Demis Hassabis

Like Ender, Demis felt a burden of responsibility.

If you are trying to solve humanity's problems and understand the nature of reality, you don't have time to waste, he said.

And so I saw a few other people that had advanced copies of this book, and one of them was reading it and posting about it on X. And when I found this next excerpt, I think this description of this next excerpt was phenomenal.

It says, it's just wild how some people are playing a completely different game, 24-7, no off switch.

And so there's this excerpt from one of Demis' co-founders of DeepMind, Shane Legg, describing how unusual a figure that Demis is.

Says, Demas has extraordinary level of determination, unlike pretty much anybody.

Astonishing, incredible determination.

That is his most defining characteristic.

Just unbelievable determination.

He works, sleeps, eats, breathes the mission 24 hours a day to a degree that I haven't seen with other people.

And he's asked to follow up.

No hobbies?

Football.

He's a big fan of Liverpool.

But other than that, it's the mission.

Another follow-up question.

That was evident even when you met him more than a decade ago?

Always.

Demis tells a story about his father saying, whether you win or lose, the really important thing is that you try your best.

Demis says that he took that very literally, as in absolutely try the absolute, absolute, absolute best you can possibly do, pretty much to the point of breaking yourself.