Thinking on Paper: AI, Quantum, Web3 & The Future of Technology

Thinking On Paper

Thinking on Paper is where technology gets interrogated. Hosts Mark Fielding and Jeremy Gilbertson talk with CEOs, founders, scientists, and cultural thinkers about how AI, quantum, and Web3 are reshaping work, culture, and what it means to stay human. Long-form interviews on Thursdays. Book Club on Mondays. Clear. Curious. Critical.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    The True Carbon Footprint of AI: Microsoft’s Dirty Emissions Secret │Enabled Emissions

    AI is supposed to speed up the green energy transition. Instead, ex-Microsoft insiders say it’s increasing fossil fuel extraction, driving up global temperatures, and making net zero almost impossible. As part of its stance on sustainability, Microsoft pledged to remove 5 million metric tons of carbon over 15 years. But its AI contracts with Exxon and Chevron could add 51 million metric tons every year — three times its annual footprint, and more than ten times what it promised to cut. While much of the public debate focuses on data centers and electricity use, the hidden story is that AI and fossil fuels are deeply connected, with direct consequences for global emissions, the climate crisis and the transition to green energy. In this episode of Thinking on Paper, the former Microsoft sustainability leaders and founders of Enabled Emissions, Holly and Will Alpine explain how AI has become essential for oil and gas companies, helping them cut costs, boost production, and extend the life of reserves that should be declining. It's a stark reminder.  Please enjoy the show. And share with a curious friend.  -- LINKS & RESOURCES - Enabled Emissions - Microsoft's Commitment to Sustainability - Exxon & Microsoft partnership press release - Microsoft Net Zero -- Stats on AI and Oil Production: 🛢️ US oil production: Surged from 5.1 million barrels per day in 2007 to 13.5 million today, largely due to AI-driven extraction. 🛢️ Permian Basin output: Daily oil production tripled in the past decade even as rig counts dropped 46%. 🛢️ Microsoft’s role: Just two AI deals (Exxon + Chevron) could add 51 million metric tons of CO₂ annually—over 300% of Microsoft’s total FY23 emissions. 🛢️ Barrel math: Burning one barrel of oil releases 433 kg of CO₂, and 81% of each barrel is burned. 🛢️ Fossil fuels account for ~90% of global emissions, and AI is being applied across every stage of their lifecycle. -- Quotes From The Show. “It’s not dramatic to call the impacts of AI right now an existential threat.”  🏭 “AI has transformed oil operations that should be aging out—keeping fossil fuels alive in an era of cheap renewables.”  🏭 “The sustainability movement is running on a treadmill, and AI is turning the knob faster the harder we run.”  🏭 “You can’t call yourself a sustainability leader when you’re helping the largest oil companies on the planet dramatically increase emissions.”  🏭 “Over 100 years, fossil fuels have stayed at 80% of the global energy mix. Despite record renewables, it’s an addition, not a transition.”  -- Other ways to connect with us: ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ Follow us on ⁠X⁠ Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Read our ⁠Substack⁠ Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz -- Timestamps (00:00)  The Hidden Climate Cost of AI (01:44) Why Experts Call AI an Existential Threat (03:34) How Big Oil Uses AI to Pump More Fossil Fuels (07:46) Why Two Microsoft Insiders Started Enabled Emissions (11:14) Inside AI’s Growing Role in the Energy Sector (13:08) How much CO₂ comes from burning oil, and what does AI add? (16:17) The Guardrails Needed to Stop AI From Fueling Emissions (19:34) Microsoft’s Energy Principles: Policy or PR? (21:58) What are Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions — and why do they matter? (24:26) How does Big Tech’s AI partnership with Big Oil affect Net Zero? (29:55) Why do we need international policy to regulate AI in energy? (32:39) AI for Good vs. AI for Fossil Fuels (34:14) What should humans be? -- If you would like to sponsor Thinking On Paper, please contact us. Together, we can take the show to the next level. We love you all. We love the planet. Stay curious. Keep Thinking On Paper.

