Scott Aaronson: From Quantum Computing to AI Safety
The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss
Lawrence M. Krauss
4.4 • 592 Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2023
⏱️ 182 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Lawrence Krause and welcome to the Origins Podcast. |
| 0:12.0 | Scott Aronson is quite simply one of the most remarkable mathematical intellects |
| 0:19.0 | I've had the pleasure to interact with sense, |
| 0:21.6 | Edward Witten, who is a remarkable physicist and string theorist and has really, |
| 0:29.6 | and was the only physicist I know who also won the field medal for mathematics. |
| 0:35.6 | Scott reminds me of Ed in the depth and breadth of his |
| 0:42.2 | thinking and it's kind of appropriate that I actually first met Scott in Washington a number of years |
| 0:48.4 | ago when we were both getting awards but he was getting the Waterman Prize which is basically the |
| 0:52.6 | highest award of the National Science Foundation for young researchers under 40. |
| 0:57.0 | And the first person who'd ever won that prize was indeed Ed Witten. |
| 1:01.0 | So it's a pleasure to have known that Scott won that award. |
| 1:07.0 | And since that time, when we briefly met, I've come to watch and learn as Scott, as a computer scientist, |
| 1:15.6 | applies his mathematical expertise to a broad variety of areas, thinking in particular about quantum computing, |
| 1:23.6 | an area which he's become a leader in pushing forward the theoretical ideas necessary to think about |
| 1:32.3 | what quantum competing can and can't do and how it could do those things. |
| 1:36.3 | He also writes a fantastic blog explaining quantum competing people. |
| 1:40.3 | And then, of course, recently, he's moved to the idea of AI safety. He spent |
| 1:46.9 | some time at Open AI and been thinking deeply about how one can implement the kind of safety measures |
| 1:57.7 | that many people worry about when they think about unrestrained general AI in our society. |
| 2:04.6 | I happen to think many of those societal concerns are overblown, |
| 2:08.6 | but nevertheless, fortune favors the prepared mind, |
| 2:12.6 | and his mind is wonderful, and the preparations he's been doing are incredible. So we were able in this episode to talk about everything from computer science to AI safety, |
... |
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