Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

If this paper whets your appetite (talking mostly to grandparent comment, but also HN at large) OR alternatively if you think that this paper is a bit too advanced for your knowledge level, I implore you to read Scott Aaronson's book "Quantum Computing Since Democritus". The book is one of the finest in the genre of "too casual to be a textbook, too informative to be an easy read for laymen" nonfiction, and it is primarily concerned with philosophy vis-à-vis computational complexity. It does a pretty good job at assuming you only have a bit of computer science background (pun unintended, noticed, left in) and builds your knowledge base up from introductory set theory and first order logic in the earliest pages (In fact, it's based on a course he taught, and his lecture notes are available online and frequently make for fantastic supplemental material [1]). One of my favorite reads of 2020.

[1] https://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/




Thank you for showing it is “to whet your appetite”. I always thought it was “to wet your appetite”, which made no sense at all. This is the first time I’d read this phrase instead of heard it spoken.


First time I've seen it written like that. I did not know it should be "whet" rather than "wet".

> which made no sense at all

The way I made some kind of sense of it was as a variation of making your mouth water. But yeah "whet" makes a lot more sense now.


Same as ‘whetstone’, if that helps remember. You’re sharpening/increasing your appetite.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: