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Lex Fridman Podcast

#472 – Terence Tao: Hardest Problems in Mathematics, Physics & the Future of AI

Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Science, Technology

4.713K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2025

⏱️ 204 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Terence Tao is widely considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians in history. He won the Fields Medal and the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, and has contributed to a wide range of fields from fluid dynamics with Navier-Stokes equations to mathematical physics & quantum mechanics, prime numbers & analytics number theory, harmonic analysis, compressed sensing, random matrix theory, combinatorics, and progress on many of the hardest problems in the history of mathematics.
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/terence-tao-transcript

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EPISODE LINKS:
Terence's Blog: https://terrytao.wordpress.com/
Terence's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TerenceTao27
Terence's Books: https://amzn.to/43H9Aiq

SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:36) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(09:49) - First hard problem
(15:16) - Navier–Stokes singularity
(35:25) - Game of life
(42:00) - Infinity
(47:07) - Math vs Physics
(53:26) - Nature of reality
(1:16:08) - Theory of everything
(1:22:09) - General relativity
(1:25:37) - Solving difficult problems
(1:29:00) - AI-assisted theorem proving
(1:41:50) - Lean programming language
(1:51:50) - DeepMind's AlphaProof
(1:56:45) - Human mathematicians vs AI
(2:06:37) - AI winning the Fields Medal
(2:13:47) - Grigori Perelman
(2:26:29) - Twin Prime Conjecture
(2:43:04) - Collatz conjecture
(2:49:50) - P = NP
(2:52:43) - Fields Medal
(3:00:18) - Andrew Wiles and Fermat's Last Theorem
(3:04:15) - Productivity
(3:06:54) - Advice for young people
(3:15:17) - The greatest mathematician of all time

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following is a conversation with Terence Tao, widely considered to be one of the greatest

0:06.1

mathematicians in history, often referred to as the Mozart of Math. He won the Fields Medal

0:13.6

and the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics and has contributed groundbreaking work to a truly

0:19.1

astonishing range of fields in mathematics and physics.

0:23.5

This was a huge honor for me, for many reasons, including the humility and kindness that Terry

0:31.2

showed to me throughout all our interactions. It means the world.

0:36.5

And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them

0:39.3

out in the description or at Lexfreedman.com slash sponsors. It's the best way to support this

0:44.8

podcast. We got Notion for teamwork, Shopify for selling stuff online, net suite for your business,

0:51.4

element for electrolytes and the AG1 for your health.

0:55.3

Choose Wessin, my friends.

0:58.6

And now, onto the full ad reads, they're all here in one place.

1:04.3

I do try to make them interesting by talking about some random things I'm reading or thinking about.

1:07.2

But if you skip, please still check out the sponsors.

1:08.4

I enjoy their stuff.

1:09.2

Maybe you will too.

1:11.0

To get in touch with me, for whatever reason, go to Lexstreamin.com slash contact. All right, let's go. This episode is brought to you by

1:16.8

Notion, a note-taking and team collaboration tool. I use Notion for everything, for personal

1:22.9

notes, for planning these podcasts, for collaborating with other folks, and for super boosting all of those

1:29.6

things with AI, because Notion does a great job of integrating AI into the whole thing.

1:34.9

You know, what's fascinating is the mechanisms of human memory before we had widely adopted

1:41.8

technologies and tools for writing and recording stuff, certainly before

...

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