Shows
Dwarkesh PodcastChina is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? - Casey HandmerHow will we feed the 100s of GWs of extra energy demand that AI will create over the next decade? On this episode, Casey Handmer (Caltech PhD, former NASA JPL, founder & CEO of Terraform Industries) walks me through how we can pull it off, and why he thinks a major part of this energy singularity will be powered by solar. His views are contrarian, but he came armed to defend them.Watch on YouTube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Sponsors* Lighthouse helps frontier technology companies like Cursor and Physical Intelligence navigate the...
2025-08-151h 08
Dwarkesh PodcastThe surprising economics of the meat industry – Lewis BollardA deep dive with Lewis Bollard, who leads Open Philanthropy’s strategy for Farm Animal Welfare, on the surprising economics of the meat industry.Why is factory farming so efficient? How can we make the lives of the 23+ billion animals living on factory farms more bearable? How far off are the moonshots (e.g., brainless chickens, cultivated meats, etc.) to end this mass suffering? And why does the meat industry have such a surprising amount of political influence?For decades, innovation in the meat industry has actually made the conditions for animals worse. Can the ne...
2025-08-071h 08
Dwarkesh PodcastSarah Paine: How Imperial Japan Defeated Tsarist Russia & Qing ChinaAfter my last lecture series with Sarah Paine ended, I still had so many questions. I knew we’d only scratched the surface of Sarah’s scholarship, so I immediately invited her back for another series: she graciously agreed, and we’ll be releasing the results online over the coming weeks and months!This first lecture is focused on the balance of power in East Asia at the turn of the 20th century. Specifically, how did Japan (population 47M) defeat China (400M) and Russia (130M) to become Asia's dominant power?For me, the most interesting thing...
2025-07-251h 55
Dwarkesh PodcastStephen Kotkin — How Stalin Became the Most Powerful Dictator in HistoryThe Stephen Kotkin episode. Kotkin is arguably the world’s foremost expert on Joseph Stalin and has written a massive 2-volume biography on him (with a 3rd volume in the works).No other individual had more of a profound impact on the 20th century than Stalin. He held the power of life and death over every single person across 11 time zones, and he killed tens of millions of people, utterly consumed by an ideology aimed at building paradise on Earth.And, he was one half of the biggest and most consequential military confrontation in history (ev...
2025-07-102h 12
Dwarkesh PodcastGeorge Church — A Billion Years of Evolution in a Single AfternoonGeorge Church is the godfather of modern synthetic biology and has been involved with basically every major biotech breakthrough in the last few decades.Professor Church thinks that these improvements (e.g., orders of magnitude decrease in sequencing & synthesis costs, precise gene editing tools like CRISPR, AlphaFold-type AIs, & the ability to conduct massively parallel multiplex experiments) have put us on the verge of some massive payoffs: de-aging, de-extinction, biobots that combine the best of human and natural engineering, and (unfortunately) weaponized mirror life.Watch on YouTube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Sponsors
2025-06-261h 33
Dwarkesh PodcastChina’s Manufacturing Dominance: State Directives & Ruthless Competition — Arthur KroeberArthur Kroeber is a leading researcher on Chinese tech and macro, a founding partner at Gavekal Dragonomics, and author of "China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know." It's the most useful, detailed resource I've found of how China actually works.On this episode, we discuss how China achieved high-tech manufacturing dominance, and where they'll go from here. By Arthur’s account, the Chinese government is like a giant VC fund: they decide on key priorities and then spend hundreds of billions of dollars subsidizing ruthless competition at the local level. They are willing to lose huge amounts of...
2025-06-192h 26
Dwarkesh Podcast“China is digging out of a crisis. And America’s luck is wearing thin.” — Ken RogoffKen Rogoff is the former chief economist of the IMF, a professor of Economics at Harvard, and author of the newly released Our Dollar, Your Problem and This Time is Different.On this episode, Ken predicts that, within the next decade, the US will have a debt-induced inflation crisis, but not a Japan-type financial crisis (the latter is much worse, and can make a country poorer for generations).Ken also explains how China is trapped: in order to solve their current problems, they’ll keep leaning on financial repression and state-directed investment, which only makes th...
2025-06-121h 36
Dwarkesh PodcastXi Jinping’s paranoid approach to AGI, debt crisis, & Politburo politics — Victor ShihOn this episode, I chat with Victor Shih about all things China. We discuss China’s massive local debt crisis, the CCP’s views on AI, what happens after Xi, and more.Victor Shih is an expert on the Chinese political system, as well as their banking and fiscal policies, and he has amassed more biographical data on the Chinese elite than anyone else in the world. He teaches at UC San Diego, where he also directs the 21st Century China Center.Watch on YouTube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Sponsors...
2025-05-291h 29
Dwarkesh PodcastIs RL + LLMs enough for AGI? — Sholto Douglas & Trenton BrickenNew episode with my good friends Sholto Douglas & Trenton Bricken. Sholto focuses on scaling RL and Trenton researches mechanistic interpretability, both at Anthropic.We talk through what’s changed in the last year of AI research; the new RL regime and how far it can scale; how to trace a model’s thoughts; and how countries, workers, and students should prepare for AGI.See you next year for v3. Here’s last year’s episode, btw. Enjoy!Watch on YouTube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.----------SPONSORS* Work...
2025-05-222h 24
Dwarkesh PodcastWhat Will Automated Firms Look Like?Based on my essay about AI firms.Huge thanks to Petr and his team for bringing this to life!Watch on YouTube.Thanks to Google for sponsoring. We used their Veo 2 model to make this entire video—it generated everything from the photorealistic humans to the claymation octopuses. If you’re a Gemini Advanced user, you can try Veo 2 now in the Gemini app. Just select Veo 2 in the dropdown, and type your video idea in the prompt bar. Get started today by going to gemini.google.com.To sponsor a futu...
2025-05-0210 min
Dwarkesh PodcastMark Zuckerberg — AI Will Write Most Meta Code in 18 MonthsZuck on:* Llama 4, benchmark gaming* Intelligence explosion, business models for AGI* DeepSeek/China, export controls, & Trump* Orion glasses, AI relationships, and preventing reward-hacking from our tech.Watch on Youtube; listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.----------SPONSORS* Scale is building the infrastructure for safer, smarter AI. Scale’s Data Foundry gives major AI labs access to high-quality data to fuel post-training, while their public leaderboards help assess model capabilities. They also just released Scale Evaluation, a new tool that diagnoses model limitations. If yo...
