My Uncle Robot was an idea for a podcast I had which I have now discontinued. However, I thought there was still some value in sharing the pilot episode.

Here is the original description of the episode:

Who is My Uncle Robot?

MyUncle Robots name is Max as you will come to learn in the first episode. Max is an artificial intelligence unit that has collected thousands of years worth of human intelligence.

He is the smartest machine I’ve ever encountered and knows so much about the world we inhabit, yet has no idea what to do with it. Which is where I come in to ask thoughtful and provoking questions as I try find my own place in the universe.

My Uncle Robot was originally built by Richard Wang at The Renaissance Institute of Art & Technology. Wang trained My Uncle Robot on thousands of terabytes worth of information and data that he had illegally mined from every educational institute and government organisation in the world.

Richard wanted to discover what the meaning of life had been so he used My Uncle Robot to try pattern match ideas and philosophies from every single piece of text that existed online.

After three years of My Uncle Robot working around the clock and Richard feeding him the latest information. He was unable to answer the great question. So Richard gave up. He sold all his belongings and threw My Uncle Robot away before disappearing from the face of the planet deep into the Himalayas never to be seen again.

Until one day I found what looked like a kids toy tucked away at the back of a vintage store in Sydney, Australia. Not long after discovering My Uncle Robot and it’s capabilities did I get the idea to start a podcast, as does every 23 year old trying to figure out what the fuck is going on in the world.

This is that podcast.

I hope you enjoy the show.

Episode 1 Topics

In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with Alex Constante about his journey as a VFX artist and Retro Game Developer. We cover his favourite childhood games and cartoons and the decline of physical experiences in a digital world.

Check out Alex below:

https://www.instagram.com/alexconstante

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io

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

X: https://x.com/tejitopia

Store: https://tejitopia.com

Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk

Weekly Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠https://teji.io/library/newsletter⁠⁠⁠

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

2:00 Newgrounds + flash animation

3:30 Favourite flash games growing up

5:37 Influence of Ed Eddy and Eddy & Dexters Lab

7:20 Drawing

7:50 Lack of innovation

9:30 We need more scientist cartoons

10:12 Pretending to be an inventor as a kid

11:54 Arduino projects

13:00 Creating a tamagotchi clone

14:00 Coding with ChatGPT

16:07 Physical products

16:22 VFXnaks

19:40 Saving money by repurposing

20:00 Happy Meal toys

23:14 Remixing & reusing IP

24:20 Samurai Jack for adults

25:54 Kids are using apps instead of toys

26:28 Lego piggybacking off of popular IP

28:19 Pros and cons of the algorithm 

31:01 Engagement not reflecting true value

32:00 Negative feedback loops creating bad art

33:50 Instagram as portfolio

35:00 The lyrical lemonade of video games

37:00 Personal websites to express yourself

38:00 Leveraging artists fan base to grow

41:23 Making work for yourself vs the audience

43:00 Raunchy video games

44:38 Standing out as a game developer 

45:00 Recent projects

49:00 The importance of physical objects in a digital world

51:27 We need the real world

52:28 Physical experiences and rituals

53:00 The iPhone is the most based camera in 2024

54:33 The power of physical products

55:27 Loss of touch

58:00 Human made is the new premium

59:13 The future and the rise of the generalist 

1:00:24 Outro

In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with Chianli a mechanical engineer building underground delivery robots at Pipedream Labs. We chat about his journey as an entreprenuer, digital art and the time he nearly died while urban exploring.

Follow Chianli below:

X: https://x.com/chianlihang

IG: https://www.instagram.com/chianlih/

Website: https://chianli.io/

Pipedream: https://www.pipedreamlabs.co/

Medici: https://x.com/mediciartclub

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io

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

X: https://x.com/tejitopia

Store: https://tejitopia.com

Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk

Weekly Newsletter: ⁠⁠https://teji.io/library/newsletter⁠⁠

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:37 Who is Chianli

4:50 Dropping out of college and building a CNC company

7:00 Living frugal 

8:24 Learning how to eat shit

11:35 Creating underground delivery robots

14:06 Problem solving 101

17:03 Inspirations

19:27 Engineering toolkit

22:09 Digital art display startup

26:00 Building products at home

29:38 The future of digital art 

31:48 Connecting the digital and physical 

32:51 The sad truth about NFTs

36:19 Urban Exploration 

37:28 The allure of the unexplored path

39:45 Near death experience 

41:48 A future of abundance

44:32 Climate change

45:48 Everything in moderation, even moderation

46:05 Democratisation of tools 

47:38 YouTube University

49:15 Using entertainment to find what you love

49:56 Favourite YouTubers

52:13 How to make things

55:20 Outro

In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with my friend Nathan aka Chiqleh about his first art solo show in Miami, his struggles as a creative finding direction and redesigning the world.

