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Curious Data: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Robert Lytle
Data powers our world, but superior data is what drives genuinely better AI decisions. Hosted by data entrepreneur, Navy veteran, and political adviser Robert Lytle, Curious Data explores how to locate, safely vet, and analyze information so you can make confident choices backed by research rather than gut instinct. The show brings together data practitioners, corporate executives, campaign strategists, activists, and news observers for personal, fluff-free conversations focused on teaching. Join Robert Lytle every week as he uncovers hidden data gems, challenges popular assumptions, and explores how human curiosity keeps us ahead of AI.
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- Yesterday1h 2m
06 | Whitfield Harrington - How to Keep Human Judgment in an AI World
What if the real edge in a data-driven world is the one thing data can't give you?Bob sat down expecting a conversation about facts and figures. Whitfield Harrington, a Chicago pastor and independent Senate candidate, redirected it to the thing that decides what those facts actually mean: wisdom.They get into why AI can calculate but never discern, what the Strategic Petroleum Reserve says about American preparedness, how the healthcare middleman quietly drives up costs, and why an independent believes the real solutions live in the middle.It is a rare conversation that treats data as the start of the story, not the end. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[00:04:08] The civil rights history Whitfield did not learn until 11th grade[00:10:05] How a small-town no-name reached an international audience[00:16:12] Why "who wins, a lion or a crocodile" reframes every political fight[00:18:14] What a Sesame Street memory taught him about propaganda[00:26:20] Why wisdom beats knowledge when the stakes are highest[00:30:44] The one thing a faster computer chip will still never have[00:32:51] What military chatter reveals about America's oil vulnerability[00:38:49] How many days of oil America actually has in reserve[00:43:48] The middleman quietly driving up the cost of your care[00:45:52] The $75 doctor membership that points to a different kind of healthcare[00:58:55] What "renovate the American dream" actually meansMentioned ResourcesStrategic Petroleum ReserveAffordable Care Act (Obamacare)NAACPDirect primary careAbout the GuestWhitfield Harrington is a Chicago pastor, musician, author, and independent candidate for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. Born the 20th of 21 children in Belzoni, Mississippi, he grew up in a family shaped by faith and the civil rights movement, where his father served as a pastor and chairman of the Humphreys County NAACP. He moved to Chicago in 2013 and built a ministry that now reaches people across states, countries, and continents, known for teaching on dream interpretation and spiritual discernment. Drawing on that background and a career in the financial industry, he is running as an independent under a plan he calls Renovate the American Dream, arguing that the real solutions live in the middle.🔗 Website | YouTubeImportant LinksConnect with Bob: Website | LinkedInBook a Strategy Session with Bob: Book a sessionLearn More About What We Do: What we doCurious Data is an original production hosted by Bob Lytle. Brought to you by Centri Analytics. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
- 1 weeks ago52 min
05 | Alejandro Reskala - How to Prove You Are Really You
What happens to our decisions when we can no longer trust that our data, or the people behind it, are real?Bob sits down with Alejandro Reskala, a technology executive who has spent his career on one deceptively simple question: how do you know the data in front of you belongs to the person you think it does?It was meant to be about credit bureaus. It became something bigger. Alejandro traces a line from video games and medical imaging to credit scoring in 15 to 20 countries, then lands on the problem facing every AI system. If a machine cannot verify where data came from, how can it make a decision worth standing behind?This one gets into identity, fraud, watermarking, and whether trust is what decides how far AI can go. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights00:04:08 The check readers Alejandro coded in assembler, before databases were normal00:05:35 From owning every game console to building augmented reality that reached NASA00:07:10 The Black Swan, 9/11, and the collapse that redirected a career00:08:08 The job offer built on trust, not experience00:09:21 The biggest myth about credit bureaus, and why it will not die00:13:39 Is scoring your credit the same as reading a medical scan? Bob presses the analogy00:14:16 Before you can pull Bob’s file, you have to prove the file is Bob’s00:21:33 Inside the work of building credit bureaus in 15 to 20 countries00:23:57 The case that a credit bureau is closer to a human right than a hassle00:25:43 Move countries and your credit history vanishes. Why that still is not solved00:31:15 Two Bob Lytles, one misspelled name, and the cost of guessing wrong00:35:43 The fraud problem growing fastest, and who is impersonating whom00:40:20 Why matching the data still does not prove you are you00:43:34 Why data provenance just became a must, not a nice-to-have00:45:16 Should we stop AI? Alejandro calls it a rhetorical question00:49:15 How anyone can lie with data, and the toothpaste that proves itMentioned ResourcesThe Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas TalebGoogle SynthIDTransUnionReal VisionAbout the GuestAlejandro Reskala is a technology executive who builds the systems that decide whether data can be trusted. He most recently served as Vice President, International and Regional Chief Information Officer for Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean at TransUnion, and a former Chief Information Officer of the credit bureau in Mexico. His career runs from digital image processing and early augmented reality work in Seattle to building credit bureaus in 15 to 20 countries. Today, his focus is identity, entity resolution, and the growing problem of proving where data actually comes from.🔗 LinkedInImportant LinksConnect with Bob: Website | LinkedInBook a Strategy Session with Bob: Book a sessionLearn More About What We Do: What we doCurious Data is an original production hosted by Bob Lytle. Brought to you by Centri Analytics. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
