gil-kalai.bsky.social
@gil-kalai.bsky.social
I discuss (following Aaronson) the role of computational complexity to restrict physical theories, and the meaning of probability in our physical world. I quote Gidney on what it would take to prove me wrong, and Deutsch on MWI and Shor's algorithm.

gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/c...
Computational Complexity and Explanations in Physics
The title of this post is taken from a recent interesting lecture (judging from the slides) by Scott Aaronson at Columbia University. The lecture explored a wide range of topics at the intersection…
gilkalai.wordpress.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:00 PM
mathoverflow.net/questions/50...

I posted a question on Math Overflow on the use of LLMs (such as ChatGPT) in mathematics.
Examples for the use of AI and especially LLMs in notable mathematical developments
The purpose of this question is to collect examples where large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have led to notable mathematical developments. The emphasis in this question is on LLMs, but ans...
mathoverflow.net
October 28, 2025 at 11:57 AM
A wonderful breakthrough by Dror Bar-Natan and Roland Van der Veen. Knot invariants which can be computed for diagrams with hundreds of crossings, are powerful, fun, and carry profound dreams and conjectures.
gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/09/25/d...
Dror Bar-Natan and Roland Van der Veen – A Fast, Strong, and Fun knot invariant!
Dror Bar-Natan (homepage, Wikipedia) told me about his work with Roland Van der Veen (homepage, arXiv, YouTube) on a wonderful knot invariant which distinguishes knots much better than other knot i…
gilkalai.wordpress.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:29 PM
48 interesting questions from the audience of recent lectures about quantum computation, where I presented my argument for why quantum computing—and even significant early milestones toward it—are fundamentally impossible.

gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/s...
Some Questions from Recent Quantum Events
Over the past few years, I have given several lectures about quantum computation, presenting my argument for why quantum computing—and even significant early milestones toward it—are fundamentally …
gilkalai.wordpress.com
July 30, 2025 at 12:47 PM
After 78 years, an exponential improvement for Ramsey numbers were found by Jie Ma, Wujie Shen, and Shengjie Xie.
gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/07/23/a...
Amazing: Jie Ma, Wujie Shen, and Shengjie Xie Gave an Exponential Improvement for Ramsey Lower Bounds
h/t Benny Sudakov The Ramsey number R(ℓ,k) is the smallest integer n such that in any two-coloring of the edges of the complete graph on n vertices, $latex K_n$, by red and blue, there is either a …
gilkalai.wordpress.com
July 23, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Joram’s seminar 2025: Hypercontractivity, Groups and Representations. Splendid connections between combinatorics, algebra, analysis, and geometry, using representation theory and hypercontractivity. There are some applications to TCS and physics.

gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/j...
Joram’s seminar 2025: Hypercontractivity, Groups and Representations
Joram’s seminar 2025 Here is my summary of the recent Joram’s seminar that took place on July 9 and 10 in Jerusalem. Much of the seminar was about the the paper Product Mixing in Compac…
gilkalai.wordpress.com
July 15, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Birthday conferences for Saharon Shelah and Yuri Gurevich, and a lecture by Ronald de Wolf on quantum proofs for classical theorems.

gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/07/07/h...
Happy Birthday Saharon Shelah and Yuri Gurevich!
Let me briefly report on two birthday conferences for long-time friends and colleagues Saharon Shelah and Yuri Gurevich. Yuri fest took place in Munich and on Zoom between June 20–22 2025 and Shela…
gilkalai.wordpress.com
July 7, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Shakhar Smorodinsky settled (on the spot) an old Radon-type problem that I posed in the 70s. In addition, an update, pictures from the recent Erdos lecture by Mehtaab S. Sawhney, and some light on the mysterious huge digital thermometer in our lecture hall. gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/06/18/s...
Shakhar Smorodinsky’s Solution to a Radon-Type Problem
A brief update: Since Friday June 13 Israel has been engaged in a direct war with Iran. This follows two major missiles attacks of Iran against Israel in April and October 2024, as well as Iran’s c…
gilkalai.wordpress.com
June 18, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Later today, (17:00 Israel time, June 3) I give a zoom lecture followed by conversation: A critical view on quantum computing, at the Ethereum foundation. There will also be a live streaming, open to all, here: youtube.com/live/HhWWkTk...
[Invited talk] Gil Kalai: A critical view on quantum computing
Recommend watch before the talk: https://www.youtube.com/live/ykBkZB8JiCg?si=YFijp9gUCdF82je_ Abstract from Gil Kalai: Quantum computers are fascinating hypothetical powerful computers and the debate...
youtube.com
June 3, 2025 at 12:38 PM
One slide on the amazing story of mathematical logic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/05/28/l...
Logic at HUJI
As part of a day-long meeting on organization of science in Prague, I gave a 10-minite presentation on Science and Diversity in a small Country (click for my slides) and devoted a few minutes and o…
gilkalai.wordpress.com
May 28, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Hong Wang and Joshua Zahl’s Breakthrough on Kakeya’s Problem in Three Dimensions: Insights and Resource
gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/04/04/h...
Hong Wang and Joshua Zahl’s Solution for Kakeya’s Problem in Three Dimensions – Reflections and Links
As many of you likely heard by now, Hong Wang and Joshua Zahl proved the Kakeya’s Conjecture in three dimensions. Hong Wang and Joshua Zahl, Volume estimates for unions of convex sets, and th…
gilkalai.wordpress.com
April 4, 2025 at 10:33 AM
The second part of my post on quantum computer skepticism featuring my own view and some counter arguments to various skeptical claims made by John Preskill, Aram Harrow, Scott Aaronson, Dave Bacon, and Boaz Barak.
gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/02/26/q...
Quantum Computing Skepticism, Part 2: My View and Responses to Skeptical Claims—Featuring John Preskill, Scott Aaronson, Dave Bacon, Aram Harrow, and Boaz Barak
In a previous post I presented the skeptical views toward quantum computing of Robert Alicki, Michel Dyakonov, Leonid Levin, Oded Goldreich, Liam McGuinness, Moshe Vardi and a few others. As I ment…
gilkalai.wordpress.com
February 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM
The post explains a "no go" approach for Majorana zero modes:

Is it the case that samples from states demonstrating Majorana zero modes on a NISQ computer goes (for large numbers of qubits) beyond the Kalai-Kindler LDP complexity class?

gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/m...
Majorana Zero Modes and Topological Qubits
This post contains the first item, devoted to Majorana zero modes, from an ambitious planned post on some quantum physics mysteries, related to quantum information and computation. (Some items are …
gilkalai.wordpress.com
February 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
I provide links, references, and a brief discussion of the skeptical views regarding quantum computing held by Robert Alicki, Michel Dyakonov, Leonid Levin, Oded Goldreich, and a few others.

gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/02/17/r...
Robert Alicki, Michel Dyakonov, Leonid Levin, Oded Goldreich, and Others – A Summary of Some Skeptical Views On Quantum Computing.
In this post, I provide links, references, and a brief discussion of the skeptical views regarding quantum computing held by Robert Alicki, Michel Dyakonov, Leonid Levin, Oded Goldreich, and a few …
gilkalai.wordpress.com
February 17, 2025 at 5:26 PM
The question if quantum computing is possible is among the most fascinating scientific questions of our time and the debate on this question is as old as the field itself.
I present a roadmap for the interesting debate from my perspective.

gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/02/11/r...
Roadmap for the Debate about Quantum Computers
Here is a roadmap for the debate about quantum computers from my perspective. Skeptical claims are in blue, responses to these claims are in purple. Points 1-8 represent skeptical claims made over …
gilkalai.wordpress.com
February 11, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Seven assertions about quantum computing that arose in my research. I will gladly clarify or elaborate on them and I welcome questions and remarks.
gilkalai.wordpress.com/2025/02/05/s...
Seven Assertions about Quantum Computing.
The purpose of this post is to present seven assertions about quantum computing that arose in my research. I welcome questions and remarks and will gladly clarify or elaborate on them.
gilkalai.wordpress.com
February 5, 2025 at 11:49 AM