Today’s AI Edge is about how to use ChatGPT for tips on how to start and plan a project or task.

Sustainable Nuclear Fusion, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Computing

What happens when you have zero percent interest rates, ESG, stimulus money, COVID, and SPACs colliding all at once? AppHarvest. AppHarvest’s SPAC and rocket ship success now appear to be a malicious cash grab by investment bankers and global elites enabled by the highly controversial ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) movement. Whether the founding team was aware of what would eventually happen, I cannot be sure; however, I do know there has been poor execution from the leadership team and bad actors like Jeffrey Ubben, who infiltrated the company early to use it as a financial vehicle to quickly cash out millions dollars while the state of Kentucky and everyday retail investors were left holding a falling knife. Like everyone, I was initially bought in. The state was bought in. The media was bought in. We all bought into AppHarvest. It's amazing how far saying all the right things will get you. Entrepreneurs and politicians have this gift. They communicate their visions to rally people behind them, and Jonathan Webb is a master of the craft. He masterfully leveraged his experience in DC, free capital, SPACs, the ESG movement, and the narrative of a struggling state (Kentucky) to raise $1.5 Billion dollars in less than 5 years for a dream manifested on a whiteboard years before. Props to him for making his dream a reality… seriously. I want to have empathy for a fellow entrepreneur and don’t want anything to come across as an attack. Give the man props, BUT the problem with dreams is that you have to wake up to face reality. Facts are the facts and reality is setting in… Middle Tech had Jonathan on the podcast in the early days before any construction started and they had a small team that had just finished raising a $100 million Series A. I left that interview having mixed feelings. I was super excited for the state and for Jonathan’s team, and I walked out of the interview saying “He felt extremely scripted like a politician.” I don’t like politicians very much by nature, but I quickly looked past it because I’m not one to judge based on a first encounter and founders tend to develop scripts when they raise capital. I know I have with my own company.

How existing entities can get involved in the development of Agtech startups

There are two sides of a coin. At least that was my rationalization as to why I failed to transition from SHIB to DOGE in the previous article before edits. I conflated the two because, well, I conflate them. They are linked in my mind and as they are in the memes. Just as a dog pack has the alpha and omega, dog coins have DOGE and SHIB. Crypto heralds a new age of currency, and it behooves us to attempt to get a grip on what currents are moving just under the surface. In the moment-to-moment flotsam and jetsam of Twitter, there is an ever-present struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff, artistry from con-artistry. This grappling with what constitutes real currency eerily mirrors the 20 th Century’s grappling with what constitutes real art. My attention went from a casual observer of crypto on the periphery to a keener interest, when SHIB made a billionaire of a mysterious whale. The victory was short-lived with one tweet from Musk answering the question of how much SHIB he held: None. The subsequent crash led to discourse about the value of crypto as a whole, and much trashing of SHIB INU. Interesting that SHIB took all the heat for being a shit coin and was an obvious “bad boy” in the crypto space with the audacity to claim value where none was “deserved”, while DOGE was spared the infamy. Just as SHIB was devalued by the influence of Musk, DOGE has been lifted to the point of tender to acquire merch from Tesla. As of the time of writing, Mcdonald's is now the point of focus of pressure from the DOGE community to accept DOGE coin. To accept the inevitable. And in the process, become part of the discourse. Obviously, we are adrift in a time of great uncertainty. Just as thick fog surrounds a ship, multitudes of articles and conjectures obscure the ability to chart a course with any confidence. If you do find yourself in a state of analysis paralysis for too long, consider flipping a coin.

When you look at the Lexington skyline... you should think of Dudley Webb. Born in a small coal mining community, Dudley Webb brought his talents to Lexington through the University of Kentucky school of Law where after practicing for several years, he and his brother morphed into Massive Real Estate Developers - creating what is now "The Webb Companies". Under the Webb Brother's leadership, The Webb Companies grew into one of the largest real estate development organizations in the country, with projects across the U.S. from New York to San Francisco and Boston to Miami. Our conversation covered his personal and professional background, growth constraints in a booming city, and the Future of Lexington from Dudley's perspective. Welcome to Season 2 of DevelopLex - a new series from Middle Tech diving into the ins & outs of real estate development and investing here in Lexington, Kentucky. This series will feature interviews with some of Lexington's most prominent real estate developers that have played a major role in building Lexington into what it is today. Hosted by Weston Lockhart & Evan Knowles DevelopLex is proud to be supported by: SVN Stone Commercial Real Estate Community Trust Bank Lexington Pavement Sweep Intro music by SmithTheMister

Kyle Mohler is the Founder and CEO of Insignum AgTech, a biotechnology company working in the AgTech space to engineer plants that can change their pigment whenever they contract a disease, alerting the farmer so that they can take early action. Our conversation with Kyle focuses on how Insignum’s technology was developed, the benefits that it gives to farmers, the ethics & implications of bio-engineering in general, and Kyle’s experience growing a business in Indiana. Learn more about Insignum at InsignumAgTech.com

Evan overviews how everything about being an entrepreneur boils down to one key skill: sales.

Logan, Nate, and Evan discuss Cash App adding the Lightning Network, Disney’s victories in the streaming wars, and Peloton’s recent struggles. Watch Middle Tech's Friday Updates LIVE at 8:30am EST on Instagram every week! @MiddleTechPod Today's Friday Update is sponsored by KY Innovation, Bolt Marketing, and Render Capital.