Best Pragmatic AI Labs Podcasts (2025)

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The pragmatic guide to AI agents in the enterprise (w/ Sean Falconer) 49:59

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4d ago49:59

49:59

What does it mean to be agentic? Is there a spectrum of agency? In this episode of The Analytics Engineering Podcast, Tristan Handy talks to Sean Falconer, senior director of AI strategy at Confluent, about AI agents. They discuss what truly makes software "agentic," where agents are successfully being deployed, and how to conceptualize and build a…

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Designing for Resilience: with Alex Berkowitz of Coastal Protection Services 41:10

10d ago41:10

41:10

This episode is another in our series on Climate Resilience featuringAlex Berkowitz, Founder and CEO of Coastal Protection Solutions (CPS), astartup developing nearshore infrastructure that reduces wave energy and enhances climate resilience. Alex shares how her personal experience with Hurricane Sandy in her hometown of Rockaway Beach led to the c…

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How Amazon S3 works (w/ Andy Warfield) 50:05

18d ago50:05

50:05

In this season of the Analytics Engineering podcast, Tristan is deep into the world of developer tools and databases. If you're following us here, you've almost definitely used Amazon S3 it and its Blob Storage siblings. They form the foundation for nearly all data work in the cloud. In many ways, it was the innovations that happened inside of S3 t…

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Investing in Climate Resilience and Poverty Alleviation: Acumen Founder & CEO Jacqueline Novogratz 59:24

22d ago59:24

59:24

In this Climate Rising episode in our series on climate resilience, Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen shares how impact investing is agriculture is helping smallholder farmers build climate resilience. Jacqueline shares insights from two decades of investing in poverty alleviation that includes climate resilience and adaptation social…

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Forecasting Climate Risk with Geospatial AI: Sarah Russell of X , the Moonshot Factory at Alphabet 37:09

1M ago37:09

37:09

This episode, part of the Climate Rising series on climate resilience, features Sarah Russell, General Manager of Project Bellwether at X, The Moonshot Factory at Alphabet (formerly Google X). Sarah shares how geospatial data and artificial intelligence can help communities and businesses anticipate and respond to climate risks. Sarah shares insigh…

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From Docker to Dagger (w/ Solomon Hykes) 48:50

2M ago48:50

48:50

In this season of the Analytics Engineering podcast, Tristan is digging deep into the world of developer tools and databases. There are few more widely used developer tools than Docker. From its launch back in 2013, Docker has completely changed how developers ship applications. In this episode, Tristan talks to Solomon Hykes, the founder and creat…

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Closing the Loop by Recycling Apparel: Reju CEO Patrik Frisk 45:43

2M ago45:43

45:43

Patrik Frisk, CEO of ReJu, joins Climate Rising to discuss his company’s mission to recycle textile waste and build circular supply chains for apparel made of polyester fabric. Patrik brings his prior experience leading Under Armour and other global brands across the textile and footwear industry for over 35 years. Patrik describes how ReJu turns d…

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The history and future of the data ecosystem (w/ Lonne Jaffe) 53:53

2M ago53:53

53:53

In this decades-spanning episode, Tristan Handy sits down with Lonne Jaffe, Managing Director at Insight Partners and former CEO of Syncsort (now Precisely), to trace the history of the data ecosystem—from its mainframe origins to its AI-infused future. Lonne reflects on the evolution of ETL, the unexpected staying power of legacy tech, and why AI …

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Extending Apparel Lifespan: ThredUp CEO James Reinhart 40:02

2M ago40:02

40:02

James Reinhart, CEO of ThredUp, one of the largest online resale platforms for secondhand clothing. James co-founded the company while he was a Masters’ student at Harvard and has spent the last 15 years scaling a national logistics and digital infrastructure platform for resale. In this episode James describes why the company decided to handle phy…

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Everything terminals (w/ Zach Lloyd) 47:21

3M ago47:21

47:21

In this episode, Tristan talks to Zach Lloyd, founder of Warp—a terminal built for the modern era, including for AI agents. They explore the history of terminals, differences between terminals and shells, and what the future might look like. In a world driven by generative AI, the terminal could once again be the control center of computer usage. F…