2025-04-291h 15
Dwarkesh PodcastWhy Rome Actually Fell: Plagues, Slavery, & Ice Age — Kyle Harper800 years before the Black Death, the very same bacteria ravaged Rome, killing 60%+ of the population in many areas.Also, back-to-back volcanic eruptions caused a mini Ice Age, leaving Rome devastated by famine and disease.I chatted with historian Kyle Harper about this and much else:* Rome as a massive slave society* Why humans are more disease-prone than other animals* How agriculture made us physically smaller (Caesar at 5'5" was considered tall)Watch on Youtube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.----------SPONSORS
2025-04-241h 23
Dwarkesh PodcastAGI is Still 30 Years Away — Ege Erdil & Tamay BesirogluEge Erdil and Tamay Besiroglu have 2045+ timelines, think the whole "alignment" framing is wrong, don't think an intelligence explosion is plausible, but are convinced we'll see explosive economic growth (economy literally doubling every year or two).This discussion offers a totally different scenario than my recent interview with Scott and Daniel.Ege and Tamay are the co-founders of Mechanize (disclosure - I’m an angel investor), a startup dedicated to fully automating work. Before founding Mechanize, Ege and Tamay worked on AI forecasts at Epoch AI. Watch on Youtube; listen on Apple Podcasts or...
2025-04-173h 08
Dwarkesh Podcast2027 Intelligence Explosion: Month-by-Month Model — Scott Alexander & Daniel KokotajloScott and Daniel break down every month from now until the 2027 intelligence explosion.Scott Alexander is author of the highly influential blogs Slate Star Codex and Astral Codex Ten. Daniel Kokotajlo resigned from OpenAI in 2024, rejecting a non-disparagement clause and risking millions in equity to speak out about AI safety.We discuss misaligned hive minds, Xi and Trump waking up, and automated Ilyas researching AI progress.I came in skeptical, but I learned a tremendous amount by bouncing my objections off of them. I highly recommend checking out their new scenario planning document...
2025-04-033h 04
Dwarkesh PodcastJoseph Henrich – Why Humans Survived and Smarter Species Didn'tHumans have not succeeded because of our raw intelligence.Marooned European explorers regularly starved to death in areas where foragers thrived for 1000s of years.I’ve always found this cultural evolution deeply mysterious.How do you discover the 10 steps for processing cassava so it won’t give you cyanide poisoning simply by trial and error?Has the human brain declined in size over the last 10,000 years because we outsourced cultural evolution to a larger collective brain?The most interesting part of the podcast is Henrich’s explanation of how th...
2025-03-121h 52
Dwarkesh PodcastNotes on ChinaI’m so excited with how this visualization of Notes on China turned out. Petr, thank you for such beautiful watercolor artwork. More to come!Watch on YouTube.----------Timestamps(0:00:00) - Intro(0:00:32) - Scale(0:05:50) - Vibes(0:11:14) - Youngsters(0:14:27) - Tech & AI(0:15:47) - Hearts & Minds(0:17:07) - On Travel Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
2025-03-0519 min
Dwarkesh PodcastSatya Nadella – Microsoft’s AGI Plan & Quantum BreakthroughSatya Nadella on: Why he doesn’t believe in AGI but does believe in 10% economic growth; Microsoft’s new topological qubit breakthrough and gaming world models;Whether Office commoditizes LLMs or the other way around. Watch on Youtube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.----------SponsorsScale partners with major AI labs like Meta, Google Deepmind, and OpenAI. Through Scale’s Data Foundry, labs get access to high-quality data to fuel post-training, including advanced reasoning capabilities. If you’re an AI researcher or engineer, learn about ho...
2025-02-191h 16
Dwarkesh PodcastJeff Dean & Noam Shazeer – 25 years at Google: from PageRank to AGIThis week I welcome on the show two of the most important technologists ever, in any field.Jeff Dean is Google's Chief Scientist, and through 25 years at the company, has worked on basically the most transformative systems in modern computing: from MapReduce, BigTable, Tensorflow, AlphaChip, to Gemini.Noam Shazeer invented or co-invented all the main architectures and techniques that are used for modern LLMs: from the Transformer itself, to Mixture of Experts, to Mesh Tensorflow, to Gemini and many other things.We talk about their 25 years at Google, going from PageRank to MapReduce...
2025-02-122h 14
Dwarkesh PodcastSarah Paine Episode 3: How Mao Conquered ChinaThird and final episode in the Paine trilogy!Chinese history is full of warlords constantly challenging the capital. How could Mao not only stay in power for decades, but not even face any insurgency?And how did Mao go from military genius to peacetime disaster - the patriotic hero who inflicted history’s worst human catastrophe on China? How can someone shrewd enough to win a civil war outnumbered 5 to 1 decide "let's have peasants make iron in their backyards" and "let's kill all the birds"?In her lecture and our Q&A, we co...
2025-01-301h 48
Dwarkesh PodcastSarah Paine Episode 2: Why Japan Lost (Lecture & Interview)This is the second episode in the trilogy of a lectures by Professor Sarah Paine of the Naval War College.In this second episode, Prof Paine dissects the ideas and economics behind Japanese imperialism before and during WWII. We get into the oil shortage which caused the war; the unique culture of honor and death; the surprisingly chaotic chain of command. This is followed by a Q&A with me.Huge thanks to Substack for hosting this event!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform....
2025-01-232h 08
Dwarkesh PodcastSarah Paine Episode 1: The War For India (Lecture & Interview)I’m thrilled to launch a new trilogy of double episodes: a lecture series by Professor Sarah Paine of the Naval War College, each followed by a deep Q&A.In this first episode, Prof Paine talks about key decisions by Khrushchev, Mao, Nehru, Bhutto, & Lyndon Johnson that shaped the whole dynamic of South Asia today. This is followed by a Q&A.Come for the spy bases, shoestring nukes, and insight about how great power politics impacts every region.Huge thanks to Substack for hosting this!Watch on YouTube. Listen on...
2025-01-162h 12
Dwarkesh PodcastTyler Cowen - the #1 bottleneck to AI progress is humansI interviewed Tyler Cowen at the Progress Conference 2024. As always, I had a blast. This is my fourth interview with him – and yet I’m always hearing new stuff.We talked about why he thinks AI won't drive explosive economic growth, the real bottlenecks on world progress, him now writing for AIs instead of humans, and the difficult relationship between being cultured and fostering growth – among many other things in the full episode.Thanks to the Roots of Progress Institute (with special thanks to Jason Crawford and Heike Larson) for such a wonderful conference, and to Fre...
