[vividexstance]

Has anyone else read the story on slashdot.org about the first commercially available quantum computer? http://hardware.slas...uantum-computer. I thought they were still a ways off but I guess they're making progress. This could have some major consequences for the entire world.

For those who have never heard of quantum computing, then I'll give a simple explanation. Modern computers compute using bits(0s and 1s) well quantum computers compute with a qubit which is basically 0 and 1 and everything in between. One thing this could affect quickly is internet security.

This post has been edited by vividexstance: 20 March 2012 - 11:50 AM

[ishkabible]

Cool!! I saw a really amazing joke/real speech about quantum computing being used to make things that would traditionally be o(n^2) happen in O(n) or even O(1). in the same talk the guy talked about making things that preformed O(0) and even O(-1) operations

edit:
it was called "Temporally Quaquaversal Virtual Nanomachine Programming In Multiple Topologically Connected Quantum-Relativistic Parallel Timespaces...Made Easy!"

it also discussed how this stuff could break any encryption algorithm briefly.

edit2:
here is the link

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 20 March 2012 - 12:52 PM

[PapaStiffy]

O(-1)?? I think that's called a time machine... lol

But last I read about quantum computers the world record for the longest calculation was something like 3*5 = 15... Perhaps what I read was outdated? Or perhaps this D-Wave computer costs $1.2 million, I didn't see a price anywhere.

Anyway, a commercial quantum computer would be amazing. Maybe the next thing we'll be seeing are graphene computers, or super computer nanobots! Now THAT is going to be cool.. hahah

[e_i_pi]

Dwarf Fortress would run sick on a quantum computer!

[PapaStiffy]

e_i_pi, on 29 March 2012 - 09:22 PM, said:

Dwarf Fortress would run sick on a quantum computer!

**Simulation of Earth would run awesome on a quantum computer... hahah

[e_i_pi]

PapaStiffy, on 30 March 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

e_i_pi, on 29 March 2012 - 09:22 PM, said:

Dwarf Fortress would run sick on a quantum computer!

**Simulation of Earth would run awesome on a quantum computer... hahah

Simulation of Earth does not have killer carp, or mandates for socks.

[PapaStiffy]

e_i_pi, on 29 March 2012 - 09:32 PM, said:

Simulation of Earth does not have killer carp, or mandates for socks.

True. However, Simulation of Earth is not real... So you win anyway.

[Vodkacannon]

Well i heard it could possibly use shors algorithim to factor large integers. This is useful for encryption?

[ishkabible]

well, more importantly, it's useful for breaking encryption; it means that the basis of modern encryption needs to be re-founded on something not even quantum computers can do well.

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 30 April 2012 - 05:05 PM

[Vodkacannon]

Well we could use quantum computers to provide encryptions/more security that are not crackable by conventional computers, right?

[ishkabible]

we can already do that actually, with normal computers. really, everything is crackable with enough time but practically crackable is another thing. quantum computers could allow us to crack encrypted data weather or not it was made with a quantum computer if current methods are used.

I would think that new encryption algorithms could be created that would prove difficult to crack even for quantum computers. I would think this would be even more difficult to crack with a conventional computer

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 30 April 2012 - 05:52 PM

[DustyD]

DWave have been developing there computer for a long time now. On their home website you can find the lectures from David Deutsch explained briefly how to go from quantum mechanics to quantum information and computing. However, I have found that some experts and academics are skeptical of the capabilities of their device as it is not clear as to how they achieved what they claim...

Because of the continuum of states that a quantum particle can be in, ie anywhere between spin -0.5 (0) and spin +0.5 (1) but never there at a defined instant in time. When there are a system of quantum particles, let's say two, that's what constitutes the qbit. This is where the physics becomes really weird and counter-intuitive, as both states of each particle, if controlled properly, can be correlated, which is called Entanglement. This means, that these particles have effectively encrypted the information.

The way that the information is retrieved is even more confusing, please refer to a text book on Quantum Information! Essentially it has to do with the quantum effect of measurement. When a user makes a measurement of someone elses entangled qbit, they destroy it! And the other person never has to make a measurement on that qbit, so all is well!

These are all amazing things, but they are actually incredibly difficult to realize. The DWave processor that I know of takes up a 10 m squared room, which is mostly just cryogenic systems that help keep that quantum particles in their desired positions and states at less than 5 Kelvin.. They have documentation on some of the functional principles but it is mostly snippets of mathematical derivations based on experiments that are not documented or described in any way. And the best they can do with that reliably at the moment are simple calculations.

The greatest problem to overcome for Quantum Computers to become a reality is the ability to control single quantum particles (quantum dots) and make circuitry that can interface these particles effectively.

There is a lot of work to do!

[turboscrew]

I remember reading from (was it?) Scientific American a long time ago that time can go backwards in quantum level. Also there has been some discussions that it positron might be electron reversing in time.
That was real scientists talk, not foil-hat talk.

That would explain the why the spin of a positron suddenly reverses in the other edge of universe if the spin of it's electron-pair (the positron and the electron are materialized from the same energy and are each other's anti-particles in "birth") is reversed.

Then the collision might be a time-reversing event. The positron comes and the electron leaves - except the positron's time is reversed.

-To be, or not to be. That's the... Schrödinger's cat.

This post has been edited by turboscrew: 07 May 2012 - 06:22 AM

[ishkabible]

yes, there used to be a particle called a "positron" that moved backward though time. they found out it was actually just electrons moving backward though time.

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 07 May 2012 - 06:21 AM