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Plastic Shamans of AGI 10:32

3M ago10:32

10:32

The plastic shamans of OpenAI🔥 Hot Course Offers:- 🤖 Master GenAI Engineering - Build Production AI Systems- 🦀 Learn Professional Rust - Industry-Grade Development- 📊 AWS AI & Analytics - Scale Your ML in Cloud- ⚡ Production GenAI on AWS - Deploy at Enterprise Scale- 🛠️ Rust DevOps Mastery - Automate Everything🚀 Level Up Your Career:- 💼 Production …

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The Toyota Way: Engineering Discipline in the Era of Dangerous Dilettantes 14:38

3M ago14:38

14:38

Dangerous Dilettantes vs. Toyota Way Engineering Core Thesis The influx of AI-powered automation tools creates dangerous dilettantes - practitioners who know just enough to be harmful. The Toyota Production System (TPS) principles provide a battle-tested framework for integrating automation while maintaining engineering discipline. Historical Conte…

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Designing for Circularity at Scale: A Conversation with Karen Pflug of Ingka Group 48:27

3M ago48:27

48:27

In the latest episode of Climate Rising from Harvard Business School, Karen Pflug, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ingka Group (IKEA), shares how IKEA is embedding circularity throughout its business model. She discusses how IKEA is redesigning iconic products like the Billy bookcase to make them easier to disassemble and repair, how secondhand ret…

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DevOps Narrow AI Debunking Flowchart 11:19

3M ago11:19

11:19

Extensive Notes: The Truth About AI and Your Coding Job Types of AI Narrow AI Not truly intelligent Pattern matching and full text search Examples: voice assistants, coding autocomplete Useful but contains bugs Multiple narrow AI solutions compound bugs Get in, use it, get out quickly AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) No evidence we're close to…

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No Dummy, AI Isn't Replacing Developer Jobs 14:41

3M ago14:41

14:41

Extensive Notes: "No Dummy: AI Will Not Replace Coders" Introduction: The Critical Thinking Problem America faces a critical thinking deficit, especially evident in narratives about AI automating developers' jobs Speaker advocates for examining the narrative with core critical thinking skills Suggests substituting the dominant narrative with altern…

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The Narrow Truth: Dismantling IntelligenceTheater in Agent Architecture 10:34

3M ago10:34

10:34

how Gen.AI companies combine narrow ML components behind conversational interfaces to simulate intelligence. Each agent component (text generation, context management, tool integration) has direct non-ML equivalents. API access bypasses the deceptive UI layer, providing better determinism and utility. Optimal usage requires abandoning open-ended in…

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The Pirate Bay Hypothesis: Reframing AI's True Nature 8:31

3M ago8:31

8:31

Episode Summary: A critical examination of generative AI through the lens of a null hypothesis, comparing it to a sophisticated search engine over all intellectual property ever created, challenging our assumptions about its transformative nature. Keywords: AI demystification, null hypothesis, intellectual property, search engines, large language m…

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Why compilers matter (w/ Lukas Schulte) 41:59

3M ago41:59

41:59

In this episode, Tristan Handy and Lukas Schulte, co-founder of SDF Labs and now part of dbt Labs, dive deep into the world of compilers—what they are, how they work, and what they mean for the data ecosystem. SDF, recently acquired by dbt Labs, builds a world-class SQL compiler aimed at abstracting away the complexity of warehouse-specific SQL. Jo…

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Advancing the Circular Economy: A Conversation with Lauren Rodriguez of Closed Loop Partners 43:45

3M ago43:45

43:45

Lauren Rodriguez, who leads partnerships at Circular Services, a Closed Loop Partners company, joins host Mike Toffel to discuss building the infrastructure and investment models needed to scale the circular economy. Lauren explains how Closed Loop Partners supports the transition from a linear to a circular economy through capital management, inno…

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Claude Code Review: Pattern Matching, Not Intelligence 10:31

3M ago10:31

10:31

Episode Notes: Claude Code Review: Pattern Matching, Not Intelligence Summary I share my hands-on experience with Anthropic's Claude Code tool, praising its utility while challenging the misleading "AI" framing. I argue these are powerful pattern matching tools, not intelligent systems, and explain how experienced developers can leverage them effec…

