TOP Tech Podcast

Analog Vs Digital Marketing in 2026: Funnels Don't Exist and Your Customer is OpenAI

Marketing funnels don't exist. They never did. The internet just convinced us they were real. Meta, Google, OpenAI and a supporting cast of billionaire sociopaths figured out they could control distribution and black-box your customers. Hurrah. Humanity forgot to read the small print.  Now you're running a business where you don't even know who your customer is. Well here’s the AI-shaped healthcheck: Your customer is OpenAI. You're paying 3-15% for a digital presence you don't need. It's called the Silicon Valley tax. You're burning money to keep VCs rich while platforms add another layer of black box between you and the people you serve. The alternative? Network methodology. Someone you know, or someone who knows someone you know. That's it. Funnels were invented to sell marketing. Networks are how humans actually work.  We've been doing it since we had prefrontal cortexes. Everything that's real is analog.  That's true for business too. Welcome to the marketing jungle.  The year is 2026, and if you don’t know who the sucker at the table is… you probably shouldn’t be playing the stakes.  Please enjoy the reality check. Cheers, Mark and Jeremy. PS: Keep thinking on paper. They don’t want you to, that’s why you must.  -- Other ways to connect with us: * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] * Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] --

NVIDIA Quantum Chips, GPUs And How Quantum Computers Can Model Nature

Matt Kinsella runs Infleqtion, a company building quantum computers. The biggest misconception about quantum computing is that it will replace classical computing. It won't.  Quantum processors will sit above GPUs in data centers the same way GPUs sit above CPUs today.  NVIDIA just built the bridge to make this work. It's called NVQ Link, and it changes how we think about the future of compute. NVIDIA announced NVQ Link in October 2024. It's the bridge between quantum computers and classical GPU clusters. Workloads pass seamlessly between them. Here's how it works in practice. Infleqtion and NVIDIA solved something called the Anderson Impurity Model - a photovoltaic problem in material science. Parts of it were solved on a GPU cluster. Parts that couldn't be solved by GPUs were solved on Infleqtion's quantum computer.  Then they recombined to give the answer.  This isn't commercially useful yet. But expand that over time and you could be looking at the future data center. One with three layers. CPUs at the bottom for general computing. GPUs in the middle for parallel processing and AI. QPUs at the top for problems that are quantum mechanical in nature.  Workloads come in, get chopped up, each piece goes to the part of the stack best suited to solve it. Then results recombine. This is already happening. Infleqtion just announced a contract with the Army called Sapient Secure AI for PNT - position, navigation, and timing. It runs their quantum-inspired software on NVIDIA's Jetson edge GPUs.  Small GPUs that don't have much memory.  The software lets them ingest far more streaming data than normal. Video, speed, inertial motion. Then it recreates what GPS gives you - where you are in the world - by extrapolating from all those signals. Without GPS. Please enjoy the show. Cheers,  Mark & Jeremy. -- Other ways to connect with us: * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] * Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] --

Don't Press That Button: Why Two-Thirds of Data Center Outages Are Caused By Human Error

Shapol led rocket launches before building AI to prevent the wrong switch from crashing your favorite apps. Two-thirds of data center outages are caused by human error. Someone flipping the wrong switch is all it takes to bring down AWS. Airplanes can't take off, hospitals can't function. AI can fix this.  Shapol, CEO of Entangl, explains how his company is solving this billion-dollar problem with AI-powered autonomous operations that understand every circuit, server, and switch in a data center. In This Episode: - Why 18-month generator lead times force risky shortcuts - How VR trains engineers without touching live systems   - The path from standard operating procedures to AI-guided work - Space-based data centers and manufacturing futures - Kevin Kelly's question: What should humans become? -- Other ways to connect with us: * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- About Shapol: Shapol and co-founder Antanas previously oversaw four rocket mission launches. Frustrated with engineering design software, they created Entangl - a platform that automates data center operations, generates maintenance procedures in real-time, and integrates with building monitoring systems to predict failures before they happen. -- Key Topics: Data center reliability, AI automation, infrastructure operations, space manufacturing, autonomous systems, cloud computing, engineering design TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Trailer (02:17) From rocket launches to data center automation (06:00) How Entangl integrates with building monitoring systems (08:34) Data Center Design constraints: How AI fixes it (15:37) AI, Dunning Kruger And Hallucinations (21:42) Will humans always have the final say in data centers? (24:53) Space-based data centers and solar power (25:04) Kevin Kelly's question: What should humans become?

