History of Technology
293 episodes · Page 12 of 13
#978: The Donkey's Alma Mater: Storrs and the Land-Grant Legacy
Explore the agricultural roots and mysterious past of the world's most educated donkey in the quiet village of Storrs, Connecticut.
#836: Two Miles to Tomorrow: Life on the Bering Strait
Discover the tiny islands where the US and Russia are just two miles apart—and separated by an incredible 21-hour time difference.
#816: From Scrolls to SQL: The Evolution of Human Order
Explore the history of how we organize the world, from ancient library catalogs to the future of AI-driven vector databases.
#735: When Time Stretched: The Magic of Proportional Hours
Before atomic clocks, time was a living thing. Discover how ancient civilizations used "flexible" hours to coordinate their lives.
#733: How Generals Learn to Think
How do modern generals use ancient history to plan for AI warfare? Explore the high-stakes world of professional military education.
#710: Defining the "Crime of Crimes": The Gaza Genocide Case
We examine the history of the term "genocide" and the high-stakes legal battle at the ICJ regarding the conflict in Gaza.
#680: How a 3,500-Year-Old Faith Survives in Exile
Explore how the world’s oldest monotheistic faith survives today, from India's elite Parsis to Iran’s cultural renaissance.
#676: The Slow Travel Movement Takes to the Skies
Could the future of green travel be a blast from the past? Explore why airships are trading speed for sustainability and luxury.
#599: AI Hunted Soviet Subs Long Before It Wrote Your Emails
AI didn't start in 2022. Discover the 70-year history of the "invisible" systems that have been quietly running our world for decades.
#577: The Shadow City: Why Sewers Are Civilization's Last Frontier
Explore the hidden world of urban infrastructure, from Victorian brickwork to AI-powered robots and the battle against the "fatberg."
#494: The Telegram That Teaches You to Write
Learn how the rigid structure of diplomatic cables can transform your professional reporting and help you cut through the noise.
#492: Beyond the Folder: The Quest for a Graph-Based OS
Why are we still using 1970s folders? Explore how graph structures and associative memory are finally challenging the traditional file system.
#490: The Day the Walls Fell: Erasing Jerusalem's City Line
Explore the chaotic, high-speed demolition of the walls that divided Jerusalem for nineteen years and the "temporal vertigo" of 1967.
#425: The Arc of Deprecation: Why Old Tech Still Rules the World
Why do floppy disks and fax machines still power our most critical systems? Explore the surprising reasons behind the "arc of deprecation."
#375: What Architecture Actually Is
Explore the evolution of architecture from ancient pyramids to digital twins, and learn why a building needs firmness, commodity, and delight.
#364: Triage for Your To-Do List
Discover the hidden logic of the ER and how the history of medical sorting can help you master decision-making under pressure.
#333: Before the CIA: The Secret History of Spying
Before the CIA, spying was a world of forged wax seals and secret post offices. Discover how intelligence evolved into an institution.
#261: The 70-Year Overnight Success: How AI Finally Arrived
Think AI was an overnight success? Join Herman and Corn as they trace the 70-year journey from rigid logic rules to modern deep learning.
#260: Digital Archeology: The Primitive Power of GPT-1
Revisit the 2018 model that started it all. Herman and Corn dive into GPT-1's romance-novel roots and its 117-million-parameter legacy.
#215: Why Your Headphones Don't Play a Stranger's Music
Ever wonder why your headphones don't pick up a stranger's music at a busy airport? Herman and Corn dive into the magic of frequency hopping.
#202: The Disposable Organ: A History of Gallbladder Removal
Explore the history of cholecystectomy and why "post-cholecystectomy syndrome" is changing how we view this common surgery.
#177: Current Chaos: Why Global Electricity is So Fragmented
Why does the US use 110V while Europe uses 230V? Herman and Corn explore the chaotic history of power grids and the "perfect" plug we never used.
#170: How PyTorch Beat TensorFlow and Became AI's Backbone
Discover why PyTorch is the "oxygen" of AI. Herman and Corn explore its history, the magic of Autograd, and the move to the PyTorch Foundation.
#128: AI’s Dial-Up Era: Looking Back from 2036
Herman and Corn explore why today's AI prompts and latency will look like "dial-up modems" to our future selves in 2036.