#485 – David Kirtley: Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Physics, and the Future of Energy

Douglas Lenat is the founder of Cyc, a 37 year project aiming to solve common-sense knowledge and reasoning in AI. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Squarespace: https://lexfridman.com/squarespace and use code LEX to get 10% off – BiOptimizers: http://www.magbreakthrough.com/lex to get 10% off – Stamps.com: https://stamps.com and use code LEX to get free postage & scale – LMNT: https://drinkLMNT.com/lex to get free sample pack – ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free EPISODE LINKS: Douglas’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/cycorpai Cyc’s Website: https://cyc.com PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (07:39) – What is Cyc? (15:45) – How to form a knowledge base of the universe (26:11) – How to train an AI knowledge base (30:32) – Global consistency versus local consistency (54:53) – Automated reasoning (1:00:33) – Direct uses of AI and machine learning (1:13:11) – The semantic web (1:23:44) – Tools to help Cyc interpret data (1:32:54) – The most beautiful idea about Cyc (1:38:53) – Love and consciousness in AI (1:45:52) – The greatness of Marvin Minsky (1:50:46) – Is Cyc just a beautiful dream? (1:55:31) – What is OpenCyc and how was it born? (2:01:21) – The open source community and OpenCyc (2:11:48) – The inference problem (2:13:31) – Cyc’s programming language (2:21:05) – Ontological engineering (2:28:30) – Do machines think? (2:37:15) – Death and consciousness (2:47:16) – What would you say to AI? (2:51:52) – Advice to young people (2:53:48) – Mortality

15 Sep 20210s

Niels Jorgensen is a former New York firefighter for over 21 years, who was there at Ground Zero on September 11th, 2001. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – ROKA: https://roka.com/ and use code LEX to get 20% off your first order – MUD\WTR: https://mudwtr.com/lex and use code LEX to get 5% off – Magic Spoon: https://magicspoon.com/lex and use code LEX to get $5 off – Blinkist: https://blinkist.com/lex and use code LEX to get 25% off premium EPISODE LINKS: Niels’s 20 for 20 Podcast: https://ironlightlabs.org/20-for-20/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (08:52) – September 11, 2001 (36:48) – Falling man (40:58) – Ground Zero (47:17) – 20 for 20 (50:27) – What it means to be a great firefighter (53:11) – Why did you become a firefighter? (55:00) – Tally Ho (57:46) – New view of the world (1:05:16) – Empathy (1:09:49) – Leukemia (1:25:18) – New York City (1:31:28) – John Feal (1:44:57) – Conspiracy theories (1:53:45) – Faith (1:55:44) – Modern communication (2:00:11) – Hand written letters (2:14:02) – Love (2:25:45) – War in Afghanistan (2:37:24) – Brave stories from 9/11

11 Sep 20212h 49min

Donald Knuth is a computer scientist, Turing Award winner, father of algorithm analysis, author of The Art of Computer Programming, and creator of TeX. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Coinbase: https://coinbase.com/lex to get $5 in free Bitcoin – InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex and use code Lex25 to get 25% off – NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour – ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free – BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Donald’s Stanford Page: https://profiles.stanford.edu/donald-knuth Donald’s Books: https://amzn.to/3heyBsC PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (07:02) – First programs (30:26) – Literate programming (33:35) – Beauty in programming (39:30) – OpenAI (48:41) – Optimization (54:46) – Consciousness (1:03:29) – Conway’s game of life (1:16:16) – Stable marriage (1:19:35) – Richard Feynman (1:30:29) – Knuth-Morris-Pratt Algorithm (1:40:02) – Hardest problem (1:57:41) – Open source (2:02:54) – Favorite symbols (2:12:27) – Productivity (2:20:08) – Meaning of life

9 Sep 20212h 27min

Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, artist, author, and founder of the field of virtual reality. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Skiff: https://skiff.org/lex to get early access – Novo: https://banknovo.com/lex – Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off – Indeed: https://indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit – Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/lex and use code LEX to get special savings EPISODE LINKS: Jaron’s Website: http://www.jaronlanier.com/ Jaron’s Books: https://amzn.to/3tlhl9T PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (08:04) – What is reality? (12:17) – Turing machines (13:35) – Simulating our universe (19:49) – Video games and other immersive experiences (23:37) – Death and consciousness (32:08) – Designing human-centric AI (33:42) – Empathy with robots (37:33) – Social media incentives (49:53) – Data dignity (57:26) – Jack Dorsey and Twitter (1:09:10) – Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies (1:13:51) – Government overreach and freedom (1:24:06) – GitHub and TikTok (1:26:16) – The Autodidactic Universe (1:31:07) – Humans and the mystery of music (1:37:17) – Defining moments (1:48:03) – Mortality (1:49:56) – The meaning of life

