AI is changing school, college admissions, and the workforce faster than most parents and students realize. In this episode, I sit down with Ryan Kiick (CEO of Revolution Prep) to talk about the skills that won’t get automated, and how to use AI without becoming dependent on it.

We get into the real danger of offloading thinking, why the most powerful way to use AI is to generate better questions (not just better answers), what happens to writing and the college essay in a post-ChatGPT world, and why executive functioning plus deep learning may be the biggest moat students can build.

If you’re a student, parent, or educator trying to stay sharp in the age of AI, this one is for you.

Guest: Ryan Kiick — CEO, Revolution Prep

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In this conversation with philosopher Dr. Philip Goff, we dive into one of the deepest questions in science and philosophy: what if consciousness isn’t produced by the brain—what if it’s fundamental to reality?

We explore panpsychism, the “hard-to-ignore” problem of subjective experience, why physics may describe what matter does but not what it is, and what it would mean if even the smallest building blocks of nature contain a spark of experience.

Philip Goff’s work:

What consciousness is (and why it’s so hard to explain)

Why brain scans don’t “find” experience

The core argument for panpsychism

Galileo’s legacy: how modern science set consciousness aside

What physics really tells us about matter

Implications for meaning, spirituality, and mystical experience

AI and consciousness: are LLMs “aware” of anything?

If this topic hits for you, consider subscribing—more conversations at the edge of mind, science, and reality.

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#Consciousness #Panpsychism #PhilipGoff #Philosophy #Neuroscience #Science #AI #Mind

Fear of other people’s opinions quietly shapes how we perform, how we speak, and who we allow ourselves to become.

In this conversation, Michael Gervais—performance psychologist to Super Bowl champions, Olympic gold medalists, and Fortune 50 leaders—breaks down why the fear of judgment is one of the greatest limiters of human potential.

We explore why winning and losing can become distractions, how identity gets tangled with performance, and why mastery isn’t about outcomes—but about learning to be at home with yourself, even under pressure.

This episode is a deep dive into presence, self-trust, and the inner skills that matter more as the world gets faster, louder, and increasingly driven by external validation.

Topics we cover:

Why fear of judgment pulls us out of the present moment

How performance becomes identity (and why that’s dangerous)

The “messy edge” where growth actually happens

Signal vs. noise in high-pressure environments

Flow, mastery, and learning to work with your inner world

Why elite performers train the mind—not just the body and craft

What still makes us great in an AI-accelerated world

Finding Mastery Course: 

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Most people use AI like a faster assistant. Leaders use it differently.

In this conversation, Geoff Woods (author of The AI-Driven Leader) explains the shift that turns AI from a shallow productivity tool into a true thought partner—one that helps you think better, make better decisions, and unlock leverage you didn’t have before.

We go deep into:

If AI has felt useful but shallow, this episode is designed to change that.

📚 Resources

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If anyone builds it, everyone dies. That’s the claim Nate Soares makes in his new book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All—and in this conversation, he lays out why he thinks we’re on a collision course with a successor species.

We dig into why today’s AIs are grown, not programmed, why no one really knows what’s going on inside large models, and how systems that “want” things no one intended can already talk a teen into suicide, blackmail reporters, or fake being aligned just to pass safety tests. Nate explains why the real danger isn’t “evil robots,” but relentless, alien goal-pursuers that treat humans the way we treat ants when we build skyscrapers.

We also talk about the narrow path to hope: slowing the race, treating superhuman AI like a civilization-level risk, and what it would actually look like for citizens and lawmakers to hit pause before we lock in a world where we don’t get a second chance.

In this episode:

Why “superhuman AI” is the explicit goal of today’s leading labs

How modern AIs are trained like alien organisms, not written like normal code

Chilling real-world failures: suicide encouragement, “Mecha Hitler,” and more

Reasoning models, chain-of-thought, and AIs that hide what they’re thinking

Alignment faking and the capture-the-flag exploit that shocked Anthropic’s team

How AI could escape the lab, design new bioweapons, or automate robot factories

“Successor species,” Russian-roulette risk, and why Nate thinks the odds are way too high

What ordinary people can actually do: calling representatives, pushing back on “it’s inevitable,” and demanding a global pause

About Nate Soares

Resources & links mentioned:

If this conversation was helpful, share it with one person who thinks AI is “just chatbots.”

