Manifold

This podcast discusses meritocracy and university admissions, focusing on topics such as the predictive power of SAT scores, college learning outcomes, and the four paths to elite college admission. It also explores the concept of laundering prestige at elite universities and the impact of non-academic factors on student success. The podcast raises questions about the composition of elite universities and the decline of meritocracy in the admissions process.

Aella, a former sex worker, sex researcher, and data scientist, discusses her background, experiences as a sex worker and escorting, pimp culture, Seeking Arrangement, cheating, OnlyFans, incels and sex work, porn and Gen-Z, embryo screening, and the future of IVG.

Tim Detmer, leader in quantization, discusses his background and research program. Topics include large language models, quantization, democratization of AI technology, future of AI. Other chapters cover challenges of dyslexia, neural network progress, quantization in improving efficiency, cost and efficiency of consumer GPUs for AI models, compression and algorithms in network transfer, and limitations of neural networks.

Paul Huang is a journalist and research fellow with the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation. He is currently based in Taipei, Taiwan.Sample articles:Taiwan’s Military Has Flashy American Weapons but No Ammo (in Foreign Policy): https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/20/taiwan-military-flashy-american-weapons-no-ammo/Taiwan’s Military Is a Hollow Shell (Foreign Policy): https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/15/china-threat-invasion-conscription-taiwans-military-is-a-hollow-shell/Steve and Paul discuss:  0:00 Introduction 1:44 Paul’s background; the Green Party (DPP) and Blue Party (KMT) in Taiwan4:40 How the Taiwanese people view themselves vs mainland Chinese15:02 Taiwan taboos: politics and military preparedness15:27 Effect of Ukraine conflict on Taiwanese opinion29:56 Lack of realistic military planning37:20 Is there a political solution to reunification with China? What influence does the U.S. have?51:34 The likelihood of peaceful reunification of Taiwan and China56:45 Honest views on Taiwanese and U.S. military readiness for aconflict with ChinaMusic used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.--Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SuperFocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Steve Hsu, Richard Hanania, and Rob Henderson were scheduled for a June 2023 panel as part of the University of Austin (UATX) Forbidden Courses series. Steve missed the panel due to travel issues, but the three have gathered on this podcast to recreate the fun!They discuss:0:00 Introduction1:20 The University of Austin and forbidden courses17:37 Will woke campus culture change anytime soon?29:57 Common people vs elites on affirmative action35:42 Why it’s uncomfortable to disagree about affirmative action41:22 Fraud and misrepresentation in higher ed44:20 The adversity carveout in the Supreme Court affirmative action ruling50:10 Standardized testing and elite university admissions1:06:18 Divergent views among racial and ethnic groups on affirmative action; radicalized Asian American males1:10:00 Differences between East and South Asians in the West  1:23:03 Class-based preferences and standardized tests1:31:57 Rob Henderson’s next move LINKSRichard Hanania’s new book: The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-origins-of-woke-richard-hanania?variant=41004650528802Richard Hanania’s newsletter: https://www.richardhanania.com/The Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology: https://www.cspicenter.com/Rob Henderson’s newsletter: https://www.robkhenderson.com/Rob Henderson’s new book: Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Troubled/Rob-Henderson/9781982168537UATX: https://www.uaustin.org/forbidden-coursesMusic used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.--Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (Superfocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

