Nothing great happens in a straight line. Episode two of Tangents brings four rapid-fire conversations across energy, AI, and Bitcoin: Brad Cuddy on Governor Abbott's data center guardrails and reimagining the Texas grid, Marks (Maple AI) on why not all AI "privacy" is created equal, Keith on five years of SeedSigner and the lessons of the Cold Card hack, and Schnitzel on the 256 Foundation's red team pointing AI at Bitcoin mining firmware — with a surprising verdict on stock firmware. CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome + the rundown — episode two, four guests, and a soundboard that's earning its keep 1:54 COMPUTE COWBOY: Brad Cuddy — Governor Abbott's data center guardrails (bring your own power, audits, transparency reports) and fixing the incentives before 400 gigawatts tried to come to Texas. The rate-base problem with how utilities make money. 300 GW of load vs. 100 GW residential = 200 GW of flexible load. 765 kV transmission upgrades and NIMBY pushback. Post-Uri reliability, grid-balancing batteries upstream of compute, and giving back to rural Texas — including desalinating brackish water with cheap wind and solar to provide clean drinking water to surrounding communities. Plus: Troya heads to CIGRE in Paris (Aug 23–28). 14:50 LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL (AI): Marks, Maple AI (ex-Apple) — keeping up with the AI firehose without chasing every release. AI proofreading and fitness coaching as everyday unlocks. Why he doesn't trust Dario's regulation push, and how to read Zuckerberg's 6,500-word "the future is for everyone" post given Meta's track record. Privacy tiers: proxy services that still ship your prompts to OpenAI/Anthropic vs. true end-to-end encryption with open-source code. The (unconfirmed) Stripe–OpenRouter deal: genius payments-style play or the next AOL–Time Warner? Venice AI's reported $100M run rate says people care about privacy. 26:50 CUSTODY CORNER: Keith, SeedSigner — five years of full-time open-source development. The Bitcoin Red Team: after AI likely found the Cold Card flaw, Rob Hamilton spun up a volunteer effort (now OpenSats-funded) slamming every open-source Bitcoin project with AI — SeedSigner got a disclosure on day one. Why American frontier models refuse security work while the red team runs on open-source models like Kimi. Bitcoin is just the first wave — closed-source companies everywhere get probed next. The Trezor mailing-list leak (~19,000 customers). SeedSigner's model: hide in the crowd of 10 million off-the-shelf boards, verify 100% of the software — "I'm not asking for any of your trust at all." And why the social trust layer still matters in a crisis. 43:30 RED TEAMS EVERYWHERE: Schnitzel, 256 Foundation — a red team for Bitcoin mining firmware, open AND closed source (reverse-engineering binaries on live S19s in the lab). Prove vulnerabilities with a working PoC, then follow responsible disclosure. Findings disclosed in LuxOS, Braiins, and Vnish — and the plot twist: stock firmware came out safest, because third-party dev-fee connections open a second channel for man-in-the-middle attacks. The agent ranked Mujina's open-source firmware #1. The bigger problem: ~80% of hashrate runs closed-source firmware from a single company. The 256 Foundation is fundraising — six million, three years. 56:50 Wrap-up — new segments coming (Delegate/Delete, supported by Athena), a Tangents community with Bitcoin Park, AI Freedom Lab, and Imagine If folks, http://notfinancialadvice.com supporter shoutouts — starting with Buck and the Nashville Fence & Deck crew — and Imagine If, October 5–6 at Bitcoin Park, Nashville. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE • Governor Abbott's Texas data center guardrails, ERCOT, Winter Storm Uri, CIGRE Paris • Zuckerberg's "The Future is for Everyone," Stripe/OpenRouter reports, Venice AI, Maple AI, Open Source AI Summit (Presidio, early September) • Bitcoin Red Team — Rob Hamilton, Portland.HODL & co., OpenSats, Kimi K3, Cold Card exploit • SeedSigner, Trezor mailing-list leak, Michael Flaxman's multisig episode on Stephan Livera (2019) • 256 Foundation — Mujina, BitAxe, Hydra Pool; LuxOS, Braiins, Vnish disclosures • Imagine If — October 5–6 at Bitcoin Park, Nashville Not financial advice.
