
#221 – Douglas Lenat: Cyc and the Quest to Solve Common Sense Reasoning in AI
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

#220 – Niels Jorgensen: New York Firefighters and the Heroes of 9/11
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

#219 – Donald Knuth: Programming, Algorithms, Hard Problems & the Game of Life
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

#218 – Jaron Lanier: Virtual Reality, Social Media & the Future of Humans and AI
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

#217 – Rodney Brooks: Robotics
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

#216 – Vincent Racaniello: Viruses and Vaccines
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

#215 – Wojciech Zaremba: OpenAI Codex, GPT-3, Robotics, and the Future of AI
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

#214 – Jed Buchwald: Isaac Newton and the Philosophy of Science
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




















