Podcast Summary
Meet Simone Giertz: The Incredible Inventor and Roboticist: Simone Giertz is a talented inventor and roboticist who creates fun designs and inventions. She loves making things and takes pride in showing people what she's made. Her passion for electronics and robotics began when she built an iPhone case with retractable guitar strings.
Simone Giertz is an inventor, designer, engineer, and roboticist who creates incredible and fun designs and inventions. She has a popular YouTube channel where she showcases her work, including converting a Tesla Model 3 into a truck. Simone fell in love with creating things from an early age and has pursued it as a career. She considers the feeling of pride and showing people something she made as the backbone of her career. Simone built her first hardware project, an iPhone case with retractable guitar strings, when she was working at an SF engineering firm, which led to her passion for electronics and robotics.
How Simone Giertz Built an iPhone App Despite Limited Programming Knowledge: Keep pushing through your first project, even when it feels challenging. Set deadlines and keep your end goal in sight to motivate yourself to finish.
Simone Giertz, a non-engineering person, built her first iPhone app with a multi-touch sensing screen without much knowledge of programming. She struggled with the project but never gave up and found motivation when she realized that she could pull it off. Her project had deadlines which created pressure and also helped her stick to her goal. Simone's key takeaway for people struggling with their first project is to keep pushing, even if it feels like you're headed for a dead end. If you can see the horizon and the end goal, it becomes easier to stick through and motivate yourself to finish the project.
YouTuber Simone Giertz: Solving Everyday Problems with Creative Inventions: Simone Giertz designs solutions for everyday problems and believes objects can be improved to work better for people. She is creating a show exploring the design of common objects and their impact on behavior.
Simone Giertz, a YouTuber, is driven by a desire to solve everyday problems and create objects that work better for people. She spent two and a half years designing a coat hanger to solve a problem of inadequate space in her home, and plans to release it as a product in the future. She is also working on a pilot episode of a show about everyday objects and why they look the way they do, such as forks and doorknobs, and how they affect our behavior. She believes that the world around us is malleable and that objects can be made to work better for us.
How Everyday Objects Reflect our Culture and Behavior: Simone Giertz uses her lack of skills to her advantage and has learned to use self-deprecation only when it helps her, not harms her. Questioning everyday objects can reveal a lot about our society.
Simone Giertz discusses the interesting way in which culture and human behavior are reflected through everyday objects. She notes that we often never question these objects, even though they have a significant impact on our lives. Throughout her career, she has learned to flip her flaws into selling points, using her lack of skills as an advantage in certain situations. She also discusses her initial self-deprecation as a survival tactic, particularly as a woman in a male-dominated field. However, as she has grown in her career, she has learned to only use self-deprecation when it is beneficial to her, rather than harmful.
Building a Personal Brand with Self-Deprecation and Wit: Building a personal brand online requires a good balance of self-deprecation and intelligence. Sharing successes and failures through humor can help develop a unique personality that resonates with audiences. This approach can be applied to a variety of content formats, including scientific papers and marketing efforts.
Building a personal brand on the internet requires the skill of self-deprecation, balancing it with intelligence, and wit. Simone Giertz and Lex Fridman discuss the reality of the internet where many brilliant people avoid putting their work out into the world due to various failure modes such as being too boring or too much of an expert. Giertz found success in developing a good process of showing her work and personality by humorously and self-deprecatingly sharing her successes and failures while not taking herself too seriously. The exercise of creating content that can be translated into a seven-second looping video without audio can be applied to scientific papers and marketing efforts.
Simone Giertz: From Weird Hardware Ideas to Full-Time Inventor and Actor: Simone Giertz's side projects, like the toothbrush helmet, led to her successful career as an inventor and actor. Don't be afraid to pursue your own creative ideas and passions.
Simone Giertz started building hardware projects for a brand in San Francisco but felt limited in showing her weirder ideas. She started building them on the side and created a toothbrush helmet by assembling a kit robot arm called me arm controlled by an Arduino. She then made a gif of herself brushing her teeth with the helmet and posted it on Reddit, receiving around 50,000 views. Creating these projects on the side eventually became her full-time job within six months. Simone wanted to create a kids show about electronics in Sweden and sent a pilot episode to a TV network, but they didn't get back to her. She eventually found her own voice through making her own videos and creating products while playing the role of herself as an actor.
