7 ms·

Lex Fridman misrepresents his role at MIT to make himself sound more accomplished than he really is, and the way he went about putting out his self driving car

Lex Fridman misrepresents his role at MIT to make himself sound more accomplished than he really is, and the way he went about putting out his self driving car research directly to the press instead of going through peer review is shady. The guy is a cringeworthy grifter. He’s trying to be viewed as some AI expert but he’s totally full of shit. Elon made him famous and he got the Joe Rogan push. Absolutely droning interviewer in need of media training.

briga 4y ago
Seems to me like he’s gotten along just fine without any ‘media training’, whatever that is. Calling him a grifter seems a little unwarranted
- redmen 4y ago
  - infamouscow 4y ago
    Do you have any evidence to back that up -- or a counter-argument to the undeniable fact the podcast is a success?
    - redmen 4y ago
      - LewisVerstappen 4y ago
      - kodah 4y ago
        > And very naive man boy > You sound triggered. > You know what else has had undeniable success? Cigarettes and Facebook. Terrible argument. Just a note, I think you've violated the guidelines in a multitude of ways here. Since you're new, definitely have a read: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - dang 4y ago
        We've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the site guidelines (and I do mean repeatedly). Please don't create accounts to do that with—it will eventually get your main account banned as well. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
rahimnathwani 4y ago
I enjoy his interviews, which are mainly about his guests, not about him.
- jjoonathan 4y ago
  Yes. He may be a bit of a gray museum wall, but I don't go to the museum and think "gee, a pink polka dot background would really set off this Rembrandt painting." He doesn't get in the way, and that's more than can be said about a lot of people vying for attention these days.
laluser 4y ago
How does he misrepresent his role at MIT to sound more accomplished? I have watched a ton of his episodes and he hardly mentions anything about himself. He's fairly humble overall, especially compared to other podcasters in this space.
- redmen 4y ago
  That's his thing though. He acts humble but behind the scenes he manipulates
  - ErneX 4y ago
    I wanna see the receipts.
PostOnce 4y ago
MIT itself does the same shit, they make every minor toy cobbled together by just-recently-high-school students sound like something it's not. MIT Researchers Invent ________, where the blank is billed as a self-aware machine, when in reality it's Eliza re-implemented in PHP. In fact, if MIT students reinvented the wheel, the MIT press office would bill it as "MIT Researchers invent matter transporter".
- sva_ 4y ago
  I get where you're coming from, and agree to some degree, but your example is just unrealistic hyperbole.
  - PostOnce 4y ago
    It's not though, they really do wildly exaggerate trivial things to aggrandize MIT; we could go digging for examples, there are many. It's understandable, reputation is valuable, both for organizations and for the individual. So, I can't blame Lex and I can't blame MIT, but I can say that I absolutely notice it.
    - sva_ 4y ago
      Could you point me to an example where they did a press release about a model from the (approx) 70s which they reimplemented in PHP? I mean anything like that, not this specific example. Because that just sounds so outlandish to me.
      - PostOnce 4y ago
        They can transmit thoughts directly into your head... via a computer monitor. They call it a "a brain-to-brain interface", doesn't that imply one brain is wired directly to another electrically? It opens with "The ability to send thoughts directly to another person’s brain is the stuff of science fiction. At least, it used to be." ... again, via a computer monitor. https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/09/29/139965/the-first-social-network-of-brains-lets-three-people-transmit-thoughts-to-each-others-heads/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/09/29/139965/the-first... I remember when they billed kids fucking around with shape memory alloy as something really grandiose, I'll see if I can find that and come back and edit this post to include it if I do.
hombre_fatal 4y ago
Attacking someone's character just because their name is mentioned and you don't like them is pretty boring conversation. If you're going to drive-by crap on someone, at least recommend podcasters that you do like assuming there are any, especially those that might appeal to Lex's audience.
nsxwolf 4y ago
I just see him as a guy that has interesting conversations with interesting people. I don’t understand the need to Joe Rogan him.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
sva_ 4y ago
How did he misrepresent his role at MIT? He never claimed to have gotten a degree there and he never claimed to be a professor there. He taught a course there though, as an independent researcher. I don't think he got famous through Elon Musk, but maybe through Joe Rogan to some degree (he already had hundreds of thousands of views before his first episode with Elon Musk.) How exactly is he a grifter? Sure he runs ads, like almost any podcast, but I don't think he's trying to sell anything or so. His interviewing style is peculiar, but that's a matter of opinion, and you're free to not watch his show. He undeniably has a lot of very interesting guests on, and that's probably the main reason why people watch his show. So what are you even saying?
- laluser 4y ago
  I agree with you. I think OP is way off the mark here. I actually think Lex is super thoughtful and humble. Always giving praise to people and never bringing much of his academia efforts.
- m_ke 4y ago
  He turned his youtube lectures channel on self driving into "MIT AI Podcast", which helped him get a ton of top ML people on and then pivoted that into "Lex Fridman Podcast" with a lot more IDW style crackpots mixed in, lending them credibility that they don't deserve.
  - infamouscow 4y ago
    So his crime is exploring other topics and expanding his podcast? You don't have to listen to podcasts you don't like.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - nl 4y ago
    But that's a different criticism to "he misrepresents himself"
deelowe 4y ago
I don't know, I kind of like his podcast and I'm glad he takes the more dry, analytical approach when compared to others.
thesausageking 4y ago
How does he misrepresent himself? The MIT directory lists him as a "Research Scientist"[0] and he has solid set of papers he's published on self-driving cars and AI[1]. This is completely consistent with the way he describes himself: "I'm an AI researcher working on autonomous vehicles, human-robot interaction, and machine learning at MIT and beyond" [0] https://www.mit.edu/directory/?id=lexfridman&d=mit.edu https://www.mit.edu/directory/?id=lexfridman&d=mit.edu [1] https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ&hl=en...
- cma 4y ago
  He took pretty close to the Tim Ferris route of give a speech on soapbox in harvard square, then put "gave a speech at Harvard" on your resume. His MIT class was of the type that is more like an ungraded bookclub than a normal MIT course. What he did with the Tesla safety paper was far more ingratiating and conniving though.
infamouscow 4y ago
Quite the contrary. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ
Q6T46nT668w6i3m 4y ago
“Cringe” is the best word to explain what I feel when watching or listening to his videos. It’s like Curb about Enthusiasm but without the humor.
bigdict 4y ago
He is first author on a NIPS paper coauthored with two other people at MIT. That's a sign of legitimacy/accomplishment to me.
economist420 4y ago
Wow so much unprovoked hate. Sounds like the issue is more with you than anything to do with Lex.
lulzury 4y ago
It's much easier to criticize someone rather than to put one's self in their shoes and create something that was not there before, which many people consider to add value to their lives. Have you stopped to think why that might be?

