Episode
"It's cognitive uploading" | How Google NotebookLM's Steven Johnson uses AI as a second brain
- Podcast
- Future Around & Find Out
- Published
- Jun 2, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2595
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://share.transistor.fm/s/5f380fb6
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Summary
Steven Johnson dreamed of building the ultimate research assistant. Now he's doing just that at Google, where he's the co-founder and editorial director of NotebookLM. It's one of the most interesting AI products out there. It radically changes how we learn, research, and remember — and the "notebook" itself is becoming a standard unit of knowledge across Google, rolling out in more and more places where AI needs to reference a body of sources. In this episode, the author of _Where Good Ideas Come From_ explains how AI is making him a better researcher and writer — and why tools like NotebookLM are so powerful when you're trying to make new connections, remember what you've already found, and figure out what's missing. There's a lot of fear right now that AI is making us dumber. That by relying on it too much, we're engaging in "cognitive offloading" and stunting our learning. That's a real risk, especially in schools. But Steven says we should also be talking about what you can gain from AI — and the power of something he calls "cognitive uploading." Resources: * Google NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google/ * Steven Johnson: https://stevenberlinjohnson.com/ Support Future Around & Find Out: * Follow Dan on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dblums/ * Get the free newsletter: https://www.futurearound.com * Become a paid subscriber and help future proof FAFO! https://www.futurearound.com/upgrade (00:00) - If you are interested in truly understanding something, this is the greatest time to be alive (01:25) - Steven's controversial NYT piece and the cold call from Google Labs (02:55) - Who NotebookLM's power users are (04:40) - The notebook as a new format for knowledge (06:20) - Featured notebooks: earnings reports, Shakespeare, and Dungeons & Dragons (11:00)…