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Deno: The Modern TypeScript Runtime Alternative to Python 7:26

3M ago7:26

7:26

Deno: The Modern TypeScript Runtime Alternative to Python Episode Summary Deno stands tall. TypeScript runs fast in this Rust-based runtime. It builds standalone executables and offers type safety without the headaches of Python's packaging and performance problems. Keywords Deno, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python alternative, V8 engine, scripting lan…

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Reframing GenAI as Not AI - Generative Search, Auto-Complete and Pattern Matching 16:43

3M ago16:43

16:43

Episode Notes: The Wizard of AI: Unmasking the Smoke and Mirrors Summary I expose the reality behind today's "AI" hype. What we call AI is actually generative search and pattern matching - useful but not intelligent. Like the Wizard of Oz, tech companies use smoke and mirrors to market what are essentially statistical models as sentient beings. Key…

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Academic Style Lecture on Concepts Surrounding RAG in Generative AI 45:17

3M ago45:17

45:17

Episode Notes: Search, Not Superintelligence: RAG's Role in Grounding Generative AI Summary I demystify RAG technology and challenge the AI hype cycle. I argue current AI is merely advanced search, not true intelligence, and explain how RAG grounds models in verified data to reduce hallucinations while highlighting its practical implementation chal…

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The evolution of databases (w/ Wolfram Schulte) 54:17

4M ago54:17

54:17

In the first episode of our new season on developer experience, the cofounder and CTO of SDF Labs, now a part of dbt Labs, discusses databases, compilers, and dev tools. Wolfram spent close to two decades in Microsoft Research and several years at Meta building their data platform. For full show notes and to read 6+ years of back issues of the podc…

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Scaling Reuse with Vytal: A Circular Economy Conversation with CEO Fabian Barthel 46:49

4M ago46:49

46:49

Fabian Barthel, Co-Founder of Vytal, a circular economy packaging-as-a-service startup, joins host Mike Toffel to explore the innovation, behavioral science, and regulations shaping the market for reusable containers for take-out food and beverages. Fabian shares how Vytal is tackling packaging waste by building a reusable container system for rest…

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Carbon Credit Ratings and Market Integrity: A Conversation on the Calyx Global Case 42:21

4M ago42:21

42:21

In this bonus episode of Climate Rising, we share an episode from Harvard Business School’s Cold Call podcast, featuring HBS professor Mike Toffel and Duncan van Bergen, Co-Founder of Calyx Global. The discussion focuses on Mike’s recent HBS case study, Calyx Global: Rating Carbon Credits, which explores how the company is helping improve transpare…

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Investing in Carbon Markets: A Conversation with Luke Leslie of Key Carbon 43:26

4M ago43:26

43:26

Luke Leslie, Co-Founder and CEO of Key Carbon, joins Climate Rising as part of our series on voluntary carbon markets. Luke has spent over 20 years in carbon markets and finance, working in investment banking, private equity, and structured finance. Luke explains how Key Carbon is financing high-integrity carbon projects and how new overlaps betwee…

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Pragmatic AI Labs Interactive Labs Next Generation 2:57

5M ago2:57

2:57

Pragmatica Labs Podcast: Interactive Labs Update Episode Notes Announcement: Updated Interactive Labs New version of interactive labs now available on the Pragmatica Labs platform Focus on improved Rust teaching capabilities Rust Learning Environment Features Browser-based development environment with: Ability to create projects with Cargo Code com…

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Meta and OpenAI LibGen Book Piracy Controversy 9:51

5M ago9:51

9:51

Meta and OpenAI Book Piracy Controversy: Podcast Summary The Unauthorized Data Acquisition Meta (Facebook's parent company) and OpenAI downloaded millions of pirated books from Library Genesis (LibGen) to train artificial intelligence models The pirated collection contained approximately 7.5 million books and 81 million research papers Mark Zuckerb…

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Rust Projects with Multiple Entry Points Like CLI and Web 5:32