- 1 weeks ago55 min
04 | Sarah Zabel - Why You Should Question Every Chart You See
When anyone can collect your data, who gets to decide whether they should?Sarah Zabel spent 31 years in the Air Force and retired a two-star general in cyber and communications. She learned early that being able to gather data never settles whether you should.She and Bob get into surveillance and the guardrails that keep it honest, how to read a statistic without getting played, and why she phones the researchers behind a study before she trusts it. Along the way: what it takes to think clearly in a partisan age.The tools are new. The questions are old. And the answers shape how free we stay. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[00:05:40] Two majors at the Academy, and why the pilot track was off the table[00:07:20] The programming job in Japan that was really early analytics[00:11:18] The one rule she keeps returning to about what data lets you do[00:11:58] The line the Department of Defense is not allowed to cross[00:14:48] Why the technology is new but the questions never are[00:17:49] The forgotten 1960s data company that predicted our present[00:23:58] Government is not a business, but it should be one thing[00:29:24] The detail missing from Air Force records that reframes a heated debate[00:44:16] The free tool that cracked open her hardest research question[00:48:03] How she interrogates a headline-grabbing study before believing it[00:51:21] Data, analysis, presentation: three levels most people blur into oneMentioned ResourcesIf Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future by Jill LeporeFighting Chance, Sarah Zabel's award-winning book on the science of depression.Google ScholarNational Institutes of HealthFlock camerasAbout the GuestSarah Zabel is a retired U.S. Air Force major general and a 31-year veteran of the communications and cyber field, with assignments ranging from the National Security Agency to Vice Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency. A computer scientist by training, she is the author of Fighting Chance, an award-winning book on the science of depression, and is running as an independent candidate for U.S. Congress in Idaho's First District.🔗 Website: Zabel for Congress | Author siteImportant LinksConnect with Bob: Website | LinkedInBook a Strategy Session with Bob: Book a sessionLearn More About What We Do: What we doCurious Data is an original production hosted by Bob Lytle. Brought to you by Centri Analytics. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
- 2 weeks ago41 min
03 | Michael Bridgford - The $300,000 Job AI Now Does in Minutes
Can the numbers tell you when it is time to bet on a long shot?Michael Bridgford spent his early career crunching data as an investment banking analyst at William Blair. Now he is running for Congress as an independent in what may be the tightest district in the country. Bob asks the obvious question. What did the data actually say?They dig into the numbers behind the decision, a House margin of two votes, a district once decided by six, and a voter base where independents outnumber both parties. Along the way they get into AI reshaping finance, why Iowa ranks second in the nation for data centers, and the counterintuitive research on how long a representative should really stay.It is a conversation about reading the odds before you act, and what the numbers reveal about a system most people feel is broken. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[00:01:17] From a farm in the middle of nowhere to a career in finance[00:02:54] A 23-year-old analyst, 100-hour weeks, and a deal that involved Warren Buffett[00:04:28] How AI now does in minutes what a $300,000 analyst used to do[00:05:56] What government owes workers as AI reshapes the economy[00:07:44] The state AI law that is already on the books next door[00:10:48] Why attention has become more valuable than money in politics[00:15:02] The data point on Iowa data centers that surprised even the candidate[00:18:43] The numbers that made a long shot look like the right bet[00:22:25] A district decided by six votes, and why that changes the math[00:33:31] The case for term limits, starting with a 10 percent approval rating[00:39:18] A 50-year study on congressional seniority that defies common sense[00:45:14] The Gallup number that says nearly half the country is up for grabsMentioned ResourcesWilliam Blair, the investment firm where Michael began his careerClaude, the AI assistant referenced on automating analyst workGallup, the source for the independent voter figureAbout the GuestMichael Bridgford grew up on a family farm near the Quad Cities and built a career in finance, starting as an investment banking analyst at William Blair before moving into investments, sales, and distribution across the country. He lived in Chicago, Texas, and California before returning to the Quad Cities area, where he lives with his family. He is now running for Congress as an independent in Iowa, his first run for public office, making the case that the numbers point to a rare opening for a candidate outside the two parties.🔗 Website | LinkedInImportant LinksConnect with Bob: Website | LinkedInBook a Strategy Session with Bob: Book a sessionLearn More About What We Do: What we doCurious Data is an original production hosted by Bob Lytle. Brought to you by Centri Analytics. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
