Hacker Papers
- 01
Ultimate physical limits to computation
Hacker News threads
- May 2015Physical Limits to Computation (2000) [pdf]
- Jul 2011Ultimate physical limits to computation
- Feb 2018Ultimate physical limits to computation
- Nov 2010128-bit storage: are you high?
- Apr 2011Magical Block Store: Why EBS Can't Work
- Oct 2012The game of life emulated in the game of life
- Jun 2015Universal Limits on Computation (2004) [pdf]
- Apr 2016Bremermann's limit
- Jul 2019First 3D Nanotube and RRAM ICs Come Out of Foundry
- Jan 2021Superintelligence cannot be contained: Lessons from Computability Theory
- Oct 2022Technical milestone reached: global earth system simulations with 1.2 km resoln
- 02
Are Black Hole Starships Possible
Hacker News threads
- Dec 2009The Physics of Building a Black Hole Powered Starship [pdf]
- Oct 2016Are Black Hole Starships Possible (2009) [pdf]
- Mar 2023Are Black Hole Starships Possible?
- Jun 2011Why we are unlikely to ever leave the solar system.
- Dec 2011Sending a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri
- Nov 2013Interstellar travel: Starship troupers
- Apr 2015First 26 pages of Neal Stephenson's new novel Seveneves
- Jul 2018Timeline of the far future
- Nov 2019New type of black holes – Non interacting low-mass black hole
- May 2022Can we make a black hole? And if we could, what could we do with it?
- Nov 2025Physicists drive antihydrogen breakthrough at CERN
- 03
Physics, Topology, Logic and Computation: A Rosetta Stone
Hacker News threads
- Oct 2017Physics, Topology, Logic and Computation: A Rosetta Stone (2009) [pdf]
- Nov 2016Physics, Topology, Logic, and Computation: A Rosetta Stone (2009)
- Jun 2014Physics, Topology, Logic and Computation: A Rosetta Stone (2009)
- Jun 2015Category Theory for Scientists and Engineers (2013) [pdf]
- Nov 2017What is backpropagation and what is it doing? [video]
- Jun 2018Logic is Metaphysics (2011) [pdf]
- Jul 2019Mirth – a type-safe concatenative purely functional programming language
- Sep 2020Programming with Categories
- Nov 2022Why mathematicians study knots
- Feb 2025Vine: A programming language based on Interaction Nets
- Oct 2026How to Formalize All of Mathematics
- 04
Power-law distributions in empirical data
Hacker News threads
- Nov 2009Power Laws in Chess Openings
- Mar 2011Pioneer Anomaly Solved By 1970s Computer Graphics Technique
- Apr 2013Data Science of the Facebook World
- Jul 2016Anti Mediocracy Manifesto for Software Development
- Sep 2016Bitcoin Wealth Distribution
- Jun 2018Power Laws and Rich-Get-Richer Phenomena (2010) [pdf]
- Aug 2023Power Laws Have More Power Than You Think
- Feb 2026Formalization and Inevitability of the Pareto Principle
- 05
The Mathematical Universe
Hacker News threads
- Jul 2023The Mathematical Universe Hypothesis
- Apr 2009MUH: The Universe is a Mathematical Structure
- Jan 2018The Mathematical Universe (2007)
- Oct 2010USPTO likely to adopt 'peer-to-patent' (Feb 2010)
- May 2014When does a physical system compute?
- Oct 2014The Grand Illusion: Does time have a future?
- Nov 2016Steven Strogatz on chaos theory, game theory, and why math isn’t boring
- Mar 2019Sub-Acute Effects of Psilocybin on Empathy, Creative Thinking
- Jun 2022Ask HN: What's the best paper you've read?
- Aug 2022Why does anything exist?
- Sep 2026Earth's organisms developed via evolution. What if the cosmos did, too?
- 06
The Habitable Epoch of the Early Universe
Hacker News threads
- Jul 2015The Habitable Epoch of the Early Universe
- Jul 2015Space and Time
- Apr 2019Was There a Civilization on Earth Before Humans?
- Jul 2019What If Life Did Not Originate on Earth?
