Core Memory

• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on the Evolving Future of Humans

  Coinbase CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong joins the pod to discuss crypto, crypto, crypto.Well, not really.Everyone asks Armstrong about crypto all the time, so we decided to head in a different direction and focus on his life and his interests around very cutting-edge science. Armstrong, for example, co-founded and backed New Limit, which is working on therapies to reverse the damage of aging. (We’ll have a Core Memory video episode on them soon.)He’s also been on X talking about the Gattaca Stack. This is his vision of the IVF clinic of the future in which people can make eggs from skin cells and do all sorts of gene editing on embryos either to thwart diseases or even give babies some enhancements. And he sees these babies coming to life in artificial wombs.Let’s get weird, y’all. As Coinbase CEO, Armstrong has been to known to generate controversy now and again with some strongly held views on politics in the workplace and on the Feds. The press has not taken kindly to Armstrong at times for said views, and we get into that as well.If you listen to this and need you some more Brian Armstrong, there’s a great documentary on him and Coinbase called Coin.And now on with the show. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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• Chris Kemp on Astra's Comeback, Rockets and Drones from Space

  If you’ve seen HBO’s Wild, Wild Space or read When the Heavens Went on Sale, then Chris Kemp needs no introduction. Kemp is one of the stars in both works. For the less familiar, Kemp is the co-founder and CEO of Astra Space, a maker of rockets based in Alameda, Calif. For several years now, Astra has been on a quest to create the cheapest, easiest to launch rocket in the market and to turn rocket-making into a mass production affair. The company has enjoyed glorious highs all the way to orbit and lows where it verged on bankruptcy. Over the past year, Kemp and Astra co-founder Adam London took the company private and raised a fresh $80 million as they head toward flying Rocket 4 - their next-generation machine. We have lots more on that story here. In this episode, we get into Astra’s tumultuous journey with Kemp, his disdain for some of my filmmaking choices and the future of rockets. He envisions a world with rocket launch sites in many countries and rockets ferrying things like drones into battles in far-off places in a matter of seconds. As always, you can listen here or via your favorite podcast provider. And we have a YouTube channel with the podcasts and our latest science and tech videos. Leave a review. Like and subscribe. Calm our souls. Most of all - enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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• Dwarkesh Patel Wants People to Learn Things

  We flipped the tables on Dwarkesh Patel this week and turned the podcaster into the podcastee.Over the past few years, Patel has made a name for himself as a stellar interviewer of interesting people. Whether questioning a scientist, historian or tech engineer, Patel always goes deep with the subject and refuses to dumb things down for any audience. This is a blessing in an era of our attention being seized by 30-second blips and bloops on our phones and social apps.Patel had done a particularly excellent job on the AI front. He’s interviewed most of the major players in the AI field as large language models have risen to the fore. To that end, this podcast brings news. Patel and his co-author Gavin Leech are putting out a new book on AI through Stripe Press. Called The Scaling Era: An Oral History of AI, the book is an oral history of the recent AI era.You can buy it in digital form now and later in hardback. (Look at that Stripe Press website, publishers. Know what you’re capable of with some effort.) I received an early copy, and it really is a wonderful way to understand current AI technology and its implications.In this episode, Patel and I, of course, talk AI, but we also delve into his life and sudden rise as a podcasting force. We recorded the program together in Patel’s San Francisco podcasting lair. I enjoyed his beard. You will enjoy the show. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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• The First Bungee Jump, Space Weapons, Lunar Landers and Airships: Al Weston Has Done It All

  A few years ago, I caught wind that Sergey Brin had started funding an airship start-up called LTA (Lighter Than Air) Research.After hitting up some sources, I came to learn that the man heading up the airship venture was Dr. Alan Weston. And, after digging around some more, I came to learn that Dr. Alan Weston had lived an extraordinary life.Among many other things, Weston performed the earliest bungee jumps while a member of the Dangerous Sports Club at Oxford. He later built space weapons as part of the Star Wars effort under Ronald Reagan. Then, while at NASA, Weston led a team making a super low-cost lunar lander. (The story of that project is documented in When The Heavens Went on Sale.)Post NASA, Weston began constructing airships for Brin in a hangar on the NASA Ames campus.Few people have experienced such a range of engineering adventures and fewer still have such knowledge about the aerospace industry. This is to say you’re going to enjoy the chat with Weston.Also, this podcast comes with breaking news. We can report that Al Weston has left his post as CEO of LTA and now leads up rocket development at Astra. He’ll be looking to get the company’s Rocket 4 into orbit soon.(We recored this before our video podcast era started and before Weston joined Astra. It’s also possible I called this Episode 2. Fear not. It’s Episode 10.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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• Max Hodak Loves Brains

  Few figures in Brain Computer Interface Land can match Max Hodak’s output over the past decade.He helped start Neuralink in 2016 and then went on to start Science Corp. in 2021. Science has been working on implants to help restore vision and has clinical trials underway with the technology. The company has also built out a line of brain computer interface products for others to use and is exploring some very weird and promising technology around lab-built neurons that can be infused into brains.Hodak has done relatively few interviews over the years and there’s not much about his background available online. I recently paid a visit to Science’s headquarters in Alameda, Calif. to rectify this situation and speak with Hodak about his science journey, his philosophies around tech and business and where BCI technology is heading as humans and machines join forces . . . possibly for good. Also, we discuss the Jennifer Aniston neuron, if you’re into that sort of thing. As ever, you can subscribe to the Core Memory podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all other fine podcast purveyors, and you can find past episodes here. Do us a solid and leave some ratings and reviews. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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