6 Sep 20211h 58min

Rodney Brooks is a roboticist, former head of CSAIL at MIT, and co-founder of iRobot, Rethink Robotics, and Robust.AI. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Paperspace: https://gradient.run/lex to get $15 credit – GiveDirectly: https://givedirectly.org/lex to get gift matched up to $300 – BiOptimizers: http://www.magbreakthrough.com/lex to get 10% off – Four Sigmatic: https://foursigmatic.com/lex and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off – SimpliSafe: https://simplisafe.com/lex and use code LEX to get a free security camera EPISODE LINKS: Rodney’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/rodneyabrooks Rodney’s Blog: http://rodneybrooks.com/blog/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (07:33) – First robots (28:58) – Brains and computers (1:01:47) – Self-driving cars (1:21:57) – Believing in the impossible (1:32:47) – Predictions (1:43:49) – iRobot (2:11:11) – Sharing an office with AI experts (2:23:21) – Advice for young people (2:27:07) – Meaning of life

3 Sep 20212h 30min

Vincent Racaniello is a virologist, immunologist, and microbiologist at Columbia. He is a co-author of the textbook Principles of Virology and co-host of This Week in Virology podcast. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Privacy: https://privacy.com/lex to get $5 added to your account – Justworks: https://justworks.com – Sun Basket: https://sunbasket.com/lex and use code LEX to get $35 off – The Information: https://theinformation.com/lex to get 75% off first month – Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex and use code LEX to get 1 month of fish oil EPISODE LINKS: Vincent’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/profvrr Vincent’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/vincentracaniello Vincent’s Podcast: https://www.microbe.tv/ Vincent’s Website: http://www.virology.ws/ Vincent’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/profvrr PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (10:24) – Microbiology by numbers (15:47) – From bacteria to an organism (23:46) – AlphaFold 2 (27:44) – Simulating an evolutionary arms race (53:11) – The most terrifying virus (1:14:54) – SARS-CoV-2 (1:29:38) – Coronaviruses and Influenza. What’s the difference? (1:35:45) – Vaccines (1:41:43) – Lex on his reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine shot (1:47:39) – Modern vaccines (1:52:39) – How does mRNA vaccine work? (1:55:26) – Are mRNA vaccines safe? (2:21:52) – Lex on trust in authority (2:36:59) – Ivermectin (2:43:39) – Hydroxychloroquine (2:48:22) – Variants and mutations (2:55:20) – Testing (3:03:27) – How does COVID-19 spread? (3:06:37) – Masks (3:15:05) – Bret Weinstein vs Sam Harris (3:18:39) – This Week in Virology (3:28:19) – Advice for young people (3:30:42) – Meaning of life

1 Sep 20213h 35min

Wojciech Zaremba is a co-founder of OpenAI. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Paperspace: https://gradient.run/lex to get $15 credit – Indeed: https://indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit – Blinkist: https://blinkist.com/lex and use code LEX to get 25% off premium – Grammarly: https://grammarly.com/lex to get 20% off premium – Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/lex and use code LEX to get special savings EPISODE LINKS: Wojciech’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/woj_zaremba Wojciech’s Website: https://wojzaremba.com/ OpenAI’s Website: https://openai.com/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (07:57) – The Fermi paradox (14:59) – Systems of government (17:36) – Life, intelligence, and consciousness (24:49) – GPT language model (27:02) – Engineering consciousness (31:19) – Is there an algorithm for intelligence? (38:41) – Neural networks and deep learning (51:32) – Human reward functions (56:26) – Love is part of the human condition (58:53) – Expanding our circle of empathy (1:02:58) – Psychedelics and meditation (1:14:25) – Ilya Sutskever (1:21:42) – How does GPT work? (1:31:35) – AI safety (1:38:21) – OpenAI Codex (1:51:54) – Robotics (2:01:11) – Developing self driving cars and robots (2:12:02) – What is the benchmark for intelligence? (2:15:04) – Will we spend more time in virtual reality? (2:17:18) – AI Friendships (2:26:48) – Sleep (2:29:22) – Generating good ideas (2:35:47) – Advice for young people (2:40:31) – Getting started with machine learning (2:43:44) – What is beauty? (2:47:35) – Death (2:54:23) – Meaning of life

29 Aug 20212h 58min

Jed Buchwald is a historian and philosopher of science at Caltech. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – GiveWell: https://www.givewell.org/ and use code LEX to get donation matched up to $1k – Theragun: https://therabody.com/lex to get 30 day trial – LMNT: https://drinkLMNT.com/lex to get free sample pack – Fundrise: https://fundrise.com/lex – BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Jed’s Caltech page: https://bit.ly/38eLLRF Jed’s Books: https://amzn.to/2WoxGPi PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (06:34) – How does science progress? (22:48) – Theory of Everything (34:40) – Consciousness (38:15) – Most Beautiful Moments in Science (46:00) – Isaac Newton (1:12:13) – Competition in Science (1:22:47) – Newton’s Career (1:35:58) – Importance of Data (1:42:17) – Alchemy (1:46:31) – Newton and Religion (1:49:44) – Showing Newton the future (1:54:28) – Newton and Einstein

27 Aug 20211h 58min