#376 – Stephen Wolfram: ChatGPT and the Nature of Truth, Reality & Computation

Lex Fridman Podcast

Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, mathematician, theoretical physicist, and the founder of Wolfram Research, a company behind Wolfram|Alpha, Wolfram Language, and the Wolfram Physics and Metamathematics projects. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Stephen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram
Stephen’s Blog: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com
Wolfram|Alpha: https://www.wolframalpha.com
A New Kind of Science (book): https://amzn.to/30XoEun
Fundamental Theory of Physics (book): https://amzn.to/30XbAoT
Blog posts:
A 50-Year Quest: https://bit.ly/3NQbZ2P
What Is ChatGPT doing: https://bit.ly/3VOwtuz

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
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YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips

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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(06:45) – WolframAlpha and ChatGPT
(26:26) – Computation and nature of reality
(53:18) – How ChatGPT works
(1:53:01) – Human and animal cognition
(2:06:20) – Dangers of AI
(2:14:39) – Nature of truth
(2:36:01) – Future of education
(3:12:03) – Consciousness
(3:21:02) – Second Law of Thermodynamics
(3:44:36) – Entropy
(3:57:36) – Observers in physics
(4:14:27) – Mortality