Getting Simple https://gettingsimple.com en Tue, 11 Jun 2024 03:45:00 -0400 Andy Payne — Grasshopper 2 https://gettingsimple.com/andy-payne-grasshopper-2 https://gettingsimple.com/andy-payne-grasshopper-2

Hi *|NAME|*—

I'm working to bring you new episodes with John Pierson, Joel Simon, David Andrés León, and other exciting guests.

Today's episode is a follow-up with Andy Payne on Grasshopper 2's new features, recorded live after Andy's episode was released.

Thanks to everyone who chatted with us during the YouTube premiere.

Let us know your thoughts on the video comments.
Submit your questions at gettingsimple.com/ask.

Warmly,
Nono



Nono Martínez Alonso and Andy Payne.

Chapters

Connect with Andy

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 101 Additional Advices by Kevin Kelly.


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🖌️ Five quick minutes

🌻 AI misses the point

📱 Impatience

📦 Black and white boxes

🛋️ Did it lose its magic?

🎥 Live 100: Celebrating a hundred live streams

🎥 Podcasting from Las Vegas

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2024-06-11 03:45:00 -0400 Andy Payne — Grasshopper, Rhino Compute, Teaching, Learning to Code & Gen AI https://gettingsimple.com/andy-payne https://gettingsimple.com/andy-payne

Hi *|NAME|*—

Andy Payne is an architect and software developer at McNeel, the company behind Rhino and Grasshopper 3D.

I met Andy in the summer of 2016. Autodesk had acquired Monolith (a voxel-based editor) from Andy and Pan earlier that year. I joined them as an intern to build a generator of 3D-printed material gradients and play with a Zmorph 3D printer.

We recorded a podcast conversation in New Orleans in September 2022, where I learned about Andy's latest adventure.

Enjoy this episode on the origins of Grasshopper, Grasshopper 2, Rhino.Compute, teaching, learning to code, generative AI, open-source code and monetization, and Andy's journey.

Thanks to everyone who chatted with us during the YouTube premiere.

Let us know your thoughts on the video comments.
Submit your questions at gettingsimple.com/ask.

Warmly,
Nono



Nono Martínez Alonso and Andy Payne in New Orleans.

Recorded in New Orleans on September 2022.



Chapters

Connect with Andy

Favorite quotes

  • “Nobody wants to spend days and days developing a model. Our job as developers is to make it as easy as possible. […] There’s something about the craft and time you spent developing your ideas into a 3D model. There’s something about that investment that makes it worthwhile. When you have an easy AI button that makes it for you then it trivializes [the process].” —Andy Payne
  • “Originally the product was called Explicit History, because it was a different approach to Rhino's native (implicit) history feature.” —David Rutten

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 The productivity promise of auto drawings. Martyn Day explores the potential of automated drawings and highlights their ability to enhance productivity in the CAD industry. "In a world swimming in AI-related hype, several CAD software firms are making serious progress in the race to eliminate workflow bottlenecks using new technologies."

🎥 Marc Andreessen on the future of the internet, technology & AI. Lex Fridman podcast.


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

✋🏻 What will you do?

🎤 Transcripts will be commonplace

🧩 For the sake of doing

🐷 Food and happiness

🚰 The broken faucet

🖌️ AI and a text prompt

🚰 Easier replaced than fixed

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2024-04-30 03:45:00 -0400 Ian Keough — Hypar, Open Source, Remote Work, Monetization, and Generative AI https://gettingsimple.com/ian-keough-hypar https://gettingsimple.com/ian-keough-hypar

Hi *|NAME|*—

Ian is the CEO and founder of Hypar and is known as the father of Dynamo.

I visited Ian at his single-family home in Culver City, California, in July 2018, where he took me out surfing after recording a podcast at his kitchen table. Ian had just started Hypar out of his garage, "a platform for designing, generating, and sharing building systems."

Last September, we recorded a conversation in a hotel room at St Joseph Street, New Orleans. We didn't surf this time but got a beautiful 6.7-mile run in at sunrise along the Mississippi River with Zach Kron.

Enjoy this episode on how Hypar is creating the next-generation platform to design, generate, and share buildings and Ian's thoughts on open-source software, visual programming, authorship, monetization, and generative AI.

Thanks to everyone who chatted with us during the YouTube premiere.

Let us know your thoughts on the video comments.
Submit your questions at gettingsimple.com/ask.

Warmly,
Nono



Nono Martínez Alonso and Ian Keough in New Orleans.

Recorded in New Orleans on September 2022.



Chapters

Connect with Ian

Favorite quotes

  • “What would we have to build to have [our new AEC software stack] decoupled from all of the historical and legacy software?”
  • “I just can’t stand toil.”
  • “You don't wanna penalize the customer for using the system more.”

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

🎥 The AI Dilemma. Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin discuss how existing A.I. capabilities already pose catastrophic risks to a functional society.

📨 Don't Reply to Your Emails by Taylor Lorenz. The Atlantic. 2019.


Sketch of an iPhone with a web browser displaying Google's search site.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🔎 Looking for answers

⌚️ No time left

📓 Blogging daily in 2022

💻 Daily writing vs daily blogging

🖊 What's slowing you down?

🔋 A great temporal landmark

📏 Most-visited stories of 2022

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2023-07-03 03:45:00 -0400 Alex O'Connor — Transformers, Generative AI, and the Deep Learning Revolution https://gettingsimple.com/alex-oconnor https://gettingsimple.com/alex-oconnor

Hi *|NAME|*—

Alex O'Connor is a researcher and machine learning manager.

I had the chance to pick his brain on the latest trends of generative AI — transformers, language and image models, fine-tuning, prompt engineering, tokenization, the latent space, adversarial attacks, and more.

Thanks to everyone who chatted with us during the YouTube premiere.

★ I'm excited to celebrate Live 100 with Special Guests tomorrow, April 27, at 1:30 PM ET with a conversation on creative machine intelligence with Adam Menges, Joel Simon, José Luis García del Castillo, and Kyle Steinfeld.

I'd love for you to join us live at nono.ma/live/100.

Warmly,
Nono



Alex O'Connor and Nono Martínez Alonso at Vegas.

Recorded at The Palazzo, Las Vegas on December 2022.



Chapters

Favorite quotes

  • “None of these models can read.”
  • “Art in the future may not be good, but it will be prompt.” Mastodon

Books

Papers

Links

Machine learning models

Sites

Concepts

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 Transformers from Scratch by Brandon Rohrer.

🎤 Andrej Karpathy talks about Tesla AI, Self-Driving, and Artificial General Intelligence with Lex Fridman.

🎥 I played with Stable Diffusion on Live 96 and Live 97.


Sketch of a highlighter.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🎉 Goodbye, 2022

📸 What's mere friction and what creative process?

🖐🏻 Yesterday, today, and tomorrow

🖱 Good taste and guesswork

👆🏻 Organic content and keyword bidding

👟 How long will it take?

🖊 Tools: 05 Micron fiber pen

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2023-04-26 03:45:00 -0400 Zach Kron — Art, Creativity, and Personal Evolution https://gettingsimple.com/zach-kron-art-creativity-and-personal-evolution https://gettingsimple.com/zach-kron-art-creativity-and-personal-evolution

Hi *|NAME|*—

Zach Kron was the second guest of the podcast back in December 2017. Since then, I've enjoyed many conversations with him that would have been a great fit for the show.

