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Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy

I’m Andrew Winkler, a former Stanford and Columbia math professor. We’ll explore the most interesting insights I’ve come across, ranging across the mental landscape: math, science, personality, how we think and feel, and how we love or feel unloved. We’ll give answers to all the most confusing questions everyone has, have new books and authors, and reach new understandings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

science mathematics

All Episodes

6:19

Episode 53: CardSmart: The Free App That Finds Your...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/09/24

I've been experimenting with AI tools lately, and my newest project came out of that: CardSmart, a free app that solves a problem I kept running into myself. Credit cards pay you back differently depending on where you shop, and keeping track of which card wins where, especially with rotating categories and payout caps, is more than anyone should have to manage in their head. CardSmart uses your phone's location, which never leaves your device, to tell you which of your cards earns the most wherever

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22:49

Why AI Creates a Monopoly, Not a Democracy: Runaway...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/09/10

I've been thinking a lot lately about AI, a subject I explored back in grad school and postdoc. In this episode, I walk through a hackathon project to democratize AI by distributing neural network training across home computers. I explain why it failed: first the obvious reason, a bad actor can silently poison a distributed model, then a subtler one rooted in the physics of computation. I break down how neural networks work, why a single nonlinearity lets them approximate almost anything, and why

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11:31

From Child Prodigy to Language Obsessive: How...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/08/27

I'm taking you through my own origin story this episode, from getting swept into a Johns Hopkins study on intellectual talent as a sixth grader to skipping straight into college at fifteen. I share how that unusual path, being identified as gifted, accelerated through school, and landing in a college honors program that clashed with my own academic ambitions, shaped the way I think about learning today. Along the way I talk about my late AP English teacher Adrian Morris, and how I completely missed

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20:05

Why AI Is a Wave You Can Either Surf or Get Crushed By

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/08/13

I open this episode with a story from my childhood: a dam that broke above my uncle's farm, and two California kids who survived the flash flood only because they knew how to surf a wave instead of fighting it. That's exactly how I think about AI right now. It's a massive wave bearing down on all of us, and whether it becomes a wonderful tool or something that crushes us depends entirely on whether we learn to ride it. I walk through what happened when I went from writing off AI-generated code as

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25:41

Why I Built an AI Reading Tool for Ancient Languages...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/07/23

I'm digging into something that's genuinely changed how I spend my free time: using AI to build the tool I've wished existed for decades, one that helps me read the world's great literature in its original language. I tell the story of a chance dinner with a Hertz Fellow who turned out to be a major figure at Anthropic, and how that connection eventually led me back to a project I'd tried and abandoned before, a computer-assisted reader for Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Six months ago,

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29:21

Pride and Prejudice, Personality Feedback Loops, and...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/07/09

Today I'm talking about something that's been on my mind as I've been writing Love Quotient: the two feedback loops that quietly corrode almost every relationship we have. I explain how our dominant cognitive function becomes our personal "channel" for expressing and receiving love, and why a mismatch with the people we care about can spiral into the exact same withdrawal on both sides, until the relationship falls apart.From there I dive into Pride and Prejudice, using what I know about personality

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12:43

Why Tax Software Is Broken (And What Vectors Really Are)

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/06/18

Today I'm tackling something a little different: taxes. After spending years writing my book Love Quotient and other projects in physics and math, I funded that work through earnings in the tech sector, specifically long-term capital gains. That led me into a maze of federal versus California tax treatment, amended returns, and a frustrating "screw you letter" from the IRS demanding paperwork they could have processed themselves if they'd just shared their own software with taxpayers. I talk about

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26:19

Why Your Relationships Are Slowly Falling Apart — And...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/06/04

In today's episode, I'm sharing the core insights from my new book, Love Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love — and my goal is to give you everything you need to transform your most important relationships.Welcome to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. I'm talking about one of the most painful and preventable dynamics in relationships: the slow drift that happens when two people are pouring love into a connection, but neither one can feel it. The culprit isn't a lack of caring — it's a

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11:41

How AI Really Works: Large Language Models, Human...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/05/21

What if artificial intelligence doesn't replace human intelligence — it amplifies it? And what if the quality of what you bring to AI is exactly what determines what you get back?Welcome to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. I'm Andrew Winkler, and in this episode I'm taking a deep dive into one of the most consequential technologies of our time: large language models. I break down how these systems are built on surprisingly elegant mathematics, why language itself has a hidden statistical structure that

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26:05

Why Mud, Logs, and Bugs Beat Plastic Toys: The...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/05/07

Welcome back to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. I'm sitting down once again with Angela McEwen, our resident expert in early childhood development, to dig into one of the most overlooked secrets of raising healthy, capable kids — proprioception. Angela has spent decades in childcare, including helping coordinate San Francisco's childcare response during the pandemic, and what she's discovered about the role of natural play environments is something every parent and educator needs to hear.In this

