Lex Fridman Podcast

#498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires

Anthony Kaldellis is a historian of the Roman Empire and author of “The New Roman Empire”, a comprehensive history of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep498-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/anthony-kaldellis-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Anthony’s Books: https://amzn.to/49AX7Q1 Anthony’s Publications: https://kaldellispublications.weebly.com Anthony’s University of Chicago page: https://classics.uchicago.edu/people/anthony-kaldellis The New Roman Empire (book): https://amzn.to/3PTFTqk Streams of Gold (book): https://amzn.to/4fgRMRq Byzantium & Friends Podcast: https://byzantiumandfriends.podbean.com/ The History of Byzantium Podcast: https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Upwork: Platform for hiring freelancers. Go to https://upwork.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (00:11) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (08:45) – The Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire (12:42) – 2,200 Years of Roman History (33:06) – Power, violence, and civil war (54:20) – Edict of Caracalla (1:07:17) – Crisis of the Third Century (1:21:45) – Constantine and the new Roman Empire (1:33:46) – Christianity in the Roman Empire (1:59:14) – Fall of the Western Roman Empire (2:12:11) – Eunuchs, Taxes, and Power (2:37:17) – Emperor Justinian and wars of conquest (2:54:19) – The Arab conquests (3:13:55) – Why the Roman empire survived so long (3:40:01) – Lessons from history PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

#497 – Biggest Mysteries in Physics: Antimatter, Dark Energy & ToE – Don Lincoln

Don Lincoln is a particle physicist at Fermilab who has spent decades working at the frontiers of high energy physics. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep497-sc See below for timestamps, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Don’s Facebook: https://facebook.com/Dr.Don.Lincoln/ Don’s Website: https://drdonlincoln.com/ Don’s LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4nHeNiF Don’s YouTube Playlist: https://bit.ly/3PCIW67 Don’s X: https://x.com/DrDonLincoln Don’s Books: https://amzn.to/4uYbkOZ Don’s Great Courses: https://shop.thegreatcourses.com/don-lincoln Don’s Audible: https://adbl.co/4wGioRV Fermilab’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/fermilab Fermilab’s Website: https://www.fnal.gov/ Fermilab’s X: https://x.com/fermilab SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Upwork: Platform for hiring freelancers. Go to https://upwork.com/lex Larridin: Measure AI adoption in your business. Go to https://larridin.com Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (00:34) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (08:52) – Unifying the laws of nature (23:23) – Einstein, special relativity, and general relativity (40:31) – Electroweak force (52:13) – How particle colliders work (1:10:16) – Higgs boson discovery (1:20:35) – Theory of everything (1:50:20) – Physics of empty space (1:57:45) – Antimatter (2:18:35) – Dark energy (2:22:23) – Dark matter (2:50:59) – Future of physics PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

#496 – FFmpeg: The Incredible Technology Behind Video on the Internet

Jean-Baptiste Kempf is lead developer of VLC and president of VideoLAN. Kieran Kunhya is a longtime FFmpeg contributor, codec engineer, and the person behind the now-infamous FFmpeg account on X. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep496-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/ffmpeg-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: FFmpeg on X: https://x.com/FFmpeg FFmpeg: https://ffmpeg.org/ VideoLAN (VLC): https://www.videolan.org/ VideoLAN on X: https://x.com/videolan Jean-Baptiste’s Website: https://jbkempf.com/ Jean-Baptiste’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbkempf/ Jean-Baptiste’s GitHub: https://github.com/jbkempf Kieran’s X: https://x.com/kierank_ Kieran’s LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3OORhmC Kieran’s GitHub: https://github.com/kierank SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Larridin: Measure AI adoption in your business. Go to https://larridin.com Blitzy: AI agent for large enterprise codebases. Go to https://blitzy.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (03:00) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (10:48) – Weirdest things VLC opens (15:12) – How video playback works (24:33) – Video codecs and containers (35:20) – FFmpeg explained (56:20) – Linus Torvalds (1:00:59) – Turning down millions to keep VLC ad-free (1:15:17) – FFmpeg & Google drama (1:34:31) – FFmpeg developers (1:41:08) – VLC and FFmpeg (1:45:42) – History of FFmpeg (1:48:59) – Reverse engineering codecs (2:02:14) – FFmpeg testing (2:06:21) – Assembly code (handwritten) (2:30:39) – Rust programming language (2:39:55) – FFmpeg and Libav fork (2:48:17) – Open source burnout (2:56:04) – x264 and internet video (3:09:20) – Video compression basics (3:16:17) – CIA and fake VLC (3:26:52) – Ultra low latency streaming (3:44:20) – AV2 codec and video patents (3:54:12) – VLC backdoors (4:04:27) – Video archiving (4:11:04) – Future of FFmpeg and VLC

#495 – Vikings, Ragnar, Berserkers, Valhalla & the Warriors of the Viking Age

Lars Brownworth is a historian, teacher, podcaster, and author specializing in Viking history, medieval Europe, and the Byzantine Empire. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep495-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/lars-brownworth-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Lars’s Website: https://larsbrownworth.com/ The Sea Wolves (book): https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Wolves-History-Vikings/dp/1909979120 Lars’s Books: https://amzn.to/4sHY0xw 12 Byzantine Rulers Podcast : https://12byzantinerulers.com/ Norman Centuries Podcast: https://apple.co/4sgSxNi SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Larridin: Measure AI adoption in your business. Go to https://larridin.com BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (01:03) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (08:57) – The start of the Viking Age (18:50) – Viking military strategy, tactics & technology (32:33) – Ragnar Lothbrok (42:00) – The Great Heathen Army (46:42) – Rollo and Normandy (56:54) – Viking religion and Valhalla (1:07:25) – Viking explorers (1:12:33) – Vikings in North America (1:25:55) – Vikings in the East (1:45:33) – Byzantine Empire (1:54:17) – History and human nature PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

#494 – Jensen Huang: NVIDIA – The $4 Trillion Company & the AI Revolution

Jensen Huang is the co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, the world’s most valuable company and the engine powering the AI computing revolution. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep494-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/jensen-huang-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: NVIDIA: https://nvidia.com NVIDIA on X: https://x.com/nvidia NVIDIA AI on X: https://x.com/NVIDIAAI NVIDIA on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@nvidia NVIDIA on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nvidia/ NVIDIA on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nvidia/ NVIDIA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NVIDIA/ NVIDIA on GitHub: https://github.com/NVIDIA Nemotron: https://developer.nvidia.com/nemotron SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Quo: Phone system (calls, texts, contacts) for businesses. Go to https://quo.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (00:26) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (06:34) – Extreme co-design and rack-scale engineering (09:20) – How Jensen runs NVIDIA (28:41) – AI scaling laws (43:41) – Biggest blockers to AI scaling laws (45:25) – Supply chain (47:20) – Memory (53:25) – Power (58:45) – Elon and Colossus (1:02:13) – Jensen’s approach to engineering and leadership (1:07:38) – China (1:15:51) – TSMC and Taiwan (1:21:06) – NVIDIA’s moat (1:26:43) – AI data centers in space (1:30:31) – Will NVIDIA be worth $10 trillion? (1:40:40) – Leadership under pressure (1:54:26) – Video games (2:01:18) – AGI timeline (2:03:31) – Future of programming (2:17:02) – Consciousness (2:23:23) – Mortality PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips