The Other Stuff with internetVin HudZah: The Collapse of Permission Structures | The Other Stuff #33
HudZah (https://x.com/hud_zah) is someone exploring what it means, and what it takes, to operate at the edge of what is possible.
In this conversation, we traced HudZah's path from Riyadh to Sri Lanka to Waterloo. A childhood split across three countries, shaped by rationed wifi, a single HP desktop, and the discovery that what you build on a computer can change the world around you. We talked about coding HTML on Notepad at ten, building soundboard apps that funded his own move to Canada, and what it's like to grow up in a place with no permits, no regulators, and no one telling you what you can't do.
We explored the birth of esports through Half-Life mods, the machines behind the food we love, and a baklava maker in San Francisco whose irrational pursuit of quality you can taste in a single bite. We discussed how AI is collapsing the walls between disciplines, what that does to the identities we built around expertise, and why individual agency might be the only variable that matters now.
This is a conversation about curiosity, permission, and what happens when the cost of crossing boundaries drops to zero.
The Other Stuff is hosted by internetVin, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and possibly the most curious man on Earth. Produced by New.
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Timestamps
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:38 Growing Up in Riyadh
00:05:59 Saudi Shawarma and Broasted Chicken
00:16:39 School in Saudi Arabia
00:21:48 The HP Desktop and First Lines of Code
00:25:55 YouTube Rabbit Holes and Gaming
00:45:35 The Birth of Esports
01:02:43 Valve's Employee Handbook
01:05:12 Indie Games and Pure Pursuit
01:06:05 Stardew Valley and ConcernedApe
01:07:03 Moving to Sri Lanka
01:10:34 SnapAPaper and Seeing Real Users
01:13:47 Soundboards, Shopify, and Funding the Move
01:27:38 Landing in Canada at 17
01:36:25 AI and Collapsing the Distance Between Disciplines
01:47:02 Identity, Expertise, and Permission Structures
02:00:32 The Baklava Maker in San Francisco
02:18:26 Machines Behind the Food We Love
02:36:02 Frederic Tudor and the Ice King
02:42:29 HudZah Flips the Interview
02:49:05 Being a Parent
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The music used during the introduction is "Sitting by the Lake in Zurich" by Sweatson Klank. Available on Bandcamp: https://sweatsonklank.bandcamp.com/track/sitting-by-the-lake-in-zurich