Does computer science need computers? Quanta revisits the discipline's theoretical roots
fortnow · x · 2026-08-31
Complexity theorist Lance Fortnow shared Quanta Magazine's essay "Does Computer Science Need Computers?", commenting: "Computer science is about computers — you just need a very expansive definition of what a computer is." Starting from Dijkstra's quip that CS is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes, the piece explores why the central question of complexity theory — why some problems seem to lack fast algorithms — only reveals its depth when explored computationally.
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