2025-01-0959 min
Dwarkesh PodcastAdam Brown – How Future Civilizations Could Change The Laws of PhysicsAdam Brown is a founder and lead of BlueShift with is cracking maths and reasoning at Google DeepMind and a theoretical physicist at Stanford.We discuss: destroying the light cone with vacuum decay, holographic principle, mining black holes, & what it would take to train LLMs that can make Einstein level conceptual breakthroughs.Stupefying, entertaining, & terrifying.Enjoy!Watch on YouTube, read the transcript, listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite platform.Sponsors- Deepmind, Meta, Anthropic, and OpenAI, partner with Scale for high quality data to fuel...
2024-12-262h 43
Dwarkesh PodcastGwern Branwen - How an Anonymous Researcher Predicted AI's TrajectoryGwern is a pseudonymous researcher and writer. He was one of the first people to see LLM scaling coming. If you've read his blog, you know he's one of the most interesting polymathic thinkers alive.In order to protect Gwern's anonymity, I proposed interviewing him in person, and having my friend Chris Painter voice over his words after. This amused him enough that he agreed.After the episode, I convinced Gwern to create a donation page where people can help sustain what he's up to. Please go here to contribute.Read the full...
2024-11-131h 36
Dwarkesh PodcastDaniel Yergin – Oil Explains the Entire 20th CenturyUnless you understand the history of oil, you cannot understand the rise of America, WW1, WW2, secular stagnation, the Middle East, Ukraine, how Xi and Putin think, and basically anything else that's happened since 1860.It was a great honor to interview Daniel Yergin, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Prize - the best history of oil ever written (which makes it the best history of the 20th century ever written).Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on f...
2024-09-181h 27
Dwarkesh PodcastDavid Reich - How One Small Tribe Conquered the World 70,000 Years AgoI had no idea how wild human history was before chatting with the geneticist of ancient DNA David Reich.Human history has been again and again a story of one group figuring ‘something’ out, and then basically wiping everyone else out.From the tribe of 1k-10k modern humans who killed off all the other human species 70,000 years ago; to the Yamnaya horse nomads 5,000 years ago who killed off 90+% of (then) Europeans and also destroyed the Indus Valley.So much of what we thought we knew about human history is turning out to be w...
2024-08-291h 56
Dwarkesh PodcastJoe Carlsmith - Otherness and control in the age of AGIChatted with Joe Carlsmith about whether we can trust power/techno-capital, how to not end up like Stalin in our urge to control the future, gentleness towards the artificial Other, and much more.Check out Joe's sequence on Otherness and Control in the Age of AGI here.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Sponsors:- Bland.ai is an AI agent that automates phone calls in any language, 24/7. Their technology uses...
2024-08-222h 30
Dwarkesh PodcastPatrick McKenzie - How a Discord Server Saved Thousands of LivesI talked with Patrick McKenzie (known online as patio11) about how a small team he ran over a Discord server got vaccines into Americans' arms: A story of broken incentives, outrageous incompetence, and how a few individuals with high agency saved 1000s of lives.Enjoy!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Stripe, financial infrastructure for the internet. Millions of companies from...
2024-07-242h 01
Dwarkesh PodcastTony Blair - Life of a PM, The Deep State, Lee Kuan Yew, & AI's 1914 MomentI chatted with Tony Blair about:- What he learned from Lee Kuan Yew- Intelligence agencies track record on Iraq & Ukraine- What he tells the dozens of world leaders who come seek advice from him- How much of a PM’s time is actually spent governing- What will AI’s July 1914 moment look like from inside the Cabinet?Enjoy!Watch the video on YouTube. Read the full transcript here.Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Spon...
2024-06-2652 min
Dwarkesh PodcastFrancois Chollet, Mike Knoop - LLMs won’t lead to AGI - $1,000,000 Prize to find true solutionHere is my conversation with Francois Chollet and Mike Knoop on the $1 million ARC-AGI Prize they're launching today.I did a bunch of socratic grilling throughout, but Francois’s arguments about why LLMs won’t lead to AGI are very interesting and worth thinking through.It was really fun discussing/debating the cruxes. Enjoy!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Timestamps(00:00:00) – The ARC benchmark(00:11:10) – Why LLMs struggle with ARC(00:19:00) – Skill vs intelligence(00:27:55...
2024-06-111h 33
Dwarkesh PodcastLeopold Aschenbrenner - China/US Super Intelligence Race, 2027 AGI, & The Return of HistoryChatted with my friend Leopold Aschenbrenner on the trillion dollar nationalized cluster, CCP espionage at AI labs, how unhobblings and scaling can lead to 2027 AGI, dangers of outsourcing clusters to Middle East, leaving OpenAI, and situational awareness.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes. Follow Leopold on Twitter.Timestamps(00:00:00) – The trillion-dollar cluster and unhobbling(00:20:31) – AI 2028: The return of history(00:40:26) – Espionage & American AI superiority(01:08:20) – Geopolitical implications of AI...
2024-06-044h 31
Dwarkesh PodcastJohn Schulman (OpenAI Cofounder) - Reasoning, RLHF, & Plan for 2027 AGIChatted with John Schulman (cofounded OpenAI and led ChatGPT creation) on how posttraining tames the shoggoth, and the nature of the progress to come...Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(00:00:00) - Pre-training, post-training, and future capabilities(00:16:57) - Plan for AGI 2025(00:29:19) - Teaching models to reason(00:40:50) - The Road to ChatGPT(00:52:13) - What makes for a good RL researcher?(01:00:58) - Keeping humans in t...
2024-05-151h 36
Dwarkesh PodcastMark Zuckerberg - Llama 3, Open Sourcing $10b Models, & Caesar AugustusMark Zuckerberg on:- Llama 3- open sourcing towards AGI- custom silicon, synthetic data, & energy constraints on scaling- Caesar Augustus, intelligence explosion, bioweapons, $10b models, & much moreEnjoy!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Human edited transcript with helpful links here.Timestamps(00:00:00) - Llama 3(00:08:32) - Coding on path to AGI(00:25:24) - Energy bottlenecks(00:33:20) - Is AI the most important technology ever?(00:37:21) - Dangers of open source
2024-04-181h 17
Dwarkesh PodcastSholto Douglas & Trenton Bricken - How to Build & Understand GPT-7's MindHad so much fun chatting with my good friends Trenton Bricken and Sholto Douglas on the podcast.No way to summarize it, except: This is the best context dump out there on how LLMs are trained, what capabilities they're likely to soon have, and what exactly is going on inside them.You would be shocked how much of what I know about this field, I've learned just from talking with them.To the extent that you've enjoyed my other AI interviews, now you know why.So excited to put t...
