The Idea Roastery

Carbon Capture Technologies

In this episode we digest some of the technological breakthroughs in the realm of carbon capture, from the organic to the inorganic and present some optimism on if we are able to meet climate change agreements globally!

Episode Notes

(0:00) Intro to the show. (1:40) Why do we need carbon capture? (5:15) Different classes of carbon capture, and what are some of the metrics to consider. (7:20) Some of the boundaries of developing this technology. (8:55) Organic mechanisms for carbon capture such as trees, why it's not enough. (11:15) Bio fuels as another organic mechanism, algae to extract carbon dioxide & putting it underground. (16:52) Basalt rock as a storage mechanism for carbon dioxide. (19:17) Converting carbon dioxide to starch & food for cattle and animal feed. (24:00) Jason isn't listening very carefully. (26:00) Inorganic mechanisms for carbon capture and creating a net-zero benzene source. (31:30) Conclusions and the optimistic side of this discussion and the close off.

In this episode, we talk about that rich, creamy liquid that is coffee. We talk about the different styles of coffee and coffee shops; drop a little into the history and how coffee affected the development of the new-world; talk about the effect of climate change on coffee production and some of the good and bad side-effects of having this drink as part of our lives.

Outline

(0:00) We bungled an episode!! (0:57) We're in, and episodes 30 at that. (1:30) Coffee Roasteries in Cape Town. (3:37) What would make a good coffee shop? (6:50) Jason's first cup of coffee. (8:40) Herman's early relationship with coffee. (9:55) Giving coffee to kids these days! (11:30) How does caffeine work? (15:00) Niccotene affect on caffeine half-life and the addiction effect. (17:20) Coffee effects on sleep. (18:10) Herman's current coffee habits. (20:20) A bit of nerding out on MokaPot and the Chemex. (23:00) How to tell you're in a good coffee shop? (24:15) We discuss our favorite coffee shops. (26:40) The benefits of coffee on health. (28:00) Leading into the coffee house as a topic. (30:00) Coffee as the best thing for the industrial revolution and for productivity in general. (33:49) The first coffee house in London. (35:10) Affect of climate on coffee and Herman's trip to a coffee plantation. (37:00) Talking about Fair-trade coffee. (40:25) Talking about different coffee regions. (42:25) Different coffee varieties. (44:00) Coffee prices (46:30) [CORRECTION] Last time coffee was this pricey was in Sept 2011. (47:55) What do we think of flat whites and how to get burned.

In this episode we talk about AI and the intricacies of building machines and systems that interact with the world in a way similar or better than us humans. We play around with Siri and we give some examples of things we're really looking forward to in the future of this awesome technology! 

Transcript

(00:00) Herman talks about his train adventures. (2:35) Defining some terms that we hear often. (4:25) Simplifying what machine learning actually is in a mathematical sense. (07:45) Extending basics to Natural Language Processors. (10:26) Convincing humans that an AI is real and how to move beyond the Turing test. (11:45) The movie Her with Scarlett Johansson and some philosophical ramifications for when we reach the singularity. (14:10) What happens when the AI has access to the internet? (16:15) Leading into the ideal of the fourth industrial revolution. (18:00) Difference between robots and AI systems. (20:00) The idea of mechanization as a true challenge. (23:00) The next generation of Siri and the knock-on effect of good AI. (25:00) Taking into account biases in ML algorithms and the idea of explainability in AI. (27:05) Spell check is a form of AI. (28:00) NVidia as a graphics card company but also some of their AI endeavors. (30:40) Automatic real creation from a set of images - truly useful tools. (32:35) Deep fakes and adversarial networks. (34:10) Jason's most sophisticated vision of where AI can be used. (37:00) Testing out Siri and closing.

Apologies for the poor sound quality in this episode

Should you rent or buy a house, and what are the pros and cons of both? In this episode we discuss:

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If you want to leave us feedback, feel free to use the box in the episode page on Spotify! We're eager to hear what you think!

In this episode we talk about agriculture and the impact of meat production on our worlds natural resources. We also discuss some potential alternatives and whether indoor farming has what it takes to satiate our global need for protein and high quality food.

Outline

(0:00) Intros and updates on travels. (2:34) Roll in the episode. (4:15) Herman introduces the topic of Peak Agriculture. (8:00) Jason introduces the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how they relate to Peak Agriculture. (9:30) Factory farming and the challenges of meat production. (11:15) Link between alleviation of poverty, economic growth and the agricultural challenges. (13:00) Alternatives for meats in Indonesia. (14:08) Differences between developed vs developing economies. (15:10) How do you even measure something like peak agriculture? (15:45) Impact on bio-diversity globally & rain forests. (17:05) Declining reproduction rates might give some alleviation alongside agricultural efficiencies. (19:15) What are the solutions? (21:35) Herman has some opinions on alternative meats. (26:10) Croplands, mono-crops and specifically indoor farming.

Resources

Trains coming to South Africa: https://ewn.co.za/2022/06/02/new-railway-policy-will-open-the-industry-s-private-sector-says-mbalula

How does a country build or retrofit a rail, and why are trains so awesome? In this episode we talk about:

What is hydrothermal carbonization and is it everything we need for a sustainable future? In this episode we talk about:

In this episode we have a little off-the-cuff conversation about life and socialism:

How can we make residential housing greener and cleaner? In this episode we talk about:

Is Airbnb good or bad for a city? In this episode we talk about:

Detailed Show Notes

(0:00) Preamble

(2:30) Intro to Airbnb and the topic

(3:10) Cleaning fees are ridiculous!

(4:45) The Seller Experience

(8:00) Benefits and economics & challenges

(11:40) Seasonality of the trade

(13:00) False hopes, trickery & exploitation

(14:45) Short term vs long term impact

(15:55) A fringe income stream to finance other purchases

(17:20) Externalities and knock-on effects

(18:20) Investing and how the pandemic impacted those investors

(20:14) How does city culture get impacted? Does it cause gentrification?

(22:17) Urbanization, wealth migration and the forces that interact with tourism

(23:47) Changes in Bo-kaap

(25:31) Movement dynamics in and out of cities and the future directions for Airbnb

(27:02) Infrastructure considerations for distributed living, impacts on neighborhoods, towns and sense-of-place.

(31:13) Tourism during the pandemic and before, skiing season

(33:10) What oversight do we need for Airbnb? Herman has some thoughts

(35:04) Jason has some thoughts, income and wealth inequality.

(37:35) Distributing new apartments to locals, effect for service economy, what it's like in Aspen.