Solutions From The Multiverse

Hosted by Adam Braus & Scot Maupin

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113

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Hosts Adam Braus (@ajbraus) and Scot Maupin (@scotmaupin) meet up each week where Adam brings a new idea to help the world and Scot picks and prods at it with jokes and questions. The result is an informative and entertaining podcast that always gets you thinking.

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September 3, 2026Episode 448 min

Solving AI Psychosis: Lithium in the Water Supply!?- with Mo Hafez | s04 e04

Send us Fan Mail Video Version of the Episode: https://youtu.be/JBoJCCl8W18 In this episode, Adam Braus, Scot Maupin, and guest Mo Hafez explore the provocative idea of adding lithium to the water supply. They discuss potential health benefits, risks, public opinion, and the societal implications of such a bold public health measure. In this episode, Scot Maupin, Mo Hafez, and Adam Braus explore the potential of lithium in water to improve mental health, the implications of social media lawsuits, and the future of AI and societal safety measures. They discuss innovative ideas, dystopian scenarios, and the importance of democratizing technology. Keywords lithium, water supply, public health, mental health, dementia, Alzheimer's, AI psychosis, societal impact, neuroprotection, mental health treatment Lithium water, social media lawsuit, AI future, mental health, dystopian society, public safety, technology ethics Key Topics Potential health benefits of lithium in water, including reduction in dementia, Alzheimer's, suicidality, and violent crime Risks and public opinion challenges of adding lithium to the water supply The science behind lithium's neuroprotective effects and safety at microdose levels Societal implications, conspiracy theories, and ethical considerations of water fluoridation and lithium The logistics of sourcing, distributing, and regulating lithium for public health use. Potential of lithium in water to improve mental health Legal and societal implications of social media lawsuits Future scenarios of AI development and regulation Dystopian vs utopian visions of technology The importance of democratizing AI and technology Guest Name: Mo Hafez: Mo's Socials: YouTube - BeyondtheBytePodcast Instagram - beyond.the.byte X - bytewisepodcast LinkedIn - bytewise-ai Sound Bites "Small amounts of lithium can protect against dementia." "Lithium in water could lower suicide rates by 58 percent." "Lithium in water reduces depression, suicidality, and violent crime." Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Lithium Water Idea 03:01 Historical Context of Art and Madness 03:59 Scientific Evidence Linking Lithium to Reduced Dementia and Crime 06:00 Public Opinion and Ethical Concerns of Water Additives 06:59 The Role of Technology in Van Gogh's Life 08:03 AI Psychosis and the Role of Lithium in Society 09:56 Risks, Dosing, and Safety of Lithium in Water 11:53 Feasibility, Sourcing, and Public Acceptance 12:11 Social Media Lawsuit and Its Implications 14:05 Potential Societal and Conspiracy Theories 15:59 Practical Steps and Future Research 17:02 Potential Benefits of Lithium Water for Public Health 18:05 Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Water Additives 20:00 Conclusion: Balancing Benefits and Risks 21:59 Dystopian Scenarios: Equilibrium and Control 27:00 Future Regulations on Social Media Usage 31:59 The Ethics of Water Additives and Public Safety 37:00 The Future of AI: Risks and Opportunities 41:59 Power Dynamics in AI Development 47:03 Innovative Ideas and Closing Remarks Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

August 27, 2026Episode 342 min

Solving the Left: Lift To Lead | s04 e03

Send us Fan Mail Voters love to say “I only care about policy,” but our brains do a faster scan first: does this person look healthy, capable, and worth following? We take on a provocative claim with real-world implications for elections and messaging: the left should lift weights, not as vanity, but as a simple, controllable advantage that changes how candidates are received on camera, at the podium, and in everyday encounters. We dig into why physical presence functions like a shortcut for trust, including the long-noted pattern that taller candidates often win and the “silverback” instinct people pretend they do not have. From there we talk about modern gym culture as an identity, especially for young men, and why saying “yeah, I lift” can create immediate rapport. We also draw a line between looking robust and looking unrelatable, because there is a point where extreme shredded aesthetics starts to signal something off. A big part of the conversation is a timely case study: Abdul Al-Sayed in Michigan, a physician pushing Medicare for All, unions, and a “less money for foreign wars, more money in your pocket” message, while also leaning into strength training as part of his public image. We compare that to broader examples like Michelle Obama’s public displays of fitness and the way visibly fit public figures gain attention online. Then we get practical: how to start strength training safely, why a trainer can prevent injuries, and how protein, calories, and rest actually drive results. If you’ve ever wondered whether politics is judged on substance or vibes, this one gets uncomfortably honest. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: should politicians treat fitness as part of the job? Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

