Translating security and tech concepts for the everyday consumer

Translating security and tech concepts for the everyday consumer

Author: BKBT Productions January 5, 2026 Duration: 34:46
When did we stop asking how things work? Rich Greene joins the show to talk about his new podcast Plaintext with Rich [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DCglwZU8zBxzZgy8iHRCa],  and we get into something that matters more than any tech: curiosity itself. Rich spent 20 years in Special Operations before becoming a SANS instructor. Now he's taking complex tech topics and breaking them down for people who need to understand, not just use. There's a tension building between the tech sector and society at large. AI promises to make everything easier, and maybe it does. But easier can become a trap when it stops us from asking the fundamental questions. When convenience replaces comprehension, we don't just lose technical skill, we lose the ability to think critically about the systems we're building and trusting. The conversation pushes on a deeper problem: we're creating a generation that believes technology is magic. That you can "vibe code" production software. That prompts replace understanding. And when everything becomes a black box, we've surrendered more than we realize. Communication and curiosity - those are the skills that matter when the tools change every six months. Find Plaintext with Rich: * Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DCglwZU8zBxzZgy8iHRCa] * Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/plaintext-with-rich/id1864969176] * Blog on Medium [https://medium.com/@plaintextwithrich]

There’s a lot of noise in the world of technology talk, but Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks cuts through it with a focus on the people behind the products and the societal currents shaping our digital landscape. Hosts George K and George A steer conversations that are less about specs and hype, and more about real-world consequences. You’ll hear them dig into topics like the messy rollout of new AI tools, the often-invisible backbone of digital infrastructure, and why communities adopt or reject certain technologies. This podcast regularly features guests from various fields who offer unvarnished opinions on what’s genuinely functional and what’s fundamentally flawed in our tech-saturated lives. The discussions move beyond simple commentary to challenge the standard narratives promoted by the tech industry, examining the cultural and social ripples of every new development. It’s a show for anyone who feels that technology coverage often misses the human element-the frustrations, the adaptations, and the ethical dilemmas. Tune in for a grounded, critical, and consistently engaging dialogue that connects the dots between code and culture. This production from BKBT Productions lives up to its name, getting down to the brass tacks of how technology is built and used, with a bare-knuckle honesty that’s increasingly rare.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Bare Knuckles and Brass Tacks
Podcast Episodes
BEST OF: Can Ethical AI Democratize Therapy and Higher Quality Care? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:03
Clinical psychologist, Dr. Sarah Adler, joins the show this week to talk about why "AI Therapy" doesn't exist, but is bullish on what AI can help therapists achieve. Dr. Adler is a clinical psychologist and CEO of Wave […
BEST OF: How expertise becomes a blind spot in technology development [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:45
Graeme Rudd spent years taking emerging technology into austere environments and watching it fail. He assessed over 350 technologies for a Department of Defense lab. The pattern was consistent: engineers solved technical…
BEST OF: Finding Meaning and community in tech-fueled hustle culture [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:47
What happens when you get everything you thought you wanted and still feel empty? Tychon Carter won Big Brother Canada, gained fame and followers overnight, and felt completely lost. The success arrived before he was rea…
BEST OF:  AI vs Human writing, and what it means for our thinking [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:02
What happens when AI-generated text masquerades as human research? Kimberly Becker, PhD, a corpus linguist joins the show this week to talk about her study comparing human-written versus AI-generated abstracts in high-st…
BEST OF: The art and science of grit, ambition, & betting on yourself [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:57
The voices telling you it won't work usually belong to people who never tried. Nobody gives you permission to take a chance. You just do it. Chris built a 50K MRR business without a formal education, a tech background, o…
Season 4 Finale...and special announcement! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:20
That's a wrap on season 4! What's coming next isn't just another season. Fifty-two episodes took the show past its cybersecurity origins into conversations with a corpus linguist, a nuclear security expert, an Amnesty In…
Designing Human-AI collaboration to make people heroes not cogs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:45
No one gets fired for doing what McKinsey says. That's not a joke, it's the actual product being sold in half of enterprise consulting: credibility a board can point to when a decision goes wrong. This week, Tim Lidman,…
Deep learning vs Intuition: AI models for VC investing [Replay] [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:14
This past week George K and A were off for the holidays. We revisit an episode from earlier this season. What if the best investment decision is one where no human is involved? Brant Meyer, partner at Trac VC [https://ww…