#79 – Lee Smolin: Quantum Gravity and Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution

Keyu Jin is an economist specializing in China's economy, international macroeconomics, global trade imbalances, and financial policy. She is the author of The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep477-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/keyu-jin-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Keyu's X: https://x.com/KeyuJin Keyu's Website: https://keyujin.com/ The New China Playbook (Book): https://amzn.to/4lpgmyK SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Allio Capital: AI-powered investment app that uses global macroeconomic trends. Go to https://alliocapital.com/ UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/lex Hampton: Community for high-growth founders and CEOs. Go to https://joinhampton.com/lex Lindy: No-code AI agent builder. Go to https://go.lindy.ai/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (00:35) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (08:26) - Misconceptions about China (12:57) - Education in China (22:14) - Economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping (27:33) - Mayor economy and GDP growth race (41:20) - Growing up in China (46:58) - First time in the US (51:12) - China's government vs business sector (54:46) - Communism and capitalism (58:25) - Jack Ma (1:04:37) - China's view on innovation and copying ideas (1:11:15) - DeepSeek moment (1:15:09) - CHIPS Act (1:16:56) - Tariffs and Trade (1:29:21) - Immigration (1:34:08) - Taiwan (1:39:54) - One-child policy (1:47:51) - China's economy collapse predictions (1:52:34) - Advice for visiting China PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

13 Aug 1h 57min

Jack Weatherford is an anthropologist and historian specializing in Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep476-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/jack-weatherford-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Jack's Books: https://amzn.to/3ISziZr Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World: https://amzn.to/4l45LsY The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: https://amzn.to/4l22uud Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: https://amzn.to/4fpOQA4 Emperor of the Seas: Kublai Khan and the Making of China: https://amzn.to/40JEll1 SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Allio Capital: AI-powered investment app that uses global macroeconomic trends. Go to https://alliocapital.com/ ZocDoc: App that helps patients find healthcare providers. Go to https://zocdoc.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Oracle: Cloud infrastructure. Go to https://oracle.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex MasterClass: Online classes from world-class experts. Go to https://masterclass.com/lexpod LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (00:44) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (10:44) - Origin story of Genghis Khan (52:30) - Early battles & conquests (1:05:11) - Power (1:07:33) - Secret History (1:20:58) - Mongolian steppe (1:24:16) - Mounted archery and horse-riding (1:32:36) - Genghis Khan's army (1:48:49) - Military tactics and strategy (2:01:13) - Wars of conquest (2:05:37) - Dan Carlin (2:15:37) - Religious freedom (2:31:24) - Trade and the Silk Road (2:40:10) - Weapons innovation (2:41:40) - Kublai Khan and conquering China (3:23:31) - Fall of the Mongol Empire (3:50:26) - Genetic legacy (4:00:20) - Lessons from Genghis Khan (4:10:36) - Human nature (4:13:47) - Visiting Mongolia (4:33:15) - Lex: Dan Carlin (4:36:06) - Lex: Gaza PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

1 Aug 4h 39min

Demis Hassabis is the CEO of Google DeepMind and Nobel Prize winner for his groundbreaking work in protein structure prediction using AI. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep475-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/demis-hassabis-2-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Demis's X: https://x.com/demishassabis DeepMind's X: https://x.com/GoogleDeepMind DeepMind's Instagram: https://instagram.com/GoogleDeepMind DeepMind's Website: https://deepmind.google/ Gemini's Website: https://gemini.google.com/ Isomorphic Labs: https://isomorphiclabs.com/ The MANIAC (book): https://amzn.to/4lOXJ81 Life Ascending (book): https://amzn.to/3AhUP7z SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Hampton: Community for high-growth founders and CEOs. Go to https://joinhampton.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drink. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (00:29) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (08:40) - Learnable patterns in nature (12:22) - Computation and P vs NP (21:00) - Veo 3 and understanding reality (25:24) - Video games (37:26) - AlphaEvolve (43:27) - AI research (47:51) - Simulating a biological organism (52:34) - Origin of life (58:49) - Path to AGI (1:09:35) - Scaling laws (1:12:51) - Compute (1:15:38) - Future of energy (1:19:34) - Human nature (1:24:28) - Google and the race to AGI (1:42:27) - Competition and AI talent (1:49:01) - Future of programming (1:55:27) - John von Neumann (2:04:41) - p(doom) (2:09:24) - Humanity (2:12:30) - Consciousness and quantum computation (2:18:40) - David Foster Wallace (2:25:54) - Education and research PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

