Quantum Computing Expert Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty | WIRED

WIRED · 8M views · 2018 · 19:27

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Quantum computingexplainer

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN points to it both as an approachable quantum computing intro and as an example of explaining one concept at multiple levels.

What it is

IBM's Dr. Talia Gershon explains quantum computing to five people of increasing expertise: a child, teen, college student, grad student and professional. The WIRED series format moves from simple analogies to technical detail.

Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2019 to 2021.

What Hacker News said

Recommends mattferderer · 2019-02 · on “Quantum Computing, Capabilities and Limits: An Interview with Scott Aaronson”

Try this video - [this video] I found it easy to comprehend. It starts explaining to a child & works its way up to a doctorate level.

Recommends stewdio · 2020-04 · on “Show HN: Quantum JavaScript”

I’ve begun to put together useful resources for learning more here: [LINK] I’d like to really flesh out that page; I’ve now come across so many folks that are amazing at explaining this stuff... It’s just a time crunch to juggle all this as you might imagine ;) These two videos in particular helped me get started: 1. What is a physical quantum computer? [this video] 2. How might one compute using it? [LINK]

Cites brownbat · 2019-01 · on “The Tsetlin Machine outperforms neural networks”

What constitutes reasonable? Here's an example of someone explaining something to five different levels of audiences. [this video] None of these approaches are prima facie "unreasonable." But if you get the wrong level it won't feel useful. I don't think it's crazy to have open teaching discussions on HN, I think you lay out a fair hope that someone can break something down here. But I'm just not sure which level you're looking for. Precision and simplicity are often competing constraints.

Cites mattmcknight · 2019-11 · on “Stop Explaining Black Box Models for High Stakes Decisions”

"sparsity is a useful measure of interpretability, since humans can handle at most 7±2 cognitive entities at once " If you are going to limit models to 9 features, or 9 combinations of features, or 9 rules, models are not going to work as well. This just seems like a very weak argument to introduce. "A black box model is either a function that is too complicated for any human to comprehend, or a function that is proprietary" These seem like two very different things. A false equivalence is then made with many arguments against proprietary models being made as if they apply to complex models. "It is a myth that there is necessarily a trade-off between accuracy and interpretability....However,

Cites Jun8 · 2021-11 · on “Scott Aaronson, when reached for comment, said”

Here are few thoughts on Aaranson's comments: 1) I have absolutely zero understanding of quantum computers (even after watching this video: [this video] ), though I like to read up on quantum physics. However, it seems to me that I've lived through many "breakthroughs" in this technology. For example, here's an excerpt from a NYT article from 4/28/1998: [LINK] : The discovery has touched off a wave of excitement among physicists and computer scientists and is leading dozens of research centers worldwide to embark on similar experiments heralding the advent of an era of so-called quantum computers, specialized machines that may one day prove thousands or even millions of times faster than today's