#155 – Max Tegmark: AI and Physics
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13.6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2021
⏱️ 188 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Max Tegmark is a physicist and AI researcher at MIT. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
News Project Explainer Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRLF17Pb6vo
News Project Website: https://www.improvethenews.org/
Max’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/tegmark
Max’s Website: https://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/
Future of Life Institute: https://futureoflife.org/
Lex Fridman Podcast #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi8LUnhP5yU
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(08:15) – AI and physics
(21:32) – Can AI discover new laws of physics?
(30:22) – AI safety
(47:59) – Extinction of human species
(58:57) – How to fix fake news and misinformation
(1:20:30) – Autonomous weapons
(1:35:54) – The man who prevented nuclear war
(1:46:02) – Elon Musk and AI
(1:59:39) – AI alignment
(2:05:42) – Consciousness
(2:14:45) – Richard Feynman
(2:18:56) – Machine learning and computational physics
(2:29:53) – AI and creativity
(2:41:08) – Aliens
(2:56:51) – Mortality
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Max Tagmark, his second time in the podcast. |
| 0:04.7 | In fact, the previous conversation was episode number one of this very podcast. |
| 0:10.9 | He is a physicist and artificial intelligence researcher at MIT, co-founder of the Future |
| 0:17.6 | of Left Institute, an author of Life 3.0, being human in the age of artificial intelligence. |
| 0:24.6 | He's also the head of a bunch of other huge fascinating projects and has written a lot |
| 0:29.7 | of different things that you should definitely check out. |
| 0:32.3 | He has been one of the key humans who has been outspoken about long-term existential |
| 0:36.9 | risks of AI and also its exciting possibilities and solutions to real world problems, most |
| 0:43.1 | recently at the intersection of AI in physics and also in re-engineering the algorithms |
| 0:49.9 | that divide us by controlling the information we see and thereby creating bubbles and all |
| 0:55.5 | other kinds of complex social phenomena that we see today. |
| 0:59.7 | In general, he's one of the most passionate and brilliant people I have the fortune of |
| 1:03.4 | knowing. |
| 1:04.4 | I hope to talk to him many more times on this podcast in the future. |
| 1:08.4 | Quick mention of our sponsors, the Jordan Harbinger Show, Four Sigmatic Martian Coffee, |
| 1:14.4 | Better Help Online Therapy, and ExpressVPN. |
| 1:18.5 | So the choice is wisdom, caffeine, sanity or privacy. |
| 1:23.7 | Use wisely my friends and if you wish, click the sponsor links below to get a discount |
| 1:28.2 | to support this podcast. |
| 1:30.6 | As a side note, let me say that much of the researchers in the machine learning and |
| 1:35.8 | artificial intelligence communities do not spend much time thinking deeply about existential |
| 1:41.2 | risks of AI because our current algorithms are seen as useful but dumb. |
... |
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