The Local Maximum with Max Sklar
Episodes
Ep. 328 - Restarting the Local Maximum: Book Strategies for 2025
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Returning after a Hiatus* Today is just going to be a hangout with me and Aaron if you’re into that.. And later, we’ll return to more specific top...
Ep. 327 - The Shape of Thought
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Author, entrepreneur, and AI professor Graham Morehead joins the Local Maximum to talk about Artificial Thought and human potential working with AI in...
Ep. 326 - James Barnes, The Autobiographer
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Local Maximum returns from a hiatus with today’s interview of James Barnes, founder of Autobiographer, and AI-based app developed at Betaworks t...
Ep. 325 - Eric Daimler: Perspectives on AI
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s guest is Eric Daimler, co-founder and CEO of Conexus (conexus.com). Max talks to Eric about the enormous shift in focus in the industry sinc...
Ep. 324 - The Technological Singularity Part II
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron go deeper into the ideas of the singularity and the law of accelerating returns as articulated in Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity is nearer...
Ep. 323 - The Technological Singularity Part I
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron discuss Ray Kurzweil’s new book, The Singularity is Nearer, and talk about the prospect for a technological singularity by 2045 and AG...
Ep. 322 - Coding in the Age of AI
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Freund, co-founder and CEO of Wilco, talks to Max to explore the future of software development in a post-AI world. Learn about the evolving roles ...
Ep. 321 - Exploring AI with Itamar Friedman
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to Codium.ai Founder Itamar Friedman about the rise of LLMs, the evolution of AI as practiced, and the philosophical ideas that will help us...
Ep. 320 - Startups, Foursquare, and NYU
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron discuss Max's new initiatives in startups and academia, his concerns about the current direction of Foursquare, and the structure and ev...
Insightful Conversations with Tiffany Grossman
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to Tiffany Grossman, a blogger, marketing specialist, and co-host of the 'Spill the T' podcast. Tiffany shares her journey into the podcasti...
Ep. 318 - Geospatial Visualization with Isaac Brodsky of Fused.io
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s interview is with Fused.io cofounder Isaac Brodsky. We talk about geo-spatial visualization, dealing with large amounts of data, computer sc...
Ep. 317 - Cellular Automata and Artificial Life
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s discussion is on Cellular Automata by looking at Conway’s Game of Life, William Poundstone’s “The Recursive Universe” and Stephen Wo...
Ep. 316 - Forty
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max reflects back on his podcast and radio show as he turns forty, and discusses the non-stop news events of this month of a seemingly epoch-defining ...
Ep. 315 - Robots, Casinos, and Digital Minimalism
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fresh off of his trip to the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation for the Yale Alumni Service Corps, Max talks to Aaron about his trip. They then get into s...
Ep. 314 - AI Intensified
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks about the intensifying AI trends in 2024, including video creation and context windows, as well as Google's misstep with their image generat...
Ep. 313 - Ori Keren: Software, Sports, and LinearB
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe
Ep. 312 - Michael Callahan: Interaction, Identity and Ideology
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Callahan, host of "Where We Go Next" (wherewegonext.com) comes onto the Local Maximum to share what he's learned about hosting open conversati...
Ep. 311 - Where We Go Next
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max appears on the podcast Where We Go Next with Michael Callahan to talk about technology’s effects on the health of society.https://wherewegonext....
Ep. 310 - Another Year, Another Local Maximum
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron welcome 2024 by talking about the most interesting episodes of 2023, and possible areas for exploration in the New Year. Their conversat...
Ep. 309 - The Next Saeculum
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron finished their discussion on "The Fourth Turning is Here" and talk about what may be in store for the rest of the Fourth Turning Crisis ...
Ep. 308 - Generations, Awakenings, and Gen X Comedy
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max just finished reading the 450-page book "The Fourth Turning is Here" by Neil Howe, so he has a new discussion with Aaron about Generational Theory...
Ep. 307 - The Constitution and Shifting Language
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max's talks about the constitution and shifts in the language with Christopher Nesbitt of citizensacademy.us. Get full access to The Local Maximum at ...
Ep. 306 - Spotify Shrinks, OpenAI Returns, and Household Robots Emerge
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today's December news update, Max talks about industry events like the layoffs at Spotify and the recent turmoil with OpenAI's management. He also ...
Ep. 305 - Fragmented: Health Care and Data with Ilana Yurkiewicz
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest is Ilana Yurkiewicz, author of Fragmented: A Doctor's Quest to Piece Together American Health Care. The conversation starts with our hea...
Ep. 304 - OpenAI Fails to Align
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max covers the dramatic conflict between the board of directors of OpenAI, and former CEO Sam Altman who they voted to remove over the weekend. Is thi...
