Quantum Quandaries
A Board Game and a Memorable Book
fridays are for science. if clouds feel vertigo, then they must enjoy surfing into the rippling and ever-expanding surface of human knowledge 🌊
This week, I started reading Quantum Country. I wish every textbook was like this. It’s the best short introduction to the topic of quantum computing. The easiest I have found in a long while. It’s clear and down to earth. If you are comfortable around basic linear algebra, then this is for you.
Why should you care? Sometimes, thinking in two-dimensions gets boring: remember the policy makers trapped in a room having to evaluate how would their work fare on four scenarios?
You may want to imagine how would it feel to have a little extra complexity available in your mental toolkit… for instance, in a board game!
Interfering futures and their linear combinations are here to stay.
Grab your seats,
David
Quantum Country: Quantum computing for the very curious. Designer and researchers Andy Matuschak and Michael Nielsen built the framework Orbit to help you internalise ideas through periodic review. The principles and practice of spaced repetition can make accessible even a quantum computing textbook! Learn the basics about qubits, and how quantum logic gates work in a very easy format. It’s a book designed to be remembered.
Entanglion. Designing a Quantum Computing Board Game (Medium). IBM Researchers Maryam Ashoori and her husband took up the challenge of creating a board game where you could see some Quantum Logic in action.
After a few iterations that were not deemed quantum enough, they came up with the mechanics of Entanglion, a cooperative two-player game. You can find it available for free on Github.