Thinking On Paper

As Vice President of IBM Quantum Adoption, Scott Crowder has spent the last decade moving quantum from a lab to the real world. They might have just done it.

Ten years ago, IBM put a five qubit machine on the cloud and let anyone run a program on it. Today, researchers have published nearly 6,000 papers on IBM hardware, and the field sits at a tipping point.Quantum computers now run algorithms too complex for any classical machine. The question is whether they will soon run them better, not just differently. That threshold will collapse the field’s two warring camps.Scott walks us through where the field actually is right now. Cleveland Clinic recently simulated a 303 atom protein by splitting the problem between quantum and classical hardware, a jump from the 14 atoms they could handle nine months earlier.Researchers at RIKEN in Japan are coordinating quantum hardware and the country's largest HPC cluster in the same building. Both efforts point toward what IBM calls a quantum-centric supercomputer, an architecture where quantum and classical resources accelerate each other rather than compete.By 2029, IBM plans to deliver a scalable, fault-tolerant quantum system the size of a few racks rather than a football field. Scott gave us his actual error bar on that date: minus six months, plus one year, at 80% confidence. The biggest challenge is no longer the hardware. It is getting enough humans to invent the algorithms that make the hardware useful.We explore why superconducting qubits beat the alternatives, how a quantum computer draws about the same power as a single rack of AI hardware, whether quantum data centers belong in space, why helium-3 may become a real constraint by the mid-2030s, and what Richard Feynman would make of his 1981 vision finally coming to life.

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Mark x: https://x.com/markfielding99
Jeremy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/

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Chapters
(00:00) Trailer
(01:20) Quantum computing: real, hyped, or both
(02:40) Why reference architectures decide which technologies win
(05:05) Superconducting vs. trapped ion vs. spin qubits
(06:47) Why accessibility and algorithmic discovery are the real bottlenecks
(12:34) Cleveland Clinic's 303-atom protein simulation
(13:44) IBM's quantum-centric supercomputing architecture
(16:07) What already runs on quantum computers today
(17:58) The roadmap: how quantum and classical converge
(22:28) What Richard Feynman would make of the field today
(25:25) What quantum computing means for the future of data centers
(32:01) Quantum computers in space, and why Crowder rejects Elon's pitch
(34:10) What computing is actually for
(42:19) Why Qiskit, NVIDIA, and open source matter for adoption

Hold on to your hats you beautiful curious minds, your brain is about to get a serious work out.
Anders Sandberg, futurist, transhumanist and curiosity magpie joins us for one of the widest-ranging conversations we've ever recorded.This is a tour through the next thousand years. The good, the bad, the strange and the wonderful, Anders flicks between them with elegance, depth, insight and humour.You'll learn about brain emulation, the politics of space, AI run economies, NASA, transhumanism, longevity, maths, neuroscience, memory, middle age and aliens.
We'll ask you why Dracula wouldn't be bored if he was around today, what drone warfare and AGI means for peace, prosperity and economics and whether Bryan Johnson really can live forever. Enjoy.

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Chapters

(00:00) Augmentation and Human Potential
(08:09) The Impact of Mobile Technology on Humanity
(11:51) Accountability in AI Agents
(18:25) The Role of Empathy in Human-AI Interaction
(25:35) AGI vs. Alien Life: A Comparative Analysis
(27:36) Consciousness and Brain Emulation
(35:52) The Future of Uploaded Minds
(40:33) Exploring Parallel Realities and Memory Merging
(45:16) The Future of Human Collaboration and Organizations
(46:24) AI's Role in Managing Global Systems
(51:23) The Dual Economy: Human vs AI Management
(57:43) The Complexities of Space Ownership and Governance
(01:05:18) The Future of Space Exploration and Human Expansion
(01:17:49) The Impact of Space Race on Human Progress
(01:21:43) The Role of Nations and Corporations in Space Exploration
(01:24:22) Experimenting with New Forms of Governance
(01:26:18) NASA's Future in the Age of Innovation
(01:28:41) The Potential for Breakaway Movements in Space
(01:30:16) Trust and Coordination in Space Governance
(01:34:18) The Future of Fusion Energy
(01:42:15) The Value of Time and Life Extension
(01:48:06) Reinventing Identity in Extended Lifespans
(01:52:03) The Future of Humanity and Technology

