I really enjoyed this conversation with Noam. Here's the outline: 0:00 - Introduction 3:59 - Common language with an alien species 5:46 - Structure of language 7:18 - Roots of language in our brain 8:51 - Language and thought 9:44 - The limit of human cognition 16:48 - Neuralink 19:32 - Deepest property of language 22:13 - Limits of deep learning 28:01 - Good and evil 29:52 - Memorable experiences 33:29 - Mortality 34:23 - Meaning of life
On that note... Lex, I have always wondered how you get your guests? Do some of them come to you or do you ask all of them? (Seems like maybe Elon came knocking for the last interview. ;) And are you now known, as you should be, to be someone higher up in these kind of conversations? No matter, you do have some of the best guests and well thought out questions.
@@Bisquick there's an image of them right above these comments. I think the audio is excellent. meanwhile, Lex sounds like the voice in Pursuit of Wonder videos, is that right? does anyone know?
Chomsky's differentiation (before and after 23:07) between real science and observing patterns in large data sets is the most interesting part of this discussion. His approach to scientific inquiry emphasizes a much wider gamut of human intellect, as evidenced by his remarks on structure dependence in language, a very subtle, deceptively simple observation, with wide reaching consequences as he says.
@@DragonofStorm If, for example, we ask whether collecting evidence from extremely large sets of randomized data has any hope of teaching us something scientifically meaningful, Chomsky seems to think the answer is no. He gives the example of a chemist mixing a bunch of chemicals together. Real science happens when the experiment is constructed in some critical way. It doesn't collect random data, it collects data that arise out of a set of constraints, and then interprets that data. Human ingenuity and creativity enter into the picture when it comes to constructing the experiment, the set of constraints. This requires being curious and puzzled about some problem that you observe in the world. For example, Chomsky's observation that in everyday sentences, human beings seem to be picking out the more linearly remote thing, therefore carrying out the more computationally complex procedure (in our minds when we "compute" and interpret the sentence's meaning), while ignoring everything that we hear. This happens in all human languages, as he says. A true scientific discovery like that doesn't require huge data sets, just the willingness to be puzzled about some aspect of the world that everyone else sees as obvious. Hope I didn't mangle Chomsky's ideas there. If you are new to Chomsky, I truly envy you. He is a fascinating thinker who is widely credited with revolutionizing the field of linguistics. There are a lot of great RUclips videos where he discusses his ideas in greater detail.
S R . Are you familiar with Karen Jones' work on trust? if not I think you would enjoy it. In some of her later work she expands on the Chomsky esque view of 'individual brilliance and actual work' and shows that it is "trust" in the innate creativity of an individual which allows for this 'actual work' to be done.
Lex you asked chomsky some very interesting questions. You got more out of him in 30 mins than most of his other interviews. Please please, do a chomsky 2. It was a really great interview.
Lex, for a guy who could easily get by better than most of us on his smarts alone, your depth of humble sincerity is movingly charming. Your embarrassed disclosure about the missing video track in the context of Chomsky's personal significance to you made my eyes water -- which, in turn, only increased my respect for your 'humanity forward' transparent style. Bravo.
Don't beat yourself up , Lex. I enjoy your program for the thought provoking conversation and appreciate the amount of effort to provide video along with it.
@@quasa0 Hi, I have to use the word 'honestly' here to tell you that honestly don't remember lol. All I remember is the debate about if humans come hardwired to use language and hence the way all people learn a language the same way. For example, the fact that 'mama, papa' happens in many languages because our phonetic aparatus makes us naturally utter pa and ma as the first sounds. Or the fact that "no" is the same in many languages, etc. I had the opportunity to talk with him for about 10 minutes at the lobby of Hotel Palco in Havana, I remember his wife was there too. Sadly, I don't remember what I talked with him. I must have been in awe of the guy.
I've been working in AI (mostly applied for business problems although some basic research) since the 80's. The point that Chomsky makes around minute 25 on the difference between how you solve a problem from an engineering perspective and how you develop a scientific theory about how humans solve the problem is something that AI researchers have long been aware of. A common saying in AI is: "planes don't fly by flapping their wings". I.e., there is probably some overlap between how you solve a problem with a computer and how a human solves it just as there are principles of aerodynamics that apply to birds and airplanes. But we shouldn't expect that designing software that can efficiently process natural language is the same as having a theory for how humans process language.
@@Her_Viscera The ironic thing is that after Turing and Von Neumann, the person most responsible for the basic mathematical theory that all software uses is Chomsky. His language hierarchy is critical to understanding things like designing compilers, automated reasoners, and formal languages. I think his thoughts on AI are a bit more nuanced though. He has nothing against AI as an engineering discipline which is how it is mostly used, even in research, by most people these days. He also has acknowledged that the computer is clearly an important tool to understand the mind. It is only the inflated claims of people like Roger Schank and Marvin Minsky that AI systems were models of the mind that he was against. As well as current proponents of machine/deep learning who claim that an artificial neural net that processes language is equivalent to a scientific theory of language
Lex please do another one with Noam, we need to get as much out of his brain as possible before this great mind passes away. I am especially curious about the personal questions you ask these people, about happiness & meaning of life. Having lived 90 years, he could probably write a book about it
The brilliant paleontologist Dr.Bob Bakker lives here in Boulder and I often talk to him when I see him. One day a couple of years ago, I told him I'd come across a quote of Alfred Russell Wallace's that I found interesting. He looked interested and said, " which one" ? I answered, the one where he says in reference to the human brain: " an instrument has been prepared in advance of the needs of its possessor ". Bakker stopped, turned to me and said " and it haunted him for the rest of his life". It was as though I'd struck an important nerve. It was cool. Thought I'd share this. - thanks for that interview. Your podcast means a lot to me.
Thanks Lex Fridman and Prof Chomsky. Great to see an interview about the core work of Prof Noam Chomsky and its implications for Artificial Intelligence. Congratulations Lex!
