Useful Fiction w August Cole
MAD Warfare Podcast
Do your stories shape the future—or do they quietly shape you first? And when the next war shows up wearing a hoodie, a meme, and a “totally harmless” plotline… how would we even recognize it? In this episode, we talk with August Cole — co-author of Ghost Fleet and Burn In and co-founder of Useful Fiction — about why fiction can do what white papers can’t: grab attention, build foresight, and help people rehearse decisions before reality demands them. We get into “strategic surprise,” why the information environment is the missing chapter of the last decade, and what it means...
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Subversive Reality w Mike Ross
MAD Warfare Podcast
Do your ideas belong to you—or are they secretly running the show? If identities can calcify into cages, how do you melt them back into something alive? In this episode, we talk with therapist and writer Mike Ross about the weird life of ideas: how they form, how they spread, and how they quietly start making decisions for us. We go from punk rock and tattoos to liminal spaces, Robin Williams, Gen Alpha chaos (“67”), emotional granularity, and Mike’s concept of cognitive alchemy—naming and reshaping the stories and feelings that shape us. If you’ve ever felt lonely online, stuck in...
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Cognitive Security w Matt Canham
MAD Warfare Podcast
What if your worst enemy wasn’t a foreign adversary—but a virtual clone of you? A digital twin that knows your habits, your cravings, your blind spots. It knows when you’re tired. When you’re distracted. When you’re easiest to influence. Sounds like Black Mirror. It isn’t. In this episode, we sit down with Matt Canham—former FBI supervisory special agent, trainer to NASA and DARPA, and founder of the Cognitive Security Institute—to talk about digital twins, social engineering, and why the human mind is now the primary target. This is a conversation about prediction ,...
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The Info War w Andrea Hickerson
MAD Warfare Podcast
Who wins when nobody knows what to trust? If the biggest national security threat isn’t hackers or spies—but bad communication—what happens next? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Andrea Hickerson, Dean of Journalism at the University of Mississippi and founding director of the new Center for Information Advantage & Effectiveness, to distill how information actually moves, mutates, and manipulates us. From deepfakes and dashboards to sports rumors, betting markets, and why “media literacy” might be the wrong fix entirely—this is a conversation about how narrative, tone, and...
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Cognitive Security in a Noisy World w John Bicknell
MAD Warfare Podcast
What happens when the information environment becomes too loud for the human brain to handle? And why does it feel like everyone — kids, adults, institutions, governments — is getting overwhelmed at the same time? We sit down with John Bicknell, former Marine and host of The Cognitive Crucible, to talk about the cognitive overload shaping modern life: from teenagers buckling under algorithmic pressure… to countries struggling to manage complexity… to why some global actors might actually weaponize chaos itself. ⸻ Key Topics • Why different groups (teen girls, teen boys,...
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The War Within w Nicholas Wright
MAD Warfare Podcast
What if your brain isn’t a peace-loving hippie at heart…but a very polite war machine trying its best? In this episode, Dr. Nicholas Wright — neuroscientist, former neurologist, advisor to the Pentagon, and author of Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain — walks us through why our minds are wired for conflict, why that doesn’t mean we’re doomed, and how better self-knowledge might literally save civilizations. We get into everything from nuclear deterrence and TikTok anxiety to Love Island, shitstorming, and why the “nice” Terminator is the role...
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May the Best Story Win w Rand Waltzman
MAD Warfare Podcast
Ep 019: May the Best Story Win w Rand Walzman Before “fake news” or ChatGPT, one computer scientist asked a dangerous question: could a machine invent believable lies? That was 1985. Dr. Rand Waltzman went on to shape DARPA’s research into social media and information influence. This work helped define what we now call “cognitive security.” We talk about how those early experiments connect to today’s manipulation economy, why emotion is the real battlefield, and why the biggest threat isn’t the tech … it’s US. 😬 Key Topics • The...
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You Are Not the Villain w Nate Ragolia
MAD Warfare Podcast
What if the story running your life isn’t yours at all? Author and publisher Nate Ragolia (Brink Literacy Project) joins us to talk about how the stories we inherit—about who we are, what we deserve, and what we’re capable of—shape everything. From teaching creative writing in prisons to publishing comics by people society wrote off, Nate’s work shows what happens when people stop living inside someone else’s narrative and start writing their own. Key Topics Why the stories we believe decide what we see—and who we become How Brink uses story to rebuild...
