Thinking On Paper

Can a machine, no matter how complex, ever truly feel or understand? Can AI ever be conscious?We're reading Chapter 3 of Irreducible by Federico Faggin, and he argues that consciousness is rooted in the quantum nature of life, something potentially inaccessible to classical, deterministic machines. If that's true, AI consciousness is impossible.Faggin contrasts the symbolic processing of computers with the dynamic, self-organizing behavior of living systems. He suggests that real understanding isn’t just non-algorithmic, it may be inseparable from the quantum coherence found in biological life. Are we mistaking simulation for sentience?Please enjoy the show. And share with a conscious friend. --Timestamps(00:00) Consciousness and Meditation(05:00) The Nature of Machines(09:56)Computers vs. Humans(15:50) Quantum Consciousness and Its Implications(20:49) The Evolution of Humanity vs. Machines--Learn more: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

David Bianchi, an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and pioneer in blockchain technology, shares his groundbreaking journey in the film industry. He reveals how his series "Razor (RZR)" disrupted traditional funding by allowing fans to buy scenes as NFTs. The conversation dives into the role of AI in filmmaking, enhancing creativity, and addressing accessibility. Bianchi discusses the blurred lines between creators and audiences, suggesting that blockchain's rise could render old studio contracts obsolete. For film lovers and tech enthusiasts, it’s a look into the future of storytelling.

Is consciousness a fundamental aspect of reality? The hosts dive into Federico Faggin's insights, exploring the complexities of consciousness and its possible implications for AI. They discuss the evolution of scientific thought and the intricate links between quantum physics and human awareness. Listeners are challenged to consider the distinctions between machine intelligence and human consciousness, questioning whether machines can ever truly know or exist in the same way we do. This thought-provoking conversation illuminates the mysteries of existence itself.

Ajay Patel, Head of World ID at Tools for Humanity, joins Mark and Jeremy to Think on Paper about how identity might be rebuilt for the AI age. From iris biometrics and zero-knowledge proofs to decentralized systems that verify you without exposing you, this episode digs into one question: if we can’t prove who’s real online, what kind of internet are we left with?As AI-generated content floods every platform and bots learn to pass every test, proving you're human has become harder than ever. CAPTCHAs fail. ID checks invade privacy. And platforms are collecting more of your data just to confirm you’re real — while using that data to train the next generation of AI.Please enjoy the show. And share with a curious friend.–Timestamps(00:00) Intro: Future of Digital Identity & AI Challenges(01:15) Meet Ajay Patel: Head of World ID at Tools for Humanity(01:44) WorldID: Why Digital Identity Matters in the Age of AI(05:40) Global Digital Identity for 8 Billion Humans(07:38) AI in 2025: How Advanced is AI Really?(08:17) AI Bypassing CAPTCHA: The Security Crisis(12:54) ZK Proofs Explained: Privacy-Preserving Tech Behind World ID(15:20) How World ID’s Iris Scan Works (No Data Stored!)(18:54) World ID Data Security: Breaking Down Multi-Party Computation(22:56) Hot Button Q&A: Apple vs Android, AGI Threats, & More(24:19) World ID Use Cases: Gaming, Voting, & Anti-Bot Systems(25:13) Exclusive: World ID x Razer to End Gaming Cheats(30:56) AI Hype vs Reality: Are Bots Just “Yes Men on Servers”?(35:35) Decentralizing World ID: Open Protocol, No Corporate Control(38:15) Question for Next Guest: Hollywood’s David Bianchi on AI & Art–Thank you for Thinking On Paper. Your future self will thank you.   

There’s no going back.Whatever this book has taught us, there was a pre-AI world and there is a post-AI world. And however it plays out, nothing will ever be the same.In the final chapter of Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari lays out the cold new reality: AI isn’t building one future — it’s fracturing the world into competing digital empires. Separate hardware. Separate software. Separate truths.Mark and Jeremy break it all down. The tipping points, the digital arms race, and what it means when the machines stop speaking the same language.Inside this episode:What “The Silicon Curtain” really means and how it's already hereHow data colonialism is shaping AI ecosystems with zero consentThe mind-body problem in the age of avatars and deepfakesWhat happens when digital personas feel more real than real peopleWhy the next great power struggles will be waged through code, not missilesAnd how to build wiser networks in a world pulling itself apartThis is not a story about AGI. It’s a story about power, perception, and the quiet end of global consensus.One system won’t win. They’ll just stop cooperating.Welcome to the post-AI world. Try to stay human.Please enjoy the show.And don't have nightmares.–Chapters(00:00) Disruptors and curious minds(01:54) My AI Epiphany(02:54) The precondition for cooperation isn't similarity. It's the ability to exchange information(04:28) AI Pessimism - How many nefarious bad actors do you need(05:50) The Liverpool Manchester Train moment for AI(06:48) Google was an AI company in 2002(08:21) Cats and consciousness(08:55) ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge(11:50) The mind-body problem and online identities(15:26) Veneer theory and realism(17:22) Data colonialism and digital "cocoons"(21:58) Epilogue: Create wiser networks(24:13) How to be wise in the age of AI--Read books with us: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