I recently visited Zach's studio in Somerville, Massachusetts, where we talked about making (and selling) pen plotter art, evolving with your projects, creativity, capturing ideas, and remote work.

I loved recording this conversation in person and on camera.

Let me know what you liked on the YouTube video comments, and remember, you can submit your questions about this or any previous episodes at gettingsimple.com/ask.

I hope you enjoy it!

Warmly,
Nono



Zach Kron and Nono Martínez Alonso at Zach's studio in Somerville, MA.

Chapters

Zach’s

Favorite quotes

  • “The process is fun, and more than the actual editing process is the process of ideating the best workflow that you can get.” —Nono
  • “We aren't really good at having something that you do just for the sake of it. We need to have the side effect.” —Zach
  • “But you have to remember that I didn't have to put on pants today.” —Zach

Books

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

📕 Nature/Code/Drawing by Hiromasa Fukaji and Junichiro Horikawa. Vetro Editions. "A reimagining of nature, depicted through the lens of generative art."


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🕶 Four ways to see the world differently

🎤 Eight podcasting tips

🔁 Meta

⏰ How many of these can you write?

🕹 Are you available?

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-12-07 03:45:00 -0500 Q&A with Nono — Podcasting Tips https://gettingsimple.com/how-to-start-a-podcast https://gettingsimple.com/how-to-start-a-podcast

Hi *|NAME|*—

I recently had a conversation with Steve — who wants to build a YouTube channel about the joy of making and listening to music, emphasizing health and well-being — where I shared tips on producing a podcast, building an audience, booking guests, content formats, motivation, goals, and other insights from five years of podcasting.

This episode may be helpful if you're thinking of starting a podcast or YouTube channel or if you want to learn about my podcasting workflow.

Steve’s questions (below) acted as a guide for our conversation.

  • How do you stay motivated to regularly produce your podcast?
  • What do you feel is the best way to approach people you would like to interview or connect with?
  • What methods have worked for you to attract, build, and sustain an audience?
  • Do you know anyone who might be willing to talk with me and guide me further on producing a successful YouTube channel or podcast, especially regarding the arts?
  • Are there any books, articles, or other materials that might help me on my journey? This one didn’t make it into the episode. But I recommended Atomic Habits by James Clear to establish a content creation and publication cadence.
  • Do you have any other advice that would be helpful to someone like me?

Remember that you can submit your questions at gettingsimple.com/ask.

Warmly,
Nono



Steve and Nono Martínez Alonso.

Chapters

Links

People mentioned

  • Lex Fridman
  • Tim Ferriss
  • Seth Godin
  • Joe Rogan

Bonus

🎥 Automating pro podcasters’ Mac workflows with Jason Snell and Dan Moren) at Matthew Cassinelli's podcast.

🎥 How to Look Your Best on Camera.

✍🏻 High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models.


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📞 Frank's feedback

💡 Idea generation versus execution

🗣 Open for interpretation

🏀 Habits and play

🌡 Summer content post-mortem

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-10-26 03:45:00 -0400 Leire Asensio Villoria and David Mah — Systems Upgrade https://gettingsimple.com/systems-upgrade https://gettingsimple.com/systems-upgrade

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you a new conversation with Leire Asensio Villoria and David Mah on decoding and upgrading design systems, reverse engineering the creative process, knowledge dissemination, the long tail of niches, Erwin Hauer and associative models, book writing and publishing, and much more.

Leire and David collaborate as asensio_mah, an international design practice with projects in Europe and Australia, including Casa Q, a new-build residential commission in Spain that integrates digital fabrication techniques with traditional construction practices as well as landscape engineering and design.

I hope you enjoy it!

Warmly,
Nono



Leire Asensio Villoria, Nono Martínez Alonso, and David Mah.

Chapters

  • 00:00 · Introduction
  • 00:36 · Erwin Hauer
  • 02:22 · Associative models
  • 04:18 · Erwin Hauer's model making
  • 07:03 · Limitations of digital tools
  • 09:39 · Systems Upgrade book
  • 11:10 · Reverse engineering
  • 26:09 · Decoding Erwin Hauer
  • 30:21 · Authorship and knowledge dissemination
  • 36:48 · Visual programming
  • 41:39 · Selling less of more
  • 46:54 · Individualizing everything
  • 49:23 · Context
  • 53:18 · Book writing and publishing
  • 01:02:49 · Creative process
  • 01:11:13 · AI content generation
  • 01:17:42 · Thanks
  • 01:18:43 · Outro

Books

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 The Pathologies of the Attention Economy. L. M. Sacasas points out the “attention discourse” is not new and existed before digital technology. “We inhabit a techno-social environment manufactured to fracture our attention. The interests served by this environment in turn pathologize the resultant inattention; These same interests devise and enforce new techniques to discipline the inattentive subject.”


Sketch of a black and yellow screwdriver.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🚰 Twenty rupees

🖊 It doesn't always work

✅ One more task

🎲 A recipe for disconnection

🪛 Keep your tools at hand

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-10-12 03:45:00 -0400 Frank Harmon — Writing, Drawing, and Sense of Place https://gettingsimple.com/frank-harmon https://gettingsimple.com/frank-harmon

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you a new conversation with Frank Harmon, an old friend who taught me architectural design at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, back in 2012, and inspired me to look at the world differently.

Frank is a renowned award-winning architect, professor, writer, and an avid sketcher who always has a sketchbook with him.

He writes to find out what he’s thinking and draws to understand what he’s looking at to ensure he doesn’t forget it.

In this episode, we talk about writing, drawing, design, life, and how digital technologies make the world completely placeless. "It’s too late to stop [the internet], but what we can do as architects and artists and writers is give people a sense of place where they are."

Frank believes we can make places that have something physical and concrete grounding us in an otherwise unlimited digital world.




Chapters

  • 00:00 · Introduction
  • 01:14 · Writing
  • 05:00 · Becoming an architect
  • 06:21 · Frank's book
  • 07:19 · Living in London
  • 09:03 · Studying abroad in the US
  • 13:37 · Childhood place
  • 20:38 · Born with screens
  • 23:39 · Design
  • 27:42 · Place
  • 33:41 · Good architecture
  • 37:10 · Bad architecture
  • 38:48 · Frank Gehry's middle finger
  • 39:31 · Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See
  • 43:47 · The best way to write
  • 44:23 · The purpose of sketching
  • 45:45 · Thanks
  • 46:09 · Outro

Favorite quotes

  • “My goal in life is to make short sentences.”
  • “We lost contact with our senses by making everything depend on the visual.”
  • “When we draw, we touch.”
  • “Once we’ve bought into the digital internet world, we’re never going to get rid of it.”
  • “When we make a place [we should make it] situated in its place so that we've got something physical and concrete that grounds us in an otherwise unlimited digital world.”
  • “Genius is the ability to recall your childhood at any time.” —Baudelaire

Books

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 Greater Creative Control for AI Image Generation. Make-A-Scene is Meta AI's take on text-to-image generation with machine learning.

📕 "As Thoreau’s example emphasizes, there’s nothing wrong with connectivity, but if you don’t balance it with regular doses of solitude, its benefits will diminish." —Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

👊🏻 Should you be doing the work?

