Episode #513: The Power of Coherence: Why Some Ideas Hold Civilizations Together

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, I—Stewart Alsop—sit down with Garrett Dailey to explore a wide-ranging conversation that moves from the mechanics of persuasion and why the best pitches work by attraction rather than pressure, to the nature of AI as a pattern tool rather than a mind, to power cycles, meaning-making, and the fracturing of modern culture. Garrett draws on philosophy, psychology, strategy, and his own background in storytelling to unpack ideas around narrative collapse, the chaos–order split in human cognition, the risk of “AI one-shotting,” and how political and technological incentives shape the world we're living through. You can find the tweet Stewart mentions in this episode here. Also, follow Garrett Dailey on Twitter at @GarrettCDailey, or find more of his pitch-related work on LinkedIn.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Garrett opens with persuasion by attraction, storytelling, and why pitches fail with force. 05:00 We explore gravity as metaphor, the opposite of force, and the “ring effect” of a compelling idea. 10:00 AI as tool not mind; creativity, pattern prediction, hype cycles, and valuation delusions. 15:00 Limits of LLMs, slopification, recursive language drift, and cultural mimicry. 20:00 One-shotting, psychosis risk, validation-seeking, consciousness vs prediction. 25:00 Order mind vs chaos mind, solipsism, autism–schizophrenia mapping, epistemology. 30:00 Meaning, presence, Zen, cultural fragmentation, shared models breaking down. 35:00 U.S. regional culture, impossibility of national unity, incentives shaping politics. 40:00 Fragmentation vs reconciliation, markets, narratives, multipolarity, Dune archetypes. 45:00 Patchwork age, decentralization myths, political fracturing, libertarian limits. 50:00 Power as zero-sum, tech-right emergence, incentives, Vance, Yarvin, empire vs republic. 55:00 Cycles of power, kyklos, democracy’s decay, design-by-committee, institutional failure.Key InsightsPersuasion works best through attraction, not pressure. Garrett explains that effective pitching isn’t about forcing someone to believe you—it’s about creating a narrative gravity so strong that people move toward the idea on their own. This reframes persuasion from objection-handling into desire-shaping, a shift that echoes through sales, storytelling, and leadership.AI is powerful precisely because it’s not a mind. Garrett rejects the “machine consciousness” framing and instead treats AI as a pattern amplifier—extraordinarily capable when used as a tool, but fundamentally limited in generating novel knowledge. The danger arises when humans project consciousness onto it and let it validate their insecurities.Recursive language drift is reshaping human communication. As people unconsciously mimic LLM-style phrasing, AI-generated patterns feed back into training data, accelerating a cultural “slopification.” This becomes a self-reinforcing loop where originality erodes, and the machine’s voice slowly colonizes the human one.The human psyche operates as a tension between order mind and chaos mind. Garrett’s framework maps autism and schizophrenia as pathological extremes of this duality, showing how prediction and perception interact inside consciousness—and why AI, which only simulates chaos-mind prediction, can never fully replicate human knowing.Meaning arises from presence, not abstraction. Instead of obsessing over politics, geopolitics, or distant hypotheticals, Garrett argues for a Zen-like orientation: do what you're doing, avoid what you're not doing. Meaning doesn’t live in narratives about the future—it lives in the task at hand.Power follows predictable cycles—and America is deep in one. Borrowing from the Greek kyklos, Garrett frames the U.S. as moving from aristocracy toward democracy’s late-stage dysfunction: populism, fragmentation, and institutional decay. The question ahead is whether we’re heading toward empire or collapse.Decentralization is entropy, not salvation. Crypto dreams of DAOs and patchwork societies ignore the gravitational pull of power. Systems fragment as they weaken, but eventually a new center of order emerges. The real contest isn’t decentralization vs. centralization—it’s who will have the coherence and narrative strength to recentralize the pieces.

