Brains Byte Back

Since the start of the pandemic, many aspects of our regular lives have been turned upside-down, and this seems to also be true for our sex lives. In fact, an article published by The Washington Post at the start of the pandemic stated that we might see "a Coronavirus baby blip," as a result of couples isolated together looking to pass the time. Meanwhile, for singletons, it would seem that social distancing and quarantines have thrown a spanner in the works for any hopes of dating.

In this episode of the podcast, we will explore how sexual behavior has been impacted by the quarantine. To discuss this topic we will be joined by a number of guests from different backgrounds, all working to better understand and help us navigate the complicated changes to our sex lives during these unusual times.

To kick off the show we are joined by Mat Rezaei, the Founder and CEO of UPGUYS, a company that offers professional advice and prescription drugs with direct to door delivery, with a strong focus on erectile dysfunction treatments. Rezaei shares with us how the company's client profile has changed since the start of the pandemic, why he believes we are witnessing this change, and what the impact of the pandemic will be on how men approach their sexual health in the future.

Following Rezaei, we are joined by Jerusha Bennett, Senior Director of Brand Strategy & Innovation at The Sound, a brand strategy and product innovation agency, alongside her co-worker, Annie Pecoraro, Director of Creative Analytics. They join us to discuss research conducted by the pair which takes a quantitative look at the impact of Covid-19 on people's sexual life and behavior. They share with us finds such as how the quarantine has impacted masturbation, the lives of singletons, and what it means for couples with children who are home all the time, to name a few.

On March 18, 2018, Elaine Herzberg of Phoenix, Arizona was the first person to be killed by a self-driving car. This brought into question the complicated issue of accountability when AI makes a mistake, who do we hold responsible for this type of accident? However, on the other end of the spectrum, if AI produces something marvelous, who takes ownership of this? That is the topic of discussion on today’s episode.

Joining me on today’s show is Sekou Campbell, an attorney whose practice focuses on the meeting place between art and technology and his clients have included an AI music composition software company and other art-focused startups. His practice includes intellectual property, media and entertainment, and startups.  He is also a partner of Culhane Meadows law firm.

In addition to Campbell, we are also joined by Maya Ackerman, an expert on AI and Computational Creativity, she is the CEO and co-founder of WAVE AI, that allows anyone to create original songs in minutes using its AI-based tool ALYSIA. She is also an invited speaker at the United Nations, Google, IBM Research, Stanford University, to name a few.

On this show, we discuss how attitudes towards tools used to produce music have changed over the years, what AI's influence in art means for the artists, and what are the legal implications surrounding ownership of art produced by AI.

Music credits - 

Believe in Us: Dusti Miraglia (producer - backing track),  Sara Miraglia & Maya Ackerman (vocalists)

ALYSIA was used as a songwriter (for lyrics/vocal melodies).

According to Statista, in 2018, 16,128 cases of online identity theft and 65,116 cases of non-payment or non-delivery fraud were reported to the U.S. Internet Crime Complaint Center. But cybercrime has not always been this prevalent in our lives. Though it is hard to imagine in today's modern world, there was a time before computers where cybercrime wasn't considered a threat.

To understand how cybercrime has evolved from nothing to the ubiquitous threat that it is today, we spoke with Cindy Murphy, a retired cybercrime police officer, and the president and founder of Tetra Defense.

Brought up around computers at an early age thanks to her father, who taught her how to use DOS and file systems when she was six, Murphy had a technological advantage when it came to her peers. This was evident in high school, she was told she must submit her essay in written form instead of a word processor as it was considered cheating and gave her an unfair advantage.

Murphy then went on to serve 31-years in the police force helping to combat cybercrime across the US, before leaving the police force with one year left until retirement. Murphy was offered a very large offer to work for a private company, which she turned down. The company continued to increase the offer, and she continued to turn them down. It wasn't until she was invited to see what they were working on in their forensic lab that made her retire from the police force, almost immediately. They showed her something she "thought was impossible".

To find out what they showed her, along with some interesting cybercrime stories along the way, check out this episode of the Brains Byte Back podcast.

Being able to speak and understand a foreign language is a lot like having a superpower. It gives you an ability that is often very useful and impressive. But like anything that is great to have, it doesn’t come easy. If you have ever tried to learn a new language, the process can be exhausting and difficult at times. Fortunately, we live in a world where technology can help speed up this process.

Now, with the help of machine learning, we can use technology to accelerate or even gamify the learning experience, making it more efficient and enjoyable in the process.

My guest today to talk about this topic is an Ex-CERN Particle Physicist turned language learning expert who used AI to more efficiently learn French during his time working at the institute. He is now the CEO of Lingvist, an adaptive language-learning platform that uses the same technology he used to learn French. Mait Müntel.

In this episode, Mait shares with us how he created this technology, why it is so effective, and advice he has for anyone who wants to learn a new language.

Trying to prove who we are online, or even trying to prove that we are human, can be a laborious task. Every day we give our information and credentials to a large number of people, organizations, and businesses, often using various forms of ID. However, we could soon be living in a world where all of this information and these processes can be streamlined using modern technology.

To discuss how our digital identity could soon become safer and simplified, we spoke with Jamie Smith, Strategic Engagement Director at Evernym, a company that is developing trusted peer-to-peer interactions on a global scale.

In this episode, we discuss how Evernym works, what kind of scenarios we can use it in, and how far could this identity go. You will also learn how will this impacts individual privacy, how it can help prevent identity theft, and how this information would help if we were to face another COVID-19 style outbreak.

As an additional segment of The New Era of Psychedelics series, we bring the series to a close with a one on one interview with the series creator and co-host here at Brains Byte Back, Mags Tanev.

Over the course of this series, Tanev has interviewed experts relating to various areas of psychedelics exploring topics related to microdosing, the healing potential of psilocybe, and the powers of Ayahuasca.

She sits down with Brains Byte Back host, Sam Brake Guia, to discuss how she first became interested in psychedelics, what inspired her to create this series, and what she has learned from it.

In this final installment of The New Era of Psychedelics, exploring scientific research, therapies, and the potential benefits of psychedelic compounds and plant medicines in our societies, Brains Byte Back co-host, Mags Tanev, interviews Tim Hinchliffe, the editor of The Sociable.

They discuss how Hinchliffe first became interested in psychedelics, some of his wildest trips, and how psilocybin helped him overcome his addiction to alcohol.

For the third installment of The New Era of Psychedelics series, exploring scientific research, therapies, and the potential benefits of psychedelic compounds and plant medicines in our societies, Brains Byte Back co-host Mags Tanev is joined by Kat Courtney, founder of AfterLife Coach and a fully trained Ayahuascera with over 10 years of experience, to discuss the healing properties of this sacred plant.

Courtney explains how ayahuasca helped her deal with her own mental health issues, which then led her on a quest to become an expert in this practice, and shares with us her advice for those who are interested in trying this ancient medicine.

Mags Tanev, our co-host here at Brains Byte Back, brings the second installment of her series The New Era of Psychedelics, exploring scientific research, therapies, and the potential benefits of psychedelic compounds and plant medicines in our societies.

In this episode, Tanev interviews Gaurav Dubey, a clinical biologist and science blogger, to discuss research surrounding microdosing, the benefits of microdosing vs. other types of psychedelic use, and changing attitudes towards microdosing and psychedelics in our society.

In addition to Dubey, Tanev also interviews Rob, who wanted to keep his identity anonymous, a psychedelics enthusiast with a high level of microdosing experience.