Manifold

Latest Episodes:

Gilles Saint-Paul: The Yellow Vests, French Politics, and Hypergamy — #31 Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

Gilles Saint-Paul is Professeur à l'Ecole Normale Supérieure. He is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique in Engineering and received his PhD from MIT in Economics. Gilles and Steve discuss the French elite education system, the Yellow Vest movement, French politics and populism, and Saint-Paul’s paper on marriage markets and hypergamy.

0:00 Introduction

1:43 Gilles Saint-Paul's background and education

6:31 French and American higher elite education

14:44 The Yellow Vests

41:46 Mating and Hypergamy

References:

On the Yellow Vest Insurrection

https://gillessaintpaul.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/on-the-yellow-vest-insurrection/

Genes, Legitimacy and Hypergamy: Another Look at the Economics of Marriage

https://ideas.repec.org/p/ide/wpaper/9118.html

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (Superfocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Announcing this for some friends at Mechanize - a startup that builds environments for training and evaluating frontier LLMs. Its customers include the top AI labs, and it has contributed to the breakthrough in coding capabilities of frontier models.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

Bing vs. Bard, US-China STEM Competition, and Embryo Screening — #30 Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

Steve discusses the competition between Microsoft and Google, the competition between the U.S. and China in STEM, China’s new IVF policy, and a Science Magazine survey on polygenic screening of embryos.

00:00 Introduction

02:37 Bing vs Bard: LLMs and hallucination

20:52 China demographics & STEM

34:29 China IVF

40:28 Survey on embryo screening in Science

References:

Bing vs Bard and Hallucination

https://twitter.com/hsu_steve/status/1625222378383876119

China demographics and STEM

https://twitter.com/hsu_steve/status/1620765589752119297

https://twitter.com/hsu_steve/status/1623279827640848385

China IVF

https://twitter.com/hsu_steve/status/1623475304432820224
https://twitter.com/hsu_steve/status/1623478413758500864

Survey on embryo screening

https://twitter.com/hsu_steve/status/1623783244947722241

https://twitter.com/hsu_steve/status/1623664372202500097

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

--

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

ChatGPT, LLMs, and AI — #29 Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

Steve discusses Large Language Model AIs such as ChatGPT.

0:00 How do LLMs work?

10:22 Impact of ChatGPT

15:21 AI landscape

24:13 Hallucination and Focus

33:09 Applications

39:29 Future Landscape

References:

Manifold interview with John Schulman of OpenAI:
https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/john-schulman-openai-and-recent-advances-in-artificial-intelligence-16

Blog posts on word vectors and approximately linear vector space of concepts used by the human mind:
https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-future-of-thought-via-thought.html
https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2016/12/towards-geometry-of-thought.html

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

Dominic Cummings: Vote Leave, Brexit, COVID, and No. 10 with Boris — #28 Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Dominic Cummings is a major historical figure in UK politics. He helped save the Pound Sterling, led the Vote Leave campaign, Got Brexit Done, and guided the Tories to a landslide general election victory. His time in No. 10 Downing Street as Boris Johnson's Chief Advisor was one of the most interesting and impactful periods in modern UK political history. Dom and Steve discuss all of this and more in this 2-hour episode.

Steve and Dominic discuss:

0:00 Early Life: Oxford, Russia, entering politics

16:49 Keeping the UK out of the Euro

19:41 How Dominic and Steve became acquainted: blogs, 2008 financial crisis, meeting at Google

27:37 Vote Leave, the science of polling

43:46 Cambridge Analytica conspiracy; History is impossible

48:41 Dominic on Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of him and the movie “Brexit: The Uncivil War”

54:05 On joining British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office: an ultimatum

1:06:31 The pandemic

1:21:28 The Deep State, talent pipeline for public service

1:47:25 Quants and weirdos invade No.10

1:52:06 Can the Tories win the next election?

1:56:27 Trump in 2024?

References:

Dominic's Substack newsletter: https://dominiccummings.substack.com/

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

Sahil Lavingia: Founding Gumroad, The Minimalist Entrepreneur, and our AI LLM future — #27 Jan 05, 2023

Show notes

Sahil Lavingia founded Gumroad at the age of 19 and built it into a leading digital commerce platform. He is the author of The Minimalist Entrepreneur and an investor in early-stage startups.

Steve and Sahil discuss:

0:00 Sahil's upbringing and start as an entrepreneur
9:35 Tech founder at 19 and VC investment from Kleiner-Perkins
24:15 Backstory of Gumroad
30:30 Crowdfunding Gumroad
37:09 Experiments with OpenAI LLM, ChatGPT, and the promise of AI

References:

Sahil's web page
https://sahillavingia.com/

Ask My Book: interrogate Sahil's book via LLM
https://askmybook.com/

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

Geoffrey Miller: Evolutionary Psychology, Polyamorous Relationships, and Effective Altruism — #26 Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

Geoffrey Miller is an American evolutionary psychologist, author, and a professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico. He is known for his research on sexual selection in human evolution.

