Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Roman Yampolskiy has spent two decades trying to prove that superintelligent AI can be controlled. He couldn’t. I invited him on to make his case. Subscribe if you want science with evidence, not speculation. Roman is a professor of computer science at the University of Louisville and one of the earliest researchers in AI safety. His book AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable started as an attempt to solve the alignment problem. After decades of work, it became a proof that the problem cannot be solved. Not difficult. Mathematically impossible. I push back hard. We go after the Einstein test: can a large language model trained only on pre-1911 physics reproduce what Einstein did with the same data? We ran that experiment. It failed. Roman and I disagree about what that means. We also get into the halting problem and what it actually tells us about predicting smarter-than-human behavior, whether value alignment is a real problem or a well-funded category error, the case for a government moratorium on frontier model development, and why Roman thinks giving an AI agent access to your computer is the dumbest thing a smart person can do. What you’ll hear: Whether AI control is mathematically impossible or just unsolved Why Roman thinks all current AI safety work is security theater What the halting problem actually means for superintelligence The alignment problem: real issue or well-funded category error Why Roman wants a moratorium on frontier model development What to tell your kids about careers in a world where Roman might be right If you listen to other people, the best you can become is average. CHAPTERS 00:00 Creating a mind without an off switch 01:34 Solving problems beyond our own intelligence 04:08 Einstein’s epiphany and the limit of AI intuition 08:18 Assessing the Einstein test: Why the experiment failed 12:22 Path dependency: Are LLMs and GPUs our QWERTY? 16:10 The barriers preventing AI from solving physics 21:54 Safety vs. Capability: Why toddlers are safe but teens are not 23:06 The halting problem: Predicting agents smarter than us 25:58 The impossibility of a system proving its own integrity 28:18 Regulation: Genuine safety or a gift to oligarchs? 33:28 Is human cognition non-computable? Penrose vs. the field 39:00 Ethical duties: Must we treat AI with humanity? 43:00 From internet memes to monsters: Decoding the book cover 46:22 Customized realities: Can everyone have their perfect world? 49:50 Von Neumann probes and the panspermia hypothesis 55:02 Categorizing AI: The one version that should terrify you 58:22 Pause AI: The movement for a development moratorium 59:58 Career advice for kids in a post-professional world 01:07:58 Cross-examining Sam Altman 01:15:48 Roman’s dream debate 01:19:50 Lessons for a younger self Substack: https://briankeating.substack.com Get the transcript, fascinating bonus content, and my Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message: https://briankeating.com/yt Have a .edu email and live in the USA? You automatically win a meteorite: https://BrianKeating.com/edu Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 Support Into the Impossible on Patreon, get my weekly M.A.G.I.C. Message, unfiltered bonus content, and live monthly Office Hours with me: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating Join this channel for perks, monthly Office Hours, and your name in the Member Roster at the end of every episode: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Featured Guest: Roman Yampolskiy on Twitter/X: https://x.com/romanyam?lang=en AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable: https://www.romanyampolskiy.com/books/ My books: Losing the Nobel Prize (memoir): http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U Galileo’s Dialogue (first-ever audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Twitter/X: https://x.com/BrianKeating Substack: https://briankeating.substack.com Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog Audio-only: https://briankeating.com/podcast #intotheimpossible #briankeating #AIrisk #artificialintelligence #aisafety #podcast #superintelligence #RomanYampolskiy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Michael Wong recently discussed theory of evolution on TED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSrf7ErdHWA — in this conversation, we go deeper on the law of increasing functional information and what it means for life, complexity, and the future of science. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes each week 🎧 Ad-free episodes on Patreon: patreon.com/drbriankeating INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE — where Nobel Prize winners, physicists, and bold thinkers explore the biggest questions in science. Is there a second arrow of time? Astrobiologist and planetary scientist Dr. Michael Wong joins Brian Keating to explore the law of increasing functional information — a proposed new law of nature that may explain how complexity evolves across minerals, biology, AI, and the cosmos. Dr. Michael Wong of the Carnegie Institution for Science has been working with a cross-disciplinary group of scientists — the "Missing Law Group" — to propose something bold: a new law of nature. Their law of increasing functional information argues that evolving systems, whether biological or not, tend toward greater complexity and function over time. In this conversation, Brian and Michael unpack what functional information actually means, how it differs from Shannon entropy, and why it may describe something fundamental about the universe we live in. From the formation of minerals in stellar atmospheres to the evolution of life on Earth, Michael walks through how this framework applies across planetary science, astrobiology, and