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

Latest Episodes:

042 - On Optimization, Staying Stoked, And Our New Website Sep 12, 2017

Show notes

You may already be aware if you’re a Zengineering powerfan, but for everyone else, we’re excited to announce the launch of a brand new website at ZengineeringPodcast.com. As Zengineering has become an increasingly more important part of both our lives, we’ve realized that we want to make more content available, with more control over how it looks, where it goes, and how we interact with all of you. Check out new the site to scope brand new episode art, all the show notes we’ve always promised (at least on the newer episodes), articles and stories we’ve been writing, and, of course, all our new and old episodes.

This episode contains a bit of reminiscing on the technology that’s been part of Zengineering Podcast, and all the physical, mental and digital tricks we’ve come up with keep the show going. We share our stoke test, our production workflow, and the fact that, as artists, we’re pretty uncomfortable a lot of the time trying to promote our own creations. We dive into all --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

Shorty 004 - Give Us Your Rants Sep 09, 2017

Show notes

In appreciation of everyone who supports us and listens to the show, we want to feature YOU on Zengineering Podcast's 50th Episode, scheduled for release in the first week of 2018.

SHARE YOUR VOICE WITH US!
1) Pull out your smartphone (plug in those earbuds if you have 'em)
2) Open an audio recorder app (Voice Memos on IOS)
3) Send your message to hello@zengineeringpodcast.com
4) Send as many messages as you want

WHAT SHOULD I SAY?
Tell us what you love about Zengineering. Tell us what irks you, what excites you, or what confuses you. Ask us something personal and embarrassing or ask us something technical and nerdy. Tell Adam how you love the sound of his silky smooth radio voice on your morning commute, or tell Brian that he's a pretty good podcast host, but should still consider playing basketball. We will be featuring and responding to some of our favorite clips from you on Episode 50. Be funny, be nerdy, or be kind ... b --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

041 - with Leah Culver of Breaker - On The Potential of Podcasts Aug 29, 2017

Show notes

Today we’re joined by Leah Culver, entrepreneur, avid podcast listener, and CTO of Breaker (the app we both use to listen to podcasts). Leah has joined us to discuss her business, the tech behind podcasting, and the state of the medium.

Podcasts are a strange phenomenon. They’ve existed and have been quietly growing in the creative underbelly of the internet for decades, but only recently have they become mainstream thanks to astronomical successes like, Serial. On the surface, podcasts are just radio shows, and radio shows have been around 100 years. So, what’s really made them vogue? Smart phones, easy and inexpensive recording technology, the ability to share anything with the world from your home? Or, is a deeper fundamental shift happening regarding individuals’ willingness to share and society’s desire to consume?

Leah dives in deeply with us in this episode. We discuss the proliferation of podcasts as a digital medium. We touch on the underlying technologies and --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

040 - On Star Wars vs Star Trek - May the Prime Directive Be With You Aug 15, 2017

Show notes

Welcome back, Zengineers. We’re finally doing it. Yes! Wait, what are we talking about? Star Wars versus Star Trek! YAY!!! Do you think the Millennium Falcon is the greatest ship of all time? Do you think Captain Kirk is the ultimate hero? Are photon torpedoes better than blaster cannons? Ahhhh ... so many things to discuss. Well ... we picked just a few in this first of likely MANY episodes discussing Star Wars and Star Trek, two of our favorite fictional universes.

We tried to stay away from arguing about merit, and instead just wanted to talk about how Star Wars and Star Trek compare to each other, what we love about each, and fun ways to apply lessons from these worlds into our real world. Real world... ha! We start off with some broad discussion about the universes and how they’re different from a genre standpoint. We quickly recognize that one is not “better” than the other, but that they just happen to slot into different places in fiction and in our lives. Star Wars i --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

039 - with Lin Qiu - On Startups Part 1 - What’s My Motivation Aug 01, 2017

Show notes

This week our guest is Lin Qiu, Senior Software Engineering at Upside Travel! Lin's an old friend and a co-conspirator on a number of projects with Adam and Brian… and a couple of whole companies with Adam. Our plan in pre-production convos was to talk about our experience with those various projects, but wow did we barely make it through the first step.

This episode turned into a weighty meditation on what motivated each of us to start our own companies: whether it was right out of the gate, or after working in a “real” job for a while. We explore the driving philosophies of modern work versus the startup world, taking a look at notions of freedom, creativity, art, and youth. We talk about our evolving notions of what it means to be successful, and how the emergence of digital tools has maybe pushed the world closer to being a place where the “working world" values a broad skillset over rabid specialization…maybe?