August 20, 2026Episode 245 min

Solving Cyber Attacks: Cyber Police and Smarter Cyber Rules | s04 e02

Send us Fan Mail Cybersecurity isn’t failing because regular people are careless, it’s failing because we built the internet like a city with no real police force. Today, banks, hospitals, water systems, power grids, and even elections run on software, yet we still act like cyber attacks are a private problem solved by buying more tools and hoping your team patches fast enough. We make the case that this “everyone for themselves” model is exactly why phishing scams, ransomware, and mass data breaches keep winning. We walk through a public-safety approach: massively scale up FBI cybersecurity resources and military cyber capabilities for cross-border threats, then push that capacity down to states and major cities with dedicated cyber police units. The goal isn’t surveillance theater, it’s practical protection: investigate cybercrime, pursue foreign hackers, and proactively test the defenses of major companies and critical infrastructure. If a team can legally break in first, report the holes, and fine repeat negligence, patching stops being optional and starts being routine. Then we go after incentives. Should software vendors be allowed to ship vulnerable products and also sell pricey security services to protect them? We argue that’s a built-in conflict of interest. We also explore software liability: if a Microsoft-style exploit leads to a nine-figure loss, should the vendor share part of the cost the way manufacturers can face product liability in the physical world? Along the way we talk AI coding, “vibe coding,” and why simpler software often means fewer doors for attackers. If you care about secure software, cybersecurity policy, data privacy, and protecting everyday people online, hit subscribe, share the show, and leave a review so more listeners can find it. Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

August 14, 2026Episode 154 min

Solving the Genius Shortage: Learning from History’s Genius Zones | s04 e01

Send us Fan Mail https://www.elton.university/ A city of 30,000 people produces Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, and Hippocrates within about a century. Florence stacks Leonardo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo into a small population. Scotland’s Enlightenment rewires economics and science, and Vienna becomes a launchpad for modern psychology, music, and philosophy. We take those “genius hotspots” seriously as evidence and ask the uncomfortable question: if it happened repeatedly, why aren’t we designing education to do it on purpose? We dig into the shared features that keep showing up across time and place: starting serious study earlier, letting students specialize instead of forcing endless “well-rounded” checklists, and building long-term one-on-one mentorship rather than rotating through short, transactional classes. We also challenge the modern obsession with innate IQ and “cognitive elites”, arguing that education quality and learning environment swamp raw ability in most outcomes. Along the way we explore interdisciplinary learning as the real engine behind creative breakthroughs, plus why relying on textbook summaries (and now AI overviews) can quietly cut people off from the original ideas that train sharp thinking. We connect the history to a modern experiment: Elton University, a Montessori-inspired university model built around mentorship and research-first learning rather than coursework for its own sake. If you’ve ever felt that school trains compliance better than competence, this conversation offers a concrete alternative and a set of design principles you can argue with, improve, or steal. Subscribe for more, share this with a teacher or parent who’s ready to rethink the system, and leave a review with the biggest change you’d make to how we educate future geniuses. Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

July 14, 2026Episode 1136 min

Solving Healthcare: Medicare For Literally All Even You | S03 E11

Send us Fan Mail Video version available at: https://www.youtube.com/@SolutionsFromTheMultiverse/videos Imagine a “Medicare for All” plan that actually means all humans, everywhere. We take that audacious idea and force it into concrete steps: a lean nonprofit that runs a global health insurance platform where verified clinics submit medical claims with documentation, and we reimburse care for patients who cannot pay. No vague charity promises, just a claims workflow that is measurable, auditable, and designed to expand healthcare access fast. Along the way, we pressure-test the hard parts: fraud, corruption, and paperwork. We talk about using AI fraud detection, identity validation, two-factor authentication, and Medicare-style snap audits to keep the system honest without building a bloated bureaucracy. We also explore incentives borrowed from micro lending, where small groups of clinics share accountability, so bad actors get pushed out before they can drain the pool. We compare this model to Doctors Without Borders and GiveDirectly, not to dunk on them, but to ask a sharper question: what delivers the most health outcomes per donated dollar? Paying local doctors and nurses directly could be cheaper than flying teams around the world, and pairing provider reimbursements with cash support could cover real-world costs like meds, transport, and missed work. We even consider SMS-based claims for regions without reliable broadband, so the platform works where the need is highest. If you’ve worked in insurance claims, medical billing, cybersecurity, fundraising, or mission-driven software, we want your feedback and your pushback. Subscribe, share this with one friend who cares about universal healthcare, and leave a review with the biggest flaw you see in the plan so we can make it stronger. Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

