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Lex Fridman's Podcast

Tesseract

Banned



'Lex Fridman (Alexei Fedotov) is a Russian-American YouTuber, podcaster, online public personality, and MIT researcher. His topics of research include artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, human-robot interaction and machine learning at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[1][2][3] He opened his Youtube channel in 2006 where he shares videos about research into artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, deep learning and uploads biweekly podcast episodes.[4] His channel has 558,000 subscribers & 36 million video views as of 13th September 2020.[4] '
 

Tesseract

Banned
Yaron Brook: Ayn Rand and the Philosophy of Objectivism | Lex Fridman Podcast #138



2:39 - Principles of a life well lived
10:46 - Free will
17:01 - Nature of reality
25:39 - Ayn Rand
57:22 - Objectivism
1:22:40 - Godel Incompleteness Theorem
1:27:47 - Capitalism
1:57:33 - Virtue of selfishness
2:07:37 - Win-win
2:13:42 - Anarchy
2:32:35 - Tribalism and division
2:36:53 - Objectivism and Jordan Peterson on personal responsibility
 
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Loki

Count of Concision
Tried to sit through some of his podcasts, and it's a perfect example of why "intelligent" doesn't equal "engaging." Not only is he super boring, but his questions/pushback/insights aren't very good, and there is literally zero structure to the entire affair. You can tell he doesn't even bullet point the topics he wants to hit with his guests. Sam Harris' podcast is like a masterclass in organization and fruitful back-and-forth by comparison. Fridman is dryer than Rosie O'Donnell's nether regions.
 

Tesseract

Banned
Tried to sit through some of his podcasts, and it's a perfect example of why "intelligent" doesn't equal "engaging." Not only is he super boring, but his questions/pushback/insights aren't very good, and there is literally zero structure to the entire affair. You can tell he doesn't even bullet point the topics he wants to hit with his guests. Sam Harris' podcast is like a masterclass in organization and fruitful back-and-forth by comparison. Fridman is dryer than Rosie O'Donnell's nether regions.
brutal

each their own
 

Loki

Count of Concision
I do love the topics and guests, I just wish he had a better personality and/or communication skills to go along with his obvious intellect. When you hear how he expresses his thoughts and insights as compared to how clearly and engagingly folks like Stephen Wolfram or Brian Greene do, the difference is stark.
 

Tesseract

Banned
Andrew Huberman: Neuroscience of Optimal Performance | Lex Fridman Podcast #139



2:29 - Fear
10:41 - Virtual reality
14:25 - Claustrophobia
16:13 - Skydiving
17:48 - Overcoming fears
22:48 - Optimal performance
26:02 - Deep work
41:27 - Psychedelics
45:13 - Deep work
58:53 - Everything in the brain is an abstraction
1:06:11 - Human vision system
1:17:47 - Neuralink
1:45:17 - Science of consciousness
2:00:05 - David Goggins
2:17:09 - Science communication
2:24:41 - Man's Search for Meaning
 
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finowns

Member
Tried to sit through some of his podcasts, and it's a perfect example of why "intelligent" doesn't equal "engaging." Not only is he super boring, but his questions/pushback/insights aren't very good, and there is literally zero structure to the entire affair. You can tell he doesn't even bullet point the topics he wants to hit with his guests. Sam Harris' podcast is like a masterclass in organization and fruitful back-and-forth by comparison. Fridman is dryer than Rosie O'Donnell's nether regions.

I disagree. I enjoy his questions and the guests he brings on. Reminded me I need to read Ayn Rand.
 

eot

Banned
The only thing I've seen of him is this clip:



and his style didn't really click we me. He's super low energy and almost comes across as a little disinterested, even though I doubt he is since why the hell would he run a podcast like this if he were. He does seem to have interesting guests though.
 
I have to really like the guest to be able to get through these podcasts, the Dan Carlin one is the only i watched start to finish.

His delivery and the way of question asking actually distract me from listening to the talking
 

finowns

Member
I have to really like the guest to be able to get through these podcasts, the Dan Carlin one is the only i watched start to finish.

His delivery and the way of question asking actually distract me from listening to the talking

Ya, sometimes he is a bit dramatic in his pauses and gestures, closing his eyes for example, he could cut some of that stuff out.
 