AI doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t feel fear. It can’t be tortured into silence.So what happens when regimes built on fear try to rule through machines that don’t feel it?In Chapter 10 of Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari raises a brutal question:Will AI cement authoritarian power — or crack it open from the inside?In this episode of the Thinking on Paper Book Club, Mark and Jeremy follow that tension into the heart of modern power. The irony is razor-sharp. The risk is real.Inside:What happens when an AI trained to censor starts asking questionsDamnatio memoriae in the age of the algorithm — and why it might backfireWhy dictators love control but hate complexityThe collapse of feedback loops in totalitarian systemsThe Russell-Einstein Manifesto, re-read for 2025And how AI might obey too well… until it doesn’tAI doesn’t love the party. It doesn’t bleed for the state.And if your regime depends on blind loyalty, you might not want a machine watching you too closely.This is not sci-fi. It’s modern history waiting to happen.Please enjoy the book club. –CHAPTERS(00:00) Disruptors and curious minds(00:21) AI spectrum of doom - utopia(02:10) Damnatio memoriae(04:28) The Alignment Problem Russian Style(06:45) Self correcting mechanisms for totalitarian nut-jobs(09:05) Super Machiavellian AI(09:51) The Russell-Einstein Manifesto–Read books with us - www.thinkingonpaper.xyzLike, subscribe, tell a friend.

Let’s be honest. Most Web3 marketing has been a dumpster fire.Hype over strategy. Jargon over value. Brands pushing NFTs like they’re limited-edition soap.Diego Borgo saw it from the inside.He helped shape Web3 strategy for Adidas, Porsche, and Mastercard. And now he’s here to explain why the whole space went sideways — and what smart brands need to do right now to get it back on track.This isn’t about the metaverse. It’s about not making the same stupid mistakes twice.Inside:Why “onboarding” your audience like children was a fatal misstepWhat actually works when building community around techHow to avoid Web2 baggage like fake scarcity and empty engagementDiego’s “See the Unseen” framework for reading market shifts before they explodeHow AI and blockchain actually intersect to create value instead of chaosWhat marketers keep getting wrong about trust, decentralization, and cultureThis isn’t more Web3 hype. It’s a strategy session from someone who’s been in the trenches with some of the biggest brands in the world.If you’re a marketer, strategist, or exec trying to build something real with new tech, start here.Before you ship another roadmap. Before you drop another token. Before you lose the plot.This is Thinking on Paper. Where tech meets strategy and culture.Please enjoy the show.--Follow Diego: https://x.com/don_borgo --Chapters(00:00) Disruptors And Curious Minds(00:35) The Problem With Web3(01:56) Welcome To The Show Diego Borgo(02:19) Simplifying Web3 for Your Family(06:14) Audience Infrastructure in Web3 - What Did Brands Get Wrong?(09:52) Short-Term vs Long-Term Brand Strategies(12:31) The Web3 Echo Chamber(14:53) Meet People Where They Are(16:56) Web3 On-boarding Is Patronizing(17:58) Hot Buttons(19:04) What Has Diego Changed His Mind About Regarding AI(23:08) Decentralized AI(28:19) Trust (30:31) Follow On Question: AI And Blockchain Scaling(32:54) UBI And Diego's Question For WorldID(35:11) Backstage After Show--Full episodes and archives: www.thinkingonpaper.xyzWatch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thinkingonpaper/videos--