July 6, 2026Episode 1056 min

Solving the Common Cold and Handwashing Sinks In Every School | S03 E10

Send us Fan Mail VIDEO available: https://www.youtube.com/@SolutionsFromTheMultiverse/ If you’re tired of the “my kid started school and now our whole house is sick forever” cycle, we’ve got a surprisingly low-tech fix: put handwashing stations where students actually pass by every day. We make the case that bathrooms aren’t enough because the important moment is right before eating and right after high-contact routines. From summer camp sink lines to Malaysia’s restaurant handwashing culture to cruise-ship dining rooms that practically force sanitizer on everyone, we break down why placement, maintenance, and social visibility turn handwashing from a nice idea into a real disease-control tool. Then we shift from prevention to relief and share an evidence-informed approach to shortening the common cold by lowering viral load early. We talk zinc lozenges that actually work (and which additives can wreck the benefit), hypertonic saltwater gargles with a clear mix ratio, and why nasal rinses can be the “slam dunk” when colds start in the nose. We also get into neti pot safety, including the non-negotiable rule about distilled, sterile, or previously boiled water, plus a few extra tools like honey for cough and a more advanced hypertonic saline nebulizer idea for bronchitis-style misery. You’ll also hear a quick detour on why you might not have dandruff at all, how to wash your scalp properly, and why some people ditch shampoo entirely after the oil adjustment period. Want more practical, weirdly effective solutions like this (and yes, there’s a video version too)? Subscribe, share the episode with a fellow parent, and leave a review with your best cold remedy or school hygiene idea. Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

June 18, 2026Episode 101 hr 0 min

Solving Housing: A Progressive Property Tax | S03 E09

Send us Fan Mail The Big Idea Professor Adam Braus pitches a fix nobody's tried: instead of taxing property at a flat rate, tax it like income — progressively. Own a modest home? You're barely taxed. Own a $50 million real estate empire? You pay real money. It's a property tax with a conscience, and Adam argues it could solve the housing crisis, fix California's broken Prop 13 system, and take a swing at the billionaire-hoarding problem all at once. Scot Maupin, doing his usual generous-interrogator thing, pokes at yachts, shell companies, and whether landlords will just pass the cost to renters — and Adam's got an answer for all of it. What's Broken Right Now Prop 13 locks property taxes to a home's original purchase price — not what it's worth today. Buy a house in 1985 for pocket change, and decades later you're still paying taxes on pocket change, even as the home is worth millions. This hits commercial property too — including, allegedly, golf courses that shuffle ownership through shell-share tricks so they're never technically "sold." The result: California's budget is starved relative to its actual wealth, and the state leans harder on income tax to compensate — which hits working people disproportionately harder than a property tax would. Meanwhile, in places like Montana and Hawaii , wealthy outsiders are buying up land and driving housing costs through the roof — not because there's a housing shortage, but because of hoarding and speculation. The Fix: Progressive Property Tax Instead of one flat rate on a property's value, tax brackets stack on a person's total property holdings: First $200K (or so): little to no tax — protects ordinary homeowners and grandmas on fixed incomes. $200K–$2M : a low rate, comparable to today's lowest-tax states. $2M–$10M+ : rates climb toward the top of the national range (2%+). +$50M : a "super bracket" — 2.5–3%+ on the excess. The pitch: this could roughly double California's property tax revenue (from ~$100B to $170–200B), funneled toward building housing, ending homelessness, and politically popular wins like paid leave — while lowering the tax burden on working people (no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security). How It Closes the Loopholes A beneficiary registry (already used in Australia and some U.S. states) ties every property to a real human owner — so you can't dodge the tax by splitting ownership across an LLC for every house, or spreading deeds across family members. Commercial real estate is included. Adam's pitch turns this into a two-for-one: tax pressure forces a sell-off of empty downtown office space (a post-COVID glut), and the state can buy it cheap and convert it into actual housing — bringing residents (and life) back to dead downtowns. The Objections, Pre-Debunked Scot plays it straight and asks the obvious questions: "Won't the rich just flee to Florida or Montana?" Adam's counter: capital flight of real estate is mostly harmless — the buildings can't be packed in a suitcase. If a billionaire sells, the property stays in-state; prices just come down, which is the point. "Won't this just raise rents?" Possibly nudges the very top of the market, but the broad base of affordable housing should barely move — maybe even gets cheaper as demand shifts. "Will yachts and jets count?" No — keep it simple, this is real estate only. Where the Idea Comes From Adam name-checks Gary's Economics (and its scrappier YouTube cousin, Barry's Economics) for the broader "tax wealth, not work" framing, and ties the proposal back to existing progressive wealth-tax proposals from Bernie Sanders (the famous "8% bracket above $1B," pegged to average market returns) and Elizabeth Warren (flat 2% above $50M) — positioning the progressive property tax as a more politically palatable, state-level cousin of those ideas. Detour of the Episode A spirited tangent on Maine's Senate race, Graham Platner — oyster farmer, combat veteran, and the episode's pick for "proof this message can win" — plus a running bit on whether wind turbines can literally use up the wind. (They cannot. Probably.) Quotable "I'm so wealthy that I can't pay the tax on my wealth." — the complaint Adam says is doing a lot of work to protect a small number of very rich people. Want me to also draft a short, punchier episode description (the 2–3 sentence blurb for podcast apps) or social media copy to go with these notes? Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

