Now I Get It, with Dr. Andy

I've been experimenting with AI tools lately, and my newest project came out of that: CardSmart, a free app that solves a problem I kept running into myself. Credit cards pay you back differently depending on where you shop, and keeping track of which card wins where, especially with rotating categories and payout caps, is more than anyone should have to manage in their head. CardSmart uses your phone's location, which never leaves your device, to tell you which of your cards earns the most wherever you are, or which card you don't have yet would do better.

I've been thinking a lot lately about AI, a subject I explored back in grad school and postdoc. In this episode, I walk through a hackathon project to democratize AI by distributing neural network training across home computers. I explain why it failed: first the obvious reason, a bad actor can silently poison a distributed model, then a subtler one rooted in the physics of computation. I break down how neural networks work, why a single nonlinearity lets them approximate almost anything, and why these models need the low latency bandwidth only a data center can provide.

I'm taking you through my own origin story this episode, from getting swept into a Johns Hopkins study on intellectual talent as a sixth grader to skipping straight into college at fifteen. I share how that unusual path, being identified as gifted, accelerated through school, and landing in a college honors program that clashed with my own academic ambitions, shaped the way I think about learning today. Along the way I talk about my late AP English teacher Adrian Morris, and how I completely missed the point of literature even while being taught by the best.

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I open this episode with a story from my childhood: a dam that broke above my uncle's farm, and two California kids who survived the flash flood only because they knew how to surf a wave instead of fighting it. That's exactly how I think about AI right now. It's a massive wave bearing down on all of us, and whether it becomes a wonderful tool or something that crushes us depends entirely on whether we learn to ride it. I walk through what happened when I went from writing off AI-generated code as "laughable" last fall to building...

I'm digging into something that's genuinely changed how I spend my free time: using AI to build the tool I've wished existed for decades, one that helps me read the world's great literature in its original language. I tell the story of a chance dinner with a Hertz Fellow who turned out to be a major figure at Anthropic, and how that connection eventually led me back to a project I'd tried and abandoned before, a computer-assisted reader for Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Six months ago, the AI models I tried couldn't get past writing a single...

Today I'm talking about something that's been on my mind as I've been writing Love Quotient: the two feedback loops that quietly corrode almost every relationship we have. I explain how our dominant cognitive function becomes our personal "channel" for expressing and receiving love, and why a mismatch with the people we care about can spiral into the exact same withdrawal on both sides, until the relationship falls apart.

From there I dive into Pride and Prejudice, using what I know about personality and temperament to offer a fresh, more sympathetic read on Mr. Bennett and...

Today I'm tackling something a little different: taxes. After spending years writing my book Love Quotient and other projects in physics and math, I funded that work through earnings in the tech sector, specifically long-term capital gains. That led me into a maze of federal versus California tax treatment, amended returns, and a frustrating "screw you letter" from the IRS demanding paperwork they could have processed themselves if they'd just shared their own software with taxpayers. I talk about why that doesn't happen, who benefits from keeping it that way, and the surprising silver lining: California's tax agency was...

In today's episode, I'm sharing the core insights from my new book, Love Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love — and my goal is to give you everything you need to transform your most important relationships.

Welcome to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. I'm talking about one of the most painful and preventable dynamics in relationships: the slow drift that happens when two people are pouring love into a connection, but neither one can feel it. The culprit isn't a lack of caring — it's a mismatch in cognitive functions. I walk thro...

What if artificial intelligence doesn't replace human intelligence — it amplifies it? And what if the quality of what you bring to AI is exactly what determines what you get back?

Welcome to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. I'm Andrew Winkler, and in this episode I'm taking a deep dive into one of the most consequential technologies of our time: large language models. I break down how these systems are built on surprisingly elegant mathematics, why language itself has a hidden statistical structure that makes AI possible, and what it really means for how we interact wi...

Welcome back to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. I'm sitting down once again with Angela McEwen, our resident expert in early childhood development, to dig into one of the most overlooked secrets of raising healthy, capable kids — proprioception. Angela has spent decades in childcare, including helping coordinate San Francisco's childcare response during the pandemic, and what she's discovered about the role of natural play environments is something every parent and educator needs to hear.

In this conversation, Angela shares the remarkable results from a nature-based outdoor redesign pilot program at her San Francisco preschool — and what...

