X, the moonshot factory 48d ago

This episode of The Moonshot Podcast explores what the mind can teach us about technology—and what technology can teach us about the mind. Astro Teller first sits down with Sarah Laszlo from Valkyrie, a never-before-shared project that explored new ways to build energy-efficient AI models by studying the formation of biological brains like the fruit fly’s. He then chats with Obi Felten from Project Amber, a mental health moonshot that aimed to design an affordable EEG device that could detect and measure conditions like anxiety and depression. 0:00 - Intro 01:19 - Inside Project Valkyrie with Sarah Laszlo 03:30 - Mapping a fruit fly’s brain in 3D 05:21 - Project Valkyrie’s moonshot 06:44 - How biological brains could inspire foundation models 09:25 - The Valkyrie team’s first explorations 11:20 - Translating a fruit fly’s brain into a flying model for Wing 14:11 - Reservoir Computing explained simply 15:47 - From insect brains to agriculture 17:36 - Why Valkyrie hit a roadblock 20:37 - How Sarah wound down Valkyrie 22:32 - Up close with a 3D-printed fruit fly neuron 24:40 - Bringing “unbridled joy” to moonshot-taking 27:58 - Inside Project Amber with Obi Felten 29:10 - Why mental health needs a moonshot 32:11 - The "What-If": Can you actually measure depression? 34:49 - The challenges of mental health measurement 36:17 - Other Amber explorations 39:39 - A look at Amber’s original prototypes 46:50 - The "Kill Criteria." Knowing when to walk away 50:33 - Sharing Amber’s findings with the world 52:56 - Flourish Labs: Obi’s next chapter 54:45 - Obi’s early memories from X 57:44 - Final thoughts – Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with creators and inventors trying to find radical solutions and breakthrough technologies to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories of innovation from 16 years of Alphabet’s moonshot factory. The Moonshot Podcast is a Pique Action production for X, The Moonshot Factory, produced in association with Blanchard House. If you want to take your own moonshots, we've developed a certificate course with MasterClass on how to take bold ideas and translate them into real world impact. Check it out here: https://www.masterclass.com/certificates/breakthrough-innovation-strategy-from-bold-idea-to-business-impact