I've met Noam Chmsky in the past, we had 30 minutes conversation and it was one of the best conversations I've ever had. As an intellectual myself I was astonoshed by his clear and sharp wit in such solid age. What a brilliant mind and person.
@@OngoGablogian185 English is not the only language in the world, if you didn't know. I know 7 languages, 6 including english were learned completely by myself. What about you, fool, which sucks his own comments with likes? You are pathetic envious person.
A great listen! I’ve lost count of how many Chomsky interviews I’ve listened to. This one is up there with some of my favorites!!! Thank you Alex! 🙏🏾 And of course THANK YOU NOAM CHOMSKY!!!🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
I wish more men had your curious yet intellectually humble and unassuming nature. So many people avoid things they don't understand so that they can be the king of their small space.
Your deep honesty and vulnerability when announcing your mistake as well as your complete open hearted ness about Noam made me cry. I just found you a few days ago and am so grateful that this kind of discourse exists, and that you exist. Thank you.
Lex. Your progress and upward evolution as an interviewer is unmistakable. You get better and better with each podcast. The interviews you submit are a testament to your unflinching open mindedness, your authenticity and your willingness to leave no stone unturned. And you do it all with a searching humility that should remind everyone of us that there is still a truth out there worth fighting for. Thank you. The world is a better place because of the work you are doing.
Listening to professor Chomsky talk with you is the highlight of my week! Thank you doctor Fridman! Defining intelligence as adaptability and exploitation does not limit the ways of thinking to our brain. Machines can think differently, but one of the few tools we have for developing them is to see how well they perform. All we are bound to do for now, is to come up with ideas and playgrounds to compare their performance. The ideas that persist through time, similar to the process of life, will be the alternative ways of thinking. This is part of what professor Chomsky calls Engineering in Deep Learning. A lot of what we know now was considered "Art" at its infancy, "Engineering" when it became transferable and widely-adopted, and then "Science" when it was reverse-engineered, and given philosophical and mathematical basis. Intelligence is by far the hardest thing to engineer, but this is our hope as AI scientists.
Yes. The “other” side of the same coin: science-engineering. Chomsky is for science then engineering; but Geoffrey Hinton is for engineering-then-science. We need both.
I love you Lex. I'm so glad I found your podcast, that someone can be an intellectual, successful and humble. And yet still be a beam of light in what seems like a terrible existence. I appreciate what you do with your work and this podcast. Forever learning, dreaming and achieving. Thank you
I'm at 16:19 and I'm so impressed by how neutral, unbiased and detached his scientific reasoning is from politics. I've heard enough Friedman"s guests that I can smell right-ism from 2 miles away on a discussion about integers, but if I wouldn't know about Chomsky's life of advocacy it would be impossible for me to figure out this guy's political views.
Thank you Lex, for the extraordinary job you do to present every subject you chose to talk about . The ability to present facts without the censorship of the big corporations, you give us the chance to interpret to the ability of our understanding. Noam Chomsky is my inspiration and I am deeply grateful for the knowledge he shares and make one see events and life of a different perspective. At the same time gives me some sadness because I feel no matter what I do I can’t change the world or the destruction. Thank you again
I haven't even listened to it yet, but what a joy to wake up this morning over here in Germany to see that you interviewed Prof. Chomsky, thank you Lex.
Although I'm fairly new to Mr. Fridman i like his thinking and enjoy the interviews more than i had expected. Thank you Lex for your honesty and authenticity. * Mr. Chomsky is an absolute treasure. The audio is all that's needed.
Thank you Lex for all of your time and effort pursuing these excellent conversations. We may never know the influence that you create by connecting us all to these profound thinkers. May all of your efforts be repaid 1000 fold.
Your podcast and others have unlocked a spark in my mind over the last couple of months. Ive almost developed an addiction for this academic stimulation and I believe it is because I had an attention deficit disorder through school and now I’ve flooded my brain with information that I find actually have interest in and can retain my attention. I’m also finding it hard to be comfortable recently as new ideas about life, our meaning, religion, etc. I don’t feel the same around my family or my friends. I’m just uncomfortable. I can’t explain it.
Your humble approach never ceases to astound me. The reason you are able to interview these amazing people is you are one of them. Your open mind and ever searching approach means that you will continue to learn which is what puts you amongst those people. Well done!!
25:30 The more telling question is "how well does it do on something that violates all the rules of language." 😊Brilliant. Great interview, Lex. Worth listening to it it several times even without the video. 😊
Lex remember that Jocko Willink would say that it’s ‘GOOD.’ that the video cut out, now Chomsky’s facial expression will only ever exist in one special place: in the memory of a future legend of technology and conversation.
“The instinct to be free of domination by illegitimate authority is at the core of our nature”. Very interesting to be reminded of the historic context of seemingly modern dilemmas.
Chomsky's voice is expressive to the point that a lack of video in no way diminishes what he says. So, Lex, bitchslap yourself for the screwup, as that's what makes us learn, but rest assured that, with an icon like Noam, nothing was really lost. But kneel before the universal gods, and be grateful you had this opportunity.
this is an interview podcast that gives practical utility to some fragments of the wealth of knowledge that Professor Chomsky has amassed access to and gained understanding of...I am humbled, intrigued and inspired. Thank you for adding value to my life (and to the world) in this manner.
I can’t give you enough likes for this interview. Noam Chomsky is one of the most brilliant and inspiring persons I’ve ever come across. Thank you for the great questions you asked, too!
Karmic/Social/Actual points for taking the time to express empathy and gratitude, Gav. I hope, but do not believe, we/you would do this in a closed system....but that was a selfish aside to a selfish inside that differentiates and signifies nothing
'we use language to reason out reality, structure of our brain determines/limits our perception of our reality, the structure of our language does navigate our attention to what is being said (example: we prioritize the more complex computation to the simpler), you provide meaning to your life via your actions' My takeaway hence is: Be mindful towards the language that you use (in and out) as it shapes your reality. (unfortunately I am just stating what I have been already working on for almost a deacade)
Chomsky's distinction between engineering/science in this interview is as crucial as it is too often overlooked in machine learning and datascience circles.
