”02:40:00 – Closing reflections, gratitude, and quiet laughter#JunkyardLovePodcast #BlakeHull #EmotionalIntelligence #Masculinity #Mindfulness #Meditation #InnerChild #TherapyForMen #ModernSpirituality #AIConsciousness #MachineLearning #SelfAwareness #PodcastEpisode #ListenNowHit subscribe for new episodes, we'll see ya next time.
Welcome to September. Public media has had a rough summer. On July 18th, Congress passed the Rescissions Act of 2025, which eliminated $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Then on August 1st, CPB announced they would be winding down operations.When folks talk about these cuts, they usually talk about the vital public services public media provides, such as emergency alerts. But we'd be remiss if we didn't also talk about how NPR is an audio storytelling powerhouse. Throughout the month, we've partnered with our friends at NPR to present four pieces that represent the breadth and depth of their incredible reporting.We hope you enjoy.****************************As AI infiltrates every aspect of our lives, who are some of the people behind this huge inflection point? In this special three-part series, you'll hear from the people predicting and shaping our tech future. Host Manoush Zomorodi reports on the latest and revisits her favorite conversations with the minds crafting the digital world we live in today: what they've gotten right — and wrong — and where they think we're headed next. Part 1 features futurist Ray Kurzweil and counterculture icon Stewart Brand.TED Radio Hour+ subscribers now get access to bonus episodes, with more ideas from TED speakers and a behind the scenes look with our producers. A Plus subscription also lets you listen to regular episodes (like this one!) without sponsors. Sign-up at plus.npr.org/ted. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
As AI infiltrates every aspect of our lives, who are some of the people behind this huge inflection point? In this special three-part series, you'll hear from the people predicting and shaping our tech future. Host Manoush Zomorodi reports on the latest and revisits her favorite conversations with the minds crafting the digital world we live in today: what they've gotten right — and wrong — and where they think we're headed next. Part 1 features futurist Ray Kurzweil and counterculture icon Stewart Brand.TED Radio Hour+ subscribers now get access to bonus episodes, with more ideas from TED speakers and a behind the scenes look with our producers. A Plus subscription also lets you listen to regular episodes (like this one!) without sponsors. Sign-up at plus.npr.org/ted.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy