Quantum Computing Since Democritus

Posted on 05 February 2017 by Scott Aaronson

Written by noted quantum computing theorist Scott Aaronson, this book takes readers on a tour through some of the deepest ideas of maths, computer science and physics Full of insights, arguments and philosophical perspectives, the book covers an amazing array of topics Beginning in antiquity with Democritus, it progresses through logic and set theory, computability and complexity theory, quantum computing, cryptography, the information content of quantum states and the interpretation of quantum mechanics There are also extended discussions about time travel, Newcomb s Paradox, the anthropic principle and the views of Roger Penrose Aaronson s informal style makes this fascinating book accessible to readers with scientific backgrounds, as well as students and researchers working in physics, computer science, mathematics and philosophy. Best Read Quantum Computing Since Democritus author Scott Aaronson For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Aaronson s book is based off his online lecture notes which I hadn t read before though I ve read his blog for years I was really excited when the book was announced, since I hoped for expanded better version of his incredibly interesting paper monograph Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity abs...This reads a bit like, Hey, I m Scott Aaronson and here s my perspective on a bunch of topics, which don t get me wrong is entertaining because Scott has an, uh, impressive intellectual batting average He s managed to glean a fair bit of insight about the sort of topics that mathematicians would call philosophy and philosophers would call mathematics.The book suffers from lack of a really cohesive theme, though, which is what we re all chasing, right Some beautiful, consistent theory t This reads a bit like, Hey, I m Scott Aaronson and here s my perspective on a bunch of topics, which don t get me wrong is entertaining because Scott has an, uh, impressive intellectual batting average He s managed to glean a fair bit of insight about the sort of topics that mathematicians would call philosophy and philosophers would call ma...You can t actually build a working computer whose radius isthan 20 billion light years or whatever It s depressing, but true Scott Aaronson What causes a sad for Scott Aaronson may differ from most people I m going to likely re read this one some time later when I find all the bits of cerebellum which squirted out my ears After finishing this book I had a revelation about my favorite intellectual hobby Quantum mechanics and computational complexity have a lot of interestin You can t actually build a working computer whose radius isthan 20 billion light years or whatever It s depressing, but tru...I m in the fourth chapter of the book and already considered giving up for at least three times You need a strong mathematical foundation to understand this book Coming from a programming focused CS background, most of the contents are difficult, sometimes even impossible to digest.I now have a papers and books and topics reading list that might take a few years to complete Pretty sure I didn t understand half of the interactive proofs chapter, and my takeaway as it often is is that I really need to knowmath One always needs to knowmathIt took me a long time to finish this book, mainly because I had to re read some chapters several times and even now I cannot claim I understand nearly 20% of it This book is a fascinating bridge between physics, computer science, and philosophy As a CS student I ve been exposed to many of the presented ideas before, but I couldn t comprehend the same material when it was written by Scott M...Fairly good book lots of new ideas but not for the mathematically lazy There are exercises and ideas that are not the easiest to digest This is not an easy peasy popularization It is an interesting book with lots of cool ideas in quantum mechanics, computation theory, Mathematics and quantum computation It is a book I will have to return to later but even on a cursory first reading I got a lot out of this book Definitely something to look into.10 11 15 Read the book a second time Grasped Fairly good book lots of new ideas but not for the ...I had a difficult time with this I don t recommend it unless you are already familiar with quantum mechanics, quantum computing, and complexity theorycompsci than me In many cases I felt that I would have preferred reading selec...I HAVE NOT FINISHED THIS BOOK.I read up to the quantum section at which point I was only understanding 10% of the material The parts I did read were fantastic Aaronson is a joy to read His enthusiasm for the field is obvious and contagious This is a hard book I read each page at least twice, and many proofs farthan that The proofs given are short and elegant Godels incompleteness theorem is proved in a page while it occupies multiple chapters in Godel, Escher, Bach You need to real I HAVE NOT FINISHED THIS BOOK.I read up to the quantum section at which point I was only understanding 10% of the material The parts I did read were fantastic Aaronson is a joy to read His enthusiasm for the field is obvious and contagious This is a hard book I read each page at least twice, and many proofs farthan that The proofs given are short and elegant Godels incompleteness theorem is proved in a page while it occupies multiple chapters in Godel, Escher, Bach You ne...I don t think I can rate this, as I am way too stupid to fully understand even a single paragraph in this book.It s damn funny, though, that s for sure But I have no idea who the target audience is This was a lectur...

English
05 February 2017

Scott Aaronson