Abstract
Compared to other big open questions in complexity theory, there is a lot of optimism about proving L = BPL in our lifetimes. Over the past few decades, there has been steady progress on the problem from several different angles. Arguably the most promising approach is to design sufficiently powerful pseudorandom generators (PRGs). PRGs have applications beyond derandomization, and they provide deep insights into the powers and limitations of the models of computation that they fool. In this talk, I will give a brief overview of these topics and my research in the area.