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> Is there a guarantee that these things can and will work given enough time? Quantum theory predicts that they will work given enough time. If they don't work
by vtomole 9mo ago
> Is there a guarantee that these things can and will work given enough time?
Quantum theory predicts that they will work given enough time. If they don't work, there is something about physics that we are missing.
- pohl 9mo agoSounds like a pursuit where we win either way
- ziofill 9mo agoUnless the overall cost is too high, but yes it's definitely worth pursuing as far as we currently know.
- stocksinsmocks 9mo agoPublishing findings that amount to an admission that you and others spent a fortune studying a dead end is career suicide and guarantees your excommunication from the realm of study and polite society. If a popular theory is wrong, some unlucky martyr must first introduce incontrovertible proof and then humanity must wait for the entire generation of practitioners whose careers are built on it to die.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- vtomole 9mo agoQuantum theory is so unlikely to be wrong that if large-scale fault tolerant quantum computers could not be built, the effort to try to build them will not be a dead end, but instead a revolution in physics.
- zarzavat 9mo agoQuantum theory says that quantum computers are mathematically plausible. It doesn't say anything about whether it's possible to construct a quantum computer in the real world of a given configuration. It's entirely possible that there's a physical limit that makes useful quantum computers impossible to construct.
- vtomole 9mo agoQuantum theory says that quantum computers are physically plausible. Quantum theory lies in the realm of physics, not mathematics. As a physical theory, it makes predictions about what is plausible in the real world. One of those predictions is that it's possible to build a large-scale fault tolerant quantum computer. The way to test out this theory is to try out an experiment to see if this is so. If this experiment fails, we'll have to figure out why theory predicted it but the experiment didn't deliver.
- Dylan16807 9mo ago> The way to test out this theory is to try out an experiment to see if this is so. If this experiment fails, we'll have to figure out why theory predicted it but the experiment didn't deliver. If "this experiment" is trying to build a machine, then failure doesn't give much evidence against the theory. Most machine-building failures are caused by insufficient hardware/engineering.
- vtomole 9mo agoQuantum theory predicts this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_theorem. An experiment can show that this prediction is false. This is a scientific problem not an engineering one. Physical theories have to be verified with experiments. If the results of the experiment don't match what the theory predicts then you have to do things like re-examine data, revise the theory e.t.c.
- Dylan16807 9mo agoBut that theorem being true doesn't mean "they will work given enough time". That's my objection. If a setup is physically possible but sufficiently thorny to actually build, there's a good chance it won't be built ever. In the specific spot I commented, I guess you were just talking about the physics part? But the GP was talking about both physics and physical realization, so I thought you were also talking about the combination too. Yes we can probably test the quantum theory. But verifying the physics isn't what this comment chain is really about. It's about working machines. With enough reliable qubits to do useful work.