verm forever

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

Here's my conversation with Andrew Scull, all about psychiatry, its long history from Freud/Jung to today, including asylums, icepick lobotomies, electroshock therapy, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and some horrific treatments that were considered mainstream where doctors injected patients with malaria, induced insulin comas, and pulled out their teeth, all in the name of curing madness.

There are a lot of lessons to learn from history here. One of the most important for me is just how incredibly complex the human mind is, and how hard the task is of understanding & treating the nearly infinite ways it can stumble/faulter.

Humans are amazing. In part, because our minds are such a damn complicated mess.

It's here on X in full and is up everywhere else (see comment).

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
1:20 - Crisis in Psychiatry
30:58 - Categories of Mental Illness
38:17 - Asylums, Eugenics, and the Nazis
50:23 - The Ice Pick Lobotomy
56:36 - Malaria "Cure" for Syphilis
1:14:52 - Insulin Coma Therapy
1:22:44 - Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
1:42:13 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1:59:45 - Freud and Psychoanalysis
2:29:40 - WWII and Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
2:50:14 - Antipsychotics
3:13:35 - Antidepressants
3:26:29 - Future of Psychiatry

[Love Classical Music and Movies 🎺🎻💖🎥🎬 @AlexTran677026]

The Evolution of the American Home 🇺🇸

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

Messi is going to the World Cup final!!!!! Great game, heartbreaking for England. Two legendary teams. What an amazing world cup🤯 LFG!

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

Here's my conversation with Gary Gallagher, a leading historian of the American Civil War. We discuss the causes of the war, the economics and politics of slavery, military strategy, Lincoln, Grant, Lee, the Lost Cause, the Confederate Flag, and the history of extreme political division in our country from before the Civil War to today.

It's here on X in full and is up everywhere else (see comment).

Timestamps:
0:00 - Episode highlight
1:29 - Introduction
1:52 - What caused the Civil War?
11:49 - Slavery
39:23 - Lincoln
54:19 - Grant vs Lee
1:03:13 - Could the Civil War have been avoided?
1:12:39 - The bloodiest war in US history
1:29:47 - How the Confederate Army could've won
1:50:22 - Key battles of the Civil War
2:13:23 - Best and Worst Presidents
2:27:23 - Robert E. Lee
2:46:56 - The most important battle of the Civil War
2:57:07 - The final showdown of the Civil War - Grant vs Lee
3:19:26 - Lost Cause and Confederate Monuments
3:36:54 - Extreme political division in US

[Historic Vids @historyinmemes]

Never forget the time Lex Fridman made Zuck take a robot captcha test before his interview

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

Sam Harris criticizing me and Joe Rogan is silly.

Specifically him talking down to me and saying I shouldn't interview Putin or Trump is laughable.

I will talk with EVERYONE.

I assure you, I prepare more than 99% of journalists. There are many conversations I prepare for 100+ hours for, and that's not counting general background reading of related books.

I continue to respect and learn from Sam Harris, as I do with many smart people across the political spectrum. It's important we listen & learn from all good-faith, rigorous minds, and I believe Sam is one.

Let's try not dismiss people because they may have some blindspots. All of us have blindspots and biases. I know I do and I try hard to remove them gradually every day.

We really all do live together is a glass house and social media feels like a rock-throwing convention, but if we are to have any hope to figure this shit out and flourish, we need to listen to people we disagree with, to learn from them, with empathy and with intellectual humility.

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

I'm reading a book a week in 2023. Classics, sci-fi, nonfiction, or anything people highly recommend. I'll keep adjusting the list. Start on Monday, done by Sunday. Might make lowkey videos of takeaways. If you want to read along, the current list is here: https://t.co/hYCs1pvLiZ

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

I got to spend all day today with Jensen in Taiwan: talking with thousands of engineers and eating street food at a night market. Jensen is received as a rockstar in Taiwan, like it's Beatles in the 60's. It's mind-blowing and fun to watch. But most importantly, through all the interactions and all my conversations with him, he remained the same humble, kind, thoughtful, funny guy he always was, even as a kid who went to these same night markets many years ago.

Btw, we tried a crazy amount of different street food. It's legit some of the most delicious food I've ever had. I can't wait to share video of it, including a ton of our conversations and hangout. When I can pause for a moment from all the travel to edit the video, I'll post it.

Can't wait to continue talking to Jensen and engineers at Computex this week, and exploring more of Taiwan, and of course roaming the night markets for some more delicious street food.

Days like these, even more than usual, I feel like the luckiest kid in the world.

Love you all! ❤️

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

I'm traveling the world for a bit, starting with China but then hopping around the globe, anywhere. Open to any adventure. No plans, only a backpack. Hoping to meet & get to know humans from all walks of life. The pic is from a long hike on the Great Wall. For me, as a fan of history, this was an epic experience.

In China, first I'm visiting a few big cities & talking to engineers at the heart of China's AI revolution. After that, if feeling crazy enough, I'm hitchhiking (first time) across rural China for a few weeks. Hitchhiking because I think it's the best way to meet rural folks who I would otherwise never get the chance to meet. I hope to do the same in US and other places.

I have a request, if you have a travel recommendation, fill out the form(s) below if you feel like it. Or share with folks who might have advice about such travel.

Form 1 - travel recommendation:
If you can, recommend to me an interesting place I should visit anywhere in the world. For this, fill out form 1. Not touristy stuff, but something off the beaten path, that tourists may not know about, but is legendary. It could be as remote as meeting a herder in the mountains who is a local legend. Asia, Middle East, Europe, India, South/North America, Africa, Australia, anywhere. In China, I'm hoping to visit maybe Heibei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, etc, so recommendations for spots to visit are helpful.

Form 2 - coffee:
If you want to grab a coffee with me anywhere in the world, fill out form 2 (please don't use form 1 for that).

Anyway, I hectically tossed stuff in backpack. Realizing I don't have a clear plan of any kind, which is probably the only way to do it. LFG.

Love you all ❤️

[verm forever @VermF25854]

Wish you lots of fun. Be careful when you hike around unknown places. Follow all safety guidelines.

I am also driving around the entire Northwest starting fro. COLORADO to Kansas --> Missouri --> Virginia --> North Carolina --> Tennesse ( I 40 West is the most beautiful drive) --> Missouri --> KANSAS --> Oklahoma --> Colorado

[Subrat Upadhyay 🕊️ ✪ @SubratUpadhyay4]

Let's discuss dance.😁