Podcast appearance - Manifold (April 2025)
Talking literature with Steve Hsu
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with
, physicist, entrepreneur, and all-around polymath, for his podcast Manifold:
Hsu is a brilliant guy and it was a real pleasure to chat with him.
(Also: here’s a version in YouTube form, for those of you who prefer video)
Steve typically interviews people who are a hell of a lot smarter than I am, so I was humbled to have been invited on his show and talk about my novel, INCEL, which bridges the worlds of literary fiction and scientific reductionism.
I suspect this is why the book caught his attention, and it was really interesting to get his view on the protagonist’s Neo-Landian philosophical journey (in a funny sort of coincidence, I learned that Hsu used to talk to Nick Land online from years back in the day).
More broadly, as a member of the commentariat, Hsu made a number of very contrarian predictions in the geopolitical/technological spheres, including making the argument that export controls and technology sanctions on the PRC won’t work because they have too much human capital.
His predictive model—which is increasingly being proven correct—is that STEM talent is the decisive upstream input for technocapital-acceleration and essentially cannot be sanctioned with legal tools like chip embargoes.
This prediction, if indeed correct, will prove enormously consequential for the entire arc of human (and post-human) history.
For those of you who are curious, to get a broad introduction toHsu’s views on this topic, I’d suggest his excellent interview with
, which you can find here:
I wasn't expecting the podcast. Steve Hsu's podcast is always a treat to listen to.