korrents

What Michael Nielsen thinks about physics

@michael-nielsen · 26 positions · 0 changes of mind

Physicist, writer and researcher, co-author of the standard textbook on quantum computation and quantum information.

Michael Nielsen did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Michael Nielsen has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingPoincare missed special relativity because he knew too much: the leading physicists of the day were prisoners of their own expertise.

    Their wordshis expertise seems to be getting in the way. He knows so much, he understands so much, um and then he's not able to let go of these these things.

    ↗Michael Nielsen – Why aliens will have a different tech stack than usyoutube.com 1st of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our readingA theory gets abandoned when the old explanation becomes visibly insufficient: special relativity made Newtonian gravity's action at a distance impossible, and that was the forcing function.

    Their wordsUm and so, it's not a big leap to realize, "Oh, we have a big problem here." Um and so, you know, that's kind of the that's the forcing function there. It's it's you've realized that your old explanation is not sufficient. You need something new.

    ↗Michael Nielsen – Why aliens will have a different tech stack than usyoutube.com 8th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  5. Our readingAnomalies cannot be sorted in advance: the same move that found Neptune failed completely for Mercury, so a field has to pursue both answers at once.

    Their wordsAnd so you sort of you've you've pursued very similar ideas. It's been very successful in one case and it's been completely and utterly unsuccessful in the other case. And I think I mean a priori, you can't tell which of these is the thing to do. And you actually need to do both.

    ↗Michael Nielsen – Why aliens will have a different tech stack than usyoutube.com 9th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  7. Our readingA theory of everything would not finish physics: Turing and Church laid down computation's theory of everything in the 1930s and we have spent ninety years exploring the consequences.

    Their wordsPeople will sometimes talk about um you know, a theory of everything as a potential goal for for physics. And and then there's this presumption somehow that physics is done once you get there. And of course, this is this is not true at all if you think about computer science.

    ↗Michael Nielsen – Why aliens will have a different tech stack than usyoutube.com 11th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  9. Our readingNo single person can understand a result like the Higgs boson in depth, and that is what a paper with a thousand authors actually means.

    Their wordsand I don't think it's possible for one person to understand everything in depth. Lots of people understand broadly a lot of these ideas but they don't understand sort of everything in in the depth that is actually utilized. That's why there's these, you know, papers with with well over a thousand authors.

    ↗Michael Nielsen – Why aliens will have a different tech stack than usyoutube.com 21st of 26 in this recording

    Interesting