The Drawing Board

Med School Interview Reflections, Existential AI Dread, Robotics, Project Hail Mary, Dune, Marty Supreme

Episode 30 - Whistler & Sunshine Skiing, Becoming a Better Teacher, Interview Prep and Athletic Goals

Episode 29 - Kushal's Career Journey, 3 Types of Friends and Relationships Deep Dive

Episode 28 - Riftrader.gg, Avoiding Burnout and Breaking Bureaucracy

The Power of Asking, AI Researcher Free Agency, Wearable Tech and Can Ambition Be Taught?

Following the release of OpenAI's image generation model, and a controversial tweet from Krish about AI Art which went viral, we decided to do a deep dive into what exactly constitutes art, the arguments for or against the use of Art, the role of artists within society and the fear of "ensloppification" of art. We also took a look at some productiviy and workflow "life hacks" that we use and reminisced about our time during the 2015 Fort Mac Fire, joined by our friend Waleed.

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Hey Everyone! Welcome back to Episode 16 of The Drawing Board. We are excited this week to enter a new chapter in this book of The Drawing Board, as today marks the 1 Year Anniversary of the Podcast and the end of season 1! 15 Episodes, 10 Special guests and a whole lot of podcasting later we have finally crossed this milestone. A special thank you to anyone who has ever listened to us nobodies and our laughably incoherent thoughts, as we try to piece together some semblance of an episode week over week, all we can hope is that this one is just a bit better than the last :) We began this week by reflecting on the journey to this 1 year milestone, our thoughts on what the podcast would be like when we initially started and how we've grown over the past year. We quickly touched on how (or if) our communication skills may have improved both as presenters/hosts and as individuals and some things we hope to work on going forward. From here we jumped into catching up with Krish and his life as the newest member of the Hack smith Industries YouTube channel, how he's finding the role and what a day in his life looks like at the moment. We then dove into the idea of "feeling behind" in life, and how we both feel it to some extent and how it influences our decisions, as well as how much Luck influences one's ability to be successful in their career. On a similar note we spoke a bit about how advice from people who are too far ahead of us in our career trajectory may not be the most useful and how hindsight can bias the advice we give or receive. Pivoting we spoke a bit about EQ and personality tests, as well as our relationship with money and what work life balance means to us. Finally we touched on the idea of "progression bias" and ended off with predictions for what we hope the podcast will look like 1 year from now. Hope you all enjoy! If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 15 of The Drawing Board. We are back this week with another special guest. We are pleased to host 30 year resident of Fort McMurray, business owner, 7th Degree Taekwondo Black Belt and 1st Degree BJJ Black Belt, current Deputy Chair of the RMWB Combative Sports council, and Mayor of the largest Municipality in Canada, the RMWB, Mayor Sandy Bowman. Anyone who has spent any time in Fort McMurray knows of the name "Bowman", namely by way of Bowman's Martial Arts. We wanted to sit down this week and take a deep dive into why Mayor Bowman chose to enter local government, his history as an MMA fighter and speak a little about the future of the city that we have called home for the past 15 odd years has in store. We began by asking the Mayor what his day to day life looks like in his current role, and his thoughts on the future of Fort McMurray as an oil producing community and our identity as the powerhouse literally and figuratively of Canada. We then dove into why Mayor Bowman decided to make the shift into the local government scene, and how he has adapted to this new role having to make unavoidably polarizing decisions. We then spoke a little about the Mayor's history as a martial arts practitioner, teacher and competitor and how the philosophies he has developed and the lessons he has learned through that history has informed his ability to help run this city and be an effective leader. On the topic of leadership, we spoke a little bit about a "Hot Take" the mayor has that defines his leadership style, and some of the processes behind making decisions within his role. Finally we touched on the perceived issues surrounding Brain Drain and population loss, the magic of Fort McMurray and one final piece of life advice you'll definitely want to stick around for. Hope you all enjoy! If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 13 of The Drawing Board. We began this week by recapping our personal lives over the past little while, talking about Maq's MCAT Plan and Krish's trip to Japan. From there we touched on a point we covered in a previous episode, about finding our "Why" and where we are in this self-reflection journey. We talked a little bit about the co-op Krish will be having in the upcoming semester with the Hacksmith Industries YouTube channel, and our mutual desire to one day express our creative sides with a channel of our own. From there we talked about a so-called "lost class" of