Rational Optimization \w Elias Schlie

This month, I built AI agents, I moved, I fasted, and I hiked. In this podcast, I share the stories that I experienced and the insights I found. YouTube [https://youtu.be/vEj4ZDdcPoQ] version My website: eliasschlie.com [https://www.eliasschlie.com] Quick Stats 📊⏱️ Total focused work: 288 hours and 46 minutes🗓️ That’s an average of 9 hours and 57 minutes every single day — weekends included! 💾 Full breakdown publicly available here: eliasschlie.com [https://eliasschlie.com] What I spent my time on 🧠 * 🚀 Deep dive into AI agents and language model tooling (esp. langchain + agents) * 🧪 Built a custom MCP server to connect LLMs with Obsidian for persistent memory scaffolding * 🧭 Personal reflection on direction, meaning, and intrinsic values (inspired by valuism) * 💬 Developing systems for better conversations and group dynamics * 📚 Listening to high-signal content during breaks to stay immersed in key problems Main Achievements 🏆 ✅ Built and shipped my own MCP server — clean, simple, and powerful ✅ Reached a new level of clarity on what I value and why it matters ✅ Used fasting as a powerful tool to reset and return to deep focus ✅ Refined my approach to learning through better break design and structured reflection ✅ Pushed physical + mental boundaries with a 50h fast + night hike — reminder of agency over mind and body

**June 2025: The Month I Started Building** Quick Stats 📊 ⏱️ Total focused work: \~300 hours 🗓️ That’s 9 hours and 49 minutes every day (including weekends) 💾 Full work log published at [https://github.com/EliasSchlie/Working\_Hours](https://github.com/EliasSchlie/Working_Hours) What I spent my time on ⚡ * Finished exams for 9 university courses in Cognitive Science & AI (across three different semesters) * Deep work on AI agents, automation, and building new tools * Built foundational scripts for automating my note-taking (Obsidian) with LLMs and tools * Explored and prototyped AI agents for science (especially agents to automate news & paper summarization) * Researched and learned more about AI agent architectures and how to use tools/APIs for automation * Started serious learning in JavaScript/TypeScript and web development (CS50 Web, JavaScript fundamentals course) * Continued refining systems for both learning and building Main Achievements 🏆 ✅ Completed 9 courses in about a month, with top or near-top grades in multiple cohorts ✅ Built the first versions of AI agents to automate my note-taking and science workflows ✅ Prototyped a system to automatically create and publish longevity science podcast episodes from new research papers ✅ Developed and used structured note-taking, now over 10,000 notes (“second brain”) ✅ Shifted from pure learning mode to building mode, exploring new personal systems for productivity ✅ Stayed consistent with high work hours, while keeping balance with gym, sauna, and friends ✅ Maintained strong intrinsic motivation—doing exactly what I’d do even if given €1 million ⁠YouTube⁠ [https://youtu.be/-aOVG7z5ln8] version

eliasschlie.com

eliasschlie.com

My website [https://eliasschlie.com] * 🐭 FDA Plans to Replace Animal Testing — A Roadmap to Reducing Animal Testing in Preclinical Safety Studies * 🤖 Why Didn't AI Discover a Bunch of Drugs Yet? — Progress, Pitfalls, and Impact of AI-driven Clinical Trials (Wilczok & Zhavoronkov, 2025) * ⏰ LinAge2 – Aging Clock Update — Providing actionable insights and benchmarking with epigenetic clocks (Fong et al., 2025) * 🚀 Frontier Tower — Permanent Longevity Hub in San Francisco * 🏝️ Vitalist Bay — Giant Longevity Pop-Up City