In this episode, I sit down with early childhood education expert Angela McEwen to explore one of the most transformative ideas I've encountered in how my work on love languages translates beyond romantic relationships — all the way into the classroom and the home. Angela has been applying the framework from my book directly with her preschool students, and the results are nothing short of remarkable. From a non-English-speaking boy who finally felt seen, to a chore wheel that stopped sparking resentment, her stories are vivid proof that when you meet a child where they are, connection follows naturally.

Every parent has been there — the meltdown, the screaming, the feeling that nothing you say or do is going to get through. This week, I sat down again with early childhood expert Angela MacEwen, whose decades of experience caring for children (including those who've experienced significant trauma) have given her a remarkably clear-eyed understanding of what kids actually need in their most challenging moments.

Welcome to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. Angela walks us through some of the most practical and surprisingly simple strategies for helping children regulate their emotions — from redirecting a screaming chil...

In this episode of Now I Get It with Dr. Andy, I'm joined by Angela MacEwen, a veteran child development expert who helped design San Francisco's citywide childcare plan during COVID-19. Angela shares how she applied the concepts from my upcoming book, Love Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love, inside her preschool classroom — identifying each child's love language through body language and personality cues, and even rethinking classroom chore charts so only the kids who genuinely love them get to do them.

We also explore one of the most surprising truths Angela ha...

Welcome to Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. In this episode, I sit down with Angela MacEwen, a lifelong child development expert and former site supervisor at Friends of St. Francis — a distinguished San Francisco preschool specializing in the care of traumatized children. Angela made headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic when her plan for safely reopening childcare for essential workers became the citywide model. Today, she's bringing an even more urgent message: after decades of working with young children, she has never seen anything like what's happening right now. For the first time in her career, not a si...

Today, I tackle one of the most critical and challenging conversations we need to have in America right now—the intersection of law enforcement heroism and accountability. While there are truly heroic police officers who risk their lives to protect and serve and deserve our deepest gratitude, recent events have forced us to confront systemic issues that threaten the safety of everyone, including the good officers themselves.

Welcome to this important episode of Now I Get It with Dr. Andy. I'm exploring the legal concept of brandishing weapons, examining why the official response to questionable shootings is...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I'm diving into a 2012 government report that's been sitting on the Customs and Border Patrol website, and what it reveals is deeply disturbing. This report examines patterns in border shooting incidents, particularly those involving motor vehicles, and uncovers a troubling practice where agents may be intentionally positioning themselves in the path of vehicles to create justification for using deadly force. The findings suggest that rather than employing defensive tactics like getting out of the way, some agents are shooting at drivers of non-violent suspects who pose no threat beyond a moving...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I take a hard, compassionate look at one of the most tragic patterns I see in relationships: what I call the death spiral. It’s the painful process where two people genuinely love each other, yet slowly drift apart—not because love is gone, but because it’s never truly felt. I explain how our personalities shape the way we give and receive love, and why so many couples unknowingly miss each other despite constant effort.

I walk through how this spiral begins with good intentions, escalates through frustr...

Welcome back to Now I Get It. In this episode, I break down a term we hear all the time in national security conversations but rarely slow down to understand: harm’s way. I explore how this concept is traditionally defined in U.S. military policy, why it matters, and how it’s being challenged by the current use of remote warfare. Using the recent drone-led attacks in the Caribbean as a backdrop, I look at what happens when technology distances human operators from physical danger—yet still places the country itself in profound geopolitical risk.

I also...

In this episode, I break down what really happened during the recent government shutdown—and why it matters far beyond the headlines. I walk you through how the standoff between Republicans and Democrats over healthcare funding put millions at risk, and how the political maneuvering behind closed doors quietly determined the fate of those lives. From the targeted removal of Obamacare subsidies to deep cuts in Medicaid, I unpack how these policy choices translate into real-world consequences, including tens of thousands of preventable deaths.

I also shed light on the lesser-known tactics lawmakers use to avoid ac...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I take you into the subtle—but dangerous—world of paltry: the art of lying by telling nothing but the truth. Through stories pulled from literature, current events, and political reporting, I show how selective truth-telling can create powerful false impressions without ever crossing the line into an outright lie. It’s a communication tactic hiding in plain sight, and once you see it, you start noticing it everywhere.

