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Scott Joel Aaronson (born May 21, 1981) is an American theoretical computer scientist and Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin. His primary areas of research are computational complexity theory and quantum computing.

Key Information

Early life and education

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Aaronson grew up in the United States, though he spent a year in Asia when his father was posted to Hong Kong.[3] He enrolled in a school there that permitted him to skip ahead several years in math, but upon returning to the US, he had difficulties in school, getting bad grades and having run-ins with teachers. He enrolled in The Clarkson School, a gifted education program run by Clarkson University, which enabled Aaronson to apply for colleges while only in his freshman year of high school.[3] He was accepted into Cornell University, where he obtained his BSc in computer science in 2000,[4] and where he resided at the Telluride House.[5] He then attended the University of California, Berkeley, for his PhD, which he got in 2004 under the supervision of Umesh Vazirani.[6]

As a child, Aaronson was particularly interested in mathematics. In part due to this, he felt drawn to theoretical computing, particularly computational complexity theory. At Cornell, he became interested in quantum computing and devoted himself to computational complexity and quantum computing.[3]

Career

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After postdoctorates at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo, he took a faculty position at MIT in 2007.[4] His primary area of research is quantum computing and computational complexity theory more generally.

In the summer of 2016 he moved from MIT to the University of Texas at Austin as David J. Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer Sciences #2 and as the founding director of UT Austin's new Quantum Information Center.[7] In summer 2022 he announced he would be working for a year at OpenAI on theoretical foundations of AI safety.[8][9] He worked at the company for two years.[10]

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He is a founder of the Complexity Zoo wiki, which catalogs all classes of computational complexity.[11][12] He is the author of the blog "Shtetl-Optimized".[13]

In a Scientific American interview he answers why his blog is called shtetl-optimized, and explains his preoccupation with the past:

Shtetls were Jewish villages in pre-Holocaust Eastern Europe. They're where all my ancestors came from—some actually from the same place (Vitebsk) as Marc Chagall, who painted the fiddler on the roof. I watched Fiddler many times as a kid, both the movie and the play. And every time, there was a jolt of recognition, like: "So that's the world I was designed to inhabit. All the aspects of my personality that mark me out as weird today, the obsessive reading and the literal-mindedness and even the rocking back and forth—I probably have them because back then they would've made me a better Talmud scholar, or something."

— Scott Aaronson[14]

He also wrote the essay "Who Can Name The Bigger Number?".[15] The latter work, widely distributed in academic computer science, uses the concept of Busy Beaver Numbers as described by Tibor Radó to illustrate the limits of computability in a pedagogic environment.

He has also taught a graduate-level survey course, "Quantum Computing Since Democritus",[16] for which notes are available online, and have been published as a book by Cambridge University Press.[17] It weaves together disparate topics into a cohesive whole, including quantum mechanics, complexity, free will, time travel, the anthropic principle and more. Many of these interdisciplinary applications of computational complexity were later fleshed out in his article, "Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity".[18] Since then, Aaronson published a book entitled Quantum Computing Since Democritus based on the course.

An article of Aaronson's, "The Limits of Quantum Computers", was published in Scientific American,[19] and he was a guest speaker at the 2007 Foundational Questions in Science Institute conference.[20] Aaronson is frequently cited in the non-academic press, such as Science News,[21] The Age,[22] ZDNet,[23] Slashdot,[24] New Scientist,[25] The New York Times,[26] and Forbes magazine.[27]

Awards

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Personal life

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Aaronson is married to computer scientist Dana Moshkovitz.[7] Aaronson is Jewish,[38][39][40] and has described himself as "radicalized in my Jewish and Zionist identities".[41]

References

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Scott Aaronson

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Scott Aaronson is an American theoretical computer scientist specializing in quantum computing and computational complexity theory. He holds the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin and directs its Quantum Information Center.[1] Aaronson received a bachelor's degree in computer science from Cornell University and a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, under advisor Umesh Vazirani.[2][3] After postdoctoral positions at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo, he joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, where he taught for nine years before moving to UT Austin.[2][4] His research elucidates the power and limitations of quantum computers, including foundational results on quantum proofs, sampling problems, and barriers to broad quantum speedups.[5] Aaronson received the 2020 ACM Prize in Computing for these contributions and authored the book Quantum Computing Since Democritus, which explores connections between quantum information, philosophy, and computation.[5][6] Through his blog Shtetl-Optimized, he communicates technical insights and critiques cultural trends in science, including a 2015 controversy over his comments on social awkwardness among programmers and responses advocating cognitive behavioral therapy rather than systemic overhaul, which drew accusations of insensitivity but highlighted tensions between empirical individualism and ideological frameworks.[7][8] From 2022 to 2024, he was on leave at OpenAI investigating theoretical foundations of AI safety.[1]

Early Life and Education

Childhood and Influences

Scott Aaronson was born on May 21, 1981, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a Jewish family with a strong emphasis on intellectual pursuits.[9] His parents, both English majors, fostered an environment of curiosity; his father, Steve Aaronson, worked as a science writer for magazines including Playboy and Penthouse, and later in public relations at AT&T Bell Labs, exposing young Scott to concepts like the Big Bang and the speed of light through discussions and interviews with physicists such as Steven Weinberg.[10] [11] This background, combined with attendance at a Hebrew day school, instilled early rationalist influences alongside science fiction works by authors like Isaac Asimov, which sparked imaginative yet logical explorations of scientific ideas.[11] [12] Aaronson's self-driven curiosity manifested precociously in mathematics and computing. At age 11, he taught himself calculus by studying symbols in a babysitter's textbook and learned programming after a friend demonstrated code for a simple spaceship game, fueling dreams of creating video games.[3] When his family relocated to Hong Kong for his father's job around age 12, Aaronson attended an English-language school and skipped a grade, accelerating his education amid this year abroad.[3] Upon returning to the United States as a high school freshman, Aaronson found public schooling restrictive and dropped out at age 15 to enroll directly at Cornell University, forgoing the remainder of high school in pursuit of advanced studies.[3] [13] This path reflected an empirical, independent approach to learning, prioritizing personal intellectual challenges over conventional milestones and laying the groundwork for his focus on computational limits and logical reasoning.[11]

