https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-guest--7322571
History Guest is trying to use AI for what it's actually good at: No dry (probably wrong) facts and figures, just a personal story told by some of the most important figures in history, or at least a passing simulacrum of them.

They're a bit soupy in places, but I built a pretty complex system for prompting and custom ablater to strip AI-like repetition/nonsense run-ons, and designed around understanding the emotional reality of our guests. I wanted to know if AI can make literally anything that isn't slop; I think these came out pretty well, and my faves are Machiavelli and Mary Anning. I was impressed how many guests have something genuinely interesting to say about their experience, and occasionally about our modern world too.]]>enHistoryCopyright Bobhttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/2afc2c8d1c1976ca68a5598d018f8f1d.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-guest--7322571Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:31:25 +0000BobBobpodcasts@bobbigmac.comMaking History Personal History Guest is trying to use AI for what it's actually good at: No dry (probably wrong) facts and figures, just a personal story told by some of the most important figures in history, or at least a passing simulacrum of...
History Guest is trying to use AI for what it's actually good at: No dry (probably wrong) facts and figures, just a personal story told by some of the most important figures in history, or at least a passing simulacrum of them.

They're a bit soupy in places, but I built a pretty complex system for prompting and custom ablater to strip AI-like repetition/nonsense run-ons, and designed around understanding the emotional reality of our guests. I wanted to know if AI can make literally anything that isn't slop; I think these came out pretty well, and my faves are Machiavelli and Mary Anning. I was impressed how many guests have something genuinely interesting to say about their experience, and occasionally about our modern world too.]]>false3fd07b32-af39-5ef3-83d9-28b0232d5a52trueepisodichttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiZxpH0D1Ew
Then 1919 happens. An eclipse. Suddenly he's famous, and the symbol eats the person. He describes developing a "thinking face" to survive bakeries, the hair becoming a trap he couldn't cut without causing a fuss, and the violin as the one place the symbol couldn't follow. The conversation turns to the crisis of celebrity science - influencers chosen for being watchable, not for being right - and then to 1933: watching from Belgium as Germany burned his books, the survivor's guilt, signing affidavits he knew wouldn't be enough. It builds to the Roosevelt letter - the one Szilard brought to his sailboat - and the regret he carried for the rest of his life, caught between two regrets with no way to tell which is worse. It ends on Mercer Street, on cracks in the pavement, on the small rituals that hold a day together when the big picture is chaos.

Making history personal. One guest at a time.


This episode includes AI-generated content.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74980780Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:30:02 +0000trueBobBefore the hair, the equation, and the magazine covers, Einstein was a patent clerk in Bern grading gravel sorters and tobacco humidifiers - and quietly dismantling absolute time between applications. He talks to Alex and Rae about the supervisor who...
Then 1919 happens. An eclipse. Suddenly he's famous, and the symbol eats the person. He describes developing a "thinking face" to survive bakeries, the hair becoming a trap he couldn't cut without causing a fuss, and the violin as the one place the symbol couldn't follow. The conversation turns to the crisis of celebrity science - influencers chosen for being watchable, not for being right - and then to 1933: watching from Belgium as Germany burned his books, the survivor's guilt, signing affidavits he knew wouldn't be enough. It builds to the Roosevelt letter - the one Szilard brought to his sailboat - and the regret he carried for the rest of his life, caught between two regrets with no way to tell which is worse. It ends on Mercer Street, on cracks in the pavement, on the small rituals that hold a day together when the big picture is chaos.

Making history personal. One guest at a time.


This episode includes AI-generated content.]]>3659albert,biography,einstein,fame,history,interview,letter,manhattan,office,patent,physics,project,relativity,roosevelt,sciencefalse11full