briga 4y ago

Seems to me like he’s gotten along just fine without any ‘media training’, whatever that is. Calling him a grifter seems a little unwarranted

redmen 4y ago
- infamouscow 4y ago
  Do you have any evidence to back that up -- or a counter-argument to the undeniable fact the podcast is a success?
  - redmen 4y ago
    - LewisVerstappen 4y ago
    - kodah 4y ago
      > And very naive man boy > You sound triggered. > You know what else has had undeniable success? Cigarettes and Facebook. Terrible argument. Just a note, I think you've violated the guidelines in a multitude of ways here. Since you're new, definitely have a read: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - dang 4y ago
      We've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the site guidelines (and I do mean repeatedly). Please don't create accounts to do that with—it will eventually get your main account banned as well. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]

rahimnathwani 4y ago

I enjoy his interviews, which are mainly about his guests, not about him.

jjoonathan 4y ago
Yes. He may be a bit of a gray museum wall, but I don't go to the museum and think "gee, a pink polka dot background would really set off this Rembrandt painting." He doesn't get in the way, and that's more than can be said about a lot of people vying for attention these days.

laluser 4y ago

How does he misrepresent his role at MIT to sound more accomplished? I have watched a ton of his episodes and he hardly mentions anything about himself. He's fairly humble overall, especially compared to other podcasters in this space.

redmen 4y ago
That's his thing though. He acts humble but behind the scenes he manipulates
- ErneX 4y ago
  I wanna see the receipts.

