Ayush Prakash Podcast

This is episode 121 of the Gen Z Diplomat Podcast. Austin R. Shifrin is heavily involved in the Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, as a member in 2 regular (or “blue”) lodges, and 7 other Masonic bodies.His first book, "More Light: Collected Masonic Writings 2017 - 2021" has sold over 700 copies, and his second book "Black Ink, Farther Stars" is catalyzing Masonic discussion around the world. Connect with Austin:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086089363075Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austin_shifrin/More Light: Collected Masonic Writings: https://www.amazon.com/More-Light-Collected-Masonic-Writings/dp/1662923805Black Ink, Farther Stars: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Farther-Stars-Austin-Shifrin/dp/B0DBCD7PBM-Info: Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uWApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37WConnect: Website: https://ayushprakash.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ Instagram: instagram.com/gzd.podBooks: AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/

This is episode 120 of the Gen Z Diplomat Podcast. 

Thomas Moore is a retired Infantryman turned startup founder who aims to change the way we engage in political discourse.

Connect with Thomas:

Politorium: https://www.politorium.com

X: https://x.com/politoriumtom

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/politoriumtom/

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/politoriumtom.bsky.social

Substack: https://substack.com/@politoriumtom

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Info: 

Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uW

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37W

Connect: 

Website: https://ayushprakash.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ 

Instagram: instagram.com/gzd.pod

Books: 

AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/

What happens when companies replace human judgment with systems that are cheaper and faster, even when they are wrong? Pamela Gay argues that generative AI is displacing creative work, spreading false confidence and teaching people to surrender their own expertise to algorithms.

We discuss how the internet can liberate people while isolating them, why online connection should lead back to real-world experience and what separates useful task-specific AI from generative systems. Pamela also explains why writing essays and solving programming problems matter even when AI can produce an answer in seconds.

The conversation then turns to automated hiring, AI agents and recommendation systems that reinforce existing beliefs. We finish with the environmental cost of space expansion, consumerism and housing pressure, education as liberation, and what exoplanets teach us about the limits of human imagination.

Chapters:

00:00 Digital natives across generations
01:06 The first fear was the digital divide
03:46 How the internet changed social life
09:06 The internet liberates and locks us down
10:31 Start online, then meet in real life
13:14 Useful AI and generative AI’s costs
18:31 What jobs is AI actually creating?
22:35 Why struggle is part of learning
26:40 When algorithms replace human judgment
29:47 Why companies automate hiring
32:44 AI agents and a post-factual society
36:00 When recommendations remove choice
38:36 How platforms weaponize our love of stories
40:58 Consuming media with purpose
43:28 Space exploration at what cost?
47:23 Consumerism, housing and disposability
53:44 Can society serve the common good?
57:22 Education as liberation
58:33 What gives Pamela hope
01:00:43 Pamela’s favourite exoplanet
01:01:53 What exoplanets teach us about imagination
01:03:45 Where to find Pamela

Connect with Pamela: 

Website: https://www.starstryder.com/about-me/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starstryder/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/pamelagay

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/starstryder/

Info: 

Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uW

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37W

Connect: 

Website: https://ayushprakash.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ 

Instagram: instagram.com/notayushprakash

Books: 

AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/

What is intelligence, and why might next-token prediction fall short of it? Theoretical computer scientist Cole Wyeth explains why LLMs can display broad abilities without becoming general agents, and what the AIXI framework reveals about learning, planning and goals.

Cole defines intelligence as the ability to achieve objectives across many circumstances. We discuss consciousness, qualia, narrow superintelligence and the difference between memorization, pattern recognition and genuine novelty. Cole explains why transformers have exceeded expectations, but may still struggle with learning inside a conversation, sustained planning and long-term objectives.

We then turn to AIXI, an idealized model of general intelligence that combines uncertainty, Bayesian updating and decision-making. Cole describes how AIXI can help interpret LLM agents, why reward systems create risks such as wireheading, and how theory can guide safer designs before powerful systems are deployed. We close with human augmentation, brain-computer interfaces, genetic engineering, quantum computing and the epistemic standards that make LessWrong valuable to him.