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Know Thy Enemies w Sonia Van Meter
MAD Warfare Podcast
What’s the worst possible headline someone could write about you, using nothing but public records? That’s opposition research. Sonia Van Meter, managing partner of Stanford Campaigns, shows us how to use it–to your prosperity … or to your peril. Key Topics What opposition research really is (and isn’t) Why oppo is about narrative, not “silver bullets” “Self-research”: knowing your own vulnerabilities before anyone else does Tone as strategy: how to hit hard without looking cruel Strategic patience—when not to respond and let others do...
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Reputation Warfare w Simon Paterson
MAD Warfare Podcast
What do extremists, trolls, and corporate boardrooms have in common? They’re all in the business of narrative warfare. Simon Paterson went from “smiting the Queen’s enemies” in UK military intelligence to advising Fortune 100 companies on how not to get wrecked by disinfo. Turns out: memes, lies, and smear campaigns can be just as effective as missiles. And no, “just ignore it” is not a strategy. This episode takes you from the battlefield to the boardroom—where trust is the real target, and narrative resilience is the only shield that matters. Key Topics ...
info_outlineIf you could replicate your own brain, what would you have it do? And if everyone could do it (even your worst nemeses) ... what could POSSIBLY GO WRONG.
Buckle up, because this is when "what if" turns into "what's next." In this episode, Chris Acha—our big brained tiny organoid maestro—takes us on a wild tour inside the fascinating world of brain organoids.
From electrifying brain cells (yes, we mean literally shocking them) to teaching them to play pong, Chris takes us through the mind-blowing tech and science out there with a generous dash of humor. But its not just bio-spider crawling pong playin’ scifi robots, these tiny wonders might just be the secret sauce to a smarter, more playful future!
Key Topics Discussed:
• Neuroscience Miracles: A look at breakthroughs like deep brain stimulation, brain plasticity, and targeted reactivation for enhanced prosthetics.
• Brain Organoids Explained: What they are, how they’re grown from pluripotent stem cells, and why these miniature neural networks are revolutionizing research.
• Micro Integrated Bioelectronics: Chris’s work on self-folding microelectrode arrays that capture three-dimensional neural signals from brain organoids.
• Learning & AI Potential: The playful experiments from training organoids to play pong to the promise of speech recognition and beyond.
• Ethical and Funding Challenges: Reflections on the legacy of Henrietta Lacks, the importance of ethical research, and the urgent need for investment in this transformative field.
• Future Horizons: Speculations on how organoid intelligence could reshape computing, medicine, and even national security in the coming years.
Notable Quotes:
• “The brain holds about 2.5 petabytes of data – a testament to its incredible efficiency.”
• “Organoid intelligence might just be the ultimate brainchild of bio-computing, merging biology with technology in ways we’re only beginning to imagine.”
Resources and Links:
• Connect with Chris Acha on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-acha-1b29b6168/
• Cortical labs:
https://corticallabs.com/
• The Dartmouth project on AI:
https://home.dartmouth.edu/about/artificial-intelligence-ai-coined-dartmouth
• Hebbian Theory:
https://neurosciencenews.com/wire-fire-neurons-19835/
• NAE grand challenges for engineering:
https://www.engineeringchallenges.org/9109.aspx
• John Hopkins Applied Physics Lab:
https://www.jhuapl.edu/
• Brain organic reservoir computing for artificial intelligence:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41928-023-01069-w
• Embryonic stem cells:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp5H3SslskQ&t=65s
Connect with Us:
• Email: madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madwarfare/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MADWarfarePodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madwarfarepodcast/
Sponsor Message:
Interested in sponsoring our podcast? Reach out to us at madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com for special pricing and unique opportunities to promote your business, book, or message.
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MAD Warfare™️ is hosted by narrative strategist Jocelyn Brady and cognitive neuroscientist Sean Anthony Guillory. Edited and produced by Amine el Filali and recorded by Trent Denson. Visit our website at madwarfare.com for extra giggles. And send your wishes, weird ideas, dream guests, and sponsorship inquiries to madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com.
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FAIR USE: This show is MAD enough to include homages, short clips, and references that provide vital context and/or moments of joy. We DEEPLY respect every creator’s work and use these moments purely for educational, artistic, and transformative purposes under Fair Use. If we are missing attributions or you would like to collaborate, please reach out—we’re always happy to chat!