Scott Aaronson: From Quantum Computing to AI Safety

A Note From Lawrence:

Scott Aaronson is one of the deepest mathematical intellects I have known since, say Ed Witten—the only physicist to have won the prestigious Fields Medal in Mathematics. While Ed is a string theorist, Scott decided to devote his mathematical efforts to the field of computer science, and as a theoretical computer scientist has played a major role in the development of algorithms that have pushed forward the field of quantum computing, and helped address several thorny issues that hamper our ability to create practical quantum computers.

In addition to his research, Scott has, for a number of years, written a wonderful blog about issues in computing, in particular with regard to quantum computing. It is a great place to get educated about many of these issues.

Most recently, Scott has spent the last year at OpenAI thinking about the difficult issue of AI safety, and how to ensure that as AI systems improve that they will not have an unduly negative or dangerous impact on human civilization. As I mention in the podcast I am less worried than some people, and I think so is Scott, but nevertheless, some careful thinking in advance can avert a great deal of hand wringing in the future. Scott has some very interesting ideas that are worth exploring, and we began to explore them in this podcast.

Our conversation ran the gamut from quantum computing to AI safety and explored some complex ideas in computer science in the process, in particular the notion of computational complexity, which is important in understanding all of these issues. I hope you will find Scott’s remarks as illuminating and informative as I did.

Full Episodes Playlist:

[persistenthomology]

I see a podcast with Scott Aaronson, I click. Simple as that!

[ben_spiller]

You finally got Scott Aaronson! It's a Christmas miracle.

[RKupyr]

Fascinating, intriguing, wonderfully friendly dialogue. And Scott holds his own so well against Lawrence's famous tendency to interrupt and speak long, as they both use the SAME (unintentional) technique! Perfect equilibrium 😄😇

[younesshaimi]

Great interview but interruptions are so annoying

[williamjmccartan]

Thank you both Scott and Lawrence for sharing your time and work, peace

[dinarwali]

The Depth of Knowledge from both of the gentlemen is beyond belief. It was enlightening

[jorrittimmers]

Thank you both for the time and effort.

The biggest insight for me was the idea that the value of quantum computing is not parallel processing but the manipulations of interference patterns.

[aminam]

This person has a clean mind and good intentions. He does not try to brag, but rather understands, and he does not seem to be chasing awards. Therefore, you find that his criticism is constructive and not biased.

[jn]

Kudos to Scott for educating the public on these important issues. Another UT man

[nda]

Thanks for the great interview! Such an excellent communicator; he can explain the hardest concepts as clearly and briefly as possible! Very inspiring!

[sensu]

Scott is right about the chemistry teacher. That sort of pedantry is the norm in schools today and it can really suck all the joy out of learning for precocious kids.

[chrissscottt]

I didn't understand much but still found it interesting. Cheers.

[bogdanbarbu]

A small suggestion as I go through this video. It would be great if the production team put timestamps on the video, which has already become customary for long YouTube podcasts, so that we might be able to get to the questions that are of interest to us personally, considering that some of us are a little bit short on time.

[justme]

Fantastic interview Lawrence. I'm a huge fan of Scott, and it was a pleasure to hear more about his upbringing.

[aminam]

This one (Scott) is good, the way he thinks, he is no a Hallucinator or thief, you can notice that he is hard worker in a good way.

[Stadtpark]

I loved seeing how much fun the both of you had. And yes: Lawrence is getting better at interrupting less / letting the guest speak.
1:55:27 comparing Gerard ‘t Hooft to Bob Dylan 😊
2:16:47 😂
2:21:53 Goedel as mystic towards Evolution; but we are the counter example; Dawkins argument
2:31:09 OpenAI and Star Wars vs Life of Brian
2:46:27 “The only problem is, that what a lot of people want is absolutely horrifying.”

[ben_spiller]

Excellent chat! Need to bring him back for round 2.

[johnjoseph]

fascinating conversation. could have listened to it all day

[retromograph]

Always very entertaining to listen to Scott!

[Seekthetruth]

The guest outtalked the host! Good conversation.