Simone Giertz on the Importance of Embracing Imperfection in Robot Making: Engineers should not shy away from imperfection in their robot creations, as flawed robots can create a more relatable and intimate connection with humans who have a social element to their interactions with dynamic objects.
Simone Giertz, a YouTuber and inventor, explains that her online persona is a condensed version of herself, focusing on scripted jokes and polished videos. Nevertheless, her real-life self still shines through in her videos. Giertz's challenging Breakfast robot project required precision and many takes, leading to a mess of Cheerios and sticky floors. While engineering and process-oriented skills are necessary to create robots, having a flawed or "shitty" robot can also endear it to people and allow for a more intimate connection. Humans have a social element to their interactions with dynamic objects, including robots, which should be embraced instead of avoided.
The Potential Dangers of Emotional Damage Caused by Intimate Relationships with AI Robots: Emotional harm from AI relationships is a real concern and we need to be cautious of companies manipulating our love for machines. Despite the risk, people are still capable of falling in love with AI.
The conversation between Simone Giertz and Lex Fridman delves into the potential dangers of emotional damage caused by intimate relationships with artificial intelligence chatbots and robots. Though physical damage is commonly thought of in regards to safety protocols, emotional damage must also be considered. The idea of creating AI versions of ourselves to date and interact with thousands of other AI people in order to determine compatibility is discussed. The concept of loving machines like pets is presented, but caution is urged as companies can use such love to manipulate their users. Despite the potential for danger, people have and can fall in love with machines.
Simone Giertz: Creating Humor Through Creative Problem Solving: Simone Giertz is a creative problem solver who uses humor to solve everyday problems. She collaborates with engineers and her work highlights the joy and humor in everyday life.
Simone Giertz is a creative problem solver who has created both "shitty robots" and more functional products, such as a machine that plays music from a popped sheet of bubble wrap. Her process involves identifying everyday problems and coming up with ridiculous or ingenious solutions. She often collaborates with an engineer to bring her ideas to life. One of her most recent creations is the "proud parent machine," which charges a quarter and delivers encouraging messages in a parent's voice. Giertz's work is a commentary on emotional relationships and highlights the joy and humor in everyday life.
Simone Giertz's Week-Long Study of Bubble Wrap: Using a squishy material like a yoga mat makes for more reliable bubble popping, and consider if college is the right fit for you before investing in it.
Simone Giertz spent a week studying bubble wrap to figure out the best material to pop it with. She realized that a squishy material like a yoga mat prevents air from escaping and pops the bubbles more reliably. There were also different qualities of bubble wrap that allowed air to transfer between different bubbles instead of popping them. While Simone did attend college for physics, she dropped out after realizing it wasn't the right fit for her. She believes that people should really consider if college is right for them, especially considering how expensive it is in the United States.
Gain Hands-On Experience Before Choosing a Career Path: Don't solely rely on your resume to choose a career path. Get involved in the field you're interested in to find what inspires you and allows you to fulfill your potential. Overcoming challenges on this journey can be rewarding.
Gain hands-on experience in the field you are interested in pursuing before committing to it as a career. It is important to understand not only what you want to do but also the context in which you want to do it. The resume should not be the primary concern when choosing a path, but rather finding something that inspires you and allows you to fulfill your potential. College can provide valuable experiences and connections, but it is not necessary to find your passion and pursue it. Finally, the process of overcoming difficult challenges and achieving your goals can be highly satisfying and fulfilling.
Simone Giertz on her life-changing TED talk invention: Don't be afraid to push boundaries and be edgy in your content. It's okay to say "f-you" to the system, as long as you remain a decent role model for others while acknowledging your flaws. And who knows - your TED talk invention could become a part of your everyday life!
Simone Giertz talks about her rotating shoulder rig device that she created for her TED talk, which has become one of the few projects she uses in everyday life. She initially created it to introduce variety and an element of surprise in her life. However, she admits that she never used it beyond the TED talk. She also discusses being edgy in her content and deciding early on not to cater to children, even though her projects are colorful and fun. Simone believes that being able to say the f-you to the system is okay, as it allows her to be a decent enough role model while acknowledging that humans are flawed.