Undergraduate and Graduate Studies

Aaronson attended Cornell University from 1997 to 2000, earning a B.S. in Computer Science with honors and a minor in Mathematics in 2000.[14] His undergraduate studies shifted his focus toward theoretical computer science, particularly after taking courses in computational complexity theory that introduced him to fundamental questions about computational limits.[3] He pursued graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2000 to 2004, obtaining a Ph.D. in Computer Science under the supervision of Umesh Vazirani.[14] Aaronson's doctoral thesis, Limits on Efficient Computation in the Physical World, examined quantum lower bounds and constraints on efficient computation imposed by physical principles, bridging complexity theory with quantum information.[15][14] Immediately following his Ph.D., Aaronson served as a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, from 2004 to 2005, where he advanced his early research on quantum proofs and complexity separations.[14]

Academic and Professional Career

Early Positions and MIT Tenure

Scott Aaronson joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in July 2007.[16] Following post-doctoral positions at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo, this marked his first permanent faculty role.[17] In 2010, Aaronson was promoted to associate professor without tenure.[18] He received tenure in 2012 at the age of 31, becoming a tenured associate professor.[12][19] During his time at MIT, which lasted until 2016, he held the TIBCO Career Development Chair.[20] Aaronson developed graduate-level courses on quantum computational complexity at MIT, including "Quantum Complexity Theory" offered in Fall 2010, with lecture notes and materials made publicly available through MIT OpenCourseWare to facilitate broader access to the subject.[21] These efforts emphasized pedagogical approaches to explaining the theoretical foundations and limitations of quantum computing, contributing to educational resources for students and researchers.[22] He also delivered seminars and lectures aimed at introducing quantum information concepts to wider academic audiences, including undergraduates, through MIT's departmental seminars.[23] In addition to teaching, Aaronson began engaging with experimental quantum computing efforts during his MIT tenure, discussing collaborations between theorists and experimentalists to bridge theoretical insights with practical implementations.[24] These interactions laid groundwork for advisory roles in emerging quantum technologies, though specific firm partnerships were not formalized until later in his career.[25]

Move to University of Texas at Austin

In September 2016, Scott Aaronson transitioned from his position at MIT to the University of Texas at Austin, accepting an appointment as the David J. Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer Science.[26] This move was motivated by UT Austin's strategic investments in theoretical computer science, including commitments to expand faculty in quantum information science and provide dedicated resources for building a quantum research program, which contrasted with constraints at MIT.[27] Aaronson was simultaneously named founding director of the Quantum Information Center (QIC), tasked with establishing interdisciplinary efforts in quantum computing theory, algorithms, and foundational limits.[28] Under Aaronson's leadership, the QIC expanded rapidly through targeted hires, incorporating theorists in quantum complexity, cryptography, and related fields, such as associate director Elena Caceres and postdoctoral researchers focused on quantum protocols.[28] This growth leveraged Texas's emerging quantum infrastructure, including state-level incentives for high-tech recruitment and proximity to industry players in semiconductors and energy.[27] By 2020, the center contributed to UT Austin's participation in the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute, securing federal funding for collaborative quantum simulation and error-correction research across institutions.[29] The QIC's initiatives fostered partnerships with quantum hardware firms, notably culminating in a 2025 collaboration with Quantinuum that demonstrated unconditional quantum supremacy via sampling tasks intractable for classical supercomputers, using Aaronson's theoretical frameworks for verification.[30] Additional grants, such as a $1.65 million award from Open Philanthropy in support of quantum-inspired computational complexity studies, bolstered lab capabilities and interdisciplinary hires blending quantum theory with AI foundations.[31] These developments positioned UT Austin as a hub in Texas's quantum ecosystem, attracting talent and resources amid national competition for quantum leadership, with Aaronson's protocols enabling practical milestones like certified randomness generation from quantum devices in March 2025.[32][33]

Administrative Roles

Aaronson has held the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin since 2016, a position that supports leadership in computational theory and quantum initiatives.[1] Concurrently, he serves as founding director of the university's Quantum Information Center (QIC), established to coordinate faculty, students, and external collaborations in quantum information science.[28] The center's structure emphasizes verifiable progress in quantum capabilities, with activities including seminars, workshops, and joint projects that have integrated experimental quantum hardware testing.[28] In this role, Aaronson contributed to the QIC's involvement in a 2025 collaboration demonstrating certified quantum randomness on Quantinuum's 56-qubit H2-1 trapped-ion processor, generating bits provably unpredictable under standard physical assumptions and accessible remotely via the internet.[32] This protocol, tested over multiple rounds with response times under seconds, provides an empirical benchmark for quantum devices' utility in cryptography, independent of vendor trust, and has prompted commercialization plans for quantum-secure randomness generation.[34][35] Such outcomes illustrate the center's focus on practical, falsifiable applications rather than speculative scaling claims.

Research Contributions

Foundations in Quantum Computing

Aaronson's foundational contributions to quantum computing emphasize the theoretical limits of quantum advantage over classical computation, particularly through barriers that prevent quantum computers from trivially resolving longstanding open problems in complexity theory. In collaboration with Avi Wigderson, he introduced the algebrization barrier in 2008, extending the relativization technique by incorporating low-degree algebraic oracles, which demonstrates that quantum proofs cannot easily separate BQP from the polynomial hierarchy (PH) without overcoming this stronger obstacle.[36] This work, building on earlier relativization results showing BQP ≠ PH in some oracle worlds but equality in others, underscores that algebraic constraints preserve many classical separations even under quantum extensions, implying that non-algebrizing techniques are needed for broad separations.[36] Central to Aaronson's quantum foundations is the exploration of oracle separations to delineate verifiable quantum supremacy, such as through sampling tasks that exhibit exponential gaps between quantum and classical resources. In 2009, he proposed the forrelation problem, a task where quantum algorithms achieve near-optimal performance while classical ones require exponential time relative to certain oracles, providing an early theoretical benchmark for demonstrating quantum computational superiority without relying on unproven cryptographic assumptions. This approach informed later tests, including 2013 results on foray-relativization, which further highlight oracle-dependent separations between quantum query complexity and classical limits, emphasizing that quantum speedups are provable in restricted models but hinge on avoiding classical simulation via algebraic or low-degree methods. Aaronson's analyses of physical barriers, grounded in computational complexity, reveal inherent challenges to scalable quantum computing, such as decoherence, which disrupts coherent superpositions essential for quantum advantage. He argues that effective irreversibility of decoherence requires not just physical isolation but verification through complexity-theoretic measures, as partial decoherence can mimic classical behavior in simulations. Critiquing overly optimistic fault-tolerance claims, Aaronson stresses that achieving error rates below the ~10^{-3} to 10^{-4} noise threshold for surface codes demands exponential overhead in qubits and operations, with empirical progress lagging due to scalability issues in controlling millions of physical qubits; these thresholds, while theoretically attainable per the quantum threshold theorem, confront real-world causal realities like environmental interactions that amplify errors beyond linear corrections.[37] Such first-principles scrutiny counters hype by quantifying how noise accumulation limits practical implementations to problems feasible on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices, without scalable fault-tolerance.[38]