But - a big but, I believe Chomsky also misleads people, at least myself as one, to underestimate LLM, and, deep learning in general. “Pre-training” is equivalent to pre-human and early human evolution. If, a big if - I really want to hear Chomsky’s comments on this crude idea of mine (that is the reason I put it here, hoping the host or even better can happen to see it) - that is the case, then, Chomsky and Geoffrey Hinton can have a “United theory”.
I really wished that there would've been a video of you two guys. Loved the conversation, in this podcast, the voice is like a old mountain talking. Chilling❄❄❄
You know, Chomsky has said that he avoids injecting any kind of animation in his demeanor solely because he believes that the only important aspect of his wisdom is the content of his ideas, not the way he presents them. By some cosmic coincidence, it's amusing that the lack of video for this podcast fits in perfectly well with this belief of his.
Absolutely great interview! The meaning of life is to maximize the significance of your life within and without limitations you encounter. It is a challenge to express yourself creatively. There was a song in the late 1960s or early 1970s called "Express yourself", one line in that song was silly but yet meaningful: "It's not what you look like when you're doin what you're doin; It's what your doin when your doin what you look like you're doin!" So, therefor your failure to capture the video is meaningless because the verbal weight of the interview was where the gravity of the exercise existed.
The introduction to this video was so humble, vulnerable, and humanizing. I respect Lex a lot more after seeing that. Sorry for your loss, Lex. Great interview nonetheless! A serious question for Noam: will you be my grandpa? (that would be so cool)
Lex, I loved the questions you asked. I wanted to know Chomsky's answer on many of the questions you asked for e long time. I appreciate that your interview. You did not asked questions that we would all had known the answer in advance. Great job, and always a pleasure to listen to Chomsky.
Love the fact that you've added full captions and also divided up the timeline. This way people can watch on 2x speed and also skip parts of the video if it's not for them. This makes it that people can watch more videos in total.
Lex Friedman, We all need self exploration... Who am I.... I am not the body.... Not the thoughts... The mind.... I am the soul..... The primordial energy... Behind all manifestations It is omnipresent, omnipotent.. It has no topological barriers... No boundaries.... Best of Luck in self exploration...
I remember well before gaining the capacity for language. Reason and thoughts, very analytical, including problem solving were all extremely prevalent before I learned vocabulary, before my inner thoughts were expressed through language. I would explain it as saying that without developing language you still have the same thoughts, but they come in concepts, and often you will form mental images, which you may then correlate to these thought and emotionally provoked concepts. In fact, I would go so far as to say that lack of language highly increases intuitiveness and awareness. It has been my personal experience that human language implements self restriction, social limitations, and causes divisions. While Mr. Chomsky does an outstanding job of linguistically articulating our reality, it seems to me the problem is that so many are limiting their understanding of the world based on language exposure, and have collectively abandoned the use of higher level consciousness where information is exchanged through energy.
What is consciousness? It seems humans have it... Do plants? Not everyone agrees. Can an inanimate object have consciousness? Is everything a collective consciousness? Is it all a simulation? Does it even matter when the universe continues to move without us?
Wild. Lex interviews with Lex to the audience. He let us know Noam Chomsky is the guy he always wanted to meet and get to share with us. How does this have a lonely 790 comments. Lex told us this podcast is a side journey. It's an adventure for all of us.
If there is no god, you can only pretend you have your own purpose. I don't believe anybody can give himself a real purpose, just like an ant or a dog can't make their own purpose. It's all just playing pretend.
@@waswaswad : well, there are purposes and purposes. If the purpose you mean is meaningful and non-trivial (not, for example making it your life's work to amass a pile of dead ants) it is reasonable to argue that this purpose has been provided you from an external source. The mistake is to assume it must have come via a supernatural being. There is far better evidence that evolution, the mechanism by which our species lives and potentially thrives and improves in the environment it finds itself in, is a better explanation.
Noam just gave a useful answer to the ever rising question of “what is the meaning of our existence” thank you for this podcast, wish it was muuuuch longer tho. ❤️
Lex you are not a silly looking russian. You are a wonderful human being, I love your podcast. The best guests and wonderfully thoughtful and humble questioning, keep on doing what your doing pal. I am better for having found your conversations, peace to you brother.
regarding neurallink and qualitative differences in cognition, "quantity has a quality all its own". By increasing the bandwidth of human machine interface, unforeseen doors will open. Drinking, swimming, drowning, and flooding all use the same water.
Noam Chomsky is the greatest we have. While I will surely never possess his ability to process and retain massive amounts of complex information, or his analytical prowess, I humbly ask/wonder : if there are ways in which his assertions on human language are somewhat anthropmorphic? My question for Noam , would be to ask him for his differentiation between how it is fundamentally different than that of other animals language, forms of communication, thought and expression. By the way , Lex: this is not diminished by the fact that it is a purely audio file. The photo is beautiful. He does nuance his assessment of starting at 9:00
It’s crazy how Chomsky is one of the greatest linguistists of the century who often presents the biological organism vs the angelic being dichotomy but has never heard of the angelic Enochian language, Dr John Dee, or the angelic conversations and their impact in the modern world. I know cause I emailed him and asked! God damn the information wars!!
Hellow I am a new listener I just found your videos. I really liked the last question and the way he answered the meaning of our lives or purpose are exactly what we make of them, so simple and so profound. Thank you for all this amazing rain of knowledge you and your gracious guest's share to the world.
Wow That's what I said just as I saw this in my feed Most genuine wow it surely was Lex you have reached the peak already Elon was the coolest guest imaginable But this is the biggest guest any body can have in our times Dominant pundits and hosts are afraid of hosting this most honest of giants But my man Lex isn't 👏👏👏
Please, please, please Lex Fridman make a sequel, or a round 2. Would be amazing to see you two talk again. I would love to hear more about his anarkist ideas, decentralisation, moral, etc - what differs from Michael Malice? if any.
