Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- June 18, 2023
- Duration
- 3h 15m
- Channel
- Lex Fridman Podcast
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Jimmy Wales is the co-founder of Wikipedia. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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TRANSCRIPT: https://lexfridman.com/jimmy-wales-transcript EPISODE LINKS: Jimmy's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmy_wales Jimmy's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales Donate to Wikipedia: https://donate.wikimedia.org WT.Social: https://wt.social/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 0:47 - Origin story of Wikipedia 6:51 - Design of Wikipedia 13:44 - Number of articles on Wikipedia 19:55 - Wikipedia pages for living persons 40:48 - ChatGPT 54:19 - Wikipedia's political bias 1:00:23 - Conspiracy theories 1:13:28 - Facebook 1:21:46 - Twitter 1:42:22 - Building Wikipedia 1:56:55 - Wikipedia funding 2:08:15 - ChatGPT vs Wikipedia 2:12:56 - Larry Sanger 2:18:28 - Twitter files 2:21:20 - Government and censorship 2:35:44 - Adolf Hitler's Wikipedia page 2:47:26 - Future of Wikipedia 2:59:29 - Advice for young people 3:06:50 - Meaning of life SOCIAL:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
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- Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
SPEAKERS
Jimmy Wales
guestLex Fridman
hostNarrator
other
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, featuring Jimmy Wales and Lex Fridman, Jimmy Wales: Wikipedia | Lex Fridman Podcast #385 explores jimmy Wales Defends Wikipedia’s Neutrality, Future, And Human-Centric Mission Lex Fridman and Wikipedia co‑founder Jimmy Wales trace the evolution from Nupedia’s failed, over-academic model to Wikipedia’s open, collaborative success, highlighting how community norms and free licensing shaped the site. They dig into neutrality, notability, biographies of living people, and how Wikipedia resists both government pressure and media bias while still relying on external sources. The conversation explores the impact of social media algorithms on polarization, the promise and risks of large language models for both Wikipedia and society, and the importance of community health in any knowledge project. Wales also explains Wikipedia’s donation-driven business model, global language expansion, and why he sees the site as a long-term, trust-centric institution rather than an ad-funded tech platform.
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