Advertise on podcast: Peak Salvation

Joaquin Quiñonero Candela has led AI initiatives at OpenAI, Meta, and LinkedIn. But one thing you might not know about Joaquin is his deep expertise in making paella.00:00 Intro 00:40 Transition from Theory to Practice 04:18 Ethical Challenges and Societal Impacts 14:23 Recruiting at OpenAI 17:23 The Art of Making Paella 43:22 Paella Equipment and Cooking Setup

Ashok Kuppusamy was a Corporate Vice President at Microsoft with decades of experience, including being Bill Gates's technical assistant. In this interview he shares his insights from his 29 years, along with some unexpected thoughts about Debbie Gibson.00:00 Intro 00:56 Early Days at Microsoft 02:46 Inside Bill Gates's Office 04:37 Leadership and Management Style 10:32 AI in the Workplace 15:14 Executive Isolation and Networks 16:50 Living and Parenting in Norway 22:42 Reflections on Career and Youth 25:57 Pop Fandom and Life Lessons

I'm launching a new podcast, Hidden Track, which is all about the lesser-known side interests of famous people. Please share and subscribe! Making things cheap is the best way to get climate solutions to scale. Mike Schroepfer shares the reason for his optimism behind solving key climate challenges through enabling technology that scales in the physical economy. 00:00 Intro 01:58 Early Facebook, Sun Microsystems, and Firefox 06:45 Facebook's change to mobile and Sun's innovator's dilemma 08:07 Going from Firefox/Mozilla to Facebook 12:13 Founding Gigascale Capital 16:10 Reason for optimism about our future 22:03 Exciting projects at Gigascale 26:05 People need to see things to believe 28:50 Biggest levers to positively impact climate 32:15 Cow burps — 6% of carbon emissions 37:20 Political involvement vs. high-impact career choices 39:02 Offshore datacenters in the ocean 41:17 What is Gigascale's value-add? 44:50 Is it lonely at the top? 49:31 Advice for college students 52:31 How Schrep changed Philip's life Learn more about Gigascale Capital: https://gigascale.com/

On his first anniversary of working peak season at Amazon, Philip reflects on life after Peak, and on the career decisions he's made in the months hence.  Full transcript at https://peaksalvation.com/where-are-they-now. If you'd like to try The Program (audio series) podcast, a high-quality fiction production exploring future technical dystopias, please check it out. My favorite episode is this one: https://programaudioseries.com/11-motherboard/. Thank you all for your continued support! Please write me at [email protected], and rate Peak Salvation on iTunes and Spotify. I'd love to hear from you.

It's the end of Philip's time at Amazon. The warehouse, BFI4, celebrates Christmas with a free lunch, and Philip gets, at last, to enter Bezos's Balls.

Philip is encouraged when meeting an associate who also joined Amazon in order to combat depression. He reflects on the benefits of his journey thus far, and encounters an incredibly rare event that's full of wonder. Full transcript: https://peaksalvation.com/the-major-lift

The tendinitis plaguing Philip reaches fever pitch, forcing him to navigate the labyrinthine process of getting a medical accommodation from Amazon. The whole process proves farcical, calling into question whether the system works at all. Full transcript: https://peaksalvation.com/gonna-make-you-sweat

Philip is invited to a private event at the Space Needle where only multimillionaires are allowed. Such things apparently do exist — and they're as surreal as they sound. Full transcript: https://peaksalvation.com/socioeconomic-bends

The tide of basal talent required to participate in our winner-take-all economy is rising beyond the capabilities of many. Computers used to serve our needs; we now increasingly serve robot overlords. What will happen to skilled labor in this future? Full transcript: https://peaksalvation.com/thank-you-very-much-mr-roboto.

Philip spends all the money he makes in a day during that same day, and finds it doesn't last long at all. Turns out there are tons of surprising ways to make money once you already have some. It's not a zero sum game; we can all be better off. Full transcript at https://peaksalvation.com/chasing-that-paper.

All sorts of shirking happen inside an Amazon warehouse, including impromptu basketball games tossing customer packages. But there are also associates who inspire, with their dedication and drive. Finally, the entire warehouse system goes down for eight hours, giving Philip the time to learn about parts of the warehouse he'd otherwise never be able to. Full transcript: https://peaksalvation.com/mother-brain

Philip survives Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but his eleven-hour shifts with overtime begin to cause injuries to his hands. He contrasts the job with white-collar work, and the tradeoffs aren't at all clear.

The long-awaited Peak season begins, with Amazon giving all warehouse associates a Costco pumpkin pie worth $5.99. Philip recounts two below-minimum-wage jobs he's held and the odd management strategies used at Amazon. Eleven hours a day, five hours a week, are now required of all workers. There's also a bit about Georgian economics, and a tax that many economists call "the perfect tax."

Philip begins to get the hang of various warehouse jobs and is confronted with associates' different approaches to the work. He questions the consequence of ways performance is measured. Full transcript at https://peaksalvation.com/you-get-what-you-measure

Philip experiences his first full day of the real job, getting a feel for not only the job but the characters within. Full transcript at https://peaksalvation.com/day-two.