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On the IBM Qiskit blog, there’s an interview with me about the role of complexity theory...

On the IBM Qiskit blog, there’s an interview with me about the role of complexity theory in the early history of quantum computing. Not much new for regular readers, but I’m very happy with how it came out—thanks so much to Robert Davis and Olivia Lanes for making it happen! My only quibble is with […]

Juris Hartmanis (1928-2022): Guest post by Ryan Williams

scottaaronson.blog

Scott’s Introduction Juris Hartmanis — one of the founding figures of theoretical computer science, winner of...

Scott’s Introduction Juris Hartmanis — one of the founding figures of theoretical computer science, winner of the Turing Award, cofounder of the Cornell computer science department (of which I’m an alumnus), cofounder of the Conference on Computational Complexity or CCC (which I just attended), PhD adviser to many of the leading complexity theorists — has […]

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On black holes, holography, the Quantum Extended Church-Turing Thesis, fully homomorphic encryption, and brain uploading

scottaaronson.blog

I promise you: this post is going to tell a scientifically coherent story that involves all...

I promise you: this post is going to tell a scientifically coherent story that involves all five topics listed in the title. Not one can be omitted. My story starts with a Zoom talk that the one and only Lenny Susskind delivered for the Simons Institute for Theory of Computing back in May. There followed […]

complexity metaphysical spouting quantum

More AI debate between me and Steven Pinker!

scottaaronson.blog

Several people have complained that Shtetl-Optimized has become too focused on the niche topic of “people...

Several people have complained that Shtetl-Optimized has become too focused on the niche topic of “people being mean to Scott Aaronson on the Internet.” In one sense, this criticism is deeply unfair—did I decide that a shockingly motivated and sophisticated troll should attack me all week, in many cases impersonating fellow academics to do so? […]

metaphysical spouting the fate of humanity

A low-tech solution

scottaaronson.blog

Thanks so much to everyone who offered help and support as this blog’s comment section endured...

Thanks so much to everyone who offered help and support as this blog’s comment section endured the weirdest, most motivated and sophisticated troll attack in its 17-year history. For a week, a parade of self-assured commenters showed up to demand that I explain and defend my personal hygiene, private thoughts, sexual preferences, and behavior around […]

announcements self-referential

Choosing a new comment policy

scottaaronson.blog

Yesterday and today, both my work and my enjoyment of the James Webb images were interrupted...

Yesterday and today, both my work and my enjoyment of the James Webb images were interrupted by an anonymous troll, who used the Shtetl-Optimized comment section to heap libelous abuse on me—derailing an anodyne quantum computing discussion to opine at length about how I’m a disgusting creep who surely, probably, maybe has lewd thoughts about […]

announcements self-referential

Linkz!

scottaaronson.blog

(1) Fellow CS theory blogger (and, 20 years ago, member of my PhD thesis committee) Luca...

(1) Fellow CS theory blogger (and, 20 years ago, member of my PhD thesis committee) Luca Trevisan interviews me about Shtetl-Optimized, for the Bulletin of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science. (Scroll down to page 195 in the PDF file, page 187 in the issue.) Questions include: what motivates me to blog, who my […]

complexity quantum self-referential

Einstein-Bohr debate settled once and for all

scottaaronson.blog

In Steven Pinker’s guest post from last week, there’s one bit to which I never replied....

In Steven Pinker’s guest post from last week, there’s one bit to which I never replied. Steve wrote: After all, in many areas Einstein was no Einstein. You [Scott] above all could speak of his not-so-superintelligence in quantum physics… While I can’t speak “above all,” OK, I can speak. Now that we’re closing in on […]

metaphysical spouting quantum

We Are the God of the Gaps (a little poem)

scottaaronson.blog

When the machines outperform us on every goal for which performance can be quantified, When the...

When the machines outperform us on every goal for which performance can be quantified, When the machines outpredict us on all events whose probabilities are meaningful, When they not only prove better theorems and build better bridges, but write better Shakespeare than Shakespeare and better Beatles than the Beatles, All that will be left to […]

embarrassing myself metaphysical spouting procrastination the fate of humanity

Steven Pinker and I debate AI scaling!

scottaaronson.blog

Before June 2022 was the month of the possible start of the Second American Civil War,...

