This is a clip from a conversation with Leonard Susskind from Sep 2019. New full episodes every Mon & Thu and 1-2 new clips or a new non-podcast video on all other days. You can watch the full conversation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s78hvV3QLUE
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Leonard Susskind is a professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory and in general as one of the greatest physicists of our time both as a researcher and an educator.

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♪♪ Jumping back to Feynman just for a second, he had a little bit of an ego.

Do you think ego is powerful or dangerous in science?

I think you have to have both arrogance and humility.

You have to have the arrogance to say, I can do this.

On the other hand, I think you also have to have the humility to know that you're very likely to be wrong on any given occasion.

Everything you're thinking could suddenly change.

Young people can come along and say things you won't understand and you'll be lost and flabbergasted.

You better recognize that you're very limited and you better be able to say to yourself, I'm not so limited that I can't win this battle with nature.

It takes a special kind of person who can manage both of those, I would say.

And I would say there's echoes of that in your own work.

A little bit of ego, a little bit of outside of the box, humble thinking.

So was there a time where you felt, you looked at yourself and asked, am I completely wrong about this?

Oh yeah, about the whole thing or about specific things?

Me and me and my ability to do this thing.

Well, first of all, did you have those kinds of doubts?

I came from a very working class background and I was uncomfortable in academia for a long time.

But there weren't doubts about my ability.

They were just the discomfort in being in an environment that my family hadn't participated in.

I didn't learn that there was such a thing called physics until I was almost 20 years old.

So I did have certain kind of doubts, but not about my ability.

I don't think I was too worried about whether I would succeed or not.

I never felt this insecurity, am I ever going to get a job?

That had never occurred to me that I wouldn't.


Speaker 0: ♪♪ Jumping back to Feynman just for a second, he had a little bit of an ego. Yes. Do you think ego is powerful or dangerous in science?

Speaker 1: I think both, both, both. I think you have to have both arrogance and humility. You have to have the arrogance to say, I can do this. Nature is difficult. Nature is very, very hard.

I'm smart enough. I can do it. I can win the battle with nature. On the other hand, I think you also have to have the humility to know that you're very likely to be wrong on any given occasion. Everything you're thinking could suddenly change.

Young people can come along and say things you won't understand and you'll be lost and flabbergasted. So I think it's a combination of both. You better recognize that you're very limited and you better be able to say to yourself, I'm not so limited that I can't win this battle with nature. It takes a special kind of person who can manage both of those, I would say.

Speaker 0: And I would say there's echoes of that in your own work. A little bit of ego, a little bit of outside of the box, humble thinking. I hope so. So was there a time where you felt, you looked at yourself and asked, am I completely wrong about this?

Speaker 1: Oh yeah, about the whole thing or about specific things?

Speaker 0: The whole thing. Wait, which whole thing?

Speaker 1: Me and me and my ability to do this thing.

Speaker 0: Oh, those kinds of doubts. Well, first of all, did you have those kinds of doubts?

Speaker 1: No, I had different kind of doubts. I came from a very working class background and I was uncomfortable in academia for a long time. But there weren't doubts about my ability. They were just the discomfort in being in an environment that my family hadn't participated in. I knew nothing about as a young person.

I didn't learn that there was such a thing called physics until I was almost 20 years old. So I did have certain kind of doubts, but not about my ability. I don't think I was too worried about whether I would succeed or not. I never felt this insecurity, am I ever going to get a job? That had never occurred to me that I wouldn't.

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Leonard Susskind: Is Ego Powerful or Dangerous in Science? | AI Podcast Clips