If we figured out one things for sure it’s that we’ll --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

038 - With Scott Bauer - On Your Secret Love Affair With Pop Music Jul 12, 2017

Show notes

Howdy Zengineers! Today we're talking about Music with industry expert, Scott Bauer. Not just any music, either. We're talking specifically about Pop Music. Cringe! What's that you're feeling right now? Are you upset that we're giving Katy Perry an entire episode? Are you embarrassed about your guilty pleasures playlist? Maybe you're stoked because pop music fires you up! Well, however you feel, you should know that you're not alone, and that's why we've brought our good friend Scott in to help. Music has inspired our species since the beginning of recorded history. Every culture has had it, and most every person has had a love affair with it. In today's world, music is the "beneficiary" of digitization and globalization. As a result, music is absolutely everywhere all of the time. This has had some interesting affects on the tunage you hear in everyday life. Why is it that one person can listen to the same song twenty five times in a row, and still dance, while another person immed --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

037 - On Artificial Intelligence - Part 3 - A Philosophy Of Terminators Jul 04, 2017

Show notes

Welcome home, Zengineers! This is the final episode in our three part series on Artificial Intelligence. This is the deep dive into the big questions. Will computers be smarter than us some day? What the heck does that mean anyway? Are terminators already coming for us through time and space? Who knows? The emergence of Artificial Intelligence forces humanity to face so many of life’s big questions in practical ways that have only been the job of philosophers and ministers in the past. What are good and evil? How do you program morals into a machine? Will we need to? Will the machines care? This episode is one of our favorites and this series is a fascinating exploration into the depths of the human mind and our wildest technological advancements. In part one we chased what intelligence is and recapped the history of AI. In part two we ran through the current state of Artificial Intelligence and where it is in the world. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

036 - On Virtual Reality - Part 2 - A Dungeon of Whiteboards Jun 20, 2017

Show notes

Howdy, Zengineers. Welcome to our second episode on Virtual Reality. We start this episode by examining the five traditional senses (evolutionary technologies?) that our bodies have in the “Real World.” From there its a wild ride through perception and experience as we dive into the digital technologies behind modern VR that attempt to convince your mind that VR is not V at all! Our recent experiences with the HTC Vive have left us absolutely floored by the near fully immersive Virtual Reality space of today. This episode gets pretty deep by the end, swimming into the ether that surrounds whatever time and space actually are. Damn. VR is spicy. It captures many of the central themes of Zengineering Podcast. Enjoy it! BTW, this is a followup to Episode 34: On Virtual Reality (our first impressions with modern VR). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

035 - On File Sharing, Distributed Technologies, And The Birth Of Bitcoin Jun 06, 2017

Show notes

Hey Zengineers! Let me ask you a strange question. How would you feel if you knew that all your hard earned money was just going to be converted into a digital bit stream and saved on some centralized databases maintained by a handful of global businesses? Does this sound like a scary idea? Well, it’s already what’s happening when you deposit your money with any modern bank in the world. The gold standard no longer exists. Physical paper still has value, but exists only ephemerally during small transactions, and if the system makes a mistake, it’s not easy for the individual to do much about it. If this sounds dystopian to you, imagine something even weirder. How about we make every financial transaction public. What if we then distributed all that information to millions of personal computers all around the world? How about we do away entirely with the idea of a centralized authority? This roughly describes BitCoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and other Cryptocurrencies. This week we d --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

034 - On Virtual Reality - Part 1 - A Weekend with an HTC Vive May 23, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, we discuss “alternate” realities, aka virtual realities. To do so, I travelled to Los Angeles to visit Adam (this is Brian, btw). Why you may ask would I slug my 215 pound, 6 foot 8 inch body all the way there? Well, I needed to be physically in Adam’s living room so that my mind could enter into the virtual reality of an HTC Vive VR system that Adam has recently setup. It was mind blowing. The current generation of Virtual Reality Technology is “The jetpack we’ve been promised.” It’s flying cars. It’s travel to other planets. It’s fully immersive collaborative working environments. It is truly the Matrix. On Saturday night, May 21st, 2017, I caught a bullet out of the air with my bare hands, and I’ll never forget it. Because of a lifetime of VR technologies proving mostly comical, and rarely functional, I did not expect to even be particularly entertained by this system. But, after a weekend of exploring Virtual Reality of the early 21st century I can say with utmo --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/zengineering-podcast/support

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

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

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected