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That's a bit extreme. While QM and QC theory is well-established, there has been very few experiments that confirm that quantum computing actually works as the
by hnfong 2y ago
That's a bit extreme.
While QM and QC theory is well-established, there has been very few experiments that confirm that quantum computing actually works as theorized. There are quantum computers that are "working", but some of them (esp. the older ones) are just the kind of "quantum computers show that 15 = 3 * 15 (with high probability)". From what I read on Scott Aaronson's blog, very few of those experiments show "quantum supremacy" (i.e. classical computing physically cannot compute the results in reasonable time). This is why the Google Willow thing is considered a breakthrough.
So basically empirical "proof" that quantum computing actually works as predicted in theory is rather recent stuff.
- fluoridation 2y agoHonestly, I'm skeptical that this even demonstrates quantum supremacy. Like I said in a different comment in this thread, all they did was let the device run for some time on whatever nonsense was in its memory and let it reach some meaningless state. Since it would take a classical computer a long time to simulate the qubits at the physical level to reach the same result, that shows that the quantum computer is much better at executing itself. But that's stupid. By that same logic, electronic computers are faster than themselves, because it would take a long to simulate a computer at the physical level on another, identical computer. If the QC isn't doing any meaningful computation, if it's not actually executing an algorithm, then it's not possible to compare their respective efficiencies. Or rather it is possible, but the answer you get is meaningless. Let's make it fair. How long would it take a ~100 qubit quantum computer to simulate at the physical level a smartphone's SoC running for 1 second?
- adastra22 2y agoQuantum computers are a direct consequence of quantum mechanics. Just like ropes and pulleys are a direct consequence of newtonian mechanics. If you think that quantum computers won't work, then either (1) all the theorists studying them for the past half century have somehow screwed up their basic maths, or (2) our understanding of quantum mechanics is wrong in ways that experiments have already ruled out.
- fluoridation 2y agoThey're not a "direct consequence". If they were, quantum computers would arise spontaneously in the environment. What you mean to say is that quantum mechanics permits quantum computers to exist. That doesn't mean something else can't forbid them from existing, or forbid them from ever reaching supremacy in practical applications. >If you think that quantum computers won't work, then either (1) all the theorists studying them for the past half century have somehow screwed up their basic maths, or (2) our understanding of quantum mechanics is wrong in ways that experiments have already ruled out. You know this thing called science? Its goal is not to know things, it's to learn things. If we already knew everything there is to know about quantum mechanics people would have built a perfectly functioning quantum computer at the first try (or they would have known from the start it was impossible). Physicists are trying to build quantum computers partly because in doing so they learn new things about quantum mechanics, and because they want to learn if it's possible to build them. Quantum computers are themselves also an experiment about quantum mechanics.
- hnfong 2y agoI don't know what it is that make people think of science in an over-confident binary (yes or no) manner. If you read the original article, you'd see that the idea of experiments about quantum supremacy is an important issue. The whole reason they want to conduct such experiments is to prove that quantum computing actually works empirically. The question is not whether "I think" quantum computers won't work. I don't "think" anything, I'm not an expert in the field and as such what I personally think is irrelevant. Scientifically, there aren't enough empirical experiments to conclusively prove whether they work. Whatever I "think" or you "think" are pure speculation. The chances of QC working and scalable to non-trivial number of qbits might be pretty good, but they haven't built a machine that can break RSA yet for example. And yes of course the theorists could be working on the "wrong" theory all the time. It happened with Newtonian physics. You can't build accurate GPS systems with Newtonian physics without taking into account relativity. Similarly, we already know QM does not take gravity into account. Is it possible that quantum-computers-as-we-know-it are not possible under a gravitational field? Unlikely(?), but it's possible. You can't just take your personal speculative belief as truth and call everyone else flat earthers.