Ep. 303 - Pharaohs and the Exodus with Alexander Hool
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to Alexander Hool, author of Pharaoh: Biblical History, Egypt, and the Missing Millennium about alternative theories on the chronology of an...
Ep. 302 - Sturbridge Village Retreat
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron talk about this year's retreat at Sturbridge Village, MA. They go over the best and worst of their predictions from previous retreats, a...
Ep. 301 - Cultural Contradictions: War, Academia, and Entertainment
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron continue their conversation last week, this time covering the reaction to world events in Universities and cultural institutions; as wel...
Ep. 300 - War in the Middle East, Part I
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron react to the terror attack in Israel earlier this month, and discuss both its geopolitical significance and dealing with the shock and g...
Ep. 299 - Sam Kamani with an Intro to Web 3
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to investor, founder, and podcaster Sam Kamani about Web 3.0, Crypto, AI, and Podcasting. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaxim...
Ep. 298 - Veto Powers, Programming Languages, and Terminals
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron discuss recent works at Local Maximum Labs, including feedback on the new Great Compromise constitution, and the programming language fo...
Ep. 297 - Stephan Kinsella: The Fallacy of Intellectual Property
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to Stephan Kinsella, a libertarian intellectual property lawyer who ardently challenges the very foundations of IP. Kinsella delves deep int...
Ep. 296 - Government vs Google and Amazon Anti-Trust
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Todays guest is Adam Kovacevich of Chamber of Progress who brings us the latest in the suits that federal government agencies are bringing against Goo...
Ep. 295 - Rewriting the Constitution: Did the Founders Screw up the Senate
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron talk about Max's newly-released research paper, Toward a New Great Compromise, which includes a refresh of the US Constitutional structu...
Ep. 294 - State Chains and Copyright Claims
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max describes "state chain" technology, which he believes could solve some of the problems associated with the previous crypto collapse. He also gives...
Ep. 293 - Twitter Rants: Jon Stewart, Scrum, and Just Plain Numbers
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron have a little fun in a late night record, and examine Twitter rants about the rise of late night snark comedy, and scrum. They talk abou...
Ep. 292 - Copyright Clashes, Literary Science, and Rational Distributions
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron do an August news update with discussion about the closure of Prosecraft, a small site dedicated to literary analysis which was shut dow...
Ep. 291 - Publishers vs Librarians, Artificial Digital Scarcity, and Revisiting Bertrand
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max discusses the legal troubles of the Internet Archive as it get pummeled by publishers and copyright lawyers. A new paper on Bertrand's Paradox cla...
Ep. 290 - Generational Turnings versus Technological Change
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks about how Strauss-Howe generational theory and the turnings interact with technology as he reviews the book "The First Turning: A Vision of ...
Ep. 289 - Revamping Dental Tech with Melissa Luvisi
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max interviews Melissa Luvisi from tab32 as they dissect the intersection of dentistry and technology. They explore the software deficits plaguing the...
Ep. 288 - Is Artificial Intelligence a Threat to Humanity?
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron discuss the arguments put forth by Eliezer Yudkowsky and some AI researchers about "existential threats" posed by the technology. They e...
Ep. 287 - The Rise and Fall of ESG with Peter Earle
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest is Peter C. Earle, economist at AIER. The topic is ESG: Environment, Social, and Governance regulations, and the theory behind it that s...
Ep. 286 - Consciousness Bets, Reverse Turing Tests, and Display Tech
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks about a bet that two academics made 25 years ago about the nature of consciousness that has recently been settled. He also talk about the id...
Ep. 285 - Max Changes the Constitution, Part III
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron complete their discussion on Max's constitutional proposals, now focusing on the representative-ness of the house and electoral college ...
Ep. 284 - Max Changes the Constitution, Part II
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron continue their discussion on Max's constitutional proposals, this time focusing on the function of the senate and the possibility of an ...
Ep. 283 - Max Changes the Constitution, Part I
20 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max woke up one day and decided to do a rewrite of the US constitution with a long amendment. Aaron discusses this with him over drinks outdoors in th...
Ep. 282 - Meganets with David Auerbach
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to author and software engineer David Auerbach about his new book Meganets: How Digital Forces Beyond Our Control Commandeer Our Daily Lives...
Ep. 281 - The Mixed Reality Moment
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron discuss Apple's announcement of the Vision Pro at WWDC, and what it means for mixed reality, the metaverse, and emerging technology.Prob...
Ep. 280 - How to Attack Truth Seeking
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max responds to a recent account of high school debate judges and how the process of truth seeking is under attack.Probability Distribution of the Wee...
Ep. 279 - Covid and Civil Liberties
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron discuss Neil Gorsuch's statement in a supreme court decision that emergency measures during Covid may have been the greatest peacetime i...