Remember the days when RUclips had only one ad? (actually, there were 0 ads originally if you really want to get into it). It went from ONE 3 second ad in the beginning, to then 5 seconds, to 30. Now two minutes....At the start of the video, the middle and the end. I hope people are starting to GET IT?
That was great. Noam Chomsky is still way ahead of almost all of us. May he live forever. Listening to this I got distracted by liking the example about linear order in language, that with with the car mechanic, and played with it: Start with the most nonsensical sentence and use Google translate to convert it to your mother language, and then iterate translation back and forth between the two languages. Soon it will reach a "stable cycle": English: Carefully the guy who fixed the car is tall German: Vorsichtig ist der Typ, der das Auto repariert hat, groß. English: Careful, the guy who fixed the car is tall. German: Vorsicht, der Typ, der das Auto repariert hat, ist groß. English: Beware, the guy who fixed the car is great. German: Vorsicht, der Typ, der das Auto repariert hat, ist großartig. English: Beware, the guy who fixed the car is great. After that it found a stable cycle with the last two versions. Now let's try Japanese: Carefully the guy who fixed the car is tall. 慎重に車を修理した人は背が高い。 Those who have carefully repaired their cars are tall. 車を丁寧に修理した人は背が高い。 The person who carefully repaired the car is tall. 車を丁寧に修理した人は背が高い。 The person who carefully repaired the car is tall. (Japanese "fixed it"). Vocab: 車: kuruma : car 背が高い : sega takai: tall (back high) 慎重に: shinshou ni: carefully 修理した人: shouri shita hito : person who repaired (repair did person) Let's try French next: Carefully the guy who fixed the car is tall. Soigneusement, le gars qui a réparé la voiture est grand. Carefully, the guy who fixed the car is great. Soigneusement, le gars qui a réparé la voiture est génial. Carefully, the guy who fixed the car is awesome. Obviously all these translations make "sense". Not necessarily in a way that it is intended, but what could likely be intended. BTW. It's even more fun to use more than just two languages together, for instance in a cycle. It "converges" almost as fast. Of course, now that I'm hooked, I'll try that with an entire nonsense story. My hypothesis is that after a few cycles the nonsense will become meaningful in some way :-)
I really enjoyed this conversation with Noam. Here's the outline:
0:00 - Introduction
3:59 - Common language with an alien species
5:46 - Structure of language
7:18 - Roots of language in our brain
8:51 - Language and thought
9:44 - The limit of human cognition
16:48 - Neuralink
19:32 - Deepest property of language
22:13 - Limits of deep learning
28:01 - Good and evil
29:52 - Memorable experiences
33:29 - Mortality
34:23 - Meaning of life
Thanks a lot Mr. Fridman for the Thanksgiving gift \m/
Sir, Can you write a book on your own journey through AI and how should a student approach to this changing world ??
We create the world with language.
The honesty in the intro was genuinely touching. Keep up the good work Lex!
Another great interview Lex - Joe Rogan has nothing on you! ;-) Keep doing this awesome work please.
Lex has the best podcast guests hands down.
Goutham yup
Check out Sean Carroll's Mindscape podcast!
Keep it up Lex!
On that note... Lex, I have always wondered how you get your guests? Do some of them come to you or do you ask all of them? (Seems like maybe Elon came knocking for the last interview. ;) And are you now known, as you should be, to be someone higher up in these kind of conversations? No matter, you do have some of the best guests and well thought out questions.
@@garn5341 excuse me gentlemen,that was an insiping podcast ... I hope to be part of more ...:-)
When it's all said and done, interviewing Noam will be one of the achievements you're most proud of.
It’s poetic, like Lex Fridman said, that the podcast with one of the most influential people in language has only audio, no video
I don't know, I heard a single image can be exchanged for 1000 words, so that's at least like...1000 more words we're missing out on.
both of you suck
It sounds like a great compilation...not
@@Bisquick there's an image of them right above these comments. I think the audio is excellent.
meanwhile, Lex sounds like the voice in Pursuit of Wonder videos, is that right? does anyone know?
god pursuit of wonder is a bit higher pitched
Chomsky's differentiation (before and after 23:07) between real science and observing patterns in large data sets is the most interesting part of this discussion. His approach to scientific inquiry emphasizes a much wider gamut of human intellect, as evidenced by his remarks on structure dependence in language, a very subtle, deceptively simple observation, with wide reaching consequences as he says.
This is the foundation of everything
Can you please explain more detailed what you mean?
It's really the difference between fundamental science and engineering. Prediction vs understanding.
@@DragonofStorm If, for example, we ask whether collecting evidence from extremely large sets of randomized data has any hope of teaching us something scientifically meaningful, Chomsky seems to think the answer is no. He gives the example of a chemist mixing a bunch of chemicals together. Real science happens when the experiment is constructed in some critical way. It doesn't collect random data, it collects data that arise out of a set of constraints, and then interprets that data. Human ingenuity and creativity enter into the picture when it comes to constructing the experiment, the set of constraints. This requires being curious and puzzled about some problem that you observe in the world. For example, Chomsky's observation that in everyday sentences, human beings seem to be picking out the more linearly remote thing, therefore carrying out the more computationally complex procedure (in our minds when we "compute" and interpret the sentence's meaning), while ignoring everything that we hear. This happens in all human languages, as he says. A true scientific discovery like that doesn't require huge data sets, just the willingness to be puzzled about some aspect of the world that everyone else sees as obvious. Hope I didn't mangle Chomsky's ideas there.
If you are new to Chomsky, I truly envy you. He is a fascinating thinker who is widely credited with revolutionizing the field of linguistics. There are a lot of great RUclips videos where he discusses his ideas in greater detail.
S R . Are you familiar with Karen Jones' work on trust? if not I think you would enjoy it. In some of her later work she expands on the Chomsky esque view of 'individual brilliance and actual work' and shows that it is "trust" in the innate creativity of an individual which allows for this 'actual work' to be done.