engineers, who had knowledge of many different disciplines and were able to create amazing inventions, contrasted with the modern day where most people are highly specialized and only work on a very small part of any project. Going back to our "Why" we talked a bit about what motivates us, and whether goal or process-based motivation is better. Finally, we talked about what defines good art, getting older, and what we want an average day in our 60s to look like. Hope you all enjoy! If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 12 of The Drawing Board. We are back again with another special guest. We are pleased to host another veteran of Westwood Community High School, the founder of the world-famous Westwood Computer Science program, a passionate teacher, and multiple-time national teaching award winner, Mr. Said El-Mejadani. The experiences we had in Mr. Said's classroom are ones we will cherish for the rest of our lives, from bright-eyed learning to captivating project collaborations, Mr. Said never failed to leave us fascinated and hungry to learn more, all while being some of the most memorable and enjoyable classes we attended. We began this week by exploring Mr. Said's journey to teaching, from his time in Morocco to Quebec, and finally how he landed as a computer science teacher in Fort McMurray. We dove into his teaching philosophies and what separates his classroom from the countless other computer science classrooms across the country, in which he revealed to us the 4 Principles he's developed for inspiring students and creating that desire to learn. Taking a trip down memory lane we talked about the early stages of the computer science program at Westwood and how perseverance and ingenuity turned his classroom from a couple of old computers to one of the premiere hubs of learning resources and talent in high schools across Canada. Touching on some of the problems with computer science education and how AI will impact it going forward, we heard some Hot Takes. Finally, we inquired about Mr. Said's future goals and got one little nugget of wisdom you'll definitely want to stick around for. Hope you all enjoy! If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 11 of The Drawing Board. Just us hosts again today with a quick catchup episode. We began by touching base on Krish's now infamous Visa problems and where we want to live in the future. Then we talked a bit about if we want to be parents in the future and what parenting styles we would employ. We transitioned into a quick discussion on how social media impacts men and women differently, and the balance between inspiration from others and comparing yourself. Finally, we spoke about role models, what makes certain visionaries and companies so successful, and what the actual cost of power and success is for people. Hope you all enjoy! P.S If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 10 of The Drawing Board. We have a very special episode this week, because of one very special guest. We are pleased to host a 20-year veteran of Westwood Community High School, a passionate physics and math teacher and above all a personal inspiration and hero of ours, Mr Maher Ahmed. Mr Ahmed was our physics and math teacher during high school and is one of the most passionate, capable and engaging teachers we have ever had. His physics lectures left us captivated and intrigued all while being some of the most memorable and enjoyable classes we attended. From his infamous blackboard to the breathtaking electroscope demonstrations, he never failed to create unforgettable memories. Mr Ahmed is also quite passionate about the education system and teaching as a whole, and would often give us pearls of wisdom during classes about how to best proceed in the professional and academic world. Today we began by diving into Mr Ahmed's personal journey to teaching and how he came to be a teacher at Westwood and got a final word on when he is going to retire. We dove deeply into some of the problems in the education system today, how he believes we can best address them, what makes a good learner and teacher, and some of his personal beliefs about the future of education in light of ChatGPT/AI. We also talked a bit about Westwood itself, how it's evolved over the years and its future within Fort McMurray. Hope you all enjoy! P.S. Unfortunately our cameras did not end up being recorded, so there is, unfortunately, no camera footage but we will have it up and running for all future guests and episodes! If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 9 of The Drawing Board. We are joined today by a long-time friend, Heet Shah who is a SE Student at UWaterloo. We began by talking about the cultures of some west coast cities, specifically San Francisco and how the startup scene impacts the overall culture. We touched a bit on the SVB Crash and how it's impacted startups in the area, and then dove into GPT-4, AGI and the implications it has for the future. We transitioned into how this AI revolution will impact social connection and human interaction, and how it might exacerbate loneliness as we saw with social media. Finally, we spoke about Simulation Theory and Last Thursdayism and what living in a simulation would look like. Hope you all enjoy! P.S If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