I share examples from Pride and Prejudice, the Ghislaine Maxwell/Jeffrey Epstein media coverage, and recent reporting on healthcare legisl...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I explore the fascinating intersection of language, culture, and gender identity—and how our words shape the way we perceive human difference. I dive into how languages like Chinese, English, and German handle gender differently, showing that grammatical gender often has nothing to do with biological sex. What started as simple sound harmonies and linguistic structures in ancient languages evolved into the gender categories we use today, even though the roots were never about “male” or “female” at all.

From there, I take a closer look at the biological...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I dive deep into how cultural differences shape the United States—past and present. Drawing from Geert Hofstede’s groundbreaking IBM studies, I explore how nations differ across dimensions like inequality, gender roles, religion, and individuality. Through that lens, I connect these global cultural frameworks to America’s own fragmented identity—how early immigrant roots, regional histories, and moral certainties have divided and defined the country’s political landscape.

I also unpack how gender distinctions, religion, and attitudes toward uncertainty influence everything from politics to personality. From Appalachian independen...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I dive into the hidden logic behind borders—why they exist where they do, and how geography quietly shapes the course of world history. From the frozen plains of Russia to the mountains of Ukraine, I explore how natural barriers like rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges determine a nation’s defensibility—and how the absence of these barriers has fueled centuries of conquest, paranoia, and power struggles.

We’ll unpack how historical trauma and geography combine to drive geopolitical decisions, often leading nations to create the very dangers they fea...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I explore why simply memorizing formulas in math—or blindly trusting any model—can lead to catastrophic outcomes. I take a hard look back at the financial meltdown and show how a lack of deep understanding, not just fraud, helped steer us into crisis. It wasn’t that the models themselves were flawed; it was that people used them without grasping their limits, breaking the very assumptions they were built on.

From there, I connect the dots to today’s frontier: artificial intelligence. We dive into how AI has evol...

Have you ever felt unloved—even when surrounded by people who care for you? In this episode of Now I Get It, I unpack the paradox of “dying of thirst in an ocean of love.” Just like seawater can’t quench your thirst, love that isn’t recognized or understood can leave us feeling empty, no matter how much is actually there.

Through a metaphor-rich exploration, I walk you through four key questions we unconsciously ask when processing love—Is it? What is it? What is it worth? What does it mean? By looking at these questions an...

When it comes to business, measurement is everything—or at least, that’s what we like to believe. In this episode of Now I Get It, I dive into the hidden traps of relying on metrics as tools for rewards or punishments and how doing so destroys their actual value. I also unpack how numbers get gamed, why this leaves businesses flying blind, and what the latest economic data reveals about our collective blind spots.

But the conversation doesn’t stop there. We explore the Heisenberg effect and how the very act of measurement changes the thing...

When people say, “That’s not what I voted for,” it reveals a common misunderstanding about how representative democracy actually functions. In this episode of Now I Get It, I share personal stories—from my early attempts to call my representative, to watching my own business collapse under the weight of trade games—that reveal just how little control voters truly have once the ballots are cast. Campaign promises may sound like contracts, but legally, politically, and practically, they aren’t.

I also explore fascinating historical examples, including the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, to show how ins...

This week on Now I Get It, I dive into the real reason conspiracy theories—like those around Jeffrey Epstein—are taking hold of the public imagination. Spoiler: It’s not just wild speculation. I walk you through how trust in our legal, political, and economic systems has eroded, why this distrust is historically grounded, and how the foundations of American democracy are being tested in real time.

We’ll explore how two competing visions of democracy—Greek versus Roman, Boston versus Charleston—have shaped the U.S., how corporate consolidation and “friction by design” have fueled economic...

I'm Andrew Winkler, and in this episode of Now I Get It, I dive into one of the most overlooked causes of low literacy: the surprising complexity behind how we learn to read. We explore why simply recognizing words isn't enough—and why relying on context clues or outdated teaching strategies can leave learners guessing. I also explain how our brains process sounds and why phonemic awareness (though often misunderstood) is key to unlocking fluent reading.

We unpack the real science behind reading—what happens when we go from sounds to syllables, and syllables to meaning—and ho...

I'm Andrew Winkler, and in this episode of Now I Get It, I dive into one of the most overlooked causes of low literacy: the surprising complexity behind how we learn to read. We explore why simply recognizing words isn't enough—and why relying on context clues or outdated teaching strategies can leave learners guessing. I also explain how our brains process sounds and why phonemic awareness (though often misunderstood) is key to unlocking fluent reading.

We unpack the real science behind reading—what happens when we go from sounds to syllables, and syllables to meaning—and ho...

