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Eric Weinstein is a mathematician with a bold and piercing intelligence, unafraid to explore the biggest questions in the universe and shine a light on the darkest corners of our society. He is the host of The Portal podcast, a part of which, he recently released his 2013 Oxford lecture on his theory of Geometric Unity that is at the center of his lifelong efforts in arriving at a theory of everything that unifies the fundamental laws of physics.

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What are your thoughts about, he's more, you're more on the physics theory side of things.

He's more on the physics engineering side of things in terms of SpaceX efforts.

What do you think of his efforts to get off this planet?

Well, I think he's the other guy who's semi-serious about getting off this planet.

I think there are 2 of us who are semi-serious about getting off the planet.

What do you think about his methodology and yours when you look at them?

Don't, I don't wanna be against you because I was so excited that your top video was Ray Kurzweil and then I did your podcast and we had some chemistry so it zoomed up and I thought okay, I'm gonna beat Ray Kurzweil.

So just as I'm coming up on Ray Kurzweil, you're like, and now Alex Fridman special Elon Musk, and he blew me out of the water.

Imagine that he got us to Mars, the moon, and we'll throw in Titan.

First of all, I don't think Elon is serious about Mars.

I think he's using it as a story to organize us, to reacquaint ourselves with our need for space, our need to get off this planet.

He's shown that, Many people think that he's shown that he's the most brilliant and capable person on the planet.

I think he showed that the rest of us have forgotten our capabilities.

So he's like the only guy who has still kept the faith and is like, what's wrong with you people?

So you think the lesson we should draw from Elon Musk is there's a capable person within a lot of us.

He's doing what any sensible person should do.

He's trying incredible things and he's partially succeeding, partially failing.

To try to solve the obvious problems before.

Duh, you know, but he comes up with things like, you know, I got it, we'll come up with a battery company, but batteries aren't sexy, so we'll make a car around it.

Like, great, You know, or any 1 of a number of things.

Elon is behaving like a sane person, and I view everyone else as insane.

And my feeling is is that we really have to get off this planet.

We have to get out of this, We have to get out of this, we have to get out of the neighborhood.

you think that's a physics problem or an engineering problem?

I think that we're afraid that we had 400 hitters of the mind like Einstein and Dirac and that era is done and now we're just sort of copy editors.

Like if we become brave enough to go outside the solar system, can we afford to financially?

Well I think that that's not really the issue.

And then he plowed it back in and he spun the wheel and he made more money, and now he's got FU money.

Now the problem is is that a lot of the people who have FU money are not people whose middle finger you ever wanna see.

Or like when you say fuck it, I'm gonna do the biggest possible thing.

He's gonna do whatever the fuck he wants.

Fuck you, fuck anything that gets in his way that he can afford to push out of his way.

And you're saying he's not actually even doing that enough.

gonna go, Elon's doing fine with his money.

I just want him to enjoy himself, have the most Dionysian.

But you're saying Mars is playing it safe.

Yeah, I guess, okay, just let me just go right back to you.

How much physics do you really, how much brilliant breakthrough ideas on the physics side do you need to get off this planet?

And I don't know whether, like in my most optimistic dream, I don't know whether my stuff gets us off the planet.

It's hope that there's a more fundamental theory that we can access, that we don't need, whose elegance and beauty will suggest that this is probably the way the universe goes.

Like you have to say this weird thing, which is this I believe.

And this I believe is a very dangerous statement.

But this I believe, I believe that my theory points the way.

Now, Elon might or might not be able to access my theory.

But keep in mind, why are we all so focused on Elon?

the person who's just asking the obvious questions and doing whatever he can.

But we're focusing on Elon because he's somehow is rare.

Like we've come up with a system that eliminates all Elon from our pipeline and Elon somehow snuck through when they weren't quality adjusting everything, you you


Speaker 0: Let me ask a silly question, but.

Speaker 1: We'll say it with a straight face.

Speaker 0: Impossible. So let me mention Elon Musk. What are your thoughts about, he's more, you're more on the physics theory side of things. He's more on the physics engineering side of things in terms of SpaceX efforts. What do you think of his efforts to get off this planet?

Speaker 1: Well, I think he's the other guy who's semi-serious about getting off this planet. I think there are 2 of us who are semi-serious about getting off the planet.

Speaker 0: What do you think about his methodology and yours when you look at them?