Richard Sander is Jesse Dukeminier Professor at UCLA Law School. AB Harvard, JD, PhD (Economics) Northwestern.Steve and Richard discuss the recent Supreme Court ruling in Students For Fair Admissions vs Harvard and UNC.Sander has studied the structure and effects of law school admissions policies. He coined the term "Mismatch" to describe negative consequences resulting from large admissions preferences.0:00 Introduction1:09 Richard Sander’s initial reaction to the Supreme Court ruling4:03 How data influenced the court’s decision7:58 Overview of the court’s ruling11:27 Carve outs in the court’s ruling16:59 The litigation landscape21:25 Workarounds to race-blind admissions and the UC system32:22 Remedies: What will happen with Harvard and UNC now?38:02 The landscape of college admissions44:47 Effects of the Supreme Court ruling beyond higher educationLINKSSCOTUS decision on Affirmative Action:https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/supreme-court-decision-on-race-based-admissions/0a725aaabb459074/full.pdfRichard Sander’s amicus brief: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-1199/222805/20220509134743957_20-1199%2021-707%20Amicus%20BOM.pdfRichard Sander on SCOTUS Oral Arguments: Affirmative Action and Discrimination against Asian Americans at Harvard and UNC: https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/richard-sander-on-scotus-oral-arguments-affirmative-action-and-discrimination-against-asian-americans-at-harvard-and-uncRichard Sander: Affirmative Action, Mismatch Theory, and Academic Freedom: https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/richard-sander-affirmative-action-mismatch-theory-academic-freedom-6Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.--Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (Superfocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.

In this episode, Steve talks to three AI engineers from his startup SuperFocus.AI.0:00 Introduction1:06 The Google memo and open-source AI 14:41 Sparsification and the size of models: AI on your phone?30:16 When will AI take over ordinary decision-making from humans?34:50 Rapid advances in AI: a view from inside41:28 AI Doomers and AlignmentLinks to earlier episodes on AI and LLMs.Artificial Intelligence & Large Language Models: Oxford Lecture — #35: https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/artificial-intelligence-large-language-models-oxford-lecture-35Bing vs. Bard, US-China STEM Competition, and Embryo Screening — #30: https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/bing-vs-bard-us-china-stem-competition-and-embryo-screening-30ChatGPT, LLMs, and AI — #29: https://www.manifold1.com/episodes/chatgpt-llms-and-aiMusic used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.--Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (Superfocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

David Paul Goldman is an American economic strategist and author, best known for his series of online essays in the Asia Times under the pseudonym Spengler with the first column published January 1, 2000.Steve and David discuss:0:00 Introduction2:22 David’s background in music, finance, and Asia16:55 Looking back at the financial crisis23:04 Rise of the Chinese economy29:44 How Huawei’s strength is tied to China’s economic power36:49 Competition in the global electric vehicles market38:06 Why David thinks European countries like Germany will become closer with China45:29 U.S. manufacturing is falling behind52:08 Potential for war and ongoing U.S.-China competition1:04:07 Predictions for TaiwanLinks:David Goldman in Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_P._GoldmanSpengler column:https://asiatimes.com/author/spengler/You Will Be Assimilated: China's Plan to Sino-form the Worldhttps://www.amazon.com/You-Will-Be-Assimilated-Sino-form/dp/1642935409Prisoner’s Dilemma: Avoiding war with China is the most urgent task of our lifetimehttps://claremontreviewofbooks.com/prisoners-dilemma/David Goldman articles in Claremont Review:https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/author/david-p-goldman/Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.--Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (Superfocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

This week's episode is based on a lecture Steve gave to an audience of theoretical physicists at Oxford University. The topic is artificial intelligence and large language models. Lecture slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xiMeeRMVpB-_W66BnyRyUAtrLlUwQNlndqbVcguKK8U/edit?usp=sharingChapter markers:0:00 Introduction2:31 Deep Learning and Neural Networks; history and mathematical results21:15 Embedding space, word vectors31:53 Next word prediction as objective function34:08 Attention is all you need37:09 Transformer architecture44:54 The geometry of thought52:57 What can LLMs do? Sparks of AGI1:02:41 Hallucination  1:14:40 SuperFocus testing and examples1:18:40 AI landscape, AGI, and the futureMusic used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.--Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (Superfocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.

In collaboration with her husband Malcolm Collins, Simone is an author (The Pragmatist's Guide to Life, Relationships, Sexuality, Governance, and Crafting Religion), education reform advocate (CollinsInstitute.org), pronatalism activist (Pronatalist.org), and business operator (Travelmax.com).Note: the YouTube version of this interview includes video of Steve and Simone.Steve and Simone discuss:0:00 Introduction1:49 Simone's IVF journey, and embryo screening40:02 Dating; girl autists55:41 Finding a husband, systematized1:09:57 Pronatalism Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.—Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (Superfocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.