Everyone’s screaming “quantum supremacy.”IBM. Microsoft. Google. D-Wave. IonQ. Billion-dollar roadmaps, competing architectures, and more qubit counting than a casino in Vegas.But beneath the press releases, the real question remains: who’s actually building the future of computing — and who’s just performing it?Coleman Collins, Director of Product at IonQ, joins Thinking on Paper to go deep on trapped-ion quantum computing and why IonQ is betting big on using nature’s own atoms, precisely controlled by lasers, to win the long game.Forget theoretical fluff. This episode is packed with what actually matters:Why raw qubit counts are meaningless without fidelity and controlHow IonQ’s “algorithmic qubit” metric measures usable quantum powerWhy lasers — not superconductors or topological guesswork — might be the most precise quantum wiring we’ve gotA realistic timeline for quantum advantage (and why we’re not there yet)Whether trapped ions could crack crypto and trigger Q-DayAnd why Microsoft’s Majorana play is bold, weird, and maybe too lateWe also break down:The five criteria every real quantum computer must meetWhat investors keep getting wrongHow developers can actually start building for this future todayThis isn’t just another quantum hype cycle. This is where strategy meets physics, and marketing crashes into the math.Please enjoy the show.--Chapters:(00:00) Introduction to Quantum Computing and IonQ(02:17) Understanding Trapped Ion Quantum Computing(04:57) DiVincenzo's 5-Step Criteria for Quantum Computers(07:31) The Natural Aspect of Quantum Computing(10:01) Algorithmic Qubits vs Physical Qubits(12:49) Achieving Quantum Advantage(15:04) Investment Trends in Quantum Computing(17:44) The Role of Education in Quantum Investment(20:40) Hot Buttons(25:57) Topological Quantum(30:47) Microsoft's Majorana Quantum Chip(34:09) Engaging Developers in Quantum(36:59) Hybrid Quantum Computing and Integration(38:55) The Quantum Promised Land(41:19) Can Quantum Hack Bitcoin?(45:09) Could Quantum Currency Exist?--www.thinkingonpaper.xyz

Philip Johnston, co-founder of StarCloud, is building data centers in space. Forty-megawatt GPUS that unfold in orbit, bleed heat into the vacuum, and link back to Earth with lasers that outpace fiber. Thanks to Space-X, launch costs are decreasing rapidly, allowing small and agile technology startups like Starcloud to send their tech into lower earth orbit at a fraction of the cost it once did. Predictions put the future cost of launch as low as ten dollars a kilo. At such a price, space manufacturing can really 'take off'. Philip joins Mark and Jeremy to Think on Paper about the hardware Starcloud is launching into space this year. There will be no water - space radiators cool the GPUs without water. They ask how StarCloud’s latency beats transatlantic cables on key routes and learn why orbital compute could slash the AI power bill Real-time compute from orbit. Unlimited power. Permanent sunshine.The cloud is moving up.Please enjoy the show. And share with a curious friend. --Chapters(00:00) The impact of earth based compute(03:09) Data centers in space(08:36) Conquering Latency Challenges in Space(10:32) Modular Space Infrastructure(16:03) How much do space based data centers cost? (19:46) Manufacturing Beyond Earth's Boundaries(26:00) Reusability and space junk(26:15) GPUs in Orbit(28:52) Future Tech Rapid-Fire Questions(29:55) 5 Billion Humanoids(32:35) Addressing Space Skepticism(33:41) Quantum Computing's Orbital AdvantageThe Humanoid Difference(37:20) Where Are All the Aliens? Exploring the Fermi Paradox(38:35) Behind the Scenes-- Other ways to connect with us:⁠Listen to every podcast⁠Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠Follow us on ⁠X⁠Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Read our ⁠Substack⁠Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz

Chapter 9 of Nexus doesn’t mess around.It asks if democracy can survive the data age, if creativity is just statistical noise, and whether AI is coming for your job — or for something deeper. Like agency. Or purpose. Or your kid’s future.This isn’t TED Talk optimism. This is the part where the lights flicker.Mark and Jeremy go full throttle on:Why intellectual jobs might vanish before manual ones (Mark’s switching to woodchopping)Harari’s four principles for a democratic AI world — benevolence, decentralization, mutuality, and rest — and why “mutuality” sounds like a bad punchlineWhy creativity might be the last thing standing between you and a machine that talks prettierWhat you should actually teach your kids, beyond coding or cryingWhether free services are just surveillance programs with better brandingAnd the ethics of owning your own data in a world that already sold itThis is not an episode to make you feel better. It’s here to make you think harder.You’re not a user. You’re a variable.And AI is very good at solving for you.--TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Tech optimism(01:29) Chapter 9 first impressions(03:14) The race for raw materials(06:02) Benevolence, decentralization, mutuality, change & rest(15:30) Automation assumptions are wrong(18:18) Motor skills and social skills in 2050(20:06) The flexible superpower (23:11) Creativity: the last refuge of the human condition(26:53) Does AI have exceptional test?(28:50) Reverse creativity(31:45) Go "Move 37"(33:52) Bank algorithm says no(37:15) Your AI girlfriend--Learn more: https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/technology-book-club/