I watch him on the regular, but I skip many eps.

He's certainly trying to learn all he can, which I can only praise.
He's a bit bluepill and green behind the ears but he's still young.

Was amazed he had never heard the term 'syntactic sugar' for example. Oh well.
 

Breakage

Member
I've listened to a few of his podcast episodes recently.
My thoughts so far:
He sounds as if he is half asleep.
He seems to bring up Elon Musk a lot.
He talks about “love” in a way that makes him sound like a naive utopian.
The black suit and tie uniform he wears makes him look unfriendly.
 
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Breakage

Member
I kinda dig that look, he looks kinda old timey and also reminds me of the the alien from remake of "the day the earth stood still".
I dunno he looks like a contract killer or a funeral director. It makes him look too serious and a bit weird. He buttons up his collar and wears a tie. It's just overkill for a podcast host.
 
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Tesseract

Banned
Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain | Lex Fridman Podcast #140




2:10 - Falling in love
19:54 - Love at first sight
34:32 - Romantic
38:32 - Writing process
49:15 - Evolution of the human brain
1:03:24 - Nature of evil
1:12:07 - Love is an evolutionary advantage
1:16:43 - Variation in species
1:22:24 - Does evolution have a direction?
1:40:03 - Love with an inanimate object
1:44:21 - Just be yourself is confusing advice
1:54:32 - Consciousness
2:01:10 - Book recommendations
 

Tesseract

Banned
Erik Brynjolfsson: Economics of AI, Social Networks, and Technology | Lex Fridman Podcast #141



2:56 - Exponential growth
7:24 - Elon Musk exponential thinking
9:41 - Moore's law is a series of revolutions
15:03 - GPT-3
16:42 - Autonomous vehicles
23:43 - Electricity
28:12 - Productivity
33:19 - Why is Twitter and Facebook free?
43:36 - Dismantling the nature of truth
46:56 - Nutpicking and Cancel Culture
53:11 - How will AI change our world
59:12 - Existential threats
1:01:05 - AI and the nature of work
1:07:11 - Thoughts on Andrew Yang and UBI
1:13:03 - Economics of innovation
1:19:09 - Effect of COVID on the economy
1:28:22 - MIT and Stanford
1:32:56 - Book recommendations
1:36:01 - Meaning of life
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
1:13:03 - Economics of innovation
Tax more the things that are bad for us, and tax less the things that are good for us. Simple.

It's unfortunate how unnecessarily complicated and ideological the USA's tax system has bloated over the years. A restructuring/reimagining/reanalysis of some of our systems based on a simplified first principles approach is long overdue.
 
I kinda dig that look, he looks kinda old timey and also reminds me of the the alien from remake of "the day the earth stood still".
I am into suits myself, but you simply don't wear a black one if you are not going to a funeral.
I like Lex a lot more if he just wears casual stuff.
 
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I love that Lex watches about every Malice stream and superchats binary code to Michael.

And for such a social knave, Lex's interviews are captivating to me.
 
Andrew Huberman: Neuroscience of Optimal Performance | Lex Fridman Podcast #139



2:29 - Fear
10:41 - Virtual reality
14:25 - Claustrophobia
16:13 - Skydiving
17:48 - Overcoming fears
22:48 - Optimal performance
26:02 - Deep work
41:27 - Psychedelics
45:13 - Deep work
58:53 - Everything in the brain is an abstraction
1:06:11 - Human vision system
1:17:47 - Neuralink
1:45:17 - Science of consciousness
2:00:05 - David Goggins
2:17:09 - Science communication
2:24:41 - Man's Search for Meaning


I have watched parts of this again and again..
Fascinating stuff, really.

I kind of like the idea that the brain is constructing some kind of reality that has nothing to do with what reality looks like.
I have wandered of with my thoughts on this topic as well over the years, and it's like the most wonderful and horrifying thought there is. Kind of lovecraftian almost.
 

Ballthyrm

Member
Tax more the things that are bad for us, and tax less the things that are good for us. Simple.

People have different definition on what's good or bad, so, not so simple.