23 Jul 2h 34min

David Heinemeier Hansson (aka DHH) is a legendary programmer, creator of Ruby on Rails, co-owner & CTO of 37signals that created Basecamp, HEY, & ONCE, and is a NYT-best-selling author (with Jason Fried) of 4 books: REWORK, REMOTE, Getting Real, and It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work. He is also a race car driver, including a class-winning performance at the 24 hour Le Mans race. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep474-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/dhh-david-heinemeier-hansson-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: DHH's X: https://x.com/dhh DHH's Website: https://dhh.dk/ Ruby on Rails: https://rubyonrails.org/ 37signals: https://37signals.com/ DHH's books: Rework: https://amzn.to/44rSKob Remote: https://amzn.to/44GFJ91 It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work: https://amzn.to/46bzuwx Getting Real: https://amzn.to/4kzoMDg SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/lex Lindy: No-code AI agent builder. Go to https://go.lindy.ai/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex NetSuite: Business management software. Go to http://netsuite.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (00:58) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (08:48) - Programming - early days (26:13) - JavaScript (36:32) - Google Chrome and DOJ (44:19) - Ruby programming language (51:30) - Beautiful code (1:09:31) - Metaprogramming (1:12:52) - Dynamic typing (1:20:10) - Scaling (1:33:03) - Future of programming (1:50:34) - Future of AI (1:56:29) - Vibe coding (2:05:01) - Rails manifesto: Principles of a great programming language (2:29:27) - Why managers are useless (2:38:48) - Small teams (2:44:55) - Jeff Bezos (3:00:13) - Why meetings are toxic (3:07:58) - Case against retirement (3:15:15) - Hard work (3:20:53) - Why we left the cloud (3:24:04) - AWS (3:33:22) - Owning your own servers (3:39:35) - Elon Musk (3:49:17) - Apple (4:01:03) - Tim Sweeney (4:12:37) - Fatherhood (4:38:19) - Racing (5:05:23) - Cars (5:10:41) - Programming setup (5:25:51) - Programming language for beginners (5:39:09) - Open source (5:48:01) - WordPress drama (5:59:18) - Money and happiness (6:08:11) - Hope

12 Jul 0s

Debate on Iran war between Scott Horton and Mark Dubowitz. Scott Horton is the author and director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of The Scott Horton Show, and for the past three decades, a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy and military interventionism. Mark Dubowitz is the chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, host of the Iran Breakdown podcast, and a leading expert on Iran and its nuclear program for over 20 years. This debate was recorded on Tuesday, June 24, after the Iran-Israel ceasefire was declared. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep473-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/iran-war-debate-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Mark's X: https://x.com/mdubowitz Mark's Podcast: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmEsAFBNkqsMQnt5pypwEX0ul0NyIjd3E The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD): https://www.fdd.org/ Scott's X: https://x.com/scotthortonshow Scott's YouTube: https://youtube.com/@scotthortonshow Scott's Podcast: https://www.scotthortonshow.com/ Scott's Website: https://scotthorton.org/ Scott's Books: https://amzn.to/3T9Qg7y The Libertarian Institute: https://libertarianinstitute.org/ Antiwar.com: https://antiwar.com/ SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Hampton: Community for high-growth founders and CEOs. Go to https://joinhampton.com/lex Notion: Note-taking and team collaboration. Go to https://notion.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex Oracle: Cloud infrastructure. Go to https://oracle.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (00:36) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (08:02) - Iran-Israel War (16:45) - Iran's Nuclear Program (48:37) - Nuclear weapons and uranium (1:00:40) - Nuclear deal (1:26:14) - Iran Nuclear Archive (1:48:50) - Best case and worst case near-term future (2:24:15) - US attack on Iran - Operation Midnight Hammer (2:47:48) - Nuclear proliferation in the future (3:08:46) - Libertarianism (3:21:35) - Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) (3:37:10) - Trump and Peacemaking process (3:42:08) - WW2 (3:55:08) - WW3

