Manifold

Latest Episodes:

Theodore A. Postol: Nuclear Weapons, Missile Technology, and U.S. Diplomacy — #12 May 19, 2022

Show notes

Theodore A. Postol is professor emeritus of Science, Technology, and International Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is widely known as an expert on nuclear weapons and missile technology.

Educated in physics and nuclear engineering at MIT, he was a researcher at Argonne National Lab, worked at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and was scientific advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations.

After leaving the Pentagon, Postol helped to build a program at Stanford University to train mid-career scientists to study weapons technology in relation to defense and arms control policy.

He has received numerous awards, including the Leo Szilard Prize from the American Physical Society for "incisive technical analysis of national security issues that [have] been vital for informing the public policy debate", the Norbert Wiener Award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for "uncovering numerous and important false claims about missile defenses", and the Richard L. Garwin Award "that recognizes an individual who, through exceptional achievement in science and technology, has made an outstanding contribution toward the benefit of mankind."

Steve and Ted discuss:

0:00 Introduction
2:02 Early life in Brooklyn, education at MIT, work at the Pentagon
20:27 Reagan’s “Star Wars” defense plan
28:26 U.S. influence on Russia and China’s second-strike capabilities
54:41 Missile defense: vs nuclear weapons, scuds, anti-ship missiles (aircraft carriers), hypersonics
1:11:42 Nuclear escalation and the status of mutually assured destruction
1:32:24 Analysis of claims the Syrian government used chemical agents against their own people
1:44:45 Media skepticism
Resources:
Theodore Postol at MIT
https://sts-program.mit.edu/people/emeriti-faculty/theodore-postol/

A Flawed and Dangerous US Missile Defense Plan, G. Lewis and T. Postol, Arms Control Today
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2010-05/flawed-dangerous-us-missile-defense-plan

Review Cites Flaws in US antimissile Program, NY Times May 17 2010
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/world/18missile.html

Improving US Ballistic Missile Defense Policy, G. Lewis and F. von Hippel, Arms Control Today, May 2018

https://sgs.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2019-10/lewis-vonhippel-2018.pdf

“Whose Sarin?” by Seymour Hersh (2013)
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n24/seymour-m.-hersh/whose-sarin

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.

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.

Raghuveer Parthasarathy: The Four Physical Principles — #11 May 05, 2022

Show notes

Raghu Parthasarathy is the Alec and Kay Keith Professor of Physics at the University of Oregon. His research focuses on biophysics, exploring systems in which the complex interactions between individual components, such as biomolecules or cells, can give rise to simple and robust physical patterns. Raghu is the author of a recent popular science book: So Simple a Beginning: How Four Physical Principles Shape Our Living World.

Steve and Raghu discuss:

1:34 - Early life, transition from Physics to Biophysics

20:15 - So Simple a Beginning: discussion of the Four Physical Principles in the title, which govern biological systems

26:06 - DNA prediction

37:46 - Machine learning / causality in science

46:23 - Scaling (the fourth physical principle)

54:12 - Who the book is for and what high schoolers are learning in their bio and physics classes

1:05:41 - Science funding, grants, running a research lab

1:09:12 - Scientific careers and radical sub-optimality of the existing system

Resources:

Book - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691200408/so-simple-a-beginning

Raghuveer Parthasarathy's lab at the University of Oregon - https://pages.uoregon.edu/raghu/

Raghuveer Parthasarathy's blog the Eighteenth Elephant - https://eighteenthelephant.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.

Carl Zha: Xinjiang, Ukraine, and U.S.-China relations — #10 Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

Carl Zha is the host of the Silk and Steel podcast, which focuses on China, history, culture, and politics. He is a former engineer now based in Bali, Indonesia.

Find Carl on Twitter @CarlZha.

Steve and Carl discuss:

1. Carl’s background: Chongqing to Chicago, Caltech to Bali, Life as a digital nomad

2. Xinjiang (35:20)

3. Ukraine (1:03:51)

4. China-Russia relationship (1:16:01)

5. U.S.-China competition (1:49:26)

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.

Scott Aaronson: Quantum Computing, Unsolvable Problems, & Artificial Intelligence — #9 Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

Scott Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. Previously, he taught for nine years in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. His research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers, and computational complexity theory more generally.

Scott also writes the blog Shtetl Optimized: https://scottaaronson.blog/

Steve and Scott discuss:

Scott's childhood and education, first exposure to mathematics and computers.
How he became interested in computational complexity, pursuing it rather than AI/ML.
The development of quantum computation and quantum information theory from the 1980s to the present. Scott's work on quantum supremacy.
AGI, AI Safety

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.

