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In this episode of The Dejargonizer Podcast, leading Syria and Lebanon expert Carmit Valensi, head of the Northern Arena Program at Israel's Tel Aviv University Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and former IDF intelligence analyst, takes us on a wild road trip through the sinister world of Captagon, the dangerous drug fueling terrorism in the Middle East. Valensi is the perfect guide to explore Captagon's role in funding terrorist activities, the Assad regime's involvement, and the potential global spillover of this dangerous substance.

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"He'd Be So Pissed If We Shut Down"- How a Mission-Driven Startup Deals With Its Founder's Sudden Death

This episode of The Dejargonizer Podcast is dedicated to the memory of Adam Bismuth, the founder and CEO of SightBit, an AI-powered anti-drowning startup that's hoping to "bring Baywatch into the 21st Century".

Adam, who served as an advanced master sergeant in the reserves, died in battle inside the Gaza Strip on 22 January, 2024. He was 35 years old.

Founded in 2018 after Adam witnessed a drowning in 2019, SightBit uses computer vision on cameras installed at beaches and lakes to give lifeguards real-time drowning alerts.

The company's Chief Technology Officer Itamar Gur, and Chief Business Officer Maayan Padan are my guests on this special episode.

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Doesn't it seem that some people, many people in fact, will believe anything these days?

How do seemingly normal and intelligent people fall for ridiculous conspiracy theories without question? What's happening to our ability to discern between the plausible and the preposterous?

Guy Tytunovich, co-founder and CEO of bot-mitigation company Cheq, takes us into a shadowy and automated underworld where authoritarian regimes deploy armies of robotic avatars (bots) on social media platforms, especially around elections.

Their aim: tear Western societies from within, peddle and amplify conspiracy theories based on disinformation, and weaken democratic societies.

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In this episode we focus on the story of Dr. Ofer Grosbard, a clinical psychologist who was hired by Israel's military intelligence to enhance its understanding in enemy profiling. Tasked with incorporating psychological insights, Dr. Grosbard aimed to reshape the unit's analytical approach. Despite initial optimism, he faced resistance and a lack of actionable response to his recommendations. After six months of trying to implement change and encourage open discussions, Dr. Grosbard left the unit, citing a failure to break through the entrenched analytical and cultural biases. His journey highlights the challenges of integrating cross-cultural psychology into military intelligence.

Learn about the emotional bonds military intelligence analysts form with targets, and how these connections impact decision-making. Learn about the value of incorporating psychological tendencies like mild depression or minor paranoia to create a more balanced strategic outlook. Dr. Grossbard's compelling insights challenge the conventional wisdom of military intelligence, encouraging a profound shift in the way we engage with global security strategies. This episode promises to shift your perspective on the intricate web of psychological and cultural factors influencing military intelligence today.

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• 32% of those aged 18-29 get their news from TikTok, per Pew Research.
• Spending at least 30 minutes a day on TikTok increases the chances a user will hold antisemitic or anti-Israel views by 17% (compared with 6% for Instagram and 2% for X).
• For every TikTok video view with a pro-Israel hashtag in the US, there are 54 views with pro-Palestinian hashtags.
• 5 of the top 6 hashtags on TikTok relating to the conflict are all pro-Palestinian.

Israel is getting slaughtered in the TikTok War. This episode dives into how and why.

Our guide into TikTok's overwhelming pro-Palestinian slant is Anthony Goldbloom, a data scientist and former CEO of Kaggle, which was sold to Google in 2017. Anthony is working on his next company Sumble.

Anthony unpacks his data analysis efforts to understand the balance of pro-Palestinian versus pro-Israeli content on TikTok, and why it has such a powerful impact shaping young people's views on this conflict.

Anthony Goldblum data about TikTok and anti-Semitism

Anthony Goldblum data about TikTok hashtags on pro-Palestinian to pro-Israel content

All the charts, code and data available on Github

Pew Poll: American views of Israel

Jeff Morris Jr.: The TikTok War: Why High School & College Kids Are Getting The Wrong Information about Hamas & Israel

TikTok Newsroom: The truth about TikTok hashtags and content during the Israel-Hamas war

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What if a popular messaging app is reshaping warfare? We're about to take you on a journey into the nexus of technology, warfare, and propaganda, with our insightful guest, Ari Ben-Am, Co-founder of Telemetry Data Labs, a startup that's building a search engine for Telegram.

Ari is an expert in "memetic warfare," the strategic use of memes, viral images, and culturally resonant symbols to influence public opinion or disrupt an adversary's narrative in the modern digital battlefield.

We'll unpack the role of Telegram, a tool for 800 million users worldwide, and a platform for both kinetic and cyber warfare, now being exploited by groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and their patron Iran. With its unregulated nature and distinct usage patterns across the globe, we'll explore how this messaging app has become a central battleground in war.

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AI expert Rebecca Gorman from AlignedAI simplifies AI concepts like alignment and existential risk. She explains how her company Aligned AI helps AIs learn faster, identify unknowns, and act cautiously - just like a parent teaches a toddler.

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We need to talk about what happens after we flush our toilets.

For many of us listening to this podcast, our wastewater just magically disappears.
But for around 80% of the world's population that isn't the case.
Around the world, sanitation and sewage treatment is patchy, if it exists at all.
This causes disease as wastewater is dumped into rivers and waterways.

Clive Lipchin, founder of Laguna Innovation, explains how his decentralized, solar-powered wastewater treatment system could save lives by turning sewage into clean, reusable water for crops. By treating wastewater on-site and giving it back to farmers, Laguna aims to build climate resilience and food security for vulnerable communities lacking sanitation infrastructure.

He explains how climate change exacerbates sanitation challenges, and how decentralized, circular water systems are key to adaptation and resilience for vulnerable farmers.

Listen to learn how Laguna's wastewater tech could transform sanitation from a hidden crisis into an engine of sustainability.

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