🦾 When the machine does the work for you

☀️ Summer vacation

🏠 Newsletterversary III

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-07-29 08:00:00 -0400 DALL-E 2, The Creative Process, and Blogging Tools https://gettingsimple.com/dall-e-2-the-creative-process-blogging-tools https://gettingsimple.com/dall-e-2-the-creative-process-blogging-tools

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you an episode on my first impressions and experiments with OpenAI’s text-to-image generation AI system DALL-E 2, three mini-essays on the creative process and being done, and blogging tools you can use to publish online.


A collage of images generated by Nono with OpenAI's DALL-E 2.


Chapters

  • 00:00 · Introduction
  • 00:39 · An incoming conversation with Frank Harmon
  • 01:34 · Episode contents
  • 01:55 · DALL-E 2 and AI systems
  • 06:45 · What can DALL-E do?
  • 09:54 · GPT-3: Language models
  • 12:05 · Mini-Essays on the creative process
  • 12:15 · Mini-Essay: The meaning of done
  • 13:38 · Mini-Essay: If it's no fun, you shouldn't do it
  • 15:33 · Mini-Essay: Another one of those
  • 16:51 · Writing series
  • 17:51 · What does Nono use for blogging?
  • 22:45 · Outro

Links

Books

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 AI-art isn't art by Erik Hoel. "Corporations will photocopy our culture over and over until it becomes only a grainy image."

🎥 Google Engineer on His Sentient AI Claim.

✍🏻 Construction is life. "Every part of every city or town, even every neighborhood, is chock full of unfinished demolition, detours, cranes, ug-up streets, and on-going construction. Their motto is “we are not done yet.” I recognized this work now as a sign of prosperity, of a healthy metabolism."

🤖 texts1111101000 Robots. A book of robot illustrations generated with DALL-E 2.


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📖 It's all about reducing friction

✅ The meaning of done

🥛 If it's not fun, you shouldn't do it

⏰ Tic tac

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-06-29 03:45:00 -0400 Sketches — It's Nice to See You, In Person https://gettingsimple.com/its-nice-to-see-you-in-person https://gettingsimple.com/its-nice-to-see-you-in-person

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you a short episode from the sketches series in which I share my experience traveling to the US and meeting people in person for the first time after the COVID-19 pandemic.




Chapters

  • 00:00 · Start
  • 00:10 · It's Nice to See You, In Person
  • 06:05 · Back from Atlanta
  • 07:34 · Podcast updates

Favorite quotes

  • "You can do anything that you set your mind to, but you don't have time to do everything.” —Frank Harmon

Links

Books

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 Taking a Break from Social Media Makes you Happier and Less Anxious by Cal Newport.

🎥 Making Art with Dynamo with Zach Kron with TheRevitKid.


Sketch of a wireless phone.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📞 Yet another call

🎤 What do you want to be doing?

🤔 Another one of those

💺 Back from Atlanta

✈️ It's nice to see you, in person

🐭 Curiosities, a podcast, and blog posts

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-05-31 12:00:00 -0400 Habits & Passion Projects https://gettingsimple.com/habits-and-passion-projects https://gettingsimple.com/habits-and-passion-projects

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you a solo episode in which I revisit my current habits and passion projects. I share my thoughts on the podcast, the blog and sketches, the YouTube channel and the live stream, my new recording studio, monetization, crypto, and the importance of learning and play.

Looking forward to hearing what you think!




Chapters

Books

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

🐲 The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant.


Sketch of a broken Amazon box.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📖 Curiosities: Alcohol sedates you and Dunbar's number

📈 One nudge at a time

🍳 Cooking ideas

✍🏻 Which one would you like to read?

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-04-20 03:45:00 -0400 Andrew Witt — Formulations, Mathematical Design, and Writing https://gettingsimple.com/andrew-witt-formulations https://gettingsimple.com/andrew-witt-formulations

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you a new conversation with Andrew Witt, who teaches at Harvard University and recently published Formulations, a book that explores how computational tools that encapsulate mathematical methods are short-circuiting the path to expertise, blurring the distinction between dabbler and virtuoso, and democratizing access to the systems and aesthetics of mathematical design.

Please enjoy Andrew’s second podcast appearance in which we discuss how mathematical design transforms how we think, design, and make art, how Andrew managed to get such a big project together, and his take on writing, creativity, work, life, machine intelligence, and digital art.




Chapters

Favorite quotes

  • “It’s not possible to do everything in an amazing way all at once. You have to cycle through those things. Different moments in life will create different opportunities.”
  • “One of the consequences of mass media is that [it] creates intuitions around certain concepts through imagery.”
  • "The only thing that really conveys human value to things is time.”
  • “What remains after people are gone?”

Books

Links

People mentioned

  • Alfred North Whitehead
  • Charles Johnson - Matrix theorist
  • Buckminster Fuller
  • Steve Baer
  • Bruno Latour
  • Norbert Wiener
  • Tobias Nolte
  • Refik Anadol
  • Satoru Sugihara
  • William Huff
  • Louis Kahn
  • Ben Ferhman-Lee - Graphic designer
  • Cynthia Davidson - Book series editor
  • Sean Canty, Esther Choi, and Cameron Wu
  • Aziz Barbar
  • Henri Poincaré
  • Peter Pierce
  • Sanford Kwinter
  • Paul Erdös

Bonus

🧠 Why we stopped making Einsteins by Erik Hoel. The most depressing fact about humanity is that during the 2000s most of the world was handed essentially free access to the entirety of knowledge and that didn’t trigger a golden age.

✍🏻 Does Wordle Prove That We Can Have Nice Things on the Internet? The New Yorker.

🎥 Nicole Perlroth on Cybersecurity and the Weapons of Cyberwar. Lex Fridman Podcast.


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🏓 The reason to finish

🖌 How much time did that take?

💵 The Basic Attention Token

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-03-24 03:45:00 -0400 Adam Menges — Visual Programming, Social Fintech, Bitcoin and NFTs & Lessons Learned Building Software Products https://gettingsimple.com/adam-menges-visual-programming-bitcoin-nfts https://gettingsimple.com/adam-menges-visual-programming-bitcoin-nfts

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you a new conversation with Adam Menges, a former Apple employee and founder at Lobe, a company acquired by Microsoft that aims to make deep learning accessible, who's now working on something new.

Please enjoy Adam’s second podcast appearance in which we discuss the role of visual programming languages, social fintech, thoughts on Bitcoin and digital art tokens, and lessons learned building successful software products during and after pandemic times.




Chapters

  • 00:00 · Introduction
  • 02:45 · Visual programming
  • 07:40 · Grasshopper
  • 11:14 · Extendability
  • 13:19 · Lobe's visual programming interface
  • 14:31 · The role of visual programming
  • 17:00 · HyperCard
  • 18:11 · Accessibility
  • 20:52 · Making programming easier
  • 23:45 · Artificial intelligence for creatives
  • 24:27 · Polarization and human-machine collaboration
  • 28:12 · Pair programming with AI
  • 31:39 · Software for gamers
  • 35:45 · Healthy social experiences
  • 36:27 · Hindsight
  • 37:00 · Startup success and team dynamics
  • 39:11 · Macro and micro focus
  • 41:38 · Analysis paralysis
  • 43:18 · Routines
  • 45:09 · Ranking the news with AI
  • 48:27 · Staying in touch with friends
  • 50:40 · Zoom fatigue
  • 53:35 · COVID
  • 55:29 · Bitcoin
  • 57:43 · Hacking NFTs
  • 01:01:10 · A crypto use case
  • 01:03:15 · Social FinTech
  • 01:06:45 · Advice for young people
  • 01:08:59 · Happiness
  • 01:10:30 · Connect with Adam

Books

Links

Visual programming languages

  • Quartz composer
  • Blender
  • Facebook Origami for user interfaces
  • Spark AR for Instagram filters
  • Grasshopper 3d
  • Autodesk Dynamo
  • vvvv
  • Davinci Resolve Fusion
  • Max/Jitter
  • TouchDesigner
  • Unreal Blueprints
  • Node-RED

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 End Procrastination. iA. Seven simple techniques to fight procrastination from the Information Architects' blog.