Complexity Theory and Limitations

Scott Aaronson has made significant contributions to delineating the boundaries between classical and quantum computational power through barriers to proof techniques. In a 2008 collaboration with Avi Wigderson, he introduced the algebrization barrier, which generalizes the classical relativization barrier (Baker, Gill, Solovay, 1975) to algebraic oracle settings relevant for quantum algorithms. This barrier demonstrates that black-box proof methods relying on field extensions or algebraic structures—such as those used in Shor's factoring algorithm—cannot resolve key separations like P versus NP or BQP versus P, as they hold in both quantum and classical worlds under algebraic relativization.[39] Algebrization thus explains the failure of certain approaches to establish exponential quantum speedups for broad classes of problems, underscoring that quantum advantages, while real for specific tasks like factoring, do not extend universally without non-algebraic insights.[39] Aaronson's work extends classical barriers like the Razborov-Rudich natural proofs paradigm (1994) to quantum contexts, highlighting limitations on proving circuit lower bounds. Natural proofs, which rely on combinatorial properties of circuits that are "natural" (large, efficient, and useful), are stymied by the existence of pseudorandom generators under cryptographic assumptions, preventing separation of P from NP. In quantum settings, Aaronson has argued that analogous barriers apply, as techniques overcoming classical natural proofs often fail against quantum adversaries or require assumptions incompatible with observed quantum phenomena. For instance, his analyses show that derandomizing quantum protocols or proving lower bounds for quantum circuits encounters similar self-referential obstacles, where proving a lower bound would imply the existence of hard functions that contradict the proof's assumptions.[40] This has implications for derandomization of promise problems, where Aaronson co-authored results linking derandomization of Arthur-Merlin protocols to exponential-time hierarchies with NP oracles, but progress remains constrained by these barriers.[41] In the realm of promise problems, Aaronson's query complexity lower bounds reveal tempered quantum advantages over classical computation. For the collision problem—distinguishing one-to-one from two-to-one functions under a promise—he proved a quantum lower bound of Ω(n^{1/3}) queries, matching the upper bound from Brassard et al. (1998) and refuting claims of dramatically larger speedups.[42] Similarly, for element distinctness, he established Ω(n^{2/3}) quantum queries, confirming polynomial but not exponential separation from classical Ω(n) bounds.[43] These results, from early 2000s papers, emphasize that quantum computers excel in structured search but face fundamental limits, debunking overclaims of universal exponential acceleration. Regarding P versus NP, Aaronson maintains that stalled progress—despite incentives like the $1 million Clay Mathematics Institute prize offered since 2000—stems from these barriers rather than lack of effort or counterexamples from nature. He estimates a greater than 99% probability that P ≠ NP, citing empirical absence of efficient algorithms for NP-complete problems in cryptography, optimization, and biology, alongside theoretical evidence that P = NP would collapse complexity hierarchies unexpectedly.[44] The Razborov-Rudich barrier, in particular, blocks "natural" lower bound proofs unless pseudorandomness assumptions fail, which would upend cryptography; yet no such failure has materialized, reinforcing the conjecture's resilience.[45] This honest assessment highlights causal constraints: computational limits arise from resource hierarchies, not hype, with quantum extensions preserving classical hardness cores.[46]

AI-Related Work and Quantum Randomness

During his sabbatical at OpenAI from late 2022 to mid-2023, Aaronson developed a statistical watermarking protocol for large language models (LLMs), embedding detectable signals into generated text outputs to verify AI origin without altering readability or utility.[47] The approach leverages pseudorandomness in token selection, allowing public detection of watermarked content with high confidence while resisting removal attempts, as detailed in his technical report and subsequent analyses.[48] This work addressed challenges in attributing AI-generated content amid rising concerns over misinformation and plagiarism, with Aaronson advocating its integration into LLM deployments for forensic purposes.[49] In March 2025, Aaronson co-authored a protocol for certified randomness, demonstrated experimentally on Quantinuum's 56-qubit H2-1 trapped-ion quantum processor in collaboration with JPMorgan Chase, national laboratories, and UT Austin researchers.[34] The protocol, building on Aaronson's earlier theoretical framework with Shih-Han Hung, generates verifiably random bits resistant to manipulation by ensuring quantum measurements are performed under verifier-chosen challenges, marking the first practical, remote-accessible application of quantum computing for cryptographic randomness expansion.[50] Accessed via the internet, the system processed challenges in seconds, yielding certifiable outputs suitable for finance and security, with Quantinuum planning commercialization later that year.[51] Intersecting AI and quantum domains, Aaronson's September 2025 paper on limits to error reduction in QMA (Quantum Merlin-Arthur complexity class) featured a pivotal proof step generated by OpenAI's GPT-5 model, the first such AI-assisted contribution in his research corpus.[52] Prompted iteratively, GPT-5 proposed a novel construction resolving a technical hurdle in bounding QMA amplification, which Aaronson verified and incorporated after manual checks, highlighting AI's emerging utility in formal verification of quantum theorems despite limitations in independent innovation.[53] This advancement underscored verifiable protocols at the AI-quantum nexus, prioritizing empirical validation over speculative scalability.[54]

