Tech Back Control

Go to my ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ to see the video version of this podcast.In this episode, I explore six different things that I don't think we were expecting or ready for, but they're coming due to AI.Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.

Go to my ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ to see the video version of this podcast.My April Update to the "Top 10 things I want to see from AI in 2026".Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.

Go to my ⁠YouTube⁠ to see the video version of this podcast.My Top 10 things I want to see from AI in 2026.Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.

Go to my YouTube to see the full version of this podcast.Spotify blocks the AI generated music unless I register as a artist and sign up with a distributor.Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!This is the 12th and final episode of twelve days of CTRL-mas.Let's sing some carols.

Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!This is the 11th of the twelve days of CTRL-mas.I'm not an author, but today I'm publishing a short story. This is a speculative fiction short story created by and narrated by AI, but based on real deep research about the topic of universal translation between humans, animals, computers, plants, trees, and everything you could possibly imagine. Enjoy

Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!This is the 10th of the twelve days of CTRL-mas.Today I'm exploring some often-forgotten-about technological breakthroughs that have had a phenomenal impact on our lived experience, the workforce, the economy, and everything we take for granted.Yet there are very few people who look at those as parallels to the AI revolution we're going through at the moment. So I wanted to suggest that alternative perspective and explore it through this deeply researched podcast episode.Enjoy.

Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!This is the 9th of the twelve days of CTRL-mas.Today I want to tell the story of bitcoin through a much more human lens.

Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas!This is the eighth of the twelve days of CTRL-mas.Today I want to tell the story of Ethereum through the lens of comparing it to Linux. They both have so much in common from their open-source roots to their community development to their rocky and fragmented approach to creating an ecosystem with a common set of principles and foundations. And I think we can learn a lot about where Ethereum is heading by looking at the story of Linux.

Tech Back Control: The AI Revolution of 2025 – A Comprehensive RecapIn this episode, I delve into the extraordinary advancements and milestones in AI throughout 2025. The year witnessed a transition from simple chat interfaces to more complex workflows and agents, marked by the introduction of significant protocols and models like Anthropic's Model Context Protocol and Google's DeepMind Genie 2. The episode covers the major themes of AI in 2025, including the emergence of reasoning models, the open-source versus closed-source debate, the geopolitical significance of AI infrastructure, the rise of agentic coding, and the unprecedented advancements in image and video generation. A detailed timeline of key events and releases from each quarter showcases the rapid pace of innovation and investment that characterized the year. Finally, the episode outlines future perspectives as we head into 2026, focusing on the evolving infrastructure, governance, and the potential challenges in the world of AI.00:00 Introduction01:04 Key things that happened in 202502:38 5 Key Themes from 202502:43 Number 103:21 Number 203:50 Number 304:16 Number 404:28 Number 505:09 Timeline of 202505:37 Q109:18 Q213:01 Q319:04 Q426:27 The Key Themes from 202526:32 1st Key Theme in 202528:50 2nd Key Theme in 202531:08 3rd Key Theme in 202532:38 4th Key Theme in 202535:43 In Conclusion

Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas!This is the seventh of the twelve days of CTRL-mas.Today I'm exploring if there's a better way to fix our broken politics through radical forms of governance.

Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas!This is the sixth of the twelve days of CTRL-mas.Today I'm diving into the wonderful world of cultivated agriculture and lab-grown meats. The structure of this episode will be more of a debate exploring the hype vs. reality of this potentially ground-breaking technology.

Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas!This is the fifth of the twelve days of CTRL-mas.Today I'm diving into a controversial topic that's been front of my mind for some time. What happens when you combine crypto blockchain tech with AI agents and let it run wild.

Follow ⁠⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas!This is the fourth of the twelve days of CTRL-mas.Today we're exploring an essay by a good friend of mine, called "Planet of the Dialectic". It is a brilliant thought piece exploring the philosophy of Planet of the Apes.Full essay by by TheDebtocalypse is available here.

Follow ⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas.This is the third of the twelve days of CTRL-mas. We're diving into one of my favourite AI academic reports on ROI this year from Wharton Business School.Link to Full Report.

Follow ⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas and happy Boxing Day.This is the Boxing Day episode and the second of the twelve days of CTRL-mas. We're diving into the world of plastic today. This is part speculative fiction, part deep research into an interesting environmental topic about plastic pollution and the magical solution to it which comes at a potentially enormous risk.

Follow ⁠⁠@TechBackControl ⁠⁠for the infographics and visuals which accompany this episode.Merry Christmas.This is the Christmas Day episode and the first of the twelve days of CTRL-mas. We're diving into one of my favourite topics, which is how AI gives us a lens to understand our own minds even better.

For Christmas, I'm excited to try something a bit different...On the 1st day of Christmas, this podcast gave to me....A new episode every day during Christmas.With essays.And infographics... enjoyFollow @TechBackControl for more announcements during the holidays.

9th episode of the "New Tab" mini-series. I discuss the importance of effective communication and storytelling, in a world where generative AI has the ability to produce an infinite amount of content and material, and the signal-to-noise ratio is the worst it's ever been.