2024-03-283h 12
Dwarkesh PodcastDemis Hassabis - Scaling, Superhuman AIs, AlphaZero atop LLMs, Rogue Nations ThreatHere is my episode with Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMindWe discuss:* Why scaling is an artform* Adding search, planning, & AlphaZero type training atop LLMs* Making sure rogue nations can't steal weights* The right way to align superhuman AIs and do an intelligence explosionWatch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Timestamps(0:00:00) - Nature of intelligence(0:05:56) - RL atop LLMs(0:16:31) - Scaling and alignment(0:24:13) - Time...
2024-02-281h 01
Dwarkesh PodcastPatrick Collison (Stripe CEO) - Craft, Beauty, & The Future of PaymentsWe discuss:* what it takes to process $1 trillion/year* how to build multi-decade APIs, companies, and relationships* what's next for Stripe (increasing the GDP of the internet is quite an open ended prompt, and the Collison brothers are just getting started).Plus the amazing stuff they're doing at Arc Institute, the financial infrastructure for AI agents, playing devil's advocate against progress studies, and much more.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on f...
2024-02-211h 54
Dwarkesh PodcastTyler Cowen - Hayek, Keynes, & Smith on AI, Animal Spirits, Anarchy, & GrowthIt was a great pleasure speaking with Tyler Cowen for the 3rd time.We discussed GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?, especially in the context of how the insights of Hayek, Keynes, Smith, and other great economists help us make sense of AI, growth, animal spirits, prediction markets, alignment, central planning, and much more.The topics covered in this episode are too many to summarize. Hope you enjoy!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here...
2024-01-311h 42
Dwarkesh PodcastLessons from The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro [Narration]This is a narration of my blog post, Lessons from The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro.You read the full post here: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/lyndon-johnsonListen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future posts and episodes. Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
2024-01-2336 min
Dwarkesh PodcastWill scaling work? [Narration]This is a narration of my blog post, Will scaling work?. You read the full post here: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/will-scaling-workListen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future posts and episodes. Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
2024-01-1925 min
Dwarkesh PodcastJung Chang - Living through Cultural Revolution and the Crimes of MaoA true honor to speak with Jung Chang.She is the author of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (sold 15+ million copies worldwide) and Mao: The Unknown Story.We discuss:- what it was like growing up during the Cultural Revolution as the daughter of a denounced official- why the CCP continues to worship the biggest mass murderer in human history.- how exactly Communist totalitarianism was able to subjugate a billion people- why Chinese leaders like Xi and Deng who suffered from the Cultural...
2023-11-291h 31
Dwarkesh PodcastAndrew Roberts - SV's Napoleon Cult, Why Hitler Lost WW2, Churchill as Applied HistorianAndrew Roberts is the world's best biographer and one of the leading historians of our time.We discussed* Churchill the applied historian,* Napoleon the startup founder,* why Nazi ideology cost Hitler WW2,* drones, reconnaissance, and other aspects of the future of war,* Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Ukraine, & Taiwan.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(00:00:00) - Post WW2 conflicts(00:10:57) - Uk...
2023-11-221h 18
Dwarkesh PodcastDominic Cummings - COVID, Brexit, & Fixing Western GovernanceHere is my interview with Dominic Cummings on why Western governments are so dangerously broken, and how to fix them before an even more catastrophic crisis.Dominic was Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister during COVID, and before that, director of Vote Leave (which masterminded the 2016 Brexit referendum).Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(00:00:00) - One day in COVID…(00:08:26) - Why is government broken?(00:29:10) - Civil...
2023-11-152h 34
Dwarkesh PodcastPaul Christiano - Preventing an AI TakeoverPaul Christiano is the world’s leading AI safety researcher. My full episode with him is out!We discuss:- Does he regret inventing RLHF, and is alignment necessarily dual-use?- Why he has relatively modest timelines (40% by 2040, 15% by 2030),- What do we want post-AGI world to look like (do we want to keep gods enslaved forever)?- Why he’s leading the push to get to labs develop responsible scaling policies, and what it would take to prevent an AI coup or bioweapon,- His current rese...
2023-10-313h 07
Dwarkesh PodcastShane Legg (DeepMind Founder) - 2028 AGI, New Architectures, Aligning Superhuman ModelsI had a lot of fun chatting with Shane Legg - Founder and Chief AGI Scientist, Google DeepMind!We discuss:* Why he expects AGI around 2028* How to align superhuman models* What new architectures needed for AGI* Has Deepmind sped up capabilities or safety more?* Why multimodality will be next big landmark* and much moreWatch full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read full transcript here.Timestamps(0:00:00) - Measuring AGI(0:11:41) - Do...
2023-10-2644 min
Dwarkesh PodcastGrant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown) - Past, Present, & Future of MathematicsI had a lot of fun chatting with Grant Sanderson (who runs the excellent 3Blue1Brown YouTube channel) about:- Whether advanced math requires AGI- What careers should mathematically talented students pursue- Why Grant plans on doing a stint as a high school teacher- Tips for self teaching- Does Godel’s incompleteness theorem actually matter- Why are good explanations so hard to find?- And much moreWatch on YouTube. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other po...
2023-10-121h 31
Dwarkesh PodcastSarah C. M. Paine - WW2, Taiwan, Ukraine, & Maritime vs Continental PowersI learned so much from Sarah Paine, Professor of History and Strategy at the Naval War College.We discuss:- how continental vs maritime powers think and how this explains Xi & Putin's decisions- how a war with China over Taiwan would shake out and whether it could go nuclear- why the British Empire fell apart, why China went communist, how Hitler and Japan could have coordinated to win WW2, and whether Japanese occupation was good for Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria- plus other lessons from WW2, Cold...
2023-10-042h 24
Dwarkesh PodcastDario Amodei (Anthropic CEO) - Scaling, Alignment, & AI ProgressHere is my conversation with Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic.Dario is hilarious and has fascinating takes on what these models are doing, why they scale so well, and what it will take to align them.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(00:00:00) - Introduction(00:01:00) - Scaling(00:15:46) - Language(00:22:58) - Economic Usefulness(00:38:05) - Bioterrorism(00:43:35) - Cybersecurity(00:47:19) - Alignment...
2023-08-081h 58
Dwarkesh PodcastAndy Matuschak - Self-Teaching, Spaced Repetition, & Why Books Don’t WorkA few weeks ago, I sat beside Andy Matuschak to record how he reads a textbook.Even though my own job is to learn things, I was shocked with how much more intense, painstaking, and effective his learning process was.So I asked if we could record a conversation about how he learns and a bunch of other topics:* How he identifies and interrogates his confusion (much harder than it seems, and requires an extremely effortful and slow pace)* Why memorization is essential to understanding and decision-making* How come...