Sebastian Mallaby: Venture capital as an engine of courage — #8 Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

Sebastian Mallaby is a writer and journalist whose work covers financial markets, international relations, innovation, and technology. He is the author of "The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future." Steve and Sebastian discuss venture capital, tech startups, business model and technology innovation, global adoption of the Silicon Valley model, and the future of innovation.

Biography:
https://www.cfr.org/expert/sebastian-mallaby
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Mallaby

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Law-Venture-Capital-Making/dp/052555999X

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.

Vlatko Vedral: Oxford Theoretical Physicist on Quantum Superposition of Living Creatures — #7 Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

Vlatko Vedral is Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford and Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) at the National University of Singapore. He is known for his research on the theory of Entanglement and Quantum Information Theory.

Steve and Vlatko discuss:

History of quantum information theory, entanglement, and quantum computing
Recent lab experiments that create superposition states of macroscopic objects, including a living creature (tardigrade)
Whether quantum mechanics implies the existence of many worlds: are you in a superposition state right now?
Present status and future of quantum computing

Resources

Web page:

https://www.vlatkovedral.com/

Entanglement Between Superconducting Qubits and a Tardigrade

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2112.07978.pdf

Macroscopic Superposition States: entanglement of a macroscopic living organism (tardigrade) with a superconducting qubit

https://infoproc.blogspot.com/2021/12/macroscopic-superposition-states.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 to 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: Affirmative Action, Mismatch Theory, & Academic Freedom — #6 Mar 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 negative consequences resulting from large admissions preferences.

Topics discussed:

1. Early life: educational background and experience with race and

politics in America.

2. Mismatch Theory: basic observation and empirical evidence; Law

schools and Colleges; Duke and UC data; data access issues.

3. CA Prop 209 and Prop 16.

4. SCOTUS and Harvard / UNC admissions case

5. Intellectual climate on campus, freedom of speech

Resources:

Faculty web page, includes links to publications:

https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/richard-h-sander

A Conversation on the Nature, Effects, and Future of Affirmative Action in Higher Education Admissions (with Peter Arcidiacono, Thomas Espenshade, and Stacy Hawkins), University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 683 (2015) https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2625668

Fifteen Questions About Prop. 16 and Prop. 209, University of Chicago Law Review Online (2020)

https://lawreviewblog.uchicago.edu/2020/10/30/aa-sander/

Panel at Stanford Intellectual Diversity Conference, April 8, 2016, Stanford Law School

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RZbz-lHwVM

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.

Shai Carmi: Polygenic risk scores & embryo screening — #5 Feb 24, 2022

Show notes

Shai Carmi is Professor of Statistical and Medical Genetics at Hebrew University (Jerusalem).

Carmi Lab: https://scarmilab.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShaiCarmi

Topics and links:

Shai's educational background. From statistical physics and network theory to genomics.
Shai's paper on embryo selection: Schizophrenia risk. Modeling synthetic sibling genomes. Variance among sibs vs general population. RRR vs ARR, family history and elevated polygenic risk. (Link to paper: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.05.370478v3)
Response to the ESHG opinion piece on embryo selection. https://twitter.com/ShaiCarmi/status/1487694576458481664
Pleiotropy, Health Index scores.
Genetic genealogy and DNA forensics. Solving cold cases, Othram, etc. (Link to paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau4832)
Healthcare in Israel. Application of PRS in adult patients.

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.

Jon Y (Asianometry) on Semiconductor Tech and U.S.-China Competition — #4 Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

Jon Y produces Asianometry, which focuses on Asia technology, finance, and history: Podcast, YouTube channel, and Substack.

Steve and Jon discuss the global semiconductor industry with an emphasis on U.S.-China technology competition.

Topics discussed:

Jon's background and his move to Taipei.
Key components of the semiconductor ecosystem: fabs, lithography, chip design.
US-China tech war
TSMC, ASML, Huawei
Taiwan politics: Green and Blue parties, independence
PRC invasion / blockade of Taiwan?

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 Hanania: Wokeness, Public Choice Theory, & Geostrategy — #3 Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

Richard Hanania is President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI). He is a former Research Fellow at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. His interests include personality differences between conservatives and liberals, morality in international politics, machine learning algorithms for text analysis, and American foreign policy. In addition to his academic work, he has written in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Hanania holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA and a JD from the University of Chicago.

He is the author of the recently published Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy: How Generals, Weapons Manufacturers, and Foreign Governments Shape American Foreign Policy.

Resources

Richard Hanania on Twitter - https://twitter.com/RichardHanania

CSPI - https://cspicenter.org/

Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy
https://www.amazon.com/Public-Choice-Theory-Illusion-Strategy-ebook/dp/B09L9Y2W7S

The Great Awokening | Zach Goldberg & Richard Hanania
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UmdveWMURc&ab_channel=CSPI

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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