Don't Freak Out

Is AI making us dumber? A neuroscientist with more than fifty peer-reviewed papers has a one-rule answer: your brain reserves the right of a first draft.Marco Palou, author of HOMO ARTIS, sits down with Dr. Heather Collins, cognitive neuroscientist whose research runs from Alzheimer's disease to what space does to astronauts' brains. This is Don't Freak Out, a podcast about being human in the future that came, where every conversation happens while making something with our hands. Today: origami, and a Muppet named Bobby.They talk about brain gain versus brain drain, how to make AI a thinking partner instead of a replacement brain, breaking a chatbot of its flattery, why your working memory holds about four things, what nine months in space does to a skull, the 100-millisecond first impression and why everyone remembers the meat dress, and the science of Touchies, the memory-holding objects from HOMO ARTIS, which a neuroscientist validates in real time.Her closer: it's gonna be okay, because now you know how to take care of your brain.Pre-order and get the first 4 chapters of HOMO ARTIS free: https://homoartis.comWatch and follow Don't Freak Out: https://dontfreakout.usInstagram: https://instagram.com/dontfreakoutpodcastSay hello: [email protected] by Shira Chait and Marco PalouCinematography and stills by Raul Seca Jr.Production design by Teresa Guerrero C.Color corrected by Shira ChaitPost production by Amarte Labs Get full access to Marco Palou at marcopalou.substack.com/subscribe

An actor lost a role after one meeting because he’d changed his face. Two Hollywood casting directors explain what they were actually looking for.Marco Palou, author of HOMO ARTIS, sits down with casting directors Kate Geller and Stephanie Holbrook, taped the morning after the Oscars awarded casting for the first time in history. This is Don’t Freak Out, a podcast about being human in the future that came, where every conversation happens while making something with our hands.If you act, this is the other side of the room: what they’re reading in your eyes before you say a word, why your charisma doesn’t survive a self-tape, what fillers and facelifts are quietly doing to careers, why wrinkles get you cast (“you earn every part of your face”), and the walk-in feeling they can’t resist: “you’re a weird soul, I love you already.”Plus: the 1,000-kid search that found one gymnast with the spark, the Oscar tears the morning this was taped, and the question AI can’t answer: how do you replicate the spark of life with science?Listen anywhereSpotify:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id6794541000YouTube: https://youtube.com/@dontfreakoutpodcastSubstack: https://marcopalou.substack.com/Watch their picks: Nine Days and The Outside Story.Pre-order and get the first 4 chapters of HOMO ARTIS free: https://homoartis.comWatch and follow Don’t Freak Out: https://dontfreakout.usInstagram: https://instagram.com/dontfreakoutpodcastSay hello: [email protected] by Shira Chait and Marco PalouCinematography and stills by Raul Seca Jr.Production design by Teresa Guerrero C.Color corrected by Shira ChaitPost production by Amarte Labs Get full access to Marco Palou at marcopalou.substack.com/subscribe

Will your job exist in five years? A major study finally gave an honest answer, and it came with a disclaimer you have to hear: if we achieve AGI, disregard everything you’ve read here.Marco Palou, author of HOMO ARTIS, sits down with Michelle Schneider, futurist and future-of-work author who spent twenty years inside Google, LinkedIn, and TikTok before leaving Big Tech to study the transformation from the outside. This is Don’t Freak Out, a podcast about being human in the future that came, where every conversation happens while making something with our hands. Today: a Brazilian flag and a sticker box.They talk about the contradicting jobs studies, the AI health agent she built from her lifetime of medical exams with no coding background, humans leading agents and the one-person unicorn, why AI’s productivity boom hasn’t arrived yet (the electricity lesson from 1882), and the Austin school where AI teaches academics in two hours a day and kids get paid to learn.Her closer: the future of work is not in our hands. But your future is only in your hands.Pre-order and get the first 4 chapters of HOMO ARTIS free: https://homoartis.comWatch and follow Don’t Freak Out: https://dontfreakout.usInstagram: https://instagram.com/dontfreakoutpodcastSay hello: [email protected] by Shira Chait and Marco PalouCinematography and stills by Raul Seca Jr.Production design by Teresa Guerrero C.Color corrected by Shira ChaitPost production by Amarte Labs Get full access to Marco Palou at marcopalou.substack.com/subscribe

