Lex Fridman
Erik Brynjolfsson is an economist at Stanford. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– Vincero: https://vincerowatches.com/lex to get up to 25% off + free shipping
– Four Sigmatic: https://foursigmatic.com/lex and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off
– ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free
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EPISODE LINKS:
Erik’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/erikbryn
Erik’s Website: https://www.brynjolfsson.com/
The Second Machine Age (book): https://amzn.to/33f1Pk2
Machine, Platform, Crowd (book): https://amzn.to/3miJZ76
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41
OUTLINE:
0:00 – Introduction
2:56 – Exponential growth
7:24 – Elon Musk exponential thinking
9:41 – Moore’s law is a series of revolutions
15:03 – GPT-3
16:42 – Autonomous vehicles
23:43 – Electricity
28:12 – Productivity
33:19 – Why is Twitter and Facebook free?
43:36 – Dismantling the nature of truth
46:56 – Nutpicking and Cancel Culture
53:11 – How will AI change our world
59:12 – Existential threats
1:01:05 – AI and the nature of work
1:07:11 – Thoughts on Andrew Yang and UBI
1:13:03 – Economics of innovation
1:19:09 – Effect of COVID on the economy
1:28:22 – MIT and Stanford
1:32:56 – Book recommendations
1:36:01 – Meaning of life
CONNECT:
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– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman
– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
Here are the timestamps. Please check out our sponsors to support this podcast.
0:00 – Introduction & sponsor mentions:
– Vincero: https://vincerowatches.com/lex to get up to 25% off + free shipping
– Four Sigmatic: https://foursigmatic.com/lex and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off
– ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free
– Cash App: https://cash.app/ and use code LexPodcast to get $10
2:56 – Exponential growth
7:24 – Elon Musk exponential thinking
9:41 – Moore's law is a series of revolutions
15:03 – GPT-3
16:42 – Autonomous vehicles
23:43 – Electricity
28:12 – Productivity
33:19 – Why is Twitter and Facebook free?
43:36 – Dismantling the nature of truth
46:56 – Nutpicking and Cancel Culture
53:11 – How will AI change our world
59:12 – Existential threats
1:01:05 – AI and the nature of work
1:07:11 – Thoughts on Andrew Yang and UBI
1:13:03 – Economics of innovation
1:19:09 – Effect of COVID on the economy
1:28:22 – MIT and Stanford
1:32:56 – Book recommendations
1:36:01 – Meaning of life
I really wonder when you are going to get Bill Gates to this podcast. It would be really amazing.
Lex "although some people think i am a robot" Fridman
Lexceptional. Great stuff over all the podcasts.
I love you
I listen to Lex on Google podcast. Fantastic. Joe Rogan doesn't disappoint.
What a fantastic dialogue! I'm a grad student in statistics and this touched on so many different ideas that have been rolling around in my head about where our work is taking us
@32:50 ish, we are suggesting using a survey to calculate the value by the amount of $ you would get if you were to give up using that service, say Facebook. Will it be accurate? What if lots of people you surveyed hate using Facebook but does have a Facebook account anyway. For instance, myself. I would've asked to give me $10,000/month, I will stop using Facebook.
I find it extremely strange that they never talk about the impact of Nixon taking the US Dollar off of the gold standard. It clearly impacted the economy more than anything else in the last 100 years and still does to this day.
1:09:10 "I don't buy the idea that there isn't enough work out there" – Erik B. Agree 100%, we have to be super careful with UBI.
This was a good example of the disconnect between Academia and the "real world" loved this dudes take on Technology. But his economic view is full of wishful thinking. He believes that giving the Government and Corporations more so they can do the right thing. His Carbon Tax view is just ridiculous Mega Corps will just buy billions in credits and continue to pollute that money does not trickle down to infrastructure or the people proof is in the last twenty years. Talking about purchasing power and never mentioning freedom of currency exchange etc. this guy should just stay in school. He supports and argues for the very things that got us to where we are which is huge gap between the rich and the poor. He is naive and ignorant probably has never seen a paper food stamp. You cannot mention Government and Economics without Power, corruption… This guy lives in a world that is just fantasy. some of the highest taxes of our time and he wants to contribute more lol he should try driving out of palo alto down over here to see east San Jose and see what wonderful contributions his taxes are allocated to.