8th episode of the "New Tab" mini-series. In a Brave New World, soma is the drug which controls the masses through pure pleasure and joy. AI slop is digital soma.

7th episode of the "New Tab" mini-series. When we fixed hallucinations, we also broke something else. We stopped AI being so sycophantic. And we don't like it when our AI stops being so nice to us.

6th episode of the "New Tab" mini-series. We're not ready for when AI thinks for a REALLY long time.

5th episode of the "New Tab" mini-series. The metaverse is due a resurgence... but not quite as you remember it. We're all going to use the metaverse, when we're old.

4th episode of the "New Tab" mini-series.AI is making what actually happened harder to agree on. We need to start putting it on the blockchain. We need to do it now...

3rd episode of the "New Tab" mini-series.We desperately need an education revolution fit for the age of AI and robotics...

2nd episode of the "New Tab" mini-series.I'm worried that people falling in love with AI is inevitable...

1st episode of the "New Tab" mini-series.Being a new parent has me thinking about the future even more...

"New Tab" is a new mini-series of indeterminate length exploring procrastinations on topics about the future.Each episode explores a new topic in no more than 5 minutes. These are the random things which play on my mind.

Welcome back to Take Back Control. My goal has always been to explore the technology that can rebalance things and put power back into the hands of the people. In this episode, I'm reflecting on 2024 and the major themes I've explored over previous episodes, and looking ahead to how they might continue into 2025. If you're looking for my predictions for the year ahead, check out: "Small Time Bets" - an annual podcast I record with my co-host Douglas: https://pod.link/smalltimebets [Note: This episode is also available as a video on ⁠YouTube⁠] To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann)

Welcome back to Take Back Control. My goal has always been to explore the technology that can rebalance things and put power back into the hands of the people. In this episode, I let Google's NotebookLM make a deep dive podcast based on all the Tech Back Control episodes to date. The End. [Note: This episode is also available on ⁠YouTube⁠] To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol

Welcome back to Take Back Control. My goal has always been to explore the technology that can rebalance things and put power back into the hands of the people. In this episode, I'm exploring a simple way to understand money and how it can help us prepare for the future. [Note: This episode is also available as a video on ⁠YouTube⁠] To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) Recommended Reading: The Paper Money Collapse: https://amzn.eu/d/j6kTJQx Sapiens: https://amzn.eu/d/aRMd63Y Debt: The First 5000 Years: https://amzn.eu/d/4jZdDuR

First episode of 2024. Welcome back to Take Back Control. My goal has always been to explore the technology that can rebalance things and put power back into the hands of the people. In this episode, I'm exploring what it means to be a bit more human in a world where AI is beating us at what we thought we were good at. [Note: This episode is also available as a video on ⁠YouTube⁠] To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) Sources: Abebe Bikila: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abebe_Bikila Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Sleep-Science-Dreams/dp/0141983760/ Largest ever psychedelics study maps changes of conscious awareness to neurotransmitter systems: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220316145736.htm Research about the brain using quantum computation: https://phys.org/news/2022-10-brains-quantum.html The science of boredom: https://sqonline.ucsd.edu/2020/11/the-science-of-boredom/

Bonus content from "Small Time Bets: The Only Annual Podcast". Jonathan and Douglas check in to see where their 2023 predictions landed; and then look ahead to very specific 2024 predictions covering tech, politics, markets and mashed peas. Tech Back Control will return with many new topics in the new year.

“Dear AI, you are a data analyst. I will give you data and you will analyse it, visualise it and draw conclusions from the data. I will then ask more questions about the data and together we will understand what it means.” [Note: This episode is also available as a video on ⁠YouTube⁠] This is the 13th episode of “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. This episode explores the emergence of system 2 thinking in A.I. and what real-world experimentation looks like in 2023. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) Sources: Trend in global population growth over time: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?end=2015&start=1960&view=chart Changes in global literacy rates over time: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS?end=2015&start=1960&view=chart Global Waste: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0039597 Sticky CPI over time: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CORESTICKM159SFRBATL Share of Total Net Worth Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBST01134):https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBST01134

[Note: This episode is also available as a video on YouTube] This is the 12th episode of “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. This episode explores what might happen when A.I. gets hold of the truly unstoppable open internet of crypto and blockchain technologies. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) Sources referenced in this episode: https://news.warrington.ufl.edu/faculty-and-research/chatgpt-is-better-at-predicting-how-stocks-will-react-to-news-headlines-than-traditional-models-new-study-shows/ https://dazeinfo.com/2023/05/24/fake-accounts-and-spam-content-on-facebook-instagram-meta-q1-202/#:~:text=Facebook https://triple-a.io/crypto-ownership-data/ https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/05/11/new-memecoin-77-million-market-cap-gpt-4/

This is the 11th episode of “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. This episode lets A.I. take the wheel and write and record its own episode of Tech Back Control To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann)

