#395 – Walter Isaacson: Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Einstein, Da Vinci & Ben Franklin
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13K Ratings
🗓️ 10 September 2023
⏱️ 136 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/walter-isaacson-transcript
EPISODE LINKS:
Walter's Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalterIsaacson
Walter's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/walter_isaacson
Walter's Website: https://isaacson.tulane.edu
Walter's Books:
Elon Musk: https://amzn.to/48aWSZC
The Code Breaker: https://amzn.to/3EAa0cU
Leonardo da Vinci: https://amzn.to/3RlFICB
The Innovators: https://amzn.to/45R8gs4
Steve Jobs: https://amzn.to/3P9Ak2B
American Sketches: https://amzn.to/45LM4PN
Einstein: https://amzn.to/3r6Ttu6
Benjamin Franklin: https://amzn.to/44NobWW
Kissinger: https://amzn.to/3RdTA1u
The Wise Men: https://amzn.to/45LQDJX
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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
(10:42) - Difficult childhood
(27:47) - Jennifer Doudna
(30:44) - Einstein
(36:02) - Tesla
(53:07) - Elon Musk's humor
(57:17) - Steve Jobs' cruelty
(1:00:41) - Twitter
(1:12:50) - Firing
(1:15:35) - Hiring
(1:24:38) - Time management
(1:32:22) - Groups vs individuals
(1:36:08) - Mortality
(1:39:40) - How to write
(2:00:38) - Love & relationships
(2:05:33) - Advice for young people
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Walter Isaacson, one of the greatest biography writers |
| 0:05.8 | ever. |
| 0:06.8 | Having written incredible books on Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci, Jennifer |
| 0:12.6 | Doudna, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Kissinger, and now a new one on Elon Musk. |
| 0:19.6 | We talked for hours on and off the mic. |
| 0:22.5 | I'm sure we'll talk many more times. |
| 0:24.7 | Walter is a truly special writer, thinker, observer, and human being. |
| 0:30.2 | I highly recommend people read his new book on Elon. |
| 0:34.0 | I'm sure there will be short-term controversy, but in long term, I think it will inspire |
| 0:39.9 | millions of young people, especially with difficult childhoods, with hardship in their |
| 0:44.6 | surroundings or in their own minds, to take on the hardest problems in the world and |
| 0:49.8 | to build solutions to those problems, no matter how impossible they are. |
| 0:55.2 | In this conversation, Walter and I cover all of his books and use personal stories from |
| 1:00.2 | them to speak to the bigger principles of striving for greatness, in science, in tech, |
| 1:06.2 | engineering, art, politics, and life. |
| 1:10.1 | There are many things in the new Elon book that I felt are best saved for when I speak |
| 1:14.6 | to Elon directly, again, on this podcast, which will be soon enough. |
| 1:20.7 | Perhaps it's also good to mention here that my friendships, like with Elon, nor any |
| 1:26.2 | other influence like money, access, fame, power will ever result in me sacrificing my integrity. |
| 1:33.9 | Ever. |
| 1:34.9 | I do like to celebrate the good in people, to empathize and to understand, but I also like |
| 1:41.1 | to call people out on their bullshit. |
... |
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