Humans in the Loop

Seb Agertoft

A podcast for thoughtful technologists. Seb Agertoft - Coach to tech company founders and leadership teams - interviews founders, technologists, artists, investors, thought leaders and policymakers wrestling with the tough questions at the forefront of emergent tech like AI, quantum computing, renewable energy, web3, blockchain, robotics and autonomous vehicles. Not just can we build it, but how to build tech with human interests at heart. Get in touch at www.theuncommonfounder.com

  1. Eric Ries | Is it even possible to build an Incorruptible company?

    1D AGO

    Eric Ries | Is it even possible to build an Incorruptible company?

    Many of us have a sense that even well-meaning companies and institutions lose their way, sometimes becoming downright evil.Eric Ries is a legend when it comes to building tech companies and his new book is written from the perspective of someone whose been 'on the frontlines in the battle for the soul of our economy'.Incorruptible is a new blueprint for companies that will prosper and endure without losing their soul. Now more than ever we need great organisations, institutions and companies. Things that bring us together, not that tear us apart. That we can trust in to put shared human interests and values at the heart of what they do.If you're going to listen to one Humans in the Loop episode, make it this one. Buy the book now. Where else you can listen Youtube Apple podcastsOr wherever you get your podcasts! Chapters 00:00 The Core Thesis of 'Incorruptible' 02:52 The Urgency of the Moment 07:13 Understanding Financial Gravity 12:21 The Concept of Shareholder Primacy 17:54 The Misconception of Capitalism 23:13 Examples of Resilient Companies 26:59 The Value of Innovative Corporate Structures 28:59 AI Governance and Corporate Responsibility 30:35 The Role of Governance in AI Companies 32:50 Integrity and Mission in Corporate Governance 35:45 The Importance of Principles in Business Decisions 38:30 The Role of Integrity in Governance 40:49 The Consequences of Corporate Mission Statements 43:28 Balancing Lean Startup Principles with Governance 46:35 The Right Time for Founders to Implement Governance 49:23 An Optimistic Vision for the Future of BusinessLinks https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/ https://x.com/ericries https://www.instagram.com/ericriesactual/ https://www.tiktok.com/@ericriesactual https://news.theleanstartup.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow Get in touch Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/humansinthelooppod⁠ Email: ⁠seb@theuncommonfounder.com⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.theuncommonfounder.com

    53 min
  2. Can you lift a country out of poverty? | Nick Allardice, CEO GiveDirectly

    MAY 19

    Can you lift a country out of poverty? | Nick Allardice, CEO GiveDirectly

    How to lift an entire country out of poverty? Does philanthropy make a difference? What if wealthy tech founders gave away their money? Will AI make poor countries even poorer? How does technology help a country to develop? Those are some of the questions discussed into today's episode of Humans in the Loop featuring Nick Allardice, CEO of GiveDirectly, a non-profit that's sent over $1 billion in cash, directly to those living in poverty. Where else you can watch/listenYoutube - youtube.com/channel/UC1KEYtwPKr5yUv86f7YDB7g/Apple podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-in-the-loop/id1831285114Or wherever you get your podcasts! Chapters 00:00 Introduction to GiveDirectly and Philanthropy 02:35 Identifying Communities in Need 06:18 Technology and Cash Transfers 12:10 Empowering Recipients: No Strings Attached 17:45 Community Impact and Economic Growth 23:46 Limitations of Cash Transfers 27:15 Conclusion and Future of Philanthropy 27:33 Skepticism of Central Planning in Local Economies 28:40 The Ineffectiveness of Traditional Teaching Methods 30:38 The Role of Wealthy Individuals in Alleviating Poverty 32:52 The Potential of Cash Transfers to Lift Living Standards 35:37 The Importance of Urgency in Philanthropy 39:26 The Impact of AI on Job Markets in Developing Countries 42:46 Balancing Optimism and Fear in the Age of AI 47:49 Innovative Approaches to Education and Healthcare 50:06 Leveraging AI for Disaster Preparedness 54:05 A Call to Action for the Wealthy to Invest in ChangeLinksGiveDirectly The experiment in Malawi Rutger Bregman's call for the world's billionaires to pick up the phone to NickGet in touch Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/humansinthelooppod⁠ Email: ⁠seb@theuncommonfounder.com⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.theuncommonfounder.com