You would think that nature would have the last say, but when the feedback loop is very long like climate change ...
You will find plenty of people that support shitty fossil fuel like coal or tar sands because they don't pay any of the externalities.
 
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Tesseract

Banned
Manolis Kellis: Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything | Lex Fridman Podcast #142



2:18 - Music and life
3:11 - [1] Dwros Gewrgiadis - An imoun plousios -
4:25 - [2] Grigoris Bithikotsis - Ftoxologia -
6:14 - [3] Sto perigiali to kryfo -
7:41 - [4] Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror -
12:47 - [5] George Michael - Careless Whisper -
13:32 - [6] Gainsbourg with Isabelle Adjani - Pull Marine -
13:58 - [7] Georges Moustaki - Le meteque -
16:00 - [8] Jacques Brel - Ne me quitte pas -
17:00 - [9] Sting - Englishman In New York -
18:17 - [10] Sting - Fragile -

20:36 - [11] Pink Floyd - The Wall (When the Tigers Broke Free) -
24:30 - [12] Pink Floyd - The Wall (One Of My Turns) -
25:46 - [13] Sting - Russians -
28:41 - [14] Joni Mitchell - Both sides now -
30:52 - [15] Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man -
33:43 - [16] Alison Krauss & Union Station - The Lucky One -
41:51 - The number 42
47:52 - The question about the meaning of life
50:32 - Are humans unique in the universe?
56:16 - Human civilization
1:08:22 - Mars
1:10:15 - Human mind and the abstraction layers of reality
1:21:08 - Neural networks and intelligence
1:28:25 - Ideas as organisms
1:37:49 - Language
1:49:04 - Legacy
2:03:55 - Poems
 

Tesseract

Banned
John Clarke: The Art of Fighting and the Pursuit of Excellence | Lex Fridman Podcast #143



2:43 - The great American road trip
20:13 - Martial arts and philosophy
23:13 - Real vs fake success on Instagram
33:58 - The brutal honesty of Mike Tyson
38:44 - Breaking your opponent in wrestling
46:51 - Genghis Khan
57:57 - It's okay to change your mind
1:02:34 - Why do politicians become inauthentic
1:09:11 - Greatness requires sacrifice
1:11:54 - Whiplash
1:20:02 - Relationships
1:25:39 - Greatest fighters of all time
1:33:20 - Greatest fight of all time
1:47:43 - Khabib Nurmagomedov
1:49:31 - Can Conor McGregor beat Khabib Nurmagomedov?
2:03:47 - Conor vs Khabib 2
2:10:23 - Will there always be war?
2:11:59 - Future of civilization
2:14:10 - Kids
2:20:55 - The meaning of a "like" on social media
2:29:52 - Starting a podcast
2:48:34 - Book recommendations
2:52:04 - Keeping the independence of solitude
 

Tesseract

Banned
these conversations are pretty damn good by the way, archiving here since the thread started late



1:02 - Richard Feynman
2:09 - Visualization and intuition
6:45 - Ego in Science
9:27 - Academia
11:18 - Developing ideas
12:12 - Quantum computers
21:37 - Universe as an information processing system
26:35 - Machine learning
29:47 - Predicting the future
30:48 - String theory
37:03 - Free will
39:26 - Arrow of time
46:39 - Universe as a computer
49:45 - Big bang
50:50 - Infinity
51:35 - First image of a black hole
54:08 - Questions within the reach of science
55:55 - Questions out of reach of science



7:14 - Key moments in history of physics
12:43 - Philosophy of science
14:37 - Science and computational reducibility
22:08 - Predicting the pandemic
38:58 - Sunburn moment with Wolfram Alpha
39:46 - Computational irreducibility
46:45 - Theory of everything
52:41 - General relativity
1:01:16 - Quantum mechanics
1:06:46 - Unifying the laws of physics
1:12:01 - Wolfram Physics Project
1:29:53 - Emergence of time
1:34:11 - Causal invariance
1:53:03 - Deriving physics from simple rules on hypergraphs
2:07:24 - Einstein equations
2:13:04 - Simulating the physics of the universe
2:17:28 - Hardware specs of the simulation
2:24:37 - Quantum mechanics in Wolfram physics model
2:42:46 - Double-slit experiment
2:45:13 - Quantum computers
2:53:21 - Getting started with Wolfram physics project
3:14:46 - The rules that created our universe
3:24:22 - Alien intelligences
3:32:29 - Meta-mathematics
3:37:58 - Why is math hard?
3:52:55 - Sabine Hossenfelder and how beauty leads physics astray
4:01:07 - Eric Weinstein and Geometric Unity
4:06:17 - Travel faster than speed of light
4:16:59 - Why does the universe exist at all



