7 ms·

If this comic isn't diving into technical details then I must be an idiot

Klathmon 9y ago
I meant more that it's not trying to act like a whitepaper and "prove" the concepts it's explaining, which I think a lot of explanations of really complex topics end up spending way too much time on and lose the reader. There are parts of the comic that I don't even begin to understand (I honestly couldn't tell you if hilbert space is even a real thing, and I don't even want to being to think about how or why amplitudes can be complex, and what you would possibly do with a complex probability...), but the whole idea of amplitudes being loosely analogous to probabilities,and how interference is the real "secret sauce" that allows quantum computers to gain a big advantage in some problems is what it finally made click for me. And it kind of got across the point that the real difficulty with quantum computing is going to be in isolating these "qbits" from the world (which made the originally linked article much easier to read). I've also attempted to read a bunch about it from many different sources before this, so I had some primer on some of the ideas behind it, but couldn't understand how the parts fit together, or why they were such a big deal (often flip-flopping between the 2 feelings depending on the metaphors the last thing I read used).
- connorelsea 9y ago
  Yeah, the comic is probably quite a bit more accessible. Although I'm still left wondering if there is a proper ELI5 for quantum computing somewhere out there
  - Klathmon 9y ago
    I really don't think there is, and I don't think there will be one ever. If quantum computers ever become "mainstream", I think we will need to start teaching the basics behind them in schools, because there isn't an easy way to map the ideas there to classical ones. I think of it like imagine trying to explain how a CPU works to a person that doesn't know basic math. There is no way to even "ELI5" that, there just isn't enough of a foundation to work from, and any attempt to do so would take so many liberties that it wouldn't even really be useful. Right now quantum computing seems extremely difficult to even understand the basics because 99.99%+ of us are missing those foundations.
    - cookiecaper 9y ago
      But if you're explaining it to a 5 year old, they've hardly been poisoned by the classical ideology taught in schools. You couldn't analogize it to a classical concept anyway because they wouldn't have the background. So maybe there would be an ELI5 that would be effective, if it was intended to be understood by someone without the baggage of traditionalism. :)
      - tempestn 9y ago
        Sure, but the true ELI5 would take years to get through the necessary fundamentals.
        dahauns 9y ago
        And end with a diploma for the now young adult.
- sundarurfriend 9y ago
  > I don't even want to being to think about how or why amplitudes can be complex, and what you would possibly do with a complex probability I don't pretend to completely understand it either, but one crucial point here is that these complex amplitudes and their interactions are the "real" reality - they are "more real" than the normal probabilities we are used to, in that they are the things that actually exist in the universe and give rise to the 'normal' probabilities that we see. A lot of mental resistance to quantum mechanical ideas comes from thinking quantum mechanics is weird, instead of thinking quantum mechanics as normal and us being weird[1], because of the scale we live in and normally observe things in. [1] paraphrased from Eliezer Yudkowsky, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Ch 36
  - DuskStar 9y ago
    Wow, I don't think I've ever seen someone cite fanfiction on HN before! But considering HPMOR introduced me to Worm [0] and Unsong [1], I really can't argue with doing so. Also a relatively good way to introduce college friends to rationalism, if for some reason recommending fanfiction to friends is easier than recommending lesswrong. [0] https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ [1] http://unsongbook.com/ http://unsongbook.com/
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      Well, if you want a non-fanfiction citation, there's this from Eliezer's regular non-fiction blogging: Reality has been around since long before you showed up. Don't go calling it nasty names like "bizarre" or "incredible". The universe was propagating complex amplitudes through configuration space for ten billion years before life ever emerged on Earth. Quantum physics is not "weird". You are weird. You have the absolutely bizarre idea that reality ought to consist of little billiard balls bopping around, when in fact reality is a perfectly normal cloud of complex amplitude in configuration space. This is your problem, not reality's, and you are the one who needs to change. http://lesswrong.com/lw/hs/think_like_reality/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/hs/think_like_reality/ (Really, a lot of insights in HPMOR are just reiterations of points Eliezer made in his Sequences.)
  - 9y ago
nick_ 9y ago
The sentence in the last box made me chuckle. It reads like a parody of something Deepak Chopra would write.
- Klathmon 9y ago
  With SMBC there is always a "hidden" last panel too, you can see it by clicking the big red button at the bottom right of the comic. Although this one won't make any sense unless you read a lot of these kinds of webcomics!

