#486 – Michael Levin: Hidden Reality of Alien Intelligence & Biological Life

My thoughts on 8 possible long-term futures of Neuralink after attending the August 2020 progress update. This is a solo episode #2 of the podcast. Hopefully it’s interesting to some folks. The aim is for these episodes to be focused on a particular topic, at times challenging, at times personal, at times exciting to me on a technical and philosophical level like the episode today. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/podcast or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 00:00 – Introduction 04:42 – 1. Alleviating Suffering 07:25 – 2. Consciousness and Intelligence 11:39 – 3. Augmented Body, Mind, and Reality 13:42 – 4. Gaming & Virtual Reality 16:25 – 5. Merging Tech & Biology 19:40 – 6. Telepathy 22:58 – 7. Memories & Immortality 28:04 – 8. Merging with AI

1 Sep 202033min

François Chollet is an AI researcher at Google and creator of Keras. Support this podcast by supporting our sponsors (and get discount): – Babbel: https://babbel.com and use code LEX – MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/lex – Cash App: download app & use code “LexPodcast” Episode links: Francois’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/fchollet Francois’s Website: https://fchollet.com/ On the Measure of Intelligence (paper): https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.01547 If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/podcast or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 00:00 – Introduction 05:04 – Early influence 06:23 – Language 12:50 – Thinking with mind maps 23:42 – Definition of intelligence 42:24 – GPT-3 53:07 – Semantic web 57:22 – Autonomous driving 1:09:30 – Tests of intelligence 1:13:59 – Tests of human intelligence 1:27:18 – IQ tests 1:35:59 – ARC Challenge 1:59:11 – Generalization 2:09:50 – Turing Test 2:20:44 – Hutter prize 2:27:44 – Meaning of life

31 Aug 20202h 34min

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Stanford. Support this podcast by supporting our sponsors: – Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex – BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex – Cash App: download app & use code “LexPodcast” Episode links: David’s Website: https://www.eagleman.com/ David’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/davideagleman Livewired (book): https://amzn.to/3ba4ezv If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/podcast or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 00:00 – Introduction 05:05 – Livewired 16:39 – Hardware vs software 25:53 – Brain-computer interfaces 35:12 – 2020 is a challenge for neuroplasticity 46:08 – Free will 50:43 – Nature of evil 58:55 – Psychiatry 1:06:28 – GPT-3 1:13:31 – Intelligence in the brain 1:21:51 – Neosensory 1:31:27 – Book recommendations 1:34:07 – Meaning of life 1:36:53 – Advice for young people

26 Aug 20201h 41min

New podcast name. New Russian hitman thumbnail. Everything else stays the same. AI is still my passion, but this gives me a bit more freedom to talk to interesting folks from all over. Thanks for the support & the love. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/podcast or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon.

24 Aug 20202min

Grant Sanderson is a math educator and creator of 3Blue1Brown. Support this podcast by supporting our sponsors: – Dollar Shave Club: https://dollarshaveclub.com/lex – DoorDash: download app & use code LEX – Cash App: download app & use code “LexPodcast” Episode links: 3Blue1Brown: http://youtube.com/3blue1brown Grant’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/3blue1brown If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/podcast or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 00:00 – Introduction 05:13 – Richard Feynman 09:41 – Learning deeply vs broadly 13:56 – Telling a story with visualizations 18:43 – Topology 23:52 – Intuition about exponential growth 32:28 – Elon Musk’s exponential view of the world 40:09 – SpaceX and space exploration 45:28 – Origins of the Internet 49:50 – Does teaching on YouTube get lonely? 54:31 – Daily routine 1:00:20 – Social media 1:10:38 – Online education in a time of COVID 1:27:03 – Joe Rogan moving to Spotify 1:32:09 – Neural networks 1:38:30 – GPT-3 1:46:52 – Manim 1:51:01 – Python 1:56:21 – Theory of everything 2:03:53 – Meaning of life

23 Aug 20202h 8min

Sheldon Solomon is a social psychologist, a philosopher, co-developer of Terror Management Theory, co-author of The Worm at the Core. Please support this channel by supporting our sponsors: – Blinkist: https://blinkist.com/lex – ExpressVPN at https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod – Cash App: download app & use code “LexPodcast” Episode links: Sheldon’s Website: https://www.skidmore.edu/psychology/faculty/solomon.php The Worm at the Core (book): https://amzn.to/31hQAXH Denial of Death (book): https://amzn.to/329Zxl4 If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/podcast or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 00:00 – Introduction 05:34 – Role of death in life 22:57 – Jordan Peterson 53:02 – Humans are both selfish and cooperative 56:57 – Civilization collapse 1:10:07 – Meditating on your mortality 1:16:10 – Kierkegaard and Heidegger 1:33:25 – Elon Musk 1:36:56 – Thinking deeply about death 1:45:53 – Religion 1:56:59 – Consciousness 2:03:39 – Why is Ernest Becker not better known 2:07:09 – AI and mortality 2:21:07 – Academia should welcome renegade thinkers 2:36:33 – Book recommendations 2:43:23 – Advice for young people 2:48:17 – Meaning of life

20 Aug 20202h 56min

Sara Seager is a planetary scientist at MIT, known for her work on the search for exoplanets. Support this podcast by supporting our sponsors. Click links, get discount: – Public Goods at https://publicgoods.com/lex and use code LEX – PowerDot: https://powerdot.com/lex and use code LEX – Cash App – use code “LexPodcast” and download: – Cash App (App Store): https://apple.co/2sPrUHe – Cash App (Google Play): https://bit.ly/2MlvP5w Episode links: Sara’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/profsaraseager Sara’s Website: https://www.saraseager.com/ The Smallest Lights in the Universe (book): https://amzn.to/3g3LfHA If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 00:00 – Introduction 05:32 – Falling in love with the stars 09:55 – Are we alone in the universe? 15:27 – Seager equation for number of habitable planets 27:48 – Exoplanets 34:44 – Earth-like exoplanets 40:43 – Intelligent life 52:34 – Number of planets per star 55:09 – Space exploration 57:36 – Traveling to Proxima Centauri 1:00:52 – Starshade 1:07:34 – Using the sun as a gravitational lens 1:09:44 – Starshot 1:12:45 – Rogue planets 1:15:44 – The Smallest Lights in the Universe 1:30:15 – Book recommendations 1:37:48 – Advice for a young person 1:39:29 – Meaning of life

16 Aug 20201h 42min

Dileep George is a researcher at the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence, co-founder of Vicarious, formerly co-founder of Numenta. From the early work on Hierarchical temporal memory to Recursive Cortical Networks to today, Dileep’s always sought to engineer intelligence that is closely inspired by the human brain. Support this channel by supporting our sponsors. Click links, get discount: – Babbel: https://babbel.com and use code LEX – MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/lex – Raycon: https://buyraycon.com/lex If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. OUTLINE: 0:00 – Introduction 4:50 – Building a model of the brain 17:11 – Visual cortex 27:50 – Probabilistic graphical models 31:35 – Encoding information in the brain 36:56 – Recursive Cortical Network 51:09 – Solving CAPTCHAs algorithmically 1:06:48 – Hype around brain-inspired AI 1:18:21 – How does the brain learn? 1:21:32 – Perception and cognition 1:25:43 – Open problems in brain-inspired AI 1:30:33 – GPT-3 1:40:41 – Memory 1:45:08 – Neuralink 1:51:32 – Consciousness 1:57:59 – Book recommendations 2:06:49 – Meaning of life

14 Aug 20202h 10min