logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2023
1h 34m

Ep 194: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of R...

Brett Hall
About this episode

This is a "return to regular format" episode in one respect - readings from and reflections upon "The Fabric of Reality" but also a departure from regular formatting in another respect: I teach a bunch of simple mathematics. This is for those who might think "quantum computation" and "quantum algorithms" will be forever beyond me. They are not! I begin with (quite literally) primary school mathematics level stuff (what's a prime number, what is the "fundamental theorem of arithmetic") and very gradually move up into algebra and some modular arithmetic and present examples using real numbers of what the problem is and then lead us to a place where we can glimpse the solution (which is Shor's Algorithm). I do not promise to bring the listener to a graduate quantum physics-degree-level of proficiency in quantum information theory and cryptography - but you will gain quite some insight. I refer to the following more in-depth expositions of all this and hopefully bridge the gap I think is there between "I know a little bit of maths and physics" and the kind of thing the following more "high level" videos offer (which I present in order of increasing technical difficulty) 1. The PBS Infinite Series on all this stuff is brilliant. In particular this introduction:    • How to Break Cryp...   and this video focussed more narrowly on Shor's algorithm:    • Hacking at Quantu...   2. Here is Peter Shor himself explaining the history of his work:    • The Story of Shor...   3. Artur Ekert's graduate level free online course on Quantum Information Theory: https://www.youtube.com/@ArturEkert/v... in particular his lecture focussed on Shor's Algorithm:    • IQIS Lecture 6.9 ...   (which, aside from "The Fabric of Reality" itself, served as the basis for this episode).

Up next
Sep 22
Ep 247: The Farthest Reaches Part 3
Chapters and Timestamps 00:07 Chapter 10 Explanatory Universality and Ethnicity 24:51 Chapter 11 Explanatory Universality and Multiculturalism 37:47 Chapter 12 Explanatory Universality and Mental Illness. 
47m 19s
Sep 16
Ep 246: The Farthest Reaches Part 2
Chapters and Timestamps: 00:06 Chapter 5 Explanatory Universality, Psychology and IQ 03:30 Chapter 6 Explanatory Universality and Adopting Culture 11:47 Chapter 7: Explanatory Universality and IQ Part 2 17:10 Chapter 8 Explanatory Universality and the “trans” issue. 27:35 Chapter ... Show More
56m 26s
Sep 12
Ep 245: The Farthest Reaches (Part 1)
Chapters 1 to 4 of a multi-chapter series about the reach of what I argue is one of the most important lessons to learn in order to solve many pressing problems: explanatory universality. This podcast provides an explanation that "explanatory universality" is an idea of such dept ... Show More
44m 43s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2020
Grant Sanderson: 3Blue1Brown and the Beauty of Mathematics
Grant Sanderson is a math educator and creator of 3Blue1Brown, a popular YouTube channel that uses programmatically-animated visualizations to explain concepts in linear algebra, calculus, and other fields of mathematics. This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence p ... Show More
1h 3m
Jul 2020
#111 – Richard Karp: Algorithms and Computational Complexity
Richard Karp is a professor at Berkeley and one of the most important figures in the history of theoretical computer science. In 1985, he received the Turing Award for his research in the theory of algorithms, including the development of the Edmonds–Karp algorithm for solving th ... Show More
2h 8m
Nov 2019
Gilbert Strang: Linear Algebra, Deep Learning, Teaching, and MIT OpenCourseWare
Gilbert Strang is a professor of mathematics at MIT and perhaps one of the most famous and impactful teachers of math in the world. His MIT OpenCourseWare lectures on linear algebra have been viewed millions of times. This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podca ... Show More
50m 16s
Sep 2019
Leonard Susskind: Quantum Mechanics, String Theory, and Black Holes
Leonard Susskind is a professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory and in general as one of the greatest physicists of our time both a ... Show More
57m 40s
Mar 2020
#85 – Roger Penrose: Physics of Consciousness and the Infinite Universe
Roger Penrose is physicist, mathematician, and philosopher at University of Oxford. He has made fundamental contributions in many disciplines from the mathematical physics of general relativity and cosmology to the limitations of a computational view of consciousness. Support thi ... Show More
1h 28m
Oct 2023
253 | David Deutsch on Science, Complexity, and Explanation
David Deutsch is one of the most creative scientific thinkers working today, who has as a goal to understand and explain the natural world as best we can. He was a pioneer in quantum computing, and has long been an advocate of the Everett interpretation of quantum theory. He is a ... Show More
1h 42m
Feb 2020
#72 – Scott Aaronson: Quantum Computing
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. This conversation i ... Show More
1h 34m
Dec 2019
Donald Knuth: Algorithms, TeX, Life, and The Art of Computer Programming
Donald Knuth is one of the greatest and most impactful computer scientists and mathematicians ever. He is the recipient in 1974 of the Turing Award, considered the Nobel Prize of computing. He is the author of the multi-volume work, the magnum opus, The Art of Computer Programmin ... Show More
1h 46m
Dec 2022
#293 - Théau Peronnin - Alice & Bob - Construire un ordinateur quantique : pas de la magie, juste la prochaine révolution technologique
La physique quantique vous a toujours laissé songeur ? Faites chauffer les machines, cet épisode est pour vous.  Avant, on résumait la physique quantique à des mondes parallèles et au super ordinateur tout-puissant qui, un jour, nous mettrait tous à genoux. En réalité, elle annon ... Show More
2h 56m
Sep 2023
Quantum Computing, Aliens & Future Tech With Abhijit Chavda | TRS 341
Check out my Mind Performance app: Level SuperMind Android - https://lvl.fit/androiddownload iOS - https://lvl.fit/iosdownload Join the Level Community Here: https://linktr.ee/levelsupermindcommunity Follow Abhijit Chavda's Social Media Handles:- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ... Show More
58m 18s