Free Daily Podcast Summary
Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Andrew Winkler
I’m Andrew Winkler, a former Stanford and Columbia math professor. We’ll explore the most interesting insights I’ve come across, ranging across the mental landscape: math, science, personality, how we think and feel, and how we love or feel unloved. We’ll give answers to all the most confusing questions everyone has, have new books and authors, and reach new understandings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 1 weeks ago10 min
AI Math Tutoring That Won’t Do Your Homework, Plus an App That Maps Your Muscles
I’ve been building apps with AI programming tools, and I’ve seen them do some remarkably clever things and some remarkably stupid ones. In this episode I talk about two of the projects. The first is a math tutoring app. You take a picture of your homework page and tell it which exercise you’re stuck on. It reads the nearby problems too, so it understands what you’re being taught. It won’t solve the problem for you. It gives you similar problems and walks you through them, then goes looking for the shaky piece from last month or last year that’s making everything else fall apart. Math is a house of cards, and that missing foundation is usually what trips people up. I was a math professor at Columbia and Stanford, and even I hit a point where I had to stop sailing through and dig in.The second project is Muscle Map, an app where you pick a specific muscle and find out what will strengthen it, and where you’ll start to hurt if you neglect it. I’m working on it with KK, who I met when she was about 10. She floundered at softball, found volleyball, and became a setter so good that she played on a college scholarship and then professionally in Iceland and France. Today she’s a doctor of physical therapy who works with neurological conditions. Her mantra, “movement is medicine,” has changed how I handle my own aches and pains. All of my apps are free right now, and I’d love your feedback. Complain loudly if something isn’t working the way it should.In this episode you will learn: How my AI tutoring app turns a photo of your homework into guided practice, without doing the work for you Why math is a house of cards, and how the app finds the foundation you missed What Muscle Map shows about building a muscle and where weakness will cause pain KK’s path from struggling at softball to pro volleyball and then physical therapy, plus why “movement is medicine” Where to find my free apps, and how early adopters get grandfathered inLet’s connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- 3 weeks ago15 min
Building with AI: Hackathon Apps, Games, and Lessons from an "Army of Interns"
I'm sharing what I've been building with artificial intelligence tools, starting with why I began: when you have something you know people need, you have a moral obligation to do everything you can to make sure they get it. That conviction took me from writing my book to building software. After a few days in Las Vegas at a hackathon, I now have a new set of free apps to share. They include my first games, Angry Cats (complete with an Angry Kittens mode) and a cooperative, multiplayer twist on Pong. I also built a tool that helps you find your dominant and gesture cognitive functions, and those of someone you love, so you can show love in a way they'll actually feel. Another app connects the muscles in your body to the exercises that strengthen them and to the pain you're likely to feel if you neglect them.Tune in and listen as I explain why working with AI is like managing a team of brilliant, tireless interns with no common sense, no judgment, and a short-term memory problem. I walk through a real-world example from trying to share a five-minute iPhone video for the Hertz Foundation's visit to BYU, where I studied math and physics after starting college at 15. Something that should have been simple turned into a lesson in file storage, video formats, and why AI tools don't know what they know. Whether you're curious about AI-assisted development or just want to try some fun, useful apps, this episode offers practical insight into what these tools can and can't do.In this episode you will learn: If you have something people need, you're morally obligated to help them access it AI tools are like brilliant, energetic interns with no judgment or self-awareness Angry Cats and a cooperative Pong where teams steer one paddle together An app that maps weak muscles to the pain they'll likely cause later AI can explain why an answer is right, but never finds it on its ownLet’s connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Sep 24, 20266 min
Episode 53: CardSmart: The Free App That Finds Your Best Credit Card and Pays You to Share It
I've been experimenting with AI tools lately, and my newest project came out of that: CardSmart, a free app that solves a problem I kept running into myself. Credit cards pay you back differently depending on where you shop, and keeping track of which card wins where, especially with rotating categories and payout caps, is more than anyone should have to manage in their head. CardSmart uses your phone's location, which never leaves your device, to tell you which of your cards earns the most wherever you are, or which card you don't have yet would do better.There's also a referral layer built in. Most credit card companies pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars when someone you refer gets approved, so CardSmart lets you enter your affiliate codes and share your card link automatically when it recommends that card to someone else. I don't make money on this myself; I use the app exactly like anyone else. I built it this way because I want people to have a real reason to share it, since it means their friends and family get the same savings too.In this episode you will learn: Why I built CardSmart and the philosophy behind making apps I wish existed How CardSmart uses your phone's location to find the best card for wherever you're shopping, and why rotating categories and payout caps make this hard to track on your own How the referral bonus feature works: entering your affiliate ID lets the app share your card link and earn you money when others sign up My real motivation for the referral feature, and why I want you to spread the word Why I'd rather you complain loudly about bugs than stay quietLet’s connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Sep 10, 202622 min