2023-07-122h 22
Dwarkesh PodcastCarl Shulman (Pt 2) - AI Takeover, Bio & Cyber Attacks, Detecting Deception, & Humanity's Far FutureThe second half of my 7 hour conversation with Carl Shulman is out!My favorite part! And the one that had the biggest impact on my worldview.Here, Carl lays out how an AI takeover might happen:* AI can threaten mutually assured destruction from bioweapons,* use cyber attacks to take over physical infrastructure,* build mechanical armies,* spread seed AIs we can never exterminate,* offer tech and other advantages to collaborating countries, etcPlus we talk about a whole bunch of weird and interesting topics...
2023-06-263h 07
Dwarkesh PodcastCarl Shulman (Pt 1) - Intelligence Explosion, Primate Evolution, Robot Doublings, & AlignmentIn terms of the depth and range of topics, this episode is the best I’ve done.No part of my worldview is the same after talking with Carl Shulman. He's the most interesting intellectual you've never heard of.We ended up talking for 8 hours, so I'm splitting this episode into 2 parts.This part is about Carl’s model of an intelligence explosion, which integrates everything from:* how fast algorithmic progress & hardware improvements in AI are happening,* what primate evolution suggests about the scaling hypothesis,* how soon befo...
2023-06-142h 44
Dwarkesh PodcastRichard Rhodes - Making of Atomic Bomb, AI, WW2, Oppenheimer, & Abolishing NukesIt was a tremendous honor & pleasure to interview Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Making of the Atomic BombWe discuss- similarities between AI progress & Manhattan Project (developing a powerful, unprecedented, & potentially apocalyptic technology within an uncertain arms-race situation)- visiting starving former Soviet scientists during fall of Soviet Union- whether Oppenheimer was a spy, & consulting on the Nolan movie- living through WW2 as a child- odds of nuclear war in Ukraine, Taiwan, Pakistan, & North Korea- how the...
2023-05-232h 37
Dwarkesh PodcastEliezer Yudkowsky - Why AI Will Kill Us, Aligning LLMs, Nature of Intelligence, SciFi, & RationalityFor 4 hours, I tried to come up reasons for why AI might not kill us all, and Eliezer Yudkowsky explained why I was wrong.We also discuss his call to halt AI, why LLMs make alignment harder, what it would take to save humanity, his millions of words of sci-fi, and much more.If you want to get to the crux of the conversation, fast forward to 2:35:00 through 3:43:54. Here we go through and debate the main reasons I still think doom is unlikely.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any oth...
2023-04-064h 03
Dwarkesh PodcastIlya Sutskever (OpenAI Chief Scientist) - Building AGI, Alignment, Future Models, Spies, Microsoft, Taiwan, & EnlightenmentI went over to the OpenAI offices in San Fransisco to ask the Chief Scientist and cofounder of OpenAI, Ilya Sutskever, about:* time to AGI* leaks and spies* what's after generative models* post AGI futures* working with Microsoft and competing with Google* difficulty of aligning superhuman AIWatch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(00:00) - Time to AGI(05:57) - Wh...
2023-03-2747 min
Dwarkesh PodcastNat Friedman - Reading Ancient Scrolls, Open Source, & AIIt is said that the two greatest problems of history are: how to account for the rise of Rome, and how to account for her fall. If so, then the volcanic ashes spewed by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD - which entomb the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in South Italy - hold history’s greatest prize. For beneath those ashes lies the only salvageable library from the classical world.Nat Friedman was the CEO of Github form 2018 to 2021. Before that, he started and sold two companies - Ximian and Xamarin. He is also the founder of AI Gr...
2023-03-221h 38
Dwarkesh PodcastBrett Harrison - FTX US Former President & HFT Veteran Speaks OutI flew out to Chicago to interview Brett Harrison, who is the former President of FTX US President and founder of Architect.In his first longform interview since the fall of FTX, he speak in great detail about his entire tenure there and about SBF’s dysfunctional leadership. He talks about how the inner circle of Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and SBF mismanaged the company, controlled the codebase, got distracted by media, and even threatened him for his letter of resignation.In what was my favorite part of the interview, we also discuss his insights ab...
2023-03-132h 37
Dwarkesh PodcastMarc Andreessen - AI, Crypto, 1000 Elon Musks, Regrets, Vulnerabilities, & Managerial RevolutionMy podcast with the brilliant Marc Andreessen is out!We discuss:* how AI will revolutionize software* whether NFTs are useless, & whether he should be funding flying cars instead* a16z's biggest vulnerabilities* the future of fusion, education, Twitter, venture, managerialism, & big techWatch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(0:00:17) - Chewing glass(0:04:21) - AI(0:06:42) - Regrets(0:08:51) - Ma...
2023-02-011h 19
Dwarkesh PodcastGarett Jones - Immigration, National IQ, & Less DemocracyGarett Jones is an economist at George Mason University and the author of The Cultural Transplant, Hive Mind, and 10% Less Democracy.This episode was fun and interesting throughout!He explains:* Why national IQ matters* How migrants bring their values to their new countries* Why we should have less democracy* How the Chinese are an unstoppable global force for free marketsWatch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Timestamps(00:00:00) - Intro(00:01:08) - Migrants Change Co...
2023-01-241h 14
Dwarkesh PodcastLars Doucet - Progress, Poverty, Georgism, & Why Rent is Too Damn HighOne of my best episodes ever. Lars Doucet is the author of Land is a Big Deal, a book about Georgism which has been praised by Vitalik Buterin, Scott Alexander, and Noah Smith. Sam Altman is the lead investor in his new startup, ValueBase.Talking with Lars completely changed how I think about who creates value in the world and who leeches off it.We go deep into the weeds on Georgism:* Why do even the wealthiest places in the world have poverty and homelessness, and why do rents increase as fast as...
2023-01-091h 40
Dwarkesh PodcastHolden Karnofsky - Transformative AI & Most Important CenturyHolden Karnofsky is the co-CEO of Open Philanthropy and co-founder of GiveWell. He is also the author of one of the most interesting blogs on the internet, Cold Takes.We discuss:* Are we living in the most important century?* Does he regret OpenPhil’s 30 million dollar grant to OpenAI in 2016?* How does he think about AI, progress, digital people, & ethics?Highly recommend!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Timestamps(0:00:00) - Intro...
2023-01-031h 56
Dwarkesh PodcastAarthi & Sriram - Twitter, 10x Engineers, & MarriageI had fun chatting with Aarthi and Sriram.We discuss what it takes to be successful in technology, what Sriram would say if Elon tapped him to be the next CEO of Twitter, why more married couples don’t start businesses together, and how Aarthi hires and finds 10x engineers.Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan are the hosts of The Good Times Show. They have had leading roles in several technology companies from Meta to Twitter to Netflix and have been founders and investors. Sriram is currently a general partner at a16z crypto and Aa...
