Scott Aaronson | Quantum Computing: Dismantling the Hype | The Cartesian Cafe with Timothy Nguyen

[@TenderBug]

I love that Timothy being the perfect interviewer and the tour guide to get the best out of Scott. It's not just intellectual journey but a fun one.

[@JG_1998]

Wow, this is probably the best no-nonsense introduction to quantum computing that's both accessible and fairly technical. I'm just a senior doing a biomedical engineering major/CS minor and I felt like I could understand everything well. I already knew a decent amount about superpositions, entanglement, etc., but the details of how these things are used in computing has always mystified me (until now). This video is must watch for anyone who wants to understand how the hell quantum computing ACTUALLY works without having to take a graduate level course.

[@TimothyNguyen]

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words JG! I've wondered if these long-form technical podcasts are for anyone else's benefit than myself, but you summarized my hopes exactly :-)

[@truebaran]

@@TimothyNguyen please, keep it like that, technical and detailed! It is crazy that there is so much dumbed down science content on youtube-I'm sure that there is a plenty of people willing to hear somehow more detailed explanations and see some actual math instead of overhyped claims

[@jay31415]

Honestly the way you've done it here is the best way: simple cop and technical cop.

[@msalperen1]

I like how Scott spends so much time to explain the details in his field through many podcasts and KZbin channels.

[@SnortsOfHappiness]

Thanks for providing an alternative to Lex Fridman for computer science podcasts!

[@BB-mr3vy]

thanks for the clarifications, timothy. very helpful. dont let the physicist/CSs deter you from insisting on clarity for your audience.

[@eismscience]

Super interesting, Tim. I love Scott's work and approach. Congratulations to both of you. I will let this play in full on my computer now and come back to it as soon as I can, or maybe in pockets, over time. Thanks again.

[@bjre.wa.8681]

Well, Apparently You Two hit it out of the park. Just read the comments. I know squat about ANY kind of math so this was WAY over my head, but I thoroughly enjoyed just listening and watching two of the brightest minds currently, any where, discuss and teach. Thank you, so much.

[@markcarey67]

"I study what we can't do with computers we don't have" kinda rhymes with what Amos Tversky said about his research: "I don't study artificial intelligence I study natural stupidity"

[@gmaf79]

This video really made me understand Quantum computers. Thank you

[@LydellAaron]

This video does a good job at explaining the detailed rigor, which is very important. As someone who has had to self learn this material, and still learning, I still wince at the complicated explanations of quantum computing for the uninitiated. Scott is very intelligent, thank you Timothy for exploring and sharing this material. 2:43:54 was a very important takeaway. 2:51:38 Scott's idea of Boson sampling might have finally made sense in this interview (if you're into audio engineering, an optical beam splitter is also an extremely finely tuned audio equalizer).

[@TheAccentPodcast]

This is the best video on QC i’ve seen! Thank you!

[@Dante3085]

At around 59:20 Scott writes down the Hadamard-Gate. In my uni course we always write it with the -1 in the bottom right instead of the top right of the matrix. Is there an alternative representation for Hadamard or am I getting something wrong?

[@TimothyNguyen]

Oh dear, that's a mis-annotation and Scott even says it! That's a 45 degree counterclockwise rotation, not the Hadamard gate. The Hadamard gate differs from a 45 degree rotation by a sign flip on the last basis vector. Apologies: Updating this in the video notes.

[@Dante3085]

@@TimothyNguyen All good. Thanks for clearing it up!

[@thedouglasw.lippchannel5546]

Psi, the "wavefunfunction", is understood as matter actually turning into space, and according to CIG Theory. Thus, Superposition is readily understood. So, Quantum Qubits are understood as new space, 0's and 1's. An introduction to CIG Theory can be found by clicking the link above. Thank you for this video. "Let's Go Quantum" !

[@imrematajz1624]

Awesome learning experience. May I only add that Jozsa (yes z first followed by an s) is a Hungarian sirname and pronounced almost as Yosha. Sorry Hungarian is almost as impenetrable as Quantum physics. Good news that both can be learnt with a bit of commitment. Thanks a bunch!

[@TimothyNguyen]

So is it definitely not a hard J as Scott mentioned? I've seen KZbin videos that pronounce the J in Jozsa both as a hard J and as a Y. Since Jozsa himself is Australian, it's unclear to me what is the correct pronunciation anymore: the Hungarian pronunciation or the Australian version of it (sort of like asking what is the "correct" pronunciation of croissant in English).

[@imrematajz1624]

I guess your gauge theory lecture will be the best guide. I can only define the origins. I am of Hungarian descent myself, but live in the UK and I also had to get used to that people pronounce my name in all sorts of ways. All I can do is to say it correctly, when asked. But never insist on it. I think your conversational / socratic style fosters a very productive learning experience. I learnt a lot which I thank you for.

