Donald Knuth is a computer scientist, Turing Award winner, father of algorithm analysis, author of The Art of Computer Programming, and creator of TeX. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Coinbase: https://coinbase.com/lex to get $5 in free Bitcoin – InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex and use code Lex25 to get 25% off – NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour – ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free – BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Donald’s Stanford Page: https://profiles.stanford.edu/donald-knuth Donald’s Books: https://amzn.to/3heyBsC PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman 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 (07:02) – First programs (30:26) – Literate programming (33:35) – Beauty in programming (39:30) – OpenAI (48:41) – Optimization (54:46) – Consciousness (1:03:29) – Conway’s game of life (1:16:16) – Stable marriage (1:19:35) – Richard Feynman (1:30:29) – Knuth-Morris-Pratt Algorithm (1:40:02) – Hardest problem (1:57:41) – Open source (2:02:54) – Favorite symbols (2:12:27) – Productivity (2:20:08) – Meaning of life

Donald Knuth is one of the greatest and most impactful computer scientists and mathematicians ever. He is the recipient in 1974 of the Turing Award, considered the Nobel Prize of computing. He is the author of the multi-volume work, the magnum opus, The Art of Computer Programming. He made several key contributions to the rigorous analysis of the computational complexity of algorithms. He popularized asymptotic notation, that we all affectionately know as the big-O notation. He also created the TeX typesetting which most computer scientists, physicists, mathematicians, and scientists and engineers use to write technical papers and make them look beautiful. This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon. This episode is presented by Cash App. Download it (App Store, Google Play), use code “LexPodcast”.  Episode Links: The Art of Computer Programming (book set) Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. 00:00 – Introduction 03:45 – IBM 650 07:51 – Geeks 12:29 – Alan Turing 14:26 – My life is a convex combination of english and mathematics 24:00 – Japanese arrow puzzle example 25:42 – Neural networks and machine learning 27:59 – The Art of Computer Programming 36:49 – Combinatorics 39:16 – Writing process 42:10 – Are some days harder than others? 48:36 – What’s the “Art” in the Art of Computer Programming 50:21 – Binary (boolean) decision diagram 55:06 – Big-O notation 58:02 – P=NP 1:10:05 – Artificial intelligence 1:13:26 – Ant colonies and human cognition 1:17:11 – God and the Bible 1:24:28 – Reflection on life 1:28:25 – Facing mortality 1:33:40 – TeX and beautiful typography 1:39:23 – How much of the world do we understand? 1:44:17 – Question for God

Renowned computer scientist Donald Knuth discusses his mischievous high school behavior and his introduction to computers. He shares his fascination with math and data analysis, including analyzing Bible texts. Knuth explores his attitude towards mistakes and his experimentation with chat GPT.