Manifold

Steve Hsu
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Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Join him for wide-ranging conversations with leading writers, scientists, technologists, academics, entrepreneurs, investors, and more.

  1. 17 min ago

    How to Build a Research Institute: Thomas Fink of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences – #119

    Dr. Thomas Fink is an Anglo-American physicist, author, and entrepreneur who serves as the founding Director of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences (LIMS). He studied physics at Caltech, where he won the Fisher Prize, and earned his PhD at Cambridge University. His research focuses on statistical physics, combinatorics, and evolvable systems, using these tools to gain insights into physical and biological systems. In 2011, Dr. Fink founded LIMS, the UK's first independent research centre for theoretical physics and mathematics. Located in the historic Royal Institution in Mayfair, LIMS operates like a university research department but with no teaching or administrative duties, allowing its researchers to focus entirely on full-time, curiosity-driven discovery. London Institute for Mathematical Sciences (LIMS): https://lims.ac.uk/ Dr. Thomas Fink's Profile at LIMS: https://lims.ac.uk/thomas-fink/ Chapter Markers: (00:00) - Thomas Fink: Caltech, Cambridge, CNRS Paris (07:27) - Rethinking Academia (13:05) - Building LIMS (31:18) - Saving Basic Science (33:46) - Endowments Versus Governments (40:28) - AI Reshaping Research Culture (52:17) - Closing Thoughts – 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 X @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.

    How to Build a Research Institute: Thomas Fink of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences – #119

  2. 13 Aug

    Venture Capital and Technology in China with Bohan Lou – #118

    Bohan Lou is a partner at Chemistry Ventures, based in SF.https://x.com/loubohan Bohan's report on the venture ecosystem in China: https://x.com/loubohan/status/2082143914924851449 Chapter Markers: (01:42) - Venture Capital in China; Bohan’s Shanghai Roots (11:15) - Chemistry Fund and China Investing (20:04) - China Trip and Venture Reality Check (32:18) - Pressure Cooker: Founder Exits and Financial Liability (33:50) - Variation in Founder-Friendly investment environment (46:52) - AI Models and Open Source (58:56) - Big Picture and Wrap Up –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 X @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.

    Venture Capital and Technology in China with Bohan Lou – #118

  3. 30 Jul

    Iran, AI, and the Third World War (Crossover with Seeking Truth From Facts Podcast) – #117

    This is a crossover episode with Alf Beckinsale, an Oxford University student who hosts the Seeking Truth From Facts podcast. The main topics are the US-Iran conflict, geopolitics, and US-China AI competition. Chapter Markers: (00:00) - Introduction (02:33) - No Off Ramp in Gulf (04:11) - Missile Stockpile Crisis (06:46) - Oil Shock and Reserves (14:07) - Israel Stays Out (29:34) - China Frontier AI Surge (43:25) - World War and Nukes – 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 X @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.

    Iran, AI, and the Third World War (Crossover with Seeking Truth From Facts Podcast) – #117

  4. 16 Jul

    State of AI, Summer 2026 – #116

    Steve discusses the state of AI in summer 2026. Topics covered include: AI in math and theoretical physics, Recursive Self-Improvement, Agent swarms and tokenomics, IPOs and US-China competition, documentary film Machine God. Machine God trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RSv3wmDIpY Theoretical Physics with Generative AI: https://stevehsu.substack.com/p/theoretical-physics-with-generative Chapter Markers: (00:00) - State of AI, Summer 2026 (02:39) - AI in Math Physics (13:54) - Recursive Self-Improvement (21:08) - DeepSeek Hyperconnections (29:42) - Agent Swarms and Tokenomics (43:26) - Machine God Documentary – 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 X @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.

