Manifold

Steve Hsu
  • 4.6 (80)
  • NATURAL SCIENCES
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
Manifold Podcast

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. AUG 29

    Letter from Reykjavik: Genomics, Chess, Hyperscaling genAI, and Quantum Black Holes — #67

    This is a short episode recorded at the end of a trip to Caltech (LA), Frankfurt, and Reykjavik. Black hole information and replica wormholes at Caltech (talk slides):https://stevehsu.substack.com/p/black-hole-information-and-replica 00:00 Intro: summer in Iceland 02:04 deCODE genetics  05:52 Chess: Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik 11:56 Hyperscaling genAI 23:11 Synthetic data and Hyperscaling 24:26 Is the Transformer architecture enough for AGI? 29:45 Quantum black holes 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 X @hsu_steve.

    36 min

  2. AUG 15

    Robin Hanson: Prediction Markets, the Future of Civilization, and Polymathy — #66

    Robin Hanson is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He has worked in a variety of fields, including Physics, AI, Economics, and Futurism. Follow him at https://x.com/robinhanson "When the typical economist tells me about his latest research, my standard reaction is 'Eh, maybe.' Then I forget about it. When Robin Hanson tells me about his latest research, my standard reaction is 'No way! Impossible!' Then I think about it for years." -- Prof. Bryan Caplan, GMU 0:00 Introduction 00:34 Welcome and Manifest conference introduction 03:12 Robin Hanson: Education and Early Influences 08:38 Transition from Physics+AI to Social Science and Economics 22:02 Prediction Markets: Potential and Challenges 28:37 Cultural Drift and Challenges to Modern Society 40:49 Fertility and Demography 48:37 Life as a Polymath 59:27 Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation Question 01:09:29 Audience Q&A 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 X @hsu_steve.

    1h 21m

  3. AUG 1

    China Today: Myths and Realities — #65

    Steve discusses China myths and realities with Victor, a tech founder who ran a company in Beijing for 7 years. Among the topics covered: economic growth, real estate bubble, technology innovation, human capital, freedom of expression, Confucianism and Culture. 00:00 Introduction 02:02 Post-COVID economy and bursting of the real estate bubble 08:25 Semiconductor Industry and US-China Tech War 16:57 STEM Education and Workforce: China vs US 20:36 Slides on PRC human capital deepening, STEM and total workforce 39:58 Economic indicators and potential war economy 41:03 Singapore as model for PRC development, leadership exchanges 45:45 Travel plans, changes since pre-COVID era, YouTube travel content 53:00 Freedom of expression 1:02:20 Confucianism, leadership styles 1:17:57 Backyard Addendum: Further thoughts, travel to China 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 X @hsu_steve.

    1h 22m

  4. JUL 18

    Ivy League Anonymous: Great Awokening and Campus Radicals — #64

    Earlier episode, Harvard Veritas: https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/harvard-veritas-interview-with-a-recent-graduate-anonymous-18 Chapter markers: (00:00) - Introduction and Guest Welcome (02:12) - Campus Protests and Media Perception (06:29) - Student Political Views and Academic Freedom (21:44) - Intellectual History of Wokeism (35:46) - STEM vs. Humanities: A Cultural Divide (54:30) - Future of Academia and Closing Thoughts 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.

    1h 12m

  5. JUL 4

    AI Global Odyssey: REAL Situational Awareness — #63

    Steve talks about AI in light of his recent travels to SF, Singapore, Manila, Berkeley, and Silicon Valley. Chapters: (00:00) - Overview: SF, Singapore, Manila, Berkeley (01:48) - The AI Bubble in Silicon Valley (04:00) - Scaling Laws and AGI (23:36) - Global AI: Singapore, Philippines, real Enterprise applications (34:59) - AGI: Manhattan Project? Manifest and P(doomers), Situational Awareness (51:00) - China LLMs, Huawei vs Nvidia GPUs, US vs China AI race Links: Scaling Laws for Neural Language Models: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2001.08361AI rollout in Philippines Call Centers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kps3M1wMHUMLLM rankings and Qwen2: https://huggingface.co/spaces/open-llm-leaderboard/blogThe Economist on China LLMs: https://archive.ph/nW7chSituational Awareness summary: https://x.com/hsu_steve/status/1803414701159714825Music 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.

