#782: Legendary Inventor Danny Hillis (Plus Kevin Kelly) — Unorthodox Lessons from 400+ Patents, Solving the Impossible, Real Al vs. “AI”, Hiring Richard Feynman, Working with Steve Jobs, Creating Parallel Computing, and Much More

The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig

Lifestyle Design, Business, The 4-hour Workweek, Productivity, Timothy Ferriss Show, Startups, Tim Ferris, Entrepreneurship, Longform Interviews, Tools Of Titans, Timothy Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show, Tim Ferriss

4.6 • 17.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2024

⏱️ 156 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Danny Hillis is an inventor, scientist, author, and engineer. While completing his doctorate at MIT, he pioneered the parallel computers that are the basis for the processors used for AI and most high-performance computer chips. He is now a founding partner with Applied Invention, working on new ideas in cybersecurity, medicine, and agriculture.

Kevin Kelly is the founding executive editor of WIRED magazine, the former editor and publisher of the Whole Earth Review, and a bestselling author of books on technology and culture, including Excellent Advice for Living. Subscribe to Kevin’s newsletter, Recomendo, at recomendo.com.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferriss. Welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferriss show,
0:05.4	where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers from all different fields they could be
0:10.4	in military, entertainment, sports, or otherwise. And my guest today fits the otherwise category.
0:19.2	I have wanted to have Danny Hillis on this show for many years now,
0:23.8	probably four or five years. And he came up with my friend Kevin Kelly. And I was with Kevin on two
0:32.4	pilgrimage tours. It's a long story, but we were walking and talking for a long period of time on
0:36.8	different continents,
0:37.9	and I asked him in both cases, who would you suggest as a podcast guest, I must interview?
0:45.3	And we landed on Danny Hillis.
0:47.8	So why?
0:48.6	Why, Danny Hillis?
0:49.6	Danny Hillis is an inventor, scientist, author, and engineer.
0:52.8	While completing his doctorate at MIT,
0:54.8	he pioneered the parallel computers that are the basis for the processors used for AI and most
0:59.8	high-performance computer chips. He did that while completing his doctor. The significance of that will
1:05.1	come back to. So we will cover that. He has more than 400 issued patents covering parallel computers,
1:10.4	disc arrays, cancer diagnostics, and treatment, various electronic optical and mechanical devices, and the pinch-to-zoom display interface.
1:18.0	You know, when you zoom in or zoom out on a map or something like that?
1:22.3	Yeah, or on anything, really, on an iPhone.
1:24.7	Yeah, that thing.
1:25.7	He is a co-founder of the Long Now Foundation and the designer
1:29.0	of its 10,000-year mechanical clock, which sits inside a mountain in West Texas and has been funded
	...

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