I meant more that it's not trying to act like a whitepaper and "prove" the concepts it's explaining, which I think a lot of explanations of really complex topics end up spending way too much time on and lose the reader. There are parts of the comic that I don't even begin to understand (I honestly couldn't tell you if hilbert space is even a real thing, and I don't even want to being to think about how or why amplitudes can be complex, and what you would possibly do with a complex probability...), but the whole idea of amplitudes being loosely analogous to probabilities,and how interference is the real "secret sauce" that allows quantum computers to gain a big advantage in some problems is what it finally made click for me. And it kind of got across the point that the real difficulty with quantum computing is going to be in isolating these "qbits" from the world (which made the originally linked article much easier to read). I've also attempted to read a bunch about it from many different sources before this, so I had some primer on some of the ideas behind it, but couldn't understand how the parts fit together, or why they were such a big deal (often flip-flopping between the 2 feelings depending on the metaphors the last thing I read used).

connorelsea 9y ago
Yeah, the comic is probably quite a bit more accessible. Although I'm still left wondering if there is a proper ELI5 for quantum computing somewhere out there
- Klathmon 9y ago
  I really don't think there is, and I don't think there will be one ever. If quantum computers ever become "mainstream", I think we will need to start teaching the basics behind them in schools, because there isn't an easy way to map the ideas there to classical ones. I think of it like imagine trying to explain how a CPU works to a person that doesn't know basic math. There is no way to even "ELI5" that, there just isn't enough of a foundation to work from, and any attempt to do so would take so many liberties that it wouldn't even really be useful. Right now quantum computing seems extremely difficult to even understand the basics because 99.99%+ of us are missing those foundations.
  - cookiecaper 9y ago
    But if you're explaining it to a 5 year old, they've hardly been poisoned by the classical ideology taught in schools. You couldn't analogize it to a classical concept anyway because they wouldn't have the background. So maybe there would be an ELI5 that would be effective, if it was intended to be understood by someone without the baggage of traditionalism. :)
    - tempestn 9y ago
      Sure, but the true ELI5 would take years to get through the necessary fundamentals.
      - dahauns 9y ago
        And end with a diploma for the now young adult.
sundarurfriend 9y ago
> I don't even want to being to think about how or why amplitudes can be complex, and what you would possibly do with a complex probability I don't pretend to completely understand it either, but one crucial point here is that these complex amplitudes and their interactions are the "real" reality - they are "more real" than the normal probabilities we are used to, in that they are the things that actually exist in the universe and give rise to the 'normal' probabilities that we see. A lot of mental resistance to quantum mechanical ideas comes from thinking quantum mechanics is weird, instead of thinking quantum mechanics as normal and us being weird[1], because of the scale we live in and normally observe things in. [1] paraphrased from Eliezer Yudkowsky, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Ch 36
- DuskStar 9y ago
  Wow, I don't think I've ever seen someone cite fanfiction on HN before! But considering HPMOR introduced me to Worm [0] and Unsong [1], I really can't argue with doing so. Also a relatively good way to introduce college friends to rationalism, if for some reason recommending fanfiction to friends is easier than recommending lesswrong. [0] https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ [1] http://unsongbook.com/ http://unsongbook.com/
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Well, if you want a non-fanfiction citation, there's this from Eliezer's regular non-fiction blogging: Reality has been around since long before you showed up. Don't go calling it nasty names like "bizarre" or "incredible". The universe was propagating complex amplitudes through configuration space for ten billion years before life ever emerged on Earth. Quantum physics is not "weird". You are weird. You have the absolutely bizarre idea that reality ought to consist of little billiard balls bopping around, when in fact reality is a perfectly normal cloud of complex amplitude in configuration space. This is your problem, not reality's, and you are the one who needs to change. http://lesswrong.com/lw/hs/think_like_reality/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/hs/think_like_reality/ (Really, a lot of insights in HPMOR are just reiterations of points Eliezer made in his Sequences.)
- 9y ago

nick_ 9y ago

The sentence in the last box made me chuckle. It reads like a parody of something Deepak Chopra would write.

Klathmon 9y ago
With SMBC there is always a "hidden" last panel too, you can see it by clicking the big red button at the bottom right of the comic. Although this one won't make any sense unless you read a lot of these kinds of webcomics!