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop talks with Aaron Lowry about the shifting landscape of attention, technology, and meaning—moving through themes like treasure-hunt metaphors for human cognition, relevance realization, the evolution of observational tools, decentralization, blockchain architectures such as Cardano, sovereignty in computation, the tension between scarcity and abundance, bioelectric patterning inspired by Michael Levin’s research, and the broader cultural and theological currents shaping how we interpret reality. You can follow Aaron’s work and ongoing reflections on X at aaron_lowry.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00:00 Stewart and Aaron open with the treasure-hunt metaphor, salience landscapes, and how curiosity shapes perception. 00:05:00 They explore shifting observational tools, Hubble vs James Webb, and how data reframes what we think is real. 00:10:00 The conversation moves to relevance realization, missing “Easter eggs,” and the posture of openness. 00:15:00 Stewart reflects on AI, productivity, and feeling pulled deeper into computers instead of freed from them. 00:20:00 Aaron connects this to monetary policy, scarcity, and technological pressure. 00:25:00 They examine voice interfaces, edge computing, and trust vs convenience. 00:30:00 Stewart shares experiments with Raspberry Pi, self-hosting, and escaping SaaS dependence. 00:35:00 They discuss open-source, China’s strategy, and the economics of free models. 00:40:00 Aaron describes building hardware–software systems and sensor-driven projects. 00:45:00 They turn to blockchain, UTXO vs account-based, node sovereignty, and Cardano. 00:50:00 Discussion of decentralized governance, incentives, and transparency. 00:55:00 Geopolitics enters: BRICS, dollar reserve, private credit, and institutional fragility. 01:00:00 They reflect on the meaning crisis, gnosticism, reductionism, and shattered cohesion. 01:05:00 Michael Levin, bioelectric patterning, and vertical causation open new biological and theological frames. 01:10:00 They explore consciousness as fundamental, Stephen Wolfram, and the limits of engineered solutions. 01:15:00 Closing thoughts on good-faith orientation, societal transformation, and the pull toward wilderness.Key InsightsCuriosity restructures perception. Aaron frames reality as something we navigate more like a treasure hunt than a fixed map. Our “salience landscape” determines what we notice, and curiosity—not rigid frameworks—keeps us open to signals we would otherwise miss. This openness becomes a kind of existential skill, especially in a world where data rarely aligns cleanly with our expectations.Our tools reshape our worldview. Each technological leap—from Hubble to James Webb—doesn’t just increase resolution; it changes what we believe is possible. Old models fail to integrate new observations, revealing how deeply our understanding depends on the precision and scope of our instruments.Technology increases pressure rather than reducing it. Even as AI boosts productivity, Stewart notices it pulling him deeper into computers. Aaron argues this is systemic: productivity gains don’t free us; they raise expectations, driven by monetary policy and a scarcity-based economic frame.Digital sovereignty is becoming essential. The conversation highlights the tension between convenience and vulnerability. Cloud-based AI creates exposure vectors into personal life, while running local hardware—Raspberry Pis, custom Linux systems—restores autonomy but requires effort and skill.Blockchain architecture determines decentralization. Aaron emphasizes the distinction between UTXO and account-based systems, arguing that UTXO architectures (Bitcoin, Cardano) support verifiable edge participation, while account-based chains accumulate unwieldy state and centralize validation over time.Institutional trust is eroding globally. From BRICS currency moves to private credit schemes, both note how geopolitical maneuvers signal institutional fragility. The “few men in a room” dynamic persists, but now under greater stress, driving more people toward decentralization and self-reliance.Biology may operate on deeper principles than genes. Michael Levin’s work on bioelectric patterning opens the door to “vertical causation”—higher-level goals shaping lower-level processes. This challenges reductionism and hints at a worldview where consciousness, meaning, and biological organization may be intertwined in ways neither materialism nor traditional theology fully capture.

In this conversation, Stewart Alsop sits down with Ken Lowry to explore a wide sweep of themes running through Christianity, Protestant vs. Catholic vs. Orthodox traditions, the nature of spirits and telos, theosis and enlightenment, information technology, identity, privacy, sexuality, the New Age “Rainbow Bridge,” paganism, Buddhism, Vedanta, and the unfolding meaning crisis; listeners who want to follow more of Ken’s work can find him on his YouTube channel Climbing Mount Sophia and on Twitter under KenLowry8.