Lex Fridman Podcast

Joel David Hamkins is a mathematician and philosopher specializing in set theory, the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of infinity, and he’s the #1 highest-rated user on MathOverflow. He is also the author of several books, including Proof and the Art of Mathematics and Lectures on the Philosophy of Mathematics. And he has a great blog called Infinitely More. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep488-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/joel-david-hamkins-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Joel’s X: https://x.com/JDHamkins Joel’s Website: https://jdh.hamkins.org Joel’s Substack: https://www.infinitelymore.xyz Joel’s MathOverflow: https://mathoverflow.net/users/1946/joel-david-hamkins Joel’s Papers: https://jdh.hamkins.org/publications Joel’s Books: Lectures on the Philosophy of Mathematics: https://amzn.to/3MThaAt Proof and the Art of Mathematics: https://amzn.to/3YACc9A SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://www.perplexity.ai/ Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Miro: Online collaborative whiteboard platform. Go to https://miro.com/ CodeRabbit: AI-powered code reviews. Go to https://coderabbit.ai/lex Chevron: Reliable energy for data centers. Go to https://chevron.com/power Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex MasterClass: Online classes from world-class experts. Go to https://masterclass.com/lexpod OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (01:58) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (15:40) – Infinity & paradoxes (1:02:50) – Russell’s paradox (1:15:57) – Gödel’s incompleteness theorems (1:33:28) – Truth vs proof (1:44:52) – The Halting Problem (2:00:45) – Does infinity exist? (2:18:19) – MathOverflow (2:22:12) – The Continuum Hypothesis (2:31:58) – Hardest problems in mathematics (2:41:25) – Mathematical multiverse (3:00:18) – Surreal numbers (3:10:55) – Conway’s Game of Life (3:13:11) – Computability theory (3:23:04) – P vs NP (3:26:21) – Greatest mathematicians in history (3:40:05) – Infinite chess (3:58:24) – Most beautiful idea in mathematics

Irving Finkel is a scholar of ancient languages and a longtime curator at the British Museum, renowned for his expertise in Mesopotamian history and cuneiform writing. He specializes in reading and interpreting cuneiform inscriptions, including tablets from Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian contexts. He became widely known for studying a tablet with a Mesopotamian flood story that predates the biblical Noah narrative, which he presented in his book “The Ark Before Noah” and in a documentary that involved building a circular ark based on the tablet’s technical instructions. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep487-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/irving-finkel-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Irving’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drirvingfinkel/ The Ark Before Noah (book): https://amzn.to/4j2U0DW Irving Lectures Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYXwZvOwHjVcFUi9iEqirkXRaCUJdXGha British Museum Video Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0LQM0SAx603A6p5EJ9DVcESqQReT7QyK British Museum Website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/ The Great Diary Project: https://thegreatdiaryproject.co.uk/ SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex Miro: Online collaborative whiteboard platform. Go to https://miro.com/ Chevron: Reliable energy for data centers. Go to https://chevron.com/power LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drink. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (00:43) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (09:53) – Origins of human language (15:59) – Cuneiform (23:12) – Controversial theory about Göbekli Tepe (34:23) – How to write and speak Cuneiform (39:42) – Primitive human language (41:26) – Development of writing systems (42:20) – Decipherment of Cuneiform (54:51) – Limits of language (59:51) – Art of translation (1:05:01) – Gods (1:10:25) – Ghosts (1:20:13) – Ancient flood stories (1:30:21) – Noah’s Ark (1:41:44) – The Royal Game of Ur (1:54:43) – British Museum (2:02:08) – Evolution of human civilization

Michael Levin is a biologist at Tufts University working on novel ways to understand and control complex pattern formation in biological systems. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep486-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/michael-levin-2-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Michael Levin’s X: https://x.com/drmichaellevin Michael Levin’s Website: https://drmichaellevin.org Michael Levin’s Papers: https://drmichaellevin.org/publications/ – Biological Robots: https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.00880 – Classical Sorting Algorithms: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.05375 – Aging as a Morphostasis Defect: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38636560/ – TAME: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.10346 – Synthetic Living Machines: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.abf1571 SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex CodeRabbit: AI-powered code reviews. Go to https://coderabbit.ai/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/lex Miro: Online collaborative whiteboard platform. Go to https://miro.com/ MasterClass: Online classes from world-class experts. Go to https://masterclass.com/lexpod OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (00:29) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (10:09) – Biological intelligence (18:42) – Living vs non-living organisms (23:55) – Origin of life (27:40) – The search for alien life (on Earth) (1:00:44) – Creating life in the lab – Xenobots and Anthrobots (1:13:46) – Memories and ideas are living organisms (1:27:26) – Reality is an illusion: The brain is an interface to a hidden reality (2:13:13) – Unexpected Intelligence in sorting algorithms (2:38:51) – Can aging be reversed? (2:42:41) – Mind uploading (3:01:22) – Alien intelligence (3:16:17) – Advice for young people (3:22:46) – Questions for AGI

David Kirtley is a nuclear fusion engineer and CEO of Helion Energy, a company working on building the world’s first commercial fusion power plant by 2028. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep485-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/david-kirtley-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: David’s X: https://x.com/dekirtley David’s LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4qX0KXp Helion: https://www.helionenergy.com/ Helion’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/HelionEnergy SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Miro: Online collaborative whiteboard platform. Go to https://miro.com/ LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (03:00) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (11:35) – Nuclear fission vs fusion (21:35) – Physics of E=mc^2 (26:50) – Is nuclear fusion safe? (32:11) – Chernobyl (38:38) – Geopolitics (40:33) – Extreme scenarios (47:28) – How nuclear fusion works (1:20:20) – Extreme temperatures (1:25:21) – Fusion control and simulation (1:37:15) – Electricity from fusion (2:11:20) – First fusion power plant in 2028 (2:18:13) – Energy needs of GPU clusters (2:28:38) – Kardashev scale (2:36:33) – Fermi Paradox PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

Dan Houser is co-founder of Rockstar Games and is a legendary creative mind behind Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Red Dead Redemption series of video games. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep484-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/dan-houser-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Absurd Adventures: https://absurdventures.com A Better Paradise: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0FCYSK8VD American Caper: https://absurdventures.com/americancaper SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Box: Intelligent content management platform. Go to https://box.com/ai UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/lex CodeRabbit: AI-powered code reviews. Go to https://coderabbit.ai/lex Miro: Online collaborative whiteboard platform. Go to https://miro.com/ Lindy: No-code AI agent builder. Go to https://go.lindy.ai/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (01:29) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (11:32) – Greatest films of all time (23:45) – Making video games (26:36) – GTA 3 (29:55) – Open world video games (32:42) – Character creation (36:09) – Superintelligent AI in A Better Paradise (45:21) – Can LLMs write video games? (49:41) – Creating GTA 4 and GTA 5 (1:01:16) – Hard work and Rockstar’s culture of excellence (1:04:56) – GTA 6 (1:21:46) – Red Dead Redemption 2 (2:01:39) – DLCs for GTA and Red Dead Redemption (2:07:58) – Leaving Rockstar Games (2:17:22) – Greatest game of all time (2:22:10) – Life lessons from father (2:24:29) – Mortality (2:41:47) – Advice for young people (2:47:49) – Future of video games PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips