Thinking On Paper

You don't need a PhD to enjoy learning about quantum computing. This is the proof. Johannes Pollanen, CTO of EeroQ, thinks on paper about quantum computing, electron spin qubits, and scaling the future of quantum technology.
EeroQ has its chips made in commercial semiconductor foundries, coats them in a thin layer of superfluid helium, and floats single electrons about 10 nanometres above the surface.
Without a PhD, you'll learn:
• Why quantum computers already exist, and why they aren't the machines we need yet
• Superconducting circuits, trapped ions, neutral atoms, silicon spins, photons and electrons on helium
• Why helium never freezes, and why Johannes calls it "the cleanest system" for electron qubits
• Why wiring together lots of dilution refrigerators sounds hard to a low-temperature physicist
• What nature's identical particles teach engineers
Please enjoy the show.
📚 EeroQ: https://www.eeroq.com/
🌐 Thinking On Paper: https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz
📷 Instagram: toptechpodcast
🎧 Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/Veyc5Vf6sSI
🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: Apple Podcasts
Chapters
(00:00) Quantum computing at a wedding
(03:57) Reverse engineering quantum computing
(05:15) Quality or quantity of qubits
(06:23) The modalities of quantum computing
(12:36) You'll need liquid helium
(19:01) Transistors and silicon
(20:21) Is that thing behind you using helium-3?
(26:15) How do you cool quantum systems?
(31:08) How do you make more qubits?
(35:15) How do you do a computation on a qubit?
(40:05) Faster quantum computers
(43:45) Can IBM make a useful quantum computer?
(46:00) The quantum lessons of nature
(48:33) Carry over question
#quantumcomputing #quantumphysics #technologynews

Bruce Lee’s cultural legacy shapes modern world culture like few others. Alongside icons like Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali, his legend continues to influence action cinema, hip-hop, and martial arts philosophy.
In Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America, celebrated cultural biographer Jeff Chang joins Thinking On Paper to explore kung fu, mindset, Asian American empowerment, and the pop-culture history behind the man.
In the second half of the show, we shift to artificial intelligence, music sampling, and the creative act. How does Jeff Chang view generative AI? What does his close friend, legendary hip-hop producer DJ Shadow, think about AI tools, sampling ethics, and machine-made music? (Spoiler: Shadow tried AI, and he thinks it's corny).
How do you explain Bruce Lee to a generation raised on John Wick and The Matrix? Chang starts simply: "He’s the guy who made all of that possible."
In this episode, you’ll learn:
• How Bruce Lee evolved from a war baby in occupied Hong Kong and child star to cha-cha champion and Hollywood pioneer
• His struggle with racism in Seattle, his role as Kato in The Green Hornet, and the famous letter he wrote promising himself $10M and global fame
• The cinematic evolution between The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and Enter the Dragon
• The deeper meaning behind "Be Water" and the title Water Mirror Echo
• How DJ Shadow and Jeff Chang view AI, sampling culture, and the legacy of Endtroducing
• Autonomous media, machine creativity, and whether humans can truly love art created by an algorithm
Please enjoy the show.
Links & Resources
📚 Jeff Chang’s books & bio: jeffchang.net
📷 Jeff Chang on Instagram: @zentronix
🖊️ Read Jeff's Substack: zentronix.substack.com
Connect with Thinking on Paper
🌐 Website & Show Notes: thinkingonpaper.xyz
📷 Instagram: @toptechpodcast
🎧 Spotify: Listen on Spotify
🍎 Apple Podcasts: Listen on Apple Podcasts
Chapters
(00:00) Bruce Lee, AI, and the First Draft
(02:06) Who Was Bruce Lee? Defining a Legend
(05:15) How Bruce Lee Made Zen Pop Culture
(10:05) The Letter to Himself and Napoleon Hill's Mindset
(15:33) Wartime Hong Kong & Martial Arts Origins
(18:37) Seattle, Early Racism, and Cha-Cha Champion
(21:19) The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and Enter the Dragon
(28:17) Be Water: Bruce Lee's Philosophy & Real Fighting
(32:21) Water, Mirror, Echo: Meaning Behind the Book Title
(34:25) Does Jeff Chang Use AI?
(40:24) DJ Shadow on AI, Sampling, and Endtroducing
(48:26) Generative Art: Could You Love Machine-Made Music?
(54:28) Single-Mindedness and Bruce Lee's Final Legacy
#brucelee #jeffchang #djshadow #ai #generativeai #watermirrorecho #asianamericanhistory #hiphopculture #thinkingonpaper