even cancer research. Brian pushes on the hard questions — the Fermi paradox, the boundary conditions of the law, its relationship to the second law of thermodynamics, and whether it truly qualifies as a "law" at all. Sean Carroll blurbed the book and later called it out on his podcast — Brian asks Michael about that tension directly. They also get into panspermia, the contingent role of cosmic collisions in shaping Earth's evolutionary history, the search for biosignatures on Mars and beyond, and what the rise of generative AI looks like through the lens of selection for function. This is a wide-ranging, technically honest conversation about one of the most ambitious proposals in contemporary science. Key Takeaways: 00:00:35 There May Be a Second Arrow of Time — and It Points Toward Complexity 00:01:35 The Law of Increasing Functional Information Explains How the Universe Evolves 00:07:15 Functional Information Measures How Well a System Performs a Specific Function 00:11:30 Three Universal Selection Pressures Drive All Evolving Systems 00:18:00 Mineral Evolution on Earth Is a Measurable Proof of the Law in Action 00:22:00 The Law Is a Tendency, Not a Guarantee — It Doesn't Resolve the Fermi Paradox 00:27:00 Life and Non-Life Contain the Same Building Blocks — the Difference Is in the Distributions 00:32:15 Cosmic Collisions Didn't Derail Evolution — They Opened New Possibility Spaces 00:50:00 Cancer Behaves Like an Evolving System — and That Could Change How We Treat It 01:05:15 AI Is a New Form of Evolving Life — and Without Stronger Selection Pressure, It's DangerousFeatured Guest ➡️ Follow Michael Wong 🌐 Website: https://miquai.myportfolio.com/ 📚 The book: Time’s Second Arrow (co-authored with Robert Hazen) : https://www.amazon.com/Times-Second-Arrow-Evolution-Nature-ebook/dp/B0FJ2ZJL53 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://x.com/miquai — Brian's Links Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (audiobook): https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Mailing list: http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Blog: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Audio-only: https://briankeating.com/podcast — #physics #astrobiology #complexity #evolutionoflife #briankeating #intotheimpossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 In this episode of The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast, Brian Keating sits down with Andy Weir, the bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary, to explore the real science behind one of the most ambitious science fiction stories ever written. With the upcoming film adaptation of Project Hail Mary generating excitement among fans, we dig into the physics, astrophysics, and speculative biology that make the story so compelling. Could the mysterious energy source known as astrophage actually exist? What does real astrophysics say about interstellar travel, relativistic journeys, and humanity’s chances of reaching nearby star systems? Andy Weir explains how he builds scientifically grounded worlds while still telling gripping stories, and Brian breaks down which elements of the novel are plausible according to modern physics. The conversation also explores the process of writing hard science fiction, how scientific accuracy shapes storytelling, and why readers and scientists alike have embraced Project Hail Mary as one of the most scientifically informed sci-fi novels of the last decade. Along the way, Brian and Andy discuss the challenges of adapting such a technically rich story into a major Hollywood film and what audiences might expect when the movie arrives. If you enjoy deep conversations about physics, astronomy, science fiction, and the boundary between imagination and reality, this episode will give you a fascinating look at how real science inspires great storytelling. - Key Takeaways: 00:00 Andy Weir Discusses 'Project Hail Mary' 10:44 "Balancing Science and Creativity" 16:03 "Global Unity Against Common Threats" 18:56 Amateurs Driving Innovation 25:35 Fermi Paradox: Light Speed Limit 29:30 "Building a Shared Language" 35:32 "5,000 Words Weekly Writing System" 46:58 UCSD Physics Experience Reflection 51:23 "Colleges Should Be Trade Schools" 57:08 Billion-Year Human Legacy Capsule - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #andyweir #projecthailmary #themartian #sciencefiction #hardsciencefiction #scifibooks #spacescience Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Aswath Damodaran joins Brian Keating to argue that markets, universities, and financial models are all suffering the same disease — mistaking mechanical processes for genuine thinking — and explains why Nobel economists aren't billionaires, why academia is the most deserving target for disruption, and why every major asset class is now overpriced with nowhere left to hide. 00:00 Intro 00:01:37 Why Nobel Economists Aren't Billionaires 00:06:08 Universities Have Completely Lost the Plot 00:07:43 95% of Academic Research Is Worthless 00:13:05 The University Is a Sticky Business — But Cracks Are Forming 00:40:00 ChatGPT Already Does What Bankers Charge Millions For 00:46:43 The Most Dangerous Number in Finance 00:52:35 There Is No Safe Place Left to Put Your Money 00:55:48 When Every Asset Is Overpriced, Buy What You Love 01:00:22 We Are Losing Our Ability to Think 01:01:30 Markets Are Smarter Than Experts — Every Single Time ➡️ Follow Aswath Damodaran 🌐 Website: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/ 📚 The Little Book of Valuation: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/ 📝 Musings on Markets (Substack): https://aswathdamodaran.substack.com Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with productivity tips from 9 Nobel Prize winners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices