Thank you sincerely for the kind words and for understanding the toughness of getting in front of the camera as an introvert. The criticism on top of that is TOUGH to take, but in moderation it helps long-term. With this HN thread, I told myself I'll meditate on critical advice, consider action items to take in order to improve, and then move forward letting the more personal destructive (as you say) criticism fade from memory. That last part is easier said than done, but that's life.
Thank you. Exactly! I ask these questions in hope to inspire the rare gems of brilliance. Sometimes those come from deep technical questions and sometimes from silly philosophical questions. Both have potential. I fail often with striking the right balance, but hopefully less and less over time.
Thank you! To me, asking philosophical questions of world-class mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, engineers is eye-opening and inspiring. It's taking a break at looking up at the stars. I love the messy details of engineering, but every once in a while it feels great to pause, and reflect on the big picture of our incredible, unlikely existence here on Earth.
As Oscar Wilde said: "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
Lex here. The amount of positive and thoughtful comments here is humbling. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Here are things I didn't realize is the role of the interviewer (my role) but I now know they are:
1. Push towards depth, because not all people go there naturally themselves.
2. Ask for clarifications if I don't understand something. This can make me sound stupid, but it's a worthy sacrifice. I will always sacrifice ego for the chance to understand something basic or hopefully fundamental. In fact, I play dumb sometimes just to force explanation of basics on which the technically deep ideas are built.
3. Disagree respectfully (at times playing devil's advocate) to give a chance to the interviewee to argue their point.
4. Speak whatever question or point I have clearly, concisely, quickly, and then shut up and listen. My role is to give the other person a break and to throw up ideas that spark their passion. I really struggle with this (especially the concise, clear part).
Thank you again for the kind words. I'll keep improving!
Another AI person here (Stanford PhD student). I concur the philosophical stuff is mostly annoying for me -- for me it comes off as random self-satisfied pseudo-intellectual self-indulgence that makes for nice clickbaity-youtube clips but does not make for actually good conversations. The list of guests is great, but i'd prefer the conversations to me more humble and less wannabe insightful.
Thank you for the kind words. I think it's important to think both about the mathematical/technical foundations of an idea and its place in the big picture of human civilization.
If it helps, remember that paradoxically the better you're doing the blunter the criticism will be. If this were some fledgling little podcast run by a nobody, it would feel cruel to criticise too harshly. But this is the freakin' Lex Fridman AI podcast, the untouchable juggernaut at the top of its game. What could I say that could possibly hurt something (and someone) so successful?
Of course, I'm sure you don't feel untouchable, but maybe there is a certain cold comfort in knowing that inconsiderate criticism is a hallmark of becoming an institution. Keep up the good work, man.
Thank you for the kind words. Some people love the philosophy, some the technical details. I try to mix it up, and have fun with it. But it's good to know that people have more patience for technical depth than I realized. So I'll try to do more of it in the future.
Lex here. Thank you. I realize I sometimes miss opportunities for depth or insight with these brilliant folks, but I work hard to improve. The comments on this post, positive and critical, help. So again, thank you.
Thank you for what you do man! btw I'm curious, how do you convince (if at all) to come to your podcast to have a chat? And what's the process like from guest selection to actually recording the podcast to finally releasing it? Thanks once again!
Lex here. Yep. Russian. Underneath the cold stare and the suit is possibly some personality and a bit of humor. Then again it's like past or present life on Mars. Many astrobiologists believe it was at least once there, but no proof has been found yet.
Underneath the cold stare and the suit is possibly some personality and a bit of humor.
I have a close friend who is Russian, and I've found that, at least in his case, there definitely is a sense of humor there, despite the stereotypes. I just find his Russian humor to be very subtle and even after all these years I don't always pick up on when he's joking and when he isn't. From watching your interviews, I get a very similar vibe. I suspect you have a fine sense of humor, but that not all Americans will appreciate or recognize it easily.