What would a gamer do with a quantum computer? Or a musician? Harry Kumar, co-founder of Moth Quantum, argues that quantum computing needs creativity and art to push the industry forward, so we’re going to find out.
Moth built Quantum Backrooms, a video game where a quantum computer builds the maze. Each tile on the map is a qubit, and the correlation between two neighbouring qubits decides whether a wall stands between them.
The game shows no quantum advantage and runs no faster than a classical computer. It certainly isn’t GTA 6. So why build it?
Look at early AI: image generation was no better than a child’s drawing, yet millions signed up. That is the step before commercial value. People are creative and want creative tools. While using quantum mechanics for material science and protein folding is incredible, it doesn’t bring in the masses—which is why Harry is waiting for quantum computing's "Dylan-goes-electric" moment.
In this episode of Thinking On Paper, we cover:
• How Atlas, Moth's platform, lets you run images through a quantum computer without writing code
• Whether a musician could hear the difference between quantum and classical randomness
• Quantum shaders, artistic expression, and potential in music and visual effects
• Why Richard Feynman's idea of a computer that works like nature excites artists
• The intersection of quantum computing, AI, and autonomous media
Please enjoy the show.
Links & Resources
• Try Atlas: platform.mothquantum.com
• Moth Quantum: mothquantum.com
• More quantum episodes: Watch on YouTube
Thinking on Paper is a long-form interview podcast with Mark Fielding and Jeremy Gilbertson exploring the human story of technology, AI, quantum computing, and science.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction to the episode and guests
(01:32) Who is Harry Kumar and what is Moth Quantum?
(04:18) The concept behind Quantum Backrooms and its inspiration
(06:06) The end state in quantum game mechanics and creative mapping
(09:58) Quantum advantage and hardware considerations
(10:31) Using games to explore quantum mechanics
(12:52) Target audience for quantum creative platforms
(17:02) Comparison to Unreal Engine and platform versatility
(20:33) Quantum shaders and potential in music and visual effects
(28:27) Quantum as a new form of artistic expression
(36:04) Quantum computing and the nature of creativity
(44:52) Autonomous media and AI in creative processes
(45:48) How to access and experiment with Moth Quantum's platform
Connect with Thinking on Paper
◼ Choose your own technology adventure: https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz
◼ Running a tech conference? Book us to host: Conference Hosting
◼ Listen on Apple Podcasts: Apple Podcasts
◼ Follow Mark: LinkedIn
◼ Follow Jeremy: LinkedIn
#quantumcomputing #quantumgames #mothquantum #quantumphysics #creativeai #technology #podcast

