Podcasts!
A 9-year-old named Kai (“The Quantum Kid”) and his mother interviewed me about closed timelike curves, wormholes, Deutsch’s resolution of the Grandfather Paradox, and the implications of time travel for computational complexity:
This is actually one of my better podcasts (and only 24 minutes long), so check it out!
Here’s a podcast I did a few months ago with “632nm” about P versus NP and my other usual topics:
For those who still can’t get enough, here’s an interview about AI alignment for the “Hidden Layers” podcast that I did a year ago, and that I think I forgot to share on this blog at the time:
What else is in the back-catalog? Ah yes: the BBC interviewed me about quantum computing for a segment on Moore’s Law.
As you may have heard, Steven Pinker recently wrote a fantastic popular book about the concept of common knowledge, entitled When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows… Steve’s efforts render largely obsolete my 2015 blog post Common Knowledge and Aumann’s Agreement Theorem, one of the most popular posts in this blog’s history. But I’m willing to live with that, not only because Steven Pinker is Steven Pinker, but also because he used my post as a central source for the topic. Indeed, you should watch his podcast with Richard Hanania, where Steve lucidly explains Aumann’s Agreement Theorem, noting how he first learned about it from this blog.
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Comment #1 November 23rd, 2025 at 4:49 am
The first podcast reminded me of a story-
An engineer that worked for Schlumberger was visiting a country (non Latin alphabet) that required him to obtain a visa upon arrival in the airport. He filled out the form and presented it to the passport control representative. The rep asked-What is this? The engineer said-Schlumberger, that’s my employer. The rep scratched his head and said- Do you mind if I write temporarily unemployed?
Comment #2 November 23rd, 2025 at 4:07 pm
Otherwise great interviews and personally thought the second was best. You provided a tractable level of detail and very nice broad view of your professional landscape.
Comment #3 November 24th, 2025 at 11:58 am
One thing more-I really liked your comment about quantum systems simulating themselves. Spoken like a true computer scientist. :). Your Boson sampling idea is a neat train of thought.
Comment #4 November 24th, 2025 at 12:00 pm
Off-topic, so feel free to delete, but, if you’re interested:
You got any advice for aspiring grad students in physics, math, CS in managing the stress and anxiety of PhD application period?
Was it rough for you when you were applying? Anything you learned to help with the anxiety?
These programs are getting more and more competitive every year, and thanks to our dear leader Trump, NSF funding is slashed, and revenue streams from foreign masters’ students are drying up, so many American universities are cutting back on their programs.
This is shaping up to be the most competitive year for physics/math/CS applicants, like, ever. On forums you routinely see examples of stellar applicants with graduate courses and research experience being rejected by every program.
I’m close to “crashing out,” as the young’uns say.
So, advice?
Comment #5 November 24th, 2025 at 6:04 pm
How can you have moral scruples against Zohran Mamdani (some of whose policy positions I also disagree with), but not against Richard freaking Hanania? The man is evil incarnate.
Here on some sources on the level of monster we’re dealing with:
Jonathan Katz
https://theracket.news/p/hananias-defense
John Ganz
https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/theyre-all-like-that
https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/creeping-ever-upward
Jeet Heer
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/richard-hanania-racism-silicon-valley/
Comment #6 November 25th, 2025 at 8:33 am
racism disliker #5:
1. I’d tend to agree with you about the “old” Richard Hanania, but something remarkable happened to him over the past few years. He’s now one of the world’s best refuters and ridiculers of the groyper racists, all the more effective for having once been one himself.
2. Unlike Mamdani, Hanania has never run for any political office, much less won one.
3. I linked to Hanania’s interview with Steven Pinker about the concept of common knowledge. I didn’t otherwise endorse any of Hanania’s past or present views.
Comment #7 December 3rd, 2025 at 12:57 am
Meanwhile, AI has solved one of the oldest and greatest math mysteries, though I’m not sure if this is a joke.
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4fe06d83-e154-4570-a17f-b2fbdb0f6b8a.jpeg