- 2 weeks ago46 min
02 | Craig Simpson - Why Telcos Could Rival Big Tech in AI
What if the smartest thing you bring to data is not an answer, but a better question?Craig Simpson has spent 15 years at IDC learning to pull signal from messy, incomplete data. He left South Africa at 18, finished two degrees by correspondence while working full time, and kept walking away from the classroom for the real world.In this episode, he and Bob get into why AI is often very wrong, why first-party human conversations still beat anything you can scrape, and how curiosity separates a real analyst from someone staring at a spreadsheet. Then the conversation takes a turn into wildlife, drones, and using data to fight rhino poaching across Southern Africa.It is a case for the human edge in a world racing to automate it. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[00:05:45] The backwards career path: leaving university at 18 to build a life abroad[00:07:07] Finishing two degrees by correspondence while working full time[00:12:49] Why anyone who claims to know exactly where a market is heading is lying[00:15:39] First-party data vs the AI prompt, and why one always comes up short[00:18:11] The trait that separates a real analyst from someone staring at numbers[00:21:19] Why AI is often very, very wrong, and who has to catch it[00:23:18] Beyond connectivity: why telcos could compete with the hyperscalers[00:24:23] 6G being built with AI baked in from the start[00:27:47] Why the future data war moves to the skies above us[00:28:59] How the mobile phone, and now Starlink, changed everything in Africa[00:30:36] A live, unplanned data test: how many Africans have a smartphone[00:34:22] Using data and drones to fight rhino poaching[00:36:00] Why shutting down all tourism is not how you save the wildlife[00:40:40] What triggered the massive 2010 poaching spike[00:43:35] The family ledger Craig has kept every day for 20-plus yearsMentioned ResourcesIDC (International Data Corporation)StarlinkPew ResearchAbout the GuestCraig Simpson is a Research Director in IDC's Data & Analytics group, based in Prague and originally from Cape Town, South Africa. He has spent more than 15 years at IDC across multiple stints in technology market research, with a current focus on telecom operators and IT services. He left university early to build his career abroad, later finishing his studies by correspondence, and he brings a first-principles, endlessly curious approach to data. Outside of work, he supports wildlife and anti-poaching efforts across Africa, using data to help balance conservation and tourism.🔗 LinkedIn | WebsiteImportant LinksConnect with Bob: Website | LinkedInBook a Strategy Session with Bob: Book a sessionLearn More About What We Do: What we doCurious Data is an original production hosted by Bob Lytle. Brought to you by Centri Analytics. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
- 2 weeks ago12 min
01 | Curiosity Is the Human Edge AI Cannot Copy
If AI can run a million tests a minute, what is the one thing only a human can do?Bob Lytle sold his last company, took a pause, and came back with a question worth building a show around. If artificial intelligence is only as good as the data behind it, who decides which data to trust?In this first episode, Bob shares why he built Curious Data, the three promises he is making to listeners, and the idea at the center of it all. Everybody is already a data analyst. He traces a career that runs from jingle producer to credit bureaus to political data, and lands on the one skill AI cannot replicate.Curiosity is what turns messy information into better decisions, and it is the reason humans stay in charge. Listen now.Timestamped Highlights[00:00:00] Why Bob hit pause after selling his company, and what he built next[00:01:39] The three promises behind every Curious Data episode[00:02:18] Data or gut: how to actually back up a decision[00:04:27] The listeners who marvel at the internet yet still cannot tell what is true[00:04:49] Where the phrase curious data came from, and the 10,000 hours idea behind it[00:06:09] The question a curious kid asks that a machine never will[00:06:31] The one thing that keeps humans in charge, no matter how fast AI gets[00:08:16] From jingle producer to Navy veteran[00:09:52] Musical data, credit scores, vote totals: why data is like air[00:10:54] The three challenges Bob wants you to hold him toMentioned ResourcesMalcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours ideaImportant LinksConnect with Bob: Website | LinkedInBook a Strategy Session with Bob: Book a sessionLearn More About What We Do: What we doCurious Data is an original production hosted by Bob Lytle. Brought to you by Centri Analytics. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
About Curious Data
Data powers our world, but superior data is what drives genuinely better AI decisions. Hosted by data entrepreneur, Navy veteran, and political adviser Robert Lytle, Curious Data explores how to locate, safely vet, and analyze information so you can make confident choices backed by research rather than gut instinct. The show brings together data practitioners, corporate executives, campaign strategists, activists, and news observers for personal, fluff-free conversations focused on teaching. Join Robert Lytle every week as he uncovers hidden data gems, challenges popular assumptions, and explores how human curiosity keeps us ahead of AI.
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