ThePrimeagen: Programming, AI, ADHD, Productivity, Addiction, and God | Lex Fridman Podcast #461

ThePrimeagen (aka Michael Paulson) is a programmer who has educated, entertained, and inspired millions of people to build software and have fun doing it. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep461-sb See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. *Transcript:* https://lexfridman.com/theprimeagen-transcript *CONTACT LEX:* *Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey *AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama *Hiring* - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring *Other* - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact *SMALL CORRECTION NOTE:* When Prime talks about how grateful he is for his amazing wife and family, we show an incorrect photo, so I blurred it. Here's some correct ones: https://x.com/ThePrimeagen/status/1586458511810080769 https://x.com/ThePrimeagen/status/1771638039430771125 *EPISODE LINKS:* ThePrimeagen's X: https://twitter.com/ThePrimeagen ThePrimeagen's YouTube: https://youtube.com/ThePrimeTimeagen ThePrimeagen's Twitch: https://twitch.tv/ThePrimeagen ThePrimeagen's GitHub: https://github.com/theprimeagen ThePrimeagen's TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@theprimeagen ThePrimeagen's Coffee: https://www.terminal.shop/ *SPONSORS:* To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: *Invideo AI:* AI video generator. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/invideoai-ep461-sb *Shopify:* Sell stuff online. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/shopify-ep461-sb *NetSuite:* Business management software. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/netsuite-ep461-sb *BetterHelp:* Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/betterhelp-ep461-sb *AG1:* All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/ag1-ep461-sb *OUTLINE:* 0:00 - Introduction 0:42 - Love for programming 10:15 - Hardest part of programming 12:31 - Types of programming 20:08 - Life story 30:12 - Hardship 31:44 - High school 37:30 - Porn addiction 47:16 - God 1:02:59 - Perseverance 1:12:55 - Netflix 1:25:23 - Groovy 1:30:27 - Printf() debugging 1:36:49 - Falcor 1:46:19 - Breaking production 1:49:04 - Pieter Levels 1:53:34 - Netflix, Twitch, and YouTube infrastructure 2:05:36 - ThePrimeagen origin story 2:20:52 - Learning programming languages 2:29:55 - Best programming languages in 2025 2:34:50 - Python 2:35:30 - HTML & CSS 2:36:20 - Bash 2:37:00 - FFmpeg 2:43:42 - Performance 2:46:15 - Rust 2:51:03 - Epic projects 3:04:27 - Asserts 3:13:41 - ADHD 3:21:49 - Productivity 3:26:13 - Programming setup 4:01:43 - Coffee 4:08:47 - Programming with AI 4:51:31 - Advice for young programmers 5:03:03 - Reddit questions 5:10:35 - God *PODCAST LINKS:* - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips *SOCIAL LINKS:* - X: https://x.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://instagram.com/lexfridman - TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://facebook.com/lexfridman - Patreon: https://patreon.com/lexfridman - Telegram: https://t.me/lexfridman - Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman