#29 - Peter Wang - Founder of Anaconda on Open Source, AI & Virtual Worlds

Open-source movements have historically been a great source of collaboration. Can we harness the power of open source software, science or AI to help solve the world's coordination problems? Or could it just make everything worse? This is the main topic covered in today's episode of the Win-Win Podcast. Liv is joined by Peter Wang, a physicist, computer scientist, and founder of Anaconda, one of the most widely used open source platforms for Python development. Peter leads Anaconda’s AI Incubator, which focuses on advancing core Python technologies and developing new frontiers in open-source AI and machine learning, especially in the areas of edge computing, data privacy, and decentralized computing. In this wide-ranging conversation. we explore how these technologies, and their philosophies can potentially help us navigate the complexities of our informationally overloaded environment.

Chapters:

00:00:00 - What is Open Source Software

00:10:29 - Peter's History with The Open Source Movement

00:35:06 - Security and State Interests in Open Source

00:37:16 - Open Science and The Commons of Knowledge

00:39:40 - The Central Problem of Coordination

00:43:46 - The Solutions That Markets Solve and The Problems They Create

01:04:40 - Synchronous Attention As A Scarce Resource

01:09:23 - The Liminal Act of Modelling The World

01:19:58 - Virtuality and Colorful Dystopias

01:22:03 - Is Technology Values-Neutral?

01:32:30 - Moloch Invades The Tech Stack

01:35:57 - Psychosecurity and The Dangers of Attention-Renting Software

01:42:00 - Is The Global Community Actually Excelling in Science?

01:43:51 - Our Cosmic Scale and The Instruments To Probe It

01:53:18 - The Stagnation of Physics

01:56:06 - The Civilizational Perspective on AI Safety

02:05:23 - The Benefits of Open Source To Society

02:27:26 - Will AI Accelerate A Global Security Crisis?

Credits:

♾️ Hosted and Produced by Liv Boeree

♾️ Edited and Mixed by Ryan Kessler

Links:

♾️ Peter’s Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/pwang?lang=en⁠

♾️ Anaconda: ⁠https://www.anaconda.com/⁠

♾️ Peter’s Blog: ⁠https://medium.com/@pwang⁠

The Win-Win Podcast:

Poker champion Liv Boeree takes to the interview chair to tease apart the complexities of one of the most fundamental parts of human nature: competition. Liv is joined by top philosophers, gamers, artists, technologists, CEOs, scientists, athletes and more to understand how competition manifests in their world, and how to change seemingly win-lose games into Win-Wins.

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