    State of AI, Summer 2026 – #116

  5. 2 Jul

    Beff Jezos and Effective Accelerationism: Machine God of Loving Grace – #115

    Beff Jezos (Guillaume Verdon) is a Canadian physicist, quantum computing researcher, and tech entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder of the Effective Accelerationism (e/acc) movement. This interview was recorded in collaboration with John Greer and Lei Huang for the documentary film Machine God. John Greer: https://www.johncgreer.com/ Chapter Markers: (00:00) - Meet Beff Jezos (01:56) - Hyperstition vs AI Doom (21:29) - Accelerate or Die (37:51) - Scaling Intelligence Upside (40:26) - Doomers Power Centralization (47:17) - EAC Physics Framework (01:10:10) - Debating Doom Narratives (01:16:13) - Beff Jezos Origin Story (01:28:06) - Pause Debate and Rapid Fire – 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 X @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.

    Beff Jezos and Effective Accelerationism: Machine God of Loving Grace – #115

  6. 18 Jun

    Razib Khan at Manifest 2026: Genetic Discoveries, AI, and Academia – #114

    This episode was recorded live at Manifest 2026. Razib Khan is a prominent writer, population geneticist, and podcaster. He is best known for his extensive deep-dives into human evolutionary history, consumer genomics, culture, and ancient DNA.  https://x.com/razibkhan https://x.com/razibkhan?lang=en Chapter Markers: (00:00) - Razib Khan at Manifest 2026: Genetic Discoveries, AI, and Academia (01:18) - Manifest Q&A Kickoff (02:43) - Yamnaya: Ancient DNA Mysteries (15:01) - Yamnaya: Y Chromosome Conquests (22:10) - Embryo Screening and AI (42:15) - Conformity and Tenure (46:34) - Academia: Reforms (53:55) - Academia: Ideological Capture and Funding (58:19) - Controversies and Closing Q&A – 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 X @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.

    Razib Khan at Manifest 2026: Genetic Discoveries, AI, and Academia – #114

  7. 4 Jun

    Letter from Beijing 2: Tsinghua University – #113

    This special episode was recorded at Tsinghua University in Beijing, generally regarded as the top university in China. Our guests are 3 Americans studying and working at Tsinghua: Gabriel (undergrad), Justin (PhD student in AI), and Alex (Professor in AI research). Topics discussed include: Tsinghua University and elite human capital, AI in China, US-China competition, and the flow of human capital between the US and China Han Feizi, columnist at Asia Times and the guest from the previous "Letter from Beijing" episode, is also in the room. Letter from Beijing with Han Feizi: https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/letter-from-beijing-with-han-feizi-72 Chapter Markers: (00:00) - Welcome to Tsinghua University (02:47) - Gabriel’s Undergrad Journey (12:35) - Justin’s PhD (25:10) - Professor Alex on AI and Rankings (42:51) - Second Chances and Status Signals (46:48) - China’s Exam Ladder Explained (50:20) - Infrastructure and Tech Competition (01:17:18) - Semiconductors, EUV, and Wrap Up – 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 X @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.

    Letter from Beijing 2: Tsinghua University – #113

  8. 21 May

    AI Billionaire on Existential Risk: Jaan Tallinn – #112

    Jaan Tallinn is a tech billionaire and founding engineer of Skype who leverages his wealth to mitigate existential risks from artificial general intelligence (AGI). He co-founded the Future of Life Institute and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, while making early foundational investments in frontier AI labs like DeepMind andAnthropic. Chapter Markers: 00:00 Assessing Current AI Risk Levels03:28 Inside Self-Sustaining AI Scenarios09:10 The Global AI Race Dynamics42:25 Explaining the Techno-Capital Flywheel45:34 Insider Origins of AI Safety56:06 Race Politics and Public Fear01:23:12 Pop Culture, Movies, and Fame01:30:15 Big Questions for Humanity's Future – 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 X @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.

    AI Billionaire on Existential Risk: Jaan Tallinn – #112
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About

Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Join him for wide-ranging conversations with leading writers, scientists, technologists, academics, entrepreneurs, investors, and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Steve Hsu
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    170
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Steve Hsu - All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    Manifold

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