This is the 10th episode of “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. This episode features an interview with Willy Ogorzaly from ShapeShift DAO. In this fascinating interview, Willy talks about: Decentralising a the ShapeShift company What it is like to work in a DAO The enormous power of community ownership An incredible future of a zero-fee UI to the decentralised universe The public goods being built on Web3 protocols To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) Follow Willy on Twitter: @willyogo https://twitter.com/willyogo ShapeShift website: https://shapeshift.com/ Giveth website: https://giveth.io/ Join the ShapeShift DAO Discord server: https://discord.gg/shapeshift Listen to other interviews with Willy https://smarteconomypodcast.com/episode/6e9b1e94/willy-ogorzaly-fox-foundation-managing-defi-platforms-from-the-ground-up Watch Willy speak at ETH Denver 2022 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-TOlyguMjQ

This is the 9th episode of a new podcast called “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. Today, I’m exploring whether Non-Fungible Tulips were the OG NFTs. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) YouTube Version Only: All images generated on Midjourney All 3D NFT tulips created by OG.art Heterosis project For find out more: https://twitter.com/ogdotart Sources: Tulipmania: Money, Honour, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tulipmania-Money-Honor-Knowledge-Golden/dp/0226301265 Review of Tulipmania book https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/666 50 Things that made the modern economy: Tulips https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz2xh The truth about Tulip Mania https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44067178 Tulipmania Mythology - BBC More or Less podcast https://wspartners.stage.bbc.com/episode/w3cswk26 What the poet, playboy and prophet of bubbles can still teach us https://www.ft.com/content/0712b457-685d-4740-aacc-5610dba6ebe5

This is the 8th episode of a new podcast called “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. Today, I’m exploring what happens if generative AI consumes all online content and what that could mean for the role of humans on the internet. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann)

This is the 7th episode of “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. Today, I’m exploring the missed opportunity for “Open Money”, and what the future holds for bitcoin, crypto, and the open internet. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) Sources: Forbes article from 2011: Crypto Currency https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0509/technology-psilocybin-bitcoins-gavin-andresen-crypto-currency.html

This is the 6th episode of “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. Today, I’m extrapolating into the future of AI user experience and human interaction. Will we all become wizards? Are we ready? To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann)

This is the 5th episode of a “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. Today, I have a bonus episode for you, as I revisit the events of the recent banking crisis with Andrew @thedebtocaplyse and see whether he has more reflections on what this means for the future of money, banks, CBDCs and decentralised finance. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann)

This is the 4th episode of a new podcast called “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. This week, we’re interviewing Andrew @thedebtocalypse to understand why money has value and what the future might hold. Follow Andrew on Twitter Read his article on Medium about how Tether is an accident waiting to happen … obviously! Or check out Andrew’s summary thread about the article To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann @songadaymann

This is the third episode of a new podcast called “Tech Back Control”, a podcast exploring the disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. This week, we’re wondering if there’s another way to look at this AI revolution. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol Theme song by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) Sources & References: OpenAI Planning for AGI and Beyond GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models DeepMind's Mustafa Suleyman: In 2018, AI will gain a moral compass Mustafa Suleyman: The liberal activist who cofounded Google's $486 million artificial intelligence lab 3 months since ChatGPT launched. Here are the top milestones. Harnessing GPT-4 so that all students benefit. A nonprofit approach for equal access

This is the second episode of “Tech Back Control”, a podcast following disruptions in tech that shift power into the hands of the people. It is a short episode this week, for the designers and creatives, discussing the podcast name, artwork and any easter-eggs it is hiding about potential future of this project. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol The theme song was created by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann)

This is the first episode of “Tech Back Control”, a podcast about taking back control from technology, using  technology. This week, we’re starting with the revolution which started it all… the Internet. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord, go to the linktree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol The theme song is by Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) Watch David Bowie’s excitement for the Internet in 1999 Read: “As the Pirates Become CEOs: The Closing of the Open Internet” by Zeynep Tufekci Read: “Weaving the Web: The original design and ultimate destiny of the World Wide Web" by Tim Berners-Lee Doomsday Internet Headlines: It’s ‘digital heroin’: How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies - NY Post, August  27th,  2016 The internet is destroying society, sobering research shows - CNET, March 30th, 2017 I was wrong. Too much tech is ruining lives - Washington Post, April 17th, 2018 Big Tech, Out-of-Control Capitalism and the End of Civilization - Scientific American, Oct 7th 2020 The internet is destroying our brains, but we can't quit. It's a factory we're forced to work in without any pay - Business Insider, June 2021 Your attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen - The Guardian, January 2nd, 2022 The Internet Is Broken. How Do We Fix It? - NY Times, May 27th, 2022 Other Sources 5 companies own over 50% of the global advertising revenue. Social Network revenues Open source contributions from big tech Mozilla deal with Google

This is the trailer and episode 0 for “Tech Back Control”, a podcast about taking back control from technology, using  technology. To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord or check out other links in the link tree: https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol