Zengineering: A Philosophy of Science, Technology, Art & Engineering

Latest Episodes:

081 - with Bethany Simpson - On VR, Egypt, and the Future of Education Jul 02, 2019

Show notes

Hi, Zengineers!

We're heading back in time this week to explore the wondrous and captivating world of ancient Egypt. "Wow, that's terrific," I bet you're saying to yourself. So many people have been consumed by a fascination into the fantasy and reality of Egypt at some point in their lives. I know we've been obsessed many times.

This week we're joined by an expert on the subject, Bethany Simpson, a real live Archaeologist and Egyptologist. "Holy moly," you're probably thinking now. "That's incredible. Everything I know about Egypt I learned from Stargate." Well, Bethany is here to set the record straight. Stargates are real ... wait, what? No, they are not? Ok, well, MAYBE they are, but we actually didn't get to them, so we'll have to re-examine that in a later episode.

In this episode we discuss a fantastic journey that Bethany led Adam and Brian on through a virtual recreation of Nefertari's tomb the way it looked the day she was buried in it. We discuss this amazing experience, Bethany's lifelong pursuit of uncovering the magic of ancient Egypt and the future of technology in both archaeology and education.

It's a great conversation and we're so luck to have met Bethany in VR and in, like, slightly less VR, over the internet and video chat to make this episode happen.

We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

Bethany’s suggested translation of the book of the dead: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Books/Papyrus_Ani.html

Nefertari: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertari

Nefertari's Tomb Experience in Virtual Reality: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nefertaris-tomb-experience-in-virtual-reality-tickets-54323374676?aff=erelexpmlt

High Fidelity :: Remembering D-Day: Explore a Virtual WWII Era Hangar with a Battlefield Expert: https://steamcommunity.com/games/390540/announcements/detail/1765882577131473116

https://www.amazon.com/Mummies-Egypt-Reading-Rainbow-Books/dp/0064460118

http://rickriordan.com/series/the-heroes-of-olympus/

Bethany's Egypt travel tips: fly into Cairo … use Uber to get good taxi prices … largest city in Africa … def hit Luxor and Karnac temple … safe but not comfy … take a nile cruise … do it with a tour, but make sure you get time to wander … no raw salads … don’t compliment actual items, make it about the person, otherwise they will try to give you the item… learn 1-10 in Arabic and prices will drop dramatically … scarf and sleeves to wrists are important for women when visiting temples … no skimpy clothes for anyone

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080 - On a Life of Video Games Jun 18, 2019

Show notes

Zengineers!! What's the happs?

Let's have a fun chat this week, we said. Something we both love, that reminds us of being young, and that we could talk about in depth and at length. Well, we came up with video games. In fact, we were so excited by the topic that we're going to turn it into a series.

This week, as we often do, is the first in the series where we get our feet wet just musing on the world of video games and our experience with them. We've both played a lot as kids on both consoles and computers. Clearly that experience influenced us in our educations and professions.

Video games are such a beautiful amalgamation of modern technology, science, engineering, and art. Over the years they have expanded from the simplest of early experiences only had by the deepest of nerds to games that the majority of the world have enjoyed in shared online experiences; such beauty in something that under the hood is so very complex. What a great topic to series (a verb?) on Zengineering.

In future episodes we will be bringing guests to talk about the history, the hardware, the software, and the rapidly evolving view of video games in society. We hope you enjoy this first conversation.

Don't miss these other great series in a similar vein:

Virtual Reality: https://zengineeringpodcast.com/episode-034-on-virtual-reality-389ecc73dfe0

Artificial Inteliigence: https://zengineeringpodcast.com/episode-027-on-artificial-intelligence-part-1-5a98c9c246d5

Dungeons & Dragons: https://zengineeringpodcast.com/episode-005-on-dungeons-dragons-fantasy-sports-and-lego-math-49804abb0ea1

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

How many installs of office exist in the world: https://www.quora.com/How-many-Microsoft-Office-users-are-there-worldwide

Brian's favorite 8-bit-covers playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/1214582130/playlist/30ReTImxMKlIDmBgAwnD0i?si=k3ks2fvqQsWyRb-e1uVLzw

Famous cheat codes over the years: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/brwmq/porntipsguzzardo/

The Myth Of Prometheus – The Thief Of Fire: https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/prometheus-fire-myth/

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077 - with Tim Foad - On Economics, Technology, and Productivity Jun 18, 2019

Show notes

What's up, Zengineers?