- Jan 2021Living microbes, possibly 100M years old, pulled from beneath the sea (2020)
- May 2021When scientific orthodoxy resembles religious dogma
- Jan 2023Can Self-Replicating Species Flourish in the Interior of a Star? (2020) [pdf]
- Jan 2024Antarctic fungi survive Martian conditions on the International Space Station
- Nov 2025A cell so minimal that it challenges definitions of life
- 07
Quantum Theory From Five Reasonable Axioms
Hacker News threads
- Sep 2015Quantum Theory from Five Reasonable Axioms (2001)
- Oct 2019Quantum Theory from Five Reasonable Axioms
- Aug 2010Quantum Theory From Five Reasonable Axioms
- Mar 2013Pilot waves: oil droplets model quantum behavior
- Sep 2014Quantum mechanics as a generalization of probability (2007)
- Aug 2017Deep Learning and Quantum Entanglement [pdf]
- Feb 2018You thought quantum mechanics was weird: check out entangled time
- Sep 2021Category Theory Illustrated – Logic
- Oct 2021Physicists take a key step in correcting quantum computer errors
- Dec 2023Schrödinger equation emerges mathematically from classical mechanics (2012)
- Mar 2025Math That Matters: The Case for Probability over Polynomials
- 08
NP-complete Problems and Physical Reality
Hacker News threads
- Jan 2015NP-complete Problems and Physical Reality (2005)
- Jul 2015NP-Complete Problems and Physical Reality (2005)
- Nov 2016NP-Complete Problems and Physical Reality (2005)
- Aug 2010Ask HN: If P = NP, what does it mean?
- May 2015Is Quantum Mechanics an Island in Theoryspace? (2004) [pdf]
- May 2015Physical Limits to Computation (2000) [pdf]
- Nov 2015Computability: The Greatest Law of Physics
- Dec 2015A bad citizen in Javaland (2006)
- Nov 2016The P=?NP Poll (2002) [pdf]
- Aug 2017Ask HN: What is your favorite CS paper?
- Aug 2023Thermodynamic Linear Algebra (solving linear systems in O(n))
- 09
Book Review: 'A New Kind of Science'
Hacker News threads
- Oct 2015Review of Stephen Wolfram’s Book a New Kind of Science by Scott Aaronson (2002)
- Jun 2011Alpha Geek
- Aug 2013Does Gravity Travel at the Speed of Light? (1998)
- Feb 2016Black Hole Tech?
- Oct 2020Faster Than Light in Our Model of Physics: Some Preliminary Thoughts
- Oct 2020Faster Than Light in Our Model of Physics: Some Preliminary Thoughts
- Mar 2023Will AIs Take All Our Jobs and End Human History–Or Not? Well, It’s Complicated
- Dec 2023Finally We May Have a Path to the Fundamental Theory of Physics
- Jul 2024An approach to the fundamental theory of physics
- 10
Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
Hacker News threads
- Aug 2012Observation of a new particle in the search for the Higgs boson
- Aug 2012Higgs Papers Out
- Aug 2012Higgs Papers Out
- Dec 2019New boson appears in nuclear decay, could break standard model if confirmed
- Jan 2021Are Experts Real?
- Jul 2023Argonne National Lab is attempting to replicate LK-99
- Oct 2024Chemistry Nobel: Computational protein design and protein structure prediction
- Sep 2026DeepSeek Elastic Compute (DSec)
- Oct 2026CERN and Mistral sign a statement of intent to establish a strategic partnership
- 11
Demonstration of Communication using Neutrinos
Hacker News threads
- Oct 2017Demonstration of Communication using Neutrinos (2012)
- Mar 2012ISPs to start policing copyright by July 12
- Aug 2015Fermilab experiment sees neutrinos change over 500 miles
- Jun 2017Why is the Internet so Slow?
- Jan 2018Network Latencies and Speed of Light
- Feb 2021The Dunant subsea cable
- Nov 2021Nuclear radiation used to transmit digital data wirelessly
- Aug 2024DUNE scientists observe first neutrinos with prototype detector at Fermilab
- Oct 2025A worker fell into a nuclear reactor pool
- 12
There are no particles, there are only fields
Hacker News threads
- Aug 2016There are no particles, there are only fields (2012)
- Jun 2024There are no particles, there are only fields (2012)
- Jul 2026There are no particles, there are only fields (2012)
- Sep 2016Struggles with the Continuum
- Nov 2017Quantum magic: A skeptical perspective (2011)
- Jul 2019What’s Going on During Wave Function ‘Collapse’
- Jul 2019The Trouble with Many Worlds
- Dec 2020Thirty Years of ‘Against Measurement’
- Sep 2024What Is a Particle? (2020)
- Feb 2026Cosmologically Unique IDs
- Jun 2026How Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really?
