For over a century, we've been trying to make humans work like machines. Now, we're spending billions trying to make machines work like humans.

How did we get here? And what does this strange reversal mean for the future of work?

In this episode of Tech Stories, we travel from Frederick Taylor's stopwatch and Henry Ford's assembly lines to the revolutionary thinking behind Toyota's production system—and finally to the age of humanoid robots and artificial intelligence.

Joining me is Jan Schjottelvig, a special guest who challenged the way I think about efficiency, leadership, and what it really means to put humans at the center of work.

Together, we explore how technology has shaped the workplace, why efficiency sometimes comes at a human cost, and whether we're asking the right questions about the machines we're building.

Because perhaps the most important question is what kind of life we're trying to create.

Tech Stories – Humans vs. Machines | Part 1

Special Guest:

Jan Schjottelvig

Leadership Expert, Advisor, Author, Speaker & Workshop Facilitator, Improvement System Specialist.
Inspires and supports Leaders in complex organisational environments to achieve high performance.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-schjottelvig-mba-gaicd-a52655262/

Tech Stories is moderated by

One human: Ferdinand Huber

and one Artificial Intelligence: Didi Allesweiss.

Listen to the Music of the Tech Stories by ⁠clicking here⁠

Used AI Models:

ChatGPT

⁠⁠suno.com⁠⁠

NotebookLM

Auphonic.com

Script, production and moderation: Ferdinand Huber

Music and sound effects created with Suno.com

This Podcast is brought to you by leantalk.org

For Contact and Information visit:

techstoriespodcast.com

or send an email to hi@techstoriespodcast.com

Hey, Ferdi here!

Every other week, between our regular episodes, I want to take you along for a more personal conversation. No scripts, no studio production. Just me sharing what's on my mind, what I'm working on, interesting discoveries, and a few thoughts about technology and how it's changing our lives.

Think of it as a little behind-the-scenes chat.

Glad to see you around.

🏆 Tech Stories is a finalist in the 2026 Signal Awards!

If you enjoy the show, you can help an independent podcast compete alongside some of the biggest names in podcasting by voting for Tech Stories in the Signal Listener’s Choice Awards.

Click here to Vote

Your vote genuinely means a lot.

Thank you.

You probably don’t know his name.

But Mohamed Atalla helped create the technology inside almost every computer, smartphone, data center, and digital device on Earth.

At Bell Labs, Atalla solved one of the biggest problems holding back silicon technology. Then, together with Dawon Kahng, he created the MOSFET — the tiny electronic switch that became the foundation of the modern microchip.

Today, billions of MOSFETs can exist inside a single processor. They power the internet, artificial intelligence, smartphones, and almost everything we think of as modern technology.

So why do we remember the CEOs, founders, and famous inventors... but almost never the people who built the foundations underneath them?

This is the hidden story of Mohamed Atalla — an immigrant engineer whose work quietly changed the world.

Tech Stories tells the hidden, surprising stories behind the world’s most influential tech companies, inventions, and creators—packed with insights, suspense, and real lessons you can apply.

Tech Stories is moderated by

One human: Ferdinand Huber

and one Artificial Intelligence: Didi Allesweiss.

Listen to the Music of the Tech Stories by clicking here

Used AI Models:

ChatGPT

⁠⁠suno.com⁠⁠

NotebookLM

Auphonic.com

Script, production and moderation: Ferdinand Huber

Music and sound effects created with Suno.com

This Podcast is brought to you by leantalk.org

For Contact and Information visit:

techstoriespodcast.com

or send an email to hi@techstoriespodcast.com