Welcome back to the laboratory. This week we're discussing economics with a real live economics professor. Wow! Tim Foad is a good friend, the Chair of the Department of Economics at San Diego State University, and a great guy to shoot the shit with. Tim told us that people aren't always excited to talk to economists. We can't possibly understand why, because we're stoked, and so glad that Tim could join us.

This conversation started from a question Brian had about how wealth is created in the world. You know, not just money like Dollars and Yen, but on the books value of goods, commodities, assets ... bigger too ... we're talking GDP and other academic words, phrases, and acronyms that may seem simple, but are all a bit confusing when you starting asking real questions about them.

Wealth is a weird concept, but it's an important one when you're going to discuss ... well, just about anything ... but especially how businesses, governments, and technology play into policy around the world. Many of you will recognize that wealth, and the accumulation of it, is not a zero sum game. This is tricky, and confusing, and hard to talk about, but Tim helped make sense of it.

We can't promise we stayed on topic the whole time, but Tim helped us place economics into our mental models of the world, and helped us answer some of our puzzling questions. We hope you enjoy the convo.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

Tim's Favorite Economist: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1992/becker/biographical/

Predictably Irrational: https://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Decisions/dp/006

Diminishing marginal utility of income and wealth: https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/12309/concepts/diminishing-marginal-utility-of-income-and-wealth/

Mechanical Turkers may have out-predicted the most popular crime-predicting algorithm: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/17/16902016/compas-algorithm-sentencing-court-accuracy-problem

Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMPAS_(software)

Development Economics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_economics

Natural Monopoly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_monopoly

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079 - with Patrick Mellor - On Earth’s History of Climate Change May 22, 2019

Show notes

Hey there, Zengineers?

We hope you're down for a wild ride this week. Our guest is Patrick Mellor: biological scientist, philosopher, geological climatologist (we may have invented this title), researcher, journalist and poet. Needless to say, we had a blast chatting with him.

This conversation feels like it lasted for days with all the ground we covered, but we had to cut it down to just the best nuggets. We discuss Earth before life, the wild changes the planet has endured, and how the planet has evolved over time because of life. The impact has been profound, and continues to be today as humanity faces one of its greatest challenges with anthropogenic climate change.

Patrick brings a perspective to our study of Earth and its climate that's truly hard to come by. We share a concern for the current situation, but Patrick also shares a perspective of true beauty with us, and one that has stuck with us since the episode. Life on Earth has caused mass extinctions before, but NEVER before has that life been so aware of what is going on and so able to affect positive change. We're in this together, and Patrick's positivity shines through in this episode. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we enjoyed having it.

Special shout out this week to our longtime listener, Dean for introducing us to Patrick and allowing this episode to come together. Thanks for supporting the show, Dean!

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

Patrick's New Book: https://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9781943209248/alkali-shores.aspx

Ancient Upheavals Show How To Geoengineer A Stable Climate (by Patrick): https://palladiummag.com/2019/01/28/ancient-upheavals-show-how-to-geoengineer-a-stable-climate/

Flood Basalt Eruptions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_basalt

Panspermia (a theory of how life spread in the unverse): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

The Younger Dryas: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/abrupt-climate-change/The%20Younger%20Dryas

Testing Iron Fertilization of the Oceans: https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2012/10/18/iron-fertilization-savior-to-climate-change-or-ocean-dumping

Hydroelectric Power on the Mediteranean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa

The deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calypso_Deep

Refilling The Mediterranean Sea: https://mappingignorance.org/2014/02/07/how-the-mediterranean-was-refilled/

Yellowstone's Supervolcano: https://www.seeker.com/earth/a-deep-mantle-plume-fuels-the-yellowstone-supervolcano

Permian-Triassic Exstinction Event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event

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078 - On Surviving In The Woods Apr 27, 2019

Show notes

What's up, Zengineers?

We're back in the party pad! Hooray. This week we're getting grungy, or is it crunchy, or maybe grundly? I don't know. Whatever you call it, we're talking about surviving in the great outdoors. You know, AKA, hiking, camping and general adventuring.