[@DavidJones-kz6ik]

Love Scott. Thanks for having him on

[@ashikpanigrahi]

Brilliant! Would love to see you converse with David Deutsch!

[@TimothyNguyen]

He’s definitely on my list!

[@billburd6026]

Unbelievably good. Thanks Timothy.

[@dlrowle]

love this channel, you make the simple numbers more simplex. Q: What do you call a negative one sitting all alone in an empty room? (overnumerousness)

[@kongchan437]

Scott. Just because we can dies not mean we should. Just because quantum can therortically evaluate all possibilities at all once in parallel dies not mean we should. Can we apply (1) known facts (2) heuristics (3) probabilites (4) data science itself to achieve "smart quantum computing" to branch only to the branch most likely to succeed or have best result ? That might mean needing some sort of memory capabilities ? Is AI Quantum computing possibke with LISP that allows generating in flight knowledge and stored in short term memory during the LISP program execution ?

[@silberlinie]

Nothing collapses at all. It simply shows the status during the measurement. 56:00

[@hrldcpr]

Really excellent video, thanks for making this

[@luissaybe]

Great content. unfortunately, most tech podcasts don't go into more detail about broad subjects

[@rosomak8244]

Man. It's about time that the string theory is passing the torch of futility over to the quantum computing.

[@frankjohnson123]

Could you please move the correction timestamp after the outline? It's currently messing with the chapter designations on KZbin.

[@TimothyNguyen]

Ah didn’t realize this. It might be due to similar formatting of timestamps for the corrections. I’ll play around and see what works. It might take a day or so for chapters to regenerate properly.

[@frankjohnson123]

Hope it works, I’m also unsure. Thank you!

[@TimothyNguyen]

Fixed now.

[@SunShine-xc6dh]

If only quantum computing didn't have goal posts in superposition. Hard to be wrong when algorithms 'work' without system that can run them, in reality shor's algorithm record factor is 21=7×3, 35 broke it, and success is measured in generating random noise, because the regular computer beat them with any problem that has a definitely correct answer.

[@stephene.robbins6273]

All this depends on the Copenhagen interpretation with its form of "superposition" and its purely mathematical "collapse." Schrodinger stated, "I am averse to this, " and in "Are there quantum jumps?" 1952, destroyed this concept, not only with arguments but with suggested experiments that would prove this notion is invalid. Schrodinger of course is ignored. After all, who would bother with him?

[@RoboticusMusic]

Anyone know a good visualization of this? Should look like a fractal?

[@bunnyben5607]

This dude is LEGIT

[@markcarey67]

On the the issue of AI safety @10:00 or so I think that this is something someone should be thinking about if not Scott because he has other more interesting things to focus on. I got into it over drinks after a seminar the other day with some people from UniSA who are designing AI weapons systems: "So you think these things could invade Russia in the winter?" - a lot of my comments were flippant but there is a serious point here - none of them had any kind of answer about how this kind of tech couldn't be massively misused by a small band of bad actors like insane leverage in the financial system around 2008 but in this case people die en masse rather than just losing $

[@jpb10]

Timestamps would be nice...

[@TimothyNguyen]

All my videos have time stamps. See video description.

[@jpb10]

@@TimothyNguyen You should use chapters also

[@TimothyNguyen]

@@jpb10 Ah, I think I needed to format my timestamps properly "xx:xx :" instead of "xx:xx:". Fixed (and older videos as well.) But it looks like KZbin might take some time to process chapters, so they might not show up for awhile. Some of my older videos have chapters.

[@jpb10]

@@TimothyNguyen Thanks

[@MitchellPorter2025]

The discussion of Wolfram and Weinstein will remain separate from this video?

[@TimothyNguyen]

Yes. Needless to say, our main video has more than enough content.

[@xmathmanx]

That video has also appeared on KZbin now, I plan to watch it after this

[@thedouglasw.lippchannel5546]

These two are brilliant. Maybe, just maybe CIG Theory is correct, or partially correct, and may help in the understanding of the quantum superposition. It can't hurt to learn it. If nothing else, you'll learn how not to do science. So it's not all bad.

[@mmereb]

Hook 'em 🤘

[@JasonAStillman]

Funny joke at 56:08

[@dlrowle]

love the way your thinking, you make the simple numbers more simplex. Q: What do you call a negative one sitting all alone in an empty room? (overnumerousness)

[@vaydaimages]

:)

[@sergebureau2225]

This guy has no vision at all !!! And quantum computing is pretty useless

[@aisound898]

Refined version of Deutsch-Jozsa gives exponential improvement in query complexity: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch-Jozsa_algorithm