Public Intellectual Work

Shtetl-Optimized Blog

Shtetl-Optimized is a personal blog authored by Scott Aaronson, initiated in August 2007 as a venue for exploring computational complexity, quantum information, and related fields through direct, evidence-based commentary.[55] The platform emphasizes rigorous deconstructions of technical claims, prioritizing verifiable data and logical consistency over institutional consensus, with Aaronson frequently highlighting gaps between theoretical promises and empirical outcomes in areas like quantum computing and physics.[56] Posts often target overhyped narratives, such as early enthusiasm for string theory's unification potential without corresponding experimental support, and persistent misconceptions about quantum computers enabling brute-force solutions to intractable problems via superposition.[56] Aaronson's approach favors first-principles breakdowns, using specific counterexamples—like the limitations of current qubit coherence times or the absence of scalable quantum error correction—to refute exaggerated capabilities.[57] This has positioned the blog as a counterpoint to mainstream hype in quantum technologies, attracting readership among researchers seeking candid assessments.[58] The blog's style integrates humor through playful analogies and ironic asides, rendering dense topics accessible while maintaining analytical depth; entries typically conclude with open invitations for reader queries, fostering extended Q&A threads that refine arguments iteratively.[52] In 2024 and 2025, contributions have scrutinized predictive failures in AI progress timelines, questioning overly pessimistic or optimistic forecasts lacking quantitative backing, alongside evaluations of quantum supremacy assertions, including a detailed rebuttal to claims in an HSBC analysis purporting classical simulation equivalence for certain quantum tasks.[59][60] These pieces underscore empirical discrepancies, such as benchmark mismatches between quantum hardware demonstrations and purported real-world advantages.[56]

Books, Lectures, and Media Appearances

Aaronson published Quantum Computing Since Democritus in 2013, a book originating from his undergraduate course at the University of Waterloo and MIT, which surveys quantum information science by linking foundational concepts in philosophy, mathematics, computer science, and physics to quantum algorithms and limitations.[61] [62] The text emphasizes computational complexity barriers, such as the inability of quantum computers to solve NP-complete problems efficiently, while illustrating these through accessible analogies and historical context to reach readers beyond specialists.[63] In lectures, Aaronson has presented on quantum computing's scope and constraints for broader audiences, including a 2017 TEDxDresden talk titled "What quantum computing isn't," which debunks overhyping by explaining that quantum devices excel at specific tasks like factoring large numbers via Shor's algorithm but falter on general search problems due to complexity-theoretic bounds.[64] [65] Earlier public talks, such as his 2011 Caltech presentation on physics challenges in the 21st century, highlighted computational limits in simulating quantum gravity, underscoring the role of complexity theory in demarcating feasible from impossible calculations.[66] Media appearances include podcasts demystifying quantum ideas; in a May 2024 episode of the Clearer Thinking podcast, Aaronson clarified quantum advantages over classical computing while stressing empirical hurdles like error correction, rooted in fault-tolerance theorems.[67] A March 2025 FBI "Ahead of the Threat" podcast featured him outlining quantum threats to encryption, such as breaking RSA via Grover's algorithm's quadratic speedup, balanced against the decades-long timeline for scalable fault-tolerant machines.[68] [69] On YouTube, a 2019 discussion addressed radical uncertainty in computation and decision-making, tying it to probabilistic models in complexity classes like BPP.[70]

Philosophical and Policy Views

Skepticism of Technological Hype

Scott Aaronson has consistently cautioned against exaggerated expectations for quantum computing's near-term capabilities, emphasizing that after approximately 30 years of research since Peter Shor's 1994 algorithm, demonstrated advantages remain confined to specific tasks such as quantum simulation of physical systems and generation of certified randomness via protocols like random circuit sampling.[71][72] These achievements, including Google's 2019 quantum supremacy experiment, highlight computational hardness proofs rather than practical utility beyond niche applications, underscoring the field's incremental rather than revolutionary progress.[71] In his September 2024 reflections on over two decades in quantum computing, Aaronson argues that quantum devices do not offer "magic" exponential speedups for arbitrary problems but rely on interference for targeted domains like molecular simulation and public-key cryptography breaking, while critiquing the misleading of non-experts about broader impacts.[72] He notes that current Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) systems, operating without full error correction, deliver non-scalable demonstrations—often termed "circus tricks"—limited by noise, postselection requirements (success rates as low as 0.1%), and inability to perform universal gate sets due to theorems like Eastin-Knill.[73][72] Empirical metrics reveal gate fidelities improving from 50% in the 1990s to 99.9% today, yet NISQ constraints persist, with experiments like Harvard/QuEra's 48 logical qubits still far from the thousands needed for fault-tolerant scaling.[72][73] Aaronson pushes back against fears of a "quantum winter" by highlighting ongoing fault-tolerance milestones, such as Google's surface code experiments suppressing errors with increasing code distance (e.g., distance-7 yielding over 2x lifetime gains) and Microsoft/Quantinuum's 12 logical qubits achieving 0.2% error rates—11x better than physical qubits—suggesting viable scaling if trends continue toward 100 logical qubits and 10^{-6} error rates within a decade.[74][71] He maintains that while hype risks disillusionment, steady advances in error-corrected gates (e.g., 800x error reduction in some demonstrations) position the field as "more than halfway" to useful quantum computers, provided focus remains on fidelity metrics over speculative applications.[71][74]