GET DR>SHIVAY ON HERE TO educate this guy.
I have and idea these fellows might like, it's a organization to amplify truth and remove lies, I call it the Ministry of Truth.
1:03:10
The reason we don't see the J curve (Electricity section) everywhere is because we are reaching the limits of growth. If a machine can put out a billion widgets it doesn't matter unless there is a market to absorb it. If me and all the other widget makers just go crazy we produce an over abundance that drops the value of our widget. Also if a machine can produce a widget at 1/2 the cost of a human operator I'm not going to drop the price I'll enjoy a better profit margin instead. Greed… (wait for it) is good.
In person podcasts are better
Great comments on failure of productivity increase – better interfaces and systemic trust will probably cause an productivity increase. I think there needs to be a split between personal and professional use of time online. There’s got to be some personal management.
My brain is an ai system and I am training it on conversations with Lex and Friends.
1:08:50 It bugs me that he is aware of this non-trivial relation between needs and purpose and yet sees a post-scarcity future as one of joy and fulfilment.
Lex Fridman = 🐐
@27:54 I'D dare to claim that the lack of productivity grotwh has more to do with changes to the financial market, an exponentially increasing amount of money is bound on non-producing endeavours.
I think we DO pay for watching Youtube videos, Facebook, Twitter, etc with our time and attention, which in turn produces advertising income for these companies. Both time and attention are finite resources. Viewers are both consumers and producers of value with social media. Just because they do not figure into GDP does not mean they are free. They are absolutely not free, they are also taking our data, likes, preferences, and using/selling that information. The problem is that these things such as time, attention, data is not monetized for the viewer, only the media provider. How can you call them 'free'? (and let's not talk about the social and cultural losses) See Maurizio Lazzarato on immaterial labor.
I recently listened to it audio book, very enlightening, also a documentary from the prespective of Germans and what they were thinking at the time. Thanks Lex. I usually do check out the books of the people I learn from on your podcast.
Alcoholism and drug use?? Whats the difference? Great chat though.
This guy is in favor of taking your money and giving it to someone else. He thinks he ought to be the one to “repurpose” people, in his words. Asshole
book recommendations is always such a good segment! please keep doing that thank you for your work
I wonder what book Lex is reading? 🙂
Please keep putting the effort in interviewing in person. It does make an incredible difference in the quality of the discussion. There is no way you would get such a level of intimacy and empathy in an online interview. The quality of the questions would definitely deteriorate, they would be more standard and less improvised.
This podcast is expecially needed in a "pandemic lifestyle". I hope you the best for your startup, but please don't underestimate already how much you are improving the world with this channel.
Thank you very much for your work.
People almost always get the idea of UBI wrong. The idea is to promote entrepreneurship by giving a base income that you are NOT allowed to borrow against it, so that you can invest in a business, it works better when you get together with partners. This allows people to do what they actually want. Of course some people will sit around, but not for long. 1:08:00
Can someone please explain the congestion tax to me? I don't get who pays it, when they pay it or how it alleviates traffic
It's a very silly idea to think taxing one thing, like traffic congestion, will than allow the money to be spend on health care or education, as if the two even have the slightest correlation?!????
The real problem in this world is economists don't even gasp the beginning of what the natural physical concept of money realy is.
Lex "if you enjoy this thing" Fridman.
This Erik Brynjolfsson guy is sharp. Great interview 👍 Lex
Lex, make a podcast about Bitcoin! Andreas Antonopoulos would be a good guest.
The trade relationships we have established with China and the EU are not 'free'. The significant deficits have created the economic conditions we are experiencing.
one of my favourites so far
If you guys are interested in finding out more about monetization of videos without advertisers I would checkout Coil. They’re doing some really cool stuff with web monetization
Did you just go through a whole podcast titled "Economics of AI, Social Networks, and Technology" without blockchain technology being the main focus?
Another fantastic interview that inspired me to be a better human. Lex, you really have a gift, thanks for doing this.
Thank you lex.