still writing weekly about running on substack. not my proudest work (yet) but even the process of writing has been fun. confident the repetitions will allow me to write beautifully in the future
for now, we celebrate our wins
jackson on an all-time run. maybe the best "generalist" there is. his ability to go deep on any topic (and make it understandable for morons like me) is incredible
Dialectic 60: Patrick Hsu!
@pdhsu & @arcinstitute are combining biology, engineering, and AI to turn a sci-fi future into reality.
Patrick got expelled from college at 13, returned at 15, later worked on early CRISPR breakthroughs, and teamed up with @SKonermann & @patrickc to found Arc.
He works 3 jobs: core investigator at Arc, professor at Stanford, and venture partner at @thrivecapital. For all his intensity and ambition, he carries a lightness and boldness that is contagious.
We discuss:
- why research is 99% failure and even your best ideas kind of suck
- infinite games and speedrunning school
- the reach of GLP-1s and power laws in biotech
- what makes a good biologist
- Arc’s bet on people over projects
- lab robots that finally work
- AI-designed organisms and new forms of life
- why heart disease could go the way of infectious disease
- bro science, peptides, and biofuturism
- research taste in the age of AI
Timestamps:
(0:00) Opening Highlights
(1:39) Intro: Patrick Hsu
(4:29) Start: Boldness, Infinite Games, & Ambition
(12:54) GLP-1s and Power Laws in Biotechnology
(20:17) Expelled at 13 and Falling for Biology
(25:51) What Makes a Good Biologist, Research Taste, and Biology's Data Challenges
(37:58) The Arc Model: Full-Stack Science
(52:01) Betting on People, Style, & Learning to Simplify
(57:22) Perturbation, World Models, and Evo
(1:03:27) Virtual Cell Models
(1:09:56) Designing Life: From Stem Cells to Genome Writing
(1:18:39) Testing, Bro Science, and Human Data
(1:24:26) Can It Exist vs. Will It Exist: Science Meets Markets
(1:29:59) Biofuturism: Interoception, Peptides, Muscle Modulation, Sleep, and New Forms of Life
(1:43:47) Fun, Obsolescence, Going Slow, and the Future
@dialecticpod 60: Patrick Hsu - Speedrunning the Infinite Game - is available on all platforms, including X. Links below.
nba prediction time, most fun nba year since 2010/11 (as a heat fan)
OKC > BOS (okc > sas, bos > nyk)
east: nyk/bos/cle/tor/det/mia/phi/orl/ind/atl
west: okc/min/sas/den/lal/hou/utah/por/phx/mem
mvp: tatum
dpoy: wemby
coy: finch
roy: boozer
6: ayo
mip: ajay mitchell
There’s no ego death quite like trusting the process on an easy run and having some neighbor run circles around you with a little shit grin on his face
Especially when it is a certifiable fact that I’m bigger faster stronger
Im fine tho. All good. Trusting the process
Not sure how long this slow as shit running will last but it will test every last fiber in me. unfortunately i'm "that guy" who can't stand defeat. If I lose to my wife in gin rummy, I'm pissed off. if I lose in pickup at the Y there's a real rage inside of me. Can't turn it off. Now imagine a single player game like running. My conclusion is that this is probably *very* good for me and real beauty in the struggle
Bought one of these torture devices from the marketplace. I’m not even close to being able to do one. I’m doing the regression of the regression. Fun times ahead 👍👍
One time when I was working for the pirates I was flying to nyc for rb’s birthday. I slept on the flight and when I woke up I learned we couldn’t land and ended up back in Pitt
At the rental car line there was a guy who needed to get back to Long Island for his kids soccer game. Quickly sized him up and thought it would be nice if I offered him company vs renting my own car. He drove the whole way, we stopped once for McDonalds and gas (hopefully my treat, prob wasn’t because I was getting min wage, if that). Had the best time chatting with him and he dropped me off on the curb of her wall st. Apt at like 3am. What a time to be alive that was.
quick plug for @Alan_Couzens mad crew forum.madcrew.app/
for $5/mo no-brainer for any endurance adjacent athlete. imagine if any q you had about training has been or could be answered by someone who has done what you're trying to do. already have me doing runs <134 bpm 🐌
beauty. hasn't set in that we got Giannis. entering age 32 season. for reference same age as 16-17 LeBron. aging curves not same across players but safe to assume 4-5 very high level giannis years. please stay healthy. heat fans among most blessed in world. fun nba yr ahead
other sports thoughts
- pretty great outcomes for MLB wildcard round. excited for some playoff ball. let's see if my pre-season dodgers WS future bet can 3-peat. disgusting of me, i know
- int'l break is too damn long. 2 weekends w/o the arsenal is painful. also fuck bernardo silva
- nhl is back and i'm attempting to follow closer. with youtube TV I get NHL games, so we'll see if this helps me fall back in love with the blues. last time I rooted for them their best players were chris pronger, al mcinnis, and scott mellanby. definitely, 100% needed another sport to follow
- sneakily excited for indoor tennis season. won't watch as much but I love watching highlights. the ball striking is a joke
this was a must get for me. Gordo is a legend who has done the work and is now sharing it. one of the best follows on this site. pumped to read
Forgot to train (work + family makes it tough), but just finished a half Ironman. Bike was brutal, hills are hard it turns out. Sub 7 hours… now time to beat @35gcs to a 5 min mile.
gcs retweeted
This angle gets me, where he’s just kind of standing there soaking it in, then sees his daughter and smiles, then instantly melts into tears … whew. Hell of a run, 35.
fleabag stans assemble!!!
my t5
thrones, fleabag , friday night lights, succession black mirror
honorable mentions
veep, girls (when rb throws this on i'm half paying attention half lmao) , breaking bad (in progress), season 1 true d
to watch:
madmen
wire
many others
