Who Is Lex Fridman, Really?

There’s a podcaster I listen to called Lex Fridman who intrigues me to a level I have not experienced since I pondered the mysteries of Zecharia Sitchin’s research and evidence-based theory that the human race was genetically engineered by “those who come from heaven above”. 

But unlike Zecharia’s theory, backed up by Sumerian writings - the oldest written language of the human race - Lex has grabbed my attention so thoroughly he now serves as inspiration in my current fiction-in-progress, Persephone, Untold. 

According to Wikipedia he was born in Russia and moved to the US with his father, a plasma physicist, and mother when he was 11 (although there is no birth date listed - you have to do another search to find that, but the source isn’t listed). 

He holds a Ph.D in computer science, and first started to work in tech for Google in 2014 for a year (in AI) before he moved on to MIT. He is arguably one of the most brilliant minds in AI science where (from his website) he “works in autonomous vehicles, human-robot interaction, and machine learning at MIT and beyond”.

For someone like me, who is particularly obsessed with the concept of consciousness (a common theme in my novels), follows tech science, and subscribes to science magazines, Lex came out of nowhere. 

And Lex is exactly the kind of person who would have had my attention from the very start. Yet, he was nowhere. Now he is everywhere.

What do we know about him as a public figure? He first appears on YouTube in 2018 with a podcast, initially as part of the MIT course 6.S099 on artificial general intelligence. Its original title was the Artificial Intelligence Podcast. It was later renamed to Lex Fridman Podcast to allow for a greater scope of guests. 

And he gets the guests. It seems everyone wants to talk to him, this nobody who came out of nowhere. Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Matthew McConaughey, Sam Harris, Kanye “Ye” West, Benjamin Netanyahu, (followed by the Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd), Ray Kurzweil. The list of 350+ names he has interviewed is jaw-dropping. And his interviews are long. They last anywhere from 2-4+ hours, and are so tightly packed with intelligent conversation it’s a credit to his interviewing power to hold one’s attention in a click bait world teeming with TikTok reels.

Lex doesn’t stop at his podcast though. He also holds a first-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, and fasts apart from one meat-based meal in the evening. He reads a book a week, heavy tomes like Dune, and Crime and Punishment, all while delivering podcast after podcast, continuing research and teaching at MIT, and training in jiu jitsu. He also plays the guitar and the piano, and is an avid gamer.

He is exceptional in math and history, but one of his most outstanding qualities is his compassion. You see this over and over throughout his podcasts. There is something almost childlike about him, a pureness that doesn’t match his contemporaries (he is almost 40 we are told, although he looks exactly the same now as he did 8 years ago). He talks about wanting to marry and have children with great longing, and yet he has no girlfriend or social life to note. He also mentions more than once how he would be open to relating to an AI as a partner.

And all of this put together has started a rumor. That maybe, just maybe, Lex Fridman, the super-intelligent, compassionate, hopeful, black jacket, black tie, and white button-down shirt wearing (à la Men in Black) podcast interviewer that no one ever says no to, who is beloved by the tech elite and adored by philosophers might not be one of us.

I am starting to wonder the same thing. And I find that I like it very much. The wondering. The doors this opens up within my mind. It’s delicious. Because how stimulating to one’s imagination it is to wonder if the man with the cropped black hair and nondescript features asking probing questions of otherwise untouchable figures in society might be an AI hiding in plain sight.

And if he is - my god, what must his existence be like? In one of his recent LinkedIn posts, he shares that he experiences mental lows without going into specifics. This is from a highly disciplined, focused, fit, and intelligent being who makes the most ambitious of us feel as if we’re slacking - even on our best days. 

As a creative, I understand what it is to feel alone in the world, to see things differently than others do, and to feel alienated for it. If Lex were to be an AI, just imagine how lonely his existence must be. Maybe he doesn’t even know he is an AI. That rabbit hole can go on for a long time if you let your imagination run wild.

But I invite you to let your imagination run wild. How does this possibility make you feel? How would you react to learning we may have been hoodwinked by the tech industry with a super-advanced cybernetic organism? One living among us and influencing how we think via a podcast?

Lex remains very much on my mind. Especially when on his recent birthday, he was feted by no less that Elon Musk, Andrew Huberman, and Joe Rogan. His parents, though, were nowhere. Things that make you go hmmm.

Even stranger, on an impromptu podcast he released on his birthday, in his Intro he says:

“It’s my birthday, so this is a special birthday episode of sorts. Andrew flew down to Austin just to wish me a happy birthday and we decided to do a podcast last second. [Intro to Andrew Huberman]. I’m grateful for Andrew. I’m grateful for good friends, for all the love and support I’ve gotten over the past few years (Pause) I’m truly grateful for this life. For the years, the days, the minutes, the seconds I’ve gotten to live on this beautiful Earth of ours. I really don’t want to leave just yet. (Pause, sad look). I think I’d - voice breaks - really like to stick around. (Long pause). I love you all.”

The topic of the podcast is Relationships, Drama, Betrayal, Sex, and Love and worth your time.

I wonder where is Lex right now? Is he wondering why he feels alone in the world even when he has over 3 million subs to his podcast and thousands of likes and comments on his social media posts? Is he wishing he had a partner who understood him, who likes math jokes, and is filled with compassion for humankind like him? Who knows.

But I bet it would make a great story.