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First Principles

First-Principles Podcast

29 episodes

23 hours ago

First Principles is the podcast that deconstructs the complex, invisible systems shaping our modern world. Ever wonder how a social media algorithm works, how AI really thinks, or how GPS knows your exact location? Each episode, we break down one concept from its fundamental truths, giving you clarity without the technical jargon. If you're curious about the tech you use every day and want to finally understand it, this is your starting point.

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Natural Sciences

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First Principles is the podcast that deconstructs the complex, invisible systems shaping our modern world. Ever wonder how a social media algorithm works, how AI really thinks, or how GPS knows your exact location? Each episode, we break down one concept from its fundamental truths, giving you clarity without the technical jargon. If you're curious about the tech you use every day and want to finally understand it, this is your starting point.

Show more...

Natural Sciences

Episodes (20/29)

First Principles

EP29 - AI in Cybersecurity: The Digital Arms Race

Our security software seems to get smarter, detecting threats we've never seen before. At the same time, phishing scams and cyberattacks are becoming eerily sophisticated and personalized. We're opening the black box of AI-powered cybersecurity to reveal how artificial intelligence is being used on both sides of the digital battlefield—as both our greatest defense and our most dangerous weapon.

23 hours ago

29 minutes 15 seconds

First Principles

EP28 - Hey, Computer: The Unheard Symphony of Voice AI

We talk to our devices every day, asking for timers, weather forecasts, and trivia answers. It feels like magic, a conversation with an intelligent being. But how does a machine actually turn the sound of a human voice into a correct answer? This is the story of the hidden, four-part symphony that makes your voice assistant understand.

3 days ago

28 minutes 40 seconds

First Principles

EP27 - The Silent Memory: How Solid State Drives (SSDs) Finally Taught Sand How to Think

We press a button, and our digital world appears in an instant. Modern computers feel magical, booting in seconds from silent, solid chips. But how does a piece of silicon hold our memories with no moving parts, and what is the profound, invisible secret that keeps it from forgetting?

1 week ago

28 minutes 47 seconds

First Principles

EP26 - A Sandwich of Light: The First Principles of Your Screen

We stare at them for hours every day, but have you ever wondered how a flat piece of glass can paint a perfect, vibrant image? This episode deconstructs the modern screen, revealing the intricate physics and clever illusions behind the two competing technologies that bring our digital world to life: LCD and OLED.

1 week ago

27 minutes 36 seconds

First Principles

EP25 - The Glimmer in the Deep: Finding the Physical Internet Under the Sea

We think of the internet as the Cloud—ethereal, wireless, and everywhere. But 99% of the data that connects our world travels not through the air, but through a hidden network of glass cables laid across the pitch-black, crushing depths of the ocean floor. This is the story of the physical internet, and how a simple principle of light makes our instant, global lives possible.

1 week ago

24 minutes 36 seconds

First Principles

EP24 - The Chorus of Light: How Self-Driving Cars Actually See

A self-driving car navigates a chaotic city street with a calm, superhuman precision that feels like magic. We think of it as a car with better eyes, but the truth is far stranger and more profound. How does a machine perceive the world in three dimensions, and what can its chorus of secret senses teach us about the nature of reality itself?

2 weeks ago

28 minutes 50 seconds

First Principles

EP23 - The Three-Billion-Letter Word: Cracking the Code of DNA Sequencing

You spit into a tube, and weeks later, a report reveals the secrets of your ancestry and health, all from a microscopic strand of DNA. This seems like magic, a biological scrying mirror. But how do scientists actually read a genetic code three billion letters long—a book coiled into a space smaller than a speck of dust?

2 weeks ago

22 minutes 9 seconds

First Principles

EP22 - The Ghost in the Machine: How Recommendation Algorithms Curate Your Life

Your phone seems to know you better than you know yourself, suggesting the perfect movie or the next viral video. We treat it like magic, but what if it's just a clever trick of pattern-matching? This episode opens the black box of recommendation algorithms to reveal the simple, powerful principles that are quietly shaping your world.

3 weeks ago

31 minutes 7 seconds

First Principles

EP21 - The Electric Skin: First Principles of the Modern Touchscreen

We touch, tap, and swipe on glass screens dozens, even hundreds of times a day, manipulating the digital world with our fingertips. It feels like magic, a seamless connection between our intent and the machine. But the glass isn’t sensing pressure; it’s sensing something far more fundamental about what we are, and the secret lies in a silent, invisible orchestra of electricity.

