Blogger: Scott Aaronson
URL: scottaaronson.com/blog
First post: October 2005
Who is the blog written by?
Scott Aaronson is a postdoc at the Institute for Quantum Computation at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. His research interests are computational complexity, quantum computing and the foundations of quantum mechanics. The strange title of the blog comes from a conversation among graduate students about who they would have been had they lived 700 years ago. “I would’ve been the chief rabbi of my shtetl,” said Aaronson. “All day long I’d debate questions like how much restitution you’d have to pay if your ox gored your neighbour’s sheep. And for this, I’d get an arranged marriage with the most beautiful girl in town.”
What topics does it cover?
While Aaronson writes mainly about quantum computing, other posts are divided into intriguing categories including “Adventures in meatspace”, “The fate of humanity” and “Rage against doofosity”.
Who is it aimed at?
Aaronson recently posted a non-mathematical explanation of Peter Shor’s algorithm for finding the prime factors of a large number using a quantum computer. This was described by Shor himself as “the best job of explaining quantum computing to the man on the street that I’ve seen”. But some posts are more technical. A list of the “ten most annoying problems in quantum computing” starts with: “Given an n-qubit pure state, is there always a way to apply Hadamard gates to some subset of the qubits so as to make all 2n computational basis states have non-zero amplitudes?”
Why should I read it?
Aaronson’s trenchant comments on the Canadian company D-Wave’s claims to have demonstrated “the world’s first commercial quantum computer” made an amusing counterpoint to the media hype. He describes the firm’s 16-bit quantum computer as “about as useful for industrial optimization problems as a roast-beef sandwich”.
How often is it updated?
Daily, with the occasional longer gap between posts.
Can you give me a sample quote?
“From this day forward, my allegiances in the String Wars will be open for sale to the highest bidder. Like a cynical arms merchant, I will offer my computational-complexity and humor services to both sides, and publicly espouse the views of whichever side seems more interested in buying them at the moment. Fly me to an exotic enough location, put me up in a swank enough hotel, and the number of spacetime dimensions can be anything you want it to be: 4, 10, 11, or even 172.9 + 3πi.”