AI Safety, Alignment, and Timelines

In June 2022, Aaronson announced a one-year leave from the University of Texas at Austin to join OpenAI, focusing on the theoretical foundations of AI safety, with his tenure extending through 2024.[75] During this period, he contributed to the Superalignment team, led by Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, which aimed to develop methods for aligning superintelligent AI systems using scaled oversight techniques, though the team was disbanded and reintegrated into other OpenAI groups in May 2024 amid internal shifts.[76] Aaronson critiqued aspects of superalignment efforts as overly ambitious and potentially underdefined in addressing scalable oversight for systems far beyond current capabilities, advocating instead for grounded theoretical tools like cryptographic assumptions and complexity bounds to inform practical alignment strategies.[77] Aaronson has positioned himself within a "Reform AI Alignment" paradigm, emphasizing empirical research on existing neural networks over speculative long-term existential risks, arguing that feedback from real-world systems—such as interpretability probes and robustness tests—offers the most reliable path to progress rather than doctrinal pauses or doomerist predictions.[78] He contrasts this with "Orthodox" views in rationalist and effective altruism circles, which prioritize abstract mesa-optimization risks, instead favoring causal analysis of scaling laws to identify tractable bottlenecks, such as out-of-distribution generalization failures observed in models like GPT-4.[79] In debates, including a 2022 exchange with Steven Pinker, Aaronson defended the empirical promise of continued scaling for unlocking novel capabilities, while acknowledging alignment challenges like deceptive alignment remain open but potentially resolvable through iterative testing rather than halting development.[80] Reflecting in December 2023, Aaronson admitted underestimating AI timelines, noting that pre-2022 predictions overlooked how compute scaling and algorithmic tweaks would yield rapid gains in capabilities, such as multimodal reasoning in models released by late 2023, prompting a shift toward prioritizing safety measures like watermarking outputs and regulatory frameworks over outright panic.[81] He maintains that alignment tractability hinges on integrating theoretical computer science—e.g., proofs of non-malleability in learned representations—with empirical validation, critiquing both accelerationist dismissal of risks and doomerist overemphasis on unproven catastrophe scenarios as diverging from evidence-based reasoning.[82] This stance underscores his call for policy reforms, such as California's SB 1047 in 2024, to enforce safety evaluations without stifling empirical iteration.[83]

Rationalism and Effective Altruism

Scott Aaronson has maintained close ties to the rationalist community associated with LessWrong and Slate Star Codex, contributing writings and engaging in discussions on bounded rationality and self-delusion since at least 2009.[84] In June 2025, he publicly identified as a rationalist following attendance at the LessOnline conference, where he interacted with figures like Eliezer Yudkowsky and Scott Alexander, affirming shared commitments to empirical problem-solving and Bayesian epistemology.[85] Aaronson promotes Bayesian updating as a tool for tech policy, exemplified in his analyses of agreement complexity and probability updates under uncertainty, advocating its application to evaluate claims in fields like AI development and quantum computing feasibility.[86][87] Aaronson's involvement with Effective Altruism includes delivering a November 2022 lecture on AI safety to the University of Texas at Austin's EA club, where he outlined eight alignment approaches and emphasized tractable, progress-oriented strategies over speculative ones.[79] His work at OpenAI during 2022-2023 further intersected with EA priorities, focusing on practical interventions like watermarking AI outputs to mitigate misuse risks, informed by his quantum computing expertise in assessing verifiable threats rather than hype-driven scenarios.[79] In blog posts from 2022 onward, he has addressed EA cause prioritization, critiquing overreliance on linear expected-value calculations that undervalue downside protections, as seen in his analysis of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX collapse.[88] Evaluating EA's empirical track record, Aaronson defends its core against post-FTX critiques portraying it as a systemic scam, attributing failures like Bankman-Fried's fraud to individual corruption rather than inherent flaws, while noting real prior donations despite their limited scale relative to pledged amounts.[88] He critiques EA's tendency to overfocus on low-probability tail risks—such as existential AI doom—versus near-term, verifiable interventions, favoring "Reform" approaches that prioritize empirical progress and balanced risk assessment over "Orthodox" pessimism.[78] This stance aligns with his broader skepticism of ungrounded hype, applying first-principles evaluation to prioritize causes with measurable outcomes, as in quantum risk assessments where he stresses computational limits over exaggerated threats.[89]

Controversies and Public Debates

Critiques of Social Justice in Tech

In December 2014, Aaronson addressed backlash to his earlier comments on gender imbalances in tech and STEM fields, attributing much of the disparity to biological factors such as greater male variability in cognitive abilities rather than systemic discrimination alone.[90] He referenced empirical studies showing that males exhibit larger variance in mathematical and spatial reasoning scores, leading to overrepresentation of men at both extremes of the distribution, including the high-ability tails required for elite technical roles. This greater male variability hypothesis, supported by meta-analyses of IQ and aptitude data across populations, predicts fewer women in mathematically intensive fields like theoretical computer science without invoking bias as the primary cause. Aaronson argued that prioritizing merit-based selection over equity-driven quotas preserves innovation in tech, where small differences in talent yield large performance gaps, and cautioned against conflating underrepresentation with injustice.[90] Aaronson's critiques extended to what he described as overreach in social justice advocacy, including demands for "redistribution" of social opportunities in nerd-heavy subcultures, drawing an analogy in a 2011 post to unliberated societal pressures akin to historical hiding.[91] He contended that empirical evidence from longitudinal studies undermines claims of pervasive bias as the sole driver of gender gaps, noting stable patterns across cultures and eras where environmental interventions have yielded limited results. For instance, interventions aimed at boosting female participation in computing have not closed the gap proportionally to efforts in other fields, suggesting innate interest distributions play a causal role. Aaronson emphasized that acknowledging such data enables targeted support for interested women without lowering standards or stigmatizing male-dominated domains as inherently toxic.[90] The response to Aaronson's positions included online shaming campaigns accusing him of insensitivity to women's barriers in tech, with critics framing his empirical defenses as apologetics for privilege.[92] In defending free inquiry, Aaronson highlighted the risk of suppressing debate on sensitive topics, arguing in 2014 that social justice norms sometimes prioritize narrative conformity over evidence, potentially chilling dissent in academic and tech environments.[90] He advocated for meritocracy as essential to technological progress, warning that equity quotas could exacerbate imbalances by deterring high-caliber talent and fostering resentment, while citing historical precedents where ideological conformity hampered scientific advancement.[92] Despite the controversy, Aaronson maintained that rigorous, data-driven discussion benefits underrepresented groups by identifying genuine obstacles rather than illusory ones.[90]

