Wassup Zengineers!?

It's been a minute. How's stuff?

We'll keep it simple. ChatGPT dropped... and it's cool enough that we had to bring in a guest and do an episode about it. 

That's it. We hope you enjoy it.

✌️ Kerp

More Ramsay here:

https://twitter.com/_ramsaybrown

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramsaybr/

Wassup Zengineers!

I've had this sitting on my desktop for a couple years at this point. Had some time, so I finally processed it. Enjoy. Hope all is well 🚀

✌️Kerp

Howdy, Zengineers!

Did you know everything you do all day runs on software? Yup. It’s true. Everything. Well … I mean, not EVERYTHING, but pretty much everything. Your car. Your electricity. Your phone. Your computer. Your TV. Even our dishwashers and blenders, doorbells and lights, all run on software. There’s no way around it.

Software is powerful and enables the technologies we’ve all become accustomed to. But what’s so unique about it? Well, one of the primary drivers behind software’s viral spread is that once you digitize something, you can share it with everyone at almost no additional cost. The same cannot be said about the tires on my car, or the wood used to make my front door. Since sharing software is virtually free, free-software has come to rule the world. And, that’s Open Source. Software anyone can access, anyone can build upon, and anyone can get the benefit of… often, at no cost.

The engineers and designers behind the software that runs the world realized decades ago that innovation is enabled when these software solutions are shared openly and freely. Business can grow faster. Money can be made more efficiently. Lives can be made better… all because we share with one another, and collaborate on the world’s big problems through Open Source Software.

What a joy, you might say. So smart. So wonderful. I can’t believe it. Well … believe it. Your phone may have software on it that you paid for, but your phone simply would not work and, quite frankly, would not even exist, if it weren’t for people AND BUSINESSES freely sharing critical softwares systems with each other. This revolution is starting to come to other industries, as well, as the marginal cost of other technologies continues to be driven down. What an innovative and functional time to be alive. Who uses those words to express the thrill of life? Nerds, baby. Er… I mean, Zengineers!!

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as you enjoy all the Open Source Software enabled technologies that you’re using right now.

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

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

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

Wikipedia: Open Source Software: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software

Wired’s Guide to Open Source: https://www.wired.com/story/wired-guide-open-source-software/

Unix v. Linux: https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/unix-vs-linux/#:~:text=Linux%20refers%20to%20the%20kernel,family%20of%20derived%20operating%20systems

Top 10 Open Source Hall of Famers: https://www.cio.com/article/3404462/top-10-open-source-hall-of-famers.html

Hi, Zengineers!

I’m sure you’ve heard of Amazon, right? What about Facebook? Do you use it? Google? Apple? Ma Bell? Carnegie? Vanderbilt? Woot woot!! Ok… enough listing. What’s the topic, you ask? Yeah … we’re going for it, and taking on the roll of the United States Congress and breaking up the tech companies.

Why, you might ask, are we doing this? Well, because we can, without any vote or any intervention … break up the tech companies with our words and ideas. Can you dig it? Yes, that’s correct. We’re just talking about it. We don’t actually have any power to do anything about this.
We can and we do, however, share a great conversation around what’s happened in the past, what’s happening now, how it’s the same, how it’s different, and how things could be in the future. This is a fun one that touches on history, economics, politics, myriad philosophies, and definitely a lot of crazy future tech.

Ultimately, we discover that what’s happening now is drastically different than what’s happened in the past because of the new ways technology is allowing information to be shared (which, surprise, has always been the problem, so it’s always something new).

As always, we hope you enjoy this episode, and don’t forget that our government, its leaders, and at its core, your vote, help to determine a lot of what happens in the future. It’s a wild time with a lot of wild options at our finger tips.

Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com
Visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com
Cheers,
Adam & Brian

Show Notes

• Monopolies vs. Monopsonies: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032415/whats-difference-between-monopoly-and-monopsony.asp#:~:text=Both%20a%20monopoly%20and%20a%20monopsony%20refer%20to%20a%20single,demand%20for%20goods%20and%20services
• The Antitrust Laws: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/antitrust-laws
• Elizabeth Warren on breaking up the tech companies: https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big-tech-9ad9e0da324c
• Breaking up the Bell System on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Bell_System

Hey, Zengineers!!

