Polygenics and Machine SuperIntelligence; Billionaires, Philo-semitism, and Chosen Embryos – #102

In this year-end episode of Manifold for 2025, Steve Hsu discusses advancements in two scientific areas: polygenic prediction and embryo selection, and artificial intelligence. Regarding genomics, Hsu highlights a study validating polygenic risk scores for breast cancer screening and a breakthrough in polygenic predictors for East Asians. He also touches on the increasing acceptance of embryo selection for traits like intelligence, particularly among elites. Transitioning to AI, Hsu emphasizes the significant qualitative improvements in AI model performance, particularly in solving complex math problems and assisting in scientific research, and anticipates continued rapid advancement in AI capabilities, especially with agentic workflows and reinforcement learning, predicting a transformative impact on research and various industries.