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Lex Fridman Podcast

Terence Tao: Hardest Problems in Mathematics, Physics & the Future of AI

Lex Fridman Podcast

#472 · Introduction
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Terence Tao is widely considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians in history. He won the Fields Medal and the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, and has contributed to a wide range of fields from fluid dynamics with Navier-Stokes equations to mathematical physics & quantum mechanics, prime numbers & analytics number theory, harmonic analysis, compressed sensing, random matrix theory, combinatorics, and progress on many of the hardest problems in the history of mathematics. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep472-sc See below for , transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.

Transcript: lexfridman.com/terence-tao-transcript

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EPISODE LINKS: Terence’s Blog: terrytao.wordpress.com Terence’s YouTube: @TerenceTao27 Terence’s Books: amzn.to/43H9Aiq

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OUTLINE:

  • (00:00) – Introduction
  • (00:36) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
  • (09:49) – First hard problem
  • (15:16) – Navier–Stokes singularity
  • (35:25) – Game of life
  • (42:00) – Infinity
  • (47:07) – Math vs Physics
  • (53:26) – Nature of reality
  • (1:16:08) – Theory of everything
  • (1:22:09) – General relativity
  • (1:25:37) – Solving difficult problems
  • (1:29:00) – AI-assisted theorem proving
  • (1:41:50) – Lean programming language
  • (1:51:50) – DeepMind’s AlphaProof
  • (1:56:45) – Human mathematicians vs AI
  • (2:06:37) – AI winning the Fields Medal
  • (2:13:47) – Grigori Perelman
  • (2:26:29) – Twin Prime Conjecture
  • (2:43:04) – Collatz conjecture
  • (2:49:50) – P = NP
  • (2:52:43) – Fields Medal
  • (3:00:18) – Andrew Wiles and Fermat’s Last Theorem
  • (3:04:15) – Productivity
  • (3:06:54) – Advice for young people
  • (3:15:17) – The greatest mathematician of all time

PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: lexfridman.com/feed/podcast – Podcast Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZg... – Clips Channel: youtube.com/lexclips