The Selfish Gene

This book by Richard Dawkins has been genuinely recommended 3 times on Lex Fridman. The people who vouched for it on air: Andrej Karpathy, Rob Reid, Steven Pinker. It comes up in conversations about brain health, consciousness. The earliest recommendation we indexed is from Oct 2018 and the most recent from Oct 2022. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

As influential today as when it was first published, The Selfish Gene has become a classic exposition of evolutionary thought. Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication. This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research.

• “I was very impacted by the selfish Gene I thought that was a really good book that helped me understand altruism”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “I was very impacted by the selfish Gene I thought that was a really good book”
  Andrej Karpathy · Lex Fridman Podcast · Oct 202203:09:31

  Said during "Andrej Karpathy: Tesla AI, Self-Driving, Optimus, Aliens, and AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #333". The episode features Andrej Karpathy: Former director of AI at Tesla and a founding member of OpenAI, previously a researcher at Stanford. One of the most influential figures in deep learning, known for his teaching (CS231n) and hands-on explanations of neural networks. Andrej Karpathy on Tesla's vision-only self-driving, Optimus, the Transformer, aliens, simulation theory, and the path to AGI.

• “his launching of the idea of memes is just kind of an afterthought to his unbelievably brilliant book about the selfish gene”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “unbelievably brilliant book”
  Rob Reid · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jun 202100:09:16

  Said during "Rob Reid: The Existential Threat of Engineered Viruses and Lab Leaks | Lex Fridman Podcast #193". The episode features Rob Reid: Entrepreneur, science-fiction novelist, and host of the After On podcast who founded Listen.com (Rhapsody). Known for his deep research on engineered pandemics and biosecurity, featured on Sam Harris's Making Sense. Rob Reid argues engineered pandemics are humanity's most likely near-term self-destruction risk, and cheap defenses could stop them.

• “Richard Dawkins two books the blind watchmaker and The Selfish Gene or enormous Li influential”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “enormously influential... for the writing style the ability to explain abstract concepts in lively prose”
  Steven Pinker · Lex Fridman Podcast · Oct 201800:36:38

  Said during "Steven Pinker: AI in the Age of Reason | Lex Fridman Podcast #3". The episode features Steven Pinker: Cognitive psychologist and linguist at Harvard; bestselling author on language, the mind, violence, and reason. Steven Pinker argues AI existential-threat fears are magical thinking, and that reason and engineering culture make AI a humanitarian boon.