Joscha Bach is a German cognitive scientist, AI researcher, and philosopher known for his work on cognitive architectures, artificial intelligence, mental representation, emotion, social modeling, multi-agent systems, and the philosophy of mind.

Links of interest:

• http://bach.ai/
• https://x.com/Plinz

Steve and Joscha discuss:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:26) - Growing up in the forest in East Germany
• (06:23) - Academia: early neural net pioneers, CS and Philosophy
• (10:17) - The fall of the Berlin Wall
• (14:57) - Commodore 64 and early programming experiences
• (15:29) - AGI timeline and predictions
• (19:35) - Scaling hypothesis, beyond Transformers, universality of information structures and world models
• (25:29) - Consciousness
• (41:11) - The ethics of brain interventions, zombies, and the Turing test
• (43:43) - LLMs and simulated phenomenology
• (46:34) - The future of consciousness research
• (48:44) - Cultural perspectives on suffering
• (52:19) - AGI and humanity's future
• (58:18) - Simulation hypothesis
• (01:03:33) - Liquid AI: Innovations and goals
• (01:16:02) - Philosophy of Identity: the Transporter Problem, Is there anything beyond memory records?

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

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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, Othram) 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 X @hsu_steve.

This episode is an interview I did with the new podcast Information Theory. The host of Information Theory is an anonymous technologist trained in physics and machine learning.

• Information Theory Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InformationTheoryPod
• Information Theory Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PbxeOYInRuH4DBXOAOq5u?si=q90fZh8PRUut5c1XG4K7Sw

• (00:00) - Introduction to Information Theory podcast
• (01:19) - The education of a physicist
• (10:53) - Computational genomics
• (19:40) - Thinking styles and collaboration in theoretical physics
• (26:08) - Scientific progress and the Great Stagnation
• (40:39) - University research administration
• (45:05) - Reproducibility crisis
• (57:58) - Impact of basic research
• (01:03:16) - Critique of NIH and biomedical research
• (01:06:48) - Personal reflections on Trump's re-election and an inside view of the 47 transition
• (01:12:37) - Silicon Valley and US politics
• (01:15:30) - Concerns and hope for America's future

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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, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) 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 X @hsu_steve.

Pascal Lottaz is Associate Professor at Kyoto University’s Faculty of Law & Hakubi

Center. His research area is Neutrality Studies - the study of neutrality as a concept in international relations, sociology, international law, diplomacy, political science, security, and history.

• Follow Pascal on X @Plottaz
• Pascal's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudies

• (00:00) - Professor Pascal Lattaz's background, early life, and experiences in Japan
• (14:17) - Neutrality in international relations
• (20:07) - Ukraine's struggle for neutrality
• (28:44) - Debating the Ukraine conflict
• (37:50) - Physics, social sciences, and observer-independent reality
• (46:13) - The importance of dissent in open societies
• (47:01) - Russian resilience, NATO, escalation strategies, and potential outcomes
• (51:43) - European realism and U.S. influence
• (56:16) - Incentive structures and NATO dynamics
• (01:04:11) - Japan's strategic position and U.S. alliance
• (01:13:49) - Potential conflicts and proxy wars in East Asia
• (01:30:35) - Philippines' strategic dilemma
• (01:36:26) - Concluding thoughts

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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, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) 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 X @hsu_steve.