You’re Smart, But Not That Smart

A new commercial for Australia printer company Ricoh featuring two models discussing quantum mechanics is at the center of a now great internet debate. Scott Aaronson, a Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, has accused agency Love Communications of plagiarizing his lecture for the copy. Read his blog post about the “cribbing” here. The jist is this:
Model One: But if quantum mechanics isn’t physics in the usual sense – if it’s not about matter, or energy, or waves – then what is it about?

Model Two: Well, from my perspective, it’s about information, probabilities, and observables, and how they relate to each other.

Dr. Aaronson compares this to his lecture titled “Quantum Computing Since Democritus,” in which he says, “But if quantum mechanics isn’t physics in the usual sense – if it’s not about matter, or energy, or waves, or particles – then what is it about? From my perspective, it’s about information and probabilities and observables, and how they relate to each other.”

“I got an email from the company basically saying we apologize and that we contacted a lawyer and our lawyer says we didn’t violate any copyright,” Scott told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Meanwhile, the managing director of Love, Glen Campbell, denied that the script was plagiarized from the lecture. The lesson here is if you need some copy, don’t steal from a blogging professor who posts his lectures online. You will get burned. Also, this spot is almost really good. Cute principal, really bad acting, but still… nice tagline.

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