    59 min

  6. JUN 20

    Philippe Lemoine: Bad Covid Science, Ukraine Analysis, and Philosophy — #62

    Philippe Lemoine is a PhD candidate at Cornell University in philosophy and a widely-read public intellectual. We discuss philosophy, the scientific research used to justify COVID lockdowns, and the Russia-Ukraine war. Philippe’s writing: philippelemoine.comPhilippe on X: https://twitter.com/phl43 (00:00) - Introduction and Guest Background (00:54) - Philippe's Academic Journey (08:29) - Philosophical Insights and Career Shift: Public Intellectual (46:17) - Russian Energy and European Economy (48:27) - Covid Epidemic Modeling: Bad Science (56:22) - Critique of Scientific and Policy Incentives (01:31:54) - The Messy Reality of Ukraine Maidan Uprising (01:32:59) - Could Security Guarantees Have Prevented the Ukraine War? (02:07:21) - Ukraine War: Long-Term Predictions 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 X @hsu_steve.

    2h 17m

  7. JUN 6

    John Seo: Catastrophe Bonds and the Investor Choice Problem — Manifold #61

    Dr John Seo is co-founder and a managing director at Fermat Capital Management, LLC. He has over 30 years’ experience in fixed income bond and derivatives trading and has been active in the Insurance-Linked Securities (“ILS”) market for over 25 years. Prior to forming Fermat with his brother Nelson in 2001, Dr Seo was senior trader in the Insurance Products Group at Lehman Brothers, an officer of Lehman Re, and a state-appointed advisor to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. Dr. Seo’s work in catastrophe funds was featured in a cover article for the New York Times Magazine (‘In Nature’s Casino’ by Michael Lewis, 26 August 2007), and he has also testified before US Congress as an expert on the catastrophe bond market (‘Hearings from the 110th Congress’, 6 September 2007). Dr Seo holds a PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University and a BS in Physics from MIT. He is based in Connecticut. Steve and John discuss: 00:00 Introduction 00:36 Early Career and Influences 02:10 The Investor Choice Problem 07:21 Academic Background and Family Challenges 12:43 First Steps in Finance 30:39 Lehman Brothers 37:29 Introduction to Cat Bonds 44:53 Parallels Between Derivatives and Insurance Markets 01:03:22 Building Fermat Capital 01:09:51 Future of Catastrophe Bonds 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.

    1h 14m

  8. MAY 16

    Molson Hart: China and Amazon, Up Close — #60

    Molson Hart is the CEO of Viahart, an educational toy company. He has deep experience selling products manufactured in China, using Amazon and other platforms. He produced a documentary about the challenges Amazon's market dominance creates for sellers and buyers worldwide. His recent video about a recent trip to visit factories in China went viral, generating millions of views on X. Molson Hart on X: https://x.com/Molson_HartAmazon Documentary: https://youtu.be/8L6MaNVNBuQ?si=YMRb4z5F12CoJJI3Steve and Molson discuss: 1:22 Molson Hart's background, experience in China 5:26 The IQ Question 13:19 Entrepreneurship and China 38:40 Selling on Amazon  48:32 Alternatives and Competitors to Amazon 50:40 The Future of Amazon 55:30 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs 57:27 Understanding China 1:07:43 China's Rising Global Influence 1:16:12 Personal and National Identities 1:18:45 Demographics: China's Future 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 X @hsu_steve.

    1h 26m
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4.6
out of 5
80 Ratings

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 - 2024
  • Episodes
    118
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Steve Hsu - All Rights Reserved
  • Show Website
    Manifold

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