#93 – Daphne Koller: Biomedicine and Machine Learning

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Daphne Koller is a professor of computer science at Stanford University, a co-founder of Coursera with Andrew Ng and Founder and CEO of insitro, a company at the intersection of machine learning and biomedicine.

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EPISODE LINKS:
Daphne’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/daphnekoller
Daphne’s Website: https://ai.stanford.edu/users/koller/index.html
Insitro: http://insitro.com

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
02:22 – Will we one day cure all disease?
06:31 – Longevity
10:16 – Role of machine learning in treating diseases
13:05 – A personal journey to medicine
16:25 – Insitro and disease-in-a-dish models
33:25 – What diseases can be helped with disease-in-a-dish approaches?
36:43 – Coursera and education
49:04 – Advice to people interested in AI
50:52 – Beautiful idea in deep learning
55:10 – Uncertainty in AI
58:29 – AGI and AI safety
1:06:52 – Are most people good?
1:09:04 – Meaning of life

#92 – Harry Cliff: Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider

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Harry Cliff is a particle physicist at the University of Cambridge working on the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment that specializes in searching for hints of new particles and forces by studying a type of particle called the “beauty quark”, or “b quark”. In this way, he is part of the group of physicists who are searching answers to some of the biggest questions in modern physics. He is also an exceptional communicator of science with some of the clearest and most captivating explanations of basic concepts in particle physics I’ve ever heard.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
– ExpressVPN at https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod
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EPISODE LINKS:
Harry’s Website: https://www.harrycliff.co.uk/
Harry’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/harryvcliff
Beyond the Higgs Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edvdzh9Pggg
Harry’s stand-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnediKM_Sts

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
03:51 – LHC and particle physics
13:55 – History of particle physics
38:59 – Higgs particle
57:55 – Unknowns yet to be discovered
59:48 – Beauty quarks
1:07:38 – Matter and antimatter
1:10:22 – Human side of the Large Hadron Collider
1:17:27 – Future of large particle colliders
1:24:09 – Data science with particle physics
1:27:17 – Science communication
1:33:36 – Most beautiful idea in physics

#91 – Jack Dorsey: Square, Cryptocurrency, and Artificial Intelligence

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Jack Dorsey is the co-founder and CEO of Twitter and the founder and CEO of Square.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
– MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/lex

EPISODE LINKS:
Jack’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jack
Start Small Tracker: https://bit.ly/2KxdiBL

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
02:48 – Engineering at scale
08:36 – Increasing access to the economy
13:09 – Machine learning at Square
15:18 – Future of the digital economy
17:17 – Cryptocurrency
25:31 – Artificial intelligence
27:49 – Her
29:12 – Exchange with Elon Musk about bots
32:05 – Concerns about artificial intelligence
35:40 – Andrew Yang
40:57 – Eating one meal a day
45:49 – Mortality
47:50 – Meaning of life
48:59 – Simulation

#90 – Dmitry Korkin: Computational Biology of Coronavirus

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Dmitry Korkin is a professor of bioinformatics and computational biology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he specializes in bioinformatics of complex disease, computational genomics, systems biology, and biomedical data analytics. I came across Dmitry’s work when in February his group used the viral genome of the COVID-19 to reconstruct the 3D structure of its major viral proteins and their interactions with human proteins, in effect creating a structural genomics map of the coronavirus and making this data open and available to researchers everywhere. We talked about the biology of COVID-19, SARS, and viruses in general, and how computational methods can help us understand their structure and function in order to develop antiviral drugs and vaccines.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Dmitry’s Website: http://korkinlab.org/
Dmitry’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmkorkin
Dmitry’s Paper that we discuss: https://bit.ly/3eKghEM