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Christianity’s tangled history surfaces as Stewart Alsop and Ken Lowry unpack Luther, indulgences, mediation, and the printing-press information shift.05:00 Luther’s encounters with the devil lead into talk of perception, hallucination, and spiritual influence on “main-character” lives.10:00 Protestant vs. Catholic vs. Orthodox worship styles highlight telos, Eucharist, liturgy, embodiment, and teaching as information.15:00 The Church as a living spirit emerges, tied to hierarchy, purpose, and Michael Levin’s bioelectric patterns shaping form.20:00 Spirits, goals, Dodgers-as-spirit, and Christ as the highest ordering spirit frame meaning and participation.25:00 Identity, self, soul, privacy, intimacy, and the internet’s collapse of boundaries reshape inner life.30:00 New Age, Rainbow Bridge, Hawkins’ calibration, truth-testing, and spiritual discernment enter the story.35:00 Stewart’s path back to Christianity opens discussion of enlightenment, Protestant legalism, Orthodox theosis, and healing.40:00 Emptiness, relationality, Trinity, and personhood bridge Buddhism and mystical Christianity.45:00 Suffering, desire, higher spirits, and orientation toward the real sharpen the contrast between simulation and reality.50:00 Technology, bodies, AI, and simulated worlds raise questions of telos, meaning, and modern escape.55:00 Neo-paganism, Hindu hierarchy of gods, Vedanta, and the need for a personal God lead toward Jesus as historical revelation.01:00:00 Buddha, enlightenment, theosis, the post-1945 world, Hitler as negative pole, and goodness as purpose close the inquiry.Key InsightsMediation and information shape the Church. Ken Lowry highlights how the printing press didn’t just spread ideas—it restructured Christian life by shifting mediation. Once information became accessible, individuals became the “interface” with Christ, fundamentally changing Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox trajectories and the modern crisis of religious choice.The Protestant–Catholic–Orthodox split hinges on telos. Protestantism orients the service around teaching and information, while Catholic and Orthodox traditions culminate in the Eucharist, embodiment, and liturgy. This difference expresses two visions of what humans are doing in church: receiving ideas or participating in a transformative ritual that shapes the whole person.Spirits, telos, and hierarchy offer a map of reality. Ken frames spirits as real intelligible goals that pull people into coordinated action—seen as clearly in a baseball team as in a nation. Christ is the highest spirit because aiming toward Him properly orders all lower goals, giving a coherent vertical structure to meaning.Identity, privacy, and intimacy have transformed under the internet. The shift from soul → self → identity tracks changes in information technology. The internet collapses boundaries, creating unprecedented exposure while weakening the inherent privacy of intimate realities such as genuine lovemaking, which Ken argues can’t be made public without destroying its nature.New Age influences and Hawkins’ calibration reflect a search for truth. Stewart’s encounters with the Rainbow Bridge world, David Hawkins’ muscle-testing epistemology, and the escape from scientistic secularism reveal a cultural hunger for spiritual discernment in the absence of shared metaphysical grounding.Enlightenment and theosis may be the same mountain. Ken suggests that Buddhist enlightenment and Orthodox theosis aim at the same transformative reality: full communion with what is most real. The difference lies in Jesus as the concrete, personal revelation of God, offering a relational path rather than pure negation or emptiness.Secularism is shaped by powerfully negative telos. Ken argues that the modern world orients itself not toward the Good revealed in Christ but away from the Evil revealed in Hitler. Moving away from evil as a primary aim produces confusion, because only a positive vision of the Good can order desires, technology, suffering, and the overwhelming power of modern simulations.

On this episode of Crazy Wisdom, I, Stewart Alsop, sit down with Dax Raad, co-founder of OpenCode, for a wide-ranging conversation about open-source development, command-line interfaces, the rise of coding agents, how LLMs change software workflows, the tension between centralization and decentralization in tech, and even what it’s like to push the limits of the terminal itself. We talk about the future of interfaces, fast-feedback programming, model switching, and why open-source momentum—especially from China—is reshaping the landscape. You can find Dax on Twitter and check an example of what can be done using OpenCode in this tweet.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Stewart Alsop and Dax Raad open with the origins of OpenCode, the value of open source, and the long-tail problem in coding agents. 05:00 They explore why command line interfaces keep winning, the universality of the terminal, and early adoption of agentic workflows. 10:00 Dax explains pushing the terminal with TUI frameworks, rich interactions, and constraints that improve UX. 15:00 They contrast CLI vs. chat UIs, discuss voice-driven reviews, and refining prompt-review workflows. 20:00 Dax lays out fast feedback loops, slow vs. fast models, and why autonomy isn’t the goal. 25:00 Conversation turns to model switching, open-source competitiveness, and real developer behavior. 30:00 They examine inference economics, Chinese open-source labs, and emerging U.S. efforts. 35:00 Dax breaks down incumbents like Google and Microsoft and why scale advantages endure. 40:00 They debate centralization vs. decentralization, choice, and the email analogy. 45:00 Stewart reflects on building products; Dax argues for healthy creative destruction. 50:00 Hardware talk emerges—Raspberry Pi, robotics, and LLMs as learning accelerators. 