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Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/09/2015 1:56 PM

"Google announced a breakthrough in the field of quantum computing Wednesday. The company thinks it's found a quantum algorithm that solves problems 100 million times faster than conventional processes. If confirmed, this discovery could not only lead to iRobot-style artificial intelligence but also advance the US space program by light years."

http://wap.engadget.com/2015/12/09/google-we-have-proof-that-our-quantum-computer-really-works/

http://www.dwavesys.com/quantum-computing

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#1

Re: Quantum computing takes step forward

12/09/2015 2:02 PM

Oh, cool, they got Windows 10 build right into the chip....

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#2

Re: Quantum computing takes step forward

12/09/2015 2:22 PM

Advance the space program by light years? Does this mean we can send astronauts to the nearest stars?

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#3
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Re: Quantum computing takes step forward

12/09/2015 2:41 PM

Faster than the speed of parsecs.

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#16
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Re: Quantum computing takes step forward

12/16/2015 6:07 PM

Parsecs per fortnight.

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#18
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Re: Quantum computing takes step forward

12/16/2015 6:42 PM

Parsecs per leap year.

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#4
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Re: Quantum computing takes step forward

12/09/2015 8:01 PM

Yes, but it will be in simulations. ;-)

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#5

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/09/2015 8:41 PM

Who does research on potentially world-changing ideas/innovations these days? Think back to the quantum leaps that originated in big corporate development laboratories, with a few select innovations:

  • Bell Labs -- transistors, UNIX, C programming language;
  • Xerox PARC -- laser printers, GUIs, Ethernet
  • IBM -- scanning electron microscope, FORTRAN, hard disk drives
  • General Electric -- J47 Jet engine, CT scanning, solid-state lasers

Few corporations fund basic research these day. Google's following in the footsteps of giants. Some Google innovations -- think Google Glass -- don't set the world on fire. Others have that potential. I'm glad Google's willing to spend the $ whether or not the fruits of research are monetizable, as they say these days.

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#6

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 6:52 AM

What does a 100 million times faster mean in human perception? Will this speed be translated to something that can be accommodated by human reaction.

For instance (as a possibly silly example but used for dramatic effect) will text on screen be any quicker for me to read if displayed 108 faster.

I appreciate I must have missed the point, but unless this apparently enormous increase in speed (a quantum leap for the punster) is matched by the infrastructure, what use will it be.

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#11
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Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 2:39 PM

Until some chip-maker can develop implantable for the storage of thoughts and memory and an algorithm to access the info we as humans are stuck with what we have.

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#12
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Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 3:11 PM

Well I think the idea, to start off with anyway, is to enable access to this 'brain' online so that you can log on and insert your problem, with guidance of course, into the quantum architecture ...probably advanced modeling

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#7

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 7:18 AM

If anybody can do it, Google can.

Whenever I have an idea, I "Google" it to see if anybody else has done it. I assume other people do the same thing, so all the good ideas end up at Google.

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#8

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 10:31 AM

Does this mean we are finally getting rid of "Common Core Math".

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#9

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 11:09 AM

Thanks.

Perusing through the links introduced me to some of the more arcane terminology of modern mathematics, such as "simulation annealing", a problem solving analog to thermodynamic annealing of solids or quasi-solids. I am reminded of the use of the word "secular" in describing economic phenomena and "hysteresis" (most typically applied in explicit thermodynamics) in a geotechnical context.

The cross-fertilization of terminology likely enriches the cognitive outcomes of those employing the terminology, more particularly those plunging into the Brave New World of qubits, which, someday, may themselves be intellectual cross-fertilizers.

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#14
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Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 8:38 PM

Pardon ? isn't that a bit antidisestablishmentarianismaticly supercalifragilisticexpialidociousnessly brief?

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#10

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 11:52 AM

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

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#13

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/10/2015 8:01 PM
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#15

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/16/2015 6:02 PM

I mentioned this breakthrough to my daughter at the dinner table this evening. Her response was

1. Nobody yet has a working quantum computer and it will be 10-20 years before they go into production.

2. At a conference last month she and fellow programmer presented a paper describing an encryption signature that could not be broken by a quantum computer. So the software programmers have already defeated it's most useful application. (code breaking)

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#17

Re: Quantum Computing Takes Step Forward

12/16/2015 6:09 PM

I just realized that since this is quantum computing it will take a step forward and a step back.

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