So I am a college student studying Computer Engineering, and I remember stumbling upon this AI researcher named “Lex Fridman” I think while I was perusing LinkedIn, I may have also watched a snippet of one of the lectures he gave at MIT. Little did I know at the time, that I would spend free time just listening to this guy talk to other successful people for sometimes up to 6 hours per podcast.
Listening to a Lex Fridman podcast is like being in a college class, reading a Greek philosophy book, and watching The Titanic all at once. The podcast topics will range from a thought-provoking discussion on complex subjects like AI protein folding to pondering about the human desire for love. It seems that Lex is very contemplative and enjoys truly digging deep into the interviewee’s subconscious, as opposed to just asking them superficial questions. I personally like to listen to things that inspire me and keep me motivated, so I enjoy listening to the podcast during my school day in between work sessions, such as when I go to get lunch, or when I’m walking between buildings on campus. I’ll just be walking by all these other college students probably listening to music in their earbuds, while I’m absorbing life stories from CEOs, engineers, authors, politicians, you name it.
I am a very future-thinking person, and I have a drive to want to contribute to a better future for humanity, so I am always very interested in listening to the journeys and lessons from these very successful people. To me, it’s literally being able to listen to hours of raw thoughts from individuals who have made true impacts, which is a unique thing to be available for free on Spotify. The motivation I feel while listening to a Lex Fridman podcast keeps me focused on why I’m studying engineering in the first place. Sometimes its hard to surround yourself by people who keep you driven, and when I need some direction and need to recenter, I turn to Lex’s podcast.
Here have been some of the most important and beneficial Lex interviews to me so far:
- John Carmack: The journey through Carmack’s time as a developer on small indie games being sold on disks at stores and as a founder of id Software helping to create the revolutionary Doom and Quake games inspired me that I can make a huge difference if I just think through problems instead of coding like a robot. For example, he applied himself to figure out how to scroll 2D games side-to-side in the early days before there were algorithms to do this in computer graphics.
- Demis Hassabis: This was one of the first of Lex’s podcast I listened to. I learned a ton about the purpose and process behind DeepMind, the AI research company led by Hassabis, including why their work on using AI to simulate protein folding to discover new proteins and make strides in the field of biology. This is also kind of funny to look back on because Hassabis was almost trying to convince us why AI is so important, as this was before the ChatGPT AI explosion. Additionally, Hassabis’ work ethic was inspiring, as he described how he thinks everyone needs true focus time to themself when they know nothing or nobody else will bother them.
- Brian Armstrong: As someone interested in what it’s like to be a CEO and start a company, Armstrong discussed his journey through the early days of Coinbase, and how to focus on building a team of programmers and raise funding. His story was also inspiring because of the sacrifices he made when committing to Coinbase.
- Andrew Huberman: I love that Lex’s podcasts are not all just “techy” topics, he has people such as Huberman, a renowned Stanford neuroscience researcher on the podcast. I got to listen to discussions about understanding one’s subconscious when making decisions and to aid with mental health challenges. They also bonded over raw thoughts on what it’s like to be human and how to get through something tough and confusing by simply laughing at its absurdity, and trying to find what things and lifestyles give you true peace that enable you to sleep at night.
Some other honorable mentions that have also been very interesting have been Walter Isaacson (about Elon Musk biography and being a writer), Aella (Art behind sex research, and her open-mindedness), Sam Altman (ChatGPT, GPT-4, behind the scenes of how it was made), Andrej Karpathy (Engineering behind Tesla autodrive), Ginni Rometty (leading IBM, encouraging women in STEM).
The lessons and stories I’ve heard from these successful individuals truly makes a difference on me each day, and I encourage anyone else with a future-thinking mindset and curiosity to listen to Lex Fridman’s podcast. There is so much content that can inspire any individual in any path, and I’m just so excited everytime I find a new one to listen to, as there are still hundreds that I’m interested in.