We’ve got one of those easy to do and easy to listen to nerd bomb episodes this week. SUPERHEROES!! Also comic books. Yay. What fun? Yes, we agree. Stoked, so let’s get after it.

This one is all about why we care, and why we’re interested. We touch on the persistence of mythology throughout history, and how it’s morphed and evolved into modern mythologies. Part of the intrigue and power comes from the media through which comics are presented … a spectrum of words v. pictures. We wrestle with the guilt that is often associated with reading picture books, and address the true value of the graphic novel.

As always, Adam takes us all the way back to cave paintings, which are the first graphic novels. See … it started here! We hit some of the history of comics, modern stories, movies, and media, and drive it all home with the notion of heroes inspiring all media and everything we do in life. What fun!

We hope you enjoy this episode and are inspired to read some old stories, or go pick up some comics and explore them if they are new to you. Go ask for some adult graphic novels … but no, not like ADULT graphic novels, but … for adults. I mean, they make XXX graphic novels, too … which is interesting and for another episode. The point is … the medium is amazing and dynamic and we think you’ll love it if new, or continue to love it if you already do.

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

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

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Hey, Zengineers!!

This week we’re going deep into the void of the unknown, to unravel the deepest mysteries of our universe. How will we get there? What will we discover? No one knows, and that’s what’s so exciting about it. So, let’s get right to our conversation about A Grand Unified Theory of Physics.

We’re always thinking about this a little bit. After all we’re recliner physicists, but this week we were inspired by a new release from Stephen Wolfram, that wild and wacky entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, philosopher, and all around crazy guy, behind well ... all kinds of weird and interesting shit. Yeah, scope him out and read his new article about his own unified theory of physics (see the show notes).

This is a fun one to bounce around in, because if you’re loose with the topic, it can kind go anywhere. After all, it’s about what makes our universe our universe. We chase some of the physics, some of the philosophy, and lots of the fun as we spiral around the rules of all rules.

We hope you enjoy this episode and all the amazing things you can read and watch and listen to online as you explore this topic more on your own.

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

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

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

Stephen Wolfram’s New Post on his own unified theory of physics: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2020/04/finally-we-may-have-a-path-to-the-fundamental-theory-of-physics-and-its-beautiful/

Wikipedia on the theory of everything: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_everything

Wolfram Alpha, the science search engine: https://www.wolframalpha.com/

Howdy, Zengineers!!

Oh boy. We’ve got a real zinger for you this week. We’re discussing one of our favorite toys; one that’s been with us since antiquity; one that enables so many games; one that truly represents some of the best. We’re talking about die. Or, is it dice? Dies? Dices? You have very pretty colored dice? Let me get that eight sided die. Yeah! There we go.

Dice aaaarre … simple and magical … bump bump … geometric and mathematical ... bump bump bop boop boop bop... can you feel the rhythm? Sorry … got lost in song…. Back on track. Dice are simple because, duh. Look at em. Or are they? Magical because they actually hold their historical roots in myth, legend, sprit, and religion. Geometric because their shapes are grounded in some of the fundamental aspects of our universe. Mathematical because they play a roll in the wonder of statistics, probability, and randomness. You can tell we love dice. Yeah. Love em. So much so, that Brian has a one foot D20 Plush Pillow (twenty sided die) on the chair in his office.

In this episode, we chase down the history, we talk about the science, and we explore how dice truly represent the wonder of life and free will. This was a fun one, if for no other reason than, it takes us back to our childhood. We hope you enjoy the travels and we hope you have some fun dice games, or games that rely on them, to play at home.

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

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

Cheers,
Adam & Brian

Show Notes

• History of Dice: https://www.awesomedice.com/blogs/news/history-of-dice
• Digital Go Dice on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1928372437/godice-your-favorite-dice-games-reimagined?utm_source=TRS_41&utm_medium=FB&utm_content=TRS_41&utm_term=1c04d016-b516-44d2-bb79-4a1032151cf2&utm_campaign=TRS
• Dice Probability: https://wizardofodds.com/gambling/dice/
• High Variance Dice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1oMnZW7Ry8&feature=emb_title

