The speaker was initially interested in becoming a cognitive scientist but later realized that she was more inclined towards computer science. She became interested in the field of latent semantic analysis that involves embedding words in multidimensional space and using it for reinforcement learning.
In this episode, the speaker discusses how for some people, particularly academics, reading is a central topic to personal development. However, he offers a different perspective, suggesting that humans can learn simply by walking and observing others, and even listening to audio books.