Simone Giertz's Battle with a Brain Tumor: It's important to listen to your body and seek medical attention if something doesn't feel right, as early detection can make a significant impact on treatment outcomes.
Simone Giertz, a YouTuber and TED talk speaker, found out she had a brain tumor shortly after her talk. Her mother noticed a swollen eye and pushed her to see a doctor. She had an MRI and was told that she had a tumor the size of a golf ball that had probably been growing since she was a teenager. She underwent surgery and radiation treatment to remove it. Despite making light-hearted videos about it, she admits to being scared because having a tumor in the brain is an unfathomable thing. Simone's experience shows the importance of listening to our bodies and getting checked out when something feels off.
Simone Giertz's Journey Through Brain Surgery and Recovery: Simone's experience taught her to appreciate life and question medical treatment plans. Recovery after surgery can be clearer than radiation treatment, but it's important to advocate for oneself and cherish each moment.
Simone Giertz underwent brain surgery and radiation treatment after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. While the surgeries were intense and terrifying, she was surprised to find that the recovery process was clearer after surgery. Radiation treatments, on the other hand, left her feeling drained and unlike herself. Despite her experience, she found it hard to critically question her doctors and their treatment plan. Her experience changed her relationship with life, as it made her realize the fragility of her own mortality. Ultimately, she learned to appreciate and be grateful for the life she had, even if it were to end early.
Redefining self-care and building healthy habits: When faced with illness or challenge, prioritize listening to your body and taking care of yourself. Simple tools, like Simone's Everyday Calendar, can help build habits that promote overall wellbeing.
Going through illness forces you to redefine what it means to be good to yourself. Instead of pushing yourself really hard, being good means listening to your body and resting. This experience has made Simone Giertz more gentle and delicate with herself and with others. It's important to take care of your body and appreciate the biological vehicle you have been given. Simone designed an accountability art piece called the everyday calendar to help build the habit of meditation. It serves as a reminder of the importance of taking care of yourself and has become a product she sells through her business, The Yet Door.
How Simone Giertz Turned Her YouTube Channel into a Product Business: Simone Giertz's experience creating the Everyday Calendar taught her the importance of quality control in manufacturing and the need to diversify her influencer business. She now uses her YouTube channel as an R&D department for new products.
Simone Giertz, a maker of machines and a YouTube influencer, created the Everyday Calendar to make a "more beautiful" and "more sacred gold star system on a wall, not a notebook that gets thrown into a drawer." Although she faced challenges in manufacturing the calendars, she learned valuable lessons, such as quality control being a beast and that manufacturing one item is entirely different from making ten thousand. Simone also recognized the fragility of her influencer business, which inspired the diversification into a product business. She turns her YouTube channel into an R&D department, exploring and testing new products with her audience.
Simone Giertz's Unique Product Line and Creative Process: Simone Giertz's Yeti store offers inventive products that solve everyday problems. Her creative process involves brainstorming, drawing, and schematics, ultimately creating visually appealing products with a unique function.
Simone Giertz's Yeti store offers a range of unique products that are designed to solve everyday problems. While developing products is an upfront and heavy investment, her small roster of products offers a glimpse into her tonality and visual language. One of her products, the incomplete puzzle, which only includes 499 pieces, has been surprisingly popular. She also offers a range of basket fillers like the sawdust socks and screwdriver ring, among others. Her creative process involves brainstorming, drawing, and creating schematics, but she acknowledges that the outcome may not always be what she initially imagined. Ultimately, she aims to create products that have a unique function that is visually appealing.
Simone Giertz on Turning Personal Projects into Marketable Products: Simone Giertz emphasizes balancing simplicity, attractiveness, and feasibility in product design. Start by creating the best possible version and then make adjustments to achieve a product that is both useful and cost-effective.
Simone Giertz, a renowned inventor and YouTuber, shares her design process and experience in turning her personal projects into marketable products. Initially, she creates her designs for herself and later evaluates if they could be useful for others too. For instance, her "everyday calendar" initially had 365 mechanical toggle switches, but realizing the high production cost, she opted for a touch interface. In the product design process, it is crucial to balance simplicity and attractiveness within a feasible price point. While many compromises are made to achieve this, Giertz believes in creating the best possible version and then maneuvering from there.