Chapters:
00:00 What is intelligence?
03:26 Consciousness, qualia and AGI
07:22 Narrow superintelligence
09:44 What LLMs can and cannot do
14:22 Can scaling reach AGI?
20:00 Why transformers attract so much investment
23:32 What is AIXI?
28:00 AIXI and LLMs
30:33 Planning beyond one response
32:20 AI safety, wireheading and alignment
36:55 Cole's preferred AI future
40:17 Brain implants and genetic engineering
44:23 Quantum computing without hype
46:23 What theoretical computer scientists do
48:04 Rationality and the Enlightenment
50:35 Where to find Cole
51:29 Why LessWrong works

Connect with Cole Wyeth:
Website: https://colewyeth.com/
LessWrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/users/cole-wyeth

Podcast Info:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ILhje5HSua1FEOlTyFAhG
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ayush-prakash-podcast/id1557703631

Connect:
Website: https://ayushprakash.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ayushprakashofficial

Books:
AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981182135

This is episode 117 of the Gen Z Diplomat Podcast.

Max Medyk is the CEO of I’m Canada and ImmigrateAI Global, helping people thrive through accurate information and AI tech. He helps empower new Canadians and aspiring immigrants through simplifying complex information and various support systems.

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Info: 

Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uW

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37W

Connect: 

Website: https://ayushprakash.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ 

Instagram: instagram.com/notayushprakash

Books: 

AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/

This is episode 116 of the Gen Z Diplomat Podcast.

Larry Namer is an industry veteran with over 50 years of entertainment experience. He is best known as the founder of E! Entertainment Network, a network that continues to shape pop culture today and has launched the careers of many of today's pop culture superstars from Howard Stern to The Kardashians.

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Info: 

Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uW

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37W

Connect: 

Website: https://ayushprakash.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ 

Instagram: instagram.com/notayushprakash

Books: 

AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/

Francis Xavier Clooney is an American Jesuit priest and scholar in the teachings of Hinduism. He is currently a professor at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Info: 

Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uW

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37W

Connect: 

Website: https://ayushprakash.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ 

Instagram: instagram.com/notayushprakash

Books: 

AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/

What if the reality you experience is a prediction produced inside a skull-bound brain? Karl Friston explains how the brain turns limited sensory signals into a working model of the world, why the self may be a hypothesis and how uncertainty drives curiosity, action and scientific discovery.

We discuss the free energy principle, active inference and the brain’s extraordinary efficiency. Karl compares brains with large language models, arguing that both use prediction and attention while a genuine agent must also model the consequences of its own actions. He explains how phones, search engines, Wikipedia and AI can extend human cognition without becoming equivalent to a human mind.

The conversation then turns to schizophrenia, hallucinations and what happens when the brain assigns confidence to the wrong evidence. We finish with creativity, advice for young scientists, the danger of excessive social and economic connectivity and why human curiosity still gives Karl hope.

Chapters:
00:00 Why neglected ideas still matter
03:02 Asking questions that outlive you
06:14 Living with scientific uncertainty
08:58 The brain as a prediction machine
16:53 Is the self contained in the brain?
19:35 Selfhood as a hypothesis
23:39 How cognition extends beyond the skull
26:01 Google, phones and AI as parts of the mind
30:02 How brains differ from language models
42:39 The free energy principle explained
55:42 How the free energy principle found Karl
1:05:37 Schizophrenia and false inference
1:20:59 Creativity, sport and the aha moment
1:25:03 Advice for young scientists
1:27:57 When connectivity becomes dangerous
1:30:25 What gives Karl hope

Info: 

Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uW

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37W

Connect: 

Website: https://ayushprakash.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ 

Instagram: instagram.com/notayushprakash

Books: 

AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/

This is episode 113.

Kezia Noble is the leading female pick-up coach and is well known in the seduction community for helping men to be successful with women in all areas. She has written for many magazines and newspapers as well as sharing her advice on major TV shows.Connect with Kezia:Website: https://www.kezia-noble.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kezia-noble-367b4186/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kezianoble18/-Info: Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uWApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37WConnect: Website: https://ayushprakash.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ Instagram: instagram.com/ayushprxBooks: AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/

-Info: Spotify: https://sptfy.com/O2uWApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3qXL37WConnect: Website: https://ayushprakash.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakash-ayush/ Instagram: instagram.com/ayushprxBooks: AI for Gen Z: https://www.amazon.ca/AI-Gen-Story-Technology-Society/dp/0981182151/