May 26, 2026Episode 951 min

Solving Procrastination: Change Your Environment, Change Your Life | S03 E08

Send us Fan Mail Read Adam’s book Motivate on the most up-to-date science of motivation. Bit.ly/motivate-book The most frustrating part of self-improvement is the loop: you promise you will change, you push with willpower, you slip, then you blame your character. We take a different angle here: the strongest motivation research points to environment as the main driver of behavior, and “discipline” is often just what your setup makes easy. Once you see that, the shame drops and the strategy gets practical. We dig into the fundamental attribution error, why popular motivation narratives over-focus on grit, and how tiny design choices shape outcomes. We trade real examples: the cookie problem in your kitchen, smoking triggers that vanish when context changes, and the surprising Vietnam veterans heroin findings that show how access and stress can create addiction, and how a new environment can undo it. We also talk Rat Park, the opioid crisis as a disease of despair, and how enriched lives reduce the pull of destructive “buttons.” Then we zoom out to systems: crime as a social context issue, policy as environment design, and Advanced Peace as a proven gun violence prevention approach that can save lives and public money. We even get into feng shui as a reminder that space affects mood and attention, whether you explain it as energy or psychology. If you want to read more, work more, eat differently, or build a better life, the question becomes: what can you redesign so the right choice is the default? Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who is tired of “just try harder,” and leave a review if this reframes how you think about motivation. What part of your environment will you change first? Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

May 12, 2026Episode 858 min

Solving Women's Rights: Labor Over Mangos 🥭🥭🥭 | S03 E07

Send us Fan Mail A weird, uncomfortable realization kicked this conversation off: the United States still doesn’t clearly guarantee equal rights for women at the constitutional level, and we’ve been sliding backward on core freedoms that shape everyday life. As dads of daughters, that lands differently, so we went searching for something more useful than another round of online debate. We propose a simple framework you can argue with, improve, or steal: five tiers of women’s rights, from basic property and independence, to voting power, to equal rights under law, to full equity in real life. We talk through what tactics historically worked at each stage and why the strategies that helped early wins do not automatically unlock the last two tiers. That’s where policies like the Equal Rights Amendment, equal pay enforcement, reproductive autonomy, paid parental leave and universal childcare stop being “nice to have” and become the definition of freedom. Then we take aim at what we call “mangoes” media, academia and NGOs. We’re not saying they’re useless, but we are saying they can’t be the engine. The engine is organized labor power: voting blocs, strikes, and boycotts that hit the pocketbook, backed by coalitions that can keep pressure on year after year. We dig into Me Too as a case study, and we point to Iceland’s women’s strike as a reminder of what coordinated action can do. If you want a practical, strategic conversation about feminism, labor unions, gender equality and how change actually happens, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What lever would you pull first: vote, strike, or boycott? Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.

April 30, 2026Episode 759 min

Solving Science: AI that Can Predict Science with Jonah Lynch | S03 E06

Send us Fan Mail innovationlens.org info@innovationlens.org Most people talk about AI like it’s a faster intern. Jonah Lynch is building something closer to an intellectual compass: a system that can “read” the scientific literature at scale, map what we already know, and point toward the empty spaces where the next discoveries are most likely to happen. We unpack Innovation Lens, Jonah’s research forecasting platform that uses natural language processing, text embeddings, and geometry in vector space to detect patterns across millions of papers. He explains the core intuition behind prediction in science: some fields are too sparse to pay off, others are so crowded that the easy value is gone, and there’s a Goldilocks zone where the research landscape is ready for a breakthrough. We also talk about validation and benchmarking, why this approach can beat random guessing and even the standard “follow the adviser and find a gap” method, and what it changes for PhD topic selection, literature review, and R&D strategy. The conversation gets personal too. Jonah shares how leaving the Catholic priesthood pushed him to rebuild his life around quantitative tools and a search for truth that doesn’t rely on authority. From VC decision-making and capital allocation to philanthropy, NSF-style grant impact, and better alternatives to citation metrics, we explore where AI genuinely helps human flourishing instead of just generating content. If you enjoy episodes about scientific discovery, innovation prediction, and practical AI for research, subscribe, share this with a friend who works in science or investing, and leave us a review. What domain would you want a “map of the future” for? Support the show Help these new solutions spread by ... Subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts Leaving a 5-star review Sharing your favorite solution with your friends and network (this makes a BIG difference) Comments? Feedback? Questions? Solutions? Message us! We will do a mailbag episode. Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com Adam : @ajbraus - braus@hey.com Scot : @scotmaupin adambraus.com (Link to Adam's projects and books) The Perfect Show (Scot's solo podcast) Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.