a video shared by the physicist Prof Ed Witten Prof V. Balakrishnan at IIT Madras explaining Why is Quantum Mechanics So Confusing? [I am in awe of how he traverses, sentence after sentences, idea after idea - without a pause but also unhurriedly. What a great teacher.🙏]

The above was shared by a YouTube channel that disseminates Prof Ed Witten’s lectures/interviews etc. Perhaps run by his research assistants…

Brilliant clip!! I was privileged to be in his class at IIT-Madras, in 1988 if I remember correctly. We loved his brilliance, clarity and crisp communication. What an absolutely masterful teacher! We used to lovingly refer to him as “Prof Balki”.

I was privileged to be a student in one of his classes in 1988 [Physics III in our third semester @ IITM].

Whole series

When I started teaching I mailed him to ask for advice. He was kind enough to share his thoughts with me, which I found very helpful.

Here he caught me taking his picture. He was delivering some guest lectures on Mathematical Physics last year.

wonderful. thank you for sharing.

🩷 the video. What Prof V. Balakrishnan says about particles and waves and how human language doesn't make sense when talking about Quantum Computing is also true for AI. Now in AI, we need better definitions for terms like Intelligence, Understanding, Hallucinations, Consciousness, Sentience and Sapience.

Beautiful. This kind of teaching shouldn't be limited to IITs, but start from school itself to give clarity on concepts like kinetic energy, PE, vector, scalar, speed, momentum, etc. Most students hate subjects bcoz concepts are not clearly explained.

I liked his lectures generally, but the "we're using the wrong language" lesson isn't really relevant here. A better explanation would be "an electron is a particle when you measure its position, and a wave when you measure its momentum".