Hey there Zengineers,

This week we've got Dorna Moini on the show. She's co-founder of Documate, a legal tech company that helps lawyers (and other businesses) automate document creation to make their ops more efficient and their services more accessible. But, in true Zengineering fashion, we don't spend to much time talking about that. Instead, we're talking about access to justice, what it means, and where technology lands in providing a solution. Give this episode a listen to learn about why courts are scary, why Civil Law & Order would be a pretty lame show, and about how you've only actually had "the right to an attorney" in the US since 1963. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Links on links! -
https://documate.org

https://twitter.com/dorna_moini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_v._Wainwright

http://www.lalawlibrary.org/index.php/hidden-classes/178-lawyers-in-the-library.html

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

https://www.justice.gov/archives/atj

Heyo Zengineers,

As you might be able to appreciate, things are a bit nuts out there (and over here) right now. So, we're gonna be shorter on our descriptions for a bit in favor of keeping the episodes coming. But, we know that's what you're here for anyway. So, probably all good, right? 

This one is about Cognitive Bias. Which, like any good Zengineering topic, could be a whole podcast on its own. We run down what it is, what a "hot bias" vs. a "cold bias" is, where they come from and how they impact our ability to think clearly especially when we're fired up. We also run through a couple of specific ones. 

Enjoy, and stay safe out there (by staying inside!)

Here's some links if  you want to chase the rabbit-holes deeper!

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

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-cognitive-bias-2794963

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

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

https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/guides/betting-psychology/avoiding-gamblers-fallacy/

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

https://fs.blog/2019/12/survivorship-bias/

https://twitter.com/manster_mash/status/1202599809141661698

What’s the happs, Zengineers?

We’re back with our old friends at Nori, this week talking to Alexsandra Guerra Co-Founder & Director of Corporate Development, and 30 Under 30 GreenBiz 2019 Award Winner. For those in the know, this continues our collection of the Nori founding team, as we’ve had both Christophe and Paul on as well (see their episodes in the show notes below).

We didn’t want to just rehash Nori in this convo, but some updates are always nice. We talk to Alexsandara about her background and how she found herself building Nori, and then we embark on an adventure to discuss how we all think about and deal with climate change in our own lives with the goal of staying AWAY from the technical. If you listen often, you know this was a challenge for Adam and Brian, and, interestingly, for Alexsandra as well.

What we all know is that climate change is a complex technical issue, but what we realized during this conversation is that we need to spend an equal amount of time (if not much more) thinking about and talking about how it manifests in our every day lives, through our thoughts, our worries, and our actions. We then need to tell more stories!

Lucky for us all, Alexsandra is starting a podcast to do just this, and she promises to kick that off right here on Zengineering (BREAKING NEWS!!). We’re kinda kidding. She’s only thinking about it, but we support the move. Let her know that you do too, by reaching out!

As always, we really enjoyed this convo and hope you do too.

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

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

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

Nori: https://nori.com/

Alexsandra on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsandraguerra/

Nori’s Podcast (Alexsandra is a host): https://nori.com/reversing-climate-change

Big Magic (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Big-Magic-Creative-Living-Beyond/dp/1594634726

Granular (Farm Management Software): https://granular.ag/

Zengineering Episode 064 — with Christophe Jospe of Nori — On Climate Change — Part 4 — Reversing It: https://zengineeringpodcast.com/064-with-christophe-jospe-of-nori-on-climate-change-part-4-reversing-it-a5fd4ba27ea3

Zengineering Episode 075 — with Paul Gambill — On The True Cost of Carbon and Reversing Climate Change: https://zengineeringpodcast.com/episode-075-with-paul-gambill-on-the-true-cost-of-carbon-and-reversing-climate-change-717a563b10d6

Hey Zengineers!

We’re back with a quick one to hit a timely topic (again!) Encryption backdoors are back in the news, so were hitting it again. If you want to know what’s going on with the latest fight between Apple and the government, and all the grumbling the Attorney General and the President have been doing about encryption, we’ve got you covered.

As always, there are some links to follow in the notes if you want to dig in any deeper.

Thanks for listening!

Adam & Brian

Notes:

Zengineering Episode 009 - https://zengineeringpodcast.com/episode-009-on-hacking-cryptography-and-the-fbi-vs-apple-dbe904c43ea7

Apple and San Bernardino - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93Apple_encryption_dispute

Apple and Pensacola - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/technology/apple-iphone-pensacola-shooting.html

Social Key Recovery - https://twitter.com/vitalikbuterin/status/1086464158319558657?lang=en