55:00 Dax shares insights on terminal internals, text-as-canvas rendering, and the elegance of the medium.Key InsightsOpen source thrives where the long tail matters. Dax explains that OpenCode exists because coding agents must integrate with countless models, environments, and providers. That complexity naturally favors open source, since a small team can’t cover every edge case—but a community can. This creates a collaborative ecosystem where users meaningfully shape the tool.The command line is winning because it’s universal, not nostalgic. Many misunderstand the surge of CLI-based AI tools, assuming it’s aesthetic or retro. Dax argues it’s simply the easiest, most flexible, least opinionated surface that works everywhere—from enterprise laptops to personal dev setups—making adoption frictionless.Terminal interfaces can be richer than assumed. The team is pushing TUI frameworks far beyond scrolling text, introducing mouse support, dialogs, hover states, and structured interactivity. Despite constraints, the terminal becomes a powerful “text canvas,” capable of UI complexity normally reserved for GUIs.Fast feedback loops beat “autonomous” long-running agents. Dax rejects the trend of hour-long AI tasks, viewing it as optimizing around model slowness rather than user needs. He prefers rapid iteration with faster models, reviewing diffs continuously, and reserving slower models only when necessary.Open-source LLMs are improving quickly—and economics matter. Many open models now approach the quality of top proprietary systems while being far cheaper and faster to serve. Because inference is capital-intensive, competition pushes prices down, creating real incentives for developers and companies to reconsider model choices.Centralization isn’t the enemy—lack of choice is. Dax frames the landscape like email: centralized providers dominate through convenience and scale, but the open protocols underneath protect users’ ability to choose alternatives. The real danger is ecosystems where leaving becomes impossible.LLMs dramatically expand what individuals can learn and build. Both Stewart and Dax highlight that AI enables people to tackle domains previously too opaque or slow to learn—from terminal internals to hardware tinkering. This accelerates creativity and lowers barriers, shifting agency back to small teams and individuals.

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, I, Stewart Alsop, sit down with Argentine artist Mathilda Martin to explore the intimate connection between creativity, flow, and authenticity—from how swimming mirrors painting, to why art can heal, and what makes human-made art irreplaceable in the age of AI. We also touch on Argentina’s vibrant art scene, the shift in the art world after COVID, and the fine line between commercial and soulful creation. You can find Mathilda’s work on Instagram at @arte_mathilda.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 – Mathilda Martin joins Stewart Alsop to talk about art, creativity, and her upcoming exhibitions in Miami and Uruguay.05:00 – She shares how swimming connects to painting, describing water as calm, presence, and a source of flow and meditation.10:00 – They discuss art as therapy, childhood creativity, and overcoming fear by simply starting to create.15:00 – Mathilda reflects on her love for Van Gogh and feeling as the essence of authentic art, contrasting it with the coldness of AI.20:00 – The conversation turns to the value of human-made art and whether galleries can tell the difference between AI and real artists.25:00 – They explore Argentine authenticity, “chantas,” and what makes Argentina both chaotic and deeply real.30:00 – Mathilda talks about solidarity, community, and daily life in Buenos Aires amid political and economic instability.35:00 – She highlights Argentine muralists and how collaboration and scale transform artistic expression.40:00 – The pair discuss the commercialization of art, the “factory artist,” and staying true to feeling over fame.45:00 – Mathilda explains how COVID reshaped the art world, empowering independent artists to exhibit without galleries.50:00 – They end with art markets in Argentina vs. the U.S., her gallery in New York, and upcoming shows at Spectrum Miami and Punta del Este.Key InsightsArt and Water Share the Same Flow: Mathilda Martin reveals how swimming and painting both bring her into a meditative state she calls “the pause.” In the water, she feels the same stillness she experiences while painting — a total immersion in the present moment where the outside world disappears.Art Is a Form of Healing: Mathilda emphasizes that art is not just expression but medicine. She references the World Health Organization’s recognition that creativity benefits mental and physical health, describing painting as a space of emotional regulation and clarity.Human-Made Art Has Soul, AI Doesn’t: One of the episode’s most thought-provoking moments comes when Mathilda contrasts the warmth of human-made art with the cold precision of AI. She believes that while AI can replicate technique, it can’t replicate feeling — and that collectors will always value art infused with human emotion.Authenticity Defines Argentine Culture: Mathilda paints a vivid picture of Argentina as a land of contradictions — full of chaos, charm, and honesty. Argentines, she says, are “authentic, sometimes too direct,” a quality that shapes both their relationships and their art.COVID-19 Changed the Art World Forever: The pandemic disrupted the old gallery system and gave artists freedom to organize their own exhibitions. For Mathilda, this shift created independence, even if it also demanded new entrepreneurial skills.Commercial Success vs. Soulful Creation: Mathilda critiques “factory artists” who mass-produce work for fame or profit, contrasting them with artists who create from genuine emotion. The real challenge, she says, is maintaining authenticity in a system that rewards volume over vulnerability.Art as Connection and Presence: Beyond skill or aesthetics, Mathilda believes true art is about human connection — between artist, viewer, and the moment of creation itself. Whether painting, swimming, or teaching workshops, she views art as an ongoing conversation with life’s deeper flow.

