from Hacker News

If Lex Fridman has a PhD in CS from MIT, MIT must be a joke

by x0054 on 1/11/22, 4:12 PM with 24 comments

I just listened to several CS heavy interviews with Lex and several guests. Knowing nothing about the host I would have assumed that he has no higher education at all, let alone a Ph.D. in CS from MIT. Am I wrong?

As far as I am concerned he lucked out because someone got him into MIT and he lucked out the second time because he got on the Joe Rogan podcast. The rest is history. But I was just amazed how dumb the man sounds on his own podcast and the quality of guests he gets.

I'll be honest, I am probably jealous, but damn, I almost think like his podcast has negative value. Every time his guests speaks I get smarter, every time he speaks I just get angry that someone this dumb got this lucky.

Edit: Typo + It turns out that Lex actually has a PhD from Drexel University, not MIT, as pointed out by slater.

  • by slater on 1/11/22, 4:13 PM

    "hire" education, ey? /scnr

    edit: also, according to Wikipedia, he does not hold a PhD in CS from MIT.

    "Fridman was born in Moscow, and after moving to the United States he studied at Drexel University, where he received a B.S. (Bachelor of Science), M.S. (Master of Science), and a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)."

    shrug

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lex_Fridman#Early_life_and_edu...

  • by ksec on 1/11/22, 5:34 PM

    The older I am, the more I am convinced academic achievement has little to zero correlation with wisdom. He may be good with the former and knowledgable in certain domain. But lacking on the latter.

    This is increasingly obvious in the modern world. Specialist taking over, generalist are devalued. Or may be generalist isn't a correct term, but some type of polymath.

  • by zepto on 1/11/22, 4:34 PM

    As far as I can tell, the complaint is that you don’t like the questions he asks.

    Do you have an example of one of his dumb questions or statements?

  • by gjvc on 1/11/22, 4:21 PM

    I tried listening after hearing some hype and got instantly turned off by the vocal fry; when I got over that, I realised the questions weren't up much either.

  • by hotpotamus on 1/11/22, 4:37 PM

    Jared Kushner has a Bachelor's from Harvard, therefore Harvard must be a joke.