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How a Bad Boss Kickstarted Silicon Valley... from Business History Oct 26, 2026

Show notes

Throughout the next few weeks, every Monday we'll be sharing some of our favorite episodes from Jacob's other show Business History. We hope you enjoy them and if you want to hear more, subscriber to Business History on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

William Shockley was an electronics genius - he even won a Nobel Prize - but he was an awful boss. Shockley was a cruel, paranoid micromanager. And this annoyed the staff of brilliant young engineers he'd assembled in a quiet town in Northern California. In fact, they quit and set up a company of their own inventing silicon chips.

Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore and the rest of "The Traitorous Eight" transformed computing, but also blazed a trail for the tech founders who would flock to Silicon Valley and change the world. Members of "The Traitorous Eight" set up Intel and AMD, while also funding businesses such as Google and Slack.

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Follow Business History on Instagram and TikTok
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Follow Robert Smith on Instagram and X
Email us at businesshistory@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn and X
To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Solving the Trust Problem in AI Shopping Oct 22, 2026

Show notes

Note: Today’s show is sponsored by PayPal.

Kartik Hosanagar is a professor at the Wharton School. The problems he studies include: What will it take for people to trust AI agents to buy stuff for them? And how should businesses prepare for a world where their customers include AI agents?

In this episode, Kartik explains:

Why trust in agentic shopping will arrive category by category, not all at once
How a single old Reddit post erased a thriving brand from ChatGPT’s recommendations
Why someone needs to take on the liability risk when purchases go wrong
How treating AI as just another sales channel is the mistake the movie studios made with Netflix
How to get a language model to pay attention to your brand

Connect with us:

Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can a Robot Build Better, Cheaper Houses? Oct 15, 2026

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Jason Ballard is the co-founder and CEO of ICON. Jason's problem is this: Can you use 3-D printing to build houses that are cheaper, better and more interesting than the houses we build now?

In this episode, Jason explains:

Why construction methods are so slow to change
How 3D printing opens up new designs for houses
How building on the Moon shaped the way Icon builds on Earth
The challenge of scaling to printing thousands of houses

Connect with us:

Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did AI Write This? Oct 08, 2026

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Celebrated novelists, countless students and at least one billionaire have recently been accused of using AI in their writing. The most commonly cited AI detector in these cases is called Pangram.

Max Spero is the co-founder and CEO of Pangram. His problem is this: Can you build tools that reliably detect AI-generated text and images? And a few years from now, will anybody care?

In this episode, Max explains:

Why AI prose so often sounds the same
How often Pangram makes mistakes
How detectors like Pangram compete with humanizer tools
Why the big AI companies may not be interested in detection
The shifting norms around AI-generated writing

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Blockers | A Preview of Michael Lewis's New Audiobook Oct 06, 2026

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I'm here with a preview of Blockers, a new audiobook from Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and more. In Blockers, Lewis tells the story of a handful of people who dedicated their careers to public service—until the Department of Government Efficiency decided they were a problem. These were people who believed they had a calling—people who kept American's sensitive tax data out of the wrong hands, made sure that politicians and civil servants played by the rules, and figured out how to stop wildfires from destroying suburban neighborhoods—and then discovered they were no longer wanted.

Here's an excerpt from the audiobook. You can buy the audiobook exclusively at blockers.fm.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can We Defeat Deepfakes? Oct 01, 2026

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We’ve all heard that nothing ever gets deleted from the internet. Luke Arrigoni says that just isn’t true. His company deletes thousands of deepfakes every day.

Luke is the founder and CEO of Loti, and his problem is this: How do you turn the Internet into a place where people have more control over their name, image and likeness?

Tens of thousands of famous people pay Loti to scour the internet and take down deepfakes and unapproved endorsements. But in Luke's telling, this is just the beginning. The company will soon allow celebrities to license their likeness for use in AI videos, and it also plans to start offering its services to ordinary people.

In this episode, Luke explains:

The harm that online deepfakes and impersonations can cause
How Loti automates tens of thousands of takedowns per day
Why the law may soon make it easier to fight deepfakes
Why celebrities are beginning to license their likenesses to AI platforms
AI’s role in the future of human creativity

Connect with us:

Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin… from Business History Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

Before 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended.

For example, the Catholic Church seized on the invention to sell special certificates absolving people of their sins – a move that made money, but caused a permanent schism in Christianity.

And Gutenberg too found himself in trouble – when a financier sued the inventor to reclaim his loan, plus interest.

Enjoy this episode from Business History, another Pushkin podcast.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Should We Pause AI? Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Everybody’s worried about the risks of AI. So we called up one of the most insightful writers we know on the subject: Zvi Mowshowitz. Zvi writes about AI and AI risks at his substack, Don’t Worry About the Vase. Zvi’s problem is this: How do we prevent artificial intelligence from killing everyone?

In this episode, Zvi explains:

Why it’s often useful to anthropomorphize AI
What this summer’s Hugging Face attack tells us about the nature of AI
What increasing AI capability means for cybersecurity risk
Whether and when we should pause AI development
Why powerful pen-weight models may remove the last reliable points of control

Connect with us:

Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bonus: Planning for Your Financial Future Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

On this bonus episode of What’s Your Problem, Jacob talks to Christine Chase, a Vice President, Financial Consultant at Fidelity Investments. Christine’s problem is this: How do you help clients build a plan to achieve their financial goals? Today’s show is sponsored by Fidelity Investments.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can a Robot Kill Fish Humanely? Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

The fish we eat usually die slowly, suffocating after they’re pulled out of the water. Saif Khawaja is the co-founder and CEO of a company called Shinkei. Saif's problem is this: Can he build a machine to efficiently kill fish in a way that is more humane?

In this episode, Saif explains:

How he came to believe that our current fishing practices are inhumane
How he adapted the Japanese technique of ikijime for use at scale
Why Shinkei’s process results in better texture and longer shelf life than commodity fish.
Why Shinkei is doing its own technology development, fish processing, and consumer branding.

Connect with us:

Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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