Data centers use vast amounts of water primarily to cool air, not chips. Evaporative cooling systems chill the air that gets blown across server racks—and that evaporation is where the water loss occurs. Remove the air, and you eliminate the majority of water consumption.
In this episode of Thinking On Paper, Simon Jesenko, CEO of Iceotope, explains how fanless, precision liquid cooling is revolutionizing AI data center infrastructure. By circulating 15 to 20 liters of dielectric fluid—a highly refined, safe liquid—inside a sealed chassis, Iceotope cools every single component directly without relying on air or external fans.
Jesenko addresses the sensational headlines surrounding AI's water footprint, noting that critics are describing legacy air-cooled facilities. Once data centers transition to fully sealed liquid-cooled architectures, water and energy consumption drop dramatically.
We discuss:
• Why direct-to-chip cooling only solves 80% of server heat, and what components stay hot
• What dielectric coolant liquid actually is, where it comes from, and why major energy companies like Shell and Exxon produce it
• The early history of liquid cooling leaks and how it shaped the data center industry's risk aversion
• Why cooling the Power Supply Unit (PSU) and memory—not just the GPU—is critical for efficiency and AI compute density
• How crypto miners proved immersion cooling years before enterprise data centers
• Optimizing tokens-per-watt and deploying silent edge AI infrastructure in offices and extreme environments
Please enjoy the show.
Links & Resources
• Learn more about Iceotope: https://www.iceotope.com/
Connect with Thinking on Paper
◼ Choose your own technology adventure: https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz
◼ Running a tech conference? Book us to host: Conference Hosting
◼ Listen on Spotify: Listen on Spotify
◼ Listen on Apple Podcasts: Listen on Apple Podcasts
◼ Follow Mark: LinkedIn
◼ Follow Jeremy: LinkedIn
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction to Data Center Cooling Challenges
(01:07) Data Center Water Usage vs. Agriculture & Industry
(03:00) Open Loop vs. Closed Loop Cooling Systems
(04:18) Guest Introduction: Simon Jesenko (CEO, Iceotope)
(05:02) Misconceptions About Data Center Water & Power Consumption
(06:08) The Evolution From Legacy Air Cooling to Liquid Cooling
(07:31) Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling Explained
(08:40) Water Consumption: Traditional vs. Fully Liquid-Cooled Facilities
(10:29) Market Transition Toward Total Liquid Cooling
(12:23) Airflow Elimination & System-Level Thermal Management
(13:34) Environmental Factors & Geographic Placement of AI Workloads
(15:50) Integrating Precision Liquid Cooling into OEM Hardware
(19:02) Future-Proofing Next-Gen High-Density GPU Clusters
(22:02) Immersion Cooling History & Lessons from Crypto Mining
(23:25) What is Dielectric Fluid? Safety & Environmental Impact
(26:50) Market Adoption & Enterprise Opportunities for Iceotope
(30:56) Optimizing PSU Thermal Efficiency & Tokens per Watt
(34:15) Industry Trends in Next-Gen High Performance Computing (HPC)
(37:24) Thermal Limits & Capacities of Current Liquid Cooling Tech
(40:26) Daily AI Workflows & Closing Thoughts
#datacenters #liquidcooling #iceotope #aiinfrastructure #gpus #sustainability #greentech #thinkingonpaper

Nathan Silvernail quit SpaceX to make wood from grass. Building the first part of a rocket SpaceX ever reused—the nose cone—wasn’t enough.
After a decade working for Elon Musk, he quit, took everything he had learned, and started Plantd.
The plan? Make carbon-negative engineered lumber from fast-growing perennial grass. Climate tech meets space tech.
Wood, without trees.
Plantd's panels replace OSB, the oriented strand board that sheathes the floors, walls, and roofs of almost every new American home.
In this hotly anticipated episode, Nathan joins Thinking On Paper to talk about his SpaceX journey, why he thinks Mars is a distraction from the work in front of us, how the lumber industry accounts for the wood it burns, and why building a material stronger than steel turned out to be wrong.
You’ll get insight into the nine-month harvest cycle, what it takes to change the culture of an industry without letting it notice, and why he believes the unit economics that let SpaceX displace ULA will do the same to timber.
Please enjoy the show.
Thinking on Paper connects the dots between technology and what it means to be human. New episodes every week.
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Chapters
(00:00) Grass building panels that replace wood
(04:10) SpaceX: what the job actually cost him
(07:56) What a payload fairing is and how SpaceX recovers it
(11:52) Lumber: why anger put him in this industry
(24:02) OSB alternative: a drop-in structural panel
(28:00) Carbon negative building materials explained
(29:50) SpaceX and ULA: the same playbook for lumber
(35:55) Why hemp, bamboo and mycelium fail as building materials
(40:14) Harvest: nine months against fifteen years
(46:00) Why the Space Shuttle was retired