Why AI Creates a Monopoly, Not a Democracy: Runaway Growth and Pandemic Lessons
I've been thinking a lot lately about AI, a subject I explored back in grad school and postdoc. In this episode, I walk through a hackathon project to democratize AI by distributing neural network training across home computers. I explain why it failed: first the obvious reason, a bad actor can silently poison a distributed model, then a subtler one rooted in the physics of computation. I break down how neural networks work, why a single nonlinearity lets them approximate almost anything, and why these models need the low latency bandwidth only a data center can provide.From there I connect to something bigger: why AI is destined to concentrate power into a few organizations, and why that oligopoly could tip into an outright monopoly. I use the mathematics of pandemic spread to show how a tiny edge in AI self improvement compounds into a runaway advantage, and I compare it to UK land ownership to explain what it means to be a rent seeker over an entire economy. I close with why every business is now a software business, why AI generated code brings new unintended behavior, and why we need to stay engaged rather than assume it's someone else's problem.In this episode you will learn: The hackathon idea that started this, distributing AI training across home computers so everyone could have a stake, and why it failed, starting with undetectable poisoning by bad actors. How neural networks work, from linear functions in algebra to the single nonlinearity that lets them approximate virtually any function. The matrix computations and graphics chips these models need, and why low latency communication means the work must happen inside one data center, not distributed machines. Why AI is destined to be an oligopoly controlled by a handful of corporations and nation states, and how AI improving AI can turn a breakout model into a runaway one. The mathematics of pandemic spread, the replication number separating exponential growth from decline, and how a small edge in AI self improvement compounds into an overwhelming advantage. The idea of a rent seeker, illustrated through UK land ownership dating back nearly a thousand years, and how a runaway AI could end up in a similar position over the global economy. Dan Kennedy's insight that whoever can spend the most to acquire a customer wins, and why that means every business is now a software business built on AI. The unintended behaviors in AI generated software, and why engaging with these risks now matters more than treating them as a distant problem.Let’s connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Aug 27, 202611 min
From Child Prodigy to Language Obsessive: How Literature Shapes Theory of Mind
I'm taking you through my own origin story this episode, from getting swept into a Johns Hopkins study on intellectual talent as a sixth grader to skipping straight into college at fifteen. I share how that unusual path, being identified as gifted, accelerated through school, and landing in a college honors program that clashed with my own academic ambitions, shaped the way I think about learning today. Along the way I talk about my late AP English teacher Adrian Morris, and how I completely missed the point of literature even while being taught by the best.That early misstep, wanting to read everything in its original language rather than in translation, ended up defining my life's work. I explain why I built reader.winklers.us, my free computer assisted reading tool with over a hundred classic texts, and why I deliberately left out syntax support so readers still get the meditative wrestling that makes literature transformative. I also dig into the psychology behind why this matters: how literature builds theory of mind, how naming our emotions helps us process implicit memories, and why untranslatable words like Schadenfreude and saudade reveal blind spots in our own emotional vocabulary.In this episode you will learn: How a Johns Hopkins study on intellectual talent led me from taking the SAT in sixth grade to skipping into college at fifteen Why my college honors program wanted humanities depth I didn't have, and how I vastly overestimated my ability to learn languages fast enough to read literature in the original What inspired me to build reader.winklers.us, a free tool that handles the tedious dictionary work while deliberately leaving syntax to the reader for a deeper, more meditative experience How literature builds theory of mind and why that matters for long term relationships, a concept I explore further in my book Love Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love What "name it to tame it" means, and how explicit versus implicit memory processing shapes our emotional coping Why words like Schadenfreude, Waldeinsamkeit, and saudade reveal the blind spots baked into any single language or cultureLet’s connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Aug 13, 202620 min
Why AI Is a Wave You Can Either Surf or Get Crushed By
I open this episode with a story from my childhood: a dam that broke above my uncle's farm, and two California kids who survived the flash flood only because they knew how to surf a wave instead of fighting it. That's exactly how I think about AI right now. It's a massive wave bearing down on all of us, and whether it becomes a wonderful tool or something that crushes us depends entirely on whether we learn to ride it. I walk through what happened when I went from writing off AI-generated code as "laughable" last fall to building real, deployable tools with it today, including the Andrew Winkler Reading Room, a free app that lets you read over a hundred of the world's greatest books in their original languages, from Homer's Greek to modern Japanese.In the second half, I get honest about what it's actually like working with AI day to day. I talk about building "Gentle Reader," a feature that lets language learners dive into real literature with only 70 to 75% vocabulary instead of waiting until they hit 95%, and the surprising detective work it took to get ancient and modern Japanese texts working properly. I also share where AI still struggles: its short-term memory lapses, its tendency to patch symptoms instead of solving root problems, and what my ongoing project to restore Don Quixote from a centuries-old scan