3 weeks ago

24 minutes 45 seconds

First Principles

EP20 - The Echo in the Machine: The Surprising Illusion of Digital Audio

We press play and a universe of sound fills our ears, from the subtle notes of a symphony to the familiar voice of a loved one. But how can the rich, continuous, physical reality of a sound wave be captured in a stream of ones and zeros? This episode opens the black box of digital audio to reveal an elegant process of clever measurement and a surprising trick of human perception that makes our modern soundscape possible.

3 weeks ago

33 minutes 22 seconds

First Principles

EP19 - The Unseen Librarians: How a Search Engine Actually Builds the Library of Everything

You type a few words into a simple box and, in a fraction of a second, you're presented with a list of the most relevant documents on planet Earth. It feels like magic, but it’s not. So how does a search engine actually navigate a library with trillions of pages to find exactly what you’re looking for, and do it faster than a blink of an eye?

3 weeks ago

27 minutes 12 seconds

First Principles

EP18 - The Smart Grid: A Nervous System for the Planet

We flip a switch and the lights come on. It's the most reliable magic in modern life. But our 20th-century power grid, the largest machine on Earth, is groaning under the strain of a 21st-century world. What does it take to keep the lights on, and how is a quiet revolution turning our power lines into an internet of energy?

3 weeks ago

27 minutes 33 seconds

First Principles

EP17 - From Thought to Thunder: Deconstructing the Language of Code

We tap an icon, and a universe of information appears. We think of software as magic, but what is it, really? This episode travels into the heart of the machine to deconstruct the most fundamental "black box" of our time: code. We'll discover how simple text written by a human is translated into the electrical commands that power our entire digital world.

3 weeks ago

25 minutes 47 seconds

First Principles

EP16 - The Blockchain and the Unbreakable Promise: A Ledger Without a King

We buy tickets and trade digital goods with the tap of a screen, assuming a bank or corporation is making it all happen. But the blockchain proposes a world without that middleman, a system of trust built not on people or power, but on pure mathematics. How can a group of total strangers create a single, unbreakable source of truth?

3 weeks ago

33 minutes 18 seconds

First Principles

EP15 - Tap to Pay: The Ghost in the Transaction

You wave your card, a beep confirms the payment, and you walk away. It feels like magic, an instantaneous, invisible link between plastic and machine. But what is actually happening in that split second? How does a card with no battery suddenly spring to life and speak a secret, secure language to a payment terminal?

4 weeks ago

26 minutes 25 seconds

First Principles

EP14 - The GPU: How an Army of Artists Painting Light Accidentally Built the AI Revolution

We take for granted the breathtaking virtual worlds on our screens, from blockbuster video games to cinematic special effects, assuming it's just the work of a "powerful computer." But what if the engine behind it all isn't a single brilliant mind, but a massive, synchronized army? This is the story of the Graphics Processing Unit, and how the quest for perfect pixels accidentally created the engine of the 21st century.

1 month ago

26 minutes 9 seconds

First Principles

EP13 - Whispers on the Waves: The Surprising First Principles of Wi-Fi

We are surrounded by an invisible ocean of information, a constant stream of data delivered by Wi-Fi that powers our modern lives. But how does your laptop pluck a coherent movie stream from the chaotic airwaves filled with countless other signals? This episode opens the black box to reveal the elegant, surprisingly simple rules that govern our wireless world.

1 month ago

31 minutes 24 seconds

First Principles

EP12 - The Dial-Turners: The Simple Secret of Machine Learning

We ask our phones to identify a plant, a song, or a face, and it just… works. It feels like intelligence, a machine that can see and understand. But how does an AI *actually* learn to do that without being programmed for every possibility? The answer isn't magic; it's a process simpler and stranger than you could ever imagine.

1 month ago

23 minutes 48 seconds

First Principles

EP11 - Pixels from Photons: The First Principles of the Digital Camera

We snap billions of photos a day without a second thought, capturing life with a single tap. But how does a smartphone actually turn intangible light into a permanent digital file? We deconstruct the camera sensor to find the elegant physics and computational artistry that make modern photography possible.

1 month ago

33 minutes 50 seconds

First Principles

EP10 - The Cloud Atlas: Finding the Physical Earth in Our Digital GPS

We save our photos, stream our movies, and trust our entire digital lives to "The Cloud," an ethereal, weightless space that seems to exist everywhere and nowhere at once. But what if the cloud isn't a cloud at all? This episode journeys into the very real, very physical heart of our digital world to find the colossal hidden infrastructure that makes the magic possible.

1 month ago

34 minutes 4 seconds