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Welcome to Stewart Squared podcast with the two Stewart Alsops, where they explore the evolution of software from 1.0’s “magical incantations” to 3.0’s natural language interfaces, discuss operating systems and their hardware roots, and unpack the significance of vertical integration exemplified by Apple’s silicon and software unification. This episode touches on large language models as cognitive prosthetics and the intimate, sometimes emotional, relationships people are forming with them, while also questioning their potential as operating systems for an “Internet-as-a-computer” paradigm. Alongside reflections on curiosity versus intelligence and the risks of Skynet-like scenarios, the Alsops weave in insights from Andrej Karpathy and Stephen Wolfram.
Check out this GPT we trained on the conversation
Timestamps
00:00 Software 1.0 to 3.0 evolution, natural language as programming, operating systems history with Apple II and early hardware tinkering
05:00 Open versus closed systems, Apple’s vertical integration, hardware limitations, early networking with Ethernet and modems
10:00 Distributed computing, Internet as a computer, LLMs as potential operating systems, differences between real-time systems and batch processing
15:00 Cognitive prosthetics, LLMs enabling new forms of software creation, emotional relationships with AI, sycophancy and “glazing” effects
20:00 Skynet fears, military applications of AI, robotics as physical extensions of AI, IoT devices and infrastructure vulnerability
25:00 Device Authority, over-the-air updates, challenges of retrofitting legacy hardware, enterprise resistance to innovation, IT culture dynamics
30:00 Curiosity versus intelligence, human adaptability, LLMs lack of intrinsic curiosity, future of AI-human collaboration, ending reflections on staying engaged with technology
Key Insights
Welcome to Stewart Squared podcast with the two Stewart Alsops, where they explore the evolution of software from 1.0’s “magical incantations” to 3.0’s natural language interfaces, discuss operating systems and their hardware roots, and unpack the significance of vertical integration exemplified by Apple’s silicon and software unification. This episode touches on large language models as cognitive prosthetics and the intimate, sometimes emotional, relationships people are forming with them, while also questioning their potential as operating systems for an “Internet-as-a-computer” paradigm. Alongside reflections on curiosity versus intelligence and the risks of Skynet-like scenarios, the Alsops weave in insights from Andrej Karpathy and Stephen Wolfram.
Check out this GPT we trained on the conversation
Timestamps
00:00 Software 1.0 to 3.0 evolution, natural language as programming, operating systems history with Apple II and early hardware tinkering
05:00 Open versus closed systems, Apple’s vertical integration, hardware limitations, early networking with Ethernet and modems
10:00 Distributed computing, Internet as a computer, LLMs as potential operating systems, differences between real-time systems and batch processing
15:00 Cognitive prosthetics, LLMs enabling new forms of software creation, emotional relationships with AI, sycophancy and “glazing” effects
20:00 Skynet fears, military applications of AI, robotics as physical extensions of AI, IoT devices and infrastructure vulnerability
25:00 Device Authority, over-the-air updates, challenges of retrofitting legacy hardware, enterprise resistance to innovation, IT culture dynamics
30:00 Curiosity versus intelligence, human adaptability, LLMs lack of intrinsic curiosity, future of AI-human collaboration, ending reflections on staying engaged with technology
Key Insights