Aug 15, 2025 · 47m · sourcery
Rainmaker’s Secret AI Plan for Superintelligent Weather | Cloud Seeding · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea
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In this episode of Sourcery hosted by Molly O'Shea, Rainmaker CEO Augustus Doricko and Atmo CEO Alex Levy discuss their strategic partnership leveraging AI deep learning, physics simulations, and cloud-seeding drones to modernize water infrastructure, strengthen national security, and power American re-industrialization.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Molly holds 16.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Molly as informed peer 2.8 Guest teaching 6.0 Guest disagreement 1.7 Molly pushing back 0.3
speaking balance: gold is Molly, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 44:46 Augustus rejects GDP metrics and dismisses China prediction market
Augustus forcefully attacks conventional economic wisdom, dismissing GDP as a political abdication and Wall Street fake derivatives before asserting there is zero percent chance China overtakes the US.
Hardest push from Molly ▶ 15:15 Molly challenges Augustus on Texas flood media backlashMolly presses Augustus on public perception challenges, directly highlighting how his company was dragged through media after Texas floods and asking whether fear could cause the US to lose to China.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:00 Alex details obsolete Fortran code behind civilian US weather modelsAlex educates on the civilian-military disparity in US meteorology, explaining how the National Weather Service still depends on un-trainable Fortran code that failed during Hurricane Sandy.
Molly holds their own ▶ 43:40 Molly cites exact market odds and weather forecastsMolly demonstrates deep knowledge of prediction markets by citing the exact 5.3-inch current forecast and identifying that 98% of market capital is betting below six inches.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Molly as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Molly pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atmospheric Water Extraction & AI Cloud Seeding Partnership | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | Molly acts primarily as a supportive conversational prompt, asking Alex and Augustus to explain their partnership and technology. Alex and Augustus educate the listener on deep learning weather modeling resolution (10,000 subzones vs. 9 pixels) and supercooled liquid water physics. | |
| US Meteorology Infrastructure vs. China's Cloud Seeding Operations | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | Molly asks how America ranks globally in weather systems, prompting deep-dive technical comparisons from both guests. Alex details how legacy National Weather Service models run on rigid Fortran code, while Augustus details China's military-grade Wing Loong II seeding drones and advanced nanoparticle dispersal. | |
| Sponsor Segment: Brex Financial Platform | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | Molly brings up public backlash following the Texas floods and asks about the risk of public fear derailing US progress against China. Augustus explains public communication, debunks chemtrail conspiracy theories, and details historical weather modification like Project Stormfury's hurricane seeding. | |
| Sponsor Segment: Turing Intelligence | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | Molly asks for tangible use cases connecting water and AI meteorology to re-industrialization. Augustus details industrial water budgets like TSMC fab recycling and river basin allocations, while Alex explains wind power forecasting in Texas and weather systems for space launches. | |
| AGI, Superintelligent Weather, and Physics Simulation Breakthroughs | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | Molly introduces the topic of AGI and superintelligence and synthesizes how faster weather models directly save human lives. Alex and Augustus provide masterclasses on ENIAC computing history, AlphaFold speed comparisons (45,000x acceleration), and droplet freezing modes. | |
| Sponsor Segment: Fourthwall Creator Commerce | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | Molly leads a rapid-fire betting segment on Kalshi prediction markets, demonstrating specific knowledge of market distributions and forecast data. Augustus shows contrarian combativeness against conventional macroeconomic GDP metrics, calling them fake derivatives. |
Statements from this episode (15)
Levy: Atmo Upgraded Philippines Weather Forecasting Accuracy by 50%
“So most recently, we just completed an upgrade to the entire Philippines National Weather Service that increased their level of accuracy by as much as 50% and made it far more detailed than what they had before, which was quite important because they just had …”
Levy: Atmo Weather Models Offer 100x Higher Resolution Than NWS
“We've seen models that are up to a hundred times higher resolution. So to give you a sense, we're based in San Francisco, and if you took the National Weather Service model for San Francisco, it would treat that whole city Roughly on the order of nine pixels. …”
Levy: US civilian weather forecasting has fallen significantly behind global peers
“The U.S. On the civilian side has fallen significantly behind the rest of the world.”
Levy: National Weather Service uses zero AI-powered forecasting models
“If you go on to the National Weather Service today, none of those models that you see there are AI powered.”
Doricko: Rainmaker's Elijah is NATO's only severe icing-capable drone
“The Elijah is the only drone in all of NATO that can fly in severe icing conditions.”
Doricko: China uses Wing Loong II military drones for cloud seeding
“China is retrofitting the equivalent of their MQ-Nine Reaper. So like our most advanced military drones, The equivalent of that in China, the Wing Long II they're using for cloud seeding missions.”
Doricko: China leads the US in cloud seeding engineered nanoparticles
“The Chinese Meteorological Administration, also through these sort of proxies that exist in the Middle East have developed much, much more sophisticated engineered nanoparticles than any United States operation has.”
Doricko: Rainmaker Received Threats From People Mistaking Cloud Seeding for Chemtrails
“Some people that were misinformed about what cloud seeding is, that believed it to be chemtrails made threats against. Me, my company, et cetera.”
Doricko: US Government Attempted Hurricane Mitigation Under Project Stormfury
“With Project Storm Fury, the United States Weather Bureau in conjunction with the Air Force was flying out into the Atlantic to attempt to mitigate the severity of hurricanes. They did so back in the, what, seventies, sixties, seventies.”
Levy: Atmo provides AI weather models to all US space launch sites
“ATMO provides AI meteorology models to all the space launch sites in the United States.”
Levy: Atmo Operates Texas's Most Advanced Wind Forecasting Model for Hedge Funds
“Atmo now operates the most advanced wind forecasting model in Texas. Now today we're doing it primarily for hedge funds.”
Levy: Texas wind power generates up to 45% of daily state output
“There are days where the wind power production in Texas is as much as 45% of daily output across Texas.”
Doricko: True AGI may be impossible because AI lacks a soul
“If anything, I'm a slow takeoff guy. I don't even know if you can really get AGI. You can get something that resembles it maybe more and more, but it's not in sold. So it won't quite have a human thing, which is important.”
Levy: Atmo's AI weather models run 45,000x faster than numerical simulations
“Similarly, AI meteorology, like we're utilizing here, is, is now running, in our case together, about 45,000 times faster than numerical models of equal resolution so far, which allows us to do these things like consider the thousands of alternative scenarios …”