8 ms·

The Quest For A Quantum Future

90 points by daigoba66 12y ago

higherpurpose 12y ago
The Quest For Researching Stuff That Will Never Come Out of Our Lab - is probably a more accurate headline coming from Microsoft.
- IBM 12y ago
  Google gets tons of PR from Google X, why shouldn't Microsoft as well?
  - dekhn 12y ago
    and it gets a fair amount of press over the NASA-hosted D-Wave they partially funded.
- jesuslop 12y ago
  You can't know.
  - ableal 12y ago
    No, the way this uncertainty thing goes is that you can know, but then you do not talk. (Maybe.)
TrainedMonkey 12y ago
I think graphical story telling format that is so popular now would be a smash with web comics, but for me it really interferes with reading the story. Abrupt background changes leave me confused, definitely not the best state to be reading about quantum physics.
bellerocky 12y ago
Unrelated to the post, but I hate static fixed headers so much. I think I hate any kind of fixed element that covers content.
- libraryatnight 12y ago
  Agreed, there's something constricting about it. Claustrophobic.
- insky 12y ago
  It breaks paging.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
mturmon 12y ago
Nice to see some PR about quantum computing that's not related to D-Wave.
hassaderpdole 12y ago
Crashed firefox mobile
- jacquesm 12y ago
  Crashes of browsers are never the problem of the website, but always of the browser vendor.
webnrrd2k 12y ago
I don't know why, and it's really not relevant, but the thing that struck me the most was that they used actual chalk on the chalkboards. Everything I've seen has been whiteboard and markers for quite a while now...
- da-bacon 12y ago
  You've discovered how to tell if you are in a physics department or a computer science department :)
jabelk 12y ago
>Most kids want the thousand bucks, Lee said, but the pennies doubled daily over 30 days eventually adds up to more than $10.7 million. 30 years perhaps? Anyway, it's cool to hear about Microsoft Research. This quote is especially exciting, since scalability is the main question I've had about quantum computing (and really quantum mechanics as a whole) being viable outside of a lab. >“The problem of coherence is a major focus of our research here,” Lee said. “Every researcher connected to this field dreams of building a quantum computer. We are not trying to build a quantum computer. Our belief is that trying to build a quantum machine by controlling electron spin and using surface codes is like trying to build a computer using vacuum tubes. Labs all over the world can do that, but you’ll never be able to scale up. We’re taking an outrageously hard, unreasonably difficult approach, and if we succeed – and it’s a big if – then we will have a building block for a scalable quantum machine. We have a chance, a tiny chance but a real chance, to completely upend technology and society in a fundamental way just like the transistor did.” Edit: oh, wow, I was thinking about the 30 day thing really wrong. Thanks!
- AndrewDucker 12y ago
  > 30 years perhaps? No, 2^30 is 1,073,741,824
  - millstone 12y ago
    You get all the pennies from previous days too, so it's actually 2^31 - 1. That said, the children may be correct to prefer $1000 over the pennies. Two billion pennies is not exactly practical.
- fla 12y ago
  (2^30) / 100 = 10737418.24
raverbashing 12y ago
So, looks like this topological approach is to Quantum Computing what the Space-State is for radio transmission and Phasors are to electrical engineering...
standard4317 12y ago
Any idiot with a two state system thinks they have a Quantum Computer, but this is different. Non-Abelian braiding statistics are so far the only known robust architecture for QC, so this will be interesting to watch. Its worth mentioning that the cocktail they discuss relies on something that has yet to be observed in nature; calling it science fiction would be an insult to time travel.
- da-bacon 12y ago
  I'm not sure "non-Abelian braiding statistics" is the only known robust architecture for QC. Topological qubits are, after all, just systems whose natural states are quantum error correcting codes. Those who chose to pursue quantum error correction directly likely also deserve the moniker of "robust architecture".

90 points by daigoba66 12y ago

The Quest For Researching Stuff That Will Never Come Out of Our Lab - is probably a more accurate headline coming from Microsoft.

IBM 12y ago
Google gets tons of PR from Google X, why shouldn't Microsoft as well?
- dekhn 12y ago
  and it gets a fair amount of press over the NASA-hosted D-Wave they partially funded.
jesuslop 12y ago
You can't know.
- ableal 12y ago
  No, the way this uncertainty thing goes is that you can know, but then you do not talk. (Maybe.)

TrainedMonkey 12y ago

I think graphical story telling format that is so popular now would be a smash with web comics, but for me it really interferes with reading the story. Abrupt background changes leave me confused, definitely not the best state to be reading about quantum physics.

bellerocky 12y ago

Unrelated to the post, but I hate static fixed headers so much. I think I hate any kind of fixed element that covers content.

libraryatnight 12y ago
Agreed, there's something constricting about it. Claustrophobic.
insky 12y ago
It breaks paging.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

mturmon 12y ago

Nice to see some PR about quantum computing that's not related to D-Wave.

hassaderpdole 12y ago

Crashed firefox mobile

jacquesm 12y ago
Crashes of browsers are never the problem of the website, but always of the browser vendor.

webnrrd2k 12y ago

I don't know why, and it's really not relevant, but the thing that struck me the most was that they used actual chalk on the chalkboards. Everything I've seen has been whiteboard and markers for quite a while now...

da-bacon 12y ago
You've discovered how to tell if you are in a physics department or a computer science department :)

jabelk 12y ago

>Most kids want the thousand bucks, Lee said, but the pennies doubled daily over 30 days eventually adds up to more than $10.7 million. 30 years perhaps? Anyway, it's cool to hear about Microsoft Research. This quote is especially exciting, since scalability is the main question I've had about quantum computing (and really quantum mechanics as a whole) being viable outside of a lab. >“The problem of coherence is a major focus of our research here,” Lee said. “Every researcher connected to this field dreams of building a quantum computer. We are not trying to build a quantum computer. Our belief is that trying to build a quantum machine by controlling electron spin and using surface codes is like trying to build a computer using vacuum tubes. Labs all over the world can do that, but you’ll never be able to scale up. We’re taking an outrageously hard, unreasonably difficult approach, and if we succeed – and it’s a big if – then we will have a building block for a scalable quantum machine. We have a chance, a tiny chance but a real chance, to completely upend technology and society in a fundamental way just like the transistor did.” Edit: oh, wow, I was thinking about the 30 day thing really wrong. Thanks!

AndrewDucker 12y ago
> 30 years perhaps? No, 2^30 is 1,073,741,824
- millstone 12y ago
  You get all the pennies from previous days too, so it's actually 2^31 - 1. That said, the children may be correct to prefer $1000 over the pennies. Two billion pennies is not exactly practical.
fla 12y ago
(2^30) / 100 = 10737418.24

raverbashing 12y ago

So, looks like this topological approach is to Quantum Computing what the Space-State is for radio transmission and Phasors are to electrical engineering...

standard4317 12y ago

Any idiot with a two state system thinks they have a Quantum Computer, but this is different. Non-Abelian braiding statistics are so far the only known robust architecture for QC, so this will be interesting to watch. Its worth mentioning that the cocktail they discuss relies on something that has yet to be observed in nature; calling it science fiction would be an insult to time travel.

da-bacon 12y ago
I'm not sure "non-Abelian braiding statistics" is the only known robust architecture for QC. Topological qubits are, after all, just systems whose natural states are quantum error correcting codes. Those who chose to pursue quantum error correction directly likely also deserve the moniker of "robust architecture".