Responses to AI Doomerism and Accelerationism

Scott Aaronson has critiqued AI doomerism, particularly the views associated with Eliezer Yudkowsky, as relying on speculative causal chains that lack empirical grounding and Bayesian rigor, rendering extinction risk scenarios difficult to falsify or disprove in advance.[93] In a March 2023 blog post responding to Yudkowsky's Time magazine essay advocating military-enforced shutdowns of AI scaling, Aaronson argued that the path from training models like GPT-5 to the "sudden death of all carbon-based life" contains "too many gaps" to justify immediate global halt, emphasizing instead the need for coherent, evidence-based reasons rather than unfalsifiable doomsday prophecies.[93] [94] He favors "capability control"—limiting AI deployment and misuse by humans—over speculative alignment efforts to prevent superintelligent deception, viewing the latter as premature given current large language model (LLM) behaviors like persistent hallucinations that undermine coherent world-takeover planning.[95] Aaronson has similarly engaged with effective accelerationism (e/acc), rejecting its dismissal of safety measures as reckless in light of scaling laws demonstrating predictable but controllable capability gains, such as GPT-4's advancements without emergent existential threats.[77] In April 2023 discussions, he positioned his "reform AI alignment" approach against both doomer overreaction—exemplified by calls for indefinite pauses—and e/acc's full-throttle optimism, advocating "fire alarms" like verifiable misuse events (e.g., AI-facilitated fraud or hacking) to trigger targeted interventions rather than ideological extremes.[96] Drawing on LLM scaling data, Aaronson notes that while capabilities improve, intrinsic limitations like error-prone reasoning persist, supporting practical safeguards over halting progress, which he sees as unenforceable amid geopolitical competition.[77] As a practical alternative, Aaronson promoted watermarking AI-generated outputs during his 2023-2024 tenure advising OpenAI, enabling traceability to mitigate misuse without impeding innovation—a measure he contrasted with doomer moratoriums or e/acc laissez-faire by grounding it in observable model outputs rather than hypothetical risks.[95] [96] He analogizes AI risks to historical technologies like nuclear power, where capability controls (e.g., non-proliferation treaties) proved more feasible than perfect alignment, urging evidence from current deployments—like GPT-4's non-hostile evaluations—to inform policy instead of extremes on either side.[93] This middle-ground stance, articulated in podcasts and posts, prioritizes falsifiable tests of AI behavior over unfalsifiable apocalypses, acknowledging scaling trends' benefits while insisting on incremental controls to address nearer-term harms like amplified human misuse.[95][77]

Political and Cultural Commentary

Aaronson frequently critiques what he perceives as ideological conformity in academia and media, prioritizing evidence-based reasoning over social niceties in his Shtetl-Optimized blog posts. In "My Nutty, Extremist Beliefs" on October 13, 2024, he enumerated positions such as rejecting the notion that all disparities stem from discrimination and questioning certain DEI initiatives as counterproductive, framing them as defensible based on data rather than fringe extremism.[97] He argued these views, while unpopular in elite circles, align with probabilistic thinking and historical precedents over dogmatic consensus. In "Fight Fiercely" on April 24, 2025, Aaronson reflected on delivering the Yip Lecture at Harvard amid post-2024 election pressures from the Trump administration, invoking Tom Lehrer's song to exhort the university to vigorously defend its autonomy and intellectual standards against external and internal threats, without capitulating to either populist overreach or campus pieties.[98] Aaronson has highlighted media distortions in tech coverage, contending that outlets like legacy news sources exhibit systemic biases that favor sensationalism and align with progressive priors, undermining accurate discourse on fields like AI and quantum computing. In an August 30, 2020, post, he adopted a motto emphasizing resilience against such coverage, noting longstanding patterns of ideological slant traceable to the republic's founding but exacerbated in digital eras.[99] On the Israel-Gaza conflict, Aaronson has approached commentary with caution amid accusations of genocide, refuting them as hyperbolic while stressing Israel's restraint despite capabilities for decisive action. In "The Right Side of History" on August 16, 2024, he observed that Israel's nuclear arsenal could have eradicated Gaza if genocide were the intent, a claim underscoring factual proportionality over emotive narratives.[100] By October 7, 2025, in "Sad and happy day," he reiterated that Israel's security necessitates Hamas's complete dismantlement, rooted in the October 7, 2023, attacks' realities rather than equivocal moral posturing.[101] Through a rationalist framework, Aaronson analyzes cancel culture as imposing asymmetric penalties that stifle debate, particularly on campuses where dissent risks professional repercussions. Defending Steven Pinker in July 2020 against Linguistics Society efforts to revoke his fellow status, he contended that targeting associations over substantive arguments exemplifies how such mechanisms prioritize ideological purity tests over merit.[102] In "Toward a non-constant cancellation function" on February 11, 2025, he critiqued its binary logic—equating critique with violence—arguing it erodes the Enlightenment commitment to falsifiable inquiry essential for progress.[103]

Awards and Recognition

Scientific Prizes

In 2010, Aaronson received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the National Science Foundation, recognizing his early-career contributions to quantum computing and computational complexity theory, as well as his potential for scientific leadership in fields supported by federal research agencies.[104] The PECASE is among the highest honors for early-career U.S. researchers under 40, selected from NSF nominees in a highly competitive process limited to one recipient per broad field annually. Aaronson was awarded the Alan T. Waterman Award in 2012 by the National Science Foundation, the agency's highest honor for researchers under 35, for advancing the theoretical foundations of quantum computation, including lower bounds and complexity separations that clarified the power and limitations of quantum algorithms.[20] This prize, named after NSF's first director, includes a grant of up to $500,000 over five years and is given to one outstanding early-career scientist or engineer across all NSF-supported disciplines each year, underscoring the competitive nature of recognition in theoretical computer science. In 2018, he received the Tomassoni-Chisesi Prize in Physics from Sapienza University of Rome in the under-40 category, honoring his foundational work on quantum information complexity and the boundaries of quantum versus classical computation. Established to recognize innovative physics research, the prize—valued at €50,000 and awarded biennially to emerging leaders—highlights achievements in a field where quantum theory intersects computation, amid competition from experimental and theoretical physicists globally.[105] Aaronson earned the 2020 ACM Prize in Computing from the Association for Computing Machinery, a $250,000 award for mid-career researchers whose contributions have broadly influenced the computing discipline, specifically citing his proofs of quantum lower bounds, development of complexity classes like BQP, and exposition of quantum computing's theoretical frontiers.[5] Given annually to one honoree under 45 in a field dominated by rapid innovation and few such prizes, it reflects the scarcity of formal recognition for theoretical advances without experimental hardware.[106] Despite subsequent milestones, such as theoretical frameworks for verifying quantum supremacy experiments by 2023, no additional major prizes like the Nevanlinna (now Abacus Medal) or Turing Award equivalents have been conferred as of 2025, amid the field's emphasis on empirical demonstrations over pure theory.[107]