Lex you asked chomsky some very interesting questions. You got more out of him in 30 mins than most of his other interviews. Please please, do a chomsky 2. It was a really great interview.
Came back to say this. We need another interview with Chomsky!!!!
Just replying to make it visible. We need Chomsky 2
Chomsky 2, wahoo
Great man, but he put he's support behind Biden and deep state - so I will never forgive him for that!
@@genevievexx guess what bud
When Chomsky calls your question interesting 🥰
@Alex H this is the dumbest fucking thing I have ever read, ever
@@jessew7565 don't feed the troll lol
@@emmanueloluga9770 Yes I agree. This community shouldn't feed the trolls.
Chomsky klo wn oh!. Cualquier cosa que le preguntes sabe. Al tanto del estado del arte de todo. Y uno con suerte aquí traduciendo.
@Alex H Chomsky eats Trolls like you for breakfast
I mean, a still image of Chomsky is not very different from a live video of Chomsky.
The picture moves more
Hahahahaha
Bahahahaha
I looove Nome.Chomp.., HaHaHa ~ so Right-on
Noam..
Lex we feel the heart, soul, and pure effort you put in. This podcast is legendary
Im completely astonished of how fast Chomsky answer the questions without ever take a nano second to think. At his age. He is truly amazing.
Hi Lex. You've managed to capture refreshing new perspectives from Noam Chomsky on topics I'd never seen him cover. Great public service.
Well said ✨ very impressed bt lex’s questions and i got the sense the Chomsky was too.. Really hope we get lucky and they decide to do a round 2
Lex talks to him about his actual expertise, linguistics
It’s been a while to have such good sound quality with a Chomsky interview. I’m almost in tears.
It's almost criminal that he hasn't been on Rogan's podcast while he is still on earth.
Brilliant interviewer, and super guests. Man, you have it all in one basket. Thank you.
Chess hhdknck honcho
Lex, for a guy who could easily get by better than most of us on his smarts alone, your depth of humble sincerity is movingly charming. Your embarrassed disclosure about the missing video track in the context of Chomsky's personal significance to you made my eyes water -- which, in turn, only increased my respect for your 'humanity forward' transparent style. Bravo.
Bravo, indeed!!!
"That's something we answer by our own activities"... the significance of our existence that is. Deep. Great listen 👌👌
Don't beat yourself up , Lex. I enjoy your program for the thought provoking conversation and appreciate the amount of effort to provide video along with it.
❤️
It is a little cringy
Studied from his linguistic books and interpreted for him like 20 years ago in Cuba. One of my professional life's highlights.
Hey! What kind of things did you learn from the books? Never heard of them
@@quasa0 Hi, I have to use the word 'honestly' here to tell you that honestly don't remember lol. All I remember is the debate about if humans come hardwired to use language and hence the way all people learn a language the same way. For example, the fact that 'mama, papa' happens in many languages because our phonetic aparatus makes us naturally utter pa and ma as the first sounds. Or the fact that "no" is the same in many languages, etc. I had the opportunity to talk with him for about 10 minutes at the lobby of Hotel Palco in Havana, I remember his wife was there too. Sadly, I don't remember what I talked with him. I must have been in awe of the guy.
The still images made the podcast very podcastlike. good job, much easier to pay attention to, for me.
Same, totally a legitimate podcast.
Oh, I just thought he wasnt moving around that much cus hes so old.
@@Scorch428 good one 👌
Just don't look at the screen if it makes it that hard for you to concentrate
I've been working in AI (mostly applied for business problems although some basic research) since the 80's. The point that Chomsky makes around minute 25 on the difference between how you solve a problem from an engineering perspective and how you develop a scientific theory about how humans solve the problem is something that AI researchers have long been aware of. A common saying in AI is: "planes don't fly by flapping their wings". I.e., there is probably some overlap between how you solve a problem with a computer and how a human solves it just as there are principles of aerodynamics that apply to birds and airplanes. But we shouldn't expect that designing software that can efficiently process natural language is the same as having a theory for how humans process language.
Extremely insightful! Thank you for taking the time to write this.
Yeah Chomsky no likey AI, reading Daniel Dennetts "Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life" made that crystal clear
@@Her_Viscera The ironic thing is that after Turing and Von Neumann, the person most responsible for the basic mathematical theory that all software uses is Chomsky. His language hierarchy is critical to understanding things like designing compilers, automated reasoners, and formal languages.
I think his thoughts on AI are a bit more nuanced though. He has nothing against AI as an engineering discipline which is how it is mostly used, even in research, by most people these days. He also has acknowledged that the computer is clearly an important tool to understand the mind. It is only the inflated claims of people like Roger Schank and Marvin Minsky that AI systems were models of the mind that he was against. As well as current proponents of machine/deep learning who claim that an artificial neural net that processes language is equivalent to a scientific theory of language
Lex please do another one with Noam, we need to get as much out of his brain as possible before this great mind passes away. I am especially curious about the personal questions you ask these people, about happiness & meaning of life. Having lived 90 years, he could probably write a book about it
The brilliant paleontologist Dr.Bob Bakker lives here in Boulder and I often talk to him when I see him. One day a couple of years ago, I told him I'd come across a quote of Alfred Russell Wallace's that I found interesting. He looked interested and said, " which one" ? I answered, the one where he says in reference to the human brain: " an instrument has been prepared in advance of the needs of its possessor ". Bakker stopped, turned to me and said " and it haunted him for the rest of his life". It was as though I'd struck an important nerve. It was cool. Thought I'd share this. - thanks for that interview. Your podcast means a lot to me.
Yes!! Evolution is equivalent to “pre-training”
Thanks Lex Fridman and Prof Chomsky. Great to see an interview about the core work of Prof Noam Chomsky and its implications for Artificial Intelligence. Congratulations Lex!
I've met Noam Chmsky in the past, we had 30 minutes conversation and it was one of the best conversations I've ever had. As an intellectual myself I was astonoshed by his clear and sharp wit in such solid age. What a brilliant mind and person.
