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Quantum Computing for High School Students

scottaaronson.com · 2,482 words · saved by 1 readers

I know this seems corny. I'm a computer science grad student, coming to a high school class to give you a pep talk, and tell you about the many rewards of a career in math and science... Well, that's not why I'm here. If it were up to me, I’d never think about science. I'd be a rock star or a football player. But it’s not up to me. And I'm going to tell you about science because my interest is contagious, like the Ebola virus. So I’m sorry about that. It’s not my choice. This is a chemistry class, right? To tell you the truth I don’t know a lot about chemistry. I guess you have atoms, with an itty-bitty nucleus on the inside, and this electron cloud outside, and they stick together and make molecules, and there are rules, like, hydrogen only bonds to one thing, but carbon bonds to four things, at least most of the time—there are always exceptions to the rules—Well, anyway, you know more about chemistry than I do. But one thing I know is that what underlies chemistry is something

Quantum Computing for High School Students Quantum Computing for High School Students (C) 2002 Scott Aaronson [This essay in Russian] [This essay in Czech] I know this seems corny. I'm a computer science grad student, coming to a high school class to give you a pep talk, and tell you about the many rewards of a career in math and science... Well, that's not why I'm here. If it were up to me, I�d never think about science. I'd be a rock star or a football player. But it�s not up to me. And I'm going to tell you about science because my interest is contagious, like the Ebola virus. So I�m sorry

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