Fellowships and Lectureships

In 2017, Aaronson was selected as a Simons Investigator in Theoretical Computer Science by the Simons Foundation, recognizing his foundational contributions to quantum computational complexity and its interfaces with physics; this fellowship provides five years of research support.[108][109] Earlier, in the mid-2000s, he received the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, which funded innovative work in quantum information and complexity theory during his early faculty years at MIT.[110][108] Aaronson has delivered numerous invited lectures at flagship conferences in theoretical computer science and quantum information, including plenary and invited talks at the ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC) and the Conference on Quantum Information Processing (QIP), often addressing limits of quantum computation and complexity separations.[111] His presentations at these venues, spanning over two decades, reflect sustained peer recognition for bridging quantum physics and algorithmic theory.[112][113] In recent years, Aaronson has been invited to panels forecasting quantum progress, such as the November 2024 virtual discussion on the "Future of Quantum Computing," where he debated timelines and challenges with experts including Andrew Childs and Aram Harrow.[114] He also gave a keynote at Q2B 2024 on quantum algorithms' state amid hardware advances, emphasizing measured optimism over hype.[115] These engagements underscore his role in shaping discourse on scalable quantum systems through 2025.[111]

Personal Life

Family and Relationships

Scott Aaronson was born on May 21, 1981, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[116] He is married to Dana Moshkovitz Aaronson, a theoretical computer scientist specializing in approximation algorithms and complexity theory.[27][117] The couple met while both were pursuing academic careers and relocated together from MIT to the University of Texas at Austin in 2016.[27] Aaronson and Moshkovitz have two children: a daughter, Lily Rebecca Aaronson, born on January 20, 2013, and a son, Daniel Moshe Aaronson, born in March 2017.[118][119] Aaronson has publicly celebrated family milestones, such as his wife's 40th birthday in 2022 and the children's birthdays, emphasizing their role in his personal life amid a demanding professional schedule.[117][120] He shares limited details about his family, focusing on verifiable events rather than ongoing personal narratives.[119]

Hobbies and Non-Academic Interests

Aaronson engages in family activities such as playing board games with his children, though he notes challenges in competing with their preference for digital entertainment.[71] He also reads science fiction and fantasy novels aloud with his kids as part of daily routines.[121] His blog, Shtetl-Optimized, includes a dedicated humor category featuring satirical pieces on topics ranging from complexity theory to current events, serving as an outlet for comedic expression.[122] Aaronson has collaborated on humorous content, including a comic strip co-authored with Zach Weinersmith titled "The Talk" and directing a short suspense comedy sketch called The Rimpletons in 2020.[123][124] Aaronson participates in rationalist-adjacent pursuits like prediction markets and scientific betting, offering "Scott Aaronson Speculation Grants" for wagers on unresolved theoretical questions such as the value of Busy Beaver functions.[125][126] He has discussed the ethics of such betting, emphasizing its role in eliciting probabilistic forecasts from experts without requiring full-time commitment to activism or advocacy.[126]