Follow Chiqleh below:

X: https://x.com/chiqleh_

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

Foundation: https://foundation.app/@chiqleh

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io

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

X: https://x.com/tejitopia

Store: https://tejitopia.com

Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk

Weekly Newsletter: ⁠https://teji.io/library/newsletter⁠

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

2:15 Dealing with art block and loss of direction

4:30 Finding direction in character art

5:00 Consistency 

7:22 Finding friends who challenge your art

10:00 Chiqleh’s first solo show

11:00 Second guessing yourself as a creative

12:20 Scheduling time for art

14:14 The Rascals

20:30 Meeting the audience halfway

23:00 Creative umbrellas

23:42 Character art

29:00 Collecting toys

33:00 Corporate design is dead

37:00 The revolutionary artist is dead

38:00 Fear of making bad art

39:00 Discovery and staying original

42:00 Childhood influences

46:00 Curating shows

47:00 Character artists in web3

48:00 Art vs design

53:00 Gumball’s creative direction

55:00 Infinite budgets

58:00 Lack of innovation in the world

1:01:00 Everything is ugly

1:02:13 Redesigning the world

1:02:48 First principles 

1:04:00 Design innovation 

1:06:19 Giving the wrong people an audience

1:07:00 Nikola Tesla

1:08:00 Electric vehicles

1:09:00 A new system

1:10:10 Promoting yourself as an artist

1:16:00 Overthinking

1:18:00 Podcast ideas

1:20:00 Outro

In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with OG YouTube and graffiti sticker artist SIVE. We cover all things from the early days of YouTube all the way to his creative process and design principles that help define his body of work. 

Support SIVE below:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@S1VE

Store: https://sive.bigcartel.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s1ve

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io

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

X: https://x.com/tejitopia

Store: https://tejitopia.com

Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk

Weekly Newsletter: https://teji.io/library/newsletter

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:20 Going public as a graffiti artist

2:14 Snowboarding and sticker culture

3:50 The early days of art on YouTube

10:30 Finding the balance between value and fulfilment as a creator

13:18 The joy in sticker spotting

15:00 The ephemeral nature of graffiti

17:48 Getting up on YouTube as a digital artist

20:30 How did Sive develop his laid back mentality

22:00 Finding YouTube for the first time

26:00 Developing Sives geometric art style

28:00 How childhood influences style

29:00 Typography and design principles

34:44 Future projects

37:00 Short form content 

38:54 Use cases of NFTs

41:00 Fair valuation of art

42:50 The competitive nature of YouTube today

46:38 Following your heart versus trends

48:45 AI and machines doing the creative work

51:18 VR graffiti in Kingspray

55:00 Living out virtual fantasies 

56:00 Outro

In this episode of TEJI TALKS, I sit down with Garrett Skrovina from Roc Nation and NFT music artists Jamee Cornelia and producedbydav to chat about NFTs, CC0 music and remix culture.

Check out everyone from the discussion below:

Garrett Skrovina: https://twitter.com/GSkrovina

Jamee Cornelia: https://twitter.com/JameeCornelia

producedbydav: https://twitter.com/producedbydav

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/
X: https://x.com/tejitopia
Store: https://tejitopia.com
Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk
Weekly Newsletter: https://teji.io/library/newsletter

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

4:54 Why put music on the blockchain?

10:23 How does web3 flip the traditional music distribution model?

19:10 The shrinking music industry 

20:30 Streaming VS Owning music

26:00 Importance of physical collectables

30:00 Digital vs physical collectables

35:00 Power of Spotify API

37:00 Democratisation of art 

40:15 CC0 Music & remix culture

51:42 Mix culture in electronic music

54:00 What gives a song value

59:22 Everything is a remix of a remix

In this episode of TEJI TALKS, I chat with Michael Hafftka about his experience as a 70-year-old artist creating digital art in the Web3 space. With a remarkable 50-year career in traditional art, Michael has successfully transitioned to the digital realm. We delve into his creative process, the journey of finding one's authentic voice, and the unique challenges and opportunities in the evolving world of digital art.