26 Jun 4h 11min

Terence Tao is widely considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians in history. He won the Fields Medal and the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, and has contributed to a wide range of fields from fluid dynamics with Navier-Stokes equations to mathematical physics & quantum mechanics, prime numbers & analytics number theory, harmonic analysis, compressed sensing, random matrix theory, combinatorics, and progress on many of the hardest problems in the history of mathematics. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep472-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/terence-tao-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Terence's Blog: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/ Terence's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TerenceTao27 Terence's Books: https://amzn.to/43H9Aiq SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Notion: Note-taking and team collaboration. Go to https://notion.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex NetSuite: Business management software. Go to http://netsuite.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drink. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (00:36) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (09:49) - First hard problem (15:16) - Navier–Stokes singularity (35:25) - Game of life (42:00) - Infinity (47:07) - Math vs Physics (53:26) - Nature of reality (1:16:08) - Theory of everything (1:22:09) - General relativity (1:25:37) - Solving difficult problems (1:29:00) - AI-assisted theorem proving (1:41:50) - Lean programming language (1:51:50) - DeepMind's AlphaProof (1:56:45) - Human mathematicians vs AI (2:06:37) - AI winning the Fields Medal (2:13:47) - Grigori Perelman (2:26:29) - Twin Prime Conjecture (2:43:04) - Collatz conjecture (2:49:50) - P = NP (2:52:43) - Fields Medal (3:00:18) - Andrew Wiles and Fermat's Last Theorem (3:04:15) - Productivity (3:06:54) - Advice for young people (3:15:17) - The greatest mathematician of all time PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

15 Jun 3h 23min

Sundar Pichai is CEO of Google and Alphabet. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep471-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/sundar-pichai-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Sundar's X: https://x.com/sundarpichai Sundar's Instagram: https://instagram.com/sundarpichai Sundar's Blog: https://blog.google/authors/sundar-pichai/ Google Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/ Google's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Google SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Tax Network USA: Full-service tax firm. Go to https://tnusa.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drink. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (00:07) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (07:55) - Growing up in India (14:04) - Advice for young people (15:46) - Styles of leadership (20:07) - Impact of AI in human history (32:17) - Veo 3 and future of video (40:01) - Scaling laws (43:46) - AGI and ASI (50:11) - P(doom) (57:02) - Toughest leadership decisions (1:08:09) - AI mode vs Google Search (1:21:00) - Google Chrome (1:36:30) - Programming (1:43:14) - Android (1:48:27) - Questions for AGI (1:53:42) - Future of humanity (1:57:04) - Demo: Google Beam (2:04:46) - Demo: Google XR Glasses (2:07:31) - Biggest invention in human history PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

5 Jun 2h 17min

James Holland is a historian specializing in World War II. He hosts a podcast called WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep470-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/james-holland-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: James's Books: https://amzn.to/4caapmt James's X: https://x.com/James1940 James's Instagram: https://instagram.com/jamesholland1940 James's Substack: https://james1940.substack.com WW2 Pod (Podcast - Apple): https://apple.co/4l93Dl3 WW2 Pod (Podcast - YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@wehaveways WW2 Pod (Podcast - Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/34VlAepHmeloDD76RX4jtc WW2 Pod (Podcast - X): https://x.com/WeHaveWaysPod SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drink. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex Notion: Note-taking and team collaboration. Go to https://notion.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (00:34) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (07:25) - World War II (17:23) - Lebensraum and Hitler ideology (24:36) - Operation Barbarossa (40:49) - Hitler vs Europe (1:02:35) - Joseph Goebbels (1:12:29) - Hitler before WW2 (1:17:25) - Hitler vs Chamberlain (1:39:31) - Invasion of Poland (1:44:07) - Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (1:52:09) - Winston Churchill (2:16:09) - Most powerful military in WW2 (2:38:31) - Tanks (2:48:30) - Battle of Stalingrad (3:01:21) - Concentration camps (3:10:53) - Battle of Normandy (3:24:45) - Lessons from WW2 PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

24 Mai 3h 30min