Alvaro Feito Boirac - Quantum Country interview - 2019-06-17

“Fallen warrior” user (but he studied very consistently for a while and has since gotten back on the rails, probably because of my nudge)

Synthesis + highlights

Alvaro did a PhD in quantum information, but he has shifted fields a couple times, so he read QCVC as a refresher. His median card level is 2 months!

Some nice comments about the effects of the review areas:

“It was fun to me. I didn’t find it disruptive. It was a point to reflect and to catch oneself—if I’d missed some parts. … It would remind you of how lightly or deeply you’d read. … It would definitely show you if you read quickly or superficially, vs. if you read deeply. … It was a good reminder through the text of where you were and how deep you were. … Reading it, you wondered ‘why did the author pick this vs. that?’“

He’s the first person I’ve met who’s really into that graph on the completion screen:

“I like to see that graph at the end. I find it encouraging to see that line moving forward and downwards! I don’t pay attention to the individual card levels, but I do pay attention to that overall progress.”

His emails are quite spread out now, and he doesn’t notice. He’s busy. Feels like a pleasant surprise to him when they show up.

He wants more interaction: to have a project, or to manipulate things more directly. Feels like he’s separated from the math.

Raw notes

• In Bermuda
• Found us via:
  • following Michael on Twitter
  • did a PhD in quantum information: crypto, entanglement, but not specifically computation
  • has changed fields a few times since
  • had used Mike & Ike
  • is teaching high school
• Why did you read this?
  • reminder / refresher of some concepts
  • everything mathematical was very familiar
  • a lot of the details he’d forgotten: say, the Y matrix
  • “Still, it’s like not using your times tables for ten years and then… oh, what’s this!”
  • there was new stuff as well:
    • e.g. some of the context of other physicists (Preskill)
    • or discussing gravitation
  • interested in the pedagogy also
• When you hit the first review area, what did you think?
  • Had already read the Anki article
  • Had tried it himself, to prepare for a test on free diving
  • Since then has tried to apply in the classroom
    • Has students create the flashcards, but this didn’t work well because he did a rotation.
    • Responsible students would do a good job, but often the results were quite bad.
    • And sometimes students just couldn’t know what to write.
  • “It was fun to me. I didn’t find it disruptive. It was a point to reflect and to catch oneself—if I’d missed some parts. … It would remind you of how lightly or deeply you’d read. … It would definitely show you if you read quickly or superficially, vs. if you read deeply. … It was a good reminder through the text of where you were and how deep you were.”
  • “Reading it, you wondered ‘why did the author pick this vs. that?’ “
  • “The volume, I think, was good.”
• On the card levels:
  • Only noticed today that swiping moves the levels.
  • Are you keeping track of the levels?
  • Not really…
  • “I like to see that graph at the end. I find it encouraging to see that line moving forward and downwards! I don’t pay attention to the individual card levels, but I do pay attention to that overall progress.”
• How do you feel about the email notifications spreading out?
  • “Because I’m busy, once I do my review, it drops off the radar. Once it pops back up, it’s a happy surprise. I’m interested to recover and to see my retention.”
• On intervals and numbers of reminders needed
  • Initially did study session immediately when notified, but later let it slip and got somewhat behind
  • After we stop sending messages, what triggers you to study?
  • Not sure… just occurs to him
• “One of the things that worked very well is being part of a new project. Testing a new idea, a new medium. Some promise of understanding something very deep. Later you’ll be able to access the search algorithm.”
• “I miss interacting with the math more. … You’re on your phone, or whatever, and you can’t multiply the matrices. … You maybe grab an envelope or something and do the math on the side … If I could manipulate the matrices or the circuits more easily, it would help me understand more deeply.”
• Wishes there were something to create or make at the end.
  • He challenged himself to use the basic gates and operations to encode “hello” in ASCII

Prep notes

• Was an early reader (03/26)
• Read over two sessions.
• Continued consistently until mid-May, then stopped
• Picked up again before this call
• Read QCVC only
• Card quartiles: 4 / 6 / 7 / 7 / 7
  • Wow!! 2 months average!!!

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