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The summary is two case studies: - Searching for molecules with specific pharmaceutical effects. - Solving ordering problems for cargo ship offloading (which

by er4hn 4y ago

The summary is two case studies: - Searching for molecules with specific pharmaceutical effects. - Solving ordering problems for cargo ship offloading (which feels like a traveling salesman sort of problem?) All in all, I liked reading this article because it helps show places where quantum computing adds value by solving problems. I spend a lot of time in cryptography where the fear of quantum computing is that it will force a new class of slower cryptographic algorithms into use, so seeing positive uses of the technology is really quite nice.

marcosdumay 4y ago
> I liked reading this article because it helps show places where quantum computing adds value by solving problems. The D-Wave is not a quantum computer. Quantum computers have quite different usage cases (but on the macro level, should be very useful to the pharma industry too).
- mitthrowaway2 4y ago
  It is a quantum annealer, which is a less capable sub-category of quantum computer. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_annealing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_annealing
- dekhn 4y ago
  Technically there are a number of architectures that qualify to be called Quantum Computers- you're probably just from the camp that does not admit the D-wave design as being one. Not all quantum requires require entanglement.
  - cwillu 4y ago
    I'm also of the camp that does not consider “throwing confetti” to be anti-gravity, “dousing cancer cells in gasoline and lighting it on fire” to be cancer-treatment, and “swinging a laser-pointer between two stars” to be ftl-communication.
- somat 4y ago
  I like to troll and call our silicon base chips "quantum computers" because they work via a very quantum process, that is, the photoelectric effect. They are not of course, and hopefully the smart people here can clarify what mechanically a "quantum computer" is doing, the best I can figure out is that it can reduce the complex valued quantum state down to a binary state and due to quantum interaction you can compute some things with this. If you asked me, it sounds like massive parallel computation on the atomic level, that is, similar to the way soap bubbles can solve minimal surfaces, but people keep assuring me this is not the case.
  - dekhn 4y ago
    Did you mean the photoelectric effect? I think transistors really exploit our understanding of conduction and valence bands of electrons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_band_structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_band_structure, how to move electrons to the conduction bands, and then bias them so a large current can flow (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-effect_transistor#Effect_of_gate_voltage_on_current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-effect_transistor#Effect...). IIRC part of the nobel for the transistor was because they (Shockley) had built a theoretical model based on QM There's no (visible) photons involved in silicon computers, although very similar solid state and vacuum tube devices are used to exploit the photoelectric effect, mainly for scientific measurement purposes.
    - somat 4y ago
      Yes, fixed

by er4hn 4y ago

marcosdumay 4y ago

> I liked reading this article because it helps show places where quantum computing adds value by solving problems. The D-Wave is not a quantum computer. Quantum computers have quite different usage cases (but on the macro level, should be very useful to the pharma industry too).

mitthrowaway2 4y ago
It is a quantum annealer, which is a less capable sub-category of quantum computer. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_annealing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_annealing
dekhn 4y ago
Technically there are a number of architectures that qualify to be called Quantum Computers- you're probably just from the camp that does not admit the D-wave design as being one. Not all quantum requires require entanglement.
- cwillu 4y ago
  I'm also of the camp that does not consider “throwing confetti” to be anti-gravity, “dousing cancer cells in gasoline and lighting it on fire” to be cancer-treatment, and “swinging a laser-pointer between two stars” to be ftl-communication.
somat 4y ago
I like to troll and call our silicon base chips "quantum computers" because they work via a very quantum process, that is, the photoelectric effect. They are not of course, and hopefully the smart people here can clarify what mechanically a "quantum computer" is doing, the best I can figure out is that it can reduce the complex valued quantum state down to a binary state and due to quantum interaction you can compute some things with this. If you asked me, it sounds like massive parallel computation on the atomic level, that is, similar to the way soap bubbles can solve minimal surfaces, but people keep assuring me this is not the case.
- dekhn 4y ago
  Did you mean the photoelectric effect? I think transistors really exploit our understanding of conduction and valence bands of electrons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_band_structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_band_structure, how to move electrons to the conduction bands, and then bias them so a large current can flow (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-effect_transistor#Effect_of_gate_voltage_on_current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-effect_transistor#Effect...). IIRC part of the nobel for the transistor was because they (Shockley) had built a theoretical model based on QM There's no (visible) photons involved in silicon computers, although very similar solid state and vacuum tube devices are used to exploit the photoelectric effect, mainly for scientific measurement purposes.
  - somat 4y ago
    Yes, fixed