David Spivak, a mathematician known for his work in category theory, discusses a wide range of topics related to intelligence, creativity, and the nature of knowledge. He explains category theory in simple terms and explores how it relates to understanding complex systems and relationships. MLST is sponsored by Brave: The Brave Search API covers over 20 billion webpages, built from scratch without Big Tech biases or the recent extortionate price hikes on search API access. Perfect for AI model training and retrieval augmentated generation. Try it now - get 2,000 free queries monthly at http://brave.com/api. We discuss abstract concepts like collective intelligence, the importance of embodiment in understanding the world, and how we acquire and process knowledge. Spivak shares his thoughts on creativity, discussing where it comes from and how it might be modeled mathematically. A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence on human thinking and its potential role in the evolution of intelligence. Spivak also touches on the importance of language, particularly written language, in transmitting knowledge and shaping our understanding of the world. Pod: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/machinelearningstreettalk/episodes/The-Fabric-of-Knowledge---David-Spivak-e2o220h David Spivak: http://www.dspivak.net/ TOC: REFS: Mike Levin's work https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=luouyakAAAAJ&hl=en Eric Smith's videos on complexity and early life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpJZw-68QyE Richard Dawkins' book "The Selfish Gene" https://amzn.to/3X73X8w Carl Sagan's statement about the cosmos knowing itself https://amzn.to/3XhPruK Herbert Simon's concept of "satisficing" https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bounded-rationality/ DeepMind paper on open-ended systems https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.04268 Karl Friston's work on active inference https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5299/Active-InferenceThe-Free-Energy-Principle-in-Mind MIT category theory lectures by David Spivak (available on the Topos Institute channel) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UusLtx9fIjs