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New York, 10:29 PM
Mon Nov 23
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  • posts about #computing more →

    Scientists Make Breakthrough With First Programmable Quantum Processor

    The History of Computing Video Shows Why We Are Doomed

    Giz Explains: Why Quantum Computing Is the Future (But a Distant One)

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of MaQ MaQ
    11/18/09

    In reply to Scientists Make Breakthrough With First Programmable Quantum Processor
    Didn't quite understand how useful is it gonna be, the whole quantum thing, when you need a fortune teller to read the results.

    Seams we are headed to the dark ages again. I'll keep all my P III processors, seams they can work fine for me.

    ^__^
     Reply
    MaQ was starred MaQ was unstarred
    Image of nutbastard nutbastard
    11/18/09

    In reply to Scientists Make Breakthrough With First Programmable Quantum Processor
    and yet, do you think this guy gets even close to all the poonanny he deserves? NO.

    you'd think being a brilliant scientist on the cutting edge of quantum physics/computing that will likely usher in a new era of exponential crunching power that will save millions of lives through protein simulation and genetic analysis would get you some, but no. for that you need $500 sunglasses, a disposition of imposing, brutish ignorance, a german car, and huge lats. also, you have to dance and pluck your eyebrows.
     Reply
    nutbastard was starred nutbastard was unstarred
    Image of Newton's Law Newton's Law
    11/18/09

    @nutbastard: I'm not sure where you've been hanging out, but there are plenty of nerd-loving chicks in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to Microsoft for that little culture shift.
     Reply
    nutbastard promoted this comment Newton's Law was starred Newton's Law was unstarred
    Image of nutbastard nutbastard
    11/18/09

    @Newton's Law:

    careful, that works on a bell curve.

    im in san jose, where not only is the population 6:4 men to women, every other guy here is an engineer like myself - though usually better paid and with a college degree.

    if i moved to alabama they'd herald me as a god damn genius. here in the valley, im just slightly under par.
     Reply
    nutbastard was starred nutbastard was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    11/18/09

    In reply to Scientists Make Breakthrough With First Programmable Quantum Processor
    That's nothing. I was telling Qberts what to do back in 1983.

    NOW GET OFF MY LAWN.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of OCEntertainment OCEntertainment
    11/18/09

    In reply to Scientists Make Breakthrough With First Programmable Quantum Processor
    This time next year, there will be a Java JVM for it and the Linux community will have made drivers to connect their peripherals. The interface will be clumsy and clunky until Apple comes in and makes it look great. Microsoft/Google will make cheaper versions that are just as good but slightly less pretty. Then, in about ten years, when the tech just starts to become truly ubiquitous, Giz will write an article declaring the tech "dead", and ushering in the rise of the next new tech that only a few early adopters are using.

    Analysts refer to this phenomenon as "the circle of tech".
     Reply
    OCEntertainment was starred OCEntertainment was unstarred
    Image of aikiwolfie aikiwolfie
    11/18/09

    @OCEntertainment: Correction!

    Apple will charge a kidney and a cornea for what is basically Linux.

    Linux it's self will be compatible with more hardware only geeks use. But it will still get the best performance from the technology. Canonical will colour it all brown.

    Microsoft will build a version that crashes constantly. Their EULA will also require your soul.

    Google will re-brand the Linux version and use it to whore you to advertisers.
     Reply
    OCEntertainment promoted this comment aikiwolfie was starred aikiwolfie was unstarred
    Image of MaQ MaQ
    11/18/09

    @OCEntertainment: So obvious, that you are right.

    ^__^
     Reply
    MaQ was starred MaQ was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    11/18/09

    In reply to Scientists Make Breakthrough With First Programmable Quantum Processor
    The guy in that photo is a post doc, so he probably gets paid like $40k/year. Way to reward scientific research, America!
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of elementary elementary
    11/18/09

    In reply to Scientists Make Breakthrough With First Programmable Quantum Processor
    Is that picture really the quantumn processor? I mean really? With all the shock absorbers, pressure gauges, hydraulics, and dials and such, really?
     Reply
    elementary was starred elementary was unstarred
    Image of che-che che-che
    11/18/09

    @elementary: havent you seen primer.
     Reply
    OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear promoted this comment che-che was starred che-che was unstarred
    Image of Hello Mister Walrus Hello Mister Walrus
    11/18/09

    @elementary: Apparently, those are a bunch of lasers. Pew Pew!
     Reply
    Hello Mister Walrus was starred Hello Mister Walrus was unstarred
    Image of OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
    11/18/09

    @elementary: You've got to make it look sexy. When you think science you think pressure gauges, hydraulics and dials.

    I am a little disappointed in the lack of giant switches.
     Reply
    OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was starred OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was unstarred
    Image of TheSonOfKrypton TheSonOfKrypton
    11/10/09

    In reply to The History of Computing Video Shows Why We Are Doomed
    Wow. Awesome video. #trillions
     Reply
    TheSonOfKrypton was starred TheSonOfKrypton was unstarred
    Image of Digo Digo
    11/09/09

    In reply to The History of Computing Video Shows Why We Are Doomed
    These guys should deliver all bad news, they made it awesome.

