Alex Wiltschko

Your brain sends neurons out of your skull into the top of your nose, and your brain is literally touching the world when you smell something. And the number of steps it takes for that information to get to your centers of memory and your centers of emotion is faster than any other sense. So we're anatomically wired to have scent project directly to our memory and to our centers of emotion.

Those areas are called the hippocampus and the amygdala. So we're wired to associate smell with emotion. So it's like evolutionarily super old. there's still a lot of mysteries that remain about smell. And there's amazing researchers that are pushing back the frontiers of what we know, of figuring out why things smell the way that they do, of engineering better smells.

Those areas are called the hippocampus and the amygdala. So we're wired to associate smell with emotion. So it's like evolutionarily super old. there's still a lot of mysteries that remain about smell. And there's amazing researchers that are pushing back the frontiers of what we know, of figuring out why things smell the way that they do, of engineering better smells.

So like, look, it's still also the most mysterious sense. We were talking a little bit earlier it feels weird that we haven't figured out scent, right? It's like computers can see, computers can hear, they can touch, right? We have touch screens and we have the work that formerly Control Labs is doing with these wristbands, exact haptics, but computers can't smell.

So like, look, it's still also the most mysterious sense. We were talking a little bit earlier it feels weird that we haven't figured out scent, right? It's like computers can see, computers can hear, they can touch, right? We have touch screens and we have the work that formerly Control Labs is doing with these wristbands, exact haptics, but computers can't smell.

And that's weird because it's such a fundamental thing. It feels like almost free or like easy for us to smell things. Like why can't we teach computers to do this? There's this concept called Moravec's paradox. Have you heard of it? Yeah. Yeah. So like just really briefly, the idea is like the easier it is for a person to do, the harder it is for a computer.

And that's weird because it's such a fundamental thing. It feels like almost free or like easy for us to smell things. Like why can't we teach computers to do this? There's this concept called Moravec's paradox. Have you heard of it? Yeah. Yeah. So like just really briefly, the idea is like the easier it is for a person to do, the harder it is for a computer.

Because if it's easy for a person, it means evolution has spent a ton of time making it easy for us. But if something is really hard, like proving a math theorem or something, turns out we've taught computers to do that stuff, right?

Because if it's easy for a person, it means evolution has spent a ton of time making it easy for us. But if something is really hard, like proving a math theorem or something, turns out we've taught computers to do that stuff, right?

And it was weird that those were the first problems to fall, but like walking has been hard and we're just now kind of getting good at that by making robots walk and smelling has been extremely hard and we're just now kind of cracking the code there.

And it was weird that those were the first problems to fall, but like walking has been hard and we're just now kind of getting good at that by making robots walk and smelling has been extremely hard and we're just now kind of cracking the code there.

Totally. So that's what we're doing with StockX. And again, like our main thing is generation. We think that that's going to really have a massive impact. That's creating smell. But there's all these applications for detecting smell. So...

Totally. So that's what we're doing with StockX. And again, like our main thing is generation. We think that that's going to really have a massive impact. That's creating smell. But there's all these applications for detecting smell. So...

I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but a lot of people can sometimes smell if their loved one or their partner is getting sick or like something's a little bit off. And then two days later, they actually get sick. That's real, right? Like what's on the inside of us gets to the outside. What's in our blood and in our organs is eventually exhausted through our breath, our sweat, whatever.

I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but a lot of people can sometimes smell if their loved one or their partner is getting sick or like something's a little bit off. And then two days later, they actually get sick. That's real, right? Like what's on the inside of us gets to the outside. What's in our blood and in our organs is eventually exhausted through our breath, our sweat, whatever.

And we know that dogs can pick up on that stuff. So we've proved out that we can use the scent of a product to tell whether it's a real or a fake, basically tell its provenance. And that's something we've got deployed at StockX, and that's going quite well. We think that there's other counterfeit detection and kind of truth and safety applications for scent.

And we know that dogs can pick up on that stuff. So we've proved out that we can use the scent of a product to tell whether it's a real or a fake, basically tell its provenance. And that's something we've got deployed at StockX, and that's going quite well. We think that there's other counterfeit detection and kind of truth and safety applications for scent.

But I think it goes deeper than that, right? So I think we could be detecting harmful substances at the border and stopping them. Whatever sniffer dogs are doing, I think eventually a computer will be able to either help with or do entirely. But a holy grail for us is human health and wellness. I think the signal that is inside of the scent that we emit is completely untapped.

But I think it goes deeper than that, right? So I think we could be detecting harmful substances at the border and stopping them. Whatever sniffer dogs are doing, I think eventually a computer will be able to either help with or do entirely. But a holy grail for us is human health and wellness. I think the signal that is inside of the scent that we emit is completely untapped.

What's weird is it turns out that by getting really good at designing the sense of fruits and flowers and vegetables you actually, for free, get good at these other scent problems, like with human scent or with product scent, because the overlap of the actual molecules that you see is actually pretty high. So there's not an infinite number of molecules out there.