Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is a summary of the episode:
Michael Nielsen is a scientist who helped pioneer quantum computing and the modern open science movement. He has worked at Y Combinator, co-authored Scientific Progress with Patrick Collison, and is an active writer, reader, analyst, and consultant.
He joined Tyler to discuss why the universe is so beautiful to the human eye (but not to the ear), how to find good collaborators, the influence of Simone Weil, where Olaf Stapledon got the word public wrong, the possible uses of quantum computing, the (emerging) state of -linear algebra, what makes physicists age well, find young mentors, why some scientific fields have pre-print platforms and others don’t, how many crummy journals are heavy, the threat of cheap nukes, many unknowns about Mars colonization, listening techniques, that what you learn when you visit the USS Midway, why he changed his mind about Emergent Ventures, why he didn’t join OpenAI in 2015, what he’s going to study next, and more.
And here is one episode:
COWEN: Now, you wrote that in the first half of your life, you were the youngest person in your circle and that in the second half of your life, probably now, you are the oldest person in your circle. How can you model that as a claim on yourself?
NIELSEN: I hope I’m in the top 5 percent of my life, but sadly it’s not possible.
COWEN: Let’s say you’re 50 now, and you live to be 100, which sounds—
NIELSEN: What is audible.
COWEN: – and now you will be in the second half of your life.
NIELSEN: Yes. I can give shallow reasons. I can’t give good reasons. A good reason for the first part was that, a lot of the work I was doing was kind of new scientific fields, and those tend to be dominated, for reasons that are almost cost – people who don’t have the sunk costs. to be small. They entered these fields. These early days of quantum computing, the early days of open science – were dominated by people in their 20s. Then they would go and become faculty members. They will be the youngest person on the faculty.
Now, maybe it’s because I discovered San Francisco, and it’s an interesting cultural center or civilizational achievement. We have this amplifier for 25 year olds that allows them to make their dreams come true in the world. That, to me, anyway, to someone with my personality, is attractive for many of the same reasons.
COWEN: Let’s say you had an idea of your participants, and besides, yes, they are smart; they work hard; but trying to emphasize as few dimensions as possible, who could be your partner after the obvious consideration? What is your theory of your participants?
NIELSEN:They are all very open to experience. They are all curious. They are all extremely parasocial. They are all extremely ambitious. They are all extreme thinkers.
All praise.
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