Ep. 278 - Proof of Stake, Map Powers, and Google answer OpenAI
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks about Ethereum's move to proof of stake and what tradeoffs it brings to the crypto markets. He also discusses Google's plan to upgrade maps ...
Ep. 277 - Open Source Sagas with Max Howell
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to Homebrew creator Max Howell about open source software, package managers, and his new project tea.xyz. Get full access to The Local Maxim...
Ep. 276 - The Dictator of Easton at 21
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron discuss and provide commentary for their 2002 high school film, The Dictator of Easton. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmax...
Ep. 275 - Connecticut Chronicles, Columbia Conferences & Questioning Bots
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Aaron talks to Max about his move to Connecticut. They review Columbia University's data science day. A touch of Twitter news and a tweet we thought w...
Ep. 274 - Quantum Computing with Ian MacCormack
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today's discussion is all about Quantum Physics and Quantum Computing as Max talks to Ian who has a PhD in Physics and is actually a practitioner when...
Ep. 273 - Stop Making AI Boring
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max grumbles about the corporate and dry nature of MLConf and the talks from top companies, even as the world of AI and ML explodes in controversy, br...
Ep. 272 - Data Science History with Chris Wiggins and Matthew Jones
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Wiggins and Matthew Jones dive into a new book called "How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms" with Max. W...
Ep. 271 - Semiconductors, Lithography, and Moore's Law with Adam Kane of ASML
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max interview's Adam Kane of ASML about the industrial processes which make hardware innovation possible. They cover extreme UV lithography, the law o...
Ep. 270 - Exciting and Terrifying: NYT Podcast Trashing, GPT4, and Bank Runs
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Todays news update starts on the lighter side with an article from the New York Times that seeks to denigrate podcasters by branding them as the "podc...
Ep. 269 - Image Recognition Technology for Health with Susan Conover
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest is Susan Conover, cofounder and CEO of Piction Health, which brings Image Recognition AI technology to the practice of dermatology. This...
Ep. 268 - Pascal's Mugging, Doomsday Clocks, and the AGI Debate
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max discovers Pascal's Mugging, the counterpoint to Pascal's Wager. He speculates about the category of errors (and sometimes scams) made by doomsayer...
Ep. 267 - Bernoulli's Fallacy with Aubrey Clayton
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Could the crisis in modern science be a result of fallacious probabilistic thinking? Mathematical researcher and writer Aubrey Clayton joins the Local...
Ep. 266 - Simplicity, Complexity, and Text Classification with Joel Grus
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are joined by Software Engineer, Data Scientist, and Author Joel Grus for a discussion that ranges from the latest NLP techniques to thoughts on ho...
Ep. 265 - The Multi-Armed Bandit
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks about the multi-armed bandit - an important concept in the Data Science world. The news of the day is Microsoft's plan to integrate generati...
Ep. 264 - Talking Tik Tok, Privacy, and Propaganda with Adam Kovacevich
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to Adam Kovacevich, the Founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress in DC, to talk about several issues that have caught to attention of policyma...
Ep. 263 - Relative Probability
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Aaron talks to Max about his new pamphlet entitled "Relative Probability on Finite Outcome Spaces".arXiv Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.14555Probabi...
Ep. 262 - Category Theory, Google Responds, and Another Covid Retro
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max describes category theory as a branch of mathematics, and asks whether it will become more important in the age of AI. We then discuss the issues ...
Ep. 261 - Generative AI's Grand Entrance
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As Generative AI has captured the imagination, Max thinks about it from many different angles. How does it actually work under the hood? What does it ...
Ep. 260 - New Year Predictions: Generative AI, Self Driving Cars, and Web3
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron start off the New Year with a predictions show for the short, medium, and long term outlook for technical advances. Today's episode focu...
Ep. 259 - New Years Thoughts
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max looks back at the previous New Year's episode, and was surprised by how right he was on the changes we saw in our channels of information online t...
Ep. 258 - Sports and AI: Jason Syversen Changing the Game with SportsVisio
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max interviews SportsVisio CEO Jason Syversen about how artificial intelligence can be applied to sports video, including automated highlights, scorin...
Ep. 257 - Lessons from the of Debate with Gene Epstein
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gene Epstein, founder of the Soho Forum monthly debate series, comes on The Local Maximum to discuss and critique Max's recent debate performance on D...
Ep. 256 - The Broken World of Big Tech
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks about the breakage in both the crypto industry and the social media landscape in 2022, and the long term ways of thinking about it.Probabili...
Ep. 255 - AI's Got Chat: The Rise of chatGPT
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron discuss the launch of the chatGPT product demo taking the internet by storm and the potential applications of this technology. The title...
Ep. 254 - Alexa Disappoints, Tesla Self Drives, and Hurricane Addendum
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks about the developments surrounding Amazon's Alexa, where it's been revealed that layoffs are coming and the initiative has been costing an e...