For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Miller_%28psychologist%29

Steve and Geoffrey discuss:

0:00 Geoffrey Miller's background, childhood, and how he became interested in psychology
14:44 How evolutionary psychology is perceived and where the field is going
38:23 The value of higher education: sobering facts about retention
49:00 Dating, pickup artists, and relationships
1:11:27 Polyamory
1:24:56 FTX, poly, and effective altruism
1:34:31 AI alignment

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

–
Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

Anna Krylov: The Politicization of Science in Academia — #25 Dec 01, 2022

Show notes

Anna I. Krylov (Russian: Анна Игоревна Крылова) is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC), working in the field of theoretical and computational quantum chemistry.

Krylov is an outspoken advocate of freedom of speech and academic freedom. She is a founding member of the Academic Freedom Alliance and a member of its academic leadership committee. Her paper, The Peril of Politicizing Science, launched a national conversation among scientists and the general public on the growing influence of political ideology in STEM. It has received over 80,000 views and, according to Altmetric, was the all-time highest-ranked article in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

Steve and Anna discuss:

0:00 Anna Krylov’s background, upbringing in USSR

7:03 Ideological control and censorship for the greater good?

14:59 How ideology underpins DEI work in academic institutions

30:40 Captured institutions

37:05 How much is UC Berkeley spending on DEI, and where the money is going

41:46 Krylov thinks it can get worse

52:09 An idea for soliciting anonymous feedback at universities

Resources:

Professor Krylov academic page:

https://dornsife.usc.edu/chemistry/krylov/

Wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Krylov

The Peril of Politicizing Science, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2021

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

Abdel Abdellaoui: Genetics, Psychiatric Traits, and Educational Attainment — #24 Nov 17, 2022

Show notes

Abdel Abdellaoui is Assistant Professor of Genetics in the Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam.

Abdel Abdellaoui is a geneticist who has been involved in a wide range of studies on psychiatric genetics, behavioral genetics, and population genetics. He is particularly interested in how collective behaviors, such as migration and mate choice, influence the genetic makeup of populations and the relationship between genetic risk factors and environmental exposures.

Steve and Abdel discuss:

00:00 Abdel’s background: education, family history, research career
10:23 Abdel’s research focus: polygenic traits, geographical stratification
21:43 Correlations across geographical regions
33:21 Educational Attainment
38:51 Comparisons across data sets
44:48 Longevity
52:04 Reaction to NIH restricting access to data on educational attainment

Resources:

Abdel Abdellaoui’s Google Scholar citations: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hsyseKEAAAAJ&hl=en

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

–

Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

Richard Sander on SCOTUS Oral Arguments: Affirmative Action and Discrimination against Asian Americans at Harvard and UNC Nov 03, 2022

Show notes

Richard Sander is Jesse Dukeminier Professor at UCLA Law School. AB Harvard, JD, PhD (Economics) Northwestern.

Sander has studied the structure and effects of law school admissions policies. He coined the term "Mismatch" to describe the negative consequences resulting from large admissions preferences.

Rick and Steve discuss recent oral arguments at the Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions vs Harvard College and Students For Fair Admissions vs the University of North Carolina.

0:00 Rick’s experience at the Supreme Court

4:11 Rick’s impression of the oral arguments

16:24 Analyzing the court’s questions

29:09 The negative impact on Asian American students

34:41 Shifting sentiment on affirmative action

40:04 Three potential outcomes for Harvard and UNC cases

44:00 Possible reasons for conservatives to be optimistic

50:31 Final thoughts on experiencing oral arguments in person

52:12 Mismatch theory

56:31 The future of higher education

Resources

Background on the Harvard case:

https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2022/01/supreme-court-to-take-up-harvard-unc.html

Transcripts:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2022/20-1199_6537.pdf

https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2022/21-707_m64n.pdf

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

Discovering the Multiverse: Quantum Mechanics and Hugh Everett III, with Peter Byrne — #22 Oct 20, 2022

Show notes

Peter Byrne is an investigative reporter and science writer based in Northern California. His popular biography, The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III - Multiple Universes, Mutual Assured Destruction, and the Meltdown of a Nuclear Family (Oxford University Press, 2010) was followed by publication of The Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Collected Works 1957-1980, (Princeton University Press, 2012), co-edited with philosopher of science, Jeffrey A. Barrett, of UC Irvine.

Everett's formulation of quantum mechanics, which implies the existence of a quantum multiverse, is favored by a significant (and growing) fraction of working physicists.

Steve and Peter discuss:

0:00 How Peter Byrne came to write a biography of Hugh Everett

18:09 Everett’s personal life and groundbreaking thesis as a catalyst for the book

24:00 Everett and Decoherence

31:25 Reaction of other physicists to Everett’s many worlds theory

40:46 Steve’s take on Everett’s many worlds theory

43:41 Peter on the bifurcation of science and philosophy

49:21 Everett’s post-academic life

52:58 How Hugh Everett is remembered now

References:

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

–

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Mechanize is hiring!

https://mechanize.work/b/hsu

Compensation is extremely competitive. For technical roles, $300-500k. They are also seeking smart generalists.

For example:

Research Engineer, Alignment: Build evals that test for misaligned model behaviors $500K salary

Puzzle Maker: Design interesting and original puzzles that LLMs can’t yet solve $300K salary

Mechanize understands that my readership is highly selected. There is a VERY GOOD CHANCE you will be interviewed if you apply via the link above.

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