It's only a B, but still..

I recently took (and surprise, surprise, completed) a course on edX. Things like that will be old news to many by now, but this is the first time I used a MOOC, so I thought I should record my impressions.

The course in question: 'Quantum Information Science I, Part I', given by Prof. Peter Shor and Prof. Isaac Chuang, giants of the field from MIT. Prof Shor is the discoverer of one of the best known quantum algorithms and Prof Chuang is, among other things, coauthor of the definitive textbook of the field. There was one long talk by Charles Bennett too, another giant and a pioneer of quantum cryptography, and which was certainly one of the best ones from the whole course.

The course was divided in three subunits (you can see the syllabus here), each with a set of lecture clips, concept questions and problems. While I had not studied this area before, I was not totally ignorant of it either and my chief concern was the amount of mathematics that would be needed. My math skills are what a normal (in a statistical sense, not on a scale of sanity) education would give, but thankfully most of the course was approachable. More linear algebra would certainly have helped though. Also not to say all the lectures were easily understandable, some certainly went over my head. The problems require work, though they are doable (or at least most are. As I said, it's only a B). 

So here is the overall impression, I learned a great deal, had a lot of fun working it out, and it was a wonderful experience (and for me, the best part) to watch these distinguished scholars so visibly in love with their subject. And lest anyone be inclined to question the claim about fun above, I offer this picture

[Yours truly trying to figure out the rotation axis on the Bloch sphere corresponding to Hadamard gate using an orange]

आपलं माणूस

ट्रेलरवरून वाटतो त्यापेक्षा हा पिक्चर बराच वेगळा आहे आणि अनेक अनपेक्षीत वळणे घेत सुरूवातीपासून शेवटपर्यंत खिळवून ठेवतो. सुमित राघवन आणि इरावती हर्षे यांची कामं अगदी टॉप आहेत, आणि नाना विषयी काही बोलायची गरजच नाही (जशी कधीच नसते). अजय देवगणला फक्त एकच डायलॉग असल्याने त्याचं मराठी तपासता आलं नाही, पण बऱ्याच दिवसांनी अस्सल (सीरीयल्समधली नकली नव्हे) गावरान मराठी ऐकायला मिळाली.

A mind at play

Turing's was a shadowy figure until Alan Turing The Enigma appeared. A mind at play will likely do the same for Shannon.

Shannon of course is the father of Information Theory,  his insights forming the bedrock of digital communication. As the authors put it, 'information existed before Shannon, just as inertia existed before Newton'. It was Shannon who created the conceptual foundations needed to deal with information in a precise, quantitative manner. First of all, he clarified what information is. Information is what reduces uncertainty, one bit of it exists when we are choosing from two equally likely outcomes. Then he showed that all communication is expressible in terms of bits. Next, each communication channel has an upper limit on how many bits it can carry per second (dependent on the bandwidth and the signal-to-noise ratio). Within this limit, noise can always be defeated; a message can always be sent with an arbitrarily small amount of error. And lastly, all of the above stays true irrespective of whether the message has meaning or not.

The importance of his work was immediately recognized, propelling Shannon to scientific celebrity at 32, but Shannon chose not to pursue it. Information theory quickly became a buzzword in fields ranging from psychology to economics, but it was Shannon who cautioned against blindly jumping on the bandwagon. He returned to his work and spent the rest of his days inventing.

A mechanical mouse that could solve a maze and remember the solution (A concrete demonstration of AI when all the field had was theory). A juggling robot (Shannon was an accomplished juggler, and wrote one of the first papers on mathematics of juggling). A wearable computer to time roulette wheels and a system to place bets to maximize winning (I make my money on the Stock market, not by proving theorems, Shannon once said). A chess playing computer (and a paper establishing the foundations of the field). All sorts of customized unicycles. And the ultimate machine: when switched on, a mechanical arm came out of the box and turned itself off.

Shannon's was a fascinating life, and the book does a good job of bringing it out of the shadows. At a few places it feels a bit sketchy, but that does not take from it's readbility. The authors are clearly in awe of Shannon, and after reading it, you will be too.

What I am watching update

A quick note on some good stuff I watched recently. Apart from the obvious purpose of sharing this with friends, it is also hoped that  should an unpaid troll (paid ones are just doing their job) were to ever wander on this page, it will have found one more way to spend its time constructively (and spare the rest of us). Enjoy.

Two seasons of Crown

Netflix has been a net positive addition to the quality of my life, but quite a bit of it deals with dark and/or supernatural themes, and no matter how well made, that gets tiresome after a while. Crown was a welcome break, with great performances and deeply engaging characters. Monarchy is not a subject that I would have explored on my own, so I learned a thing or two too, that I otherwise would not have.

Darkest hour

While it is hard to totally like Churchill, there is no denying his qualities either, and the movie brings them forth with force and intensity. I did not recognize at all that it was Gary Oldman in the lead role.

YZ

खदखदून हसलो असा पिक्चर खुप दिवसांनी पाहिला. 'बत्तीस' चे डायलॉग तर अप्रतिम. यात भरपूर फंडे आहेत, आणि ते काही सगळे हसन्यावारी घालवन्यासारखे आहेत अस नाही.