5 ms·

Quantum 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 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 ago
They'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 ago
I 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.

fluoridation 2y ago

They'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 ago

I 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.