5M ago5:32

5:32

Rust Multiple Entry Points: Architectural Patterns Key Points Core Concept: Multiple entry points in Rust enable single codebase deployment across CLI, microservices, WebAssembly and GUI contexts Implementation Path: Initial CLI development → Web API → Lambda/cloud functions Cargo Integration: Native support via src/bin directory or explicit binary…

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Python Is Vibe Coding 1.0 13:59

5M ago13:59

13:59

Podcast Notes: Vibe Coding & The Maintenance Problem in Software Engineering Episode Summary In this episode, I explore the concept of "vibe coding" - using large language models for rapid software development - and compare it to Python's historical role as "vibe coding 1.0." I discuss why focusing solely on development speed misses the more import…

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DeepSeek R2 An Atom Bomb For USA BigTech 12:16

5M ago12:16

12:16

Podcast Notes: DeepSeek R2 - The Tech Stock "Atom Bomb" Overview DeepSeek R2 could heavily impact tech stocks when released (April or May 2025) Could threaten OpenAI, Anthropic, and major tech companies US tech market already showing weakness (Tesla down 50%, NVIDIA declining) Cost Claims DeepSeek R2 claims to be 40 times cheaper than competitors S…

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Why OpenAI and Anthropic Are So Scared and Calling for Regulation 12:26

5M ago12:26

12:26

Regulatory Capture in Artificial Intelligence Markets: Oligopolistic Preservation Strategies Thesis Statement Analysis of emergent regulatory capture mechanisms employed by dominant AI firms (OpenAI, Anthropic) to establish market protectionism through national security narratives. Historiographical Parallels: Microsoft Anti-FOSS Campaign (1990s) H…

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Rust Paradox - Programming is Automated, but Rust is Too Hard? 12:39

5M ago12:39

12:39

The Rust Paradox: Systems Programming in the Epoch of Generative AI I. Paradoxical Thesis Examination Contradictory Technological Narratives Epistemological inconsistency: programming simultaneously characterized as "automatable" yet Rust deemed "excessively complex for acquisition" Logical impossibility of concurrent validity of both propositions …

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Genai companies will be automated by Open Source before developers 19:11

5M ago19:11

19:11

Podcast Notes: Debunking Claims About AI's Future in Coding Episode Overview Analysis of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's claim: "We're 3-6 months from AI writing 90% of code, and 12 months from AI writing essentially all code" Systematic examination of fundamental misconceptions in this prediction Technical analysis of GenAI capabilities, limitations,…

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Debunking Fraudulant Claim Reading Same as Training LLMs 11:43

5M ago11:43

11:43

Pattern Matching vs. Content Comprehension: The Mathematical Case Against "Reading = Training" Mathematical Foundations of the Distinction Dimensional processing divergence Human reading: Sequential, unidirectional information processing with neural feedback mechanisms ML training: Multi-dimensional vector space operations measuring statistical co-…

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Pattern Matching Systems like AI Coding: Powerful But Dumb 7:01

5M ago7:01

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Pattern Matching Systems: Powerful But Dumb Core Concept: Pattern Recognition Without Understanding Mathematical foundation: All systems operate through vector space mathematics K-means clustering, vector databases, and AI coding tools share identical operational principles Function by measuring distances between points in multi-dimensional space N…

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Comparing k-means to vector databases 8:10

5M ago8:10

8:10

K-means & Vector Databases: The Core Connection Fundamental Similarity Same mathematical foundation – both measure distances between points in space K-means groups points based on closeness Vector DBs find points closest to your query Both convert real things into number coordinates The "team captain" concept works for both K-means: Captains are ce…

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K-means basic intuition 6:40

5M ago6:40

6:40

Finding Hidden Groups with K-means Clustering What is Unsupervised Learning? Imagine you're given a big box of different toys, but they're all mixed up. Without anyone telling you how to sort them, you might naturally put the cars together, stuffed animals together, and blocks together. This is what computers do with unsupervised learning - they fi…

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Navigating Carbon Markets: A Conversation with Alexia Kelly of High Tide Foundation 58:17

