Linus Lee

In episode 56 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Linus Lee. Linus is an independent researcher interested in the future of knowledge representation and creative work aided by machine understanding of language. He builds interfaces and knowledge tools that expand the domain of thoughts we can think and qualia we can feel. Linus has been writing online since 2014–his blog boasts half a million words–and has built well over 100 side projects. He has also spent time as a software engineer at Replit, Hack Club, and Spensa, and was most recently a Researcher in Residence at Betaworks in New York. Have suggestions for future podcast guests (or other feedback)? Let us know here!Subscribe to The Gradient Podcast:  Apple Podcasts  | Spotify | Pocket Casts | RSSFollow The Gradient on TwitterOutline:* (00:00) Intro* (02:00) Linus’s background and interests, vision-language models* (07:45) Embodiment and limits for text-image* (11:35) Ways of experiencing the world* (16:55) Origins of the handle “thesephist”, languages* (25:00) Math notation, reading papers* (29:20) Operations on ideas* (32:45) Overview of Linus’s research and current work* (41:30) The Oak and Ink languages, programming languages* (49:30) Personal search engines: Monocle and Reverie, what you can learn from personal data* (55:55) Web browsers as mediums for thought* (1:01:30) This AI Does Not Exist* (1:03:05) Knowledge representation and notational intelligence* Notation vs language* (1:07:00) What notation can/should be* (1:16:00) Inventing better notations and expanding human intelligence* (1:23:30) Better interfaces between humans and LMs to provide precise control, inefficiency prompt engineering* (1:33:00) Inexpressible experiences* (1:35:42) Linus’s current work using latent space models* (1:40:00) Ideas as things you can hold* (1:44:55) Neural nets and cognitive computing* (1:49:30) Relation to Hardware Lottery and AI accelerators* (1:53:00) Taylor Swift Appreciation Session, mastery and virtuosity* (1:59:30) Mastery/virtuosity and interfaces / learning curves* (2:03:30) Linus’s stories, the work of fiction* (2:09:00) Linus’s thoughts on writing* (2:14:20) A piece of writing should be focused* (2:16:15) On proving yourself* (2:28:00) OutroLinks:* Linus’s Twitter and website Get full access to The Gradient at thegradientpub.substack.com/subscribe

Linus Lee from Notion AI discusses innovative interfaces for text and image manipulation, the future of AI reasoning capabilities, and the importance of failure analysis and model merging in AI development. The podcast explores practical AI tools like PyTorch, advancements in language models, and the societal implications of AI advancements.

Linus Lee, an AI engineer at Notion, shares behind-the-scenes stories of one of the most widely used AI tools today. Topics include developing AI products, staffing, educating users, challenges in building Notion Q&A, partnerships with Anthropic and Open AI, iterating on interfaces, and over-hyped/under-hyped AI features.

In a world dominated by mass-produced software, making your own tools is a way to take back agency in your digital life. Linus joins Mark and Adam to talk about his experiences building a personal software ecosystem; tools that are a reflection of the maker’s values and taste; and packaging/sharing solutions like Docker, CodePen, Replit, and Deno. And: is it possible for software to ever be “done”? — Linus thinks so. Discuss this episode in the Muse community Follow @MuseAppHQ on Twitter Show notes Linus Lee @thesephist Surface Duo Nintendo DS Backbone.js Spensa (farming technology startup) Django Replit Monocle full-text search Ink (programming language) changing lightbulb meme DigitalOcean August (Linus’ self-made x86 assembler) Metamuse episode with Weiwei Xu situated software stream fusion in mathematics reverse proxy software erosion aka bit rot FileMaker Pro newline-delimited JSON flat dependency trees dynamic linked libraries Go static linking not invented here Hundred Rabbits lil apps Szymon Kaliski An app can be a home-cooked meal Lucerne (Linus' self-made Twitter client) TweetDeck Taylor Swift Go by Example multi-tenancy Metamuse episode on local-first whoami game modding Deno Deno’s sandboxing and permissions Qubes OS Docker container Heroku Buttons macOS .app bundles CodePen xkcd on modern software dependencies ProseMirror Metamuse episode on filmmaking curl maintainer has been at it for 23 years

Linus Lee, software developer and creator of Ink, discusses building software for yourself, including his full text personal search engine called Monocle. They delve into topics like creating a personal programming language, challenges of personal knowledge organization, and the value of personal projects. They also talk about career choices, standing out in the industry, and the benefits of sharing personal software for inspiration.