PostOnce 4y ago

MIT itself does the same shit, they make every minor toy cobbled together by just-recently-high-school students sound like something it's not. MIT Researchers Invent ________, where the blank is billed as a self-aware machine, when in reality it's Eliza re-implemented in PHP. In fact, if MIT students reinvented the wheel, the MIT press office would bill it as "MIT Researchers invent matter transporter".

sva_ 4y ago
I get where you're coming from, and agree to some degree, but your example is just unrealistic hyperbole.
- PostOnce 4y ago
  It's not though, they really do wildly exaggerate trivial things to aggrandize MIT; we could go digging for examples, there are many. It's understandable, reputation is valuable, both for organizations and for the individual. So, I can't blame Lex and I can't blame MIT, but I can say that I absolutely notice it.
  - sva_ 4y ago
    Could you point me to an example where they did a press release about a model from the (approx) 70s which they reimplemented in PHP? I mean anything like that, not this specific example. Because that just sounds so outlandish to me.
    - PostOnce 4y ago
      They can transmit thoughts directly into your head... via a computer monitor. They call it a "a brain-to-brain interface", doesn't that imply one brain is wired directly to another electrically? It opens with "The ability to send thoughts directly to another person’s brain is the stuff of science fiction. At least, it used to be." ... again, via a computer monitor. https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/09/29/139965/the-first-social-network-of-brains-lets-three-people-transmit-thoughts-to-each-others-heads/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/09/29/139965/the-first... I remember when they billed kids fucking around with shape memory alloy as something really grandiose, I'll see if I can find that and come back and edit this post to include it if I do.

hombre_fatal 4y ago

Attacking someone's character just because their name is mentioned and you don't like them is pretty boring conversation. If you're going to drive-by crap on someone, at least recommend podcasters that you do like assuming there are any, especially those that might appeal to Lex's audience.

nsxwolf 4y ago

I just see him as a guy that has interesting conversations with interesting people. I don’t understand the need to Joe Rogan him.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

sva_ 4y ago

How did he misrepresent his role at MIT? He never claimed to have gotten a degree there and he never claimed to be a professor there. He taught a course there though, as an independent researcher. I don't think he got famous through Elon Musk, but maybe through Joe Rogan to some degree (he already had hundreds of thousands of views before his first episode with Elon Musk.) How exactly is he a grifter? Sure he runs ads, like almost any podcast, but I don't think he's trying to sell anything or so. His interviewing style is peculiar, but that's a matter of opinion, and you're free to not watch his show. He undeniably has a lot of very interesting guests on, and that's probably the main reason why people watch his show. So what are you even saying?

laluser 4y ago
I agree with you. I think OP is way off the mark here. I actually think Lex is super thoughtful and humble. Always giving praise to people and never bringing much of his academia efforts.
m_ke 4y ago
He turned his youtube lectures channel on self driving into "MIT AI Podcast", which helped him get a ton of top ML people on and then pivoted that into "Lex Fridman Podcast" with a lot more IDW style crackpots mixed in, lending them credibility that they don't deserve.
- infamouscow 4y ago
  So his crime is exploring other topics and expanding his podcast? You don't have to listen to podcasts you don't like.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- nl 4y ago
  But that's a different criticism to "he misrepresents himself"

deelowe 4y ago

I don't know, I kind of like his podcast and I'm glad he takes the more dry, analytical approach when compared to others.

thesausageking 4y ago

How does he misrepresent himself? The MIT directory lists him as a "Research Scientist"[0] and he has solid set of papers he's published on self-driving cars and AI[1]. This is completely consistent with the way he describes himself: "I'm an AI researcher working on autonomous vehicles, human-robot interaction, and machine learning at MIT and beyond" [0] https://www.mit.edu/directory/?id=lexfridman&d=mit.edu https://www.mit.edu/directory/?id=lexfridman&d=mit.edu [1] https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ&hl=en...

cma 4y ago
He took pretty close to the Tim Ferris route of give a speech on soapbox in harvard square, then put "gave a speech at Harvard" on your resume. His MIT class was of the type that is more like an ungraded bookclub than a normal MIT course. What he did with the Tesla safety paper was far more ingratiating and conniving though.

infamouscow 4y ago

Quite the contrary. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wZH_N7cAAAAJ

Q6T46nT668w6i3m 4y ago

“Cringe” is the best word to explain what I feel when watching or listening to his videos. It’s like Curb about Enthusiasm but without the humor.

bigdict 4y ago

He is first author on a NIPS paper coauthored with two other people at MIT. That's a sign of legitimacy/accomplishment to me.

economist420 4y ago

Wow so much unprovoked hate. Sounds like the issue is more with you than anything to do with Lex.

lulzury 4y ago

It's much easier to criticize someone rather than to put one's self in their shoes and create something that was not there before, which many people consider to add value to their lives. Have you stopped to think why that might be?