taught me about "wisdom of crowds" and a 250-year-old quote from Sir Joshua Reynolds that turned out to apply just as much to machines as it does to us.In this episode you will learn: Why I compare AI to a wave that can either be surfed or can crush you, using a story about a dam breaking above my uncle's farm How the Andrew Winkler Reading Room lets you read the Odyssey and other classics in their original Greek, with every word's form, meaning, and pronunciation just a click away What "Gentle Reader" is and why lowering the vocabulary threshold from 95% to 70-75% makes it possible to start reading real literature much sooner Why I chose books like Wizard of Oz, Aesop's Fables in Chinese, and Nicholas Nickleby in Italian to fill gaps where no natural "great work" existed at the right reading level What made Japanese the hardest language to build, including the challenge of AI handling ancient versus modern Japanese grammar and meaning shifts Why AI models have what I call a "short-term memory slash auditory processing disorder," and how the "Attention Is All You Need" paper changed the game but didn't fully solve it What my Don Quixote restoration project, removing decades of ink bleed and yellowing, then building a font from "wisdom of crowds," taught me about AI's tendency to avoid the real labor of thinkingLet’s connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Jul 23, 202625 min
Why I Built an AI Reading Tool for Ancient Languages (And What Six Months of AI Progress Taught Me)
I'm digging into something that's genuinely changed how I spend my free time: using AI to build the tool I've wished existed for decades, one that helps me read the world's great literature in its original language. I tell the story of a chance dinner with a Hertz Fellow who turned out to be a major figure at Anthropic, and how that connection eventually led me back to a project I'd tried and abandoned before, a computer-assisted reader for Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Six months ago, the AI models I tried couldn't get past writing a single working line of code. This time was different, and I walk through exactly what changed, what these models are actually good at, and where they still fall apart.I also get into the weeds a bit, sharing my process for getting better results out of these tools, why my public writing on Quora turns out to matter, and a wild multi-round debugging session with Gemini that kept insisting it had "finally" found all the bugs. I close with a personal aside into a physics insight I've been chasing since the 1970s, and how an AI helped me push it further, even if I lost most of the conversation to a very avoidable software glitch. Along the way I make my case for why AI right now is best thought of as a tireless, brilliant, but occasionally hallucinating army of interns, not a replacement for human judgment.In this episode you will learn: How a chance dinner with a Hertz Fellow connected to Anthropic changed my skepticism about the current state of AI Why I've always wished a computer could do the tedious lexical lookup work of reading Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts What large language models actually are under the hood, and why they can "spout like an idiot" and "pontificate like a sage" with equal ease The multi-round debugging saga where Gemini kept insisting it had found the last bug, and the last bug, and the last bug What gets lost in translation, using the hidden joke behind Don Quixote's horse Rocinante as an example Inside the Andrew Winkler Reading Room, from the Septuagint to Shakespeare, and why computers and humans make a great reading team My feature requests for Google and Apple after losing valuable AI conversations to a silent clipboard failure Why I think of AI right now as an army of knowledgeable but wisdom-less interns, and what that means for companies rushing to replace workers with it The physics insight I've been sitting on since the 1970s, and how AI helped me extend it into the standard model What was lost when my breakthrough AI conversation on unit-free physics vanished, and why I'm sharing the story anywayLet’s connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Jul 9, 202629 min
Pride and Prejudice, Personality Feedback Loops, and AI-Powered Reading Tools
Today I'm talking about something that's been on my mind as I've been writing Love Quotient: the two feedback loops that quietly corrode almost every relationship we have. I explain how our dominant cognitive function becomes our personal "channel" for expressing and receiving love, and why a mismatch with the people we care about can spiral into the exact same withdrawal on both sides, until the relationship falls apart.From there I dive into Pride and Prejudice, using what I know about personality and temperament to offer a fresh, more sympathetic read on Mr. Bennett and the entailment that hangs over the Bennet family. I also share a personal story about my border collies that mirrors his situation surprisingly well. Then I take a hard turn into artificial intelligence, walking through how I used "vibe coding" to build a free tool that helps you read the world's great literature, in the original Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic, with computer-assisted definitions built right in.In this episode you will learn: Why our relationships are being steadily corroded by two feedback loops we rarely notice How our dominant cognitive function becomes our personal channel for expressing and receiving love What entailment meant for the Bennet family and why it set the entire plot of Pride and Prejudice in motion Why Mrs. Bennett was so openly focused on marrying off her daughters to rich men How "goodness of fit" and temperament theory give us a more sympathetic read on Mr. Bennett's parenting What my border collies taught me about Mr. Bennett's distance from his younger daughters Why artificial intelligence is simultaneously overhyped and underhyped right now How human and machine intelligence complement each other when it comes to parsing language How I used "vibe coding" to build a reading tool from scratch in a single day What's inside the Andrew Winkler Reading Room, from the Septuagint to Shakespeare to UlyssesLet’s connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy summaries in your inbox
Free AI-powered daily recaps. Key takeaways, quotes, and mentions — in a 5-minute read.
