Lex Fridman Podcast
#372 – Simone Giertz: Queen of Sh*tty Robots, Innovative Engineering, and Design
16 Apr 2023
Simone Giertz is an inventor, designer, engineer, and roboticist famous for a combination of humor and brilliant creative design in the systems and products she creates. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/lex to get 15% off - InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off - Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lex to get 1 month of fish oil EPISODE LINKS: Simone's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@simonegiertz Simone's Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimoneGiertz Simone's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simonegiertz YETCH Store: https://yetch.store 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/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (06:49) - Early creations (23:42) - Sh*tty Robots (38:40) - Robots and human connection (40:55) - Dating AI (44:14) - Proud parent machine (46:05) - Creative process (47:31) - Bubble wrap music box (52:53) - Education (58:27) - Difficult projects (59:56) - TED talk (1:06:13) - Brain tumor (1:14:51) - Fear of death (1:19:15) - Mass production (1:34:40) - Truckla (1:39:29) - Weapons (1:43:29) - Consciousness (1:45:33) - MMA (1:49:36) - China, Kenya, and USA (1:54:29) - Advice for young people (1:58:21) - Meaning of life
Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
The following is a conversation with Simone Yetch, an inventor, designer, engineer, and roboticist famous for a combination of humor and brilliant creative design in the systems and products she creates, including as part of her new product design company called Yetch.
She has a popular YouTube channel where she has demonstrated a lot of her incredible and fun designs and inventions from, quote, shitty robots to a Tesla Model 3 converted into a truck, but where she also revealed her personal journey after having been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Simone is a brilliant, fun, and inspiring human being.
It was truly an honor for me to get to meet her and to have this chat. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. We got Masterclass for learning, Insight Tracker for biological data, and Athletic Greens for my daily multivitamin. Choose wisely, my friends.
Also, if you want to work with our amazing team, we're always hiring. Go to alexfreedman.com slash hiring. And now onto the full ad reads.
Chapter 2: What early creations inspired Simone Giertz?
As always, no ads in the middle. I try to make this interesting, but if you must skip them, please still check out our sponsors. I love their stuff. And maybe you will too. This show, Speaking of Love, is brought to you by Masterclass. 180 bucks a year gets you an all-access pass to watch courses from the best people in the world at their respective disciplines.
The list is so long, and it's an amazing exploration of all the humanities able to create. You know, when I ask about the meaning of life, to me at the core, it's love.
but the way that love manifests itself in the human condition in society, I think at this moment I can try to express as the creation of beauty, of increasing the amount of beauty in the world, of celebrating, of noticing, of admiring, and of creating beauty. And the mastery of a particular discipline, I think, is one of the best ways to create that beauty.
So the best people in the world doing a thing and teaching you how to do it, or even just talking through how to do it. It's not always the big advice, but the little details. And you notice the genius of these people in the details.
in the way they see the world, in the way they care themselves, in the way they start and end a thought, in the way they start and end a sentence, in the way they look, in the way they move their hands, in the way they think, in the way they hope, in the way they fear. This is why it's good to learn from the best people in the world.
Get unlimited access to every Masterclass and get 15% off an annual membership at masterclass.com. This show is also brought to you by InsideTracker, a service I use to track biological data that comes from my body to give me recommendations on what the heck I should be doing with my life. I'm happy to report, if you cared, that most markers for me are looking pretty good.
The only small exceptions, I think, reveal themselves in just the tremendous amount of stress I've been under over the past year. And I think, stress or not, many of you listening to this are going through a rough time. for reasons that are hard to explain and for reasons that are obvious.
The human mind can experience some deep moments or deep days and weeks and months of loneliness for reasons that make no sense to the outside world, but it's still real to the human mind. And of course, our life is such that we experience a lot of loss, a lot of struggle.
a lot of pain and suffering, and through that, it's more obvious that the mind can be in turmoil and suffer and feel lonely and feel hopelessly lost in this world. I think through all of that, the least you could do is to honor this life you're given, this moment, this chance you're given, no matter how hard it is, by taking care of yourself mentally, physically,
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Chapter 3: What humorous project did Simone create to deal with unwanted messages?
They didn't even ask me about it. It was... So there's this whole lead up where I built a chopping machine. So it's a machine that chops vegetables and has two giant knives. And it goes... And it's kind of terrifying. And I show... a video of it and then it ends on this gif of it chopping up a banana and I'm kind of scrunching up my face being like, ugh, ugh.
