Steven M. Muskal, Ph.D.
AI Pioneer | Drug Discovery Expert | Creative Innovator | Serial Inventor
CEO of Eidogen-Sertanty with over 40 years at the intersection of AI, chemistry, biology, and drug discovery. Host of the Renaissance Circle podcast. Builder of AI-Steve, Food Health: Scan and Score, and AI-Dad.
Articles
Essays, podcast episodes, and conversations from Renaissance Circle - Dr. Steven Muskal's Substack. AI, health, drug discovery, music, and the art of feeling good.
The Birth of AI Steve: Skating to Where the Puck Is Going
In 1991, Steve's PhD thesis predicted features of protein structure with computer-simulated neural networks - thirty-three years before AlphaFold's Nobel. This essay reframes that arc not as prescience, but as a pattern: dopamine-driven curiosity, pursued at the bleeding edge long enough that the world catches up. The through-line runs from AI-Dad's grief-born experiments in legacy preservation, through Toast Our Friend's celebration of people in real time, through Food Health's belief that food is medicine, to AI-Steve - an operating system for the present, governed by a loop where the AI proposes its own extensions but never executes them without human approval.
AI SteveAlphaFoldNeural NetworksThe Governed LoopDopamine-Driven CuriositySkating to the Puck
Too Big to Fail?
AI has crossed the "too big to fail" threshold, woven into thinking and work the way Big Food wove itself into eating. The dopamine architecture is real, the pull is engineered, and forty years inside the field reveal what is worth keeping sharp. A guide to using cognitive infrastructure without losing the gut instinct that built it.
AI InfrastructureDopamine ArchitectureCognitive AtrophyHormetic StressToo Big to Fail
The Metabolic Crisis Is Not a News Story
Roughly 88-93% of American adults now carry at least one metabolic risk factor, yet the everyday warning signs have become invisible. Steve makes the case that measurement precedes management - continuous glucose monitors and personal data tools are the practical lever - and that social networks are how individual awareness ripples outward to reverse the epidemic at scale.
Metabolic HealthGlucose TrackingCGM TechnologySocial NetworksLifestyle Data
AI Steve II: The Governed Loop
How a personal AI learns to propose its own extensions while remaining governed by human approval. Steve walks through the architecture of a self-extending RAG assistant that augments productivity without bypassing oversight - and reflects on what amplified time should redirect toward: deeper human connection, presence, and purposeful work.
AI GovernanceRAGHuman-in-the-LoopPersonal AIAI Safety
The Fire This Time
AI isn't the next printing press - it's fire. A civilization-scale shift that democratizes intelligence beyond every institutional gatekeeper. Drawing on James Baldwin's framing, Steve sketches a future where brilliant minds anywhere can contribute to humanity's hardest problems, no longer gated by credentials, geography, or pedigree.
AI DemocratizationIntelligence as FireInstitutional GatekeepingCivilizational Shift
Are We There Yet?
When a single person can operate like an army, the real question isn't capability - it's judgment. A field-note essay on the moment small teams and solo builders inherit the leverage of large organizations, and what their decision-making must become to deserve that leverage.
Agentic AIAI JudgmentOne-Person ArmySolo Builders
Food Is Medicine. But First It Has to Become Data.
Improving health starts with real food quality, practical tracking, and consistent habits. This essay reframes "food is medicine" as an information problem first: until meals become structured, reviewable data, the medical advice can't connect to lived experience. The practical product expression: Food Health: Scan and Score.
Food as MedicineNutrition DataN-of-1 HealthHealth AI
We've Already Reached AGI. The Market Just Hasn't Admitted It Yet.
The Zero to One moment already happened. What markets are pricing now is One to N - distribution, integration, and trust loops. Steve makes the case that the technical surprise of AGI is behind us; the next decade is about deployment economics, not capability breakthroughs.
AGIZero to OneAI DeploymentMarket Timing
The N-of-1 Health Stack
Why personal data, not population averages, should drive health insight.
When Constraint Becomes a Superpower
Steve talks with Gibson Hanks on constraint as creative leverage.
AI-Dad: Preserving Legacy Through Conversational Intelligence
Building an AI to keep wisdom, voice, and love alive.
Grit, Curiosity & Building What Matters
From biomedical roots to bold ideas with Megan Phillips and Fernanda Campos.
Glucose, Grit & Breaking Glass Ceilings
Personal passion, professional pivots, and mastering medical devices with Christy Shearer.
Music, Security, and Meaning
Steve and Dom Mather explore cybersecurity, music, and the search for balance.
Will Writers Hold the Key to AI?
Artificial intelligence, education, and the future of expertise.
Two founders recount their unexpected career paths
Life lessons on repurposing skills for new career paths.
A Quarter Century+: Talking with Neil Peretz
It's good to have entrepreneurial friends in your 20-30's.
Father-Daughter Face-Off (part one): Comparing Gen-X and Gen-Z
Deep dive summary across generations.
Optimizing Sleep: Measure to Manage
The biggest room in my house is the room for improvement.
My Story: A Mitochondrial Journey
Most of my mitochondrial-sharing ancestors are no longer with us.
Welcome to Renaissance Circle
Your no-hidden-agenda source for health, music, and entrepreneurial insight.