
The Sav Sidorov Podcast
By Sav Sidorov

The Sav Sidorov PodcastJul 02, 2021

07 | Elizabeth Van Nostrand | Pandemics, Systemic Risk & Effective Government
Elizabeth Van Nostrand is a researcher and writer. She has a past in software engineering, and currently works as a freelance researcher. In addition, she’s figuring out better ways to make sense of the world through her Epistemic Spot Checks and Knowledge Bootstrapping projects. We talk about COVID-19 policies, our capability to handle future pandemics, as well as global systemic risks in general.
Links:
Elizabeth’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/acesounderglass
Elizabeth's Website: https://acesounderglass.com/
Epistemic Spot Checks: https://acesounderglass.com/2019/12/11/hows-that-epistemic-spot-check-project-coming/
Knowledge Bootstrapping: https://acesounderglass.com/the-knowledge-bootstrapping-project/
Joe Norman tweet: https://twitter.com/normonics/status/1420872395464785921
microCOVID Project: https://www.microcovid.org/
Chaos monkey: https://www.gremlin.com/chaos-monkey/
Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/savsidorov
My Blog: https://savsidorov.substack.com/
My Website: https://savsidorov.com/

06 | Victor Tong | On Cancer Research
Victor is a doctoral student at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, studying cancer biology. We talk about his journey through academia, the state of cancer research, and topics in biology in general.
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
2:28 - Journey through academia
19:03 - Mentorship
23:02 - The Cancer Science Institute of Singapore
25:34 - The “Cure for Cancer”
34:49 - What causes cancer?
46:00 - Evolution & adaptation
1:02:44 - Death
1:16:07 - “Fishing” in research
1:28:17 - Reproducibility
1:43:26 - Thoughts on career and the future
1:48:00 - RNA
1:54:30 - Why do science?
1:58:42 - Advice to your younger self
Victor’s Email: victor7.tong@gmail.com
Papers:
‘The Hallmarks of Cancer’
‘Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation’
‘1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility’
‘Reserve Capacity Hypothesis’

05 | Yasmeen Hmaidan | Building the Brain-Interfacing Future
Yasmeen is a student and researcher at the University of Toronto, studying neuroscience, computer science and mathematics. We talk about our current understanding of the brain, and how we can use those insights to build cool tech.
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
3:38 - “Why are you into the brain?”
8:55 - Cryonics
18:39 - Advances in BCIs
22:00 - Frictionless technology & tighter feedback loops
31:22 - Invasive vs noninvasive BCIs
43:11 - The current state of neuroscience
56:35 - The “200 year BCI goal”
1:28:44 - Urbit
Links:
Yasmeen’s Twitter
Yasmeen's Github
Yasmeen’s Podcast, The Brain Pod

04 | Alexey Guzey | Improving the Structures of Science
Alexey is a researcher, founder, and writer. He recently founded New Science, an organization that aims to build new institutions and improve the structures of science. We talk about New Science, his blog, and his journey to where he is today.
Links:
Alexey’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexeyguzey
Alexey's Website: https://guzey.com/
New Science: https://newscience.org/
DONATE to New Science: https://newscience.org/donate/
'From Eros to Gaia' by Freeman Dyson: https://www.amazon.com/Eros-Gaia-Penguin-Science/dp/0140174230/
Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/savsidorov
My Blog: https://savsidorov.substack.com/
My Website: https://savsidorov.com/

03 | Chen Wang | Nototo, a Spacial Workspace
Chen is the co-founder of Nototo — a collaborative, spacial workspace. We talk about his journey, from dropping out of university to living in Silicon Valley, about Nototo and how it fits into the broader ‘Tools for Thought’ software landscape, and about the impact that communities have in shaping your thinking.
The essays mentioned in this episode:
Chen’s Twitter: @___________chen
Join Nototo’s waitlist at: nototo.app
Find me on Twitter: @savsidorov
My Blog: savsidorov.substack.com
My Website: savsidorov.com

02 | Michaël Trazzi | Learning by Doing, Perfecting Habits and the Future of AI
Michael is a programmer, blogger and overall interesting personality. We talk about his experience learning at School 42 - a school that focuses on learning by doing above all else, about habits and how to do effective work, as well as artificial intelligence.
Michaël's Twitter: @MichaelTrazzi
Michaël's blog posts: How to Deep Write in a Shallow World & The 5 Tribes of the ML world.
Listen to his podcast, The Inside View.
Find me on Twitter: @savsidorov
My Blog: savsidorov.substack.com
My Website: savsidorov.com

01 | Lulu Petrosyan | On Archaeology
Lulu Petrosyan is an archaeology student at the University of Calgary. We talk about what got her interested in it, the history of the field, current concerns, and what has her excited for the future.
Pertaining to People website: pertainingtopeople.com
Pertaining to People Twitter: @p2pplpod
Find me on Twitter: @savsidorov
Blog: savsidorov.substack.com
Website: savsidorov.com

00 | Welcome!
Welcome to the podcast! This is a short description of where I plan to go with it in the episodes ahead.
Find me on Twitter: @savsidorov
Blog: savsidorov.substack.com
Website: savsidorov.com