Up Against Reality

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Episode Rewind: Vivek Mahapatra Jul 14, 2026

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We're rewinding to Episode 118 with Salesforce exec Vivek Mahapatra — a guy who's outlasted every enterprise tech hype cycle you can name — talking agentic design and scaling AI like a grown-up. But first, we're diving into this week's AI news, and it's a wild one.

Mark Asch Jul 07, 2026

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Juilliard-trained composer, prog rock frontman, and 30-year piano teacher Mark Asch joins Up Against Reality to ask the question musicians are quietly panicking about: can AI make real art, or just really good karaoke? From scoring Fortune 500 brands to fronting X Atlas, Mark brings real musicianship to the debate over what happens when machines start humming along.

A Robot In Every Home Jun 30, 2026

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Think you have a few decades before the machines take over? Think again. It’s a chaotic race to commercialize physical AI and NVIDIA is frantically coding an OS to keep your new robotic peers from flattening you.

Episode Rewind: AI Bubble (Too Big to Fail) Jun 23, 2026

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We rewind to our conversation from November 11, 2025 about whether the AI boom is becoming too big to fail. From OpenAI and NVIDIA to Wall Street speculation and the circular economy forming around AI, we revisit whether this is the next great technological revolution, the next great bubble, or somehow both.

AI IPOs Jun 16, 2026

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The tech elites swore AI was too dangerous for capitalism, right up until Wall Street waved a three-trillion-dollar check. Today we unpack the ultimate corporate sellout alongside killer drones, Claude Fable 5, and lawyers getting wrecked by ChatGPT.

Local LLMs Jun 09, 2026

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Data centers had their moment — last week, actually. This week we're talking about the other side: local LLMs, the Mac Mini as an accidental AI powerhouse, and why "just run it yourself" is suddenly a real answer.

Data Centers Jun 02, 2026

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They built the future in your backyard, signed an NDA with your mayor, and sent you the water bill. This week we force open the windowless boxes at the center of everything: data centers.

Google I/O 2026 May 26, 2026

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We’re unpacking everything from Google I/O and why their head of AI says we’re standing in the "foothills of the singularity." Plus, an all-AI feature film crashes Cannes, Barnes & Noble’s massive PR bonfire, and the Pope teaming up with an AI startup at the Vatican. Wait, what?

12 Ways AI Ends the Human Era May 19, 2026

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99.9% of every species that ever existed is extinct. This week, we explore Max Tegmark’s twelve AI future scenarios and ask how artificial superintelligence, failed alignment, surveillance, automation, and human self-destruction could bring the human era to an end.

Jim DeWitt May 12, 2026

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Jim DeWitt joins us to talk AI agents, portable brains, and why the future of intelligence might need an owner’s manual. Meanwhile: Spotify’s getting weirder, Hollywood’s panicking, and the AI gold rush just hit another absurd milestone. Business as unusual.

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