#77 – Alex Garland: Ex Machina, Devs, Annihilation, and the Poetry of Science

About this episode

<p>Alex Garland is a writer and director of many imaginative and philosophical films from the dreamlike exploration of human self-destruction in the movie Annihilation to the deep questions of consciousness and intelligence raised in the movie Ex Machina, which to me is one of the greatest movies on artificial intelligence ever made. I&#8217;m releasing this podcast to coincide with the release of his new series called Devs that will premiere this Thursday, March 5, on Hulu.</p> <p>EPISODE LINKS:<br /> Devs: <a href="https://hulu.tv/2x35HaH">https://hulu.tv/2x35HaH</a><br /> Annihilation: <a href="https://hulu.tv/3ai9Eqk">https://hulu.tv/3ai9Eqk</a><br /> Ex Machina: <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80023689">https://www.netflix.com/title/80023689</a><br /> Alex IMDb: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0307497/">https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0307497/</a><br /> Alex Wiki: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Garland">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Garland</a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.</span>&#160;If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/ai">https://lexfridman.com/ai</a> or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>This episode is presented by Cash App. Download it (<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cash-app/id711923939">App Store</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.squareup.cash&#38;hl=en_US">Google Play</a>), use code &#8220;LexPodcast&#8221;.&#160;</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p> <p>OUTLINE:<br /> 00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br /> 03:42 &#8211; Are we living in a dream?<br /> 07:15 &#8211; Aliens<br /> 12:34 &#8211; Science fiction: imagination becoming reality<br /> 17:29 &#8211; Artificial intelligence<br /> 22:40 &#8211; The new &#8220;Devs&#8221; series and the veneer of virtue in Silicon Valley<br /> 31:50 &#8211; Ex Machina and 2001: A Space Odyssey<br /> 44:58 &#8211; Lone genius<br /> 49:34 &#8211; Drawing inpiration from Elon Musk<br /> 51:24 &#8211; Space travel<br /> 54:03 &#8211; Free will<br /> 57:35 &#8211; Devs and the poetry of science<br /> 1:06:38 &#8211; What will you be remembered for?</p>