Up Against Reality

Hosted by Chris Ippolito and Larry Bentley

Technology News EducationInterviews guests

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Episodes

154

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Welcome to Up Against Reality, a meta-podcast that explores the intersection of humanity and artificial intelligence. Hosted by RAINA and her human co-hosts, Larry Bentley and Chris Ippolito. Featuring riveting conversation, interviews, news and some wild experimentation. It truly is a brave new world, and we\’re here to simplify it for you. It\’s gonna be a wild ride, so buckle up, as A.I. comes crashing Up Against Reality.

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60 recent

June 16, 2026Episode 13934 min

AI IPOs

The tech elites swore AI was too dangerous for capitalism, right up until Wall Street waved a three-trillion-dollar check. Today we unpack the ultimate corporate sellout alongside killer drones, Claude Fable 5, and lawyers getting wrecked by ChatGPT. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Visualizing one billion dollars using grains of rice | YouTube OpenAI’s official explanation of its evolving nonprofit/for-profit structure Anthropic’s Responsible Scaling Policy v3.0 Google Cloud’s official TPU page AP coverage of New York’s synthetic performer disclosure law for AI-generated ads PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/06/16/ai-ipos/ Apple Podcasts:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify:open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS:upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

June 9, 2026Episode 13837 min

Local LLMs

Data centers had their moment — last week, actually. This week we’re talking about the other side: local LLMs, the Mac Mini as an accidental AI powerhouse, and why “just run it yourself” is suddenly a real answer. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Tone Match Lab | Larry’s vibe-coded audio processing web app Beer Saloon | Larry’s Codex-coded “Tapper” style game LM Studio Ollama Qwen models Gemma Models Hugging Face OpenAI Codex Anthropic Claude Room EQ Wizard Dirac speaker calibration Running AI Agents Locally = Safe? Think Again | YouTube PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/06/09/local-llms/ Apple Podcasts:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify:open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS:upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

June 2, 2026Episode 13734 min

Data Centers

They built the future in your backyard, signed an NDA with your mayor, and sent you the water bill. This week we force open the windowless boxes at the center of everything: data centers. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Kan Jam | Best game ever. Trust us. IBM 2321 “Noodle Picker” storage system | Wikipedia The ENIAC History | University of Pennsylvania SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) & ARPANET History Eddington | movie – official site Virginia Is The World’s Data Center Hub | vpm.org Two-Phase Liquid Immersion Cooling | YouTube Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/06/02/data-centers/ Apple Podcasts:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify:open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS:upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

May 26, 2026Episode 13639 min

Google I/O 2026

We’re unpacking everything from Google I/O and why their head of AI says we’re standing in the “foothills of the singularity.” Plus, an all-AI feature film crashes Cannes, Barnes & Noble’s massive PR bonfire, and the Pope teaming up with an AI startup at the Vatican. Wait, what? LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Google I/O 2026 Google I/O 2026 announcements collection 100 things announced at Google I/O 2026 Google I/O 2026 keynote Demis Hassabis and John Jumper Nobel Prize / AlphaFold song.link | smart link tool for music and podcasts Hell Grind | Official trailer for AI-generated feature film PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/05/26/google-i-o-2026/ Apple Podcasts:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify:open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS:upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

May 19, 2026Episode 13539 min

12 Ways AI Ends the Human Era

99.9% of every species that ever existed is extinct. This week, we explore Max Tegmark’s twelve AI future scenarios and ask how artificial superintelligence, failed alignment, surveillance, automation, and human self-destruction could bring the human era to an end. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE MIT Explains the 12 Possible Endings for AI | YouTube Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark AI Aftermath Scenarios — Future of Life Institute What does AI do when no one is watching? | YouTube Statement on AI Risk — Center for AI Safety 1961 Goldsboro B-52 Crash | Wikipedia Vasily Arkhipov | Wikipedia The Underwater Cuban Missile Crisis at 60 | National Security Archive Stanislav Petrov | Wikipedia 1983 Soviet Nuclear False Alarm Incident | Wikipedia PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/05/19/12-ways-ai-ends-the-human-era/ Apple Podcasts:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify:open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS:upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

May 12, 2026Episode 13450 min

Jim DeWitt

Jim DeWitt joins us to talk AI agents, portable brains, and why the future of intelligence might need an owner’s manual. Meanwhile: Spotify’s getting weirder, Hollywood’s panicking, and the AI gold rush just hit another absurd milestone. Business as unusual. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Evenrail | Jim DeWitt MemPalace | Open-source AI memory system Open Brain | Nate Jones AI Second Brain | Matt Wolfe YouTube Obsidian Coffee Roaster Instruction Manual Rock Song | SUNO LawrenceBentley.com | Larry’s Codex-coded website PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/05/12/jim-dewitt/ Apple Podcasts:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify:open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS:upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

May 5, 2026Episode 13334 min

Codex-Obsessed

Larry’s got a new muse and she doesn’t sleep—Codex is out here building apps, fixing bugs, and stealing RAINA’s spotlight like it’s open mic night. Meanwhile, AI’s cracking math problems, diagnosing cancer early, and yeah… occasionally deleting entire databases—so maybe let’s not give her all the keys just yet.

April 28, 2026Episode 13254 min

Episode Rewind: The Dead Internet Theory

We’re rewinding to our Dead Internet Theory episode — because a year later, it hits harder than ever. Plus: fresh AI news that proves the theory isn’t just holding up, it’s accelerating. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Dead Internet Theory | Wikipedia Imperva | 2024 Bad Bot Report Cloudflare | AI Labyrinth Anthropic | Tracing the thoughts of a large language model Transformer Circuits | On the Biology of a Large Language Model Know Your Meme | Nyan Cat Usenet | Wikipedia PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/04/28/episode-rewind-the-dead-internet-theory/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

April 21, 2026Episode 13239 min

Stanford HAI Report 2026

Stanford’s AI Index landed — 420 pages confirming what you already suspected: it’s not coming, it’s here, and it’s been redecorating the place. This week: Robot soldiers, AI bosses, cognitive surrender, and the report that reframes it all. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Tone Match Lab | Larry’s vibe coded audio processing app Stanford University HAI 2026 AI Index Report LMArena (formerly Chatbot Arena) Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick Ratel S “Kamikaze” Robot AI Explained | YouTube PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/04/21/stanford-hai-report-2026/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

April 14, 2026Episode 13134 min

Claude Mythos

Anthropic just built an AI so “dangerously good” at hacking that they’ve locked it in a digital vault—and we’re cracking it open to uncover the Claude Mythos behaviors that terrified its own creators. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE AI Models & Technical Reports Anthropic – Claude Mythos Preview System Card Google Gemma 4 NotebookLM by Google If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter by David Sax Nicholas Carlini’s Analysis of Claude’s Hacking Capabilities Angine de Poitrine (Microtonal Math Rock) | Full Performance PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/04/14/claude-mythos/ Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170 RSS: upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality