Is It Possible to Build SAFE Nuclear Reactors? | Matt Loszak, Aalo Atomics
Matt Loszak is building a nuclear reactor factory for a new kind of reactor: one that is almost impossible to melt down.
Nov 24, 2024•52 min•Season 2Ep. 8
First Principles with Christian Keil
On First Principles, Christian Keil, Host and Chief of Staff at Astranis, dives into the heart of innovation, making the complex world of deep tech startups approachable without needing a PhD.
Episodes
The World's Safest Humanoid Robots
1X Technologies is building the world's safest autonomous, humanoid robots. And they want to start selling robots into consumer homes next year . How do you make a robot safe for humans? The answer is complicated — so I went to 1X HQ in Sunnyvale, CA to find out.
Sep 02, 2024•49 min•Season 2Ep. 3
The World's Quietest Electric Engine | Ian Villa, Whisper Aero
Engines are loud — Whisper Aero is changing that.
Aug 29, 2024•55 min•Season 2Ep. 2
How To Build a 1-Terawatt, 600,000 Amp Pulsed Power Generator | JC Btaiche, Fuse Energy
Season 2, Episode 1: JC Btaiche, Fuse Energy ====== Links: ElectroBOOM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PcBgym21TA Fuse's Paper in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-67774-4 Fuse — https://www.f.energy People: JC Btaiche — https://x.com/JCBtaiche10 Christian Keil — https://x.com/pronounced_kyle
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 1
#15: The First Principles Approach to Not Dying | Bryan Johnson
Today’s episode is brought to you by Strata. Modernize your IAM with Identity Orchestration. Visit https://strata.io/firstprinciples to learn more! ====== Episode 15: Bryan Johnson spends $2m/year to not die. But this is more than just a health craze — it’s the birth of a new, secular religious movement. Here’s what Bryan believes. ====== (00:00) - Introduction (01:13) - Zeroth Principles Thinking: Going Beyond First Principles (04:05) - The Journey to "Don't Die": Bryan's Thought Experiments an...
Jun 19, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 15
#14: Quantum Computing Isn’t Dead Yet | César Rodríguez, Commutator Studios
Today’s episode is brought to you by Coda. If you want a platform that empowers your team to collaborate effectively and focus on shared goals, you can get started with Coda today for FREE. Head over to https://coda.io/fp ====== Episode 14: César Rodríguez has dedicated his career to quantum computing. Why? Because they have incredible potential — but that potential has not yet been unlocked. ====== (00:00) - Introduction: Meeting a Quantum Computing Visionary (02:45) - Quantum Computing 101: Ha...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 14
#13: Simon Pickup - Exploring Use Cases for Hydrogen Fuel | Teralta
Today’s episode is brought to you by Strata. Elevate your enterprise identity with Strata today. Visit https://strata.io/firstprinciples to learn more! ====== Episode 13: The most abundant element in the universe also has the highest energy content of any common fuel by mass. Teralta helps industrial buyers get hydrogen when and where they need it. ====== (00:00) - Introduction (01:08) - What Teralta Does: Making Hydrogen Simple for Industrial Customers (03:10) - Why Simon Became Passionate Abou...
Jun 06, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 13
#12: Deep Prasad - How to Build a Physics-Fluent AI System
Brought to you by NordVPN. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/firstprinciples . Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! ====== Episode 12: Discovering new materials is how we unlock new branches of the tech tree. But there is no way for the world’s most powerful AI tools to help us do that discovery – until now. ====== (00:00) - Intro (01:08) - GenMat's Goal: Building an AI System Smarter Than Humans at Physics (02:17) - Why It's Hard for AI to Understand Physics Like ...
May 29, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 12
#11: Aleh Kandrashou & Aleksandr Gampel - Building the Factory that Builds the Homes
Today’s episode is brought to you by Strata. Elevate your enterprise identity with Strata today. Go to https://strata.io/firstprinciples to learn more! ====== Episode 11: Cuby is creating the Factory that builds the Homes. These factories can generate 1 home per day, but instead of building the homes themselves, Cuby works with local operators who produce and sell the pre-fabricated homes. ====== (00:00) - Intro (00:28) - Cuby is Building the Factory That Builds Homes (02:11) - Cuby Builds Bette...
May 22, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 11
#10: Sam D'Amico - How to Boil Water in 40 Seconds (and Revolutionize the Grid)
EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/firstprinciples Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! ====== Episode 10: Impulse Labs has a master plan to revolutionize the grid by building the world’s highest-performance home appliances. They started with a stove. Here’s how it works. ====== (00:00) - Introduction (00:40) - What Impulse is Building - High Performance Home Appliances (01:40) - The Performance Difference Between Impulse's Stoves and Gas/Normal Induction (03:24) - ...
May 15, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 10
#9: Justin Lopas - Introducing the Next-Gen Home Battery
Today’s sponsor: If you want a platform that empowers your team to collaborate effectively and focus on shared goals, you can get started with Coda today for FREE. Head over to https://Coda.io/fp ====== Episode 9: Justin worked at SpaceX and Anduril before starting Base Power, which is aiming to build a modern power company — and an energy trading business on top of it. ====== (00:00) - Intro (00:41) - What Base Power is Building (03:26) - How Texas' Energy Grid and Market Works (08:42) - Sponso...