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Hey Everyone!Welcome back to episode 7 of The Drawing Board. No Krish today but Muhammad is joined by Navraj and Wassim. Navraj you've met before and Wassim is a long-time friend and engineering student at Keyano College/UofA. A more laid-back episode today, we began by talking about Attack on Titan and some of the shortcomings of its ending, some of our favourite pieces of cinema, the upsides and downsides of anime and manga, and a little bit about music design. We then touched on the streaming service industry and what it means for media consumption going forward and finally we talked a little bit about The Falcon and Winter Soldier from Disney Plus. Hope you all enjoy!P.S If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 6 of The Drawing Board. Regular hosts today are once again joined by our most recurring guest, Navraj. Today we (attempted) to make some predictions about the future, some trends we think will arise and how we see the world developing. We then dove into a quick bit on pop culture trends and Krish's story about Puss in Boots. We talked about the decline of cinema and content and how TikTok has contributed to the rise of the dopamine epidemic, hyper-personalization and reduction of memory creation. Finally, we talked about how the trend of political polarization.Hope you all enjoy!P.S If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 5 of The Drawing Board. No guest this week, just us catching up on some stuff! We began by talking about Maq's recent trip to Pakistan, how he found it and some reflections on it. We then touched on how social media can be used to keep in touch with old friends, and the benefits that certain platforms have over others. Since it's the beginning of the New Year, we touched on some of our resolutions and hopes for the upcoming new year. We transitioned into the idea of attachment and Buddhist philosophy and finally had an in-depth conversation about our personal views of religion and religious theology as a whole. Hope you all enjoy! P.S If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 4 of The Drawing Board. A bit of a hiatus from us but we're back and stronger than ever! We are joined today by 2 friends of the show, Francois and Navraj who are Biology and engineering students at UofA respectively. Today we began by talking about the connection between the brain's ability to comprehend talking speeds and its computing power, transitioning into how Neuralink and other BCI initiatives might impact this. We then spent some time diving into the logistical sides of BCIs from what we can expect realistically to see from the tech within the next 10-30 years, the cybersecurity implications and the ethics of how a class system may be created based on one access to brain-enhancing technology. We then dove into what some of our greatest fears are, specifically talking a lot about Alzheimer's, memory and about how Legacy and wanting to be remembered affect these fears. Hope you all enjoy! P.S If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected] Show less

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 3 of The Drawing Board. We are joined today by a friend of the show Michael, who is a SE student at Waterloo. Today we began by letting Michael give some background about himself, his past as someone striving to go professional in League of Legends, the pitfalls and what he would have done differently if he could go back. We transitioned into talking about the benefits of committing most of your energy and resources to become proficient in one field, i.e becoming a Specialist as Michael did with League, vs leaving yourself open to multiple venues by trying new things regularly, i.e becoming a Generalist, and the role that passion plays in this. We finished off with a little personal insight, talking about where we see ourselves in 5 years and some of the things we strive to do with our lives going forward.   Hope you all enjoy! P.S We apologize for the audio issues, we had some technical difficulties while recording If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to episode 2 of The Drawing Board. We are joined today by long-time friend and engineering student Dew Bhaumik. From this week going forward, we will be having friends of ours cycle through and join us on various episodes to provide new perspectives and keep the podcast fresh. Today we began by touching on Elon Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter and some of the policies he's choosing to enact, and then transitioned into what it means to be a leader and some of the pitfalls that may come with such a position. We then dove deep into the education system, and some of the major problems it faces in finding high-quality teachers and we explored how alternative schooling and assessment techniques could be utilized to improve high school and post-secondary schooling. In addition, we debated the role of passion in finding success in a given field and the value of leadership and entrepreneurship camps. Hope you all enjoy! P.S If anyone has any ideas for topics to discuss or any other suggestions feel free to email us at [email protected]

Hey Guys! Maq and Krish here, this is episode 1 of our Podcast, The Drawing Board. We decided that we wanted a way to capture the conversations we had in a way that we could look back in 5-10 years time and see what our frame of thinking was and what things were going through our heads, rather than lose them to the abyss of forgotten history. No real format, we're just gonna talk about whatever is on our minds, whether it be recent world news, ideas we find interesting, sports, comedy or anything about life in general.