Yes, your spelling an grammar really evinces your intellectualism.
@@OngoGablogian185 English is not the only language in the world, if you didn't know. I know 7 languages, 6 including english were learned completely by myself. What about you, fool, which sucks his own comments with likes? You are pathetic envious person.
A great listen! I’ve lost count of how many Chomsky interviews I’ve listened to. This one is up there with some of my favorites!!! Thank you Alex! 🙏🏾 And of course THANK YOU NOAM CHOMSKY!!!🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Can you please recommend a few of his best?
I wish more men had your curious yet intellectually humble and unassuming nature. So many people avoid things they don't understand so that they can be the king of their small space.
Your deep honesty and vulnerability when announcing your mistake as well as your complete open hearted ness about Noam made me cry. I just found you a few days ago and am so grateful that this kind of discourse exists, and that you exist. Thank you.
Thank you so very much. One of the most interesting. Chomsky conversations I've heard. You're a skilled interviewer.
Lex. Your progress and upward evolution as an interviewer is unmistakable. You get better and better with each podcast. The interviews you submit are a testament to your unflinching open mindedness, your authenticity and your willingness to leave no stone unturned. And you do it all with a searching humility that should remind everyone of us that there is still a truth out there worth fighting for. Thank you. The world is a better place because of the work you are doing.
Listening to professor Chomsky talk with you is the highlight of my week! Thank you doctor Fridman!
Defining intelligence as adaptability and exploitation does not limit the ways of thinking to our brain. Machines can think differently, but one of the few tools we have for developing them is to see how well they perform. All we are bound to do for now, is to come up with ideas and playgrounds to compare their performance. The ideas that persist through time, similar to the process of life, will be the alternative ways of thinking. This is part of what professor Chomsky calls Engineering in Deep Learning. A lot of what we know now was considered "Art" at its infancy, "Engineering" when it became transferable and widely-adopted, and then "Science" when it was reverse-engineered, and given philosophical and mathematical basis. Intelligence is by far the hardest thing to engineer, but this is our hope as AI scientists.
Yes. The “other” side of the same coin: science-engineering. Chomsky is for science then engineering; but Geoffrey Hinton is for engineering-then-science. We need both.
I love you Lex. I'm so glad I found your podcast, that someone can be an intellectual, successful and humble. And yet still be a beam of light in what seems like a terrible existence. I appreciate what you do with your work and this podcast. Forever learning, dreaming and achieving. Thank you
I'm at 16:19 and I'm so impressed by how neutral, unbiased and detached his scientific reasoning is from politics.
I've heard enough Friedman"s guests that I can smell right-ism from 2 miles away on a discussion about integers, but if I wouldn't know about Chomsky's life of advocacy it would be impossible for me to figure out this guy's political views.
Every podcast is just perfect. Should be getting millions of views
Needs a Jamie...to "pull shit up"
Thank you Lex, for the extraordinary job you do to present every subject you chose to talk about .
The ability to present facts without the censorship of the big corporations, you give us the chance to interpret to the ability of our understanding.
Noam Chomsky is my inspiration and I am deeply grateful for the knowledge he shares and make one see events and life of a different perspective. At the same time gives me some sadness because I feel no matter what I do I can’t change the world or the destruction.
Thank you again
I haven't even listened to it yet, but what a joy to wake up this morning over here in Germany to see that you interviewed Prof. Chomsky, thank you Lex.
That's great. ! Now waiting for an episode with Judea Pearl on casual learning and causality.
Seconded
Tripled
This episode is so valuable. Lex, your questions were amazing. And what incredible thinker is this man... I love Chomsky.
Although I'm fairly new to Mr. Fridman i like his thinking and enjoy the interviews more than i had expected.
Thank you Lex for your honesty and authenticity.
* Mr. Chomsky is an absolute treasure. The audio is all that's needed.
Guest level: Completed
This is the top of the pyramid
Thank you Lex for all of your time and effort pursuing these excellent conversations. We may never know the influence that you create by connecting us all to these profound thinkers. May all of your efforts be repaid 1000 fold.
Can there be more packed in a ~36 minute video but can feel like a lifetime of wisdom? I feel to say no.
"The significance of your life is something you create..."
Big thank you, Lex, from me as a linguist and as a human being... Спасибо!
Your podcast and others have unlocked a spark in my mind over the last couple of months. Ive almost developed an addiction for this academic stimulation and I believe it is because I had an attention deficit disorder through school and now I’ve flooded my brain with information that I find actually have interest in and can retain my attention. I’m also finding it hard to be comfortable recently as new ideas about life, our meaning, religion, etc. I don’t feel the same around my family or my friends. I’m just uncomfortable. I can’t explain it.
Your humble approach never ceases to astound me. The reason you are able to interview these amazing people is you are one of them. Your open mind and ever searching approach means that you will continue to learn which is what puts you amongst those people. Well done!!
No skip for the adds Lex as far this helps to keep going your amazing work. Two great intellectual icons
Hoped this session was longer. Please do more interviews with Noam. I can't fathom that there comes a day that we will lose this great man.
Chomsky and Herman's "Manufacturing Consent" radically shifted my views on the mass media. I highly recommend the book.
Stop making a big deal! Problems happen! I just love you for the effort you are putting in this. Thank you!
25:30 The more telling question is "how well does it do on something that violates all the rules of language." 😊Brilliant.
Great interview, Lex. Worth listening to it it several times even without the video. 😊
Yes, that line jumped out at me too. It's a profound statement.
No kittens or stones in this one. You’ve engaged Chomsky in one of best interviews in recent years, Lex. Thanks!
Lex remember that Jocko Willink would say that it’s ‘GOOD.’ that the video cut out, now Chomsky’s facial expression will only ever exist in one special place: in the memory of a future legend of technology and conversation.
Noam Chomsky is more that a remarkable man, he is a gem of humanity. For years I have learned much from him.
“The instinct to be free of domination by illegitimate authority is at the core of our nature”. Very interesting to be reminded of the historic context of seemingly modern dilemmas.