- 13
Expanding Confusion: common misconceptions of cosmological horizons and the superluminal expansion of the Universe
Hacker News threads
- Jul 2011Giant body of water found in space, black hole claims it was just hydrating
- Jul 2012How big is the entire universe?
- Aug 2015Olbers' paradox
- Aug 2018Astronomers report the most distant radio galaxy ever discovered
- Jun 202012 Billion-year-old signal from the end of the universe's 'dark age'
- Aug 2023Shouldn't distant objects appear magnified
- Dec 2023Astronomers posit that we live in a giant void
- Apr 2024Webb captures iconic Horsehead Nebula in unprecedented detail
- 14
The Ghost in the Quantum Turing Machine
Hacker News threads
- Jun 2013The Ghost in the Quantum Turing Machine
- Apr 2015Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?
- Apr 2016Interview with Scott Aaronson
- Sep 2017Review of Jean Bricmont's book "Making Sense of Quantum Mechanics"
- Jul 2019Roger Penrose Discusses Consciousness (2017)
- Mar 2023Not by AI
- Mar 2023A Growing Number of Scientists Are Convinced the Future Influences the Past
- May 2024Brain Uses Quantum Effects, New Study Finds [video]
- Jul 2024A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications
- 15
A Snapshot of Foundational Attitudes Toward Quantum Mechanics
Hacker News threads
- Jan 2013Poll on nature of reality
- Nov 2016A Snapshot of Foundational Attitudes Toward Quantum Mechanics (2013)
- Nov 2014Have We Been Interpreting Quantum Mechanics Wrong This Whole Time?
- Sep 2015Interpretations of quantum theory: A map of madness
- Oct 2015Quantum effects in relatively large systems
- Oct 2017The Scientific Case for P≠NP
- Sep 2018Quantum observers with knowledge of quantum mechanics break reality
- Jun 2020What is a photon? (2017)
- May 2024Brain Uses Quantum Effects, New Study Finds [video]
- 16
Pretending to factor large numbers on a quantum computer
Hacker News threads
- Apr 2013Lockheed Martin pays $10M for D-Wave's Quantum Computer
- Dec 2017Design of a silicon quantum computer chip
- Sep 2019IBM will soon launch a 53-qubit quantum computer
- May 2021Quantum Computer Datasheet [pdf]
- Jan 2024Ask HN: What has quantum computing achieved so far?
- May 2024What You Shouldn't Know About Quantum Computers
- Jan 20262026 Predictions Scorecard
- 17
The Effects of Moore's Law and Slacking on Large Computations
Hacker News threads
- Apr 2015The Effects of Moore’s Law and Slacking on Large Computations [1999] [pdf]
- May 2008The Effects of Moore's Law and Slacking on Large Computations
- May 2024The Effects of Moore's Law and Slacking on Large Computations (1999)
- Oct 2009Ask HN: Are there any very long term genetic programming experiments?
- Nov 2019Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space
- Apr 2022Google's Pathways Language Model and Chain-of-Thought
- Oct 2023The Wait Equation and AI Investment
- Jan 20254.5M Suspected Fake Stars in GitHub
- Jan 2026Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native
- 18
The Cellular Automaton Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Hacker News threads
- Jul 2016The Cellular Automaton Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
- Jun 2014Fluid Tests Hint at Concrete Quantum Reality
- Jan 2017The Trouble with Quantum Mechanics
- Jan 2017Fake Physics
- Jun 2017What Is Mathematics and What Should It Be? [pdf]
- Oct 2019Wolfram Rule 30 Prizes
- Mar 2020Superdeterminism may help us overcome the current crisis in physics
- Mar 2020Superdeterminism may help us overcome the current crisis in physics
- Oct 2020Einstein's description of gravity just got much harder to beat
- 19
Aristotle's Physics: a Physicist's Look
Hacker News threads
- Jul 2016Aristotle’s Physics: A Physicist’s Look
- Sep 2022Aristotle’s Physics: A Physicist’s Look (2014)
- Aug 2026Aristotle's Physics: A Physicist's Look
- Jul 2016There Is No Distinctly Scientific Method
- Oct 2016So You Want to Learn Physics
- Jan 2017Why read old philosophy?