5M ago58:17

58:17

Alexia Kelly, Managing Director of the Carbon Policy and Markets Initiative (CPMI) at theHigh Tide Foundation, joins host Mike Toffel for the fifth episode in our series on voluntarycarbon markets. Alexia has worked for nearly two decades atthe intersection of carbonmarkets, policy, and finance, with roles spanning government, private industry, and…

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Greedy Random Start Algorithms: From TSP to Daily Life 16:20

5M ago16:20

16:20

Greedy Random Start Algorithms: From TSP to Daily Life Key Algorithm Concepts Computational Complexity Classifications Constant Time O(1): Runtime independent of input size (hash table lookups) "The holy grail of algorithms" - execution time fixed regardless of problem size Examples: Dictionary lookups, array indexing operations Logarithmic Time O(…

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Hidden Features of Rust Cargo 8:52

5M ago8:52

8:52

Hidden Features of Cargo: Podcast Episode Notes Custom Profiles & Build Optimization Custom Compilation Profiles: Create targeted build configurations beyond dev/release [profile.quick-debug]opt-level = 1 # Some optimizationdebug = true # Keep debug symbols Usage: cargo build --profile quick-debug Perfect for debugging performance issues without fu…

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Using At With Linux 4:53

5M ago4:53

4:53

Temporal Execution Framework: Unix AT Utility for AWS Resource Orchestration Core Mechanisms Unix at Utility Architecture Kernel-level task scheduler implementing non-interactive execution semantics Persistence layer: /var/spool/at/ with priority queue implementation Differentiation from cron: single-execution vs. recurring execution patterns Synta…

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Assembly Language & WebAssembly: Technical Analysis 5:52

5M ago5:52

5:52

Assembly Language & WebAssembly: Evolutionary Paradigms Episode Notes I. Assembly Language: Foundational Framework Ontological Definition Low-level symbolic representation of machine code instructions Minimalist abstraction layer above binary machine code (1s/0s) Human-readable mnemonics with 1:1 processor operation correspondence Core Architectura…

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Strace 7:23

5M ago7:23

7:23

STRACE: System Call Tracing Utility — Advanced Diagnostic Analysis I. Introduction & Empirical Case Study Case Study: Weta Digital Performance Optimization Diagnostic investigation of Python execution latency (~60s initialization delay) Root cause identification: Excessive filesystem I/O operations (103-104 redundant calls) Resolution implementatio…

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Free Membership to Platform for Federal Workers in Transition 3:53

5M ago3:53

3:53

Episode Notes: My Support Initiative for Federal Workers in Transition Episode Overview In this episode, I announce a special initiative from Pragmatic AI Labs to support federal workers who are currently in career transitions by providing them with free access to our educational platform. I explain how our technical training can help workers upski…

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Ethical Issues Vector Databases 9:02

5M ago9:02

9:02

Dark Patterns in Recommendation Systems: Beyond Technical Capabilities 1. Engagement Optimization Pathology Metric-Reality Misalignment: Recommendation engines optimize for engagement metrics (time-on-site, clicks, shares) rather than informational integrity or societal benefit Emotional Gradient Exploitation: Mathematical reality shows emotional t…

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Vector Databases 10:48

5M ago10:48

10:48

Vector Databases for Recommendation Engines: Episode Notes Introduction Vector databases power modern recommendation systems by finding relationships between entities in high-dimensional space Unlike traditional databases that rely on exact matching, vector DBs excel at finding similar items Core application: discovering hidden relationships betwee…

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xtermjs and Browser Terminals 5:25

5M ago5:25

5:25

The podcast notes effectively capture the key technical aspects of the WebSocket terminal implementation. The transcript explores how Rust's low-level control and memory management capabilities make it an ideal language for building high-performance terminal emulation over WebSockets. What makes this implementation particularly powerful is the comb…

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Silicon Valley's Anarchist Alternative: How Open Source Beats Monopolies and Fascism 16:06

5M ago16:06

16:06

Silicon Valley's Anarchist Alternative: How Open Source Beats Monopolies and Fascism CORE THESIS Corporate-controlled tech resembles fascism in power concentration Trillion-dollar monopolies create suboptimal outcomes for most people Open source (Linux) as practical counter-model to corporate tech hegemony Libertarian-socialist approach achieves bo…