#218 – Jaron Lanier: Virtual Reality, Social Media & the Future of Humans and AI

By Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman Podcast

06/09/21·1h 58m

Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, artist, author, and founder of the field of virtual reality. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Skiff: https://skiff.org/lex to get early access - Novo: https://banknovo.com/lex - Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off - Indeed: https://indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit - Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/lex and use code LEX to get special savings EPISODE LINKS: Jaron's Website: http://www.jaronlanier.com/ Jaron's Books: https://amzn.to/3tlhl9T 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 (08:04) - What is reality? (12:17) - Turing machines (13:35) - Simulating our universe (19:49) - Video games and other immersive experiences (23:37) - Death and consciousness (32:08) - Designing human-centric AI (33:42) - Empathy with robots (37:33) - Social media incentives (49:53) - Data dignity (57:26) - Jack Dorsey and Twitter (1:09:10) - Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies (1:13:51) - Government overreach and freedom (1:24:06) - GitHub and TikTok (1:26:16) - The Autodidactic Universe (1:31:07) - Humans and the mystery of music (1:37:17) - Defining moments (1:48:03) - Mortality (1:49:56) - The meaning of life