I'm traveling the world for a bit, starting with China but then hopping around the globe, anywhere. Open to any adventure. No plans, only a backpack. Hoping to meet & get to know humans from all walks of life. The pic is from a long hike on the Great Wall. For me, as a fan of history, this was an epic experience.
In China, first I'm visiting a few big cities & talking to engineers at the heart of China's AI revolution. After that, if feeling crazy enough, I'm hitchhiking (first time) across rural China for a few weeks. Hitchhiking because I think it's the best way to meet rural folks who I would otherwise never get the chance to meet. I hope to do the same in US and other places.
I have a request, if you have a travel recommendation, fill out the form(s) below if you feel like it. The forms are linked on my Contact page in my profile. Or share with folks who might have advice about such travel.
Form 1 - travel recommendation:
If you can, recommend to me an interesting place I should visit anywhere in the world. For this, fill out form 1. Not touristy stuff, but something off the beaten path, that tourists may not know about, but is legendary. It could be as remote as meeting a herder in the mountains who is a local legend. Asia, Middle East, Europe, India, South/North America, Africa, Australia, anywhere. In China, I'm hoping to visit maybe Heibei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, etc, so recommendations for spots to visit are helpful.
Form 2 - coffee:
If you want to grab a coffee with me anywhere in the world, fill out form 2 (please don't use form 1 for that).
Anyway, I hectically tossed stuff in backpack. Realizing I don't have a clear plan of any kind, which is probably the only way to do it. LFG.
Love you all ❤️
It was an honor to hang out with Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, and do a long-form podcast with him. Really fun & fascinating technical deep-dive conversation on & off the mic. One of the most brilliant & thoughtful human beings I've ever met. NVIDIA is the most valuable company in the world by market cap and is the engine powering the AI revolution.
Podcast probably out tomorrow (Monday), unless I get stuck in too many interesting conversations while running around in SF ;-)
PS: I haven't checked my messages in days. Sorry for slow replies 🙏 Trying to stay deeply focused in an overwhelmingly intense time & barely hanging on. Love you all! ❤️
Here's a video of me training with @khabib_nurmagomedov , one of the greatest fighters of all time and a great human being. This was truly an honor for me 🙏 Full video is on YouTube.
It might be the caffeine speaking, but I love you all ❤️
Happy Valentine's day you sexy mf'ers.
I'm writing this at a coffeeshop. Rain outside. A first date happening next to me, I'm hoping they make it.
I'm feeling happy & grateful for all of this, human civilization, life on Earth, a spinning rock in space. There are 100-400 billion other planets in our galaxy alone. And there are ~2 trillion galaxies in just the observable universe.
And somehow we have a chance to crack open the mysteries of the universe, to solve physics, biology, intelligence, to understand our own mind, to travel out toward the stars.
And at the same time, we often bicker about the stupidest shit. The whole thing is hilarious and beautiful.
All of this is a miracle ❤️
PS: It's definitely the caffeine speaking 🤣
I got to train with @khabib_nurmagomedov yesterday. This was an honor of a lifetime for me. He's a great fighter & leader and a great human being.
From a grappling perspective, I don't think I've ever experienced this much top pressure in my life.
I'll post the footage of the training in a few days. And also we'll do a long podcast (and dub it in multiple languages).
In general, it was an incredible experience to train with the team and get to know many of the fighters from Dagestan. All are great people.
Long hike in LA hills with @hubermanlab , one of my favorite humans (& best friends) on Earth.
I enjoy hikes where you can be in nature and still, at some high-elevation points, see the city in the distance below. In those moments, it all seems so surreal. How did we clever humans build all of that? We went from hunter-gatherers to a civilization that can space travel and has a chance to colonize other planets and reach out toward the stars 🤯
View of Earth from 900 million miles away, with Saturn's rings in the image, taken by Cassini spacecraft.
That dot is us, all 8 billion of us. It's all an insanely lucky miracle.
I'm grateful for all of it & all of you. Love you all! ❤️
PS: Now, I'm off to partake in the great American Thanksgiving tradition of over-eating while getting into a heated philosophical argument with family 🤣
Over the past several weeks, I've been back in the lab working crazy hours like old times, and loving life. This was much needed. I'm happy ;-)
If I'm not programming, hands-on with robots/hardware for many hours a day, I feel a bit lost and less able to think clearly about the world. It's just how my brain is built. I think it's because engineering humbles me to the reality of the world.
I need both literature & engineering in my life 🤣 I love both, and both are a source of truth.
I'm still doing the podcast, just adding much more engineering back into the mix ;-) The podcast gives me an opportunity to celebrate great scientists, engineers, and builders. This is one of the things I love doing most.
In the coming months, I'll continue splitting time between MIT and Caltech (Boston & LA) working with some brilliant people. The focus of the work is human-robot interaction with quadrupeds and humanoid robots.
I'll also likely be at NeurIPS in San Diego this year.
If you want to chat over coffee in Boston, LA, or San Diego for NeurIPS or have guest suggestions in those places, please fill out the coffee or guest forms respectively (see link in profile). For NeurIPS, please choose the "NeurIPS 2025" option for special event in the form.
Feeling down about the world and about myself.
Normal human things. I'm sure soon it'll be better. If you're down too, sending you love.
I'm hiding from the world for a bit, enjoying the Boston fall months, long runs along the Charles river.
I think humans are beautiful and fascinating and for the most part awesome.
The internet seems to want to tell you otherwise. I disagree, but I don't have the right words for it.
I'll probably do a long solo episode on Dostoevsky (especially Brothers Karamazov) at some point to help me articulate this better.
I love you all.
Thank you for the birthday wishes 🙏
I'm grateful for another year around the sun, on this strange little planet of ours, with all of you.
I've traveled a lot this year, and got to meet & talk to many people from all walks of life. The more I did, the more optimism I gained for the future of humanity.
We humans are a good bunch.
I love you all ❤️
I've spent this week in Dubai (first time) and made a lot of new friends, including this goat. Dubai is a beautiful place, unlike any I've ever been to, with super interesting people from all walks of life. What a wild ride this life is. I grateful for all of it ❤️