Adam and Brian are both self proclaimed outdoorsmen, having spent much of their childhood wandering around outside with varying levels of guidance and supervision. They've definitely both pushed the limits ... well, like ... built forts, blown things up, started fires by hand, and gotten badges and stuff ... let's just say they both feel comfy in a tent, and can use a map and compass. That's a good start.

This episode is a bit of an exploration of why we adventure, why camping is a thing and not just life, and how adventure can be good for us. We talk about fun things to do outside, fun places we've been recently, and some of the many pitfalls of wandering around in nature when most of your life is spent in the confines of a suburban home where bears are definitely not commonly found.

This is a jolly old convo about having fun in nature. It's definitely not a guide on how to survive or how to get started camping or even just hiking. Nope. We're not those kind of story tellers. The general internet is better for that.

So, sit back, relax, and put on your Earth day cap while we take you through the green forests of the northeast, the blistering deserts of the southeast, and the delightfully cooling waters that tie life and the entire world together.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

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076 - On Dragon Capsules, Space Trash, and VR Experiences Mar 29, 2019

Show notes

What's up, Zengineers?

Welcome back to the laboratory. It's just us this week (no guests), so we've taken the liberty of chasing a bunch of random topics as a throwback to our early episodes.

We started the convo with the intention of sharing a super fun experience we recently shared together in Virtual Reality. We took a tour of the ancient Egyptian tomb of Nefertari as it looked the day she was laid to rest. The tour was guided by a professor of Egyptian Archaeology and was one of the most interesting VR experiences either of us have had to date.

The sidetrack topic on this episode turned out to be the privatization of the space industry. The exciting news that SpaceX successfully docked its crew capsule to the international space station for the first time, sets the stage for the first private transportation of US Astronauts in the history of humankind. What an an exciting time.

Enjoy the excitement of JFK's announcement of the original Space Race to the Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouRbkBAOGEw

Hope you enjoy the convo.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

VR Cameras on the Space Station: https://www.roadtovr.com/vr-cameras-now-international-space-station-capture-space-walks-missions/

Windows running apps natively in VR: https://www.roadtovr.com/windows-mixed-reality-will-soon-run-win32-desktop-apps-vr/

Millions attend the same concert in VR: https://www.roadtovr.com/fornite-virtual-concert-potent-glimpse-of-virtual-reality-future/

Microsoft HoloLens 2 Release Video: https://www.roadtovr.com/mwc-2019-hololens-2-reveal-demo/

The amazing physics of VR: https://www.roadtovr.com/boneworks-reveal-stress-level-zero-physics-based-interactions-embodiment/

A new T-Rex experience at the American Museum of Natural History: https://www.roadtovr.com/american-museum-natural-history-brings-visitors-closer-t-rex-new-vr-experience/

A hilariously old website sharing JFK's original space race announcement: https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm

JFK's Moonshot Announcement on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouRbkBAOGEw

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075 - with Paul Gambill of Nori - On The True Cost of Carbon and Reversing Climate Change Mar 15, 2019

Show notes

Howdy, Zengineers!

We're back at it trying to help understand Climate Change with our buddies at Nori (https://nori.com/). This week we're joined by CEO, Paul Gambill to hear an update on what's happening at Nori and wheree they are headed.

There's a lot of technology driving Nori. Not only are they a software company building on top of a blockchain backbone, but they also have to worry about the organic-to-digital translation of real world measurements of carbon in physical materials like the atmosphere and soil into bits of computer data.

In this episode we dive into where Nori is headed from a technological perspective. We discuss how Nori is currently working with farmers to build out economic incentive backed by real data to encourage carbon capture and help make farming generally healthier and more sustainable. It's a lot to digest, but it's all delicious. See what we did there? Hilarious!

Hope you enjoy the convo.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

Nori FAQ: https://nori.com/faq

Nori Carbon Removal Newsroom (new podcast briefs from Nori on climate and carbon capture) https://nori.com/carbon-removal-newsroom

An interview on Nori's Podcast with Astrobiologist David Grinspoon: https://nori.com/podcast/47-astrobiologist-david-grinspoon

More about ol' David! - https://www.psi.edu/about/staffpage/grinspoon

Earth In Human Hands (a great read): https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Human-Hands-Shaping-Planets/dp/1455589128

BBC's Power of the Planet (geological history and perspective on our planet... kinda like Planet Earth but actually about the planet, and not the living creatures): https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008fdjy/episodes/guide

Climeworks, a leading Carbon Capture Company: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/magazine/climeworks-business-climate-change.html

One of the technological integrations Nori is using to measure and understand climate data: http://cometfarm.nrel.colostate.edu/

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074 - with Jen Harris - On Identity Feb 22, 2019

Show notes

Howdy, Zengineers!