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
02:33 – Viruses are terrifying and fascinating
06:02 – How hard is it to engineer a virus?
10:48 – What makes a virus contagious?
29:52 – Figuring out the function of a protein
53:27 – Functional regions of viral proteins
1:19:09 – Biology of a coronavirus treatment
1:34:46 – Is a virus alive?
1:37:05 – Epidemiological modeling
1:55:27 – Russia
2:02:31 – Science bobbleheads
2:06:31 – Meaning of life

#89 – Stephen Wolfram: Cellular Automata, Computation, and Physics

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Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, mathematician, and theoretical physicist who is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, a company behind Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Wolfram Language, and the new Wolfram Physics project. He is the author of several books including A New Kind of Science, which on a personal note was one of the most influential books in my journey in computer science and artificial intelligence.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
– ExpressVPN at https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod
– 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:
Stephen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram
Stephen’s Website: https://www.stephenwolfram.com/
Wolfram Research Twitter: https://twitter.com/WolframResearch
Wolfram Research YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WolframResearch
Wolfram Research Website: https://www.wolfram.com/
Wolfram Alpha: https://www.wolframalpha.com/
A New Kind of Science (book): https://amzn.to/34JruB2

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
04:16 – Communicating with an alien intelligence
12:11 – Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey
29:06 – What is computation?
44:54 – Physics emerging from computation
1:14:10 – Simulation
1:19:23 – Fundamental theory of physics
1:28:01 – Richard Feynman
1:39:57 – Role of ego in science
1:47:21 – Cellular automata
2:15:08 – Wolfram language
2:55:14 – What is intelligence?
2:57:47 – Consciousness
3:02:36 – Mortality
3:05:47 – Meaning of life

#88 – Eric Weinstein: Geometric Unity and the Call for New Ideas, Leaders & Institutions

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Eric Weinstein is a mathematician with a bold and piercing intelligence, unafraid to explore the biggest questions in the universe and shine a light on the darkest corners of our society. He is the host of The Portal podcast, a part of which, he recently released his 2013 Oxford lecture on his theory of Geometric Unity that is at the center of his lifelong efforts in arriving at a theory of everything that unifies the fundamental laws of physics.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
– Cash App – use code “LexPodcast” and download:
– Cash App (App Store): https://apple.co/2sPrUHe
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EPISODE LINKS:
Eric’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricRWeinstein
Eric’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ericweinsteinphd
The Portal podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-portal/id1469999563
Graph, Wall, Tome wiki: https://theportal.wiki/wiki/Graph,_Wall,_Tome

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
02:08 – World War II and the Coronavirus Pandemic
14:03 – New leaders
31:18 – Hope for our time
34:23 – WHO
44:19 – Geometric unity
1:38:55 – We need to get off this planet
1:40:47 – Elon Musk
1:46:58 – Take Back MIT
2:15:31 – The time at Harvard
2:37:01 – The Portal
2:42:58 – Legacy

#87 – Richard Dawkins: Evolution, Intelligence, Simulation, and Memes

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Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, and author of The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, The God Delusion, The Magic of Reality, The Greatest Show on Earth, and his latest Outgrowing God. He is the originator and popularizer of a lot of fascinating ideas in evolutionary biology and science in general, including funny enough the introduction of the word meme in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which in the context of a gene-centered view of evolution is an exceptionally powerful idea. He is outspoken, bold, and often fearless in his defense of science and reason, and in this way, is one of the most influential thinkers of our time.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
– Cash App – use code “LexPodcast” and download:
– Cash App (App Store): https://apple.co/2sPrUHe
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EPISODE LINKS:
Richard’s Website: https://www.richarddawkins.net/
Richard’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins
Richard’s Books:
– Selfish Gene: https://amzn.to/34tpHQy
– The Magic of Reality: https://amzn.to/3c0aqZQ
– The Blind Watchmaker: https://amzn.to/2RqV5tH
– The God Delusion: https://amzn.to/2JPrxlc
– Outgrowing God: https://amzn.to/3ebFess
– The Greatest Show on Earth: https://amzn.to/2Rp2j1h