Ep. 253 - Make Better Decisions with Helen and Dave Edwards
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to guests Helen and Dave Edwards about the human side of decision making, and how we can use research in behavioral and cognitive science to...
Ep. 252 - Hurricane Sandy After Ten Years
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max recalls to Aaron his experiences in New York in 2012, and the hurricane (Superstorm Sandy / Frankenstorm) that cut power in Manhattan for days dur...
Ep. 251 - Debate: Monarchy vs Democracy
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max defends representative democracy in an October 26th public debate for the Live Free and Debate series in New Hampshire. The resolution was "Monarc...
Ep. 250 - The Bird Flips
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the keys to Twitter get turned over to Elon Musk, Max talks about how the development of the open internet is proceeding. He traces back to previou...
Ep. 249 - The Sleeping Beauty Problem
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron dive deeper into the sleeping beauty problem, which starts as a probability question, then wades into philosophy and finally theoretical...
Ep. 248 - The Globe as Hexagons with Isaac Brodsky
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest is Foursquare Principal Engineer and Unfolded Founder Isaac Brodsky, talking about the mission of location visualization and how this wa...
Ep. 247 - Twitter, Paypal, and Ukraine (Musk's World)
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Headlining today is Elon Musk's re-takeover of Twitter, after seemingly backing out earlier. Updates from the war in Ukraine. Paypal says it will fine...
Ep. 246 - AJ Jacobs: The Puzzler
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today's Guest is AJ Jacobs, author of The Puzzler: One Max's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning ...
Ep. 245 - Axioms of Probability
28 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max starts with a brief news update on ethereum, and then moves to the Kolmogorov axioms of probability. What is an axiom system anyway - and why woul...
Ep. 244 - Phyl Terry: Never Search Alone
20 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Phyl Terry - a pioneer in customer experience for decades - talks to Max about how he has applied these principles to crack the job search (and even r...
Ep. 243 - Eric Daimler on Conexus and Category Theory
13 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Todays guest is CEO and co-founder of Conexus, the first spinoff of the MIT math department that takes discoveries in high level mathematics (category...
Ep. 242 - Artificial Art, Reverse Proxies, and Extraterrestrial Dice
06 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week's news update starts with a discussion of an AI project that won an art competition, followed by Cloudflare's decision to block access to on...
Ep. 241 - No Code
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest is Žiga Fajfar, a tech entrepreneur who is focusing on scaling Flowout, who talks to Max about the "no-code" trend in building software...
Ep. 240 - Turning The Crypto Corner
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max looks at what's next in the Cryptocosm following the recently declared "winter". He covers the complicated Ethereum merge as well as the governmen...
Ep. 239 - Local Maximum Tech Retreat Panel
16 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Over the weekend, listeners and friends gathered in Rollinsford New Hampshire to discuss technology, ideas, and predictions. We ended up getting on st...
Ep. 238 - New York Times Finally Against Censorship
09 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ok, maybe only when it's in other countries - but we'll look at that dichotomy. Also - we talk about the entertainment industry and the recently shelv...
Ep. 237 - Thinking about Quality with Jonathon Wright
02 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to Jonathon Wright about what quality means for AI, and goes through a wide range of examples.Jonathon Wright is the Chief Technology Evange...
Ep. 236 - Alzheimer's Research Setback and Facebook News Demoted
26 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On today's news update, Max and Aaron talk about several stories related to the consequences of confusing science and truth.- Alzheimer's research rep...
Ep. 235 - Seasteading with Tony Olsen
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks to Tony Olsen, founder of Freedomhaven about the idea of Seasteading, and the practical and theoretical issues it raises. Get full access to...
Ep. 234 - Simplexes and Distributions
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max discusses a fascinating geometrical object - the simplex - that generalizes to many dimensions, and its connection to the categorical distribution...
Ep. 233 - Crypto Winter Raging
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max and Aaron break down the cascade of liquidity crises affecting major crypto firms, the larger cycle and growth story of bitcoin, and announce a ne...
Ep. 232 - Intro to Inflation
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max talks gives an intro course on inflation, what it is, it's causes, and its effects. He also talks about the history of the monetary system in the ...
Ep. 231 - The Increasing Cost of Intelligence
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Max discusses the increasing centralization of AI research into large corporate institutions, with its causes and dangers. Get full access to The Loca...
Ep. 230 - Another Google AI Spat, Self Awareness, and the Eliza Effect
14 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An engineer in Google Research was put on leave after claiming that their Lambda AI Chatbot is sentient. Max breaks down the situation, and the long-t...
Ep. 229 - Fun with Bayesian Statistics with Will Kurt
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a wide-ranging conversation, Max talks to Will Kurt, author of "Bayesian Statistics the Fun Way" about math, writing, philosophy, truth, and of cou...