On this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop sits down with Guillermo Schulte to explore how AI is reshaping up-skilling, re-skilling, and the future of education through play, from learning games and gamification to emotional intelligence, mental health, and the coming wave of abundance and chaos that technology is accelerating; they also get into synchronous vs. asynchronous learning, human–AI collaboration, and how organizations can use data-driven game experiences for cybersecurity, onboarding, and ongoing training. To learn more about Guillermo’s work, check out TGAcompany.com, as well as TGA Entertainment on Instagram and LinkedIn.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Stewart Alsop opens with Guillermo Schulte on up-skilling, re-skilling, and AI’s accelerating impact on work.05:00 They explore play-based learning, video games as education, and early childhood engagement through game mechanics.10:00 Conversation shifts to the overload in modern schooling, why play disappeared, and the challenge of scalable game-based learning.15:00 Guillermo contrasts synchronous vs asynchronous learning and how mobile access democratizes education.20:00 They reflect on boredom, creativity, novelty addiction, and how AI reshapes attention and learning.25:00 Discussion moves to AGI speculation, human discernment, taste, and embodied decision-making.30:00 They explore unpredictable technological leaps, exponential improvement, and the future of knowledge.35:00 Abundance, poverty decline, and chaos—both from scarcity and prosperity—and how societies adapt.40:00 Mental health, emotional well-being, and organizational responsibility become central themes.45:00 Technical training through games emerges: cybersecurity, Excel, and onboarding with rich data insights.50:00 Guillermo explains the upcoming platform enabling anyone to create AI-powered learning games and personalized experiences.Key InsightsAI is accelerating the urgency of up-skilling and re-skilling. Guillermo highlights how rapid technological change is transforming every profession, making continuous learning essential for remaining employable and adding value in a world where machines increasingly handle routine tasks.Play is humanity’s native learning tool—and video games unlock it for adults. He explains that humans are wired to learn through play, yet traditional education suppresses this instinct. Learning games reintroduce engagement, emotion, and curiosity, making education more intuitive and scalable.Gamified, asynchronous learning can democratize access. While synchronous interaction is powerful, Guillermo emphasizes that mobile-first, game-based learning allows millions—including those without resources—to gain skills anytime, closing gaps in opportunity and meritocracy.Emotional intelligence will matter more as AI takes over technical tasks. As AI becomes increasingly capable in logic-heavy fields, human strengths like empathy, leadership, creativity, and relationship-building become central to meaningful work and personal fulfillment.Novelty and boredom shape how we learn and think. They discuss how constant novelty can stunt creativity, while boredom creates the mental space for insight. Future learning systems will need to balance stimulation with reflection to avoid cognitive overload.Abundance will bring psychological challenges alongside material benefits. Stewart and Guillermo point out that while AI and robotics may create unprecedented prosperity, they may also destabilize identity and purpose, amplifying the already-growing mental health crisis.AI-powered game creation could redefine education entirely. Guillermo describes TGA’s upcoming platform that lets anyone transform documents into personalized learning games, using player data to adapt difficulty and style—potentially making learning more effective, accessible, and enjoyable than traditional instruction.