2022-12-291h 21
Dwarkesh PodcastBethany McLean - Enron, FTX, 2008, Musk, Frauds, & VisionariesThis was one of my favorite episodes ever.Bethany McLean was the first reporter to question Enron’s earnings, and she has written some of the best finance books out there.We discuss:* The astounding similarities between Enron & FTX,* How visionaries are just frauds who succeed (and which category describes Elon Musk),* What caused 2008, and whether we are headed for a new crisis,* Why there’s too many venture capitalists and not enough short sellers,* And why history keeps repeating itself.McLean is a co...
2022-12-211h 25
Dwarkesh PodcastNadia Asparouhova - Tech Elites, Democracy, Open Source, & PhilanthropyNadia Asparouhova is currently researching what the new tech elite will look like at nadia.xyz. She is also the author of Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software.We talk about how:* American philanthropy has changed from Rockefeller to Effective Altruism* SBF represented the Davos elite rather than the Silicon Valley elite,* Open source software reveals the limitations of democratic participation,* & much more.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Ti...
2022-12-151h 22
Dwarkesh PodcastAella - Sex, Psychedelics, & Enlightenment Sex tips, porn revolutions, psychedelics, and enlightenmentAella writes at knowingless.com. Her posts and tweets provide a unique perspective about the data on sexual kinks and on being an escort & camgirl.In this episode, Aella talks about:* her escorting sex tips,* how tech will change pornography,* & whether trauma & enlightenment are realEnjoy!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. TimestampsSex Tips - (0:00:21)Porn-tech Revolutions: Tiktokified Erotica? - (0:02:02)Trad Christian L...
2022-12-121h 16
Dwarkesh PodcastByrne Hobart - FTX, Drugs, Twitter, Taiwan, & MonasticismPerhaps the most interesting episode so far.Byrne Hobart writes at thediff.co, analyzing inflections in finance and tech.He explains:* What happened at FTX* How drugs have induced past financial bubbles* How to be long AI while hedging Taiwan invasion* Whether Musk’s Twitter takeover will succeed* Where to find the next Napoleon and LBJ* & ultimately how society can deal with those who seek domination and recognitionWatch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Re...
2022-12-011h 30
Dwarkesh PodcastEdward Glaeser - Cities, Terrorism, Housing, & Remote WorkEdward Glaeser is the chair of the Harvard department of economics, and the author of the best books and papers about cities (including Survival of the City and Triumph of the City).He explains why:* Cities are resilient to terrorism, remote work, & pandemics,* Silicon Valley may collapse but the Sunbelt will prosper, * Opioids show UBI is not a solution to AI* & much more!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Follow me on Twitter f...
2022-11-2857 min
Dwarkesh PodcastKenneth T. Jackson - Robert Moses, Hero of New York?I had a fascinating discussion about Robert Moses and The Power Broker with Professor Kenneth T. Jackson.He's the pre-eminent historian on NYC and author of Robert Moses and The Modern City: The Transformation of New York.He answers:* Why are we so much worse at building things today?* Would NYC be like Detroit without the master builder?* Does it take a tyrant to stop NIMBY?Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Follow...
2022-11-081h 33
Dwarkesh PodcastBrian Potter - Future of Construction, Ugly Modernism, & Environmental ReviewIt was a pleasure to welcome Brian Potter on the podcast! Brian is the author of the excellent Construction Physics blog, where he discusses why the construction industry has been slow to industrialize and innovate.He explains why:Construction isn’t getting cheaper and faster,“Ugly” modern buildings are simply the result of better architecture,China is so great at building things,Saudi Arabia’s Line is a waste of resources,Environmental review makes new construction expensive and delayedand much much more!Watch on...
2022-10-272h 25
Dwarkesh PodcastBryan Caplan - Feminists, Billionaires, and DemagoguesIt was a fantastic pleasure to welcome Bryan Caplan back for a third time on the podcast! His most recent book is Don't Be a Feminist: Essays on Genuine Justice.He explains why he thinks:- Feminists are mostly wrong,- We shouldn’t overtax our centi-billionaires,- Decolonization should have emphasized human rights over democracy,- Eastern Europe shows that we could accept millions of refugees.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Follow...
2022-10-202h 05
Dwarkesh PodcastTyler Cowen - Talent, Collapse, & Pessimism of SexIt was my great pleasure to speak once again to Tyler Cowen. His most recent book is Talent, How to Find Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Across the World.We discuss:- how sex is more pessimistic than he is,- why he expects society to collapse permanently,- why humility, stimulants, & intelligence are overrated,- how he identifies talent, deceit, & ambition,- & much much much more!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Fo...
2022-09-281h 34
Dwarkesh PodcastTyler Cowen - Talent, Collapse, & SexIt was my great pleasure to speak once again to Tyler Cowen. His most recent book is Talent, How to Find Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Across the World.We discuss how sex is more pessimistic than he is, why he expects society to collapse permanently, why humility, stimulants, intelligence, & stimulants are overrated, how he identifies talent, deceit, & ambition, & much much much more!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.If you end up enjoying this episode, I would be super grateful if you...
2022-09-281h 34
Dwarkesh PodcastCharles C. Mann - Americas Before Columbus & Scientific WizardryCharles C. Mann is the author of three of my favorite history books: 1491. 1493, and The Wizard and the Prophet. We discuss:* why Native American civilizations collapsed and why they failed to make more technological progress* why he disagrees with Will MacAskill about longtermism* why there aren’t any successful slave revolts* how geoengineering can help us solve climate change* why Bitcoin is like the Chinese Silver Trade* and much much more!Timestamps(0:00:00) -Epidemically Alternate Realities(0:00:25) -Weak Points in Empires
2022-09-141h 31
Dwarkesh PodcastAustin Vernon - Energy Superabundance, Starship Missiles, & Finding AlphaAustin Vernon is an engineer working on a new method for carbon capture, and he has one of the most interesting blogs on the internet, where he writes about engineering, software, economics, and investing.We discuss how energy superabundance will change the world, how Starship can be turned into a kinetic weapon, why nuclear is overrated, blockchains, batteries, flying cars, finding alpha, & much more!Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.Follow Austin on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on...
2022-09-082h 23
Dwarkesh PodcastSteve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of HumanitySteve Hsu is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Michigan State University and cofounder of the company Genomic Prediction.We go deep into the weeds on how embryo selection can make babies healthier and smarter.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Read the full transcript here.Follow Steve on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(0:00:14) - Feynman’s advice on picking up women(0:11:46) - Embryo selection(0:24:19) - Why hasn't natural selection al...