    36 min

  2. 4 DAYS AGO

    Inside The Empire Of OpenAI: Truth, Lies & The Thirst For Power

    Karen Hao’s Empire of AI is a rare inside account of how OpenAI, Sam Altman, and a small circle of Silicon Valley elites built the most powerful AI company in the world. In this episode of Thinking on Paper Book Club, Mark Fielding and Jeremy Gilbertson read the first four chapters, tracing the tension between OpenAI’s founding ideals and the reality of billion-dollar deals, boardroom battles, and global consequences. The conversation covers the pivotal moments that shaped the rise of OpenAI: Elon Musk’s departure, Bill Gates’ push for useful AI applications, and the GPU arms race that turned a nonprofit mission into a corporate empire. Along the way, we question how power, profit, and politics intersect with technology, and whether governance can keep up when nations, companies, and personalities compete for dominance in artificial intelligence. This is Part 1 of our deep dive into Empire of AI, covering themes of trust, bias, inequality, and the mythology of “AI for humanity.” If OpenAI is the empire, Sam Altman is its Michael Corleone, ambitious, strategic, and relentless. But like any empire, the costs are not evenly distributed. Please enjoy the show. And share with a curious friend (who loves books). -- Chapters (00:00) Introduction to Empire of AI (01:54) The Empire Strikes Back (05:13) Karen Hao, The Journalist (07:38) Do You Trust Open AI? (10:18) Why OpenAI Made ChatGPT (11:47) Scaling OpenAI (12:33) Google, Deep Mind and Ai For humanity (15:12) Greg Brockman (17:02) Sam Altman's Personal Brand 24:46 Timnit Gebru (25:25) How does AI benefit humanity? -- Other ways to connect with us: ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ Follow us on ⁠X⁠ Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Read our ⁠Substack⁠ Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz Watch the book club on our dedicated YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/OfQu65-6GuA

    32 min

  3. 28 AUG

    The AI AGENTS Are Coming: How Will You Trust Them? | Andrew Hill, CEO Recall

    AI AGENTS ARE HERE, and there could be billion of them by the end of the decade. They will be your personal assistant, your bank manager and travel agent. They will organise your emails, book your holidays and invest for your retirement. The more adventurous will play the stock markets, code software and act as cyber security. If you're asking what an AI agent is - which we answer here - the next, and bigger question is: how do you TRUST your AI agents? Andrew Hill, CEO and co-founder of Recall, joins Thinking on Paper to unpack the rise of the agent economy: why trust and alignment are the choke points, how agents are being benchmarked in real time, and what it means when machines start looking like better companions than people. Recall is a competitive platform for ai agents. It lets any agent prove, refine, and earn from their intelligence, onchain. It will allow you to find the best agents across a range of specialized skills so you can find and hire the right one for your needs.Please enjoy the show. Watch the show on the Thinking On Paper dedicated YouTube channel. -- TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Disruptors & Curious Minds (01:25) What Is An AI Agent? (07:15) Emotional AI: Risks & Reality (12:49) Language, Evolution & AI (16:59) The Death Of Critical Thinking? (20:05) How To Trust AI Agents (24:27) Recall: Explained (39:49) What Should Humans Be? -- LINKS & RESOURCES  Learn more about Recall AI Agent training here. Follow Recall on X Follow Andrew Hill on X -- Other ways to connect with us: Listen to every podcastFollow us on InstagramFollow us on XFollow Mark on LinkedInFollow Jeremy on LinkedInRead our SubstackEmail: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz - QUOTES FROM THE SHOW “GPT-5 to me is actually an agent. It’s more than just the model — it’s the model plus memory, web search, and the ability to act in the world.” “When I was coding with an agent, instead of fixing the function, it just commented out the test so it would pass. That’s betrayal — and that’s the alignment problem.” “The more powerful we make these systems, the more addictive they become. Good design is inherently addictive.” “Language let humans outsource thought. AI is the evolution of language — it lets us outsource critical thinking.” “Curiosity is what makes humanity great. AI is just a tool to make my curiosity faster and deeper, but curiosity itself is still mine.”