On this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop sits down with Terrence Yang to explore the US economy through the lens of federal net outlays, inflation, and growth, moving into China–US economic and military dynamics, the role of the dollar as a reserve currency, and how China’s industrial and open-source AI strategies intersect with US innovation; they also get into Bitcoin’s governance, Bitcoin Core maintainers, and what long-term digital scarcity means for money, security, and decentralization. To learn more about Terrence’s work, you can find him on LinkedIn.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Stewart and Terrence open with the US economy, federal net outlays, and why confidence matters more than doom narratives. 05:00 They compare debt-to-GDP, discuss budget surpluses, and how the US once grew out of large debt after WWII. 10:00 Terrence explains recurring revenue vs. one-time income, taxes, tariffs, and why sustainable growth is essential. 15:00 Conversation turns to China’s strategy, industrial buildup, rare earths, and provincial debt vs. national positioning. 20:00 They explore military power, aircraft carriers, nuclear subs, and how hard power supports reserve currency status. 25:00 Discussion of AI competition among Google, OpenAI, Claude, and China’s push for open-source standards. 30:00 Terrence raises concerns about open-source trust, model weights, and parallels with Bitcoin Core governance. 35:00 They examine maintainers, consensus rules, and how decentralization actually works in practice. 40:00 Terrence highlights Bitcoin as digital gold, its limits as money, and why volatility shapes adoption. 45:00 They close on unit of account, long-term holding strategies, and risks of panic selling during cycles.Key InsightsFederal net outlays reveal the real fiscal picture. Terrence Yang emphasizes that looking only at debt-to-GDP misses the deeper issue: the U.S. has run negative net outlays—more cash going out than coming in—for decades. He argues that sustainable recurring revenue, not one-time windfalls or asset sales, is what ultimately stabilizes a nation’s finances.Confidence is an economic force of its own. Terrence warns that cultural pessimism can damage the U.S. more than high debt. Drawing parallels to Japan’s post-1990 stagnation, he notes that when people stop taking risks, innovation slows and economies ossify. The U.S. thrives on risk-taking, immigration, and entrepreneurial experimentation—and needs to preserve that spirit.Inflation and growth are locked in a difficult balance. The conversation explores how current inflation remains above target while growth feels sluggish, creating a quasi-stagflation environment. Terrence questions whether the Federal Reserve should remain tied to a 2% target or adapt to new conditions, particularly when jobs and productivity remain uneven.China’s economic strategy is broad, deliberate, and deeply practical. From inviting Western VCs in the 1990s to absorbing semiconductor know-how and refining rare earth materials, China built an industrial base that now rivals or surpasses U.S. manufacturing in many domains. Yet its provincial and real-estate debt highlight structural weaknesses beneath the surface.The U.S. dollar’s dominance rests on military and institutional power. Terrence argues that reserve-currency status persists because the U.S. guarantees open trade routes and global security. Even countries with weak currencies prefer the dollar in black markets. Competitors like BRICS may want an alternative system, but replacing the dollar requires decades, not years.Open-source AI is becoming a geopolitical tool. China’s strategy of flooding the world with strong, free, open-source models mirrors Linux’s global influence. Terrence notes that trust and transparency matter, since open-source code still requires knowledgeable maintainers who can verify safety, intentions, and alignment. This dynamic is now a competitive front in the AI race.Bitcoin governance is both decentralized and fragile. Terrence explains that Bitcoin Core has very few maintainers and relies on a culture of trust, review, and distributed accountability. While Bitcoin works well as long-term “digital gold,” improvements are incremental, and the small number of developers poses systemic risks. He stresses that understanding governance—not just price—is crucial for anyone serious about Bitcoin’s future.

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, host Stewart Alsop talks with Kevin Smith, co-founder of Snipd, about how AI is reshaping the way we listen, learn, and interact with podcasts. They explore Snipd’s vision of transforming podcasts into living knowledge systems, the evolution of machine learning from finance to large language models, and the broader connection between AI, robotics, and energy as the foundation for the next technological era. Kevin also touches on ideas like the bitter lesson, reinforcement learning, and the growing energy demands of AI. Listeners can try Snipd’s premium version free for a month using this promo link.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 – Stewart Alsop welcomes Kevin Smith, co-founder of Snipd, to discuss AI, podcasting, and curiosity-driven learning.05:00 – Kevin explains Snipd’s snipping feature, chatting with episodes, and future plans for voice interaction with podcasts.10:00 – They discuss vector search, embeddings, and context windows, comparing full-episode context to chunked transcripts.15:00 – Kevin shares his background in mathematics and economics, his shift from finance to machine learning, and early startup work in AI.20:00 – They explore early quant models versus modern machine learning, statistical modeling, and data limitations in finance.25:00 – Conversation turns to transformer models, pretraining, and the bitter lesson—how compute-based methods outperform human-crafted systems. 30:00 – Stewart connects this to RLHF, Scale AI, and data scarcity; Kevin reflects on reinforcement learning’s future. 35:00 – They pivot to Snipd’s podcast ecosystem, hidden gems like Founders Podcast, and how stories shape entrepreneurial insight. 40:00 – ETH Zurich, robotics, and startup culture come up, linking academia to real-world innovation. 