Before June 2022 was the month of the possible start of the Second American Civil War, it was the month of a lively debate between Scott Alexander and Gary Marcus about the scaling of large language models, such as GPT-3. Will GPT-n be able to do all the intellectual work that humans do, in the […]

nerd interest the fate of humanity

Because I couldn’t not post

scottaaronson.blog

In 1973, the US Supreme Court enshrined the right to abortion—considered by me and ~95% of...

In 1973, the US Supreme Court enshrined the right to abortion—considered by me and ~95% of everyone I know to be a basic pillar of modernity—in such a way that the right could be overturned only if its opponents could somehow gain permanent minority rule, and thereby disregard the wills of three-quarters of Americans. So […]

announcements the fate of humanity

OpenAI!

scottaaronson.blog

I have some exciting news (for me, anyway). Starting next week, I’ll be going on leave...

I have some exciting news (for me, anyway). Starting next week, I’ll be going on leave from UT Austin for one year, to work at OpenAI. They’re the creators of the astonishing GPT-3 and DALL-E2, which have not only endlessly entertained me and my kids, but recalibrated my understanding of what, for better and worse, […]

announcements self-referential the fate of humanity

Alright, so here are my comments…

scottaaronson.blog

… on Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who became convinced that a machine learning model had...

… on Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who became convinced that a machine learning model had become sentient, contacted federal government agencies about it, and was then fired placed on administrative leave for violating Google’s confidentiality policies. (1) I don’t think Lemoine is right that LaMDA is at all sentient, but the transcript is so […]

metaphysical spouting the fate of humanity

Computer scientists crash the Solvay Conference

scottaaronson.blog

Thanks so much to everyone who sent messages of support following my last post! I vowed...

Thanks so much to everyone who sent messages of support following my last post! I vowed there that I’m going to stop letting online trolls and sneerers occupy so much space in my mental world. Truthfully, though, while there are many trolls and sneerers who terrify me, there are also some who merely amuse me. […]

complexity cs/physics deathmatch quantum

An understandable failing?

scottaaronson.blog

I hereby precommit that this will be my last post, for a long time, around the...

I hereby precommit that this will be my last post, for a long time, around the twin themes of (1) the horribleness in the United States and the world, and (2) my desperate attempts to reason with various online commenters who hold me personally complicit in all this horribleness. I should really focus my creativity […]

announcements embarrassing myself nerd interest self-referential

Donate to protect women’s rights: a call to my fellow creepy, gross, misogynist nerdbros

scottaaronson.blog

So, I’d been planning a fun post for today about the DALL-E image-generating AI model, and...

So, I’d been planning a fun post for today about the DALL-E image-generating AI model, and in particular, a brief new preprint about DALL-E’s capabilities by Ernest Davis, Gary Marcus, and myself. We wrote this preprint as a sort of “adversarial collaboration”: Ernie and Gary started out deeply skeptical of DALL-E, while I was impressed […]

the fate of humanity

My first-ever attempt to create a meme!

scottaaronson.blog

embarrassing myself metaphysical spouting procrastination quantum

An update on the campaign to defend serious math education in California

scottaaronson.blog

As you might remember, last December I hosted a guest post about the “California Mathematics Framework”...

As you might remember, last December I hosted a guest post about the “California Mathematics Framework” (CMF), which was set to cause radical changes to precollege math in California—e.g., eliminating 8th-grade algebra and making it nearly impossible to take AP Calculus. I linked to an open letter setting out my and my colleagues’ concerns about […]

announcements nerd interest

On form versus meaning

scottaaronson.blog

There is a fundamental difference between form and meaning. Form is the physical structure of something,...

There is a fundamental difference between form and meaning. Form is the physical structure of something, while meaning is the interpretation or concept that is attached to that form. For example, the form of a chair is its physical structure – four legs, a seat, and a back. The meaning of a chair is that […]

nerd interest procrastination rage against doofosity the fate of humanity

Back

scottaaronson.blog

Thanks to everyone who asked whether I’m OK! Yeah, I’ve been living, loving, learning, teaching, worrying,...

Thanks to everyone who asked whether I’m OK! Yeah, I’ve been living, loving, learning, teaching, worrying, procrastinating, just not blogging. Last week, Takashi Yamakawa and Mark Zhandry posted a preprint to the arXiv, “Verifiable Quantum Advantage without Structure,” that represents some of the most exciting progress in quantum complexity theory in years. I wish I’d […]

announcements complexity quantum

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