#479 – Dave Plummer: Programming, Autism, and Old-School Microsoft Stories
Dave Plummer is a programmer, former Microsoft software engineer (Windows 95, NT, XP), creator of Task Manager, author of two books on autism, and host of the Dave's Garage YouTube channel, where he shares stories from his career, insights on software development, and deep dives into technology.
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EPISODE LINKS:
Dave's X: https://x.com/davepl1968
Dave's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavesGarage
Dave's Secondary YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@davepl
Dave's GitHub: https://github.com/PlummersSoftwareLLC
Dave's Books: https://amzn.to/41qd5IB
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(01:14) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(10:16) - First computer
(15:54) - Dropping out of high-school
(23:35) - Joining Microsoft
(25:47) - MS-DOS
(28:59) - Windows 95
(35:46) - The man behind Windows
(40:42) - Debugging
(45:59) - Task Manager
(51:08) - 3D Pinball: Space Cadet
(56:07) - Start menu and taskbar
(1:07:06) - Blue Screen of Death
(1:09:15) - Best programmers
(1:17:16) - Scariest time of Dave's life
(1:24:44) - Best Windows version
(1:26:34) - Slot machines
(1:30:17) - Autism and ADHD
(1:49:37) - Fastest programming language
(1:53:42) - Future of programming
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- Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips
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#478 – Scott Horton: The Case Against War and the Military Industrial Complex
Scott Horton is the director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of The Scott Horton Show, co-host of Provoked, and for the past three decades a staunch critic of U.S. military interventionism.
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EPISODE LINKS:
Supplemental Notes & Corrections: https://lexfridman.com/scott-horton-links-and-notes/
Scott's X: https://x.com/scotthortonshow
Scott Horton Show: https://youtube.com/@scotthortonshow
Provoked Show: https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show
Scott's Substack: https://scotthortonshow.com/
Scott's Website: https://scotthorton.org/
Scott's Books: https://amzn.to/3T9Qg7y
Libertarian Institute: https://libertarianinstitute.org/
Antiwar.com: https://antiwar.com/
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:35) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(09:14) - From the Cold War to the War on Terror
(1:02:13) - Iraq War 1
(1:30:17) - Bin Laden
(2:29:39) - Afghanistan War
(2:44:35) - Iraq War 2
(3:10:59) - Military Industrial Complex
(3:50:25) - Scott's life story
(4:20:15) - Iraq War 2 (continued)
(5:11:43) - Syria
(6:05:01) - Iraq War 3
(6:17:28) - Somalia
(6:22:56) - Iran
(7:12:41) - Israel-Palestine
(9:02:19) - Cold War 2.0
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Keyu Jin is an economist specializing in China's economy, international macroeconomics, global trade imbalances, and financial policy. She is the author of The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism.
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/keyu-jin-transcript
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:35) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(08:26) - Misconceptions about China
(12:57) - Education in China
(22:14) - Economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping
(27:33) - Mayor economy and GDP growth race
(41:20) - Growing up in China
(46:58) - First time in the US
(51:12) - China's government vs business sector
(54:46) - Communism and capitalism
(58:25) - Jack Ma
(1:04:37) - China's view on innovation and copying ideas
(1:11:15) - DeepSeek moment
(1:15:09) - CHIPS Act
(1:16:56) - Tariffs and Trade
(1:29:21) - Immigration
(1:34:08) - Taiwan
(1:39:54) - One-child policy
(1:47:51) - China's economy collapse predictions
(1:52:34) - Advice for visiting China
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1:57:17
#476 – Jack Weatherford: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire
Jack Weatherford is an anthropologist and historian specializing in Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire.
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/jack-weatherford-transcript
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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World: https://amzn.to/4l45LsY
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: https://amzn.to/4l22uud
Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: https://amzn.to/4fpOQA4
Emperor of the Seas: Kublai Khan and the Making of China: https://amzn.to/40JEll1
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:44) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(10:44) - Origin story of Genghis Khan
(52:30) - Early battles & conquests
(1:05:11) - Power
(1:07:33) - Secret History
(1:20:58) - Mongolian steppe
(1:24:16) - Mounted archery and horse-riding
(1:32:36) - Genghis Khan's army
(1:48:49) - Military tactics and strategy
(2:01:13) - Wars of conquest
(2:05:37) - Dan Carlin
(2:15:37) - Religious freedom
(2:31:24) - Trade and the Silk Road
(2:40:10) - Weapons innovation
(2:41:40) - Kublai Khan and conquering China
(3:23:31) - Fall of the Mongol Empire
(3:50:26) - Genetic legacy
(4:00:20) - Lessons from Genghis Khan
(4:10:36) - Human nature
(4:13:47) - Visiting Mongolia
(4:33:15) - Lex: Dan Carlin
(4:36:06) - Lex: Gaza
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4:39:58
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4:39:58
#475 – Demis Hassabis: Future of AI, Simulating Reality, Physics and Video Games
Demis Hassabis is the CEO of Google DeepMind and Nobel Prize winner for his groundbreaking work in protein structure prediction using AI.
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/demis-hassabis-2-transcript
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DeepMind's X: https://x.com/GoogleDeepMind
DeepMind's Instagram: https://instagram.com/GoogleDeepMind
DeepMind's Website: https://deepmind.google/
Gemini's Website: https://gemini.google.com/
Isomorphic Labs: https://isomorphiclabs.com/
The MANIAC (book): https://amzn.to/4lOXJ81
Life Ascending (book): https://amzn.to/3AhUP7z
SPONSORS:
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(00:29) - Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(08:40) - Learnable patterns in nature
(12:22) - Computation and P vs NP
(21:00) - Veo 3 and understanding reality
(25:24) - Video games
(37:26) - AlphaEvolve
(43:27) - AI research
(47:51) - Simulating a biological organism
(52:34) - Origin of life
(58:49) - Path to AGI
(1:09:35) - Scaling laws
(1:12:51) - Compute
(1:15:38) - Future of energy
(1:19:34) - Human nature
(1:24:28) - Google and the race to AGI
(1:42:27) - Competition and AI talent
(1:49:01) - Future of programming
(1:55:27) - John von Neumann
(2:04:41) - p(doom)
(2:09:24) - Humanity
(2:12:30) - Consciousness and quantum computation
(2:18:40) - David Foster Wallace
(2:25:54) - Education and research
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Conversations about science, technology, history, philosophy and the nature of intelligence, consciousness, love, and power. Lex is an AI researcher at MIT and beyond.
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