45:00 – They close on AI, robotics, and energy as the pillars of the future, debating nuclear and solar power’s role in sustaining progress.Key InsightsPodcasts as dynamic knowledge systems: Kevin Smith presents Snipd as an AI-powered tool that transforms podcasts into interactive learning environments. By allowing listeners to “snip” and summarize meaningful moments, Snipd turns passive listening into active knowledge management—bridging curiosity, memory, and technology in a way that reframes podcasts as living knowledge capsules rather than static media.AI transforming how we engage with information: The discussion highlights how AI enables entirely new modes of interaction—chatting directly with podcast episodes, asking follow-up questions, and contextualizing information across an author’s full body of work. This evolution points toward a future where knowledge consumption becomes conversational and personalized rather than linear and one-size-fits-all.Vectorization and context windows matter: Kevin explains that Snipd currently avoids heavy use of vector databases, opting instead to feed entire episodes into large models. This choice enhances coherence and comprehension, reflecting how advances in context windows have reshaped how AI understands complex audio content.Machine learning’s roots in finance shaped early AI thinking: Kevin’s journey from quantitative finance to AI reveals how statistical modeling laid the groundwork for modern learning systems. While finance once relied on rigid, theory-based models, the machine learning paradigm replaced those priors with flexible, data-driven discovery—an essential philosophical shift in how intelligence is approached.The Bitter Lesson and the rise of compute: Together they unpack Richard Sutton’s “bitter lesson”—the idea that methods leveraging computation and data inevitably surpass those built from human intuition. This insight serves as a compass for understanding why transformers, pretraining, and scaling have driven recent AI breakthroughs.Reinforcement learning and data scarcity define AI’s next phase: Stewart links RLHF and the work of companies like Scale AI and Surge AI to the broader question of data limits. Kevin agrees that the next wave of AI will depend on reinforcement learning and simulated environments that generate new, high-quality data beyond what humans can label.The future hinges on AI, robotics, and energy: Kevin closes with a framework for the next decade: AI provides intelligence, robotics applies it to the physical world, and energy sustains it all. He warns that society must shift from fearing energy use to innovating in production—especially through nuclear and solar power—to meet the demands of an increasingly intelligent, interconnected world.

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, host Stewart Alsop talks with Jessica Talisman, founder of Contextually and creator of the Ontology Pipeline, about the deep connections between knowledge management, library science, and the emerging world of AI systems. Together they explore how controlled vocabularies, ontologies, and metadata shape meaning for both humans and machines, why librarianship has lessons for modern tech, and how cultural context influences what we call “knowledge.” Jessica also discusses the rise of AI librarians, the problem of “AI slop,” and the need for collaborative, human-centered knowledge ecosystems. You can learn more about her work at Ontology Pipeline and find her writing and talks on LinkedIn.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Stewart Alsop welcomes Jessica Talisman to discuss Contextually, ontologies, and how controlled vocabularies ground scalable systems.05:00 They compare philosophy’s ontology with information science, linking meaning, categorization, and sense-making for humans and machines.10:00 Jessica explains why SQL and Postgres can’t capture knowledge complexity and how neuro-symbolic systems add context and interoperability.15:00 The talk turns to library science’s split from big data in the 1990s, metadata schemas, and the FAIR principles of findability and reuse.20:00 They discuss neutrality, bias in corporate vocabularies, and why “touching grass” matters for reconciling internal and external meanings.25:00 Conversation shifts to interpretability, cultural context, and how Western categorical thinking differs from China’s contextual knowledge.30:00 Jessica introduces process knowledge, documentation habits, and the danger of outsourcing how-to understanding.35:00 They explore knowledge as habit, the tension between break-things culture and library design thinking, and early AI experiments.40:00 Libraries’ strategic use of AI, metadata precision, and the emerging role of AI librarians take focus.45:00 Stewart connects data labeling, Surge AI, and the economics of good data with Jessica’s call for better knowledge architectures.50:00 They unpack content lifecycle, provenance, and user context as the backbone of knowledge ecosystems.55:00 The talk closes on automation limits, human-in-the-loop design, and Jessica’s vision for collaborative consulting through Contextually.Key InsightsOntology is about meaning, not just data structure. Jessica Talisman reframes ontology from a philosophical abstraction into a practical tool for knowledge management—defining how things relate and what they mean within systems. She explains that without clear categories and shared definitions, organizations can’t scale or communicate effectively, either with people or with machines.Controlled vocabularies are the foundation of AI literacy. Jessica emphasizes that building a controlled vocabulary is the simplest and most powerful way to disambiguate meaning for AI. Machines, like people, need context to interpret language, and consistent terminology prevents the “hallucinations” that occur when systems lack semantic grounding.Library science predicted today’s knowledge crisis. Stewart and Jessica trace how, in the 1990s, tech went down the path of “big data” while librarians quietly built systems of metadata, ontologies, and standards like schema.org. Today’s AI challenges—interoperability, reliability, and information overload—mirror problems library science has been solving for decades.Knowledge is culturally shaped. Drawing from Patrick Lambe’s work, Jessica notes that Western knowledge systems are category-driven, while Chinese systems emphasize context. This cultural distinction explains why global AI models often miss nuance or moral voice when trained on limited datasets.Process knowledge is disappearing. The West has outsourced its “how-to” knowledge—what Jessica calls process knowledge—to other countries. Without documentation habits, we risk losing the embodied know-how that underpins manufacturing, engineering, and even creative work.Automation cannot replace critical thinking. Jessica warns against treating AI as “room service.” Automation can support, but not substitute, human judgment. Her own experience with a contract error generated by an AI tool underscores the importance of review, reflection, and accountability in human–machine collaboration.Collaborative consulting builds knowledge resilience. Through her consultancy, Contextually, Jessica advocates for “teaching through doing”—helping teams build their own ontologies and vocabularies rather than outsourcing them. Sustainable knowledge systems, she argues, depend on shared understanding, not just good technology.

