The Skeptics Guide #1106 - Sep 19 2026
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Who is the guest and what is their background?
You're listening to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.
Hello and welcome to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Today is Thursday, September 17th, 2026, and this is your host, Stephen Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella. Hey, everybody. Cara Santamaria. Howdy. Jane Novella. Hey, guys. And we have a special guest rogue, Jesse Bollard. Jesse, welcome to the SGU. Hey, thanks for having me. So, Jesse, tell us a little bit about yourself. You're a patron, and occasionally we have patrons on the show as guest rogues, but tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yeah, I'm an inventor. My background is in software engineering, and I'm working on Friesan research right now, or musical chills is another word for it.
Okay. Like you're chilling? No, no, Friesan means. I know, I'm just
joking. Quite the opposite of chilling. It's the most intense musical experiences that people experience is what I'm interested in.
Oh, cool, man.
I know you're going to talk to us a little bit later in the show, but we'll get it. We'll dive in. I have some questions for you. How long have you been listening to the show?
About 10 years. I discovered it early on in my skeptical journey. I've been skeptical all my life, but I didn't know there were a lot of us out there until I found your show. Even as a toddler? I was skeptical very young, probably around 11 or 12. I mean, I don't know if a lot of people go through this, but I didn't believe a lot of different things. I even tried to make a perpetual motion machine because I didn't believe my science textbook said told me it was impossible. So. I see. I've still got it in my basement. It's running my whole house.
Interesting. Were you raised in a religious household?
Oh, absolutely. I don't know if I should get into that. I don't know if that's anathema to use a religious word. I don't mind getting into it, but I don't want to alienate any of your religious listeners. No,
it's fine. I mean, so some people experience that that's like the first thing they were really skeptical of in terms of departing from society.
Yeah, I was an agnostic when I was 12, and I was raised in a cult, a Christian cult. Three of my dad's twins' daughters were disowned at some point in their lives for lesser offenses than being an agnostic or an atheist, which I ended up becoming as a child. Right, so you were destined to be
kicked out of your family's cult, basically. Yes.
I thought I was. Fortunately, people change and my parents had to change for the better. Oh, that's great. We're glad to hear it. I have a good relationship with them now. Awesome. Oh, wow.
All right. Well, we'll talk about, as I said, we'll talk about your research a little bit later in the segment. Jay, you're going to start us off with the news items with a discussion of all these recent warnings we've had recently that AI is going to destroy the world.
I'm glad somebody's talking about that today.
Yeah.
So why do you say that, Cara? Just I feel like it's all anybody's talking about. And I was like, I can't just ignore this conversation.
Yeah, it's it is something that should be discussed. I mean, we were doing our live stream yesterday and I mentioned like. Most of us don't really have insight on what's going on, you know, in those rooms. You know what I mean? You know, there could be a ton of people that work at these AI companies, but are these companies foregoing safety for speed of development? Yes.
They say they are, and I don't see any reason to doubt them.
Yeah, exactly. When the people doing it say they are foregoing safety. They're like, slow us down,
please.
But they
say that they can't because of China. That's basically what they're saying.
Yeah. I mean, how legitimate is that right there, Steve?
I've been reading about that.
Fairly
legit. At least so far, apparently we're going to be meeting with them soon. But so far, when we have met with them, our diplomats are basically saying China is not interested in actual safety. They're just trying to leverage the situation for their own competitive advantage.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Who is the guest and what is their background?
0:00–11:07
2
What are the main concerns about AI safety and rogue behavior?
11:07–1:09:57
3
How does Astra’s improved alignment and guard‑rail testing impact AI safety?
1:09:57–1:26:45
4
What are the energy and environmental costs of running large AI models like Astra and Sol?
1:26:45–1:52:10
5
What is “frisson” and how do listeners describe the intense musical chills it causes?
1:52:10–2:05:52
6
Who’s That Noisy? What is the mysterious animal‑like sound the panel is trying to identify?
2:05:52–2:16:55