Dwarkesh Podcast

By: Dwarkesh Patel
  • Summary

  • Deeply researched interviews

    www.dwarkesh.com
    Dwarkesh Patel
    Show more Show less
Episodes
  • Joseph Henrich – Why Humans Survived and Smarter Species Didn't
    Mar 12 2025

    Humans have not succeeded because of our raw intelligence.

    Marooned European explorers regularly starved to death in areas where foragers thrived for 1000s of years.

    I’ve always found this cultural evolution deeply mysterious.

    How do you discover the 10 steps for processing cassava so it won’t give you cyanide poisoning simply by trial and error?

    Has the human brain declined in size over the last 10,000 years because we outsourced cultural evolution to a larger collective brain?

    The most interesting part of the podcast is Henrich’s explanation of how the Catholic Church unintentionally instigated the Industrial Revolution through the dismantling of intensive kinship systems in medieval Europe.

    Watch on Youtube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    Sponsors

    * Scale partners with major AI labs like Meta, Google Deepmind, and OpenAI. Through Scale’s Data Foundry, labs get access to high-quality data to fuel post-training, including advanced reasoning capabilities. If you’re an AI researcher or engineer, learn about how Scale’s Data Foundry and research lab, SEAL, can help you go beyond the current frontier at scale.com/dwarkesh

    To sponsor a future episode, visit dwarkesh.com/p/advertise.

    Timestamps

    (0:00:00) - Humans didn’t succeed because of raw IQ

    (0:09:27) - How cultural evolution works

    (0:20:48) - Why is human brain size declining?

    (0:32:00) - Will AGI have superhuman cultural learning?

    (0:42:34) - Why Industrial Revolution happened in Europe

    (0:55:30) - Why China, Rome, India got left behind

    (1:21:09) - Loss of cultural variance in modern world

    (1:31:20) - Is individual genius real?

    (1:43:49) - IQ and collective brains



    Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 53 mins
  • Notes on China
    Mar 5 2025

    I’m so excited with how this visualization of Notes on China turned out. Petr, thank you for such beautiful watercolor artwork. More to come!

    Watch on YouTube.

    Timestamps

    (0:00:00) - Intro

    (0:00:32) - Scale

    (0:05:50) - Vibes

    (0:11:14) - Youngsters

    (0:14:27) - Tech & AI

    (0:15:47) - Hearts & Minds

    (0:17:07) - On Travel



    Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
    Show more Show less
    20 mins
  • Satya Nadella – Microsoft’s AGI Plan & Quantum Breakthrough
    Feb 19 2025

    Satya Nadella on:

    - Why he doesn’t believe in AGI but does believe in 10% economic growth,

    - Microsoft’s new topological qubit breakthrough and gaming world models,

    - Whether Office commoditizes LLMs or the other way around,

    Watch on Youtube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    Sponsors

    Scale partners with major AI labs like Meta, Google Deepmind, and OpenAI. Through Scale’s Data Foundry, labs get access to high-quality data to fuel post-training, including advanced reasoning capabilities. If you’re an AI researcher or engineer, learn about how Scale’s Data Foundry and research lab, SEAL, can help you go beyond the current frontier at scale.com/dwarkesh

    Linear's project management tools have become the default choice for product teams at companies like Ramp, CashApp, OpenAI, and Scale. These teams use Linear so they can stay close to their products and move fast. If you’re curious why so many companies are making the switch, visit linear.app/dwarkesh

    To sponsor a future episode, visit dwarkeshpatel.com/p/advertise.

    Timestamps

    (0:00:00) - Intro

    (0:05:04) - AI won't be winner-take-all

    (0:15:18) - World economy growing by 10%

    (0:21:39) - Decreasing price of intelligence

    (0:30:19) - Quantum breakthrough

    (0:42:51) - How Muse will change gaming

    (0:49:51) - Legal barriers to AI

    (0:55:46) - Getting AGI safety right

    (1:04:59) - 34 years at Microsoft

    (1:10:46) - Does Satya Nadella believe in AGI?



    Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 16 mins

What listeners say about Dwarkesh Podcast

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.