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Michael Stevens is the creator of Vsauce, one of the most popular educational YouTube channel in the world, with over 15 million subscribers and over 1.7 billion views. His videos often ask and answer questions that are both profound and entertaining, spanning topics from physics to psychology. As part of his channel he created 3 seasons of Mind Field, a series that explored human behavior.

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What do you think of the efforts that Elon Musk is doing with space exploration, with electric vehicles, with autopilot sort of getting into the space of autonomous vehicles, with boring under LA, and Neuralink trying to communicate brain-machine interfaces, communicate between machines and human brains.

I mean, look at the fandom that he's amassed.

It's not common for someone like that to have such a following.

Yeah, so it's really exciting, but I also think that a lot of responsibility comes with that kind of power.

So like if I met him, I would love to hear how he feels about the responsibility he has.

When there are people who are such a fan of your ideas and your dreams and share them so closely with you, you have a lot of power.

And he didn't always have that, you know?

Well, he was, but, well, he was named that later.

But the point is that I wanna know the psychology of becoming a figure like him.

Well, I don't even know how to phrase the question right, but it's a question about what do you do when you're following, your fans become so large that it's almost bigger than you.

And maybe it doesn't worry him at all, and that's fine too.

And I think there are a lot of people that go through this when they realize, whoa, there are a lot of eyes on me.

There are a lot of people who really take what I say very earnestly and take it to heart and will defend me.

And, whew, that's, that can be dangerous.

Both in terms of impact on society and psychologically for the individual, just the burden psychologically on Elon?

How does he think about that part of his persona?

let me throw that right back at you because in some ways you're just a funny guy that's gotten a humongous following, a funny guy with a curiosity.

How do you psychologically deal with the responsibility?

In many ways, you have a reach in many ways bigger than Elon Musk.

What is your, What is the burden that you feel in educating, being 1 of the biggest educators in the world, where everybody's listening to you and actually everybody, like the most of the world that uses YouTube for educational material trusts you as a source of good, strong scientific thinking?

It's a burden, and I try to approach it with a lot of humility and sharing.

Like, I'm not out there doing a lot of scientific experiments.

I am sharing the work of real scientists.

And I'm celebrating their work and the way that they think and the power of curiosity.

But I wanna make it clear at all times that like, look, we don't know all the answers and I don't think we're ever going to reach a point where we're like, wow, and there you go, that's the universe.

It's this equation, you plug in some conditions or whatever, and you do the math and you know what's gonna happen tomorrow.

I don't think we're ever gonna reach that point, but I think that there is a tendency to sometimes believe in science and become elitist and become, I don't know, hard, when in reality, it should humble you and make you feel smaller.

I think there's something very beautiful about feeling very, very small and very weak and to feel that you need other people.

So I try to keep that in mind and say, look, thanks for watching.

When I start the episodes, I say, hey, Vsauce, Michael here.

Vsauce and Michael are actually a different thing in my mind.

I don't know if that's always clear, but yeah, I have to approach it that way because it's not about me.

Yeah, so it's not even, you're not feeling the responsibility.

You're just sort of plugging into this big thing that is scientific exploration of our reality.

And you're a voice that represents a bunch, but you're just plugging into this big Vsauce ball that others, millions of others are plugged into.

Yeah, and I'm just hoping to encourage curiosity and, you know, responsible thinking and an embracement of doubt and being okay with that.


Speaker 0: So you're a curious lover of science. What do you think of the efforts that Elon Musk is doing with space exploration, with electric vehicles, with autopilot sort of getting into the space of autonomous vehicles, with boring under LA, and Neuralink trying to communicate brain-machine interfaces, communicate between machines and human brains.

Speaker 1: Well, it's really inspiring. I mean, look at the fandom that he's amassed. It's not common for someone like that to have such a following.

Speaker 0: And so it's- Engineering nerd.

Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's really exciting, but I also think that a lot of responsibility comes with that kind of power. So like if I met him, I would love to hear how he feels about the responsibility he has. When there are people who are such a fan of your ideas and your dreams and share them so closely with you, you have a lot of power. And he didn't always have that, you know? He wasn't born as Elon Musk.

Well, he was, but, well, he was named that later. But the point is that I wanna know the psychology of becoming a figure like him. Well, I don't even know how to phrase the question right, but it's a question about what do you do when you're following, your fans become so large that it's almost bigger than you. And how do you responsibly manage that? And maybe it doesn't worry him at all, and that's fine too.

But I'd be really curious. And I think there are a lot of people that go through this when they realize, whoa, there are a lot of eyes on me. There are a lot of people who really take what I say very earnestly and take it to heart and will defend me. And, whew, that's, that can be dangerous. And you have to be responsible with it.

Speaker 0: Both in terms of impact on society and psychologically for the individual, just the burden psychologically on Elon?

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. How does he think about that part of his persona? Well,

Speaker 0: let me throw that right back at you because in some ways you're just a funny guy that's gotten a humongous following, a funny guy with a curiosity. You've got a huge following. How do you psychologically deal with the responsibility? In many ways, you have a reach in many ways bigger than Elon Musk. What is your, What is the burden that you feel in educating, being 1 of the biggest educators in the world, where everybody's listening to you and actually everybody, like the most of the world that uses YouTube for educational material trusts you as a source of good, strong scientific thinking?

Speaker 1: It's a burden, and I try to approach it with a lot of humility and sharing. Like, I'm not out there doing a lot of scientific experiments. I am sharing the work of real scientists. And I'm celebrating their work and the way that they think and the power of curiosity. But I wanna make it clear at all times that like, look, we don't know all the answers and I don't think we're ever going to reach a point where we're like, wow, and there you go, that's the universe.

It's this equation, you plug in some conditions or whatever, and you do the math and you know what's gonna happen tomorrow. I don't think we're ever gonna reach that point, but I think that there is a tendency to sometimes believe in science and become elitist and become, I don't know, hard, when in reality, it should humble you and make you feel smaller. I think there's something very beautiful about feeling very, very small and very weak and to feel that you need other people. So I try to keep that in mind and say, look, thanks for watching. Vsauce is not, I'm not Vsauce, you are.

When I start the episodes, I say, hey, Vsauce, Michael here. Vsauce and Michael are actually a different thing in my mind. I don't know if that's always clear, but yeah, I have to approach it that way because it's not about me.

Speaker 0: Yeah, so it's not even, you're not feeling the responsibility. You're just sort of plugging into this big thing that is scientific exploration of our reality. And you're a voice that represents a bunch, but you're just plugging into this big Vsauce ball that others, millions of others are plugged into.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm just hoping to encourage curiosity and, you know, responsible thinking and an embracement of doubt and being okay with that.

See all Lex Fridman transcripts on Youtube

Vsauce: Elon Musk and the Responsibility of a Large Following | AI Podcast Clip with Michael Stevens