{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Pragmatic AI with Matt Stauffer","title":"Building a Self-Directed PhD With Claude AI","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4560,"description":"In this episode, Matt Stauffer talks with software engineer and self-described \"Renegade Historian\" Dave Stanton, who has built an entire AI-driven workflow that lets him program — and write a 400-page history book — almost entirely by voice from his phone.They get into the nuts and bolts: an always-on Mac Mini running stacked Claude Code sessions in tmux, SSH access from anywhere, voice-to-text tools, and a self-designed \"PhD\" where Sonnet plays research assistant and Opus plays a hypercritical dissertation chair, with every critique tracked as a GitHub issue. Dave explains why the book itself was never really the goal.The conversation widens into the bigger questions — what gets lost when AI handles the rote work, whether to retain human connection on purpose, and Dave's honest 80/20 split between optimism and unease about where all of this is heading.Matt Stauffer on X Dave Stanton’s Website Dave on X Tighten Website Blink for iOSSuperwhisper Geography as Destiny on GitHub ngrok TailscaletmuxSolo Please Use AI by Sean Smucker -----Editing and transcription sponsored by Tighten.Big thanks to the companies that support the show:Mailtrap","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/7aIGYa7TMm5003o6AXFcVLVUuQ_jipe1tlCSiSzHCtI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83ODZh/NmNkYWVmNDA0MGY0/NTIzNGRmZmI5NjU1/MjY4Mi5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}