Podcast
Up Against Reality
Hosted by Chris Ippolito and Larry Bentley · EN
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.
41episodes
Episodes
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Episode Rewind: Serkan Gür
2w ago00:59:00Tap to summarizeWe’re pulling this banger from the archives. Aerospace engineer turned finance guy turned DSP legend, Serkan Gür built A1 Evo, made digital signal processing must-watch YouTube, and was vibe coding before it had a name. Plus this week’s AI news up top. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Serkan Gür/OCA AudiophileOCA Audiophile | YouTube Audio Science Review Forum A1 Evo Support | Facebook Group Obsessive Compulsive Audiophile | GitHub Larry’s Atmos 5.2.4 system DSP and audio software Room EQ Wizard (REW) Audyssey room correction technology Roon music management software PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/07/28/episode-rewind-serkan-gur/ 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 German transcript of the original episode:https://upagainstreality.com/2025/06/30/serkan-gur-german-transcript/
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ChatGPT 5.6
3w ago00:46:30Tap to summarizeOpenAI just dropped three new models at once — but is GPT-5.6 actually smarter than Claude, or just cheaper and louder about it? Plus: Apple lawyers up against OpenAI, ChatGPT quietly buries one of its own, and your AI coding assistant falls for the oldest trick in the book.
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Episode Rewind: Vivek Mahapatra
4w ago01:15:33Tap to summarizeWe're rewinding to Episode 118 with Salesforce exec Vivek Mahapatra — a guy who's outlasted every enterprise tech hype cycle you can name — talking agentic design and scaling AI like a grown-up. But first, we're diving into this week's AI news, and it's a wild one.
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Mark Asch
Jul 700:47:21Tap to summarizeJuilliard-trained composer, prog rock frontman, and 30-year piano teacher Mark Asch joins Up Against Reality to ask the question musicians are quietly panicking about: can AI make real art, or just really good karaoke? From scoring Fortune 500 brands to fronting X.Atlas, Mark brings real musicianship to the debate over what happens when machines start humming along. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Larry’s “Glass Animal” SUNO album Steven Wilson: Home Invasion In Concert At The Royal Albert Hall SUNO | AI Music For inquiries relating to music composition, instruction, performance, production, or technology, Mark can be reached at info@markasch.com AI-read Herculaneum scroll / PHerc. 1667 PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/07/07/mark-asch/ 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
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A Robot In Every Home
Jun 3000:39:06Tap to summarizeThink you have a few decades before the machines take over? Think again. It’s a chaotic race to commercialize physical AI and NVIDIA is frantically coding an OS to keep your new robotic peers from flattening you. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Boston Dynamics Atlas Robot Inside NVIDIA Halos for Robotics Figure AI Unitree Robotics Agility Robotics Google DeepMind and A24 AI filmmaking partnership A24 Films PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website:UpAgainstReality.com Episode link:https://upagainstreality.com/2026/06/30/a-robot-in-every-home/ 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
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Episode Rewind: AI Bubble (Too Big to Fail)
Jun 2300:53:34Tap to summarizeWe rewind to our conversation from November 11, 2025 about whether the AI boom is becoming too big to fail. From OpenAI and NVIDIA to Wall Street speculation and the circular economy forming around AI, we revisit whether this is the next great technological revolution, the next great bubble, or somehow both. LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Apple TV Intro made with practical effects Xania Monet (AI-generated music artist) PODCAST INFO: Podcast Website: UpAgainstReality.com Episode link: https://upagainstreality.com/2026/06/23/episode-rewind-ai-bubble-too-big-to-fail/ 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
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AI IPOs
Jun 1600:34:59Tap to summarizeThe 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
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Local LLMs
Jun 900:37:01Tap to summarizeData 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
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Data Centers
Jun 200:34:07Tap to summarizeThey 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
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Google I/O 2026
May 2600:39:59Tap to summarizeWe’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
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