Racket News podcast

1:14:43

Artificial intelligence is evolving at an unprecedented pace—what does that mean for the future of technology, venture capital, business, and even our understanding of ourselves? Award-winning journalist and writer Anil Ananthaswamy joins us for our latest episode to discuss his latest book Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI . Anil helps us explore the journey and many breakthroughs that have propelled machine learning from simple perceptrons to the sophisticated algorithms shaping today’s AI revolution, powering GPT and other models. The discussion aims to demystify some of the underlying mathematical concepts that power modern machine learning, to help everyone grasp this technology impacting our lives–even if your last math class was in high school. Anil walks us through the power of scaling laws, the shift from training to inference optimization, and the debate among AI’s pioneers about the road to AGI—should we be concerned, or are we still missing key pieces of the puzzle? The conversation also delves into AI’s philosophical implications—could understanding how machines learn help us better understand ourselves? And what challenges remain before AI systems can truly operate with agency? If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits. Links: Read Why Machines Learn, Anil’s latest book on the math behind AI https://www.amazon.com/Why-Machines-Learn-Elegant-Behind/dp/0593185749 Learn more about Anil Ananthaswamy’s work and writing https://anilananthaswamy.com/ Watch Anil Ananthaswamy’s TED Talk on AI and intelligence https://www.ted.com/speakers/anil_ananthaswamy Discover the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship that shaped Anil’s AI research https://ksj.mit.edu/ Understand the Perceptron, the foundation of neural networks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptron Read about the Perceptron Convergence Theorem and its significance https://www.nature.com/articles/323533a0…

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News and features by best-selling author and reporter Matt Taibbi, in an independent package molded after I.F. Stone's Weekly. The site contains investigative journalism, satirical commentary, and the America This Week podcast with novelist Walter Kirn.

31 episodes

Racket News

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updated 3 days ago

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31 episodes

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1
America This Week, Mar 7, 2025: "The Return of Germans"

3 days ago

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Link Here: Listen to subscriber-only audio in your podcast app Share the Free Previews of America This Week: Watch ATW on YouTube below: Read more

1
Activism, Uncensored: President Trump's Address to Congress

4 days ago

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We’ve devolved a long way since Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina infamously (or famously, depending on your point of view) heckled President Obama in 2009 with a shout of “You lie!” as he addressed a joint session of Congress. It was shocking. The Associated Press called it “an extraordinary breach of congressional decorum .” Wilson quickly apologized . Fast forward to Wednesday night. Wilson’s antics are nothing compared to what we saw from cane-waving Democratic Congressman Al Green of Texas as he disputed Trump’s contention that he has a mandate. Green’s performance makes me want to tell Wilson, “Bless your heart. You tried.” Green caused a roughly 3-minute delay—although the Republican chants of USA! USA! USA! to drown him out contributed to that. The Sergeant at Arms escorted Green out of the chamber, but not before Vice President JD Vance gave the heave-ho sign to throw him out by jerking his thumb behind his shoulder. Then there were the Democrats standing and holding signs like “False” and “Musk Steals” as Trump spoke. It was quite the resistance. And, perhaps as President Trump would say, it made for good television. But outside, as this News2Share video from Ford Fischer shows, there was a stronger message from activists than what we’ve become accustomed to the last few years. Sure, activists had some crass language—as any good protest does—but they weren’t annoying and getting in the way of others with absurd gimmicks like holding up traffic. In other words, they weren’t being assholes. It was organized opposition. Any American ought to love our right to do that. Racket News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.…

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Listen to This Article - Farewell to Volodymyr Zelensky, the GEICO Lizard of the New World Order

4 days ago

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Thanking God that the era of mandatory applause for neoliberal mascots is finally over. Can Greta Thunberg come to the White House next? Text published 03/03/25: Narrated by Jared Moore Art by Daniel Medina Read more

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America This Week, Feb 28, 2025: "America Breaks from Europe"

10 days ago