Sketch.

Lastly, here is the latest story from my sketches newsletter.

🌾 The myth of a better life

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-03-04 03:45:00 -0500 Nate Peters — NFTs, Generative Art, Making Your Own Tools & Online Attention https://gettingsimple.com/nate-peters-nfts-generative-art-tools-attention https://gettingsimple.com/nate-peters-nfts-generative-art-tools-attention

Hi *|NAME|*—

In this episode, Nate Peters and I discuss the latest developments of digital art and generative NFTs, the importance of being intentional, the advantage of established creators, and the fast pace of artificial intelligence and crypto.

We’re no experts, so please don’t take our words as financial advice. We just hope our conversation sheds some light in your own path to learning more about the world of digital currencies, machine learning, and technology.

Take a look at this episode's topics in the notes and chapters below.

Enjoy!


Nono Martínez Alonso and Nate Peters podcasting remotely.


Chapters

  • 00:00 · Introduction
  • 00:57 · NFTs
  • 02:55 · Established creators
  • 06:27 · Early adopters
  • 07:50 · Ownership
  • 10:04 · Royalties and smart contracts
  • 13:55 · Generative art
  • 19:39 · Mechanics of crypto art
  • 29:07 · Digital artists vs speculators
  • 30:53 · Attention is power
  • 34:48 · Supporting artists and platform lockdown
  • 47:48 · Laser eyes
  • 48:59 · DAOs
  • 52:17 · Machine learning and artificial intelligence
  • 59:30 · Generative networks
  • 01:01:33 · Making machine learning accessible
  • 01:10:03 · The fast pace of AI
  • 01:21:32 · AI-based audio and video editing
  • 01:27:43 · Subscriptions
  • 01:37:50 · Advice for beginners
  • 01:39:21 · Wrap up
  • 01:41:20 · Outro

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 Be Anonymous by Kash. Two possible extremes to navigate the web; being public about who you are and posting personal details on the web versus being untraceable and going to great lengths to hide your online identity

🎥 Dark Matter of Intelligence and Self-Supervised Learning. A conversation with computer scientist Yann LeCun and Lex Fridman.

🎹 Radiohead for Solo Piano. "A beautifully produced collection of some of Radiohead's best-loved songs, arranged for intermediate piano solo by pianist Josh Cohen."


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🦎 The tiny, green chameleon

🤧 Daily blogging, barely shipping

🔧 A part of the journey to enjoy

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

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]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-02-23 03:45:00 -0500 The Short-Sightedness of Web3 and Blockchain, Anonymity & Original Ideas of Where We Could Go https://gettingsimple.com/web3-blockchain-anonymity https://gettingsimple.com/web3-blockchain-anonymity

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today, I bring you a conversation with an anonymous guest on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, the security of digital wallets, the convenience of centralization, promoting positive moral behavior, impostor syndrome, being a constant newbie, and lots more.




Chapters

  • 00:00 · Introduction
  • 00:15 · Motivation
  • 02:03 · Collaborative AI Sketching
  • 05:02 · Blockchain and NFTs
  • 09:07 · Promoting positive moral behavior
  • 10:20 · Smart contracts
  • 12:41 · The simplest smart contract
  • 14:37 · NFTs
  • 20:11 · Programming smart contracts
  • 22:58 · Art
  • 25:24 · Crypto wallets and passphrases
  • 29:16 · Information
  • 31:25 · Security
  • 35:43 · Web3
  • 39:24 · The convenience of centralization
  • 44:02 · A definition of Web3
  • 45:05 · Learning resources
  • 46:39 · Anonymity
  • 49:48 · Zuckerberg or Nakamoto?
  • 54:08 · What would a good person do?
  • 56:13 · Sharing your life online
  • 58:10 · Hijacking the hijacking of your brain
  • 01:00:41 · Pair programming
  • 01:02:55 · Coding for yourself or others
  • 01:06:54 · Impostor syndrome
  • 01:10:15 · The constant newbie
  • 01:10:58 · Content discoverability
  • 01:12:31 · Outro

Favorite quotes

  • “Writing code is talking to computers, but you also have to talk to people through your code.”
  • “How do we figure out, in a digital age, what is good and what should we aim for as a civilization, as a society?”
  • “Information is the resolution of uncertainty.” —Claude Shannon, 1948

Books

Links & Terms

  • DeFi (decentralized finance)
  • Web3
  • Escrow smart contracts
  • InterPlanetary File System (IPFS)
  • Candy Machine
  • Arweave permanent storage
  • Genesis Go
  • JavaScript, Rust & C++
  • Pair programming
  • Nifty Gateway & Foundation.app
  • MetaMask & Exodus (wallets)
  • Coinbase, Kraken & Gemini (exchanges)
  • BIP39 (Bitcoin Improvement Protocol)
  • Curiosity Stream - “YouTube for nerds”
  • The Coding Train with Daniel Shiffman
  • Ruby on Rails
  • Keras & TensorFlow
  • PlayXO.com
  • SushiSwap, PancakeSwap & Abracadabra
  • Glitch
  • Ruby on Rails
  • Anchor for Solana

Learning resources

People mentioned

  • Henry-E
  • Brian Friel
  • Nadir Dabit
  • Doug Anderson
  • Mr. Beast
  • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Satoshi Nakamoto
  • Edward Snowden
  • Richard Feynman
  • Aaron Schwartz
  • Kevin Kelly
  • Daniel Shiffman

Bonus

✍🏻 Who Owns Web3? by Anthony Pompliano.


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📝 On to the next one

📝 A try at blogging daily

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

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]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-02-07 03:25:00 -0500 Jordan Gray — Creative Friction, Storytelling in Design, Passion Projects & the Beginner Feeling https://gettingsimple.com/jordan-gray https://gettingsimple.com/jordan-gray

Hi *|NAME|*—

I first met Jordan in North Carolina back when I was an exchange student in my fourth year of architecture school. We soon realized we shared many creative interests and curiosities.

Ten years later, we bring you a long-form conversation on creative friction, the fine line between passion projects and work, storytelling in design, overcoming the beginner feeling, and lots more. (Take a look at this episode’s chapters to get a better picture of the topics we covered.)


Jordan Gray on the Getting Simple podcast.

