The Case Against Quantum Computing

Delta Prime

Joined Nov 15, 2019
1,311
attempts to merge quantum mechanics with general theory of relativity is subject to intellectual ridicule and you are all now considered zero-dimensional point particles. Congratulations. :cool:
 

Wolframore

Joined Jan 21, 2019
2,609
Remember this sci-fi classic? Our crazy ideas can become achievements and science. Never stop dreaming. I grew up reading scifi it’s incredible how much has come to pass.
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
Interesting.
The thing that shot out at me was that she states that worm holes do not really exist. I wonder how she proves this.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
Interesting.
The thing that shot out at me was that she states that worm holes do not really exist. I wonder how she proves this.
What she actually said that there was good reason to think that they do not exist... not that they definitely do not exist. This is because (at least on paper) wormholes are extremely hard to create and are extremely unstable too.
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
What she actually said that there was good reason to think that they do not exist... not that they definitely do not exist. This is because (at least on paper) wormholes are extremely hard to create and are extremely unstable too.
Well, if they didnt exist we would not have a hard time making them right? We simply would not be able to make them at all :)

I guess i have to draw a comparison, electricity was hard to produce at first too and was unstable to some degree, yet now electricity owns the world, except of course for North Korea :)

But the 'qubits' argument is interesting too. We need a lot more to make anything really really useful. But as technology improves, and it may improve exponentially, we may see these things come about. Will be interesting.

Also interesting are her comments on communication via entangled particles. Perhaps breakthroughs have occurred that she wasnt aware of yet. Particles can now be entangled in time as well as in space. The main idea though is that progress has been made yet again. We dont know what breakthrough will come next.
There is a place in the USA where a quantum network is going to be constructed soon.
 

xox

Joined Sep 8, 2017
838
here's a thought ... what "singularity" do you think is going to happen first? Quantum Supremacy, or Sustained Nuclear Fusion?
Except...wave functions do not actually "collapse" and fusion can only surpass break-even within a Schwarzschild radius. In reality both are essentially impossible technologies.
 

Thread Starter

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
here's a thought ... what "singularity" do you think is going to happen first? Quantum Supremacy, or Sustained Nuclear Fusion?
First you need to think there will be a man-made singularity event that changes 'everything'. The last earth changing event was the The Industrial Revolution. If there is a "singularity" we are already in it and it's been happening for centuries.

We're on a long straight flat desert highway, that optical illusion of a convergence we see far ahead is just more road.

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/07/10-futurist-phrases-and-terms-that-are-complete-bullshit/
 
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cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
If there is a "singularity" we are already in it
I'd say we're living in the age of information, and the "the triggering event" (so as to avoid the term "singularity") was the arrival of the PC ...

But you didn't answer my question. Which do yo think will be attained first? ... or do yo think the question itself is moot?
 

Thread Starter

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
Sustained Nuclear Fusion with a total output gain over input is an eventual certainty because it's mainly a matter of engineering (very hard to solve engineering) now, not basic science. There's nothing in basic science that says Quantum Supremacy outside of a few narrow problems will exist and a lot science that says that Quantum computing in general is not a breakthrough for a large fraction of the problems we wish to solve in the near-term.

https://jackkrupansky.medium.com/what-is-a-universal-quantum-computer-i the
Quantum computing in the maw of modern marketing
Hope (and hype) and reality are not the same thing.

And it’s not strictly only the true marketing professionals engaging in the hype, but a variety of amateurish promoters touting wild and unsubstantiated claims. Some of these are overly-enthusiastic media types, some of whom are legitimate journalists and some whose credentials are little more sturdy than blogging.

And in fact some of the hypesters are otherwise competent technical professionals who should know better. Normally, they would know better, but the maw of modern marketing still manages to suck people in despite their best intentions.
...
Press releases are of course the explicit and exclusive handiwork of true marketing professionals.
Attained first? Maybe my grandkids will see both.
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
Except...wave functions do not actually "collapse" and fusion can only surpass break-even within a Schwarzschild radius. In reality both are essentially impossible technologies.
Actually there have been great advances in fusion technology and there is a big project going on right now i think in Europe for fusion research. They are now predicting that it will be possible in the near future.
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
There have been tests now that show that quantum computing works, at least for some things.
One really good example is using quantum computing to explore the world of the quanta. If not anything else, it uncovers some of the mysteries of the quantum world.

But what is most interesting to me is a lot of what we see here has to be accepted as new physics possibly without any explanation as of yet. Apparently we can measure things now that we cant completely explain using any kind of classical mechanical model because no model like that can exist, even though the phenomenon is real. The world of the tiny is a different world detached from what we normally call reality, and that makes it even more difficult to predict what might come in the future.
But what could be better for exploring the quantum world than a machine that actually works in the quantum world, or at least depends on the physics of the quantum world to operate.

Last i read, China had achieved the fastest quantum computer so far.
 
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