Lane Schmelzenbach grew up in Kodiak, Alaska and spent decades in commercial fishing—where work is seasonal, the ocean doesn’t care about your plans, and safety has to become instinct. In this conversation, Lane breaks down what commercial fishing actually looks like beyond the romantic picture: long nights, hard rules, and the reality that “doing it right” sometimes means doing it immediately.

He shares stories that don’t leave you—like a storm rescue where five people were found floating on a gutting table after their boat went down, and the kind of boat culture where “duck on the deck” isn’t a suggestion. It’s survival.

From there, the episode widens into reading, faith, and technology. Lane talks about teaching Sunday school for over two decades, why encouragement matters more than performance, and how attention and gratitude shape what you become over time. Then we get into AI—what it’s changing in work, why “correct code” matters more than “more code,” the ethics of using AI without faking authorship, and why the internet may drift toward paywalls and “human-made” content as AI floods everything.

Lane Schmelzenbach grew up in Kodiak, Alaska and spent decades in commercial fishing, living inside the rhythm, risk, and responsibility of seasonal work on the ocean. Later, he built a career in software and brings a grounded perspective on modern technology—especially AI—through the lens of real-world consequences and craftsmanship.

Lane has also taught Sunday school for over 20 years and loves using books and Scripture as a way to build empathy, strengthen faith, and help people pay attention to what forms them—without turning conversations into division or performance. 

• Growing up in Kodiak and starting commercial fishing young

• What commercial fishing actually looks like (and what TV gets wrong)

• Gillnet vs longline, seasons, and the pressure of short windows

• Quotas, escapement, and how fisheries are managed

• A storm rescue story that still doesn’t feel real: five people found floating after a sinking

• Survival suits, hypothermia, and what minutes actually mean in cold water

• Boat rules and “instant obedience” moments: “duck on the deck”

• The cost that follows danger—how the body keeps the memory (fight-or-flight)

• Reading as a lifeline: books on the boat and building empathy over time

• Teaching Sunday school for over two decades: encouragement, clarity, and what actually matters

• Philippians 4, attention, narratives, and gratitude as practice

• AI in real work: speed helps, but “correct code” is still the problem

• AI ethics: using it without pretending you didn’t

• The hiring/resume arms race and why trust is getting harder

• Paywalls, “human-made” content, and what people may eventually pay for again

• Discipline & Mastery

• Faith & Formation

• Responsibility & Becoming

• Story & Identity

• Suffering & Meaning