Manifold

Machine God: Hsu, Greer, Huang – #120

Machine God is a feature-length AI documentary film, created by Steve Hsu, John Greer, and Lei Huang. This episode discusses the film's creation and content. Chapter Mar

How to Build a Research Institute: Thomas Fink of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences – #119

Dr. Thomas Fink is an Anglo-American physicist, author, and entrepreneur who serves as the founding Director of the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences (LIMS). He

Venture Capital and Technology in China with Bohan Lou – #118

Bohan Lou is a partner at Chemistry Ventures, based in SF. https://x.com/loubohan Bohan's report on the venture ecosystem in China: https://x.com/loubohan/status/208214

Iran, AI, and the Third World War (Crossover with Seeking Truth From Facts Podcast) – #117

This is a crossover episode with Alf Beckinsale, an Oxford University student who hosts the Seeking Truth From Facts podcast. The main topics are the US-Iran conflict, ge

State of AI, Summer 2026 – #116

Steve discusses the state of AI in summer 2026. Topics covered include: AI in math and theoretical physics, Recursive Self-Improvement, Agent swarms and tokenomics, IPOs

Beff Jezos and Effective Accelerationism: Machine God of Loving Grace – #115

Beff Jezos (Guillaume Verdon) is a Canadian physicist, quantum computing researcher, and tech entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder of the Effective Accelerationi

Razib Khan at Manifest 2026: Genetic Discoveries, AI, and Academia – #114

This episode was recorded live at Manifest 2026. Razib Khan is a prominent writer, population geneticist, and podcaster. He is best known for his extensive deep-dives int

Letter from Beijing 2: Tsinghua University – #113

This special episode was recorded at Tsinghua University in Beijing, generally regarded as the top university in China. Our guests are 3 Americans studying and working at

AI Billionaire on Existential Risk: Jaan Tallinn – #112

Jaan Tallinn is a tech billionaire and founding engineer of Skype who leverages his wealth to mitigate existential risks from artificial general intelligence (AGI). He co

Embryo Selection and Frontier Genomics with Dr. Alex Young – #111

Dr. Alex Young, a statistical geneticist and assistant professor in the Human Genetics department at UCLA, joins Steve Hsu to discuss the cutting edge of genomic predicti

Iran War is the First Missile War (crossover with Seeking Truth From Facts podcast) – #110

Steve and Alf discuss the Iran War, emphasizing what it reveals about modern missile and anti-missile technology, drones, and the implications for a US-China conflict i

Dreamers and Doomers: Our AI future, with Richard Ngo – #109

Richard Ngo is an independent AI researcher and philosopher known for his work on AGI safety and alignment. He recently resigned from OpenAI, where he was a member of t

China, Acceleration, and Nick Land - with Matt Southey – #108

Matt Southey is an editor for an AI safety organization. He wrote his PhD dissertation on the philosophy of Nick Land. Matt's "A Brief History of Accelerationism" can be

Shenzhen is the Technology Capital of the World, with Taylor Ogan – #107

Recorded live in Shenzhen with Taylor Ogan, the founder and CEO of Snowbull Capital, which invests in Chinese technology companies. Taylor on X: https://x.com/TaylorOg

AI DOOM: Jesse Hoogland of Timaeus

This is the second episode of our series based on interviews for the documentary film, Dreamers and Doomers, about the SF Bay Area in the last days before AGI.  Steve in

Dreamers and Doomers: Jeremy Nixon at AGI House – #105

Jeremy Nixon is a prominent AI researcher, entrepreneur, and the co-founder of AGI House, a leading "hacker house" community for artificial intelligence developers in Sil

Industrial Maximalism and Its Discontents: Dan Wang on US-China Competition – # 104

Links: Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future https://www.amazon.com/Breakneck-Chinas-Quest-Engineer-Future/dp/1324106034 Dan's 2025 annual letter https://da

Geopolitics 2026, crossover with Seeking Truth From Facts podcast – #103

Steve and Alf discuss geopolitical events of 2025 and what they expect in 2026. Links: Manifold episode with Han Feizi, Letter From Beijing https://www.manifold1.com/e

Polygenics and Machine SuperIntelligence; Billionaires, Philo-semitism, and Chosen Embryos – #102

This is a two-part episode. The first ~30m covers the most important 2025 breakthroughs in polygenic embryo screening, while the second 30m focuses specifically on AI cap

Theoretical Physics With Generative AI – #101

All but the last 20 minutes of this episode should be comprehensible to non-physicists. Steve explains where frontier AI models are in understanding frontier theoretical