I've only listened to a dozen or so episodes, mostly non-AI related, but I can't really get a grasp on wether Friedman remembers any undergraduate level CS (or more advanced software engineering for that matter).

Maybe it's just a schtick to make it more approachable for "non-HN" listeners, but in the episode with Jim Keller it almost became painful. After all Friedman has a PhD in Computer Science, I would have expected more knowledge in some areas.