Why “useless” problems matter
Basic research that looks useless is often the foundation for practical breakthroughs. Lester and Krishna connect this idea to quantum computing, where early theoretical problems with no obvious application create the groundwork for algorithms that eventually solve real-world tasks.
Transcript
This chapter, from the episode video's captions · 180 words
1:45:59classical uh computer cannot solve. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> Which then created sort of this theoretical motivation or justification to say okay well this is a problem that requires >> quantum computing >> uh to actually be able to efficiently solve and it's no and it's it's it item right it's right there I can describe it really well right still I mean obviously people are going to look at this and be like well that's a useless problem. Okay, now we're going to get into some useful problems. >> This is Well, we just to connect it back to the idea of funding and basic research. Sometimes you got to do stuff that looks useless. >> Yes. >> In order to enable and create the foundation for things that are useful
1:46:40and it's so can be counterintuitive, but I like I always want to hammer this point because we need to just explore sometimes. >> Yes, I agree. >> And just fool around. >> Yeah. >> And argue. >> 100%. 100%. So do Joseph they proposed this thing.
From How Quantum Computing Actually Works (Part 1)
Part I of our quantum computing deep dive traces the field from Bell and Feynman to Deutsch and Shor—and explains what quantum computers actually do differently from classical machines.