Simon DeDeo on Explore vs Exploit in Science

Link post

Good news everyone: I’m getting into podcasting!

As part of my investigation into how scientific paradigms are created, I hosted a talk by Simon DeDeo, Professor Of Many Topics at Carnegie Mellon and the Santa Fe Institute, recorded at the recent ILIAD conference in Berkeley. He discusses the idea of explore vs exploit in science. Spoiler: he comes down very hard on the exploit side, based primarily on a case study of Darwin.

For the video averse among you, here’s the transcript.

I have two more episodes in editing, but am on the hunt for more guests. I’m looking to talk to scientists or ex-scientists about how ideas are created and spread in their field. Bonus points if they can talk about Chaos, Complexity, or Catastrophe Theory in particular.

Thanks to my Lightspeed Grants and my Patreon patrons for supporting this work.