2026 The Year of the Builder

This week on Soapbox Sessions…Derek’s Gen Alpha kid gets feedback from his high school teacher on an AI assignment and Heather’s Gen Z niece has had a completely different take on AI as a college student. The two talk this week about how 2026 will be The Year of the Builder. The open source, vibe coding builder, that is. They also talk about taking personal steps in their lives towards focusing on freedom tech and how things tend towards Big Tech™ and homogeneity over time, which is something we’re not into at Soapbox. Fitness, music, healthcare, software, and more can all become decentralized. Heather & Derek also take a look at which new businesses appear on the “Pay with Bitcoin Map” with obviously more showing up in Heather’s giant city than Derek’s small town. They also explore the impact of AI and vibe coding on empowering everyone to create without coding skills. The conversation highlights the innovative apps emerging in the Bitcoin and Nostr space, as always! Chapters 00:00 - Welcome to Soapbox Sessions 06:23 - 2026: The Year of the Builder 12:46 - AI as a Learning Tool 18:17 - Building with AI: The New Frontier 20:34 - Building New Apps Together 22:01 - Innovative App Ideas and Development 24:32 - The Power of AI in App Creation 26:35 - Decentralization and Freedom in Technology 35:02 - Personal Journeys Towards Decentralization 42:31 - Exploring the Nostr Economy 46:03 - Supporting the Circular Economy 51:41 - Empowering Freedom Fighters 54:27 - The Role of Bitcoin in Global Freedom 58:56 - Building Tools for Freedom 01:02:46 - Looking Ahead to 2026 What we talked about: V4V rapper from Tanzania, Man Like Kweks, built Relay Rider with Shakespeare; https://relayrider.shakespeare.wtf/ Join the Shakespeare AI vibe coding community: https://soapbox.pub/blog/announcing-shakespeare-community Join Shakespeare Chat: https://app.flotilla.social/join?r=chat.shakespeare.diy&c=725J9PH4 (Really) Open AI: https://soapbox.pub/blog/our-stance-on-ai AI Sovereignty Index: https://reallyopen.ai/ Submit a news tip or ask a question: https://soapbox.pub/soapbox-sessions/ Find tools on the website: https://soapbox.pub/ Follow on X: https://x.com/SoapboxTech Follow on Nostr: https://primal.net/p/nprofile1qqs8sxs4yuz47axp7uprpugrs3sfkdz5379tdg9xe2n5qfvz070a4egc9mrhy ⭐ Support the podcast on Podcast 2.0 open networks: The one we built, Podstr: https://sessions.soapbox.pub/ Listen on Fountain: https://fountain.fm/show/aq7IaS6bdQ6kF6NWDzzc Become a fan on True Fans: https://truefans.fm/soapbox-sessions Podverse: https://podverse.fm/podcast/hPdQ-otsG Podcast Guru: https://app.podcastguru.io/podcast/1837576097 Podcast Index: https://podcastindex.org/podcast/7473968 🔵 Listen on closed networks/walled gardens: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1uBFCX46GH0npKB46stxAO Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soapbox-sessions/id1837576097 🔵 Listen on closed networks/walled gardens: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1uBFCX46GH0npKB46stxAO Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soapbox-sessions/id1837576097