01 / uncertainty
To your question of what other blockers were there, were there any others? I don’t know.
“To your question of what other blockers were there, were there any others? I don’t know.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
Dwarkesh Podcast / episode intelligence
Michael Nielsen – How science actually progresses
Speakers in the public record
Claim mix
belief 12evaluation 6observation 4uncertainty 1prediction 1preference 1recommendation 1
Evidence policy
Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.
Claim ledger
The useful parts, with receipts.
26 published records
02 / belief
” Anyways, I think the reason the story is interesting is for many different reasons.
“” Anyways, I think the reason the story is interesting is for many different reasons.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
03 / belief
I think Poincaré gets much closer later on to realizing that this is the time that’s registered by clocks.
“I think Poincaré gets much closer later on to realizing that this is the time that’s registered by clocks.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
04 / belief
I think the last public statement he made was a year or two before he died, and he basically still believed it at that point.
“I think the last public statement he made was a year or two before he died, and he basically still believed it at that point.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
05 / belief
Michelson-Morley is the famous result often presented as this experiment that was done in the 1880s that helped Einstein come up with the special theory of relativity a little bit later, changing the way we think about space and time and our fundamental conception of those things.
“Michelson-Morley is the famous result often presented as this experiment that was done in the 1880s that helped Einstein come up with the special theory of relativity a little bit later, changing the way we think about space and time and our fundamental conception of those things.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
06 / belief
I’m certainly interested in the fact that new types of progress keep becoming possible. But I think even there, there does still seem to be some phenomenon of diminishing returns.
“I’m certainly interested in the fact that new types of progress keep becoming possible. But I think even there, there does still seem to be some phenomenon of diminishing returns.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
07 / belief
What fraction uses linear representations versus a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional representation? I think the answers to these questions are just not at all obvious.
“What fraction uses linear representations versus a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional representation? I think the answers to these questions are just not at all obvious.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
08 / belief
If I had allocated more time, especially after the interview, to write up 2,000 words on everything I learned and how it connects to other things I know.
“If I had allocated more time, especially after the interview, to write up 2,000 words on everything I learned and how it connects to other things I know.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
09 / observation
If I understand that, I have some good understanding. The problem is with almost every other field, there’s not this curriculum.
“If I understand that, I have some good understanding. The problem is with almost every other field, there’s not this curriculum.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
10 / belief
I think Dean Keith Simonton has this famous equal odds rule where he says the probability that any given thing you release—any paper, book, whatever—will be extremely important for a given person through their lifetime is not that different.
“I think Dean Keith Simonton has this famous equal odds rule where he says the probability that any given thing you release—any paper, book, whatever—will be extremely important for a given person through their lifetime is not that different.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
11 / observation
For this interview, I went through three lectures of the Susskind special relativity book. The problem is that there’s almost no practice problems in it.
“For this interview, I went through three lectures of the Susskind special relativity book. The problem is that there’s almost no practice problems in it.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
12 / belief
I think we’re getting to that part of the conversation, and then you can help me get my foot out of my mouth and figure out a more concrete way to think about it.
“I think we’re getting to that part of the conversation, and then you can help me get my foot out of my mouth and figure out a more concrete way to think about it.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
13 / belief
I think that’s a consequence of the architecture of attention. At any given time, there’s always a most successful thing.
“I think that’s a consequence of the architecture of attention. At any given time, there’s always a most successful thing.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
14 / belief
An example that I think is very interesting is the LHC, where it’s just this immensely complicated object.
“An example that I think is very interesting is the LHC, where it’s just this immensely complicated object.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
15 / belief
What was the reason? I suspect in many cases that’s actually more informative than anything else.
“What was the reason? I suspect in many cases that’s actually more informative than anything else.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
16 / observation
There’s something about, what problem are you solving for each episode? As far as I can tell, that’s the only way I really understand anything.
“There’s something about, what problem are you solving for each episode? As far as I can tell, that’s the only way I really understand anything.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
17 / prediction
Second is it might not have been, but because our civilizational resources are so large, the amount of people is so large, the amount of money is so large, we can basically make the kind of progress it would have taken the ancients forever to make almost immediately.
“Second is it might not have been, but because our civilizational resources are so large, the amount of people is so large, the amount of money is so large, we can basically make the kind of progress it would have taken the ancients forever to make almost immediately.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
18 / observation
Then you’re going to start by doing the simplest possible stuff. It just turns out that a lot of that stuff doesn’t work very well, so you’re forced to go through these steps where gradually it gets more complicated, and it’s wrong in a variety of ways.
“Then you’re going to start by doing the simplest possible stuff. It just turns out that a lot of that stuff doesn’t work very well, so you’re forced to go through these steps where gradually it gets more complicated, and it’s wrong in a variety of ways.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
19 / preference
That starts to feel very compelling, at least to me. I think most people find that very satisfying once they eventually realize it.
“That starts to feel very compelling, at least to me. I think most people find that very satisfying once they eventually realize it.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
20 / evaluation
Then there’s the obvious stories where Einstein himself later on is said to have not latched onto the correct interpretations of quantum mechanics or cosmology because of his own attachments.
“Then there’s the obvious stories where Einstein himself later on is said to have not latched onto the correct interpretations of quantum mechanics or cosmology because of his own attachments.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
21 / evaluation
Because if it’s not discovered for a long time and then spontaneously many different people are coming up with it, that shows you that the building blocks were in some sense necessary.
“Because if it’s not discovered for a long time and then spontaneously many different people are coming up with it, that shows you that the building blocks were in some sense necessary.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
22 / evaluation
Lorentz has the math right, but the interpretation wrong. It seems like Poincaré had the opposite, where he understood that it’s hard to define simultaneity because it requires a circular definition with time, or velocity of something that might arrive at a midpoint together, but velocity is defined in terms of time.
“Lorentz has the math right, but the interpretation wrong. It seems like Poincaré had the opposite, where he understood that it’s hard to define simultaneity because it requires a circular definition with time, or velocity of something that might arrive at a midpoint together, but velocity is defined in terms of time.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
23 / evaluation
Second, just because horses have a comparative advantage mathematically does not mean that it is worth paying $100,000 a year, or whatever it costs to sustain a horse in San Francisco.
“Second, just because horses have a comparative advantage mathematically does not mean that it is worth paying $100,000 a year, or whatever it costs to sustain a horse in San Francisco.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
24 / evaluation
The point is that where we always get bottlenecked is where the previous processes and heuristics don’t apply.
“The point is that where we always get bottlenecked is where the previous processes and heuristics don’t apply.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
25 / recommendation
I think a good place to start will be Michelson-Morley and how special relativity is discovered, if it’s different from the story that you get off of YouTube videos.
“I think a good place to start will be Michelson-Morley and how special relativity is discovered, if it’s different from the story that you get off of YouTube videos.”
- Speaker
- Dwarkesh Patel
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast
26 / evaluation
Young people flood in because you can be twenty-one and make major breakthroughs rather than having to spend twenty-five years mastering everything that’s been done before.
“Young people flood in because you can be twenty-one and make major breakthroughs rather than having to spend twenty-five years mastering everything that’s been done before.”
- Speaker
- Michael Nielsen
- Publisher
- Dwarkesh Podcast