A billionaire genius? Wow!
Will the invention of AI be the modern-day equivalent to the invention of the wheel in terms of its impact on human prosperity?
Three hours and 15 minutes of fascination.
Marc Andreessen may not be everyone’s “cup of tea”, but he sure impressed me in this interview with Lex Fridman.
As the title of Episode #386 says, guest Marc Andreessen and host Lex Fridman broadly discuss the Internet, Technology and AI. The son of a seed farmer in Iowa, Marc’s genius, passion and courage have led to one of the most impressive careers in Silicon Valley history, and a net worth of $1.7 billion. In my view, his wisdom about what constitutes a successful life is priceless.
It’s a matter of taste.
Like my father, I inherited his taste for stories about people with extraordinary qualities who led extraordinary lives.
Dad, a grade 8 Science teacher, liked to read about Indian yogis who became renown mystics such as Yogananda and Gopi Krishna. He also read the Tibetan Book of the Dead which surprised even me! Cosmic Consciousness was a core topic of his interest. I read some of those books too after dad passed in 1991 and they led me towards my long term interest in human consciousness.
Unlike my father, I had a 42 year career in the Information Technology industry, mainly as a professional recruiter. Interviewing thousands of “computer professionals” over those years deepened my interest in consciousness and how it manifested uniquely in every person I interviewed.
Listening to this discussion between Marc and Lex revealed the Life Lens of these men and contents of their consciousness. Thanks to this podcast, this information would remain unknown to people with interests like mine. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TicToc may be much more popular forms of social and information sharing, but the long form podcast is a vastly superior way to learn about great educators, thinkers, leaders, and successful people.
Marc Andreessen’s views about AI are as insightful as they are interesting. He explains that:
… human prosperity has always been positively correlated with increases in human intelligence; AI represents a potential leap in the collective IQ of humanity. It may eventually prove to be the productivity equivalent of what the invention of the wheel did for our ancestors.