Core Memory

• The History And Future Of Brain Implants

  Into the brain we go.Sumner Norman, the co-founder and CEO of Forest Neurotech, comes on the show to take us on a journey across the history and future of brain implants. We start with the first experiments prodding the body and mind with electricity and end up in mind uploading land. Along the way, we cover many of the major brain-computer interface technologies and advances.Norman has a unique perspective in this field. He’s a mechanical engineer by training but can talk neuroscience with the best of them. I’ve always found him to be realistic and fair with his assessment of various brain-computer interface approaches.Forest Neurotech makes a brain implant that uses ultrasound to analyze the mind. The company argues that its approach allows it to see more of what’s happening in a brain than electrode-based implants - from Neuralink, Synchron, et al. - that can only probe the small areas where they sit next to neurons. It has been running trials with its implant in a bid to help doctors and patients better understand the nature of mental disorders.In a fascinating turn, Forest has started to detect "covert consciousness" in comatose patients who are otherwise completely unresponsive. The people appear to be able to hear and interpret what is being said around them. This is both comforting and not.The ultrasound approach that Forest helped pioneer is now starting to look like a thing with other start-ups using similar techniques.Beyond Forest, we get into the economics of the BCI industry, its promises and limitations and, of course, cover much sci-fi ground.Enjoy!The Core Memory podcast is sponsored by Brex, the intelligent finance platform. Like thousands of ambitious, innovative companies, we run on Brex so we can spend smarter and move faster. And you can too. Learn more at www.brex.com/corememoryThe podcast is also made possible by E1 Ventures, which backs the most ambitious founders and start-ups. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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• The Ultimate Bryan Johnson Interview

  Well, here we go. Bryan Johnson has come to the pod.You have likely heard an interview with Johnson before, since he’s become such an object of love, hate and fascination among the media over the past couple of years. That said, you will not have heard an interview like this with Johnson.I was covering Johnson’s exploits in the brain-computer-interface and health fields in-depth before anyone else. Back then, my editors and others often seemed to think too much ink was being spilled on the man. But, in January of 2023, I wrote the story that turned Johnson into an overnight sensation, and, well, people just could not get enough Johnson after that.Alongside the director Chris Smith, I also made the film Don’t Die on Johnson and his longevity pursuits for Netflix.Over the course of reporting on Johnson for so long and doing the film, I’ve gotten to know our world-famous vampire quite well. So, we tried to go in some more personal directions - erections, cults, smoking toads - with this interview and to chart Johnson’s evolution from someone Silicon Valley shunned to resident longevity guru and blossoming cult leader for some futuristic religion. Johnson also speaks at length for the first time about his decision to pull away from the Blueprint business and his struggles to figure out what’s next for his Don’t Die movement.Enjoy!The Core Memory podcast is sponsored by Brex, the intelligent finance platform. Like thousands of ambitious, innovative companies, we run on Brex so we can spend smarter and move faster. And you can too. Learn more at www.brex.com/corememoryThe podcast is also made possible by E1 Ventures, which backs the most ambitious founders and start-ups. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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• How North Korea Infiltrated American Companies With Fake Tech Workers

  For the past few months, The Wall Street Journal’s Bob McMillan has been writing a series of stories on fake North Korean workers who have infiltrated American companies. In this episode, we break the whole situation down with McMillan, who is a longtime friend and a top-notch security reporter.The short of the tale is this: North Koreans hop on LinkedIn and other job sites and pose as American remote workers looking for gigs. Once they get hired, the North Koreans then recruit Americans to help them deal with some of the job mechanics like submitting tax paperwork and running company laptops from inside the US.McMillan has found some Americans who are managing dozens of laptops at their homes on behalf of these North Korean workers. Each morning, the American patsy wakes up, turns the laptops on, and then logs their North Korean workers into their jobs. It’s a practice now known at laptop farming.The North Koreans tend to be pretty good workers! That is until they start siphoning off money and intellectual property for the Great Leader.Last month, Arizona resident Christina Marie Chapman pled guilty to wire fraud and other crimes linked to this scheme. Per the Department of Justice, Chapman “was sentenced today to 102 months in prison for her role in a fraudulent scheme that assisted North Korean Information Technology (IT) workers posing as U.S. citizens and residents with obtaining remote IT positions at more than 300 U.S. companies. The scheme generated more than $17 million in illicit revenue for Chapman and for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea).”All told, the DoJ reckons North Korea has pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars from its network of laptop farmers. McMillan writes about it all here. If you’re an employer on the lookout for one of these fake remote workers, you’ll want to scan for Kevins in your organization who are really into the Minions. We explain in the episode - promise. Enjoy!The Core Memory podcast is made possible by the genius investors at E1 Ventures. We’re not sure if E1 is into the Minions or not, but they are into investing in great companies. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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• The Company Putting A Score On Your Life

  We are awash in longevity tests and services. There are ones that measure your blood, others that measure the quality of your DNA and others that check on your gut and brain. You can Blueprint, Viome, Function Health and on and on.To figure out how at least one of these longevity programs actually works, we decided to have Dugal Bain-Kim from Lifeforce on the pod.As you will notice, the dude is jacked and does indeed seem quite healthy.Lifeforce provides - for a montly fee - a lot of what a decent national healthcare system might do in a different universe. It sends a phlebotomist to your home to take a blood draw and performs a wide range of tests on the sample. It then puts you in touch with a medical team for some health counseling and tries to identify areas that will help you become a better you.Instead of doing this once, you repeat the cycle every three months and try to push what the company calls your Lifescore ever higher.Bain-Kim is not a doctor and comes from the business world, and two of Lifeforce’s co-founders are Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis. Robbins obviously has a reputation as a self-improvement guru, and some of Diamandis’s ventures center on selling optimism. The company also offers supplements and other products. This combination of things will put some people off.That said, Lifeforce also has a deep medical bench, and there’s real – and ever-improving - science backing up its measurements and therapies.I’m broadly excited for services like Lifeforce but also fearful that consumers have little means of judging these various programs and separating the good stuff from the snake oil.We touch on all of these issues and much more in the show. Have a listen and judge for yourself.This podcast is made with support from the fine people at E1 Ventures. Your company will almost certainly live longer with E1 Ventures on your cap table. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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• The Forrest Gump of Silicon Valley

  This week’s guest is Leslie Berlin, the author, historian and executive director of the Steve Jobs Archive.My first encounter with Berlin’s work happened when I picked up The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley, which is Berlin’s biography of the Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel co-founder. Noyce, of course, was many things. He co-invented the integrated circuit and reshaped the trajectory of the world in the process. He ran one of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies. He mentored people like Steve Jobs. And he was the Valley’s first real engineer playboy star.Berlin’s book is one of my all-time favorite reads and a wonderful example of what a biography can be. Berlin, of course, is many things as well. She’s been one of the most influential historians when it comes to Silicon Valley and the technology industry. She used to run Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford University, and now heads up the Steve Jobs Archive. Berlin is also the author of another tremendous book - Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age, which chronicles the work of several people who had distinctive roles across the tech industry.In this chat, we get into Noyce’s life and what he meant to Silicon Valley, the semiconductor industry, the fall of Intel, the Valley’s history overall and Berlin’s current work.There’s basically no one I would rather talk to, and we’re thrilled that Berlin joined the pod.Huge thanks to everyone who has been supporting the Core Memory podcast. It’s been surging up the charts of late. We’re grateful. Don’t be shy. Tell your friends.A huge thanks, as always, as well to E1 Ventures for they are noble venture capitalists who have great taste and have backed us from the start. Follow them on X. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.corememory.com/subscribe

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