Postdoc in Italy, AQIS 2008 Call for Papers, the Register reports on QUEST, and the New Scientist morphs into the No Scientist.
Continue reading “Happenings in the Quantum World: April 1, 2008”
Shor Calculations (Quantum Wonkish)
Over at Emergent Chaos I found an article which throws down the gauntlet over quantum computers. And there isn’t anything I cherish more than gauntlets thrown down!
Note: I should preface this by saying that I don’t consider myself a over the top hyper of quantum computers in the sense attacked by the author. I find quantum computers fascinating, would really like to see if one can be built, but find the hyperbole that accompanies any small advance in the field a bit over the top. However I also think the article misses a lot of important points (and insinuates that people haven’t actually thought about these points, something which I find as annoying as quantum computing hype.)
Update: Say it ain’t so Bruce. Say it ain’t so.
Continue reading “Shor Calculations (Quantum Wonkish)”
Numbers Factored Relativistically?
This glib article from the Wired Blog Gadgets Lab discusses some of the “crazy” ideas for building computers. Among them, of course, are quantum computers, which means, of course that a quantum computing bastardization, can’t be far from behind.
Continue reading “Numbers Factored Relativistically?”
Let This Quantum Computing Bastardization Pass?
In an article on stopping a large spectrum of light with metamaterials in The Telegraph (research which is very cool, but isn’t available online, yet, as far as I can tell), I find some lines that would make the Optimizer go bonkers:
By contrast, the switches in a quantum computer can be both “on” and “off” at the same time. A “qubit” could do two calculations at once, two qubits would do four and so on. Thus, it was theoretically possible to use quantum computers to explore vast numbers of potential solutions to a problem simultaneously.
Ouch, my brain hurts.
Continue reading “Let This Quantum Computing Bastardization Pass?”