Steve speaks with ARX-Han, an anonymous writer, about his book "Incel."

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (02:09) - Discussing the Novel 'Incel'
• (06:08) - Character Analysis and Literary Influences
• (13:32) - Themes of Evolutionary Psychology and Nihilism
• (18:38) - Historical Context and Modern Inceldom
• (26:18) - Impact of Dating Apps on Modern Relationships
• (32:47) - Representation and Character Dynamics
• (40:21) - Literary Comparisons and Philosophical Depth
• (45:38) - Philosophical Underpinnings of Meaning
• (48:14) - The Hard Problem of Consciousness
• (50:38) - Free Will and Determinism
• (52:53) - Darwinian Nihilism and Nick Land
• (58:17) - Historical Perspectives on East Asian Civilization
• (01:03:11) - The State of Literary Fiction
• (01:16:45) - AI and Literature
• (01:19:44) - AI and Human Meaning

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

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Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SuperFocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU. Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on X @hsu_steve.