May 07, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 9
#8: Ben Nowack - Selling Sunlight to Solar Farms After Dark
Episode 8: Ben Nowack built a fusion reactor in high school. Now he’s building huge mirrors in space that reflect sunlight onto solar farms at night. ====== (00:00) - Intro (00:39) - What Reflect Orbital is Building (02:30) - How the Satellite Mirrors Work (06:16) - Deploying the Mirrors in Space (10:14) - Mirror Size Considerations (13:51) - Dealing with Space Debris and Micrometeorites (17:07) - Early Demonstrations with High Altitude Balloons (23:11) - Advantages over Other Space Solar Concep...
May 02, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 8
#7: Nato Saichek - Shooting Satellites Into Orbit at Hypersonic Speeds
Nato decided against building a laser-powered rocket in favor of Longshot Space: a gun powered by pressurized air that can shoot payloads into orbit. ====== (00:00) - Intro (00:42) - Nato's Early Idea for a Laser Rocket at Astranis (02:30) - Nato Initially Being Skeptical of Longshot's Gun Idea (04:02) - Writing a Simulation that Showed a 4km Gun Could Reach Orbit (05:43) - Deciding to Join Longshot Full-Time after an SBIR Grant (07:22) - What Longshot is Building - A Massive Gun to Launch Paylo...
Apr 17, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 7
#6: Danielle Fong - An Engine Powered By Light
Sponsor: Remove your personal information from the web at JoinDeleteMe.com/FP20 and use code FP20 for 20% off DeleteMe international Plans: https://international.joindeleteme.com ====== Episode 6: When heated, sodium emits energy via visible light at 2.1eV (or 589 nm wavelength). So, if you make an engine that heats up sodium, you can tune a solar cell to exactly that frequency and capture light efficiently — giving you the portability of a battery with the energy density of hydrocarbons. ======...
Apr 03, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 6
#5: Garrett McCurrach - Underground Hyperlogistics Delivery Drones
Episode 5: Garrett wants to deliver any good in under ten minutes, for under a quarter, using drones that burrow underground. ====== (00:00) - Intro (00:50) - What Pipedream is Building (02:17) - Garrett's Background and Learning to Build Businesses (04:02) - How Pipedream Moves Things Efficiently in Cities (07:07) - Why Pneumatic Tubes are Not the Solution (10:08) - How Pipedream's System Works with Robots, Rails, and Totes (13:20) - Designing the Track to Handle Curves and Turns (17:27) - Pipe...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 5
#4: Augustus Doricko - Weather-Modification Drones Are Coming Soon
Sponsor: Remove your personal information from the web at JoinDeleteMe.com/FP20 and use code FP20 for 20% off DeleteMe international Plans: https://international.joindeleteme.com ====== Episode 4: Augustus Doricko isn’t trying to play God with his weather-modification company, Rainmaker, but he does admit that quelling hurricanes or creating atmospheric rivers would be pretty based. By using cheap drones to disperse ice nucleation agents, Augustus will literally make it rain — and save the Ameri...
Mar 20, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 4
#3: Extropic - Why Thermodynamic Computing is the Future of AI (PUBLIC DEBUT)
Episode 3: Extropic is building a new kind of computer – not classical bits, nor quantum qubits, but a secret, more complex third thing. They call it a Thermodynamic Computer, and it might be many orders of magnitude more powerful than even the most powerful supercomputers today. Check out their “litepaper” to learn more: https://www.extropic.ai/future . ====== (00:00) - Intro (00:41) - Guillaume's Background (02:40) - Trevor's Background (04:02) - What is Extropic Building? High-Level Explanati...
Mar 12, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 3
#2: Casey Handmer - Pulling Methane From Thin Air (Terraform Industries)
Sponsor: Remove your personal information from the web at JoinDeleteMe.com/FP20 and use code FP20 for 20% off DeleteMe international Plans: https://international.joindeleteme.com ====== Episode 2: Casey Handmer, the polymath founder and CEO of Terraform Industries, explains the first principles behind his idea to synthesize hydrocarbons (starting with natural gas, or methane) from the atmosphere. ====== (00:00) - Intro (00:56) - What Terraform Industries is Building (02:00) - Casey's Background ...
Mar 06, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 2
#1: Ian Brooke – Electric Adaptive Jet Engines (Astro Mechanica)
Sponsor: Secure by Design - http://tinyurl.com/5ds2pyjv ====== [Series Premiere] Founder Ian Brooke gives his first public interview to talk about Astro Mechanica, a new startup building electric-adaptive jet engines. And, possibly, the world’s fastest plane. And the cheapest way to orbit. (It’s an ambitious startup idea.) ====== (00:00) - Intro (01:27) - What Astro Mechanica is Building (05:50) - Jets vs. Rockets (12:07) - How to Generate Thrust (15:07) - Engineering Challenges for Traditional ...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 1
#0: Welcome to First Principles
Episode 0: On First Principles, Christian Keil ( https://twitter.com/pronounced_kyle ), Host and Chief of Staff at Astranis, dives into the complex world of deep tech startups — and hopes to make them approachable, and PhD-optional. ====== Production and marketing by The Deep View ( https://thedeepview.co ). For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected]...
Feb 27, 2024•1 min
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