How SpaceX Cut Launch Costs 97%: Space to Grow - Book Club, Ep. 1

SpaceX launches 135 rockets a year. NASA's shuttles launched five. SpaceX delivers cargo to orbit for $2,800 per kilo. The shuttles cost $90,000. In fifteen years, one company did what a government agency couldn't do in sixty. We're reading Space to Grow: Unlocking the Final Economic Frontier by Brendan Rosseau and Matthew C. Weinzierl. This is the book that explains how private companies broke NASA's sixty-year monopoly on space. WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER: * How the Apollo program's end created the opening for private space companies * Why NASA's shuttle program failed at $1.5 billion per launch * The 2003 Columbia disaster that forced government to open the gates * How COTS contracts changed everything by putting financial risk on private companies * Elon Musk's failed Russia trip and the decision to build SpaceX from scratch * The story of three rocket explosions, $100 million left, and a fourth rocket built from spare parts * Why someone had to climb inside a rocket mid-flight to hammer out dents * Blue Origin's different approach: Jeff Bezos at five years old watching Apollo, then building slowly and quietly * The four principles behind SpaceX's success: iteration, vertical integration, reusability, and culture * How SpaceX cut costs 97% while maintaining perfect launch records * Why it's harder to work at SpaceX than get into Harvard PERFECT FOR LISTENERS INTERESTED IN: * The economics of space and how market forces beat government monopolies * SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the commercial space revolution * Innovation strategy and how to disrupt calcified systems * The future of orbital infrastructure and space-based industry * Economic policy and public-private partnerships * Entrepreneurship and building companies that challenge incumbents * Technology disruption and first principles thinking CHAPTERS COVERED: This episode breaks down chapters one through three: Blue Origin, SpaceX, and the inception point. We cover the three-act history of NASA and the birth of the private space industry. COMING UP: Next episodes cover Artemis, Starship, supply and demand curves in space markets, property rights in space, the politics of orbital infrastructure, and the military space complex. We have former NASA engineers joining the show. 🚀 Get the book: Space to Grow by Brendan Rosseau and Matthew C. Weinzierl  📬 Newsletter and more episodes: thinkingonpaper.xyz Stay curious! And Keep Thinking On Paper. Cheers,  Mark and Jeremy PS: Please subscribe. It’s the best way you can help other curious minds find our channel. -- Other ways to connect with us: * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] * Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz]-- TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Trailer (01:02) Space To Grow (01:55) Incorporate Space Into Your Thinking (03:28) The Apollo Program Ends (05:43) The NASA Budget & Shuttle Launches (07:51) Bush & The Aldridge Commission (08:36) COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) (10:27) Blue Origin, Bezos & O'Neill (14:40) A Quick History Of SpaceX (18:23) Falcon Blows Up (20:24) Elon Sues The Airforce (22:04) SpaceX Launch Costs (23:45) The Honda Civic Of Space Rockets

Space Based Solar Power and The High Frontier: Unlimited Clean Energy, Mars Vs Orbitals

Can space-based solar power actually give humanity free, unlimited energy by 2030? John Bucknell, former SpaceX Senior Propulsion Engineer on the Raptor rocket engine and CEO of Virtus Solis, reveals how orbital solar power could drop energy costs from $40 per megawatt hour to just 50 cents, solving the energy trilemma that no other technology can achieve. PERFECT FOR LISTENERS INTERESTED IN: - Space technology and commercial space industry - Clean energy solutions and climate tech innovation - SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the future of orbital infrastructure - AI data center power challenges - Gerard K. O'Neill's The High Frontier vision - Post-scarcity economics and energy abundance WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER: - Why Elon Musk reversed his position on lunar mining versus Mars colonization - How space-based solar power achieves clean, firm, and affordable energy—the only technology that does all three - The real economics: 3 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour initially, dropping to 0.05 cents after financing - What happens to capitalism when energy becomes essentially free - Why Kessler Syndrome concerns about orbital debris are misunderstood - The 2030 timeline for Virtus Solis. Please Enjoy the show. -- Other ways to connect with us: * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] * Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- ABOUT JOHN BUCKNELL: John holds over 46 patents in propulsion and energy systems. At SpaceX, he was Senior Propulsion Engineer working on the revolutionary Raptor full-flow staged combustion engine. He's also designed nuclear thermal turbo rockets and now leads Virtus Solis, developing the first generation of commercial space-based solar power stations. EPISODE TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) The Question: Can space solar give us free energy? (00:43) The High Frontier: O'Neill's vision for space colonies (01:13) John Bucknell: The SpaceX Raptor Engineer (02:04) Why Did Elon Change His Mind about the Moon? (05:34) The Space Energy Business: Economics and feasibility (11:59) Getting Politicians Behind Space-Based Solar Power (15:34) Post-Capitalism and Free Energy: What happens next? (20:09) Kessler Syndrome Explained: Is orbital debris really a threat? (27:25) Top 3 Things Humanity Should Solve (28:50) 2030 Launch Timeline and next steps ABOUT THINKING ON PAPER: We unpack the future with the people building it. Weekly conversations with innovators in space exploration, energy technology, artificial intelligence, and breakthrough industries. Hosted by Jeremy Gilbertson and Mark Fielding. This is Part 3 of our Space-Based Solar Power exploration series. Coming next: Philip Metzger, former NASA scientist, discusses the politics of space and rocket science. RECOMMENDED READING: "The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space" by Gerard K. O'Neill (1976) Follow Thinking on Paper to get notified when new episodes drop every week. Leave a comment—what would you do with unlimited, essentially free energy?