“Explain quantum computing to her like she's 5 years old…”
This is ridiculous, zach thought.
Zach studied quantum physics in college and have been researching quantum computing for the past few months.
It’s the bleeding edge of science.
It can’t be explained in a few minutes.
“Well, help her understand enough to see how complex it is...”
He stammered.
"Well, there’s these things called qbits.
And they can be in superposition.
Like, two… well… do you know about superposition?"
As he circled around his answer, a switch flipped:
He didn’t get it.
He knew the words to say, but he didn’t grasp how the pieces fit together.
As Einstein said, “You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.”
Humbled, he went back to his studying.
This time, he took a new approach.
He asked “why?” until he understood the foundations beneath the ideas.
He focused on what needed to be understood to grasp each new concept properly.
He practiced how he would explain it to his grandmother.
And, like magic, the complicated became simple.
If there’s anything that we feel we understand but we couldn’t explain to our grandmother, take a step back and ask why.
We may surprise ourselves with a realization:
We don’t understand our world as well as we think.
Do you agree? Give us your thoughts in the comment section.