Chapters

  • 00:00 · Intro
  • 00:16 · Start
  • 01:25 · How did you get into photography as an architecture student?
  • 02:54 · How do you cope with not having time to pursue new things?
  • 06:42 · Have you been doing much deliberate practice lately?
  • 11:42 · How knowledge translates across tools and disciplines
  • 18:21 · What's your personal way of maintaining growth and creativity?
  • 32:13 · Does that friction become positive?
  • 35:19 · Can everyone make their passion part of their work?
  • 38:43 · Asking yourself "Does it feel gratifying? Is it fulfilling? Is it satisfying?"
  • 44:27 · Have you been hearing about "storytelling" in your field?
  • 48:17 · How can we focus on the human experience instead of other designers?
  • 51:58 · How do you make sure a rebrand isn't just skin deep?
  • 58:34 · What makes people feel something?
  • 01:00:59 · What's most important to focus on if you want to change how you are percieved?
  • 01:03:23 · How do you get to the point where people seek you out?
  • 01:05:45 · The concept of the podium
  • 01:09:14 · The chaos of taking pictures
  • 01:13:20 · How much is just overthinking or overdoing?
  • 01:14:34 · Will anyone notice the time you spend on the details?
  • 01:17:23 · How do you go about capturing creative moments?
  • 01:21:03 · Do you have any daily routines that make you happier or more productive?
  • 01:22:45 · What would be some book recomendations?
  • 01:24:59 · What would be your message to the world?
  • 01:27:05 · Enjoying the process of grinding the beans
  • 01:34:39 · Using your brain to design things vs just grinding mouse clicks and workflow steps
  • 01:37:08 · How would you define simplicity?
  • 01:42:15 · What have you learned about simplicity from making this podcast?
  • 01:46:28 · Where can we find you?
  • 01:50:53 · Outro

Links

Books

People mentioned


Bonus

🎥 'I'm Never Far From a Good Idea'. A conversation between Atomic Habits author James Clear and Polina Pompliano. The Profile.

📕 Formulations by Andrew Witt. MIT Press. Witt depicts a series of conceptual investigations appealing to the designer minds, tracing the origins of the use of mathematics and scientific methods in architecture.


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🔑 Algorithmic passwords

⏱ When to-do lists get too long

🪙 Most-visited stories of 2021

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

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If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-01-21 03:45:00 -0500 Goodbye, 2021 https://gettingsimple.com/goodbye-2021 https://gettingsimple.com/goodbye-2021

Hi *|NAME|*—

Happy new year! 🥂

The following is an episode celebrating 2021 and my achievements in podcasting, live streaming, sketching, and writing over the past year. I also added a note on why I think you should start writing, in public.




Chapters

  • 00:00 · Intro
  • 00:15 · Start
  • 00:41 · Achievements
  • 01:07 · Live stream
  • 02:55 · Podcast
  • 03:18 · First full video interview
  • 04:25 · Bytes
  • 05:05 · Freediving
  • 05:53 · Building a recording studio
  • 08:13 · You should write a blog, in public
  • 11:39 · Removing creative friction
  • 12:40 · Most-visited stories of 2021
  • 15:26 · I would love to hear from you
  • 15:44 · 2022
  • 18:19 · Outro
  • 19:23 · Thanks

Links

Books

People mentioned


Bonus

🧠 The Science of Mind Reading by James Somers. The New Yorker. "Researchers are pursuing age-old questions about the nature of thoughts—and learning how to read them."

🌳 The Great Offline by Lauren Collee. Real Life.


Sketch.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🍾 Goodbye, 2021

🎤 Periodicity

✍🏻 The growing drafts

✍🏻 Beginner feeling

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2022-01-02 03:00:00 -0500 Bytes — The Black Box https://gettingsimple.com/bytes-the-black-box https://gettingsimple.com/bytes-the-black-box

Hi *|NAME|*—

As we embrace new technologies, we delegate more and more tasks and decisions to the machine. In turn, algorithms permeate our daily lives—say, influencing what we listen to, watch, read, or who we interact with—yet few of us know how they use our information and make decisions for us.

In this episode, I talk to Aziz about how complex machines work, technological polarization, and the growing need to make algorithms understandable.




Chapters

  • 00:00 · Intro
  • 00:22 · What's the machine doing?
  • 01:21 · Visible mechanisms and the Pascaline
  • 02:49 · Obscuring how mechanisms work
  • 05:02 · Open Source Software
  • 06:13 · Computers excel at complex and repetitive tasks
  • 07:07 · Who's making the background algorithms we use daily?
  • 08:51 · What does 'black boxing' mean?
  • 10:03 · Two types of black box
  • 10:37 · Machine learning and explainability
  • 11:33 · Polarization and a growing need to make algorithms understandable

Favorite quotes

  • "Do we have a backup plan? Very few of us know, we're just blindly trusting these black boxes."
  • "We're going to have to find ways - we as in the people making the algorithms and people who are technical - to explain how these programs are making decisions for them."

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

✍🏻 The Hidden Costs of Automated Thinking. The New Yorker. SUMMARY

🎥 The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience. A technical demo to showcase what Unreal Engine 5 can do. Read more about this demo in The Matrix is Unreal by Mike Seymour.


Sketch of a smart TV playing Netflix.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🍿 Play next

🔇 Bitcoin, bookmaking, and publication announcements

🥶 It's getting cold(er)

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-12-13 03:50:00 -0500 One Year of Live Streams — Teaching & Coding https://gettingsimple.com/one-year-of-live-streams-part-2 https://gettingsimple.com/one-year-of-live-streams-part-2

Hi *|NAME|*—

We hosted two live events on YouTube to record a two-part podcast celebrating one year of live streams. The second part, out now, features a conversation with Jose Luis García del Castillo on teaching and coding live.

We talk about friction and automation, community, practice, content creation, and how the podcast and the live streams have evolved.

Special thanks to the community and to everyone who joined us live. ❤️



Chapters

  • 00:00 · Intro
  • 00:34 · Start
  • 03:15 · How have the podcast and live stream evolved?
  • 05:31 · Automation, delegation, and friction
  • 08:00 · Teaching complex topics
  • 10:21 · Can you be flexible with the topics you cover?
  • 16:47 · Community
  • 23:56 · Live podcast format
  • 26:56 · Video editing
  • 31:56 · Practice
  • 33:25 · Content creation
  • 36:09 · You should not make that video
  • 39:47 · Connect with Nono and Jose Luis

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

💡 Ikigai. "A Japanese concept referring to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living."


Sketch of a hand chisel.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🍫 Using friction to break bad habits

🔨 Where's the friction?

🛎 Ding! Ding!

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-11-29 03:00:00 -0500 One Year of Live Streams — Live Q&A https://gettingsimple.com/one-year-of-live-streams-part-1 https://gettingsimple.com/one-year-of-live-streams-part-1

Hi *|NAME|*—

We hosted two live events on YouTube to record a two-part podcast celebrating one year of live streams. The first part, out now, features audience questions on the challenges and evolution of the channel after a year streaming (almost) weekly.

I mentioned way too many things in this episode, so I tried my best at linking to most terms and technologies in the notes below.




