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Quantum Computing Since Democritus

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Quantum Computing Since Democritus
File:Quantum Computing Since Democritus.gif
Book cover
AuthorScott Aaronson
PublisherCambridge University Press
Publication date
2013
Media typeprint
Pages398
ISBN978-0521199568 ISBN-13
Websitehttp://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9781107302105

Quantum Computing Since Democritus is a book written by Scott Aaronson.[1] It is loosely based on a course Aaronson taught at the University of Waterloo, the lecture notes for which are available online.[2]

Contents

The book is meant to be of the same level as Leonard Susskind's The Theoretical Minimum or Roger Penrose's The Road to Reality - in between pop science level reading and textbook level reading. The book covers everything from computer science to mathematics to quantum mechanics and quantum computing, starting, as the title indicates, with Democritus.

Table of Contents

  1. Atoms and the void
  2. Sets
  3. Gödel, Turing, and friends
  4. Minds and machines
  5. Paleocomplexity
  6. P, NP, and friends
  7. Randomness
  8. Crypto
  9. Quantum
  10. Quantum computing
  11. Penrose
  12. Decoherence and hidden variables
  13. Proofs
  14. How big are quantum states?
  15. Skepticism of quantum computing
  16. Learning
  17. Interactive proofs, circuit lower bounds, and more
  18. Fun with the Anthropic Principle
  19. Free will
  20. Time travel
  21. Cosmology and complexity
  22. Ask me anything

Author

Scott Aaronson is a American physicist at MIT in the field of quantum computing.[3]

Reviews

Michael Nielsen, author of the classic quantum computing text Quantum Computing and Quantum Information reviewed the book, saying, “This book is a beautiful synthesis of what we know about some of the most fundamental questions in science.  What is information?  What does it mean to compute?  What is the nature of mind and of free will? Along the way, Scott Aaronson provides crisp and often highly original explanations of some of the most striking recent ideas in science, ideas such as zero-knowledge proofs, quantum computing, black hole entropy, and many others.  Highly recommended.”[4]

Seth Lloyd said about the book, "I laughed, I cried, I fell off my chair - and that was just reading the chapter on computational complexity. Aaronson is a tornado of intellectual activity: he rips our brains from their intellectual foundations; twists them through a tour of physics, mathematics, computer science, and philosophy; stuffs them full of facts and theorems; tickles them until they cry 'Uncle'; and then drops them, quivering, back into our skulls. [He] raises deep questions of how the physical universe is put together and why it is put together the way it is. While we read his lucid explanations we can believe - at least while we hold the book in our hands - that we understand the answers, too."[5]

Other reviews were not as positive - Stephen Wolfram said about the book, "I think Scott Aaronson has delusions of grandeur. Even the title of his book: “A New Kind of Science, Quantum Computing Since Democritus” sounds a bit pretentious to me. Mr. Aaronson thinks he can write a really fat book about everything under the sun and that everyone is going to rush to read every word of it. Good luck Mr. Aaronson!"[6]

References

  1. ^ "Quantum computing democritus | Quantum physics, quantum information and quantum computation". Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  2. ^ "PHYS771 Quantum Computing Since Democritus". www.scottaaronson.com. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  3. ^ "NSF Honors Two Early Career Researchers With Alan T. Waterman Award | NSF - National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2017-09-10.
  4. ^ "Comment by Michael Nielsen on Shtetl-Optimized Quantum Computing Since Democritus: The Buzz Intensifies". www.scottaaronson.com. Retrieved 2017-09-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  5. ^ "Quantum Computing since Democritus - Cambridge University Press". www.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  6. ^ "Stephen Wolfram Reviews "Quantum Computing Since Democritus"". Quantum Bayesian Networks. 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
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