2:21 - Understanding the universe and the mind
4:03 - Universe as an information processing system
9:34 - Simulation theory thought experiment
14:33 - Intelligent life in the observable universe
15:34 - Defining intelligent life
19:34 - SpaceX and space exploration
21:05 - Origin of life
29:40 - Interdisciplinary science and conversation



1:23 - Capacity of human mind to understand physics
10:49 - Perception vs reality
12:29 - Conservation of momentum
17:20 - Difference between math and physics
20:10 - Why is our world so compressable
22:53 - What would Newton think of quantum mechanics
25:44 - What is quantum mechanics?
27:54 - What is an atom?
30:34 - What is the wave function?
32:30 - What is quantum entanglement?
35:19 - What is Hilbert space?
37:32 - What is entropy?
39:31 - Infinity
42:43 - Many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics
1:01:13 - Quantum gravity and the emergence of spacetime
1:08:34 - Our branch of reality in many-worlds interpretation
1:10:40 - Time travel
1:12:54 - Arrow of time
1:16:18 - What is fundamental in physics
1:16:58 - Quantum computers
1:17:42 - Experimental validation of many-worlds and emergent spacetime
1:19:53 - Quantum mechanics and the human mind
1:21:51 - Mindscape podcast



3:24 - Role of science in society
7:04 - Love and science
9:07 - Skepticism in science
14:15 - Voyager, Carl Sagan, and the Golden Record
36:41 - Cosmos
53:22 - Existential threats
1:00:36 - Origin of life
1:04:22 - Mortality
 

Tesseract

Banned

Michael Littman: Reinforcement Learning and the Future of AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #144​




2:30 - Robot and Frank
4:50 - Music
8:01 - Starring in a TurboTax commercial
18:14 - Existential risks of AI
36:36 - Reinforcement learning
1:02:24 - AlphaGo and David Silver
1:12:03 - Will neural networks achieve AGI?
1:24:30 - Bitter Lesson
1:37:20 - Does driving require a theory of mind?
1:46:46 - Book Recommendations
1:52:08 - Meaning of life

Matthew Johnson: Psychedelics | Lex Fridman Podcast #145​




2:02 - Introduction to psychedelics
18:04 - Psychedelics expand the mind
21:16 - The priors we bring to the psychedelic experience
25:11 - Elon Musk and first principles thinking
35:41 - DMT
47:03 - Joe Rogan and DMT
53:11 - The nature of drug addiction
1:07:00 - The economics of drug pricing
1:13:15 - Should we legalize all drugs?
1:25:18 - What is the most dangerous drug?
1:27:52 - Does drug prohibition work?
1:31:46 - Cocaine and sex
1:38:46 - Risky sexual decisions
1:49:43 - Psilocybin helping people quit smoking
1:56:01 - Young Jamie
2:18:09 - Participating in a study
2:25:28 - Psychedelics and the human mind
2:32:51 - The future of psychedelics
2:35:32 - Neuralink
:45:05 - Consciousness
2:57:46 - Panpsychism
3:07:51 - Aliens and DMT
3:17:55 - Mortality
3:27:44 - Meaning of life

Michael Mina: Rapid Testing, Viruses, and the Engineering Mindset | Lex Fridman Podcast #146​




2:32 - Interacting between viruses and bacteria
6:45 - Deadlier viruses
10:17 - Will COVID-19 mutate?
11:51 - Rapid testing
29:15 - PCR vs rapid antigen tests
38:59 - Medical industrial complex
42:51 - Lex takes COVID test
49:35 - FDA and cheap tests
52:21 - Explanation of Elon Musk's positive COVID tests
59:29 - Role of testing during vaccine deployment
1:02:58 - Public health policy
1:12:38 - A weather system for viruses
1:29:30 - Can a virus kill all humans?
1:35:09 - Engineering a deadly virus
1:39:51 - AlphaFold 2 and viruses
1:45:46 - Advice for young people
1:53:54 - Time as a buddhist monk
1:59:58 - Meditation
2:07:36 - Meaning of life
 
