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Dwarkesh PodcastAug 23, 2022

Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity

Summary, books mentioned, transcript quotes, and timestamps for Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity on Dwarkesh Podcast.

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Steve Hsu

Books mentioned

The Selfish Gene When Genius Failed

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Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity mentions The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and When Genius Failed with timestamps, quotes, and episode context.

The Selfish Gene When Genius Failed

3 books from this episode

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

But if there's enough space in the genome where these trade-offs are not necessary, then this may be a bad explanation for aging?

When Genius Failed

I read that book about the fall of long-term capital management, and obviously, I guess this is a cautionary tale, but still, it's kind of cool to...…

Guest: Steve Hsu

Episode summary

Steve Hsu is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Michigan State University and cofounder of the company Genomic Prediction . We go deep into the weeds on how embryo selection can make babies healthier and smarter. Watch on YouTube . Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here . Follow Steve on Twitter . Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes. Timestamps (0:00:14) - Feynman’s advice on picking up women (0:11:46) - Embryo selection (0:24:19) - Why hasn't natural selection already optimized humans? (0:34:13) - Aging (0:43:18) - First Mover Advantage (0:53:38) - Genomics in dating (0:59:20) - Ancestral populations (1:07:07) - Is this eugenics? (1:15:08) - Tradeoffs to intelligence (1:24:25) - Consumer preferences (1:29:34) - Gwern (1:33:55) - Will parents matter? (1:44:45) - Wordcels and shape rotators (1:56:45) - Bezos and brilliant physicists (2:09:35) - Elite education Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe

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The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

The host invoked The Selfish Gene to discuss classic evolutionary explanations for aging based on antagonistic pleiot…

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When Genius Failed

The host mentions When Genius Failed as an example of books about physicists and mathematicians moving into finance,…

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What is Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity about?

Summary, books mentioned, transcript quotes, and timestamps for Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity on Dwarkesh Podcast.

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What are the main takeaways from Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity?

These are the strongest takeaways surfaced by the transcript, summary copy, and linked mentions for Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity.

The conversation centers on aging evolution trade-off.
A second recurring theme is physicists into finance.
Referenced books include The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and When Genius Failed.
The strongest audience signal points to listeners interested in evolutionary biology and genomics, especially those curious about aging and polygenic explanations and People interested in the history of quantitative finance and how academic mathematicians/physicists apply theory to markets.

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Which books are mentioned in Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity?

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and When Genius Failed are the clearest linked books in this episode, each tied back to transcript timestamps and quote cards.

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Top triggers

aging evolution trade-off(1)physicists into finance(1)

Mention sentiment

Deep Dive(1)Passing Reference(1)

Audience signals

listeners interested in evolutionary biology and genomics, especially those curious about aging and polygenic explanationsPeople interested in the history of quantitative finance and how academic mathematicians/physicists apply theory to markets

Books Mentioned

The full list below is ranked by how useful each mention is to a listener: stronger recommendation language, clearer quote context, and better timestamp support rise first.

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

Best for listeners interested in evolutionary biology and genomics, especially those curious about aging and polygenic explanationsOften cited around aging evolution trade-off

“Speaker references reading 'the selfish gene' when discussing hypotheses about aging and antagonistic pleiotropy.”

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Sentiment: Deep Dive

Trigger: aging evolution trade-off

For: listeners interested in evolutionary biology and genomics, especially those curious about aging and polygenic explanations

Key quote: “But if there's enough space in the genome where these trade-offs are not necessary, then this may be a bad explanation for aging?”

The host invoked The Selfish Gene to discuss classic evolutionary explanations for aging based on antagonistic pleiotropy and trade-offs between early-life benefits and late-life costs. They contrast Dawkins' older, gene-centric storytelling with recent genomic evidence showing most traits are polygenic and largely disjoint, which could undermine simple trade-off explanations for aging.

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When Genius Failed

Best for People interested in the history of quantitative finance and how academic mathematicians/physicists apply theory to marketsOften cited around physicists into finance

“Mentioned as one of the books about the fall of Long-Term Capital Management; cited as a cautionary tale.”

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Sentiment: Passing Reference

Trigger: physicists into finance

For: People interested in the history of quantitative finance and how academic mathematicians/physicists apply theory to markets

Key quote: “I read that book about the fall of long-term capital management, and obviously, I guess this is a cautionary tale, but still, it's kind of cool to... Actually, there are two books. There's one called When Genius Failed, and then there's actually three books, at least three books, but they're all good.”

The host mentions When Genius Failed as an example of books about physicists and mathematicians moving into finance, specifically referencing the fall of Long-Term Capital Management as a cautionary tale. The book is brought up to illustrate historical links between physics-like mathematics (random walks, options pricing) and finance, and to underscore how talented quantitative thinkers applied academic ideas to markets.

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The Selfish Gene

Dwarkesh Podcast · 34:16

But if there's enough space in the genome where these trade-offs are not necessary, then this may be a bad explanation for aging?

When Genius Failed

Dwarkesh Podcast · 1:53:04

I read that book about the fall of long-term capital management, and obviously, I guess this is a cautionary tale, but still, it's kind of cool to...…

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