Chapters

  • 00:00 · Intro
  • 01:44 · Start
  • 03:20 · How has the channel evolved since the first live stream?
  • 07:50 · What challenges have you faced coding live?
  • 11:39 · How many programming languages are you familiar with?
  • 14:50 · Have you considered doing tutorials for beginners?
  • 15:48 · Do you have any tips on time management?
  • 18:20 · Who got you into coding for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC)?
  • 21:36 · Coding for AEC is not mainstream in China or India
  • 22:10 · Are community-based learning and tutorials the future of learning?
  • 23:57 · Should I get a master's degree in machine learning?
  • 24:50 · What's your take on work-life balance?
  • 28:09 · How can I acquire solid math knowledge?
  • 29:08 · Podcast - Existing YouTube Videos
  • 32:07 · Outro

Books

Links

People mentioned

Special thanks

  • Bittor Arrillaga
  • Jean-Marc Couffin
  • Juanda Cabrera
  • Mayur Mistry
  • Ricardo César Rodríguez
  • Robb Beal
  • Sujay Kumarji
  • Theaveas So

Videos mentioned

Programming languages

  • PHP
  • Objective-C
  • Python
  • C# (C-sharp)
  • Grasshopper
  • Golang
  • Perl
  • Processing

Libraries


Bonus

✍🏻 Willingness to look stupid by Dan Luu.


Sketch of a Zoom H6 hand recorder.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🎤 Digital art, black boxes, live streaming, and more

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-10-26 02:00:00 -0400 Bytes — NFTs & Digital Art https://gettingsimple.com/bytes-nfts-and-digital-art https://gettingsimple.com/bytes-nfts-and-digital-art

Hi *|NAME|*—

It's hard to keep up with the fast-moving world of digital currencies and the new age of digital art.

In this new episode of Bytes, Aziz and I talk about non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and digital art.




Chapters

  • 01:55 · Getting familiar with NFTs
  • 05:22 · The cultural significance of NFTs
  • 08:35 · The $69 million dollar auction that exploded the NFT world
  • 11:44 · NFTs allow for a much clearer history of ownership
  • 13:54 · There are thousands of cryptocurrencies that operate in different ways
  • 14:44 · NFTs are created inside the Ethereum chain
  • 16:34 · Privacy in the blockchain
  • 18:23 · Minting an artwork costs money
  • 21:05 · The environmental impact of crypto transactions
  • 22:22 · Artists make limited drops to build hype around their work
  • 23:42 · Moving from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake
  • 26:02 · Have you bought an NFT yet?
  • 28:04 · You're not going to create value out of thin air
  • 29:41 · Wrapping up

Favorite quotes

  • 'Beeple is looking at his whole body of work as it's presented on Instagram as a kind of Duchampian readymade' —Noah Davis

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

💎 Andrés Reisinger sells collection of "impossible" virtual furniture for $450,000 at auction. Dezeen.

🎥 Jaron Lanier on Virtual Reality, Social Media & the Future of Humans and AI at Lex Fridman Podcast.


Sketch of a Sony Alpha 6500 Evit Mirrorless Camera on a Video 8 Tripod.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📷 Will new tools make your content any better?

🗒 A tiny notepad as checklist

⌚️ There's no post today

📏 A set of informal rules

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

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]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-10-16 03:50:00 -0400 Machine Learning-Based Audio Editing, React, UI Libraries, NFTs, and COVID https://gettingsimple.com/machine-learning-based-audio-editing-descript-react-ui-libraries-nfts-covid https://gettingsimple.com/machine-learning-based-audio-editing-descript-react-ui-libraries-nfts-covid

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today, I bring you an informal chat with Nate Peters, a friend and former guest of the show—a conversation on the machine learning-based audio-editing solution this podcast is being produced with, web components, React and UI libraries, the effects of COVID-19 in our work lives, NFTs and cryptocurrencies, and the new informal catch-up conversation podcast format we're testing out.

We were screen-sharing during part of this conversation and no recording is available. But we've compiled a detailed list of episode notes below, and the YouTube video includes a full transcript as closed captions.




Chapters

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

🎥 Luis Ruiz Padrón on Sketching, Writing, and Teaching Through The Lens of Architecture. I'm excited to share Getting Simple's first full-video interview.

🗞 The Frustration with Productivity Culture by Cal Newport. The New Yorker. "Why we’re so tired of optimizing our work lives, and what we should do about it."


Sketch of panther sculpture.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

💭 Write your thoughts, now

🐬 Three kilos of lead

🪙 A hundred million satoshis

🎥 There is never a later

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-10-12 03:00:00 -0400 Sketches — Work or Walk https://gettingsimple.com/work-or-walk https://gettingsimple.com/work-or-walk

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today, I bring you a two-minute episode on reclaiming our time with the help of automation.




Bonus

✍🏻 Notes on Quentin Tarantino's Writing Routine by Cal Newport.

🗞 Mark Frauenfelder's top-ten newsletters.


Sketch of a MacBook Pro.

As always, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📓 Why are you doing that?

🖌 Multiple identities

🚘 Batteries not included

✍🏻 Newsletterversary II

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

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]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-09-22 03:00:00 -0400 Bytes — StyleGAN https://gettingsimple.com/bytes-stylegan https://gettingsimple.com/bytes-stylegan

Hi *|NAME|*—

In this new episode of Bytes, Aziz and I talk about StyleGAN, NVIDIA's state-of-the-art machine learning algorithm that generates convincing images.

If you want to learn more about the Bytes series, our co-host, and what to expect in future episodes, Listen to the Introduction.




Chapters

  • 0:00 · Intro
  • 0:28 · What is StyleGAN?
  • 1:39 · Adversarial networks
  • 4:03 · Unexpectedness
  • 5:44 · Does it know what it's drawing?
  • 7:37 · Latent space
  • 8:42 · Hallucinations
  • 9:37 · Creative block

Favorite quotes

  • "Do we learn less because we can skip certain steps?"
  • "Do we skip the process of hiring a designer if we have a computer algorithm that can generate those paintings for us?"
  • "StyleGAN is an algorithm open-sourced by NVIDIA - that's the company that creates the graphic cards - that can learn from the features or style of a bunch of images and generate synthetic (or fake) images that resemble the original ones."

Links

People mentioned


Bonus

🗞 A Guide to Getting on an Airplane Again by Carlos Greaves. "The best time to book your flight was two weeks ago."

🎥 The Meditative Thrill of Free Diving. A film by Bo Clausen and Theo Baunsgaard.


Sketch of diving fins.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🤿 The diving reflex

✍🏻 One word per day

🧠 We need new interfaces

✍🏻 My journals

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-08-05 03:50:00 -0400 Freediving https://gettingsimple.com/freediving https://gettingsimple.com/freediving

Hi *|NAME|*—

I brought a minimal recording setup inside my backpack to Tenerife—two Shure SM58 microphones and a Zoom H6 recorder—just in case I found a chance to record material for the podcast.

Before parting ways at the boarding gate, Jose Luis and I captured our first impressions after a week of freediving classes; what we learned, what we loved, and things we thought we knew but didn't.

We talked about the mindfulness of breath-hold diving and being deep underwater, best practices, equipment and techniques, equalizing your middle ear pressure, scuba versus freediving, and how recommendation systems brought us there.

Please enjoy and send any questions about this and previous episodes our way. I'd love to hear from you.




Chapters

  • 0:00 · Intro
  • 1:48 · Freediving is a sport
  • 3:52 · Benefits of putting safety and technique first
  • 5:52 · Equalizing
  • 7:55 · Scuba vs Freediving
  • 8:42 · Otovent
  • 11:24 · Shout outs
  • 12:03 · Exercises
  • 14:03 · Being deep underwater
  • 18:40 · Equipment
  • 21:57 · How did we end up here?
  • 24:15 · Wrapping up

Links


Bonus

🎙 Mathematics of High-Dimensional Shapes. Jordan Ellenberg was interviewed by Lex Fridman.


