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Comment by mindcrime | Hacker News Reader

Meh. What's Joe Rogan gonna ask somebody like Jim Keller or Yann Lecun? Does he know enough about either of their respective fields to even frame an interesting question beyond "do you smoke weed?" or "Should people get the COVID vaccine?", "who will be the next UFC lightweight champion?", etc.

Don't get me wrong here: I am a huge Rogan fan. And some Fridman guests would, IMO, be great with Rogan as well (Zuck, for example). But a lot of Fridman's guests are into some pretty deep, esoteric, technical domains that I don't think would fit with Rogan, unless he has a lot of technical knowledge/background of which I am unaware.

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Lex equally didn't have much to say to Jim Keller. There was a bit of back and forth but it just felt pointless (all programmers should know what a branch predictor is, especially ones about to interview Jim Keller!) Or a bit childish: at one I think Fridman asks him what his greatest achievement is in a slightly corny way, and Keller just remarks that he has children.

Give me Sean Carroll then. Lex spends too much of his interviews talking about himself or his feelings on some matter. Seriously, I couldn’t care less about Lex’s feelings on the subject - what makes Joe and Sean so good is the ability to ask questions, listen, empathize, and contextualize information from the guest. Joe’s worst episodes and the things people hate him for are when he strays from that formula and says something dumb, but he’s world class at interviewing otherwise.

Sean Carroll is my favorite interview podcaster. Maybe it's my physics bias but his guests are often from very different areas and he still finds good questions, keeps a humble attitude of wanting to understand, and doesn't take up too much room. The discussions stay on topic and often go pretty deep.

I enjoy Lex, but I doubt he's going to ask and stick to tough questions (I haven't watched this one yet). Rogan might not ask technical questions, but he's more skilled at probing the topics many have concerns about. Such as "fact checking" and censorship.

Rogan might not ask technical questions, but he's more skilled at probing the topics many have concerns about. Such as "fact checking" and censorship.

Sure, and that's why I said I think Zuck would be a good guest for Rogan. What I'm objecting to is the idea that the entirety of Fridman's guest list would be better interviewed by Rogan. Some, perhaps. All? I am very skeptical of that position. That's all I'm saying.

I listened to Lex and you're right, Zuck was a nice guest for him. He asked somewhat tricky questions and Zuck could give reasonable answers that maybe could have only happened with Lex.

Thats is a bit of a problem though. When Zuck was asked what should be done he easily threw it back at Lex to answer. Lex went onto a meandering non-committal path trying to work out how to not offend and sound smart. Lex is too easy to manipulate.

Lex's main weakness is that he wants Love and is unwilling to prioritize Truth. He is agreeable and young.

I am worried that he'll get his interview with Putin.

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