Speaker 1: Don't, I don't wanna be against you because I was so excited that your top video was Ray Kurzweil and then I did your podcast and we had some chemistry so it zoomed up and I thought okay, I'm gonna beat Ray Kurzweil. So just as I'm coming up on Ray Kurzweil, you're like, and now Alex Fridman special Elon Musk, and he blew me out of the water. So I don't wanna be petty about it. I wanna say that I don't, but I am. Yeah, okay.

But here's the funny part. He's not taking enough risk. Like he's trying to get us to Mars. Imagine that he got us to Mars, the moon, and we'll throw in Titan. And nowhere good enough.

The diversification level is too low. Now there's a compatibility. First of all, I don't think Elon is serious about Mars. I think Elon is using Mars.

Speaker 0: As a narrative, as a story, as

Speaker 1: a dream. To make the moon jealous.

Speaker 0: To make the, no. No.

Speaker 1: I think he's using it as a story to organize us, to reacquaint ourselves with our need for space, our need to get off this planet. It's a concrete thing. He's shown that, Many people think that he's shown that he's the most brilliant and capable person on the planet. I don't think that's what he showed. I think he showed that the rest of us have forgotten our capabilities.

So he's like the only guy who has still kept the faith and is like, what's wrong with you people?

Speaker 0: So you think the lesson we should draw from Elon Musk is there's a capable person within a lot of us.

Speaker 1: Elon makes sense to me. In what way? He's doing what any sensible person should do. He's trying incredible things and he's partially succeeding, partially failing.

Speaker 0: To try to solve the obvious problems before.

Speaker 1: Duh, you know, but he comes up with things like, you know, I got it, we'll come up with a battery company, but batteries aren't sexy, so we'll make a car around it. Like, great, You know, or any 1 of a number of things. Elon is behaving like a sane person, and I view everyone else as insane. And my feeling is is that we really have to get off this planet. We have to get out of this, We have to get out of this, we have to get out of the neighborhood.

Dilingual a little bit, do

Speaker 0: you think that's a physics problem or an engineering problem?

Speaker 1: I think it's a cowardice problem. I think that we're afraid that we had 400 hitters of the mind like Einstein and Dirac and that era is done and now we're just sort of copy editors.

Speaker 0: So is some of it money? Like if we become brave enough to go outside the solar system, can we afford to financially?

Speaker 1: Well I think that that's not really the issue. The issue is, look what Elon did well. He amassed a lot of money. And then he plowed it back in and he spun the wheel and he made more money, and now he's got FU money. Now the problem is is that a lot of the people who have FU money are not people whose middle finger you ever wanna see.

I wanna see Elon's middle finger. I wanna see what he's gonna do. What do

Speaker 0: you mean by that? Or like when you say fuck it, I'm gonna do the biggest possible thing.

Speaker 1: He's gonna do whatever the fuck he wants. Yeah. Right? Fuck you, fuck anything that gets in his way that he can afford to push out of his way.

Speaker 0: And you're saying he's not actually even doing that enough. No, I'm just. He's not going. Please, I'm

Speaker 1: gonna go, Elon's doing fine with his money. I just want him to enjoy himself, have the most Dionysian.

Speaker 0: But you're saying Mars is playing it safe.

Speaker 1: He doesn't know how to do anything else. He knows rockets. Yeah. And he might know some physics at

Speaker 0: a fundamental level. Yeah, I guess, okay, just let me just go right back to you. How much physics do you really, how much brilliant breakthrough ideas on the physics side do you need to get off this planet?

Speaker 1: I don't know. And I don't know whether, like in my most optimistic dream, I don't know whether my stuff gets us off the planet. But it's hope. It's hope that there's a more fundamental theory that we can access, that we don't need, whose elegance and beauty will suggest that this is probably the way the universe goes. Like you have to say this weird thing, which is this I believe.

And this I believe is a very dangerous statement. But this I believe, I believe that my theory points the way. Now, Elon might or might not be able to access my theory. I don't know what he knows. But keep in mind, why are we all so focused on Elon?

It's really weird. It's kind of creepy too. Why? He's just

Speaker 0: the person who's just asking the obvious questions and doing whatever he can.

Speaker 1: But he makes sense to me. You see, Craig Venter makes sense to me. Jim Watson makes sense to me.

Speaker 0: But we're focusing on Elon because he's somehow is rare.

Speaker 1: Well, that's the weird thing. Like we've come up with a system that eliminates all Elon from our pipeline and Elon somehow snuck through when they weren't quality adjusting everything, you you

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Elon Musk Makes Sense to Me (Eric Weinstein) | AI Podcast Clips