    So, you are about to die. People have been dying for thousands of years. Before people, others creatures were dying as well. To understand how many beings have died you first have to understand how many have lived... #trillions
     Reply
    Digo was starred Digo was unstarred
    Image of Gary_7vn Gary_7vn
    08/20/09

    In reply to Giz Explains: Why Quantum Computing Is the Future (But a Distant One)
    I can't wait for the iQuantum!
     Reply
    Gary_7vn was starred Gary_7vn was unstarred
    Image of clarketelecom clarketelecom
    08/20/09

    In reply to Giz Explains: Why Quantum Computing Is the Future (But a Distant One)
    I hate when I get super strings all stuck up in my qubits. When they tie a knot it's like dividing by 0 in 25 dimensions.

    Oh yeah, and Crysis freezes.
     Reply
    clarketelecom was starred clarketelecom was unstarred
    Image of FurySamurai72 FurySamurai72
    08/20/09

    @clarketelecom: crysis freezes?! NOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooo... *dies*
     Reply
    FurySamurai72 promoted this comment FurySamurai72 was starred FurySamurai72 was unstarred
    Image of TheWerewolf - Sotto voce TheWerewolf - Sotto voce
    08/19/09

    In reply to Giz Explains: Why Quantum Computing Is the Future (But a Distant One)
    It should also be noted that not every kind of computational problem can be solved efficiently using quantum computers.

    It's even been shown that for certain classes of problems, *emulating* quantum computing on a regular processor is faster.

    As with most things - it's not an either/or situation, it's an also/and situation. Current technology (or some future analogy of it) will be with us for a LONG time.
     Reply
    Edited by TheWerewolf - Sotto voce at 08/19/09 4:27 PM TheWerewolf - Sotto voce was starred TheWerewolf - Sotto voce was unstarred
    Image of XandraMuses XandraMuses
    08/19/09

    In reply to Giz Explains: Why Quantum Computing Is the Future (But a Distant One)
    Quantum computers really aren't fundamentally much better at solving the problems your computer spends the vast majority of its time working on. Without getting into a discussion of computational complexity theory, where quantum computers really shine is in a class of problems called Nondeterministic Polynomial time (NP). Basically, these are problems where the only possible way to solve them in an ordinary computer is to check every possible answer one by one until you find one that fits.
    Ordinary computers solve problems by breaking them down into tiny pieces and working on each piece one at a time. There is no problem they can't solve given enough time- bigger, harder problems just get turned into more pieces and take more time to finish.
    Quantum computers, on the other hand, work best when you don't break down the problems. If you have a computer with enough qubits to describe the entire problem, then it can check every possible answer at the same time. This only works if the computer has enough qubits for the entire problem, but its a lot faster than trying each answer one-by-one.
    For NP problems, this can mean the difference between being done in an instant versus waiting a few billion years. But for most problems, there are much better ways to solve them with ordinary computers, and quantum computers don't really offer a lot of advantage.
    I expect when quantum computers start getting into the hundreds of reliable qubits, the government will take up an intense interest in the research and keeping it away from everybody else. Many billions will be spent so that the NSA can easily break everybody's codes, and nobody else can. Codebreaking is really the only obvious application for quantum computers under 100K qubits. After that breaks down and we get into the millions of qubits, certain major corporations will start getting one or two- Google for search algorithms, UPS for route planning (no, really), etc. Maybe someday (not in the next 25 years) we'll see them as secondary processors (a QPU?). I doubt if they will ever primary means of computation, though. For non-NP problems, they're just not worth the trouble.
     Reply
    matt buchanan approved this comment XandraMuses was starred XandraMuses was unstarred
    Image of anexanhume anexanhume
    08/19/09

    @XandraMuses: Nicely explained, as NP problems are everywhere. For those who don't understand, NP problems are ones that can't be described by a polynomial time relation, such as x^2 + 3x + 1. They deal more with permutations and combinations. For example, say you have to assign 300 students to 300 lockers with stipulating conditions such as certain students can't be by each other, some must be in a certain number range, etc. The only way computers can solve these is by guessing and checking, there's no efficient way to do it, and moreover, guaranteeing an optimal solution is even worse.
     Reply
    anexanhume aka Flintheart Glomgold promoted this comment anexanhume was starred anexanhume was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    08/19/09

    In reply to Giz Explains: Why Quantum Computing Is the Future (But a Distant One)

    My cats are wondering why quantum physics is so predisposed to locking felines in boxes with uranium atoms and poison gas.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of kinda.loopy88 kinda.loopy88
    08/19/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: Yo can Blame shrodinger, and his cat for that one...

    i wonder if his cat survived, who could stand the curiosity of not knowing if his cat was alive or dead...
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment kinda.loopy88 was starred kinda.loopy88 was unstarred
    Image of nonpareil nonpareil
    08/19/09

    In reply to Giz Explains: Why Quantum Computing Is the Future (But a Distant One)
    What about photonic computing? Much easier, faster, and within reach TODAY.
     Reply
    Wilson Rothman promoted this comment nonpareil was starred nonpareil was unstarred
    Image of Durrr Durrr
    08/19/09

    In reply to Giz Explains: Why Quantum Computing Is the Future (But a Distant One)
    I was into quantum computing before it was cool.
     Reply
    Wilson Rothman approved this comment Durrr was starred Durrr was unstarred
    Image of Greg Lloyd Greg Lloyd
    08/19/09

    @Durrr: Correction: You were into quantum computing before, during, and after it was cool - all at the same time.
     Reply
    spannu promoted this comment Greg Lloyd was starred Greg Lloyd was unstarred
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