In this episode quantum physicist Mithuna Yoganathan explores quantum immortality, self‑studying quantum mechanics, her PhD research, and quantum computing. She also shares how she runs a 200k+ subscriber YouTube channel, learning strategies, and deep theoretical debates such as the Gottesman‑Knill theorem and the source of quantum speedup.
- 00:00:00 - Introduction
- 00:02:26 - What's it like running a 200k+ subscriber YouTube channel?
- 00:02:56 - Using "explanation to others" as a self‑learning tool
- 00:05:27 - How do you learn new physics / mathematics?
- 00:06:22 - On feeling like math / physics isn't within your ability to grasp
- 00:08:29 - Is math necessary for understanding physics
- 00:09:23 - Daily schedule / routine
- 00:12:50 - Dealing with people emailing theories
- 00:15:28 - Fat‑shattering dimensions
- 00:17:01 - What's the Pauli group's relation to the Clifford group?
- 00:19:44 - How do you prove that a quantum algorithm is efficiently simulable classically
- 00:22:58 - Gottesman‑Knill theorem (and its extension, proved by Mithuna)
- 00:25:41 - What's responsible for the "speedup" in Quantum Computing?
- 00:29:24 - Which of her thesis results is the most significant? (on quantum complexity and clean Qubits)
- 00:37:27 - Magic state distillation
- 00:38:34 - Gödel's incompleteness, with quantum logic
- 00:40:41 - Halting problem
- 00:41:10 - Quantum Computers vs Probabilistic Turing Machines
- 00:42:17 - P = NP
- 00:44:41 - Richard Borcherd's comments on Quantum Computers not being "better" than classical (generically)
- 00:47:05 - Quantum Contextuality
- 00:52:29 - Quantum decoherence and why it doesn't solve the measurement problem
- 00:56:26 - On the Many Worlds Interpretation
- 00:58:45 - Quantum Immortality
- 01:03:19 - Is space / time discrete and what would the implications of this be for QC?
- 01:04:42 - Wolfram's "principle of computational equivalence"
- 01:05:32 - Bohemian Pilot wave theory
- 01:09:28 - Are the laws of physics ultimately beautiful and simple?
- 01:10:31 - Audience Q: Thoughts on QBism?
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RESOURCES:
- YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ct0zv_M-I
- Looking Glass Universe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFk__1iexL3T5gvGcMpeHNA
- Link to Peter Gray video mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQLkKKERWsI
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