Grimes: Music, AI, and the Future of Humanity | Lex Fridman Podcast #281

We are becoming cyborgs. Like, our brains are fundamentally changed. Everyone who grew up with electronics, we are fundamentally different from previous homo sapiens. I call us Homo techno. I- I- I think we have evolved into Homo techno, which is, like, essentially a new species. Previous technologies, I mean, may have even been more profound and moved us to a certain degree, but I think the computers are what make us Homo techno. I think this is what-

Yeah.

... it's a brain augmentation. And so it, like, allows for actual evolution. Like, the computers accelerate the degree to which all the other technologies can also be accelerated.

Would you classify yourself as a Homo sapien or a Homo techno?

Definitely Homo techno.

So you're-

I think we're all-

... you're, you're one of the early s- of the species?

I th- I think most of us are.

The following is a conversation with Grimes, an artist, musician, songwriter, producer, director, and a fascinating human being who thinks a lot about both the history and the future of human civilization, studying the dark periods of our past to help form an optimistic vision of our future. This is the Lex Fridman Podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description. And now, dear friends, here's Grimes.

Oh, yeah, the Cloudlifter. There you go.

There you go. You know your stuff. Have you ever used a Cloudlifter?

Yeah. I actually, this microphone and Cloudlifter is what Michael Jackson used, so.

No, really?

Yeah. This, this is, like, Thriller and stuff.

This mic?

This mic.

In a Cloudlifter?

And that, yeah. It's a, it's a incredible microphone.

Yes.

It's very flattering on vocals. I've used this a lot. It- it- it's great for demo vocals. It's great in a room. Like, it, sometimes it's easier to record vocals if you're just in a room, and, like, the music's playing, and you just want to, like, feel it, and it's not, so it's not in the headphones. And this mic is pretty directional, so I think it's, like, a good mic for, like, just vibing out and just getting a real good vocal take.

Just vibing?

Yeah.

Just in a room?

Anyway, this is the Miche-

This is the r-

... this is the Michael Jackson/Quincy Jones microphone.

(inhales) I feel way more badass now. All right.

(laughs)

Let's get in, you want to just get into it?

I guess so.

All right. One of your names, at least in this space and time, is C, like the letter C. And, and you told me that C means a lot of things. It's the speed of light, it's the render rate of the universe, it's "yes" in Spanish, it's the crescent moon, and it happens to be my favorite programming language 'cause it's, uh, it basically runs the world. But it's also powerful, fast, and it's dangerous 'cause you can mess things up really bad with it 'cause of all the pointers. But anyway, which of these associations, uh, with the name C is the coolest to you?