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Tesseract

Banned

Dmitri Dolgov: Waymo and the Future of Self-Driving Cars | Lex Fridman Podcast #147​



2:16 - Computer games
7:23 - Childhood
9:55 - Robotics
10:44 - Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
12:56 - DARPA Urban Challenge
23:16 - Waymo origin story
38:58 - Waymo self-driving hardware
47:31 - Connected cars
53:23 - Waymo fully driverless service in Phoenix
57:45 - Getting feedback from riders
1:05:58 - Creating a product that people love
1:11:49 - Do self-driving cars need to break the rules like humans do?
1:18:33 - Waymo Trucks
1:24:11 - Future of Waymo
1:37:23 - Role of lidar in autonomous driving
1:50:23 - Machine learning is essential for autonomous driving
1:54:25 - Pedestrians
2:01:02 - Trolley problem
2:05:30 - Book recommendations
2:16:56 - Meaning of life

Charles Isbell and Michael Littman: Machine Learning and Education | Lex Fridman Podcast #148​




2:27 - Is machine learning just statistics?
6:49 - NeurIPS vs ICML
9:05 - Data is more important than algorithm
14:49 - The role of hardship in education
23:33 - How Charles and Michael met
28:05 - Key to success: never be satisfied
31:23 - Bell Labs
42:50 - Teaching machine learning
53:01 - Westworld and Ex Machina
1:01:00 - Simulation
1:07:49 - The college experience in the times of COVID
1:36:27 - Advice for young people
1:43:19 - How to learn to program
1:54:43 - Friendship

Diana Walsh Pasulka: Aliens, Technology, Religion & the Nature of Belief | Lex Fridman Podcast #149​



2:03 - What is real?
7:32 - Can beliefs become reality?
12:34 - Donald Hoffman
16:33 - Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
20:02 - Ayn Rand
27:00 - How do religions start?
42:13 - Religion is an evolutionary advantage
47:34 - Religion used in propaganda
52:07 - What did Nietzsche mean by "God is Dead"?
57:34 - American Cosmic
1:01:20 - What do aliens look like?
1:10:03 - History of space programs
1:13:06 - Jacques Vallee
1:22:31 - Artificial intelligence
1:28:00 - Ufology community
1:39:13 - Psychedelics
1:43:10 - Tic Tac UFO
1:51:44 - Roswell UFO incident
2:02:49 - Bob Lazar
2:06:25 - Monoliths in the desert
2:17:14 - Humans will co-evolve with AI
2:20:33 - Neuralink
2:25:23 - Singularity
2:35:14 - Books: Nietzsche
2:40:20 - Books: Hannah Arendt
2:45:18 - Fear of death
2:49:46 - Meaning of life
 

Tesseract

Banned

Michael Malice: The White Pill, Freedom, Hope, and Happiness Amidst Chaos | Lex Fridman Podcast #150​




3:25 - Conversation with Alex Jones and Tim Pool
12:10 - Michael's outfit
20:31 - Self-publishing a book
30:19 - The white pill
38:22 - Barack Obama
41:43 - What did the volcano say to his true love?
43:06 - Myth of Sisyphus
46:47 - Journalism failed to stop Stalin and Hitler
54:31 - Good Germans
58:27 - Richard Wolff
1:01:58 - Could United States have stayed out of World War II
1:04:50 - Trump Derangement Syndrome
1:06:36 - Nazism and Antisemitism
1:09:18 - Knock knock
1:15:58 - Putin
1:23:38 - The evil of Kim Jong-il and North Korea
1:32:10 - Dark humor
1:36:56 - Comedy is tragedy plus timing
1:44:12 - Interviewing difficult guests
1:53:44 - Curtis Yarvin (Mencius Moldbug)
2:10:02 - Violence under anarchism
2:25:36 - Ayn Rand
2:28:45 - Secession in United States
2:38:24 - Politics over next 4 years
2:45:52 - Mars
2:49:55 - UFOs
2:52:50 - Psychedelics
2:56:46 - What is love?
 