Sketch of the Otovent device.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🥽 Freediving: How to prevent your diving mask from fogging up

🥽 Freediving: First impressions

🎈 Freediving: Otovent

✍🏻 My journals

👟 Energy and time

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-07-14 08:50:00 -0400 Cristóbal Valenzuela — Machine Intelligence, Interfaces for Creativity and Originality, the Freedom of Being a Startup, and Runway https://gettingsimple.com/cristobal-valenzuela-runway-and-machine-intelligence-interfaces-for-creativity https://gettingsimple.com/cristobal-valenzuela-runway-and-machine-intelligence-interfaces-for-creativity

Hi *|NAME|*—

Technologist and artist Cristóbal Valenzuela co-founded Runway with a simple idea in mind: putting machine learning in the hands of creators as an intuitive and simple visual interface.

Enjoy this conversation on the need for new creative interfaces to control complex algorithms that focus on results (not technology), the freedom of being a startup, and how machine intelligence is changing how we think, design, and make art.


Cristóbal Valenzuela with Nono Martínez Alonso


Chapters

  • 0:00 · Intro
  • 0:28 · What's new with Runway ML?
  • 1:44 · We need new interfaces
  • 4:23 · The freedom of being a startup
  • 4:55 · How's life?
  • 5:38 · Built with Runway
  • 6:55 · ML Lab and Sequel
  • 8:08 · Interfaces to control ML algorithms
  • 10:31 · Machine intelligence in design, art, and architecture
  • 13:14 · Creativity
  • 14:23 · Originality and bias
  • 16:06 · AI as a tool
  • 18:13 · Thanks

Favorite quotes

  • "You don't care about the mathematical function that goes behind blurring [an image in Photoshop]. You just want the output of it—the creative output of moving a slider and having an effect applied to your video, your pixels, or content."
  • "When you think about using algorithms to help you and assist you in the editing process, you need [to find] a metaphor or tool that would allow you to collaborate with those algorithms."
  • "We need those new interfaces, metaphors, and systems. And that's all we're building, basically, those next-generation systems to help people create video and content."
  • "When you take that picture, no one is saying, 'Oh, the AI is biased' or 'The AI worked or didn't work' or 'It showed me new creative possibilities.' It just works."
  • "[Artificial intelligence] is a tool as any other tool. And so, in general, I think all the art tools that we're making will eventually reach that point where you're not too concerned about the systems you're using. You are just using it as a tool. And if it provides you with good results to explore the creative direction, you're going to use it again."

Links


People mentioned


Bonus

🧠 Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David. Learn how to develop greater levels of emotional agility—"a critical capability that enables us to interact more successfully with ourselves and the world."


Sketch of a Cressi Focus diving mask.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🥽 Freediving: How to prevent your diving mask from fogging up

🥽 Freediving: First impressions

🎈 Freediving: Otovent

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]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-06-30 03:00:00 -0400 Héctor Ruiz — Magic and The Art of Illusionism https://gettingsimple.com/hector-ruiz-show https://gettingsimple.com/hector-ruiz-show

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you an episode with Illusionist Héctor Ruiz on getting started and standing out as a magician, how COVID-19 changed his world, his take on talent, effort, creativity, success, and entrepreneurship, and more.

You can also watch this episode on video. =)




Chapters

  • 0:00 · Intro
  • 0:59 · Magic
  • 13:26 · Being an entertainer
  • 21:34 · Talent, effort, and creativity
  • 33:37 · A year on pause
  • 43:01 · Lifestyle and time management
  • 47:46 · Solitude and productivity
  • 50:25 · Success
  • 52:36 · A deck of cards
  • 54:12 · Magic trick
  • 56:18 · A message
  • 58:47 · Closing thoughts

Favorite quotes

  • "I'm still that kid being entertained, watching magic videos and stuff I have never stopped being that kid. And I think it's going to work as long as I remain being that kid."
  • "[When] I went from Isla Mágica to cruise ships, I got bankrupt. I went into the biggest hole of my life, and that was the best thing that could ever happen to me."
  • "For the past 20 plus years, I've never been without performing for more than a couple of weeks and suddenly, I encountered myself being offstage for over a year, which is crazy!"

Links

Detailed chapters

  • Intro. [0:00]
  • How did you get started with magic? [0:59]
  • How did you become a professional magician? [2:21]
  • What was your show like at Isla Mágica? [3:50]
  • What is unique about theme park shows? [5:05]
  • How has your show's length changed over time? [5:54]
  • How do you learn magic? [6:40]
  • What kind of shows were you doing outside of Isla Mágica? [7:54]
  • How do you stand out as a magician? [9:52]
  • Does the community have a system for tracking who owns which tricks? [11:45]
  • Do you have a mission you have set for yourself/your act? [13:26]
  • What was your lifestyle like before COVID? [14:47]
  • Society doesn't understand entertainers. [21:34]
  • What do you think your talent is? [22:32]
  • What things require an effort from you? [25:02]
  • How was it to learn more languages? [26:53]
  • How do you understand creativity? [28:22]
  • What would be the easiest way to see one of your shows? [33:02]
  • How has COVID-19 changed things for you? [33:37]
  • How many planes did you used to get regularly? [35:29]
  • What's going to be different now? [36:36]
  • Where can people find you online? [38:29]
  • What did you do in the year you couldn't do shows? [39:07]
  • Can you tell us about the business you started during the pandemic? [41:01]
  • How did your day to day look like before COVID? [43:01]
  • How do you disconnect? [44:07]
  • Is there anything specific about how you manage your time? [45:16]
  • Do you do any type of meditation? [47:03]
  • Do you think solitude plays an important part in your life? [47:46]
  • Being online can have a negative impact on productivity. [49:33]
  • How would you define success? [50:25]
  • Who do you see as successful? [51:05]
  • Has any recent purchase under $100 had a positive impact in your life? [52:36]
  • What books do you recommend to people who want to get into magic? [52:58]
  • What do you think of guessing/explaining the tricks? [54:12]
  • Can we see you perform a card trick? [54:48]
  • Do you have any other message for the audience? [56:18]
  • Closing thoughts. [58:47]

Bonus

🤑 Robinhood's Big Gamble by Sheelah Kolhatkar. New Yorker. "In eliminating barriers to investing in the stock market, is the app democratizing finance or encouraging risky behavior?"

✍🏻 Why We Pay Writers by Hamish McKenzie.


Sketch of an iPhone 6.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📝 Should I fix my typos?

✍🏻 The process is messy

💾 Introducing the Bytes series

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

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If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-05-31 03:15:00 -0400 Bytes — Intro https://gettingsimple.com/bytes-intro https://gettingsimple.com/bytes-intro

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today we're introducing the Bytes series, in which we'll talk about concepts at the intersection of digital technology and culture in a language we can all understand.

(Enter Aziz Barbar.)

In this episode, you'll learn about the series' name and format, co-host Aziz, and what's coming.




Chapters

Links


Bonus

🧠 Why Computers Won’t Make Themselves Smarter by Ted Chiang. "We fear and yearn for 'the singularity.' But it will probably never come."

🪙 We’re All Crypto People Now by Erin Griffith. "Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone from curiosity to punchline to viable investment, making them almost impossible to ignore — for better or worse."


Sketch of a fifty-euro bill.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

📕 The Sawyer effect

💶 A frugal practice: Use cash

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-05-06 03:00:00 -0400 Luis Ruiz Padrón — Sketching, Writing, and Teaching Through The Lens of Architecture https://gettingsimple.com/luis-ruiz-padron https://gettingsimple.com/luis-ruiz-padron

Hi *|NAME|*—

Today I bring you an episode with Luis Ruiz Padrón on the creative process behind his writing, sketches, and publications, seeing the world as an Urban Sketcher, identity, teaching, technology, life, success, and more.

I'm excited to announce that we're producing a full video version of this conversation—recorded by Daniel Natoli—to be released within the next weeks and that we'll be rolling out full transcripts of all episodes sometime in 2021.

I hope you enjoy this episode (and its detailed show notes) as much as I did.




Chapters

Favorite quotes

  • "Non-linear is a [good word to describe the creative] process. John Berger wrote that It's like digging a tunnel in search of light, you don't know how [the work] is going to turn out at the end, but you go forth. It's like a struggle."
  • "Nuccio Ordine wrote The Usefulness of The Useless. You have a background with images and textures that apparently are not related to each other, but suddenly there's a spark and you connect things."
  • "If you see the tiny dot we are in the middle of the universe, it makes you feel more relaxed about what you do and who you are."
  • "We are a social animal. It's incredible when you perceive a smile directed at you by, perhaps, someone at a store or something. It can change your whole afternoon."
  • "Trust your eyes and not what you have in mind. Be free. [Have a clean] look into things so that they don't condition your sight, your perception of things."
  • "The possibility of being in contact with someone on the other side of the world, just in this exact moment, is a miracle."
  • "Hunting is [having] a plan to discover things. I prefer fishing, [where] you just throw the net [and] something will come up. I think [this is how] I do things."
  • "When you sketch you understand what other sketchers did. […] What decisions they made, where they cheated. But they cheated to tell the truth. It's [a] contradiction. Sometimes you have to [cheat] to be honest."

Books

Links

Sketchbook tools

People mentioned

Detailed chapters

  • 00:25 · What do you try to convey with your work?
  • 01:54 · Writing by hand compared to typing.
  • 04:21 · The process is non-linear.
  • 05:32 · It's a blank space.
  • 07:26 · How do you manage to stay happy knowing you may not be progressing in some areas?
  • 08:20 · How do you define where being a writer, sketcher, and teacher draw their lines?
  • 11:18 · Do you seek out other experiences you can relate your field to?
  • 11:53 · What's is one of the projects you have enjoyed the most?
  • 13:27 · Did you ever imagine you would ever be where you are in architecture?
  • 14:24 · How do you define yourself?
  • 16:08 · How did you start sketching and what is Urban Sketchers?
  • 17:55 · How did you get introduced to Urban Sketchers?
  • 20:25 · What is the importance of sketching in the actual place?
  • 22:01 · What do you do differently sketching at home versus sketching on the street?
  • 23:48 · When did you start drawing and when did you start sketching?
  • 27:33 · Why is it important to carry a sketchbook with you?
  • 29:47 · Can you comment on what it was like to start and how it felt the first time you went out sketching?
  • 30:59 · Where was the first place that you went sketching?
  • 31:23 · Do you have somewhere you would like to go sketching if you could?
  • 32:03 · Who has been somebody you consider influential on the way you sketch?
  • 33:28 · Are there any other people that left a mark on you?
  • 34:18 · Would you highlight one aspect of sketching you really enjoy?
  • 34:46 · Does the sketchbook help you understand things about the city?
  • 37:37 · How do deadlines change your creative process?
  • 41:14 · Can you talk about your writing process?
  • 45:31 · We tend to repeat the same things.
  • 47:57 · How did you publish your first book?
  • 50:04 · How does exhibiting your work feel?
  • 53:18 · What work of yours do you think of as most successful?
  • 54:13 · How does it feel to have a new website?
  • 55:03 · What changed after you were able to publish online?
  • 57:22 · How would you summarize yourself?
  • 58:14 · Where else can you be found?
  • 58:50 · Why did you start teaching?
  • 1:00:07 · What are the hardest things your students have to learn?
  • 1:00:48 · What advice would you get people trying to learn?
  • 1:02:20 · How does being online transform your work?
  • 1:03:30 · What is your relationship with digital technology?
  • 1:04:14 · What piece of software makes your life easier?
  • 1:04:56 · If you could send a message to the world what would it be?
  • 1:06:14 · Is there anything that makes it easier to do your creative work now that you didn't have before?
  • 1:06:37 · What would you do if you didn't really need money?
  • 1:06:53 · What would you stop doing if you had the money?
  • 1:07:30 · Are you comfortable with solitude and boredom?
  • 1:07:56 · Is there any time that you think about death?
  • 1:08:20 · How does thinking about these things inform what you do?
  • 1:08:59 · What do you think distracts you?
  • 1:09:52 · What do you do to disconnect?
  • 1:10:29 · What role does the city play in your daily routine?
  • 1:11:56 · Is there any routine you have for note-taking?
  • 1:13:23 · How do you define success?
  • 1:13:57 · What's your go-to gear for sketching today?
  • 1:14:38 · Sketchbook brands.
  • 1:15:29 · Pens and brush brands.
  • 1:16:02 · Do you write by hand?
  • 1:16:42 · What's next for you?
  • 1:17:28 · What was your thesis?
  • 1:19:00 · How does an architect like you evolve into doing something more interesting and enriching?

Bonus

🧠 Algorithmic Nudges Don’t Have to Be Unethical by Mareike Möhlmann. "Companies are increasingly using algorithms to manage and control individuals not by force, but rather by nudging them into desirable behavior — in other words, learning from their personalized data and altering their choices in some subtle way."

🧘🏻‍♀️ Non—a sound meditation app for iOS.

🎹 Brian Eno’s Music for Anxious Times by Lindsay Zoladz for The New York Times.


Sketch of a bamboo bush.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🕶 Tools: Pen case

✍🏻 Why should you write?

🎋 Clack! Clack! Clack!

🗣 Do you have something to say?

💽 Looping playlists

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-04-28 03:00:00 -0400 Habits — Looping Playlists https://gettingsimple.com/looping-playlists https://gettingsimple.com/looping-playlists

Hi *|NAME|*—

Can you imagine situations in which you may want to play a song over and over and over?

Today, I want to share with you a habit I've been practicing for many years which consists of focusing by listening to the same songs on repeat.




Chapters

  • 0:00 · The compact disc and streaming services
  • 0:56 · The walkman and repeat mode
  • 2:51 · Looping playlists, the practice
  • 8:09 · Repeat one
  • 9:38 · My playlists
  • 10:35 · Focus Zero
  • 11:07 · Focus A
  • 12:14 · Focus B
  • 13:56 · I'd love to hear from you

Bonus

👨🏻‍🏫 How Craving Attention Makes You Less Creative TED Talk by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. "There is no amount of attention you can get where you feel like you've arrived."


Sketch of a set of Bose QC53-II headphones.

Lastly, here are the latest stories from my sketches newsletter.

🏖 Mini-retirements

I'd love to hear from you.

Submit a question about this or any previous episodes.

Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds.

If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps.

]]> Nono Martínez Alonso 2021-03-23 02:00:00 -0400