#028 - Dwarkesh Patel on Standing Out, Curiosity, Talent, & The Future

Dwarkesh Patel is the creator of the Lunar Society newsletter and podcast. We talk about curiosity, talent, podcasting and research, status games, finding what to work on, standing out from the crowd, and AI & futurism.

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(00:42) Starting a podcast out of college while others enter the workforce (04:51) How he overcomes the occasional desire to quit (06:09) Feeling like podcasting isn't building something of value (10:15) Following curiosity vs playing status, money, or power games (16:00) Share your work publicly (16:55) You must have skill to get noticed (19:47) Asking what the world will look like in 2100 (22:40) Breadth vs depth, local vs global maxima (25:11) Evolving your maps & models of the world; focusing on science & tech (27:08) AI optimism (30:06) AI research & regulation (31:46) Other opinions about the future (36:16) Why the initial interest in talent? (38:01) Do the one big thing that stands out (48:02) What makes for good research, questions, and interviews? (52:50) When to podcast vs. write (55:25) Asking good questions, learning fast, and finding the interesting parts to highlight

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Dwarkesh’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp

Dwarkesh’s Site: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/

Spencer’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SP1NS1R

Spencer’s Blog: https://spencerkier.substack.com