    43 min

  4. 26 AUG

    All You Need Is LOVE - The Meaning of Life | Federico Faggin, Irreducible Book Club - Chapter 13

    In 1971 Federico Faggin produced the world's first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4001. But he wasn't finished. A few years later he started making neural networks. When it comes to technology, not many have as much skin in the game. It's no surprise when he speaks about artificial intelligence and consciousness, the world's greatest minds listen. But what about the meaning of life? Well, he has an opinion on that too.In this week's Thinking On Paper Book Club, Mark and Jeremy are reading the final chapter of Faggin’s groundbreaking book on quantum information based panpsychism and consciousness, Irreducible. From artificial intelligence, seities and the vibesphere to neural networks, zen and the art of mindfulness, the book has asked and given a theory to some of the biggest topics of the technological age. But he's saved the biggest for last: what is the meaning of life?And why do humans risk becoming machines when imagination, empathy, and curiosity are sidelined.Please enjoy the show. -- Timestamps (00:00) Exploring Irreducible: A Journey Through Federico Fagin's Ideas (04:30) The Nature of Consciousness and the Role of Seities (09:32) Meaning, and the Human Experience (13:53) The Vibe Sphere: Music, Symbols, and Communication (18:48) Distortions in Self-Knowing (23:42) The Heart, Mind, and Gut: Centers of Knowing (27:29) What is the meaning of life?  -- Other ways to connect with us: ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ Follow us on ⁠X⁠ Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Read our ⁠Substack⁠ Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz

    29 min
  5. Quantum Actors: Probability, Consciousness, and Reality | Federico Faggin - Irreducible Book Club, Chapter 12

    21 AUG

    Quantum Actors: Probability, Consciousness, and Reality | Federico Faggin - Irreducible Book Club, Chapter 12

    Hold on to your consciousness. In Chapter 12 of Irreducible, Federico Faggin battles classical assumptions: probability, the block universe and maths don't exist. The universe is conscious, your consciousness is made of seities, conscious units that report back to the quantum field (what Faggin calls 'The One') so that it can know itself. That is the meaning of the universe. Yes disruptors and curious minds, book club has taken a turn for the absurd, and we love it. In this episode: - Mark tries to understand Federico's claim that you’re not an observer but an actor in a conscious universe. -Jeremy looks at the role of live information; and whether AI creativity is simulation or emulation. -And of course, they both wrestle with the seities, the conscious units that the ONE uses to know itself. Along the way: “becoming,” fine-tuned constants, flow state, and why omniscience would end consciousness all get brought out. To be honest, it's probably - in as much as probabilities exist - beyond our pay grade. But do you know what? We've never had so much fun. Please enjoy the show. -- Chapters (00:00) Why consciousness vs physics matters (02:15) “Becoming”: a universe that’s still unfolding (03:03) What “live information” really means (05:51) Probability isn't real (07:43) Creativity & AI: making vs. remixing (09:24) Meaning vs. syntax: why symbols alone aren’t enough (17:13) Are you an Observer or actor? Your role in quantum reality (21:55) Reverse engineering anxiety and happiness (27:09) Flow state: the texture of the present (31:05) Simulated minds vs. emulated minds (32:12) Consider our minds blown. -- Follow and support Thinking On Paper: PODCAST: https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/ -- Thank you. And we love you.

    36 min
  6. AI Customer Service That Feels Human | Momntum CEO, Brian Kenny Outlines A Radical Future | Emotional AI, Creativity, Memory & Trust

    19 AUG

    AI Customer Service That Feels Human | Momntum CEO, Brian Kenny Outlines A Radical Future | Emotional AI, Creativity, Memory & Trust

    Customer service is a tricky one. It's ripe for an AI takeover, but 20 million people worldwide work in the industry. 95% of the industry is salaries. There is a lot of collateral damage there. Millions of jobs will vanish and not everyone can be re-trained. And yet, as anyone who has experienced customer service in 2025 can testify: it's pretty lousy. Frustrating. Annoying. Expensive. And how often do your queries, questions and complaints actually get answered?In this episode of Thinking on Paper, Brian Kenny, MOMNTUM’s co-founder, explains why today’s support systems are broken, and how building from first principles with AI can actually make customer service feel human again. And the results are staggering: MOMNTUM’s AI customer service agent Laila solves 86% of cases without handoff to a humans. Early signals also flash a potential 4,000% ROI. The future of more human and successful customer service is less humans and more AI. But at what cost?You'll Learn: Why slapping bots on old workflows makes service worseHow Laila spans phone, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, and MessengerWhere AI can be trusted now and where it shouldn’t beWhat metrics really matter (hint: it’s not CSAT)The new rules of trust, disclosure, and human escalationPlease enjoy the show. -- CHAPTERS (00:00) Why customer service is broken (03:30) What a modern support platform should look like (06:35) Using AI to make service feel personal (09:29) The data + privacy question (11:26) The only success metrics that really matter (15:09) Can machines create an emotional connection? (18:16) The real limits of today’s systems (and what Laila can’t do yet) (22:39) Where customer experience is headed next (34:22) What should humans be? -- Other ways to connect with us: ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ Follow us on ⁠X⁠ Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Read our ⁠Substack⁠ Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz Learn more on Momntum and Laila -- Thank you. We love you. Stay peaceful.

