{"podcast":{"title":"Big Questions with Cal Fussman","slug":"big-questions-with-cal-fussman-9404","podcast_index_feed_id":9404,"rss_url":"https://bigquestions-calfussman.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://www.calfussman.com/podcast","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/2/6/a/2/26a240670f26b2b2/bigquestions.jpg","author":"Midroll Media","episode_count":446,"summary":"As a bestselling author, speaker and one of the greatest interviewers of this generation, Cal Fussman has sat down with some of the world's most influential individuals: Muhammad Ali, Mikhail Gorbachev, Serena Williams, Jeff Bezos, Jack Welch, John Wooden, Al Pacino and hundreds of others, digging deep into their hearts and delivering their wisdom to the rest of the world. Now, in Big Questions, Cal continues his journey. Uncovering the heart, head, and soul of his guests in thoughtful, deep and entertaining conversations.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-07T16:19:42.182101+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/big-questions-with-cal-fussman-9404"},"episode":{"title":"Founder vs. Cancer: A Real-Life Hail Mary","slug":"founder-vs-cancer-a-real-life-hail-mary","published_at":"2026-03-31T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/big-questions-with-cal-fussman-9404/founder-vs-cancer-a-real-life-hail-mary","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/big-questions-with-cal-fussman-9404","url":"https://bigquestions-calfussman.libsyn.com/founder-vs-cancer-a-real-life-hail-mary","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/bigquestions-calfussman/Big_Questions-S04-170-TheStoryteller-V01.mp3?dest-id=767084","summary":"After watching Project Hail Mary, Cal sees more than a sci-fi story about saving the stars—he sees a blueprint for how humans might survive the age of AI. That insight leads him to a real-life story even more extraordinary. When tech founder Sid Sijbrandij is diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer, the traditional medical system eventually runs out of answers. Most people would accept that outcome. Sid does the opposite. He treats his own disease like an open- source problem—gathering data, building a team, and chasing solutions across the globe with the same mindset that helped build GitLab into a billion-dollar company. With the help of AI, Cal translates this complex scientific journey into a human story anyone can follow. One that's filled with pancakes, partnerships, love, and a radical idea: What if the future of survival—against disease, against uncertainty, against AI itself—belongs to those who adapt fastest? This episode is about more than cancer. It's about how humans fight back.","meta_description":"After watching Project Hail Mary, Cal sees more than a sci-fi story about saving the stars—he sees a blueprint for how humans might survive the age of AI.…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3662,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/big-questions-with-cal-fussman-9404/episodes/founder-vs-cancer-a-real-life-hail-mary/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/big-questions-with-cal-fussman-9404/founder-vs-cancer-a-real-life-hail-mary.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}