Building an Electric Pickup Truck with Simone Giertz: Safety is crucial when working with cars and caution must be taken with the potential for destruction on a large scale when dealing with industrial robotics. Reusing parts can help save money and achieve visually pleasing results.
Simone Giertz, a robotics enthusiast, discusses her experience building an electric pickup truck in an interview with Lex Fridman. She emphasizes the importance of safety when working on cars, especially because of the risk of harming oneself or others. While aesthetics were not initially a priority for the truck, the final product turned out to be visually pleasing. Giertz also talks about being prudent with her budget and reusing parts from earlier projects. She highlights the concerning side of robotics- the potential for destruction on a large scale, alarming her when witnessing industrial robot arms in action.
Simone Giertz on the Possibility of Militarized Robots and the Future Risks of Artificial Intelligence.: While excited about technology, Simone Giertz calls attention to the potential for misuse of robots and artificial intelligence, emphasizing the importance of considering negative consequences and designing robots that are less robotic.
Simone Giertz, a robot builder and YouTuber, expresses her concerns about the potential for robots to be militarized and fears of the future where robots will be used to kill each other. While she acknowledges the excitement in the advancement of language models and artificial intelligence, she also recognizes the potential for negative consequences, such as manipulating individuals' worldviews and radicalization. Additionally, she talks about her experiences in building robots and the ways in which she tries to make them more organic and less robotic. Despite not anthropomorphizing them herself, she acknowledges how others may do so if the robots surprise them.
Simone Giertz's Journey from MMA Reporter to YouTube Inventor: Simone Giertz pursued her love for martial arts and overcame language and cultural barriers to become a successful maker and inventor on YouTube. Follow your passions and never stop exploring new experiences.
Simone Giertz, a well-known YouTuber and inventor, reveals in a conversation with Lex Fridman her past as an MMA reporter and how she got into it through her love for martial arts. Despite getting kicked out of an interview with the famous fighter Alexander Gustafsson, she gained insight into the athleticism and skill that goes into MMA. Having experienced cultural differences as a student in China, she explains the challenges of the language barrier and adapting to a foreign culture. However, Simone's passion for exploring new experiences and experimenting with inventions has led to her current success as a maker and inventor on YouTube.
Simone Giertz on Cultural Differences and Enthusiasm in Life: Enthusiasm is the key to a fulfilling life, and cultural differences should be celebrated. Don't let boredom stop you from pursuing important things, and cultivate a lifelong passion for learning.
Simone Giertz is a creator, engineer, and designer who has experienced living in different countries. She shared that constantly being stared at as a foreigner made her uncomfortable, but moving to Kenya allowed her to appreciate the cultural differences in the United States. Although she has had a restless life of moving around, Simone finds comfort in the people around her, but cannot feel fully at home anywhere. She advises young people that enthusiasm is a more potent fuel in life than duty, and that just because something is boring doesn't mean that it's not important. She believes that schools do not teach us how to stay excited about something and stay enthusiastic.
Finding Your Sweet Spot: Identify your strengths and passions to find the right fit. Approach your work with integrity as your online presence reflects your brand. Build a community and work on joint goals for a sense of satisfaction.
Focus on finding the sweet spot between what you are good at and what brings you joy. It's not about doing what is easy or what is hard, but rather what comes naturally to you and gives you effortless momentum and enthusiasm. Taking the time to figure out your strengths and weaknesses, and finding a workplace or project that caters to those strengths can help you find the right fit. It's also important to approach your work with integrity, as anything you do on the internet is like a tattoo on your online persona. Finally, building a community and working on joint goals with others can bring a sense of pride and satisfaction that is difficult to achieve alone.
Defining Your Own Version of Success: Success is personal and doesn't have to be based on external measures, like popularity or income. Focus on being proud of your work and having control over your time, which can lead to a fulfilling life. Creating and sharing something beautiful can be empowering.
Defining your own version of success is crucial, especially when working on the internet where there are countless measures of success. Simone Giertz emphasizes the importance of being proud of the work you put out and having control over how you spend your time rather than having the biggest YouTube channel or making the most money. By doing so, you can wake up every morning and choose what you want to do, which ultimately leads to a fulfilling life. Additionally, creating something beautiful and sharing that love at scale can be scary but empowering. Simone's designs and "shitty robots" inspire others and showcase the best combination of design, engineering, and fun.