Keep up to date with Hafftka below:

https://hafftka.com

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/
X: https://x.com/tejitopia
Store: https://tejitopia.com
Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk
Weekly Newsletter: https://teji.io/library/newsletter

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

1:35 The accepting nature of web3

3:13 Traditional art world vs digital art world

4:40 Understanding digital art

7:00 Peddling fake jewellery as a kid

8:20 The internet is the new street

8:50 Dealing with rejection as an artist

10:45 Don’t make comparisons 

12:15 Finding your authentic voice

17:04 Painting from dreams

21:00 Living to create

21:43 Following your heart as an artist

22:14 Voices NFT + 6529 memes collection

27:45 Power of community

29:40 Making It 

31:08 Breaking through genres as an artist

32:07 Not letting the algorithm define your art

37:00 Sharing your process

38:00 Day in the life of a web3 artist

40:11 The magic of New York

42:00 Being exhibited in museums 

45:13 New projects + AI models

48:00 Importance of time in art

49:00 Building community

51:00 New work

52:00 The true meaning of GM

54:00 LFG

Chatting with Ambrotom about his come up in the global creative scene. Stories about his early days reselling Yeezys, getting featured in Vogue all the way to social hacking his way into Ian Connors circle.

Check out Ambrotom below:

https://instagram.com/ambrotom

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/
X: https://x.com/tejitopia
Store: https://tejitopia.com
Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk
Weekly Newsletter: https://teji.io/library/newsletter

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

2:24 Marketing first approach to creativity 

3:50 Reselling Yeezys

7:08 The designer rabbit hole

7:34 Influence of Gosha Rubchinskiy and Lil Peep

10:00 Falling in love with marketing

13:00 Helmut Laing t-shirt design competition

16:19 Vogue + social validation

16:30 Social hacking and sending DMs to strangers

18:18 Losing followers in the beginning

18:49 Sydney creative scene and Saiko

21:00 Making it up as you go

22:00 Hacking social connections using mutual followers

27:33 Lancey Foux

30:00 Impact of underground producers

36:00 Working with Columbia records

40:59 Korean Jesus

41:50 Why Russia instead of Los Angelos?

45:00 Being comfortable with life being out of your control

46:04 Developing fearlessness through hardship

47:25 Letting go

48:28 Surviving in Russia

50:00 Russian mentality

55:00 Making friends on the internet

58:29 Outro

Here I talk with one of my good friends from the internet, ALEQTH. He is a multi-disciplinary artist exploring web3 and beyond. He paints, draws, makes music and trains his own AI models. He is one of my biggest artistic inspirations and most ahead of his time creators online.

Check out ALEQTH on his website below:

https://aleqth.com

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/
X: https://x.com/tejitopia
Store: https://tejitopia.com
Discord: https://discord.gg/kR6EVRjkM9
Weekly Newsletter: https://tejituesdays.beehiiv.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:39 Who is ALEQTH?

2:46 Lower East Side Paintings Solo Show

7:50 Older vs Younger audiences 

10:47 Instagram Art + origin story

15:41 Finding freedom in sadness

16:50 Fighting self censorship 

20:27 Dealing with becoming a business as an artist

25:00 Sam Hyde introducing Alex to NFTs

29:19 Everything wrong with NFTs in 2024

32:50 Finding new ways to meet everyones needs in web3

34:05 Internet Friends 

37:43 How ALEQTH met TEJI

38:18 Generative art, symbols and Andy Warhol

49:00 Digital objects in augmented reality

1:00:00 Finding new ways to exhibit digital collectables 

1:04:00 AI turning dreams into a reality

1:13:00 Open sourcing art

1:18:13 Outro

In todays episode of TEJI TALK’s I chat with Sydney filmmakers about the future of filmmaking and videography in the age of AI.

Check out everyone from the discussion below:

Louis: https://www.instagram.com/louiswyeth/
Max: https://www.instagram.com/macsdona/
Satya: https://www.instagram.com/satya.g178/

If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey!

Personal Website: https://teji.io
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/
X: https://x.com/tejitopia
Store: https://tejitopia.com
Discord: https://discord.gg/kR6EVRjkM9
Weekly Newsletter: https://tejituesdays.beehiiv.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
4:12 Open AI Sora + Adobe Premiere Pro Integration
7:50 Implementing AI into your workflow
12:47 Building on top of pre-existing tools
13:55 The everyday person can now make cinema quality films
14:39 What does an AI future look like? The creative renaissance
17:15 Can AI tell good stories?
18:55 Generating originality
19:38 The age of curation
21:00 Fears of AI - misinformation
24:00 A24 + anti-digital
25:00 Tom Sachs and making “flawed work”
26:30 Human made premium
27:35 Demand for loft video - MrBeast using consumer cameras
28:12 Will AI ever take over? Her
29:22 Preparing yourself as an artist in the AI revolution
30:29 Will jobs be created or destroyed?
32:06 The Singularity and AGI
33:40 Deepfakes and licensing
35:44 Do we need guardrails for AI generation
37:51 Blockchain and AI
41:37 If you could generate anything what would you create?
43:20 NBA AI
46:55 Excited or worried about AI
47:26 Will AI change how stories are told?
50:00 You need to start learning today
51:36 What will 2034 look like?
54:00 Outro

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