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
02:31 – Intelligent life in the universe
05:03 – Engineering intelligence (are there shortcuts?)
07:06 – Is the evolutionary process efficient?
10:39 – Human brain and AGI
15:31 – Memes
26:37 – Does society need religion?
33:10 – Conspiracy theories
39:10 – Where do morals come from in humans?
46:10 – AI began with the ancient wish to forge the gods
49:18 – Simulation
56:58 – Books that influenced you
1:02:53 – Meaning of life

#86 – David Silver: AlphaGo, AlphaZero, and Deep Reinforcement Learning

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David Silver leads the reinforcement learning research group at DeepMind and was lead researcher on AlphaGo, AlphaZero and co-lead on AlphaStar, and MuZero and lot of important work in reinforcement learning.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
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– Cash App – use code “LexPodcast” and download:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Reinforcement learning (book): https://amzn.to/2Jwp5zG

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
04:09 – First program
11:11 – AlphaGo
21:42 – Rule of the game of Go
25:37 – Reinforcement learning: personal journey
30:15 – What is reinforcement learning?
43:51 – AlphaGo (continued)
53:40 – Supervised learning and self play in AlphaGo
1:06:12 – Lee Sedol retirement from Go play
1:08:57 – Garry Kasparov
1:14:10 – Alpha Zero and self play
1:31:29 – Creativity in AlphaZero
1:35:21 – AlphaZero applications
1:37:59 – Reward functions
1:40:51 – Meaning of life

#85 – Roger Penrose: Physics of Consciousness and the Infinite Universe

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Roger Penrose is physicist, mathematician, and philosopher at University of Oxford. He has made fundamental contributions in many disciplines from the mathematical physics of general relativity and cosmology to the limitations of a computational view of consciousness.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
– ExpressVPN at https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod
– Cash App – use code “LexPodcast” and download:
– Cash App (App Store): https://apple.co/2sPrUHe
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EPISODE LINKS:
Cycles of Time (book): https://amzn.to/39tXtpp
The Emperor’s New Mind (book): https://amzn.to/2yfeVkD

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
03:51 – 2001: A Space Odyssey
09:43 – Consciousness and computation
23:45 – What does it mean to “understand”
31:37 – What’s missing in quantum mechanics?
40:09 – Whatever consciousness is, it’s not a computation
44:13 – Source of consciousness in the human brain
1:02:57 – Infinite cycles of big bangs
1:22:05 – Most beautiful idea in mathematics

#83 – Nick Bostrom: Simulation and Superintelligence

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Nick Bostrom is a philosopher at University of Oxford and the director of the Future of Humanity Institute. He has worked on fascinating and important ideas in existential risks, simulation hypothesis, human enhancement ethics, and the risks of superintelligent AI systems, including in his book Superintelligence. I can see talking to Nick multiple times on this podcast, many hours each time, but we have to start somewhere.

Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:
– 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:
Nick’s website: https://nickbostrom.com/
Future of Humanity Institute:
– https://twitter.com/fhioxford
– https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/
Books:
– Superintelligence: https://amzn.to/2JckX83
Wikipedia:
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_indifference
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_argument
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_catastrophic_risk

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 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
02:48 – Simulation hypothesis and simulation argument
12:17 – Technologically mature civilizations
15:30 – Case 1: if something kills all possible civilizations
19:08 – Case 2: if we lose interest in creating simulations
22:03 – Consciousness
26:27 – Immersive worlds
28:50 – Experience machine
41:10 – Intelligence and consciousness
48:58 – Weighing probabilities of the simulation argument
1:01:43 – Elaborating on Joe Rogan conversation
1:05:53 – Doomsday argument and anthropic reasoning
1:23:02 – Elon Musk
1:25:26 – What’s outside the simulation?
1:29:52 – Superintelligence
1:47:27 – AGI utopia
1:52:41 – Meaning of life