2022-08-232h 20
Dwarkesh PodcastWill MacAskill - Longtermism, Altruism, History, & TechnologyWill MacAskill is one of the founders of the Effective Altruist movement and the author of the upcoming book, What We Owe The Future.We talk about improving the future, risk of extinction & collapse, technological & moral change, problems of academia, who changes history, and much more.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website + Transcript here.Follow Will on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Subscribe to find out about future episodes!Timestamps
2022-08-0956 min
Dwarkesh PodcastJoseph Carlsmith - Utopia, AI, & Infinite EthicsJoseph Carlsmith is a senior research analyst at Open Philanthropy and a doctoral student in philosophy at the University of Oxford.We discuss utopia, artificial intelligence, computational power of the brain, infinite ethics, learning from the fact that you exist, perils of futurism, and blogging.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.Episode website + Transcript here. Follow Joseph on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter.Subscribe to find out about future episodes!Timestamps(0:00:06) - Introduction(0:02:53) - How to Define a Be...
2022-08-031h 31
Dwarkesh PodcastFin Moorhouse - Longtermism, Space, & EntrepreneurshipFin Moorhouse is a Research Scholar and assistant to Toby Ord at Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute. He co-hosts the Hear This Idea podcast, which showcases new thinking in philosophy, the social sciences, and effective altruism.We discuss for-profit entrepreneurship for altruism, space governance, morality in the multiverse, podcasting, the long reflection, and the Effective Ideas & EA criticism blog prize.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.Episode website + Transcript here.Follow Fin on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter.Subscribe to find out about future episodes!
2022-07-272h 19
Dwarkesh PodcastAlexander Mikaberidze - Napoleon, War, Progress, and Global OrderAlexander Mikaberidze is Professor of History at Louisiana State University and the author of The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History.He explains the global ramifications of the Napoleonic Wars - from India to Egypt to America. He also talks about how Napoleon was the last of the enlightened despots, whether he would have made a good startup founder, how the Napoleonic Wars accelerated the industrial revolution, the roots of the war in Ukraine, and much more!Watch on YouTube, or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other podcast platform.Episode website + Transcript...
2022-07-131h 23
Dwarkesh PodcastSam Bankman-Fried - Crypto, Altruism, and LeadershipI flew to the Bahamas to interview Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX! He talks about FTX’s plan to infiltrate traditional finance, giving $100m this year to AI + pandemic risk, scaling slowly + hiring A-players, and much more.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website + Transcript here.Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodesSubscribe to find out about future episodes!Timestamps(00:18) - How inefficient is the world?(01:11) - Choosing a career...
2022-07-0545 min
Dwarkesh PodcastAgustin Lebron - Trading, Crypto, and Adverse SelectionAgustin Lebron began his career as a trader and researcher at Jane Street Capital, one of the largest market-making firms in the world. He currently runs the consulting firm Essilen Research, where he is dedicated to helping clients integrate modern decision-making approaches in their business. We discuss how AI will change finance, why adverse selection makes trading and hiring so difficult, & what the future of crypto holds.Watch on YouTube, or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here.Buy The Laws of Trading....
2022-06-231h 04
Dwarkesh PodcastAnanyo Bhattacharya - John von Neumann, Jewish Genius, and Nuclear WarAnanyo Bhattacharya is the author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann. He is a science writer who has worked at the Economist and Nature. Before journalism, he was a medical researcher at the Burnham Institute in San Diego, California. He holds a degree in physics from the University of Oxford and a PhD in protein crystallography from Imperial College London.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here.Follow Ananyo on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on...
2022-05-1154 min
Dwarkesh PodcastStephen Grugett (Manifold Markets Founder) - Predictions Markets & Revolutionizing GovernanceStephen Grugett is a cofounder of Manifold Markets, where anyone can create a prediction market. We discuss how prediction markets can change how countries and companies make important decisions.Manifold Markets: https://manifold.markets/Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here.Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps:(0:00:00) - Introduction(0:02:29) - Predicting the future(0:05:16) - Getting Accurate Information(0:06:20) - Potentials(0:09:29) - Not using internal prediction markets
2022-05-0550 min
Dwarkesh PodcastPradyu Prasad - Imperial Japan, the God Emperor, and Militarization in the Modern WorldToday I talk to Pradyu Prasad (blogger and podcaster) about the book "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan" by Herbert P. Bix. We also discuss militarization, industrial capacity, current events, and blogging. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Podcast website here.Follow Pradyu on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Follow Pradyu's Blog: https://brettongoods.substack.com/ Timestamps:(0:00:00) - Intro (0:01:59) - Hirohito and Introduction to the Book (0:05:39) - Meiji Restoration and...
2022-04-271h 39
Dwarkesh Podcast26: Pradyu Prasad - Imperial Japan, the God Emperor, and Militarization in the Modern WorldToday I talk to Pradyu Prasad (blogger and podcaster) about the book "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan" by Herbert P. Bix. We also discuss militarization, industrial capacity, current events, and blogging. Get the Book: https://www.amazon.com/Hirohito-Making-Modern-Japan-Herbert/dp/0060931302Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/xNSUxtBttIgFollow Pradyu's Blog: https://brettongoods.substack.com/ Follow Pradyu on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PradyuPrasad Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp Timestamps:(0:00:00) - Intro (0:01:59) - Hirohito and Introduction to the Book ...
2022-04-271h 39
Dwarkesh PodcastRazib Khan - Genomics, Intelligence, and The Church of ScienceRazib Khan is a writer, geneticist, and blogger with an interest in history, genetics, culture, and evolutionary psychology.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Podcast website here.Follow Razib on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodesThanks for reading The Lunar Society! Subscribe to find out about future episodes!Time Stamps(0:00:05) Razib's Background(0:01:34) Dysgenics of Intelligence(0:04:23) Endogamy and Genetic traits in India(0:08:58) Similar Examples of Endogamy(0:14:28) Why So...
2022-04-201h 03
Dwarkesh PodcastJimmy Soni - Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and the Paypal MafiaJimmy Soni is the author of The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here.Follow Jimmy on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes! Timestamps:(0:00:00) - Bell Labs vs PayPal(0:05:12) - Scenius in Ancient Rome and America's Founding(0:07:02) - Girard at PayPal(0:15:17) - Thiel almost shorts the Dot com bubble(0:19:49) - Does Zero to One contradict...
