Episode · Lex Fridman Podcast · 2022-10-29
Lex Fridman & Andrej Karpathy: books mentioned on Lex Fridman Podcast #333
#333 – Andrej Karpathy: Tesla AI, Self-Driving, Optimus, Aliens, and AGI
Andrej Karpathy is a legendary AI researcher, engineer, and educator. He’s the former director of AI at Tesla, a founding member of OpenAI, and an educator at Stanford.
Andrej Karpathy recommended The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, and discussed Vital Question by Nick Lane, Life Ascending by Nick Lane and others, and The cell by Geoffrey M. Cooper.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Vital Question
Vital Question by Nick Lane is a landmark biochemistry book exploring the deepest origins of life and how biological energy evolved.
Discussed“I used to think origin of life was very um it was this magical rare event but then you read books like for example McLean um the vital question a life ascending Etc and he really gets in and he really makes you believe that this is not that rare basic chemistry”
Where to get it
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Life Ascending
Life Ascending by Nick Lane is an exploration of the ten greatest evolutionary inventions that shaped the history of life on Earth, ranging from DNA and photosynthesis to complex cells and consciousness.
Discussed“I used to think origin of life was very um it was this magical rare event but then you read books like for example McLean um the vital question a life ascending Etc and he really gets in and he really makes you believe that this is not that rare basic chemistry”
Where to get it
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The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a foundational work of popular science that presents a gene-centric view of evolution, arguing that natural selection operates primarily at the level of genes rather than individuals or species.
Recommended“I was very impacted by the selfish Gene I thought that was a really good book that helped me understand altruism as an example and where it comes from and just realizing that you know the selection is in the level of genes was a huge insight for me at the time and it sort of like cleared up a”
Where to get it
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The cell
The Cell by Geoffrey M.
Discussed“I like textbooks I like the cell I think the cell was pretty cool”
Where to get it