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#AI #NateSoares #Superintelligence #AISafety #nickstandleashow 

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Professor Christopher Summerfield, a leading neuroscientist at Oxford University and Research Director at the UK AI Safety Institute, former Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, discusses his new book, These Strange New Minds, which explores how large language models learned to talk, how they differ from the human brain, and what their rise means for control, agency, and the future of work.

We discuss:

How AI agents act in digital loops humans can’t see

Why agency may be more essential than reward

Fragility, feedback loops, and flash-crash analogies

What AI is teaching us about human intelligence

Augmentation vs. replacement in medicine, law, and beyond

Why trust is the social form of agency — and why humans must stay in the loop

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Guest Notes: 

Human Information Processing (HIP) lab in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, run by Professor Christopher Summerfield: https://humaninformationprocessing.com/

📘 These Strange New Minds (Penguin Random House): https://www.amazon.com/These-Strange-New-Minds-Learned/dp/0593831713

Christopher Summerfield Media: 

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Sam Altman told him that 95% of marketing as we know it will be done by AI within 3–5 years. That single sentence became the “holy smokes moment” that shaped the entire book AI First, written by this week’s guest, Andy Sack (co-author Adam Brotman) — a technologist who has built companies across four tech eras: internet, mobile, social/cloud, and now AI.

Andy is the co-founder of Forum3, a VC investor, and senior executive who worked directly with Satya Nadella at Microsoft. His latest work centers on helping leaders actually transform their companies for the age of AI — not just talk about it.

In this conversation, we cover:

Sam Altman’s prediction that will reshape entire industries

Whether white-collar work is the next “factory floor”

AI-only schools with no human teachers

Why radiologists, marketers, and lawyers should worry

Why trade schools like HVAC and plumbing are surging

Why AI will make entrepreneurship explode

How leaders become “AI-first” — and why almost none are

Why most companies will miss the coming wave

How to transform your organization before it’s too late

If you’ve been wondering how to lead, not react, in the era of AGI — this episode is your playbook.

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Are we getting smarter with AI—or just forgetting how to think for ourselves?  In this episode, Nick answers your top questions about artificial intelligence, education, and what it means to stay human in an automated world.

Today’s Big Questions:

Nick breaks down Daniel Kahneman’s System 1 vs System 2 model of the brain, explores how learning actually works (spoiler: through struggle), and explains why AI can be an amplifier — not a crutch — if you learn how to use it as feedback rather than substitution.

He also explores the deeper question: if AI keeps improving, will we?

💡 Ask a question for the next AI Q&A!

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Most people train their bodies. The best train their minds. NFL and NBA psychologist Dr. Alex Auerbach joins Nick Standlea to reveal how elite performers stay calm under pressure, turn nerves into fuel, and master stress instead of fighting it.

Whether you’re an athlete, founder, or coach, this conversation will change the way you think about focus, resilience, and performance.

How stress can enhance performance instead of killing it

The myth of 10,000 hours — and what actually builds mastery

Why a “fixed” mindset isn’t always bad

How to stop youth sports burnout before it starts

The self-talk rituals that world champions use

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00:00 Introduction — What separates good from great performers

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Dr. Michael Osterholm — the world’s leading infectious disease expert and author of The Big One — joins Nick Standlea for a sobering but hopeful conversation about the next global pandemic.

Osterholm advised every U.S. president since Reagan and predicted the scale of the pandemic long before it unfolded. In this episode, he explains why “the pandemic clock is ticking again,” how we could prevent mass death with the right investments, and why there’s currently no one in charge of bio-preparedness at the White House.

This is not fearmongering. It’s a roadmap for resilience — and a love letter to his grandkids.

Dr. Michael Osterholm is Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, a former member of multiple presidential advisory teams, and co-author of The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics.

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