#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 is part of the Artificial Intelligence
podcast. If you would like to get more information about this
podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman
on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can
watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the
podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on
Spotify, or support it on Patreon. This episode is presented by
Cash App. Download it (App Store, Google Play), use code
"LexPodcast".  This episode is also supported by the Techmeme
Ride Home podcast. Get it on Apple Podcasts, on its website, or
find it by searching "Ride Home" in your podcast app. Here's the
outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able
to click the timestamp to jump to that time. 00:00 - Introduction
05:07 - Role of philosophy in science 29:27 - What is a quantum
computer? 41:12 - Quantum decoherence (noise in quantum
information) 49:22 - Quantum computer engineering challenges 51:00
- Moore's Law 56:33 - Quantum supremacy 1:12:18 - Using quantum
computers to break cryptography 1:17:11 - Practical application of
quantum computers 1:22:18 - Quantum machine learning, questionable
claims, and cautious optimism 1:30:53 - Meaning of life