This week we're joined by writer and philosopher Jennifer Harris. She's a staple in the San Diego fundraising community, owns and operates JH Collective (http://www.jhcollectiveinc.com - a professional fundraising organization), and used to lead an amazing creative writing group with Brian, years ago.

Our conversation is one of falling in and out of love with what you do professionally and who you become throughout the cycles. It's a personal journey trying to understand the psychology of the modern worker and the journey through ever changing careers. In it we attempt to uncover why we connect with the things we choose to do, and how do these connections guide us in developing our self image and our internal monologues. It's a fascinating journey, and we're glad you're here to join us.

Hope you enjoy the convo.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

Jennifer Harris Collective: http://www.jhcollectiveinc.com/

The Vitruvian Man: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man

Seth Godin: https://www.sethgodin.com/

Recode/Decode with Kara Swisher: https://www.recode.net/recode-decode-podcast-kara-swisher

On Being Podcast: https://onbeing.org/series/podcast/2/

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073 - On Working Remotely Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

Howdy, Zengineers!

Today we're discussing remote work. Like ... not working at a regular office, and not working in the same room, or even same building as your coworkers. There's a lot of variation here and a lot of conversation around this topic these days, especially in the digital technology sector where both Adam & Brian currently work.

Brian started his career at a Fortune 100 company as an engineer working at a manufacturing facility that employed hundreds of people. Adam started a production company and worked in an office with his team on a giant production lot in LA. Both, pretty normal. From there, things got weird.

Over the years, our working environments have changed a lot, but one thing's been consistent. Our desks have not been in normal places, and work has often involved a lot of remote contact with coworkers, and definitely lots of working from home. You know, stereotypical tech startup stuff. Houses with friends, lots of video-chatting, and working all hours of the day and night.

In this episode, we muse on the benefits and the challenges of working in alternate realities. There's a lot to discuss and it's an important conversation as the nature of so many peoples' work is changing so quickly with the adoption of computer based desk jobs. What does the future hold, and what changes will we see over time? Who knows? This is not your dad's day-job anymore, and things are only getting weirder with time.

We hope you enjoy the convo.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

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072 - with Colin Murphy - On Universal Basic Income Jan 22, 2019

Show notes

Howdy, Zengineers!

Today we're discussing Universal Basic Income (UBI) in The United States. What is it? How does it work? What's good? What's bad? Who cares and who does it affect? Our guest, Colin Murphy is an old friend and an outspoken supporter of both UBI and political representatives who are forcing this conversation back into the public debate.

UBI has been around in many forms for a long time. Some call it socialism. Some say that's absurd. It actually exists in some places around the world already, including the United States. It's a crazy topic that invokes a lot of questions, a lot of debate, and a lot of emotion. A conversation about UBI forces an examination of the entire structure of one's government and underlying economic systems. And, it's a complicated subject that potentially affects wealth, work, and daily life for everyone.

UBI is a topic that's particularly popular in some circles these days because of the current global political landscape, a continued growth in wealth gaps around the world, and a global consciousness that simultaneously is becoming more divisive but also more inclusive.

It's easy to get overly excited about UBI or to dismiss it as ridiculous. Honestly, both reactions are pretty appropriate, but the conversation may be more relevant today than at any time in history, especially with the ridiculous pace of technological advancement.

We hope you enjoy the convo.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com

Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

The Left Thinks a 'Green New Deal' Could Save Earth and Destroy the GOP (Vice): https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4397ap/the-left-thinks-a-green-new-deal-could-save-earth-and-destroy-the-gop

Send money to the extreme poor: https://www.givedirectly.org/

Bullshit Jobs (a book, by David Graeber): https://www.amazon.com/Bullshit-Jobs-Theory-David-Graeber/dp/150114331X

Basic Attention Token (monetize your attention): https://basicattentiontoken.org/

Brave Browser (a private webroser that integrates with BAT): https://brave.com/

Universal Basic Income as the Social Vaccine of the 21st Century (Medium): https://medium.com/basic-income/universal-basic-income-as-the-social-vaccine-of-the-21st-century-d66dff39073

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