2022-04-161h 07
Dwarkesh PodcastBryan Caplan - Discrimination, Poverty, & Mental IllnessI interview the economist Bryan Caplan about his new book, Labor Econ Versus the World, and many other related topics.Bryan Caplan is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a New York Times Bestselling author. His most famous works include: The Myth of the Rational Voter, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, The Case Against Education, and Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Podcast website here.Follow Bryan on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter...
2022-04-121h 03
Dwarkesh PodcastRichard Hanania - Foreign Policy, Fertility, and WokenessRichard Hanania is the President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and the author of Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy: How Generals, Weapons Manufacturers, and Foreign Governments Shape American Foreign Policy.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here. Follow Richard on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Read Richard's Substack: https://richardhanania.substack.com/Timestamps:(0:00:00) - Intro(0:04:35) - Did war prevent sclerosis?
2022-02-241h 02
Dwarkesh PodcastDavid Deutsch - AI, America, Fun, & BayesDavid Deutsch is the founder of the field of quantum computing and the author The Beginning of Infinity and The Fabric of Reality.Read me contra David on AI.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Read the full transcript with helpful links here.Follow David on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future podcasts.Timestamps(0:00:00) - Will AIs be smarter than humans? (0:06:34) - Are intelligence differences immutable / heritable?(0:20:13) - IQ correletation of twins s...
2022-01-311h 24
Dwarkesh PodcastDavid Friedman - Dating Markets, Legal Systems, Bitcoin, and AutomationDavid Friedman is a famous anarcho-capitalist economist and legal scholar. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website + transcript here.David Friedman's website: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps:(0:00:00) - Dating market (0:12:15) - The future of reputation (0:27:30) - How Friedman predicted bitcoin (0:35:35) - Prediction markets (0:40:00) - Can regulation stop progress globally? (0:45:50) - Lack of diversity in modern legal systems (0:54:20) - Friedma...
2021-08-091h 23
Dwarkesh PodcastSarah Fitz-Claridge - Taking Children SeriouslySarah Fitz-Claridge is a writer, coach, and speaker with a fallibilist worldview. She started the journal that became Taking Children Seriously in the early 1990s after being surprised by the heated audience reactions she was getting when talking about children. She has spoken all over the world about her educational philosophy, and you can find transcripts of some of her talks on her website.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here. Sarah's Website: https://www.fitz-claridge.com/Follow Sarah on Twitter. Follow me on...
2021-06-0458 min
Dwarkesh PodcastMichael Huemer - Anarchy, Capitalism, and ProgressMichael Huemer is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is the author of more than sixty academic articles in epistemology, ethics, metaethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy, as well as eight amazing books. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Podcast website here. Buy Knowledge, Reality, and Value and The Problem of Political Authority.Read Michael’s awesome blog and follow me on Twitter for new episodes.Timestamps: (0:00:00) - Intro (0:01:07) - The Problem of Politi...
2021-05-291h 37
Dwarkesh PodcastUncle Bob - The Long Reach of CodeRobert Martin (aka Uncle Bob) is a programming pioneer and bestselling author or Clean Code. We discuss the prospect of automating programming, spotting and developing coding talent, occupational licensing, quotas, and the elusive sense of style. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Listen to his fascinating talk on the future of programming: https://youtu.be/ecIWPzGEbFc Read his blog about programming: http://blog.cleancoder.com/ Buy his books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/ent... Thanks for reading The Lunar Soci...
2020-11-2845 min
Dwarkesh PodcastScott Aaronson - Quantum Computing, Complexity, and CreativityScott Aaronson is a Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. He's the author of one of the most interesting blogs on the internet: https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/ and the book “Quantum Computing since Democritus”.He was also my professor for a class on quantum computing.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Episode website here. Follow me on Twitter to get updates on future episodes and guests.T...
2020-11-211h 27
Dwarkesh PodcastScott Young - UltralearningScott is the author of Ultralearning and famous for the MIT Challenge, where he taught himself MIT's 4 year Computer Science curriculum in 1 year.I had a blast chatting with Scott Young about aggressive self-directed learning. Scott has some of the best advice out there about learning hard things. It has helped yours truly prepare to interview experts and dig into interesting subjects. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Podcast website here.Check out Scott’s website. Follow me on Twitter for updates on fut...
2020-11-161h 38
Dwarkesh PodcastCharles Murray - Human Accomplishment and the Future of LibertyI ask Charles Murray about Human Accomplishment, By The People, and The Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Read the full transcript here.Follow Charles on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(00:00) - Intro (01:00) - Writing Human Accomplishment (06:30) - The Lotka curve, age, and miracle years (10:38) - Habits of the greats (hard work) (15:22) - Focus and explore in your 20s (19:57) - Living in Tha...
2020-10-281h 52
Dwarkesh PodcastRobin Hanson - The Long ViewRobin Hanson is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He is the author of The Elephant in the Brain and The Age of Em. Robin's Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinhansonRobin's blog: https://www.overcomingbias.com/ Robin's website: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/home.htmlMy blog: https://dwarkeshpatel.com/My Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp00:05 The long view 15:07 Subconscious vs conscious intelligence 20:28 Meditators 26:50 Signaling, norms, and motives
2020-08-311h 40
Dwarkesh PodcastJason Crawford - The Roots of ProgressJason Crawford writes at The Roots of Progress about the history of technology and industry and the philosophy of progress. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Podcast website here.Follow Jason on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Jason's website: https://jasoncrawford.org/ The Roots of Progress: https://rootsofprogress.org/ Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
2020-08-2548 min
Dwarkesh PodcastMatjaž Leonardis - Science, Identity, and ProbabilityMatjaž Leonardis has co-written a paper with David Deutsch about the Popper-Miller Theorem. In this episode, we talk about that as well as the dangers of the scientific identity, the nature of scientific progress, and advice for young people who want to be polymaths. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Podcast website here.Follow Matjaž's excellent Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes! Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
2020-08-2234 min
Dwarkesh PodcastTyler Cowen - The Great ResetTyler Cowen is Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University and also Director of the Mercatus Center.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Transcript + Podcast website here.Follow Tyler Cowen on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Timestamps(0:00) - The Great Reset (2:58) - Growth and the cyclical view of history (4:00) - Time horizons, growth, and sustainability (5:30) - Space travel (8:11) - WMDs and end of humanity (10...
2020-07-1047 min
Dwarkesh PodcastBryan Caplan - Nurturing Orphaned IdeasBryan Caplan is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a New York Times Bestselling author. His most famous works include: The Myth of the Rational Voter, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, The Case Against Education, and Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration.I talk to Bryan about open borders, the idea trap, UBI, appeasement, China, the education system, and Bryan Caplan's next two books on poverty and housing regulation. Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform.Follow Bryan on Twitter. Follow...
2020-05-2259 min