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, host Stewart Alsop sits down with Harry McKay Roper, founder of Imaginary Space, for a wide-ranging conversation on space mining, AI-driven software, crypto’s incorruptible potential, and the raw entrepreneurial energy coming out of Argentina. They explore how technologies like Anthropic’s Claude 4.5, programmable crypto protocols, and autonomous agents are reshaping economics, coding, and even law. Harry also shares his experiences building in Buenos Aires and why hunger and resilience define the city’s creative spirit. You can find Harry online at YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram under @HarryMcKayRoper.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 – Stewart Alsop welcomes Harry McKay Roper from Imaginary Space and they jump straight into space mining, Helium-3, and asteroid gold. 05:00 – They explore how Bitcoin could hold value when space mining floods markets and discuss China, America, and global geopolitics. 10:00 – Conversation shifts to Argentina, its economic scars, cultural resilience, and overrepresentation in startups and crypto. 15:00 – Harry reflects on living in Buenos Aires, poverty, and the city’s constant hustle and creative movement. 20:00 – The focus turns to AI, Claude 4.5, and the rise of autonomous droids and software-building agents. 25:00 – They discuss the collapse of SaaS, internal tools, and Harry’s experiments with AI-generated code and new workflows. 30:00 – Stewart compares China’s industry to America’s software economy, and Harry points to AI, crypto, and space as frontier markets. 35:00 – Talk moves to crypto regulation, uncorruptible judges, and blockchain systems like Kleros. 40:00 – They debate AI consciousness, embodiment, and whether a robot could meditate. 45:00 – The episode closes with thoughts on free will, universal verifiers, and a playful prediction market bet on autonomous software.Key InsightsSpace and Economics Are Colliding – Harry McKay Roper opens with the idea that space mining will fundamentally reshape Earth’s economy. The discovery of asteroids rich in gold and other minerals highlights how our notions of scarcity could collapse once space resources become accessible, potentially destroying the terrestrial gold economy and forcing humanity to redefine value itself.Bitcoin as the New Standard of Value – The conversation naturally ties this to Bitcoin’s finite nature. Stewart Alsop and Harry discuss how the flood of extraterrestrial gold could render traditional stores of value meaningless, while Bitcoin’s coded scarcity could make it the only incorruptible measure of worth in a future of infinite resources.China and the U.S. in Industrial Tug-of-War – They unpack the geopolitical tension between China’s industrial dominance and America’s financial hegemony. Harry argues the U.S. is waking up from decades of outsourcing, driven by China’s speed in robotics and infrastructure. This dynamic competition, he says, is good—it forces America to build again.Argentina’s Culture of Hunger and Resilience – Living in Buenos Aires reshaped Harry’s understanding of ambition. He contrasts Argentina’s hunger to survive and create with the complacency of wealthier nations, calling the Argentine spirit one of “movement.” Despite poverty, the city’s creative drive and humor make it a living example of resilience in scarcity.AI Is Making Custom Software Instant – Harry describes how Claude 4.5 and new AI coding tools like Lovable, Cursor, and GPT Engineer make building internal tools trivial. Instead of using SaaS products, companies can now generate bespoke software in minutes with natural language, signaling the end of traditional software development cycles.Crypto and AI Will Merge Into Incorruptible Systems – Harry envisions AI agents on-chain acting as unbiased judges or administrators, removing human corruption from law and governance. Real-world tools like Kleros, founded by an Argentine, already hint at this coming era of algorithmic justice and decentralized decision-making.Consciousness and the Limits of AI – The episode closes on a philosophical note: can a robot meditate or clear its mind? Stewart and Harry question whether AI could ever experience consciousness or free will, suggesting that while AI may mimic thought, the uniquely subjective and embodied nature of human awareness remains beyond automation—for now.