Carissa Véliz joins us to Think On Paper about her new book Prophecy.You'll learn about the history of prophecy, why Rasputin couldn't be trusted, why Polymarket needs to be regulated, and what CEOs and founders of the biggest tech companies in the world have to gain by predicting your future.On the way, you'll hear about Seinfeld, turkeys, stoicism, philosophy, books and a lot more.This conversation really is worth your time.Please enjoy it.
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CHAPTERS  

(00:00) Intro
(01:00) What is the good life? 
(02:00) Why knowing yourself matters more than strategy 
(04:44) The analog world vs the digital world 
(06:45) How prophecies exploit our need for security 
(08:47) Why ancient Rome banned predicting the emperor's death 
(10:11) The illusion of safety that AI sells us 
(12:27) When predictions work, and when they don't 
(15:00) Altman, Amodei, Huang: predictions or sales pitches? 
(28:29) How to resist prophecies as a busy person 
(29:53) Prediction markets, Polymarket, and democracy 
(31:49) TikTok, algorithms, and the Molly Russell case 
(36:08) "Engagement algorithms are cocaine in food" 
(40:54) Self-fulfilling prophecies as the perfect crime 
(43:44) Why comedy is the enemy of prophecy 
(46:59) What Seinfeld teaches us about predictive algorithms 
(52:16) Karikó and the Nobel Prize we almost missed 
(53:40) Increase your serendipity 
(56:13) Why Epicurus beats the Stoics

The AI meme war between the US and Iran has evolved into an absolute shit show. If you thought it was awful a few weeks ago, you ain't seen nothing yet.

AI-generated Lego propaganda videos were a curiosity. Sometimes funny, often violent, always troublesome and never diplomatic, they quickly gained millions of views across social media... because social media.

The White House Twitter (X) account was responsible for the US videos.

An Iranian media company called Explosive Media, the Iranian. America, either put off by the global consensus that it was losing the war, or bored, switched their AI models to tax season (with equal ineptitude).

Iran, losing the guns and missiles part of the war, has changed tact. Explosive Media turned up the heat. And was duly banned from YouTube. Which could of unleashed the beast. Now Iranian embassies are posting them on Twitter (X) and US creators are using the same format to mock it all with Lego.. Just watch it yourself. And let us know what you think.
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TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Explosive Media
(00:38) US Bowling Iran
(01:52) Trump's Mask
(03:20) Blockade, Blockade
(06:28) Drunken Hegseth
(08:00) Truth

The romantic version of the space economy is about exploration. We say it's about war.
A while ago we interviewed Mark Boggart, the CEO of Seraphim Space. One number he said has stuck with us ever since.80% of all space investment, right now, is defence.Not 80% of launches. Not 80% of contracts. 80% of investment. The money flowing into the industry — the venture rounds, the strategic capital, the government dollars — is overwhelmingly going to one thing. Tracking, watching and blowing up enemies. This is the final episode in our five-week book club on Space to Grow by Matthew Weinzierl and Brendan Rosseau. Weinzierl is a professor at Harvard Business School and co-founder of the school's SPACE course. Rosseau, formerly an HBS teaching fellow and research associate, is now a Strategy Manager at Blue Origin. Its last two chapters ask who owns space and who actually runs it. The answers are different. You won't like either.
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Chapters

(00:00) Global Conflict and Space Resources
(02:04) Human Nature and Space Exploration
(03:28) The Economics of Asteroid Mining
(05:53) Legal Frameworks for Space Mining
(11:05) The Space Resource Exploration Act
(13:01) International Reactions to Space Mining Legislation
(17:19) Philosophical Perspectives on Space Ownership
(20:14) The Role of National Security in Space
(20:40) The Role of Government in Space Innovation
(21:34) National Security and the Space Industry
(23:10) Weaponization of Space: A New Era
(24:47) The Prisoner's Dilemma in Space Cooperation
(26:40) Humanity's Moral Compass in Space Exploration
(27:03) The Future of Humanity in Space