2.5M views · Sep 15, 2016 · 19:33 · 3 HN recommenders · 7 mentions · discussed 2016–2025
A 20-minute Y Combinator interview in which Sam Altman asks Elon Musk how to build the future. Topics include which problems a 22-year-old should work on, such as AI, genetics, and brain interfaces, and general advice for founders.
Why Hacker News points people here: Offered as a more down-to-earth Musk interview with better questions than most, and cited for his stated concerns about concentrated AI power.
“A more down-to-earth video to watch might be this one”HN comment, 2019
“I was really hoping for some better questions like the ones in the "How to build the future" [1] interview”
Interview with better questions than the one under discussion
Came here to say the same thing, I was really hoping for some better questions like the ones in the "How to build the future" [1] interview... [1] this video
“A more down-to-earth video to watch might be this one”
More down-to-earth interview with Musk
A more down-to-earth video to watch might be this one: "Elon Musk: How to Build the Future" this video (of course "down-to-earth" is very relative)
“that I found to be interesting even as a non-fanboy”
20-minute 2016 conversation between Altman and Musk
The anonymous “Interviewer” in the last part of that Reddit post was Sam Altman, excerpted from a 20-minute conversation with Elon Musk in 2016 [1] that I found to be interesting even as a non-fanboy. [1]: this video
“Here is a more heuristic take on it by Elon Musk”
Heuristic take by Musk on maximizing impact
To answer your question, instead of maximizing your output, I believe that maximizing everyone else's output is more valuable. It is also harder, otherwise someone else would have already done it. I am very biased to answer that mathematics drives science. Advance the tools and applications follow. [1] Here is a more heuristic take on it by Elon Musk: this video [1] link
“As he clearly stated in this interview[1], his concern is that the immense power of A.I. owned by a small group”
Musk explains his AI concern is concentrated power
I think Elon Musk's concern over A.I. has been widely misunderstood. His concern is NOT A.I. replacing the human species. As he clearly stated in this interview[1], his concern is that the immense power of A.I. owned by a small group of organizations or even individuals, which IMO, is well justified. 1. this video
Shows Musk has given interviews with Y Combinator
It's not too crazy of a question since Elon Musk has given public interviews in association with YCombinator [1] [2] (and was a founder in partly YC-associated OpenAI [3]), and the fact he seems to spend his limited time these days posting on X, streaming video games, memeing and presumably lurking on Reddit. [1] this video [2] link [3] link
“Altman did the same thing in the early OpenAI days by doing flaterring video series interviews with Elon Musk”
PG liked him, because Altman decided to go to great lengths to get PG to like him. While Drew, Chesky and the Collison brothers were busy building billion dollar companies, Altman took the “shortcut” and made a concerted effort to cozy up to the most powerful man in the room — and it payed dividends. Altman did the same thing in the early OpenAI days by doing flaterring video series interviews with Elon Musk, Vinod Khosla and others [0]. Incidentally, The YC interview with Elon Musk was done the year Musk made a donation to OpenAI (2016), I still remember PG’s essay where he gave Altman the ultimate character reference (2008) [1]: >When we predict good outcomes for startups, the qualities that come up in the supporting arguments are toughness, adaptability, determination. Which means to the extent we're correct, those are the qualities you need to win…Sam Altman has it. You could parachute him into an island full of cannibals and come back in 5 years and he'd be the king. If you're Sam Altman, you don't have to be profitable to convey to investors that you'll succeed with or without them. (In retrospect, praising Altman for being the “king of cannibals” has a nice touch of gallows humor to it. Hilariously, even recently pg has a seemingly unintentional tendency to give Altman compliments that appear to be character warnings masquerading as compliments.) In 2009, pg included Altman in the top 5 in a list of the most interesting startup founders of the last 30 years. [2] If thi
