Crazy Wisdom
Stewart Alsop
In his series "Crazy Wisdom," Stewart Alsop explores cutting-edge topics, particularly in the realm of technology, such as Urbit and artificial intelligence. Alsop embarks on a quest for meaning, engaging with others to expand his own understanding of reality and that of his audience. The topics covered in "Crazy Wisdom" are diverse, ranging from emerging technologies to spirituality, philosophy, and general life experiences. Alsop's unique approach aims to make connections between seemingly unrelated subjects, tying together ideas in unconventional ways.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 23, 2026 • 1h 8min
Episode #539: Zero Trust Everything: Rebuilding the Internet's Money Layer
David Lachmish, co-founder of Ika and D-Wallet Labs, is a cybersecurity and cryptography builder focused on zero-trust custody. He discusses decentralized d-wallets built with novel 2PC-MPC cryptography. Short takes cover why centralized custody persists, how wallets can become invisible in UX, AI agent guardrails for financial actions, and decentralized governance plus novel security primitives like decentralized CAs.
Mar 16, 2026 • 55min
Episode #538: Outside the Three Institutions: Network States as the Last Honest Bet
Vahram Ayvazyan, founder of the Armenian Network State and organizer of diaspora networks, discusses network states, decentralization, and the crisis of nation-states. He explores AI and the future of work. He examines power, greed, hidden elites, and building parallel, cross-border communities that challenge traditional institutions.
Mar 13, 2026 • 49min
Episode #537: Free From the Grid, Connected to the World
Tom Faye, experimenter and entrepreneur building decentralized clean energy tools and Carbon Credits Marketplace. He talks solarpunk and practical off-grid living. They cover perovskite panels, portable container solar systems, powering villages, and IoT plus blockchain for verifiable carbon credits. Conversation also touches on AI/data labeling and the geopolitics of green energy.
9 snips
Mar 9, 2026 • 43min
Episode #536: From Filament to Agents: The Tools Keep Getting Cheaper and the Judgment Keeps Getting Scarcer
Andre Oliveira, founder of Splash N Color and builder of a bootstrapped 3D-printing ecommerce brand. He recounts running 40 FDM machines, offshoring production to China, and scaling a catalog of 200+ SKUs. They explore using Claude Code for inventory automation and agent teams, the SF AI scene and agent-driven workflows, and why making physical products stays hard even as AI tools get cheaper.
24 snips
Mar 2, 2026 • 58min
Episode #535: The Technological Adolescence: Can Humans Keep Up With AI's Puberty?
Ulises Martins, an AI and generative-tech practitioner who organizes events and builds AI education initiatives. He discusses technological adolescence and how rapid AI change could upend careers. They debate whether humans can keep pace, why learning AI is non-negotiable, and how collapsing software economics and physical-world limits reshuffle opportunity and risk.
Feb 23, 2026 • 55min
Episode #534: From COVID's Trust Bonfire to Decentralized Everything
Jake Hamilton, founder of Groundwire and Knockbox, builds ZK-proof blockchains, Bitcoin identity tooling, and privacy-preserving cryptography for AI and supply chains. He discusses zero-knowledge proofs, alternatives to invasive ID systems, the impact of COVID on institutional trust, local versus centralized AI, and creating a global repository of verifiable facts for trustless systems.
32 snips
Feb 20, 2026 • 1h 14min
Episode #533: The Universe Doing Its Thing: AI Evolution Is Already Here
Markus Buehler, McAfee Professor of Engineering at MIT specializing in materials, proteins, music and AI-driven discovery. He explores shared patterns across proteins, music and networks. He contrasts AI interpolation with genuine discovery. He describes agent swarms, language models as connective glue, automating ontologies, and the limits of real-world material fabrication.
Feb 16, 2026 • 58min
Episode #532: From Pythagoras to Plugins: Why We Still Need Human Musicians
John von Seggern, founder of Future Proof Music School and creator of Cadence, an AI-driven voice tutor. He talks about teaching timeless musical skills alongside AI, using AI as personalized tutors rather than creators. The conversation covers Ableton-based production, the studio as an instrument, historical tech that birthed genres, and why human taste and curation still matter.
Feb 13, 2026 • 54min
Episode #531: Revenue-Based Lending Meets Crypto: Building Leviathan on Sui
Lars van der Zande, founder, CEO and technical architect at Inkwell Finance, builds revenue-based financing for on-chain entities. He explains Ika’s signature network and Sui vs Solana dynamics. He describes Leviathan’s automatic revenue repayment model, programmatic wallets and policy controls, and how AI agents and embedded financing could reshape on-chain credit.
27 snips
Feb 9, 2026 • 57min
Episode #530: The Hidden Architecture: Why Your Startup Needs an Ontology (Before It's Too Late)
Larry Swanson, a knowledge architect and community builder who hosts the Knowledge Graph Insights podcast. He discusses why ontologies and knowledge graphs matter for AI. They trace semantic web history, defend RDF, and contrast symbolic deterministic systems with probabilistic LLMs. Conversation covers startup timing, domains that need ontologies, and neurosymbolic hybrid architectures.
