#72 – Scott Aaronson: Quantum Computing

About this episode

<p>Scott Aaronson is a professor at UT Austin, director of its Quantum Information Center, and previously a professor at MIT. His research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers and computational complexity theory more generally.</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.</span>&#160;If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/ai">https://lexfridman.com/ai</a> or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>This episode is presented by Cash App. Download it (<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cash-app/id711923939">App Store</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.squareup.cash&#38;hl=en_US">Google Play</a>), use code &#8220;LexPodcast&#8221;.&#160;</p> <p>This episode is also supported by the Techmeme Ride Home podcast. Get it on <a href="https://apple.co/2vIbh1k">Apple Podcasts</a>, on its <a href="https://news.techmeme.com/180306/podcast">website</a>, or find it by searching &#8220;Ride Home&#8221; in your podcast app.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p> <p>00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br /> 05:07 &#8211; Role of philosophy in science<br /> 29:27 &#8211; What is a quantum computer?<br /> 41:12 &#8211; Quantum decoherence (noise in quantum information)<br /> 49:22 &#8211; Quantum computer engineering challenges<br /> 51:00 &#8211; Moore&#8217;s Law<br /> 56:33 &#8211; Quantum supremacy<br /> 1:12:18 &#8211; Using quantum computers to break cryptography<br /> 1:17:11 &#8211; Practical application of quantum computers<br /> 1:22:18 &#8211; Quantum machine learning, questionable claims, and cautious optimism<br /> 1:30:53 &#8211; Meaning of life</p>