#162 – Jim Keller: The Future of Computing, AI, Life, and Consciousness
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13.6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2021
⏱️ 165 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jim Keller is a legendary microprocessor engineer, previously at AMD, Apple, Tesla, Intel, and now Tenstorrent. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Jim’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimkxa
Jim’s Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Keller_(engineer)
Tenstorrent: https://www.tenstorrent.com/
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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
(07:02) – Good design is both science and engineering
(13:03) – Javascript
(17:09) – RISC vs CISC
(21:09) – What makes a great processor?
(22:38) – Intel vs ARM
(24:27) – Steve Jobs and Apple
(27:05) – Elon Musk and Steve Jobs
(32:50) – Father
(36:33) – Perfection
(42:48) – Modular design
(48:22) – Moore’s law
(55:20) – Hardware for deep learning
(1:02:14) – Making neural networks fast at scale
(1:09:51) – Andrej Karpathy and Chris Lattner
(1:14:05) – How GPUs work
(1:18:12) – Tesla Autopilot, NVIDIA, and Mobileye
(1:22:52) – Andrej Karpathy and Software 2.0
(1:29:13) – Tesla Dojo
(1:31:49) – Neural networks will understand physics better than humans
(1:34:02) – Re-engineering the human brain
(1:38:56) – Infinite fun and the Culture Series by Iain Banks
(1:40:50) – Neuralink
(1:46:13) – Dreams
(1:50:06) – Ideas
(2:00:19) – Aliens
(2:05:16) – Jordan Peterson
(2:10:13) – Viruses
(2:13:22) – WallStreetBets and Robinhood
(2:21:25) – Advice for young people
(2:23:15) – Human condition
(2:25:43) – Fear is a cage
(2:30:34) – Love
(2:36:57) – Regrets
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Jim Keller, his second time in the podcast. |
| 0:04.9 | Jim is a legendary microprocessor architect and is widely seen as one of the greatest |
| 0:11.0 | engineering minds of the computing age. |
| 0:14.0 | In a peculiar twist of space time in our simulation, Jim is also a brother-in-law of Jordan |
| 0:21.1 | Peterson. |
| 0:22.3 | We talk about this and about computing, artificial intelligence, consciousness, and life. |
| 0:29.4 | Work mention of our sponsors. |
| 0:31.2 | A flat of greens all in one nutrition drink, Brooklyn in sheets, express VPN, and Bell |
| 0:37.4 | Campo Grass-fed meat. |
| 0:39.8 | Click the sponsor links to get a discount and to support this podcast. |
| 0:44.0 | As a side note, let me say that Jim is someone who, on a personal level, inspired me to be |
| 0:48.8 | myself. |
| 0:49.8 | There were something in his words on and off the mic, or perhaps that he even paid attention |
| 0:55.1 | to me at all that almost told me, you're our right kid, a kind of pat on the back that |
| 1:00.4 | can make the difference between a mind that flourishes and a mind that is broken down |
| 1:05.6 | by the cynicism of the world. |
| 1:08.2 | So I guess that's just my brief few words of thank you to Jim and in general gratitude |
| 1:13.3 | for the people who have given me a chance on this podcast, in my work, and in life. |
| 1:19.0 | If you enjoy this thing, subscribe by YouTube, review it on up a podcast, follow on Spotify, |
| 1:24.4 | report it on Patreon, or connect with me on Twitter, Alexa Friedman. |
| 1:28.6 | As usual, I'll do a few minutes of ads now, and no ads in the middle. |
| 1:31.9 | I try to make these interesting, but I give you time stamps so you skip, please still check |
... |
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