    57 min
  3. The Chinese Tech Economy | Selina Xu - AI & China Researcher

    MAY 5

    The Chinese Tech Economy | Selina Xu - AI & China Researcher

    China is shaping the world.In direct ways, like innovation, foreign policy, investment.And indirectly, by provoking a response from countries such as the US who see it as a competitor.China's transformation into one of the world's superpowers is the most remarkable transformation of a single country in the history of the world.And yet it's still poorly understood (including by me).Selina Xu is a writer, researcher and AI & China policy lead in the office of former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt and is here to shed light on China and its technology industry, dispelling some myths along the way.Where else you can listen: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4BbslJR0KA5bfqrcYRhJER?si=d0edc1049eac4f39 Apple podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-in-the-loop/id1831285114Or wherever you get your podcasts! Chapters 00:00 The Evolution of China's Tech Industry 03:38 Debunking the Copycat Narrative 06:16 The Role of the State in Innovation 09:51 Xi Jinping's Vision for Technology 12:44 The Return of Jack Ma 15:35 China's Perspective on Global Competition 19:28 Defining Winning in the Superpower Race 22:40 China's Unique Approach to Technology Deployment 26:50 The Role of the State in AI Development 30:03 DeepSeek and the Evolution of Chinese AI 34:19 Agentic AI: Trends and Trajectories 36:57 Emerging Frontiers in AI Research 40:12 Infrastructure and Support for Tech Industries 43:44 Geopolitical Implications of Taiwan and Semiconductors 46:03 Cultural Perspectives on China and Tech 48:53 Optimistic Visions for the Future of AILinks: Selina's website China's AI+ initiative Involution Suspension of ANT's IPO Common prosperity Deepseek moment Chin AI substack - Jeffrey Ding Get in touch Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/humansinthelooppod⁠ Email: ⁠seb@theuncommonfounder.com⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.theuncommonfounder.com

    51 min
  4. Zen Master Henry Shukman on tech & what it means to be human

    MAR 24

    Zen Master Henry Shukman on tech & what it means to be human

    Henry Shukman is a Zen Master, a meditation teacher, and co-founder of The Way meditation app.As AI poses some hard questions about what it means to be human, I thought Henry might help make some sense of things. Chapters 00:00 Understanding Zen: A Personal Journey 03:52 The Need for Spirituality: A Personal Crisis 10:07 Living Zen in the Modern World 13:36 Navigating Modern Existence: Technology and Spirituality 18:38 The Motivations Behind Meditation 23:15 Technology's Role in Meditation: The Way App 32:06 Ambition and Spirituality: Finding Balance 39:47 AI and the Nature of Consciousness 45:04 Optimism for the Future: Meditation's Impact Links⁠ The Way App⁠ - https://www.thewayapp.com/ Get in touch Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/humansinthelooppod⁠ Email: ⁠seb@theuncommonfounder.com⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.theuncommonfounder.com

    48 min
  5. The Creative Process with Fuser Co-Founders Dalena Tran & Hirad Sab

    MAR 10

    The Creative Process with Fuser Co-Founders Dalena Tran & Hirad Sab

    My guests today are artists, film makers, educators, technologists and founders of Fuser, a company building an AI workspace for creatives. With so much noise around what AI should or shouldn’t be used for, and where human creativity starts and ends, I wanted to get Dalena and Hirad on to talk more about the creative process in this technological moment. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Fuser and Its Founders 03:40 The Vision Behind Fuser 06:12 Creative Applications of Fuser 08:35 The Role of AI in Creative Processes 11:24 Navigating the Challenges of AI in Art 13:29 The Future of Creativity with AI 15:48 Investor Relations and Company Integrity 19:00 The Evolving Landscape of Art and Technology 20:52 Conclusion and Future Aspirations Links Fuser Brand video Get in touch ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.theuncommonfounder.com⁠ seb@theuncommonfounder.com⁠

    43 min
  6. Mike Masnick on the decentralised internet

    FEB 24

    Mike Masnick on the decentralised internet

    Mike Masnick wrote the paper that helped inspire Bluesky and now he sits on the Bluesky board.A long-time advocate of decentralised tech, Mike's paper 'Protocols not platforms' outlined how a more open protocol-based system to social media would create a healthier social media ecosystem in which people were free to vote with their feet (or their mouse) and go elsewhere, without losing access to the community they'd built.In this wide ranging conversation, Mike and I discuss the future of social media, the internet's trajectory from an open to a closed ecosystem, whether decentralisation can be a winning strategy in a capitalist economy, and much more. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Mike Masnick and Tech Perspectives 05:53 The Evolution of TechDirt and Innovation 11:03 Understanding Free Speech in the Digital Age 15:53 Protocols vs. Platforms: A New Approach to Free Speech 20:50 The Shift from Protocol-Centric to Platform-Centric Internet 28:48 The Evolution of Patents and Competition 31:10 Understanding the Problems with Big Tech 32:23 Moving Towards Decentralization 33:23 The Role of Decentralized Protocols 35:11 Generative AI: Empowerment vs. Control 37:55 Building Personalized Tools for Empowerment 41:35 Decentralization in Social Media: Blue Sky Explained 49:12 The Future of Decentralized Systems 53:04 Mainstream Adoption of Decentralized Technologies Links Protocols not platforms Bluesky Get in touch Instagram ⁠https://www.theuncommonfounder.com seb@theuncommonfounder.com⁠

    56 min
  7. Alex Komoroske on the hacker ethic and pro-social tech

    FEB 3

    Alex Komoroske on the hacker ethic and pro-social tech

    Alex Komoroske is one of the smartest voices out there talking about better forms of technology right now. He spent a long chapter of his career at the likes of Google and Stripe and is now the Founder and CEO of Common Tools, working on enabling decentralised technology. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Alex Komoroske's Perspective on Tech 03:39 The Hacker Ethic and Disillusionment in Tech 06:31 The Slide into Cynicism: A Cultural Shift in Tech 09:12 Emergence and Coordination Complexity in Organizations 11:40 Slime Molds: A Metaphor for Organizational Dynamics 14:24 The Future of Incumbent Organizations 17:24 The Same Origin Policy and Its Consequences 20:06 Resonance vs. Hollowness in Technology 22:50 The Resonant Computing Manifesto 25:09 The Role of LLMs in Shaping the Future 32:07 Unlocking the Power of LLMs 35:40 The Role of Privacy in Resonant Computing 37:09 Organizational Structures for Resonance 42:24 The Importance of a Resonant Privacy Model 46:38 Emergence and Resonance in Technology 53:55 A Vision for the Future of Technology Links: Resonant computing manifesto Alex’s website Slime molds deck Alex’s ‘bits and bobs’ document The Same Origin Paradigm Get in touch: https://www.instagram.com/humansinthelooppod seb@theuncommonfounder.com https://www.theuncommonfounder.com

    1 hr
  8. Kevin Kelly on Flounder Mode and Optimism

    JAN 13

    Kevin Kelly on Flounder Mode and Optimism

    How to describe Kevin Kelly? Founder of Wired Magazine. Writer of industry defining essays like '1000 true fans' - https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/Co-chair of The Long Now Foundation encouraging people to think on civilisational timescalesPassionate traveller and photographer whose travelled remote parts of Asia for the last 50 years - https://kevin2kelly.myshopify.com/products/colors-of-asia-a-visual-journeyThe subject of the brilliant term, coined by Brie Wolfson - Flounder Mode https://joincolossus.com/article/flounder-mode/And a dream podcast guest Kevin is known for many things, not least his optimism, but Kevin's flavour of optimism is what we calls 'protopian not utopian' - an acknowledgement that new technology creates major new problems but that over time we find ways to solve them Chapters 00:00 The Hollywood Approach to Career Paths 05:20 Pursuing Interesting Projects 07:46 Influence and Unique Contributions 10:38 Radical Optimism Explained 13:38 The Choice of Optimism 16:28 The Reality of Progress 19:05 Wrestling with Counter Narratives 21:54 Building Better Technology 28:18 Navigating Technology's Strengths and Weaknesses 30:54 The Ethics of Technology Creation 33:14 The Role of Corporations in Technology 36:04 The Necessity of Innovation in Addressing Problems 42:14 Long-Term Thinking and the Long Now Foundation 47:55 Envisioning a Desirable Future 53:11 Celebrating Cultural Heritage Through Photography Get in touch Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/humansinthelooppod Email: seb@theuncommonfounder.com Personal website: https://www.theuncommonfounder.com

    55 min
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About

A podcast for thoughtful technologists. Seb Agertoft - Coach to tech company founders and leadership teams - interviews founders, technologists, artists, investors, thought leaders and policymakers wrestling with the tough questions at the forefront of emergent tech like AI, quantum computing, renewable energy, web3, blockchain, robotics and autonomous vehicles. Not just can we build it, but how to build tech with human interests at heart. Get in touch at www.theuncommonfounder.com

Information

  • Creator
    Seb Agertoft
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Seb Agertoft
  • Show Website
    Humans in the Loop

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