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25:46

Why Every Child Feels Loved Differently — And How to...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/04/23

In this episode, I sit down with early childhood education expert Angela McEwen to explore one of the most transformative ideas I've encountered in how my work on love languages translates beyond romantic relationships — all the way into the classroom and the home. Angela has been applying the framework from my book directly with her preschool students, and the results are nothing short of remarkable. From a non-English-speaking boy who finally felt seen, to a chore wheel that stopped sparking

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15:21

Why Giving Kids Control Is the Secret to Calming Them...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/04/09

Every parent has been there — the meltdown, the screaming, the feeling that nothing you say or do is going to get through. This week, I sat down again with early childhood expert Angela MacEwen, whose decades of experience caring for children (including those who've experienced significant trauma) have given her a remarkably clear-eyed understanding of what kids actually need in their most challenging moments.Welcome to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. Angela walks us through some of the most practical

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14:24

How Children's Love Languages Can Transform Your...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/03/30

In this episode of Now I Get It with Dr. Andy, I'm joined by Angela MacEwen, a veteran child development expert who helped design San Francisco's citywide childcare plan during COVID-19. Angela shares how she applied the concepts from my upcoming book, Love Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love, inside her preschool classroom — identifying each child's love language through body language and personality cues, and even rethinking classroom chore charts so only the kids who genuinely love

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25:21

Are Screens Rewiring Our Children's Brains? The Child...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/03/05

Welcome to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. In this episode, I sit down with Angela MacEwen, a lifelong child development expert and former site supervisor at Friends of St. Francis — a distinguished San Francisco preschool specializing in the care of traumatized children. Angela made headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic when her plan for safely reopening childcare for essential workers became the citywide model. Today, she's bringing an even more urgent message: after decades of working with young

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11:12

Why Police Accountability Protects Every Officer:...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/02/19

Today, I tackle one of the most critical and challenging conversations we need to have in America right now—the intersection of law enforcement heroism and accountability. While there are truly heroic police officers who risk their lives to protect and serve and deserve our deepest gratitude, recent events have forced us to confront systemic issues that threaten the safety of everyone, including the good officers themselves.Welcome to this important episode of Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. I'm

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6:36

Uncovering Border Patrol Shooting Patterns: What a...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/02/05

In this episode of Now I Get It, I'm diving into a 2012 government report that's been sitting on the Customs and Border Patrol website, and what it reveals is deeply disturbing. This report examines patterns in border shooting incidents, particularly those involving motor vehicles, and uncovers a troubling practice where agents may be intentionally positioning themselves in the path of vehicles to create justification for using deadly force. The findings suggest that rather than employing defensive

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7:06

Love Lost — and Found Again: How to Stop the...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/01/15

In this episode of Now I Get It, I take a hard, compassionate look at one of the most tragic patterns I see in relationships: what I call the death spiral. It’s the painful process where two people genuinely love each other, yet slowly drift apart—not because love is gone, but because it’s never truly felt. I explain how our personalities shape the way we give and receive love, and why so many couples unknowingly miss each other despite constant effort.I walk through how this spiral begins with good

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4:30

When Military Power Crosses a Line: What “Harm’s Way”...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2026/01/01

Welcome back to Now I Get It. In this episode, I break down a term we hear all the time in national security conversations but rarely slow down to understand: harm’s way. I explore how this concept is traditionally defined in U.S. military policy, why it matters, and how it’s being challenged by the current use of remote warfare. Using the recent drone-led attacks in the Caribbean as a backdrop, I look at what happens when technology distances human operators from physical danger—yet still places

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8:59

How a Government Shutdown Reveals the Dark Reality of...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2025/12/18

In this episode, I break down what really happened during the recent government shutdown—and why it matters far beyond the headlines. I walk you through how the standoff between Republicans and Democrats over healthcare funding put millions at risk, and how the political maneuvering behind closed doors quietly determined the fate of those lives. From the targeted removal of Obamacare subsidies to deep cuts in Medicaid, I unpack how these policy choices translate into real-world consequences,

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8:54

The Hidden Power of “Paltry”: How Half-Truths Shape...

Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy ·

2025/12/04

In this episode of Now I Get It, I take you into the subtle—but dangerous—world of paltry: the art of lying by telling nothing but the truth. Through stories pulled from literature, current events, and political reporting, I show how selective truth-telling can create powerful false impressions without ever crossing the line into an outright lie. It’s a communication tactic hiding in plain sight, and once you see it, you start noticing it everywhere.I share examples from Pride and Prejudice, the

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54 results

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