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Tesseract

Banned
nice to see lex playing some games, should continue this trend to pump his numbers

LEX GET ITT
 
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PSYGN

Member

Michael Malice: The White Pill, Freedom, Hope, and Happiness Amidst Chaos | Lex Fridman Podcast #150​




3:25 - Conversation with Alex Jones and Tim Pool
12:10 - Michael's outfit
20:31 - Self-publishing a book
30:19 - The white pill
38:22 - Barack Obama
41:43 - What did the volcano say to his true love?
43:06 - Myth of Sisyphus
46:47 - Journalism failed to stop Stalin and Hitler
54:31 - Good Germans
58:27 - Richard Wolff
1:01:58 - Could United States have stayed out of World War II
1:04:50 - Trump Derangement Syndrome
1:06:36 - Nazism and Antisemitism
1:09:18 - Knock knock
1:15:58 - Putin
1:23:38 - The evil of Kim Jong-il and North Korea
1:32:10 - Dark humor
1:36:56 - Comedy is tragedy plus timing
1:44:12 - Interviewing difficult guests
1:53:44 - Curtis Yarvin (Mencius Moldbug)
2:10:02 - Violence under anarchism
2:25:36 - Ayn Rand
2:28:45 - Secession in United States
2:38:24 - Politics over next 4 years
2:45:52 - Mars
2:49:55 - UFOs
2:52:50 - Psychedelics
2:56:46 - What is love?


I thought that was his father at first.
 

Tesseract

Banned

Dan Kokotov: Speech Recognition with AI and Humans | Lex Fridman Podcast #151​




3:23 - Dune
6:39 - Rev
12:39 - Translation
19:28 - Gig economy
28:08 - Automatic speech recognition
38:58 - Create products that people love
47:08 - The future of podcasts at Spotify
1:08:46 - Book recommendations
1:10:08 - Stories of our dystopian future
1:13:50 - Movies about Stalin and Hitler
1:19:05 - Interviewing Putin
1:25:02 - Meaning of life

Dan Gable: Olympic Wrestling, Mental Toughness & the Making of Champions | Lex Fridman Podcast #152​




2:56 - Russian wrestling
4:34 - Coaching the science, art, and toughness of wrestling
11:30 - The pain of defeat and the tattoo of a hawk clawing out the heart
14:29 - Roger Bannister and the 4 minute mile
17:35 - The dream of becoming an Olympic champion
20:03 - The day in 1972 of the Olympic final
23:35 - Sauna story
25:05 - Match against the Russian
30:38 - The role of fear in wrestling
35:40 - The line between physical wrestling and anger
40:18 - Tragic loss of Dan's sister
47:46 - The role of family in wrestling
53:08 - Wrestling being voted out of the Olympics
57:52 - To beat the best you must study the best
1:03:05 - The role of luck (Old Man and the Sea)

Dmitry Korkin: Evolution of Proteins, Viruses, Life, and AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #153​




1:57 - Proteins and the building blocks of life
9:00 - Spike protein
15:48 - Coronavirus biological structure explained
20:45 - Virus mutations
27:16 - Evolution of proteins
37:02 - Self-replicating computer programs
44:38 - Origin of life
52:11 - Extraterrestrial life in our solar system
54:08 - Joshua Lederberg
1:00:07 - Dendral
1:03:01 - Why did expert systems fail?
1:05:12 - AlphaFold 2
1:26:50 - Will AI revolutionize art and music?
1:33:49 - Multi-protein folding
1:38:16 - Will AlphaFold 2 result in a Nobel Prize?
1:40:47 - Will AI be used to engineer deadly viruses?
1:55:54 - Book recommendations
2:05:37 - Family
2:08:15 - A poem in Russian
 

mango drank

Member
I could've sworn I heard Lex say a month or two ago that he had another interview with Elon coming up, but then never heard a word about it again.

I gotta go through his back catalog, he's had so many good guests I've missed.
 
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