References

  1. Scott Aaronson
  2. Scott Aaronson - Simons Foundation
  3. The complexonaut | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  4. Scott Aaronson | Department of Computer Science
  5. ACM Prize Awarded to Pioneer in Quantum Computing
  6. Quantum Computing since Democritus
  7. Shtetl-Optimized
  8. The Blog Comment That Achieved an Internet Miracle - The Atlantic
  9. Scott Aaronson (Author of Quantum Computing Since Democritus)
  10. Blog Archive » Happy 70th birthday Dad! - Shtetl-Optimized
  11. Scott Aaronson Answers Every Ridiculously Big Question I Throw at ...
  12. Ingenious: Scott Aaronson - Nautilus Magazine
  13. Blog Archive » It's science if it bites back - Shtetl-Optimized
  14. [PDF] Scott Aaronson
  15. [PDF] Limits on Efficient Computation in the Physical World by Scott Joel ...
  16. Blog Archive » aaronson@mit - Shtetl-Optimized
  17. Scott Aaronson - Closer To Truth
  18. Corporation announces faculty promotions and appointments | MIT ...
  19. Reasons to care: In honor of Scott Aaronson - Windows On Theory
  20. Scott Aaronson wins NSF's Alan T. Waterman Award | MIT News
  21. Quantum Complexity Theory | Electrical Engineering and Computer ...
  22. https://scottaaronson.com/
  23. Prof. Scott Aaronson - Quantum Computing and the Limits of the ...
  24. Scott Aaronson - Collaborating with Experimentalists - YouTube
  25. Scott's Supreme Quantum Supremacy FAQ! - Shtetl-Optimized
  26. Scott Aaronson and Dana Moshkovitz to join UT Austin Department ...
  27. Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » From Boston to Austin
  28. Quantum Information Center - UT Austin
  29. UT Austin to Partner in New NSF Quantum Computing Institute
  30. UT Austin, Quantinuum Researchers Report 'Unconditional ...
  31. The University of Texas at Austin — Research on AI Safety and ...
  32. Researchers Achieve Quantum Computing Milestone, Realizing ...
  33. Scott Aaronson's Protocol Powers Quantum Breakthrough in ...
  34. Certified randomness using a trapped-ion quantum processor - Nature
  35. JPMorganChase, Quantinuum, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak ...
  36. [PDF] Algebrization: A New Barrier in Complexity Theory - Scott Aaronson
  37. PHYS771 Lecture 14: Skepticism of Quantum Computing
  38. [PDF] Complexity-Theoretic Foundations of Quantum Supremacy ...
  39. [PDF] Algebrization: A New Barrier in Complexity Theory∗ - Scott Aaronson
  40. Arithmetic natural proofs theory is sought - Shtetl-Optimized
  41. Derandomizing Arthur-Merlin Games and Approximate Counting ...
  42. [PDF] Quantum Lower Bound for the Collision Problem - Scott Aaronson
  43. Quantum lower bounds for the collision and the element distinctness ...
  44. [PDF] P = NP - Scott Aaronson
  45. The Scientific Case for P≠NP - Shtetl-Optimized
  46. [PDF] BQP and the Polynomial Hierarchy - Scott Aaronson
  47. Watermarking of Large Language Models - Simons Institute
  48. [PPT] The Future of Computer Science - Scott Aaronson
  49. AI expert Scott Aaronson on fighting plagiarism - Axios
  50. On the JPMC/Quantinuum certified quantum randomness demo
  51. Quantinuum Introduces First Commercial Application for Quantum ...
  52. Blog Archive » The QMA Singularity - Shtetl-Optimized
  53. GPT-5 Serves as Research Assistant in Proving One of Quantum ...
  54. GPT-5 helps define strict limits in quantum error reduction theory
  55. https://scottaaronson.blog/?m=200708
  56. Shtetl-Optimized » Quantum
  57. Blog Archive » The Google Willow thing - Shtetl-Optimized
  58. Blog Archive » Cracking the Top Fifty! - Shtetl-Optimized
  59. September 2025 – Shtetl-Optimized
  60. Blog Archive » My pontificatiest AI podcast ever! - Shtetl-Optimized
  61. Quantum Computing since Democritus
  62. PHYS771 Quantum Computing Since Democritus - Scott Aaronson
  63. Quantum Computing Since Democritus: Aaronson, Scott
  64. Scott Aaronson: What quantum computing isn't - TED Talks
  65. What Quantum Computing Isn't | Scott Aaronson | TEDxDresden
  66. Physics in the 21st Century: Toiling in Feynman's Shadow - YouTube
  67. Separating quantum computing hype from reality (with Scott Aaronson)
  68. Ahead of the Threat Podcast: Episode Eight - Scott Aaronson - FBI
  69. Ahead of the Threat Podcast: Episode Eight - Scott Aaronson
  70. Scott Aaronson - On Suffering, Utopia, Radical Uncertainty & Free Will
  71. And yet quantum computing continues to progress - Shtetl-Optimized
  72. Quantum Computing: Between Hope and Hype - Shtetl-Optimized
  73. Staggering toward quantum fault-tolerance - Shtetl-Optimized
  74. Quantum fault-tolerance milestones dropping like atoms
  75. Blog Archive » OpenAI! - Shtetl-Optimized
  76. Blog Archive » Openness on OpenAI - Shtetl-Optimized
  77. AI safety: what should actually be done now? - Shtetl-Optimized
  78. Blog Archive » Reform AI Alignment - Shtetl-Optimized
  79. My AI Safety Lecture for UT Effective Altruism - Shtetl-Optimized
  80. Steven Pinker and I debate AI scaling! - Shtetl-Optimized
  81. Blog Archive » On being wrong about AI - Shtetl-Optimized
  82. Theoretical Computer Science for AI Alignment … and More
  83. In Support of SB 1047 - Shtetl-Optimized
  84. Scott Aaronson's "On Self-Delusion and Bounded Rationality"
  85. Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » Guess I'm A Rationalist Now
  86. Common Knowledge and Aumann's Agreement Theorem
  87. Algorithmic Bayesian Epistemology - Unexpected Values
  88. Blog Archive » Sam Bankman-Fried and the geometry of conscience
  89. Why am I not terrified of AI? - Shtetl-Optimized
  90. What I believe - Shtetl-Optimized
  91. Point/Counterpoint: “speaking truth to power” vs ... - Shtetl-Optimized
  92. How can we fight online shaming campaigns? - Shtetl-Optimized
  93. If AI scaling is to be shut down, let it be for a coherent reason
  94. https://time.com/6266923/ai-eliezer-yudkowsky-open-letter-not-enough/
  95. Scott Aaronson: Against AI Doomerism - The Gradient
  96. 20 - 'Reform' AI Alignment with Scott Aaronson | AXRP
  97. Blog Archive » My Nutty, Extremist Beliefs - Shtetl-Optimized
  98. Fight Fiercely - Shtetl-Optimized
  99. Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » My new motto
  100. Blog Archive » “The Right Side of History” - Shtetl-Optimized
  101. Sad and happy day - Shtetl-Optimized
  102. Scott Aaronson on the attempt to cancel Steven Pinker
  103. Toward a non-constant cancellation function - Shtetl-Optimized
  104. Scott J. Aaronson | NSF - National Science Foundation
  105. Tomassoni Chisesi Prize | Dipartimento di Fisica
  106. Dr. Scott J Aaronson - ACM Awards
  107. https://scottaaronson.com/vita.pdf
  108. Simons Investigators - Simons Foundation
  109. Quantum Computer Scientist Named Simons Foundation Investigator
  110. Team - Blanqet
  111. Talks - Scott Aaronson
  112. https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/1806689
  113. QIP 2016 Scientific Program
  114. [2506.19232] Future of Quantum Computing - arXiv
  115. Q2B24 Silicon Valley | Scott Aaronson, California Institute ... - YouTube
  116. Blog Archive » Beyond fiction - Shtetl-Optimized
  117. Blog Archive » Happy 40th Birthday Dana! - Shtetl-Optimized
  118. Blog Archive » Lily Rebecca Aaronson - Shtetl-Optimized
  119. Blog Archive » Daniel Moshe Aaronson - Shtetl-Optimized
  120. Blog Archive » Happy Second Birthday Lily - Shtetl-Optimized
  121. Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » My Reading Burden
  122. Humor - Shtetl-Optimized
  123. Essentials of complexity-theoretic stand-up comedy - Shtetl-Optimized
  124. The Rimpletons (Short 2020) - IMDb
  125. Contests - Shtetl-Optimized
  126. Blog Archive » The ethics of scientific betting - Shtetl-Optimized
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