I love how easily Chomsky replied to the idea of Neuralink
Chomsky's voice is expressive to the point that a lack of video in no way diminishes what he says. So, Lex, bitchslap yourself for the screwup, as that's what makes us learn, but rest assured that, with an icon like Noam, nothing was really lost.
But kneel before the universal gods, and be grateful you had this opportunity.
It's better to have a good microphone like this and no video instead of video with crappy audio as is often the case.
Noam Chomsky really taught me so much. Really came full circle with his lessons. Highly highly recommend Chomsky !!
I hope he feels good and it was really a technical issue. It’s not a problem at all. It was great to listen you both! Lex, thanks for your work.
Chomsky is unusual because he has the courage to tell the truth.
His concoction "of the truth:. His worship of his concocting. Like witchCRAFT.
@HenryDavidT LOL - time to take meds ... :-)
this is an interview podcast that gives practical utility to some fragments of the wealth of knowledge that Professor Chomsky has amassed access to and gained understanding of...I am humbled, intrigued and inspired. Thank you for adding value to my life (and to the world) in this manner.
Thank you for being thoughfull with the Ad placement, your a Star, from a happy viewer in Scotland x
You're an exceptional listener, making people feel truly heard and understood
I can’t give you enough likes for this interview. Noam Chomsky is one of the most brilliant and inspiring persons I’ve ever come across. Thank you for the great questions you asked, too!
Accidents happen to us all, Lex. I really appreciate your amazing podcasts. Thankyou.
Karmic/Social/Actual points for taking the time to express empathy and gratitude, Gav.
I hope, but do not believe, we/you would do this in a closed system....but that was a selfish aside to a selfish inside that differentiates and signifies nothing
Clear, high level thinking seems to come so easily from Noam Chomsky. For some reason this is heartening.
Fantastic interview. Always love to hear Noam in his true wheelhouse. Who wouldn't be impressed! Well done Lex!
You are humble, and I'm touched by your honesty and integrity. Thank you for this and all you do to help humanity
Two brilliant Minds.You are on to something Young man.Keep it up.Great show.Being a bookworm does pay off.You have a beautiful soul.
'we use language to reason out reality, structure of our brain determines/limits our perception of our reality, the structure of our language does navigate our attention to what is being said (example: we prioritize the more complex computation to the simpler), you provide meaning to your life via your actions'
My takeaway hence is: Be mindful towards the language that you use (in and out) as it shapes your reality.
(unfortunately I am just stating what I have been already working on for almost a deacade)
Chomsky's distinction between engineering/science in this interview is as crucial as it is too often overlooked in machine learning and datascience circles.
But - a big but, I believe Chomsky also misleads people, at least myself as one, to underestimate LLM, and, deep learning in general. “Pre-training” is equivalent to pre-human and early human evolution. If, a big if - I really want to hear Chomsky’s comments on this crude idea of mine (that is the reason I put it here, hoping the host or even better can happen to see it) - that is the case, then, Chomsky and Geoffrey Hinton can have a “United theory”.
Your humility and podcast - are the best. Wow. Noam .....
I really wished that there would've been a video of you two guys. Loved the conversation, in this podcast, the voice is like a old mountain talking. Chilling❄❄❄
Really nice to hear noam talk about these things as he is usually asked questions relating to US foreign policy. Thank you.
Love hearing lex’s excitement in the intro. Such a lucky guy
You know, Chomsky has said that he avoids injecting any kind of animation in his demeanor solely because he believes that the only important aspect of his wisdom is the content of his ideas, not the way he presents them.
By some cosmic coincidence, it's amusing that the lack of video for this podcast fits in perfectly well with this belief of his.
Its really great that you are doing providing one of great minds and scientists to common people like us keep it up
You seem really nice, I met Noam 20 years ago, I cried during this
Absolutely great interview! The meaning of life is to maximize the significance of your life within and without limitations you encounter. It is a challenge to express yourself creatively. There was a song in the late 1960s or early 1970s called "Express yourself", one line in that song was silly but yet meaningful: "It's not what you look like when you're doin what you're doin; It's what your doin when your doin what you look like you're doin!" So, therefor your failure to capture the video is meaningless because the verbal weight of the interview was where the gravity of the exercise existed.
I madly studied transformational grammar in the early 1970s and have been Chomky's follower since.
Thanks for respecting us and keeping the listening experience uninterrupted!!
The introduction to this video was so humble, vulnerable, and humanizing. I respect Lex a lot more after seeing that. Sorry for your loss, Lex. Great interview nonetheless!
A serious question for Noam: will you be my grandpa? (that would be so cool)
Lex, I loved the questions you asked. I wanted to know Chomsky's answer on many of the questions you asked for e long time. I appreciate that your interview. You did not asked questions that we would all had known the answer in advance. Great job, and always a pleasure to listen to Chomsky.
Love the fact that you've added full captions and also divided up the timeline. This way people can watch on 2x speed and also skip parts of the video if it's not for them. This makes it that people can watch more videos in total.
Lex Friedman,
We all need self exploration... Who am I....
I am not the body.... Not the thoughts... The mind....
I am the soul..... The primordial energy... Behind all manifestations
It is omnipresent, omnipotent..
It has no topological barriers... No boundaries....
Best of Luck in self exploration...
I remember well before gaining the capacity for language. Reason and thoughts, very analytical, including problem solving were all extremely prevalent before I learned vocabulary, before my inner thoughts were expressed through language. I would explain it as saying that without developing language you still have the same thoughts, but they come in concepts, and often you will form mental images, which you may then correlate to these thought and emotionally provoked concepts. In fact, I would go so far as to say that lack of language highly increases intuitiveness and awareness. It has been my personal experience that human language implements self restriction, social limitations, and causes divisions. While Mr. Chomsky does an outstanding job of linguistically articulating our reality, it seems to me the problem is that so many are limiting their understanding of the world based on language exposure, and have collectively abandoned the use of higher level consciousness where information is exchanged through energy.
