Quantum computing is a reality!

[adamszabo]

Its funny that just the other day I was watching a podcast with John Carmack, and they were just talking about AI and quantum computing. I recommend that you watch or listen to the entire video because its super interesting, he also talks about the development of Doom and Quake and so on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udlMSe5-zP8

Here are the AI and Quantum times:
47:44 AI
51:44 Quantum

[MichaelBenjamin]

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[Spogg]

all this quantum computing stuff is way overrated.
we don't need more quantum computing atm, we need more down to earth 8-16-32 bit assembly for free cpu specs, like RISC-V

I must disagree. I believe we are very fortunate to be living at a time to witness the birth of a revolutionary technology. I can imagine that in 1947, when the transistor was invented at Bell Laboratories, some engineers thought “But we have vacuum tubes already. We just need to carry on improving them”.

Cheers

Spogg

[MichaelBenjamin]

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[Spogg]

I’m not sure how you could wilfully slow down progress and innovation, or that such an approach is even desirable. I come from a standpoint of loving to read about scientific and technical progress, so I guess I’m biased. I get excited when something new comes along (fundamental stuff, not the latest iPhone!).

At the same time I love FlowStone which is quite old, relatively speaking. So I think there’s plenty of opportunity and room to dig as deep as you like into something that strongly appeals.

But maybe you are thinking about stuff becoming redundant too quickly, or that the research money would be better spent on other things…

Cheers

Spogg

[adamszabo]

I dont think technological advancements will slow down nor should it. We are starting to reach our limit in the "old" processor world. We reached the gigahertz limit with 3-4 GHz so instead we started adding more cores. 2, 4, 8, 12, etc. Now we are going down in nano meters the next trend will be 7 nm, but eventually we will reach a point where we cant go down further, cant cram more cores, and this is where we have to radically change the way processors work (and researchers are not stupid they know this), and this is where quantum computing comes in. There wont be quantum computers in stores next year, its still early stages. Maybe in 10 years perhaps?

[tulamide]

I couldn't have said it any different than Adam.

Also, why now? Why Google?
It is no coincidence. The quantum bits, the superposition phenomenon, that's not a discovery of last year. The dream of a quantum computer is not a dream of last year. It's been around for a significant time. But now imagine the executives at a giant like Google. If they had a slogan, it's probably "so many data, so little time".
They, of all people, know exactly that current PCs/Servers/Workstations are at their processing limit. Server farms the size of a city? That can't go well, from the view of a profit oriented business. I'm pretty sure Bezos, Zuckerberg, NSA, and other big fish are working on the same topic. And we don't even have to guess regarding China. They invest several billions in research, and openly admit that they want to be the leaders in quantum technology (knowing it's the future of computing)

Of course that can intimidate us simple people. But I witnessed the rise of personal computing (some of you might not be able to imagine a time with 2 channels black&white TV with long antennas and a typewriter, no mobile phones, no PCs, no internet ), and that also was intimidating to a lot of people. The secret to circumvent it is knowledge! Know, how a Quantum Computer works, know how it is built, know how it comes to the results, it produces.

I still know all the components of a processor, how important the invention of ICs was for the minituarisation, even how to build a basic processor. I also still know that it was the big companies who came up with them. Not science, not philanthropists.

I think that new technology is just that - new technology. It's the people that we have to look closely to. We all have a voice (in a democracy), and it is our duty to use it in order to prevent misuse of technology.

For years, science is very interested in carbon batteries, as they have the potential to charge faster while they have a larger Wh/kg. Plus they are environmentally friendly. Unfortunately, the process of charging and uncharging wears out the carbon so much quicker than conventional batteries, that their life-cycle was not suitable for use.

Until now. Scientists invented a technology that prevents the self-destruction. Their carbon battery has 7x the Wh/kg, can be loaded in seconds, and recharged a thousand times. And this is just their first revision!

I bring this example to make my point that new technology should never be slowed down or prohibited. It should be observed, of course.

[RJHollins]

well said.

[tulamide]

RE: others are working on it as well

I think this is a very interesting video. A speech held on a summit, from the view of businesses.
https://youtu.be/OjTP33_O7qY

[MichaelBenjamin]

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