Get Free Summaries →Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.
You Might Also Like
Listeners also like.
"The Cognitive Revolution"
Explores the transformative impact of artificial intelligence through interviews with innovators shaping its future.
Life, Automated
Explores how technology and AI are reshaping work, life, and decision-making through accessible conversations with experts across fields.
This Week in AI
Four AI experts analyze the latest news and trends in artificial intelligence each week.
Possible with Reid Hoffman
Explores optimistic, realistic futures through in-depth conversations with innovators in AI, science, health, and global affairs.
How I AI
A practical guide to using AI tools in work and life, featuring guests who share specific, actionable techniques and workflows.
The Most Interesting Thing in AI
Conversations with leading thinkers on the ethical, economic, and social impacts of artificial intelligence.
AI For Humans: Weekly AI News, Tools & Trends
A weekly breakdown of major AI news, tools, and breakthroughs for both newcomers and seasoned enthusiasts.
The Joy of Why
Mathematicians and astrophysicists explore fundamental scientific and mathematical questions with leading researchers.
The AI XR Podcast.
Industry insiders interview top founders and executives on AI, spatial computing, VR/AR, and synthetic media.
Crazy/Genius
Explores how the internet shapes society, politics, and reality through discussions on AI, misinformation, and digital culture.
Intelligent Machines (Audio)
Explores the impact of artificial intelligence through conversations with pioneers shaping the future of intelligent technology.
The AI Podcast
Explores artificial intelligence advancements, trends, and ethics for enthusiasts and professionals.
About Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy
I’m Andrew Winkler, a former Stanford and Columbia math professor. We’ll explore the most interesting insights I’ve come across, ranging across the mental landscape: math, science, personality, how we think and feel, and how we love or feel unloved. We’ll give answers to all the most confusing questions everyone has, have new books and authors, and reach new understandings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Customized Recaps
AI-powered recaps with compact key takeaways, quotes, and insights.
Straight to Your Inbox
Get key takeaways from Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy in a 5-minute read.
Save Hours Every Week
Stay current on your favorite podcasts without falling behind.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Podzilla's Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy daily summary?
It's a free AI-powered email that summarizes new episodes of Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy as soon as they're published. You get the key takeaways, notable quotes, and links & mentions — all in a quick read.
How does the Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy podcast summary work?
When a new episode drops, our AI transcribes and analyzes it, then generates a personalized summary tailored to your interests and profession. It's delivered to your inbox every morning.
Is this an official Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy product?
No. Podzilla is an independent service that summarizes publicly available podcast content. We're not affiliated with or endorsed by Andrew Winkler.
Can I get summaries of other podcasts too?
Absolutely! The free plan covers up to 3 podcasts, any in the catalog. Basic raises that to 15, Pro to 40 and Max to 100. Browse our full catalog at /podcasts.
How often does Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy release new episodes?
Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy publishes biweekly. Our AI generates a summary within hours of each new episode.
What topics does Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy cover?
Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy covers topics including Science, Mathematics, Relationships, Culture, Society & Culture. Our AI identifies the specific themes in each episode and highlights what matters most to you.
Start getting Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy summaries tomorrow morning.
Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.
Free forever for up to 3 podcasts. No credit card required.