- Nov 2017Science and Tech of the Byzantine Empire
- Jan 2022Why Quantum Mechanics?
- May 2024The spy who flunked it: Kurt Gödel's forgotten part in the atom-bomb story
- May 2024The spy who flunked it: Kurt Gödel's forgotten part in the atom-bomb story
- Jun 2025Plato got virtually everything wrong (2018)
- 20
Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation
Hacker News threads
- Oct 2016Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation (2012)
- May 2015Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation (2012)
- Oct 2012Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation
- Dec 2012Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested
- Apr 2013Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation
- Feb 2014Is the Universe a Simulation?
- Jul 2014The Most Terrifying Thought Experiment of All Time
- Jun 2015Creationism Banned from Science Classes by Scottish Government
- Dec 2015Physicists and Philosophers Debate the Boundaries of Science
- Jul 2021Megaverse: Simulating Embodied Agents at One Million Experiences per Second
- 21
On the Origin of Gravity and the Laws of Newton
Hacker News threads
- Aug 2024The Origin of Gravity and the Laws of Newton (2010)
- Feb 2010The entropy force: a new direction for gravity
- Jul 2010Is Gravity Real? A Scientist Takes On Newton
- Jul 2010Is Gravity Real? A Scientist Takes On Newton
- Jul 2011Should we worry about what the LHC is not finding?
- Apr 2013Physicist proposes new way to think about intelligence
- Apr 2013Physicist proposes new theory of gravity, arguig that gravity doesn't exist
- Dec 2016First test of new theory of gravity
- Feb 2019What every physicist should know about string theory
- 22
The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study
Hacker News threads
- Jun 2018The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study (2009)
- Feb 2011The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study [pdf]
- Jul 2013The Peter Principle
- Jul 2009Why Incompetence Spreads Through Big Organisations
- Nov 2010Google Engineering Management Mistakes
- Apr 2011Jason Fried: Why I Run a Flat Company
- Nov 2017Hotbed of Misinformation
- Dec 2022Steve Jobs Said the Best Managers Never Want to Be Managers
- 23
Generalization of Conway's "Game of Life" to a continuous domain - SmoothLife
Hacker News threads
- Sep 2017Generalization of Conway's “Game of Life” to a Continuous Domain
- Oct 2012Conway's Game of Life, using floating point values instead of integers
- May 2018Continuous Domain Game of Life in Python with Numpy
- Jun 2021ALiEn – a GPU-accelerated artificial life simulation program
- Nov 2022In Game of Life any buildable pattern can be constructed by colliding 15 gliders
- Jan 2024Show HN: Conway's Game of Life, but with a gallery of other peoples patterns
- 24
An Analysis of Anonymity in the Bitcoin System
Hacker News threads
- Oct 2011Bitcoin value falls from above $33 to below $3
- Nov 2011Researchers Locate Flaw In Bitcoin Protocol
- Nov 2012Internal FBI risk assessment of Bitcoin network [pdf]
- Feb 2013Things You Need To Know About Bitcoins
- Apr 2013Bitcoin Is an Existential Threat to the Modern Liberal State
- Jan 2014Bitcoin 2.0 explained
- 25
Cool horizons for entangled black holes
Hacker News threads
- Nov 2024Cool horizons for entangled black holes (2013)
- Jul 2013Black Holes + Wormholes = Quantum Answers
- Dec 2013You can’t get entangled without a wormhole
- Jul 2015Ask HN: Is physics moving forward?
- Nov 2018The Strong Free Will Theorem (2009) [pdf]
- Nov 2018Black Holes, Quantum Systems, Superconductors and Planck’s Constant Are Related
- Nov 2022What is spacetime made of?
Data from the Hacker News archive (ODC-By), arXiv and OpenAlex. Not affiliated with Hacker News or Y Combinator.