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Google's Head of Quantum Computing Hardware Resigns
- wronglebowski 7y agoGiven the direct quote “Since my professional goal is for someone to build a quantum computer, I think my resignation is the best course of action for everyone,” The way I interpret this is that Quantum computing is just some pipe dream that Google isn’t taking seriously. This man intends to build a real device and either he doesn’t have faith Google will allow him to make one or has any intentions of making one. +1 for the Google Graveyard
- move-on-by 7y agoMarketing probably got involved, decided they should rebrand as a 'Quamtum' computer and just use standard compute. On a more serious note, I agree with your interpretation.
- smitty1e 7y agoI would not walk away thinking that Google is uninterested in the same goal. Rather, there were serious differences of opinion regarding the path to get there.
- stuff4ben 7y agoExactly. They even mentioned it in the article. Two leads disagreeing on how to get work done is never a good thing no matter where you work if they can't get to consensus.
- sq_ 7y agoSeems especially true for quantum computing. So many different, untested ways to get to the end goal, to the point where members of a group could all have perfectly valid reasoning as to why their particular method is the only one that will work.
- ISL 7y agoIn that case, if you have the resources, you find both.
- CydeWeys 7y agoYou may have the money, but not the talent. I can't imagine there are that many cutting edge quantum computing researchers out there. Talk about a niche field.
- skapadia 7y agoLOL - isn't that the very nature of quantum computing itself? "A quantum computer works with particles that can be in superposition. Rather than representing bits — such particles would represent qubits, which can take on the value 0, or 1, or both simultaneously" (https://plus.maths.org/content/how-does-quantum-commuting-wo... https://plus.maths.org/content/how-does-quantum-commuting-wo...) "The principle of quantum superposition states that if a physical system may be in one of many configurations—arrangements of particles or fields—then the most general state is a combination of all of these possibilities, where the amount in each configuration is specified by a complex number." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition)
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- techslave 7y agobut this is quantum. you take both approaches.
- noad 7y agoThat was my interpretation as well. The bizarre bit in the opening paragraph about Sundar saying that quantum computing will magically solve climate change is so baffling and stupid I'd probably want to quit after realizing that was my boss too. I once worked as a developer for a massive trillion dollar tech company, but the company was terribly dysfunctional and never did any real work, so when I quit I joked about how I was quitting to get into software development. Sounds like the same situation here.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 7y ago>when I quit I joked about how I was quitting to get into software development I'm stealing that line.
- swader999 7y agoOr, I just want to build something.
- ballenf 7y ago> Pichai said the milestone affirmed his belief that quantum computers might one day tackle problems like climate change Not sure why the quote is problematic. Is modeling complex systems not a good application of quantum compute? Or is the view that climate modeling is an already solved problem?
- craftinator 7y agoI think the issue may lie in the logistics; can QC provide significantly better modeling (significantly in that it'll lead to significantly better outcomes) within a time frame to actually be useful? I, for one, haven't seen any QC system actually do any useful work, which is saying a lot for a multi-billion dollar "industry". It will likely be an incredibly useful technology by the end of my lifetime, but at the moment it is a marketing buzzword.
- noad 7y agoThat's sort of the point, everyone just wants to create a model to further their own personal career instead of actually working on the fucking problem. I guess they just assume everything in the world will automagically fix itself once we have enough qubits? It's either magical thinking or pure marketing department fiction, I cannot tell which.
- frenchman99 7y agoThe sentence doesn't have any clear meaning. That's probably why it's brilliant: each and everyone of us can and will interpret it how they like due to confirmation bias [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
- sct202 7y agoThe article makes it sound more like a power struggle after Martinis got put in an advisory role which for executives is a polite way of firing someone who has done a good job.
- kerng 7y agoOnly half joking... guy wa probably was asked for business plan and how this will increase ad sales.
- SuoDuanDao 7y agoThis reminds me a bit of how disconnected IBM's marketing for Watson was from the reality the engineers saw on the ground. I wonder whether it's some sort of consequence of scale and maturity that companies fall into that pattern.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- toomuchtodo 7y agoLeadership gets comfortable. Comfortable leadership has no incentive to rock the boat or strive when failure is possible, and the cushness is put at risk. Good people leave, mediocre people stay but it takes time for Rome to crumble. The cycle repeats. Think Innovator's Dilemma [1], but at smaller scale. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma
- seemslegit 7y agoQuantum Computing ! Climate Change ! Two of your favourite stock price fluffers, finally together.
- fsh 7y agoMartinis has always been quite honest about what their technology can and cannot do. Probably too honest for the Google managers.
- skapadia 7y agoWhy can't we use quantum computing itself to determine the best way to build a quantum computer?
- photon-torpedo 7y agoWe can, just need to invent time travel first.
- gowld 7y agoNo we don't. We can invent time travel later. "What do we want? Time travel! When do we want it? It doesn't matter!"
- ktpsns 7y agotl,dr: Not now, maybe in a few years/decades. A quantum computer is a special purpose computer. There are only a handful of algorithms known which really do better on quantum computers then on classical ones. Actually building a quantum computer is quite similar to setting up other high precision extreme matter lab physics experiments. Of course knowledge of quantum mechanics is neccessary to engineer such an experiment/computer. Evventually better quantum simulations will allow for building quantum systems which are better controllable. In the end we will probably have a similiar "self-accelerating" situation as with classical computers (which serve to develop more fancy classical computers).
- rory_h_r 7y agoJohn Martinis taught me physics and analog electronics! He was a great teacher: friendly, smart, and a top notch scientist to boot. All the better for UCSB that he'll have more time to be on campus.
- reikonomusha 7y agoMartinis is a serious loss to them. He is a top-tier scientist that gets stuff done. He is responsible for the most successful demonstration of the power of quantum computers to date. I suspect he wanted to continue to do the requisite science needed to build useful quantum computers, and Google began to gesture Martinis into turning it into a cloud business, following Rigetti, IBM, and Amazon. Despite the continued rapid progress, quantum computers are still too small and too noisy to solve non-toy problems, and there’s plenty of science & research to do to break that barrier of obvious utility. If my suspicion is correct, you’ll see Google’s quantum effort turn into a marketing campaign with fancy cloud APIs that don’t serve anybody good, except bored executives who are desperate to make a mark for themselves.
- gaze 7y agoI wonder how much of his team will follow him. You need someone like John when building a quantum computer and there’s not many like him.
- vermooten 7y agoAnd simultaneously doesn’t.