In this thought-provoking episode, Dr. Andrew Winkler explores the psychology behind decision-making and how personality type influences whether we act quickly or hesitate. Drawing from John Cleese’s idea of the “last responsible moment,” Dr. Andy explains how people fall into two camps: those who feel pressure to decide quickly, and those who grow anxious if forced to decide too soon.

By breaking down cognitive functions—like thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition—Dr. Andy shows how each of us has unique strengths we either turn outward or inward. These preferences not only impact how we process decisions...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I break down the real story behind tariffs—who actually pays them, how they affect the prices you see on store shelves, and why politicians might not be telling the full truth. Using real-world examples from manufacturing and retail, I explain the flow of goods and costs from producer to consumer, revealing why a 130% tariff isn’t just a number—it’s a seismic shift in how global trade plays out.

We also dive into the often-ignored parts of international trade: services and investment. While the media obsesses over the...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I explore what I call a "war on reality"—a conflict playing out across education, economics, and politics. Using a personal family story, I trace the long-reaching impact of the GI Bill on class structure and opportunity in America. From there, we dive into comparative advantage, the dangers of global trade dependency, and how geopolitical hotspots like Taiwan reveal hidden risks in our modern economy.

But this isn't just about history or theory. I connect the dots between economic inequality, natural selection, and the rise of right-wing authoritarianism. Yo...

In this episode of Now I Get It, Dr. Andy unpacks the often misunderstood world of tariffs—what they are, how they function, and why they matter far beyond simple price tags. He shares a real-world story about selling bomber jackets for dogs to explain how tariffs work at the ground level and discusses who ultimately bears the cost: the importer, the customer, or even the manufacturer. Through the lens of elasticity and economic incidence, Dr. Andy offers clear insights into how small changes ripple through global supply chains and everyday wallets.

But the conversation doesn’t st...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I dive into the powerful role of introverted intuition—what I like to call “the seer”—and how it silently shapes our ability to love, hope, and connect. We’ll explore how this cognitive function helps us interpret symbolism, predict the future, and make meaning out of our experiences—all key ingredients in thriving relationships. Whether it’s the symbolic weight of a well-chosen gift or the subtle inclusion of someone in your imagined future, I break down how small signals can speak volumes in emotional connection.

We also look at h...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I explore one of the most dynamic and misunderstood cognitive functions: intuition—specifically, its outward-facing form, known as extroverted intuition or “the brainstormer.” We dive into how this function generates creative options, seeks out new possibilities, and thrives on surprise and novelty. I unpack how this cognitive tool fuels innovation, shapes our personal identities, and even transforms our relationships when it’s nurtured and understood.

I also share personal stories, including how my late wife’s creativity and love for surprise reflected her intuitive strength. We’ll look at how you c...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I dive deep into the world of introverted feeling—our internal compass that helps us navigate relationships, values, and the concept of right and wrong. We explore how this function influences our interactions, the way we express love, and the distinct gestures and movement styles that reveal how deeply we engage with our inner truths. Understanding introverted feeling isn't just about self-awareness; it's about recognizing how it shapes the way we connect with others and the decisions we make in our social circles.

I also discuss the power of...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I dive deep into the cognitive function of extroverted feeling—also known as "the connector." I explore how this function influences the way we navigate social interactions, express emotions, and build relationships. I break down the different personality types that rely on extroverted feeling as their primary way of perceiving and interacting with the world. Also shed light on how understanding this function can help us recognize how our loved ones experience and interpret love.

Beyond the theory, I discuss practical ways to nurture and enhance this function, in...

In this episode of Now I Get It, I explore the cognitive function known as the Sequencer and its role in love and relationships. The sequencer helps individuals organize tasks, plan efficiently, and structure their interactions with others.I explain how those who rely on this function express love primarily through acts of service, ensuring that tasks are completed in a timely and thoughtful manner. However, there is s a crucial distinction: acts of service must be personal and intentional, not just outsourced or mechanically performed, in order to convey genuine care and appreciation.

There are...

In this episode, I dive deep into the intricate relationship between cognitive functions and love—focusing specifically on the analyst function. I share how our unique ways of processing the world can lead us to express and perceive love in vastly different manners. By understanding these distinct cognitive wavelengths, I explain how we can bridge the gap between our own expressions of love and what our partners truly need to feel connected.

I also explore the specific needs of analysts in relationships. I reveal that for those who lean on their analytic capacities, quality time isn’t ju...