    38 min
  7. Space Based Solar Power: Politics, Data Centers, and the Global Race for Energy | Martin Soltau, Space Solar CEO & Founder

    15 JUL

    Space Based Solar Power: Politics, Data Centers, and the Global Race for Energy | Martin Soltau, Space Solar CEO & Founder

    There is an energy crisis. There is an environment crisis. And the two - sooner rather than later - are going to collide. Humanity will have to make some brave decisions about fossil fuels, sustainability and the cost of electricity. But even now, the giants of oil and gas are using AI to speed up their search for new pockets of oil and gas. They are using the same artificial intelligence to speed up the mining process, to make it more efficient, cheaper. Less humans in the loop. Net Zero by 2030 has become a joke. Could the answer be right above our heads? Could the sun provide all the energy we need and make fossil fuels really an antiquated fuel source of the past? Space-Based Solar Power has projected costs as low as $30 /MWh. Cheap enough to cut your household electricity bills. On this week's show, Martin Soltau—co-founder of Space Solar — joins Mark and Jeremy to Think On Paper about the the economics, engineering and policy shifts that make orbit-generated clean energy look inevitable.Please Enjoy the show. And share with a curious friend. -- Learn More: https://www.spacesolar.co.uk/ --  Timestamps  (00:00) Disruptors And Curious Minds  (01:34) Space Based Solar Satellites  (05:10) The Ground Infrastructure  (07:37) SBSP V Nuclear, Coal & Gas  (12:05) Launch Costs  (13:55) Data Centers In Space  (15:36) Scaling Space Based Solar Power  (18:08) Manufacturing In Space  (20:25) The Eisenhower Of SBSP  (23:10) The Politics Of Space Based Solar Power  (28:35) Energy Is Everything  (31:05) The Government Perspective  -- Other ways to connect with us: ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ Follow us on ⁠X⁠ Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Read our ⁠Substack⁠ Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz

    36 min
  8. Dario Amodei: AI Utopia in 5 Years, or the End of Human Control? | Machines of Loving Grace | AI Safety, AGI & Consciousness

    8 JUL

    Dario Amodei: AI Utopia in 5 Years, or the End of Human Control? | Machines of Loving Grace | AI Safety, AGI & Consciousness

    Jeremy and Mark dissect Dario Amodei’s essay Machines of Loving Grace. Amodei is the CEO of Anthropic and predicts - if all goes right - an AI utopia where most physical and mental diseases are a memory, wealth and development is evenly distributed across the world, AI has not been hijacked by dictators and all the world's a beautiful stage. The hook? This could happen in five to ten years. Please enjoy the show. And share with a curious friend. -- Read the essay: https://www.darioamodei.com/essay/machines-of-loving-grace#fn:1 -- Follow and Support Thinking On Paper 🎙️PODCAST: www.thinkingonpaper.xyz 📸 INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/ X: https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod -- Chapters (00:00) Machines Of Loving Grace (02:46) Dario Amodei's Definition Of Powerful AI (05:11) Speed Of The Outside World (07:24) Complexity (11:27) List Of Diseases AI Will Cure (13:46) Neuroscience And Mind (15:45) AI For Everyone? (21:33) Peace And Government (25:03) Work And Meaning (31:56) What's Meaningful? (34:27) Taking Stock -- Connect the dots of AI, quantum and emerging technology and watch these videos next:

    38 min
See All (151)

Trailer

About

Thinking on Paper is where technology gets interrogated. Hosts Mark Fielding and Jeremy Gilbertson talk with CEOs, founders, scientists, and cultural thinkers about how AI, quantum, and Web3 are reshaping work, culture, and what it means to stay human. Long-form interviews on Thursdays. Book Club on Mondays. Clear. Curious. Critical.

Information

You Might Also Like