Ep. 4 | One of Tech’s OGs on Why AI Feels Like Magic | Andy Hertzfeld

Andy Hertzfeld wrote much of the original Macintosh operating system, co-founded General Magic, later worked at Google, and created Folklore.org, the definitive oral history of early Apple. In this 46-minute audio edit, he opens up more candidly than ever about why using AI coding tools and AI music generation feels, in his words, “thrilling” and “like magic” — the same joy he felt writing code as a teenager — while also delivering a clear-eyed reckoning with what went wrong at General Magic, how Apple’s Newton team secretly raced to beat them to market, why he thinks the AI industry “is poisoned by money,” and, in a closing conversation, what it will take for Silicon Valley — and the country — to rediscover its soul.In This Episode04:17 - “It’s actually thrilling”: Andy on using AI coding tools 04:51 - Suno, poetry, and rediscovering creative joy through AI music 07:54 - Why Andy trusts Gemini over ChatGPT 12:04 - Is the AI industry idealistic, or “poisoned by money”? 14:57 - Andy’s biggest regret at General Magic26:10 - The Newton betrayal38:45 - Andy’s bumper-sticker answer and his Tesla regret 41:04 - Silicon Valley’s political turn, and finding tech’s soul again 43:58 - The Steve Jobs/Steve Wozniak kindness distinction that still guides himAbout Andy Hertzfeld:Andy Hertzfeld was a key member of the original Apple Macintosh team, where he wrote much of the system software that defined personal computing. He went on to co-found General Magic, the legendary Silicon Valley startup that envisioned the smartphone 15 years before the iPhone. He later worked at Google, where he contributed to Google+. Hertzfeld is also the creator of Folklore.org, a widely cited living archive of stories from the early days of Apple, and co-author of the book Revolution in the Valley. Now retired, he spends his time on personal creative projects — including AI-assisted music composition through Suno — and remains one of the most respected and beloved figures in Silicon Valley history.Resources & Links:* Andy Hertzfeld on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Hertzfeld* Folklore.org (created by Andy Hertzfeld): https://www.folklore.org* Revolution in the Valley by Andy Hertzfeld: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/revolution-in-the/9780596007195/Thanks for reading General Magic & The Soul of Tech! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit spellboundproductions.substack.com