Is the AI boom 1999 all over again? Chris Pfaff was inside that bubble, and he knows the exact warning sign to watch for this time.Marco Palou, author of HOMO ARTIS, sits down with Chris Pfaff, CEO of Chris Pfaff Tech Media and co-chair of the VR/AR Association’s storytelling committee, a man who has been inside every technology wave since 1990. This is Don’t Freak Out, a podcast about being human in the future that came, where every conversation happens while making something with our hands. Today: pens, paper, and a character named Lucky Pierre.They talk about the round-tripping pattern he watched destroy telecom in 1999 and why he sees its shape in today’s AI deals, the Apple Vision Pro’s chicken-cutlet problem, the mixed reality concert that preserved composer Ryuichi Sakamoto as he was dying, why sauerkraut became freedom cabbage, who your data belongs to, and whether every human is really an artist. Chris is the first guest to tell Marco no.His answer to it all: everything will be all right. You got to believe.Follow Chris: https://www.chrispfafftechmedia.comPre-order and get the first 4 chapters of HOMO ARTIS free: https://homoartis.comWatch and follow Don’t Freak Out: https://dontfreakout.usInstagram: https://instagram.com/dontfreakoutpodcastSay hello: [email protected] by Shira Chait and Marco PalouCinematography and stills by Raul Seca Jr.Production design by Teresa Guerrero C.Color corrected by Shira ChaitPost production by Amarte Labs Get full access to Marco Palou at marcopalou.substack.com/subscribe

What kind of futurist sweetly puts her own AI on mute before predicting the future, then closes by calling AI a jealous lover you should never hand your keys?Marco Palou, author of HOMO ARTIS, sits down with Sarah DaVanzo, futures activist and superforecaster who predicts the future with roughly 70% accuracy. This is Don’t Freak Out, a podcast about being human in the future that came, where every conversation happens while making something with our hands. Today: two clay aliens from the same planet.They talk about how to stop fearing what’s next, the four kinds of curiosity (which one are you?), 40 days of silence in a Benedictine monastery, testing forecasting AI with DARPA, aliens over an Argentine cornfield, and how the Curiosity rover accidentally infected Mars with life.Her rule for AI is simple: it’s like a jealous lover. Enjoy it. But don’t give it the keys to your apartment.Follow Sarah: https://futuresactivist.comGet the first 4 chapters of HOMO ARTIS free: https://homoartis.comWatch and follow Don’t Freak Out: https://dontfreakout.usInstagram: https://instagram.com/dontfreakoutpodcastSay hello: [email protected] by Shira Chait and Marco PalouCinematography and stills by Raul Seca Jr.Production design by Teresa Guerrero C.Color corrected by Shira ChaitPost production by Amarte Labs Get full access to Marco Palou at marcopalou.substack.com/subscribe

What happens when the person investing in the future of music technology nearly cries listening to a song he made himself?Marco Palou, author of HOMO ARTIS, sits down with Yusuke “Scott” Sugino, President and CEO of Yamaha Music Innovations, home to a $50 million fund focused on music, media, audio, and creative technology. This is Don’t Freak Out, a podcast about being human in the future that came, where every conversation happens while making something with our hands.They talk about the gap between wanting to create and actually creating, Scott’s honest experience with his four year old son’s screen time, why AI has not fundamentally changed music yet, and the song Scott wrote while moving from Germany to the United States.The conversation eventually reaches a larger question: if machines take more of our work, what will human beings live for? Scott’s answer is simple. Action, action, action. Not swiping.Learn more about Yamaha Creator Pass: https://yamahacreators.comGet the first 4 chapters of HOMO ARTIS free: https://homoartis.comWatch and follow Don’t Freak Out: https://dontfreakout.usInstagram: https://instagram.com/dontfreakoutpodcastSay hello: [email protected] by Shira Chait and Marco PalouCinematography and stills by Raul Seca Jr.Production design by Teresa Guerrero C.Color corrected by Shira ChaitPost production by Amarte Labs Get full access to Marco Palou at marcopalou.substack.com/subscribe

This is a podcast about being human in the future that came. In the premiere: stop motion animator Ben Treat of Frantic Frames, who built one of the most distinctive creative brands on social media through pure craft and patience. Marco and Ben make things out of clay while they talk about committing to craft in an age of instant content, the 50-hour video, escaping the algorithm, the trick that finally beat doomscrolling, and what the human hand is worth when AI can fake the look of anything in seconds. Get the first 4 chapters of HOMO ARTIS free: https://homoartis.com Watch and follow Don't Freak Out: https://dontfreakout.us Follow Marco Palou: https://instagram.com/marcopalou Follow Ben: @franticframes Get full access to Marco Palou at marcopalou.substack.com/subscribe