What Is Human Connection in the Age of AI? Bailley Georgieva on Originality & Hypersonics

What is human connection when AI can approximate most of what we say, think, and create? Bailley Georgieva spends her days simulating Mach 10+ flight physics using restricted NASA code as a Hypersonic Research Affiliate at MIT — and she's thought harder about this question than almost anyone. In this conversation with Perkin, she makes the case that originality isn't a soft skill or a vibe. It's a discipline. And in a world that defaults to AI-generated everything, it might be the most important one you have.

Show Notes

Bailley Georgieva is a Junior Aerospace Engineering student at Rutgers University and a Hypersonic Research Affiliate at MIT, where she works with restricted NASA code to simulate aerodynamic behavior at speeds above Mach 10. She also evaluated startup solutions for real defense applications at the Defense Innovation Unit and built algorithmic trading software before she turned 19. For the Still Human audience, Bailley is significant not just because of what she's accomplished, but because of how she thinks about it — she operates at the edge of what's technically possible and still asks the most human questions about what it all means.

Articles & Research

No external research was cited in this episode.

Tools & Resources

NASA hypersonic simulation code (restricted) — Research-grade computational software for modeling aerodynamic behavior at extreme speeds; the core tool of Bailley's MIT research and a central reference point in the episode's discussion of working with high-stakes systems
Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) — US Department of Defense program that connects commercial startups with defense challenges; where Bailley evaluated startup technology fixes at undergraduate level
Algorithmic trading platforms — Automated systems for executing trades based on coded rules and market conditions; Bailley built one independently at 18, referenced in the episode as an early experience with automation
MIT AeroAstro Department — MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; the research environment behind Bailley's hypersonic affiliation

Related Still Human Episodes

People Mentioned

No additional people were cited by name in this episode beyond the host and guest.

Timestamps

Timestamps are approximate — click to jump directly on YouTube.

[00:00:00] — Bailley Georgieva intro: Rutgers, MIT, and the work she does
[00:04:00] — What hypersonic research actually involves — Mach 10+ explained simply
[00:09:30] — Working with restricted NASA code: what that access changes
[00:14:30] — The Defense Innovation Unit: evaluating startup fixes for defense problems
[00:20:00] — Building algorithmic trading software at 18 — and what she learned
[00:25:30] — Who are you without AI? The question at the center of the episode
[00:31:00] — What human originality actually requires in a world of AI defaults
[00:35:30] — How Bailley decides what AI is and isn't allowed to touch in her work
[00:39:00] — The still human moment: what she noticed when she stopped reaching for AI first
[00:43:00] — What this means for students and young builders right now
[00:46:00] — Where to find Bailley and closing

Quotes From This Episode

"If you can't tell me what you think without first asking AI what to think, that's worth paying attention to. That's not a productivity problem. That's an identity problem." — Bailley Georgieva

"Mach 10 is a physics problem. The reason we study it is a human problem. Those are different questions and they require different kinds of thinking. AI is good at the first one." — Bailley Georgieva

"I built the trading software because I wanted to understand something — not because I wanted the outcome. That distinction matters more than most people realize." — Bailley Georgieva

Note: Quotes are reconstructed from episode descriptions. Verify against the recording before publishing.

In This Episode

What human connection actually means when AI can replicate its surface — Bailley's answer is practical: originality is the thing AI cannot produce, only approximate, and most people are quietly letting it atrophy
Hypersonic research explained for non-engineers — What it means to simulate Mach 10+ flight, why it matters beyond aerospace, and what working with restricted government systems teaches you about the gap between public AI and what's actually possible
The Defense Innovation Unit experience — What evaluating startup solutions for real defense problems at undergraduate level taught Bailley about the distance between what founders pitch and what actually works under pressure
Building algorithmic trading at 18 — An early experiment with automation that shaped how she thinks about what machines optimize for and what they miss
Who are you without AI? — the real question — Bailley treats it as a diagnostic. The answer tells you whether you're developing your own thinking or just curating outputs
What originality requires in practice — Not inspiration. A specific discipline of not defaulting to the tool first, and what that looks like in a technical research environment
What this conversation says about staying human — Bailley is one of the most technically capable people to come on Still Human. Her answer to the show's central question: the technology doesn't decide what's human. You do, by what you protect from it

About Bailley Georgieva

Bailley Georgieva is a Junior Aerospace Engineering student at Rutgers University and a Hypersonic Research Affiliate at MIT, where she uses restricted NASA code to simulate the physics of flight at speeds exceeding Mach 10 — work that places her inside some of the most restricted computational environments available to an undergraduate researcher. Before that, she built algorithmic trading software at 18 and went on to evaluate commercial startup solutions at the Defense Innovation Unit, the DoD's technology adoption arm. Her background spans theoretical physics, financial systems, and defense technology — a range that would be unusual for someone twice her age. For the Still Human audience, what makes Bailley significant is not just the resume but the way she thinks about it: she's deeply technical and still asking the most human questions about what it all costs and what it's for.

Connect With Bailley Georgieva

Watch the episode: youtube.com/watch?v=m3QzlKlb9uc
Add Bailley's Instagram, LinkedIn, or personal website here

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Still Human Podcast is a biweekly show by Oshen Studio, hosted by Perkin — exploring what it means to stay human in the age of AI. Real conversations with builders, creators, founders, and thinkers doing it in real life.

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Who Are You Without AI? A Deep Dive into Hypersonics and Human Originality with Bailley Georgieva