What is consciousness? It seems humans have it... Do plants? Not everyone agrees. Can an inanimate object have consciousness? Is everything a collective consciousness? Is it all a simulation? Does it even matter when the universe continues to move without us?
Wild. Lex interviews with Lex to the audience. He let us know Noam Chomsky is the guy he always wanted to meet and get to share with us. How does this have a lonely 790 comments. Lex told us this podcast is a side journey. It's an adventure for all of us.
The way he explains the difference between science, critical experiments and ML. Brilliant! Extremely interesting interview. Thank you.
"The significance of your life is something you create." Existentialist.
...said the serial killer. (I'm being devil's advocate).
If there is no god, you can only pretend you have your own purpose. I don't believe anybody can give himself a real purpose, just like an ant or a dog can't make their own purpose. It's all just playing pretend.
@@waswaswad : well, there are purposes and purposes. If the purpose you mean is meaningful and non-trivial (not, for example making it your life's work to amass a pile of dead ants) it is reasonable to argue that this purpose has been provided you from an external source. The mistake is to assume it must have come via a supernatural being. There is far better evidence that evolution, the mechanism by which our species lives and potentially thrives and improves in the environment it finds itself in, is a better explanation.
@@waswaswad you're confusing pretending with creating... think about it...
Stephen Paul reprogrammed
Noam just gave a useful answer to the ever rising question of “what is the meaning of our existence” thank you for this podcast, wish it was muuuuch longer tho. ❤️
i feel like in every moment the screen image is adequate to the conversation. brilliant effect!
🌪️❄️
Lex you are not a silly looking russian. You are a wonderful human being, I love your podcast. The best guests and wonderfully thoughtful and humble questioning, keep on doing what your doing pal. I am better for having found your conversations, peace to you brother.
regarding neurallink and qualitative differences in cognition, "quantity has a quality all its own". By increasing the bandwidth of human machine interface, unforeseen doors will open. Drinking, swimming, drowning, and flooding all use the same water.
Noam Chomsky is the greatest we have. While I will surely never possess his ability to process and retain massive amounts of complex information, or his analytical prowess, I humbly ask/wonder : if there are ways in which his assertions on human language are somewhat anthropmorphic? My question for Noam , would be to ask him for his differentiation between how it is fundamentally different than that of other animals language, forms of communication, thought and expression. By the way , Lex: this is not diminished by the fact that it is a purely audio file. The photo is beautiful. He does nuance his assessment of starting at 9:00
It’s crazy how Chomsky is one of the greatest linguistists of the century who often presents the biological organism vs the angelic being dichotomy but has never heard of the angelic Enochian language, Dr John Dee, or the angelic conversations and their impact in the modern world. I know cause I emailed him and asked! God damn the information wars!!
Lex your emotion, intelligence, and emotional intelligence are very vivid and much appreciated.
Hellow I am a new listener I just found your videos. I really liked the last question and the way he answered the meaning of our lives or purpose are exactly what we make of them, so simple and so profound. Thank you for all this amazing rain of knowledge you and your gracious guest's share to the world.
Noam Chomsky is a treasure. So are you Lex, this was an amazing conversation to listen to.
Wow
That's what I said just as I saw this in my feed
Most genuine wow it surely was
Lex you have reached the peak already
Elon was the coolest guest imaginable
But this is the biggest guest any body can have in our times
Dominant pundits and hosts are afraid of hosting this most honest of giants
But my man Lex isn't 👏👏👏
THIS. You got Chomsky on 👏🏽👏🏽
(I’ll use much of this to further develop my Sci-Fi course. Thank you.)
Please, please, please Lex Fridman make a sequel, or a round 2. Would be amazing to see you two talk again. I would love to hear more about his anarkist ideas, decentralisation, moral, etc - what differs from Michael Malice? if any.
Remember the days when RUclips had only one ad? (actually, there were 0 ads originally if you really want to get into it). It went from ONE 3 second ad in the beginning, to then 5 seconds, to 30. Now two minutes....At the start of the video, the middle and the end.
I hope people are starting to GET IT?
That was great. Noam Chomsky is still way ahead of almost all of us. May he live forever.
Listening to this I got distracted by liking the example about linear order in language, that with with the car mechanic, and played with it: Start with the most nonsensical sentence and use Google translate to convert it to your mother language, and then iterate translation back and forth between the two languages. Soon it will reach a "stable cycle":
English: Carefully the guy who fixed the car is tall
German: Vorsichtig ist der Typ, der das Auto repariert hat, groß.
English: Careful, the guy who fixed the car is tall.
German: Vorsicht, der Typ, der das Auto repariert hat, ist groß.
English: Beware, the guy who fixed the car is great.
German: Vorsicht, der Typ, der das Auto repariert hat, ist großartig.
English: Beware, the guy who fixed the car is great.
After that it found a stable cycle with the last two versions. Now let's try Japanese:
Carefully the guy who fixed the car is tall.
慎重に車を修理した人は背が高い。
Those who have carefully repaired their cars are tall.
車を丁寧に修理した人は背が高い。
The person who carefully repaired the car is tall.
車を丁寧に修理した人は背が高い。
The person who carefully repaired the car is tall.
(Japanese "fixed it").
Vocab:
車: kuruma : car
背が高い : sega takai: tall (back high)
慎重に: shinshou ni: carefully
修理した人: shouri shita hito : person who repaired (repair did person)
Let's try French next:
Carefully the guy who fixed the car is tall.
Soigneusement, le gars qui a réparé la voiture est grand.
Carefully, the guy who fixed the car is great.
Soigneusement, le gars qui a réparé la voiture est génial.
Carefully, the guy who fixed the car is awesome.
Obviously all these translations make "sense". Not necessarily in a way that it is intended, but what could likely be intended.
BTW. It's even more fun to use more than just two languages together, for instance in a cycle. It "converges" almost as fast. Of course, now that I'm hooked, I'll try that with an entire nonsense story. My hypothesis is that after a few cycles the nonsense will become meaningful in some way :-)