And the whole reason I show that project is because I'm leading it up to the punchline of, oh, and as a bonus, this gif right here is the perfect response if anyone ever sends you dick pics you don't want.
which brought down the house. It does it every time. And they caught it out without asking me because they were like, oh, but we wanted people to be able to show it in classrooms.
And I was like, I have abandoned the hope of being shown in classrooms for years ago.
I think that's a good joke.
Thank you.
That's a really good one. You're okay going sometimes a little bit edgy.
I say that I'm crude and wholesome because I can be very crude, but I also try really, really hard to be a good person.
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: How did Simone's experience with a brain tumor shape her perspective on life?
Yeah.
What's the most embarrassed you've ever been on your podcast?
So I don't know if you've experienced this, but I generally embarrassed by most things I say inside my head.
Yeah.
So like when I say something, Like, no, it's just, there's a voice inside my head that goes, like, what? You're a disappointment. Like that, the parent patting you in the back, the hand stops working. Just slows down. Yeah. And then there's an awkward silence. You don't know what to say next. That's really embarrassing, usually.
I used to work as a journalist, so I know how to sit with the silence and try to drag it out of you.
See what I did there?
You gave up. You pulled out. I quit. I was sweating.
I was literally sweating.
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Chapter 5: What insights does Simone share about the challenges of product manufacturing?
was kind of dedicated to just getting better and getting back to where I am now. And I remember, like, I was so stoked about 2020 because I was like, this is the first year that I'm not held back by my health. And I'm like, finally going to be able to do everything I'm feathered.
And then the pandemic happens and you're kind of just like, okay, just in the backseat of what's happening and things that are out of my control again.
In your public, you made a couple of videos about it. I have a brain tumor. My brain tumor is back. Mm-hmm. you kind of, you know, you name your tumor Brian, you kind of make it a lighthearted thing, but so you don't reveal much of the darkness, but were you scared or some low points?
Of course I was, of course I was scared.
I mean, it's terrifying. It's like, and also when it's in your brain, like, you know, I was like, take any other part of me, but don't take my brain. No, it's this unfathomable thing that happens and you're like, I'm healthy. How could this possibly be a brain tumor? Like my eye is swollen. Like there's nothing there. I haven't had any seizures. I haven't had any cognitive issues.
I haven't had any headaches even. Like how is that even possible? So you go through a lot of different stages of just trying to understand what it is. And I think I remember... being hit right as I found out when we were in an Uber, poor Uber driver, from where I had my MRI scan to the ER where they sent me.
And I was really, both really grateful that I've gotten so much more out of life than I ever thought I would. I've had... hell of a life. And even if it would have ended really early, I would have done so much more than I ever thought. But I was also really, really sad that I hadn't had kids yet. Like, that was my big grief of like, fuck, I haven't had time to have kids yet.
But no, it's terrifying. I mean, the prospect of somebody cutting up your head, like, that's terrifying. But it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
What about the radiation treatment? What are some things that people should... You learned about it, about the process and about yourself through that, that people might be interested about?
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Chapter 6: What advice does Simone offer to young creators and innovators?
I was surprised by how little I was willing to think critically about what my doctors told me to do. Like, I very early on – the neurologist that I worked with, he was the one who was on call at the ER the day where I came in. And he was the one who ended up doing my surgery. And he kind of became, like, my rock in this. And I just 100% trusted him.
And he turned out to be an amazing doctor and, like, did a great job and was just, like – So I got so, so lucky. But I remember my mom being like, oh, but we should like talk about second opinions and like we should try to do more research.
And I was like so unwilling to do that because opening up to the idea that there are multiple ways or multiple things that might be right or wrong was so terrifying. Like I wanted there to just be like, no, this is the only option. This is what we need to do. And if I started questioning that, then I don't know if I would have been able to go through with it.
So yeah, it was a strange, I just really wanted to trust the doctors that I worked with. And I was very scared to question them in any way.
How did that process change your relationship with death? Are you afraid of death? Do you ponder your mortality?
Yeah, I think it took away a part of youth for me.
Like the innocence?
Yeah. I mean, you kind of think of terrible things as something that happens to other people and death and illness. So I think it kind of fast-tracked that for me. But it mostly changed my relationship to life. It changed... It's made me so much more gentle with myself. Like, going through illness... It forces you to redefine what it means to be good.
And before, being good had been pushing myself really hard. It had been working and... I don't know, just being really hard with myself and disciplined. And when you're healing from something, being good is listening to your body. It's resting. It's like really being in tuned with what your health, where your health is at. And I think that is something that's kind of stuck with me since then.
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